This is just some of the destruction in louisiana, thats about an Hour South of New Orleans. In New Orleans, the French Quarter was hit hard with significant damage. Still dark there but as The Sun comes up well have a better feel for things. In all, more than 1 Million people there are without electricity. The Power Outage could make the area for susceptible to extreme flooding like we see in this video from grand isle, along the coast. Joining us now jay gray. Good morning, the power is out in New Orleans, what does it look like this morning . Reporter willie, it is a mess right now. Once we get some sunshine i think well see more problems in New Orleans. But a break in the conditions, the winds dropped off, the rain thankfully after 16 straight hours has stopped. We have a chance to look at some of the devastation. You can see the Roof Top behind me pulled from a building thrown into the French Quarter, bringing with it an elevated street sign. You can see the brace there bent and pulled to the ground. Its pulled away shutters from doorways, the doorways thrown open by the wind. We have shattered windows, alarms going off in most every block of the French Quarter. Where did the Roof Top come from . It came across the street here, thats the jacks brewery, housed in there is shops and businesses, restaurants. The pieces of the roof of this building are scattered across the entire French Quarter. We see a chunk here but theres other chunks in the French Quarter as well. We have standing water in some communities. You talk about the Power Outages, the main Transmission Lines, eight lines that bring power to the city, theyre in the Mississippi River right now extracting those and repairing them. Thats going to take time. Also on the Mississippi River, 22 barges that broke from their moorings in the height of the storm, the Coast Guard is going to try to corral those but thats going to be a mammoth effort as well. What we also have going on is people outside of the community have watched all of this going on and the mayor is urging, pleading with people that evacuated to stay out and let the teams get in and do their work and then turn back and come home. Thats a tough ask when youve been watching this Go On for 24 hours and dont know whats going on with your home. Yesterday was the anniversary of katrina making landfall, much of the problems there was the levies broke, they didnt hold. But millions of dollars invested there, how are they holding up, according to your reporting so far . At this point it looks like the levy is doing a fine job. There are two breaches that are causing problems right now, one in La Feet and one in plaquemans parish. They have water rushing in. There are a couple hundred people who stayed behind theyre told to move out because they cant slow the water down there either. The Pumping Stations that surround the city, move the water from the canals into the Mississippi River or lake pontchartrain. There are new pumps in some areas as well and thats keeping the water out of the bowl that is New Orleans below sea level. Jay gray reporting for us from the French Quarter. Lets turn to nbc Meteorologist Bill karins. Good morning, the storm is downgraded now to a tropical storm. We saw Winds Yesterday Morning bumping up against Category 5 speed, 150 miles an hour sustained winds. What are you seeing now . Where is this path headed . Good morning. Its incredible to think yesterday we had 150 mile per hour, category 4 hurricane make landfall, it was a category 4 for eight hours, it didnt get downgraded to a 2 until it was due west of New Orleans. Some Storm Chasers were able to get some video before sunset but we havent seen the damage yet. Some of the flooding pictures that we havent seen, the Storm Surge because we havent been able to get in those areas. Those pictures will come and well show you those during the day today. Well deal with the Flash Flooding and rainfall from the storm. I went down to 60 miles per hour. The Wind Damage Portion of the storm is almost over. Theres people in mississippi without power. We have issues with people losing power but thats going to slow down, too. The highest winds on the map are 30 to 35 mile per Hour Range. So the winds have come down, up around jackson, mississippi up to meridian, isolated Power Outages at worst. We have to watch, the potential for isolated tornados. The highest Wind Gusts We Saw, in most of the locations, down towards the coast, thats where the landfall was. Thats extreme, the 172 mile per Hour Gust was a shift tied to the coastline around the port. So that damage should be incredible to see. Thats a very strong tornado went through that area. New orleans highest Wind Gust was 87 miles per hour. We have to worry about tornados from pensacola, beloxi, mobile. And the path of the storm, should be a tropical depression by later today. But then this is a huge Rain Maker through tennessee which has had epic flooding the past summer. Then the rain is going to go through washington d. C. , through philadelphia and new York City. The least thing we need after what we dealt with with Henri Last Weekend is another flood event. 