Jasper Co., MS: 1 killed, dozens injured in overnight storms – National & International News – MON 19Jun2023

Jasper Co., MS: 1 killed, dozens injured in overnight storms.

Daniel Ellsberg, whistleblower who leaked “Pentagon Papers,” dies at 92.

UN questions Greek response to deadly refugee boat disaster.

NATIONAL NEWS

Jasper Co., MS: 1 killed, dozens injured in overnight storms

Severe overnight storms killed at least one person and injured two dozen others in Central Mississippi. Louin and Bay Springs in Jasper County were hardest hit. As of this writing, about 38,000 customers in Central Mississippi were still without power. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency is out assessing damage from the storms. 

Millions of people from Texas to Georgia are facing more severe weather threats today and into tonight.  In the Southeast, this will be concentrated along the coast, especially parts of the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coast; Jacksonville, FL; and Savannah, GA. The main dangers are high winds, hail, and a risk of tornados in some areas.

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Daniel Ellsberg, whistleblower who leaked “Pentagon Papers,” dies at 92

Last Friday, Daniel Ellsberg passed away in his California home, aged 92, after a battle with cancer. In 1969, Chicago native Ellsberg was a Marine and a Harvard graduation working for the Pentagon and the RAND Corporation, a global policy think tank in Washington. At the time, Ellsberg had been a staunch supporter of the Vietnam War. However, about one week into serving a 2-year tour in Saigon, he realized that we could not win the war.

Upon returning, Ellsberg became involved in the peace movement. He took it upon himself to reveal the truth about the war to the American people by leaking a 7000-page confidential report from the Pentagon, a copy of which had turned up at the RAND corporation. Ellsberg began sneaking out sections of the document at night and copying them on a rented Xerox machine. He knew that he would likely face severe consequences once the documents hit the press and he was uncovered as the leaker, but he thought it would be worth it to bring a swift end to the war.

In 1971, Ellsberg sent portions of his documents both to the New York Times and the Washington Post. The “Pentagon Papers” revealed that the government had deceived the American people about how it was conducting the war and about casualty figures. Ellsberg escaped prosecution when a judge threw out the case against him due to government misconduct. Operatives for President Richard Nixon had broken into Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office seeking material to discredit him.

In his later years, Ellsberg was a staunch defender of other American whistleblowers like Pvt. Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden. He’ll be remembered as a champion of truth and an advocate for the freedom of the press.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

UN questions Greek response to deadly refugee boat disaster

Last week, a fishing boat carrying around 750 people (possibly 100 children) capsized off the southwest coast of Greece. Seventy-nine people are confirmed to have died, but over 500 remain unaccounted for. It’s difficult to be certain, but there seems to have been refugees from Syria, several North African countries and as far away as Pakistan.

The severely overloaded boat had departed from Libya and was headed towards Italy when it apparently stalled off the Greek coast. The Greek Coast Guard claimed that they had offered assistance but that the migrants refused.

However, there are questions about the Coast Guard’s version of events and the UN has called for a full investigation into their response. Marine traffic data indicates that the boat was dead in the water for at least 7 hours before the Coast Guard attempted to assist them. Meanwhile, at least two private vessels approached the stricken boat and offered food and water.

Greek authorities have arrested 9 survivors and charged them as human smugglers. An attorney for at least one of the men claims his client was a migrant and not a smuggler. Human smugglers in the Mediterranean often appoint one of the refugees to captain the boat. Some accounts suggest that the boat’s actual pilot had departed the vessel several hours before it went down.

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