Echo Breaking News

Operation Encore, Biden's approval ratings and Newsom recall results

John Grisham

Sep 15th 2021

With the 20 year anniversary of 9/11, this past Saturday came the operation encore report released by the Biden administration concerning potential Saudi Arabian ties to the hijackers. As the U.S pulls out the war sparked by the attacks President Biden's approval rating is lower than ever. I'll cover all this and the results of the Newsom recall election in this issue.


On September 11, 2001, the world changed forever. The terrorist attacks on America that day killed almost 3,000 people and injured thousands more. In total, it was responsible for $10 billion in damages to buildings and infrastructure in New York City alone—not to mention the global economic ramifications of a massive attack on an iconic American city. And yet despite our collective grief from those events 20 years ago this week, we still don't have all the answers we've been seeking. A new report released earlier this week promised some answers regarding suspected Saudi involvement but for the families of victims on 9/11, this report provides little closure.


Biden's presidential approval rates continue to fall over Afghanistan withdrawal and his handling of COVID-19 which has turned into a complete nightmare for the administration. A new mandate concerning vaccinations of companies with over 100 employees draws both praise and criticism in the media. Meanwhile, the recall election for California Governor Gavin Newsom draws to a conclusion. This and more news from the past couple of weeks in this curated news report.



September 11th 20 years later - Some Saudi Arabian ties may linger


Last Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. It's been two decades since America was hit by its greatest tragedy. As we remember those who lost their lives and reflect on our withdrawal from Afghanistan a newly declassified report from the FBI sheds some light on Saudi involvement. The 16-page report, however, doesn't offer much solace to the families of victims who have sought for years to hold Saudi Arabia complicit in the attacks.


A closer relationship than had been previously thought between two Saudis, including one with diplomatic status and some of the 9/11 terrorists has been exposed in a redacted version of the report. The families of some 9/11 victims have long sought for it, and the report paints a considerably different picture than the one described by the 9/11 Commission Report in 2004. But the report doesn't contain the smoking gun needed to explicitly tie the Saudi Arabian government to the attacks.


The investigation titled operation encore indicates that the Saudi nationalist Fahad al-Thumairy had "multiple personal and phone contacts with individuals who provided, or are suspected of providing, significant logistic support to Hazmi and Midhar". The other national Omar al-Bayoumi was described as "gregarious" by the 2004 9/11 commission but a particular meeting between Bayoumi and the hijackers was portrayed to investigators by a witness as planned in the new report.


If this account is true then it would contradict Bayoumi's previous statement that the meeting was merely happenstance. Regardless of the discrepancies between the two reports, there is still not an apparent connection between the nationalists, the hijackers, and the Saudi government. However, operation encore does seem to validate some suspicions held by those seeking to hold the Saudi government accountable.
NPR



Biden's approval ratings - Free falling


President Biden's approval ratings are hitting an all-time low amid controversy concerning the administration's handling of the U.S withdrawal from Afghanistan and the surge of the Delta variant. A September poll from Emerson College shows 47% oppose the job he's doing as president while 46% approve (7% are undecided).


Amid those polled the republican majority of 67% said they would vote for Trump if he were to primary again. In addition, voters were asked if they thought the U.S had won the war in Afghanistan with the majority of 68% saying we lost vs. 32% who believe we won. This may signal that criticisms of the Administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan may stick in the 2024 election.


According to the New York Post, the president's approval rating has dropped in swing states Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Democrats approve of Biden by 84 percent to 6 percent while Republicans disapprove of him by 95 percent to 3 percent. Overall the plunge has been about 10 percent since May.


The Emerson poll may at least signal some support for an OSHA rule detailed in the administration's path out of the pandemic plan. The rule would require all businesses with at least 100 employees to fully vaccinate their employees or at least ensure unvaccinated employees pass COVID tests weekly. The poll shows that 59% of respondents believe employers have the right to require employees to get vaccinated with 32% in disagreement, and 9% undecided.



California recall election results? Can't recall.


Yesterday Californians decided the fate of Governor Gavin Newsom in a recall election that was initiated in June of last year. The Governor has faced backlash over some of the most restrictive COVID-19 policies in the U.S.


In April, state election officials said that the recall drive had gathered more than 1.5 million verified signatures (the equivalent of 12% of the vote in the 2018 California gubernatorial election) needed to appear on the ballot. The recall election was composed of two questions.

  1. Should the Governor be removed from office?
  2. Who should replace him?

The results of the first question only take a vote of 50% to remove Newsom from office while the second only required a majority of votes to establish who will succeed him.
Fox


The ballots for the recall collection were cast primarily by mail. Newsome was predicted to win with a safe lead in a poll conducted by Five Thirty-Eight which had the Governor up by a relatively safe 15% margin. As for the replacement question if Newsom had lost then 46 candidates would have been in the running including conservative radio talk show host Larry Elder.


Elder had a massive lead in the above-mentioned poll with about 28% followed by the Youtuber Kevin Paffrath who only had 7%. Elder did promise to remove the state's vaccine and mask mandates if elected despite recent polling in which two-thirds of respondents were in favor of vaccine mandates.
Five Thirty-Eight


The Californian Governor survived the recall after Mail in ballots cast before Tuesday's in person voting put Newsom ahead by 30 points, about two thirds of those ballots were cast as "no". In his victory speech the still standing Governor had this to say, "Democracy is not a football, you don’t throw it around. It’s more like — I don’t know — an antique vase,” Newsom said after his win. “You can drop it, smash it into a million different pieces — and that’s what we’re capable of doing if we don’t stand up to meet the moment and push back."
AP


Seeming to take a page from Trump's playbook Elder appears to be prepping his supporters for perceived fraud in the election. The talk show host has directed his supporters to an online form in which they can report suspected voter fraud. Trump has echoed claims of voter fraud in the recall election in a statement sent from his Save America PAC which read, "Does anybody really believe the California Recall Election isn't rigged?", blaming Mail-in ballots as he did in the 2020 election.


Thankfully Elder did concede the results in a statement to his supporters he said, "Let’s be gracious in defeat. We may have lost the battle, but we are going to win the war".


This posturing may mean that some Republican candidates will continue to attempt to delegitimize losses since this strategy seemed to go over so well with Republican voters in the Presidential election. And as editor-at-large Chris Cillizza notes, if Republicans are willing to try this approach in an election in which the opponent is so likely to win anyway. Who's to say it won't be considered in much closer races.
CNN



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