58 Million people from philadelphia, jersey, down to New Orleans are under Flash Flood watches we have the warnings from the rain were seeing with the storm currently. Heres the expected rainfall, this is in addition to whats already fallen, mississippi five inches possible, tennessee three to five inches and the heavy Rain Threat through pennsylvania, through new York City, hartford, boston. That would be Wednesday Night through thursday. Were done pretty much with the Wind Damage and Storm Surge. I want to go east to jackson, mississippi, thats where we find Ron Allen. Good morning, as we looked at Bills Radar there, it looks like the storm is spinning through the east where you are in alabama. What does it look like in jackson . Reporter it started raining overnight. The wind is picking up. Its not that strong, the last time i looked i saw about a 15, 20 miles per hour. This is the beginning of things here. Already in the southern part of the state there are reports of Power Outages. Last time i checked they were in the neighborhood of more than 100,000 and growing. We are in a hotel in jackson. If you look, all these cars around me here, they all have Louisiana License plates. This place has become a refuge for people leaving louisiana and southern Mississippi And Head north here for shelter. Thats what the people that we are here who weve been speaking to and seeing overnight since we got here, they all fled their homes theyre worried about whats going on. Theyre sitting around watching the news and on their phones trying to keep track of whats going on back home. And, of course, theyre losing touch with everything because the Power Outages are so widespread in louisiana and also in the part of the state theyre growing. The winds are starting to pick up, but at this moment its the rain. Its a Gentle Rain Falling but again things are just beginning here. You can see the power is still on. Theres some traffic on the roads, although its early in the morning, not a lot of people out there. At this point we are just preparing for things. Were bracing for this. We expect the next few hours as the Storm Tracks north itll come here and hit here, the center of the storm should be over this part of the state by late afternoon, early evening. So were hunkering down. Back to you. Well keep our eyes on your Position And Mississippi as well. Bill, lets talk about where Ron Allen is and whats coming for jackson. It looks like the storm is spinning to the east right over mississippi . Yeah. Im not as concerned with the Power Outages up in jackson, i think well get gusts up to 40 miles per hour in that area. The storm is going to weaken that the Wind Damage isnt substantial. Flash flooding could be a possibility if you live near streams that could be an issue too. Winds are in the 20 mile per Hour Range right now. One of the stories that i think is going to develop Today And Everything im reading about the Power Outages in New Orleans, this is not a flip of the Switch Type of thing. Its a lot of people ahead of the storm that had the means and money left now the people waking up without power and see they may not have power for days with the means and money are going to leave today in the New Orleans area. Whats going to be Left Behind is the people who dont have money to spend time in hotel rooms, their food will start going bad during the day today. The forecast, its 88 to 90 degrees in New Orleans every day the rest of the week. Overnight lows are only 78 to 80 degrees. Its New Orleans, its still summer, it is hot, humid, its going to get very uncomfortable. Thats going to be the story as we go tlouts the next couple of days, the people without the means, the people with disabilities, theyre going to need food, possibly shelter because theyll be hot and uncomfortable in their homes. And when you talk about it, the covid implications, the people in the hospital that need oxygen, supply lines, theyre getting it, those people, and the people on ventilator, they need power. Obviously the hospitals need power, the generators they have but theyll Need Fuel to power those. And louisiana is in a fight right now with covid, a lot of Hospital Beds are full. Unfortunately they have experience with this but youre right anyone who spend a minute inside New Orleans in late august knows how hot it can be. Well take a quick break, when we come back the latest from afghanistan where overnight the united states shot down several rockets aimed at the Kabul Airport. Plus President Biden pays his respects to The American troops killed last week, 13 of them. Well go live to the White House for the latest. Youre watching Morning Joe well be right back. Youre watching Morning Joe well be right back. Lets give everybody a fair shot. Because when that happens, weve all made it. Vo just getting by, its an ongoing struggle. Because when that happens, weve all made it. Thats why President Biden and democrats in congress have a plan to Lower Costs for americas working families. Lower costs of Healthcare Premiums and the price of Prescription Drugs. Pay less for electric bills by moving to clean energy. And do it all by making the ultrawealthy pay their fair share of taxes. Itd be a win for the everyday american family. Right when they could really use one. 