Army Lieutenant General Gets Fourth Star and Becomes Second Female Combatant Commander in History

Army Lt. Gen. Laura Richardson was confirmed by the Senate in a unanimous voice vote on Wednesday to become the next commander of U.S. Southern Command, which will make her just the second woman in history to lead a combatant command.

Richardson, who now leads U.S. Army North, will receive a fourth star before taking command of SOUTHCOM, which oversees U.S. military operations across South and Central America and the Caribbean. She will become just the second female four-star general in the Army's history.

Richardson will replace SOUTHCOM's outgoing chief, Navy Adm. Craig Faller, who has led the combatant command headquartered just outside Miami since November 2018. The Defense Department has yet to set a date for the change of command, a SOUTHCOM spokesman said Thursday.

SOUTHCOM leaders have traditionally faced challenges in the region such as drug trafficking, narcoterrorism, providing humanitarian and disaster relief, and overseeing the controversial detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Richardson will also inherit responsibility for operations in a portion of the globe that has been devastated by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. She will also have to work to ensure the United States retains its long-held influence throughout the vast majority of the region, where Russia and China in recent years have increased efforts to work with and influence nations in the Western Hemisphere.

Richardson told senators last week during her confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill that her priorities included expanding training exercises and other security cooperation operations with partner nations in the region and increasing opportunities for partner nations in the region to send their troops to U.S. military training and education programs.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/08/12/army-lieutenant-general-gets-fourth-star-and-becomes-second-female-combatant-commander-history.html

>>14341860

Propaganda to restart the heroin/kiddy/war pipeline

==New guidelines on mandatory vaccinations

• Australia==

The Fair Work Ombudsman has issued new advice for employers considering making the vaccine mandatory for workers.

The Ombudsman has developed a four-tier system to govern when such orders would be reasonable.

The nature of the workplace, community transmission, the effectiveness of vaccines, and the circumstances will be considered.

This new ruling replaces the previous advice which stated most employers would not be able to compel staff to get the vaccine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcSizUdh39c

Ed Markey, Green New Deal cosponsors vote to ban own plan to overhaul U.S. energy sector, economy

Democrats decried Republican amendment to "prohibit enactment of the Green New Deal" as a "sham," while joining in its unanimous passage.

Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ed Markey and other cosponsors of the Green New Deal voted this week to prohibit adoption of their own plan — while criticizing Senate Republicans for proposing a "sham" amendment to the budget reconciliation bill.

Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming proposed an amendment to the Democrats' $3.5 trillion reconciliation package to "prohibit enactment of the Green New Deal." The measure passed 99-0, with yes votes from every U.S. senator present.

Despite voting in favor of the amendment, Democratic senators said their $3.5 trillion reconciliation legislation will make the "largest investment in climate action in history."

"The Green New Deal is not about protecting the environment, it's about making big government even bigger," Barrasso said on the Senate floor.

Following the vote, Green New Deal cosponsors — including Sens. Markey, Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — slammed Republicans for a "bad-faith amendment meant to politicize climate action right when we need it most."

"This cynical, sham vote comes on the precipice of our country's largest investment in climate action in history, and on the heels of yesterday's IPCC report that unequivocally stated that the human-driven climate crisis is destroying our planet,” the senators said in a joint statement. "The budget reconciliation package will allow us to unleash millions of good-paying, union jobs in wind, solar, and clean energy technologies — good policies with broad public support. It will give workers power, and it will be paid for by the corporations — including Big Oil — who have polluted our planet for generations."

Despite joining in the unanimous vote to prohibit the enactment of their Green New Deal, the senators maintained that their centralized plan for a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. energy industry and economy has found popular favor.

"Senate Republicans clearly do not believe climate change is an existential threat to humankind, but they know that the goals of the Green New Deal are an existential threat to Big Oil and their corporate polluter allies," they wrote. "The power of the Green New Deal has struck a chord in this country — Americans see how a Green New Deal can transform our economy and democracy to address climate change. This amendment is a tired and failed Republican attempt to throw speed bumps on the road to climate action."

Markey has said that "without question" the Green New Deal is in the DNA of the budget reconciliation bill.

As part of reconciliation, Democrats have proposed many green initiatives, including creating a Civilian Climate Corps, spending $174 billion on electric vehicles, and allocating $213 billion to "build, preserve, and retrofit more than 2 million homes and commercial buildings; modernize our nation's schools, community colleges, and early learning facilities; and upgrade veterans' hospitals and federal buildings."

Using budget reconciliation allows Democrats in the 50-50 Senate to pass their budget without votes from Republicans with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tie-breaking vote.

https://justthenews.com/government/congress/co-sponsors-green-new-deal-vote-against-it-slam-gop-sham-amendment-budget-bill

>>14341986

Red text fail