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Learn more at your local xfinity store today. Theres a high likelihood of additional attacks between now and the 31st. What i can tell you is this, we met again this morning with the president and our top commanders, both in the field and, of course, the chairman of the joint Chiefs And Secretary of defense. And i know that theyre taking every possible precaution to keep our men and women safe. But this is the most dangerous time in an already extraordinarily dangerous mission, these last couple of days so we will do everything possible to keep people safe but the risk is very high. Thats Secretary Of State Antony Blinken Warning of another threat. Rocket fire apparently targeting kabuls International Airport struck a nearby neighborhood on the eve of the deadline for american troops to withdraw from the company. As many as five of the rockets were intercepted by a Missile Defense System according to the Washington Post. It didnt stop the jets taking off and landing at Kabul Airport. Jen psaki said President Biden had been briefed on the thwarted Attack Writing, the president was informed, operations continue understood uninterrupted. U. S. Forces conducted a Drone Strike against a vehicle carrying multiple Suicide Bombers from isisk. This was yesterday before those people could attack the ongoing Evacuation Effort. An official said three children were killed in the strike. The united States Military drone fired a missile at a vehicle in a compound between two buildings after individuals were seen Loading Explosives into the truck. The official said there was an initial explosion caused by the missile caused by a larger fireball perhaps by the explosives in the vehicle. A spokesperson said, quote, substantial and powerful subsequent explosions resulted from the destruction of the vehicle which may have caused additional casuacasualties. He added the military is investigating further and said, quote, we would be deeply saddened by loss of life. Isisk took responsibility for the bombing on thursday that killed 13 Service Members and at least 169 afghans. Lets bring in Matt Bradley, hes live in germany overlooking ramstein Air Base, the destination for most of the evacuating flights from afghanistan. Matt, we are on the eve of the evacuation, one Day Left before The American forces leave afghanistan. What does the Traffic Look like into ramstein right now . Reporter were actually were still seeing that traffic, obviously. This is still going on at pace. We are still seeing commercial airlines taking off, c7s, c 17s, c130s. Landing here. What were hearing now is there are now 15,000 afghan evacuees living at that base. This is a moving target. In the next 12 hours they said theyre expecting about 1,700 to arrive, and about 2,000 to leave. Notice how that has changed. Now theyre expecting fewer to arrive in the next 12 hours than will be leaving. It used to be more that they were accepting more and more and more and fewer and fewer were taking off. Now its the opposite. It looks like that Evacuation Effort is kind of starting to slow down and push more in the direction of people moving on for ramstein towards the united states. Most of them to dulles airport in virginia. Rather than just more of accepting and accepting and that Tent City we were walking through the other day growing larger and larger and larger. Still, willie, this base is at capacity, 15,000 evacuees are still here. That number is going to probably stay around there, thats about as much as they can take. Now they are evacuees going to a navy Air Base in Italy And Rodha in spain. Thats because they cant take much more here. They need to stop off in europe so they can be processed by the State Department before they finally move on to the u. S. We know there are still some americans left in afghanistan with one Day Left of the evacuations and many, many afghans who would like to leave the country. What happens to them as this deadline is met as President Biden has promised on the 31st, which is tomorrow. What happens on wednesday, on September 1st, to those Left Behind . Reporter you know, i dont really know. Ive spoken with some young afghans trying to get out. I spoke with a young woman last week, she was on a bus trying to get into the airport. She sat on that bus for about 10 hours. The taliban came on and were looking around, inspecting everybody. Its tough because they have to get through the taliban checkpoints and in order to do that they have to identify themselves to the taliban. So if they dont make it into the airport, if they dont get out of the country, then they have to return to talibanoccupied kabul, knowing that the taliban has their names, their contact details, all of their information, knowing the taliban knows that theyve been trying desperately to leave the country. Its unclear whats going to happen to them. The young people i was speaking to, they were willing to give the taliban the benefit of the doubt because right now, despite the stories theyve heard from their parents, friends, relatives who remember the brutal taliban rule in the 1990s, so far they havent shown themselves to be quite the cruel Task Master they were in the 90s. So maybe they can live under taliban rule or maybe go and get on a plane at a talibancontrolled airport in kabul and fly out after the u. S. Has completely evacuated. After that August 31st deadline. Thats a possibility maybe. Weve also heard some other things that maybe Turkey And Qatar might come together and create some kind of international institution that would then have governance over the airport, shared governance with the taliban. All of those discussions unclear where theyre going whether or not that would be successful, whether the taliban would agree to allow third or fourth countries to take control or have a stake in the management of the airport going forward. A lot of plans out there right now but its hard to say, know whats going to happen after that date, tomorrow, August 31st, that deadline. And hope is all many of them have. After nearly 20 years in afghanistan, less than 24 hours left in afghanistan. Matt, thanks so much. President biden and first Lady Biden honored the fallen during a dignified Transfer Yesterday at Dover Air Force Base in delaware. The remains of the 13 Service Members killed on thursday in that attack at Kabul Airport were returned to Gold Star families, 11 marines, a Navy Medic and an army soldier. Lets bring in Nbc Correspondent mike memoli. This is the most solemn duty a president can perform as commander in chief, something he performed as Vice President about five years ago. This is a difficult set of days for the White House. Its hard to think of, in recent memory in a fouryear president ial term, convergence of crisis what the biden administration is facing now. You started the show with the Hurricane Bearing down on one of the most vulnerable stretches of coastline in the country. You have the ongoing pandemic and millions of americans set to return to School And Work with the highly transmissible Delta Variant still raging. But the high Wire Act by the White House in the next 24 hours, ahead of the deadline, really came to life with this incredible scene at Dover Air Force Base yesterday as the president met privately with some of those families of the lost heroes in afghanistan, and then participated for roughly an hour in the most solemn proceeding you can imagine. No sound audible other than the commands being issued by the Honor Guards and as the Press Pool that was there for that Moment Yesterday described it, the anguished sobbing of some of the Family Members who participated. We talked so often about this President S relationship with grief, the grief he experienced himself having lost two children, a wife in tragic circumstances, the role hes played in as consoler in chief so often sharing that empathy he has built over the course of years himself, this on Display Yesterday but in a very different way, willie. This is really the first time he is doing this as the result of decisions hes made as president of the united states. This is a burden, White House officials are telling me, hes feeling very significantly at this moment, you can see him yesterday watching every one of those transfer cases from the moment they stepped off the plane to the moment they were put in those vehicles and really bowing his head in prayer each time. Think of the moment a few days ago when he spoke to the country and at one point after bowing his head for a Moment Of Silence, he grasped what looked like a bracelet around his arm. That was actually parts of the rosary that belonged to his son, beau, of course, a member of the national guard who served in iraq. The president didnt lose his son in war but he believes his Sons Cancer in part was a consequence of his time in war, the burn pits he was near during his time there. So a very difficult day for the president over the course of a series of difficult days that very well could define his presidency, willie. The decision, the way the evacuation has been handled the past month has been criticized heavily, probably will be for generations as people investigate it and write books about it the way they did with vietnam. But what is the president thinking when the last plane takes off tomorrow and The American presence ends after 20 years what does it look like for the president , what if the taliban, isis, Al Qaeda comes back . Whats the approach . As Jen Psaki put this on friday, this is not a time at the White House for reflection. There is effort being made to make sure the final hours are safe ones where we dont see a repeat of the tragedy We Saw last week. The president directing his commanders to prioritize Force Protection at the moment. We talked about the strike from a drone to neutralize an imminent threat, the rockets headed towards Hamid Karzai International Airport. At every moment he has expressed his sincere belief that the decision he made is ultimately the right one for the country. He knows its difficult moments but the decisions that have been passed along from President Topresident about the future of afghanistan he said hes now willing to absorb all of the second guessing, the potential fallout from what he believes history will judge as the right decision. But clearly as weve been hearing from White House officials over the weekend in particular, there is considerable uncertainty about what happens, what a diplomatic presence looks like for the united states without the military on the ground even if there is one. Secretary of State Blinken saying its not likely well continue an embassy. Theres leverage on the taliban to continue to keep pressure on them and continue the evacuation of afghans. Clearly this is a decision scrutinized for however long Joe Biden is president of the united states. Lets turn to mike barnicle. Good morning, mike. This obviously weighed heavily on President Biden, if you take the politics out of it and the policy out of it, this moment at Dover Yesterday to greet, sadly, those 13 transfer cases. Im struck as i look at their ages of the 13 fallen Service Members, five of them were 20 years old, which means they were infants on september 11, 2011. A couple were 22, some 23, 25. Safe to say, most of them were kindergarteners or younger when the attacks of 9 11 took place that ultimately sent them to afghanistan and cost them their lives. Thats exactly it, willie. The average age of the 13 casualties was around 21 years of age, the oldest was 31 years of age. Not old at all. And they died helping people from a country that they had never been to before, most likely, for a war that began just as they were born, 20 years ago, 21 years ago. And thats who we are, thats what america represents. Yesterday was a deeply emotional day for a deeply emotional president of the united states. Hes a deeply emotional man. As most americans know. And in the larger picture, there is the future, the immediate future, the next 24 hours, which is the most perilous time of all for every american still on the ground and will be until the last C130 Or C17 lifts off from the Kabul Airport in kabul and lifts off safely. But until then, until that moment occurs, every second of the next 24 hours is just more dangerous than dynamite, literally. Because Force Protection is usually left to elements of The American military, protecting the departing forces. Force protection, inevitably is going to be left in the last few hours to the taliban. And were going to find out exactly how much we can depend on them. How many we can deal with them. We dont know. Thats an unknown future for all of us in this country certainly. And going forward, you know, off of mike memolis report, its going to have, i think and i have heard, a coalition of countries dealing with the taliban and setting up their government. And then the other aspect of it, willie, that you led this program with, that youve been talking with, think about the President S Day Yesterday, of the morning spent watching casualties being carried off of planes in dover, delaware. And then to the White House for a meeting with fema about an incredibly destructive hurricane sweeping through New Orleans and dumping, you know, rain from New Orleans all the way up through memphis, tennessee right now. And then the virus, the constant meetings about the virus. Thats a terrible day for anyone. President of the united states too. And its a terrible day for america. Weve all been through a Lot And God forbid we go through more tragedy in the next 24 hours. You talk about the job the fallen 13 were performing. We have an Instagram Post from a few days from marine Corps Sergeant Nicole gee, 23 years old from california, cradling an afghan child and writing, i love my job. She was one of the 13 killed in that attack. You know this president , youre plugged into this White House, this is the nightmare scenario. This is what he wanted to avoid. He wanted to get out as cleanly as possible. Weve lost 13 americans they thwarted the united States Military, a couple more attempted attacks on the airport. Whats it been like inside that West Wing over the last couple of weeks as the president has had to watch this Chaos And Horror unfold in afghanistan . Well, you know, i dont know for sure but certainly its filled with tension, filled with worry, filled with concern on an hourly basis for the troops in kabul. The main job now is to get them out safely. And yet, overlying that is the President S strong belief, as we reported over and over and over again, that hes made the right decision, the correct decision to end this war after 20 long years. Theres going to be, we all know theres going to be incredible numbers of autopsies done, forensic autopsies done on the decisions that led up to what happened over the past two weeks. Could it have been done better . I think everyone in the White House, the pentagon would agree yes, it could have been done better. Why wasnt it done better . We have to find out. Theyll sit down in congress and in the White House and find out why it happened, what happened, and why there was chaos starting with this departure. Up next, the latest on the coronavirus as hospitalizations surge past 100,000. And we go live to louisiana as ida, just this morning, now downgraded to a tropical storm. Morning joe is coming right back. 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Unfortunately itll only likely look worse whenever The Sun comes up and the little part of this Community Weve had a chance to survey in getting from where we spent the night last night to here, it looks like this. You have the building taken to the ground in pieces. And this is just one block and one community left crippled by Hurricane Ida. The Wind Gusts upwards of 140 miles per hour. There was a mandatory Evacuation Order in place here but im told only about 60 of people got out of town. First responders had to hunker down themselves before they were able to go out and survey the area. Part of the problem, Power Poles blocking streets, Power Lines still blocking roadways and first responders have trouble getting to point a from Point B because of flat tires. Joining me is gordon dove. You havent slept overnight. I know its tough, but ida in perspective for us. This is definitely the worst hurricane to hit our parish. We had Rita In 05, Gustav In 08, but this is more devastating than any Hurricane Weve ever had. Reporter how does it feel having grown up here yourself to go through the struggle yet again . We live on the Gulf Coast and hurricanes have been, you know, have been a fixture in our lives and all the way back to Hurricane Betsy in, i think, 1965, and well just clean up and weve got a long weve got a Lot Job ahead of us. Our responders are out, well start clearing roads, we have talking to the governor, hes got thousands of Line Trucks coming in to parishes affected and well get the power Back On. And thats what were trying to do right now. Reporter you mentioned this was not you were concerned about that Storm Surge here, but after ida rolls through, the wind really proved to be the most devastating factor in what youve seen so far. The wind was 140 miles an hour, up to 160 mile an Hour Gusts. The eye came within the few miles of homer, where were standing here. It hit us with a lot of North Wind into the Southeast Portion of the parish, thats where the Storm Serge came in. Reporter and your message to the folks in your Parish Today . Were cleaning up. Well have responders. All right. Obviously weve lost the signal down there just southwest of New Orleans but when the president of the parish tells you this is the worst hurricane hes seen you know its bad. As The Sun comes up well get pictures. We want to thank Morgan Chesky for his reporting. Still ahead, a Florida Judge knocks down an order from governor Ron Desantis that banned local School Boards from implementing Mask Mandates. More on that when we come right back. Mask mandates more on that when we come right back this is the greatest Idea Youll ever hear. Okay, its an app that compares Hundreds Of Travel Sites for hotels and cars and Vacation Rentals like kayak does for flights. So its kayak. Yeah, like kayak. Why dont you just call it kayak. Im calling it. Canoe. 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Florida has more people hospitalized with covid than any other state. More than 17,000 texas has the second most. Joining us now, associate Medical Director of the Emergency Department of tampa hospital, dr. Jason wilson. Dr. Wilson, thanks for being with us this morning. What does it look like in your hospital in tampa right now . I just worked an entire Night Shift in the covid part of our Emergency Department and we continue to see very high volumes. We reached a steady state of a pretty high volume of about 240 patients in the hospital at any given time. I admitted about 15 patients last night, did the same thing the night before. And again, these are mostly unvaccinated patient. Only admitted one vaccinated patient over the entire period of the weekend. What are you seeing in terms of ages, in terms of what kind of patient is in the hospital because we know Vaccination Rates nationally, in florida, across the south are high for older people in this country. Whats the profile of the patient youre seeing . You go back a year ago to last summer, what We Saw was mostly elderly patients, people in their 70s, people with a number of other comorbidities, diabetes, high blood pressure, we would look at that last year to see how sick a patient was going to get. But this year instead what you see is the biggest Risk Factor of whether you get sick from covid is vaccination status. So we are seeing younger patients unvaccinated. Really its are you vaccinated or not predicts how sick the patients get, things like diabetes, high blood pressure, being overweight are secondary to vaccination status. 15 to 20 is the average age right now. Pull out statewide, talk about your hospital in tampa, cases are spiking in florida. What does it look like broadly in florida and what do you do to mitigate whats happening in other hospitals across the state . You see something going on in the rest of florida right now because the Vaccination Rates are not where we need them to be and we have not been great at a lot of the public health policies that we know we need to take part in when we see the numbers get to a level theyre at. We talk about cases per day, like the 5 per 100,000 range to get to a place of containment or a place we can move about freely or ask. We are at 100 per 100,000 right now. So those kind of numbers put us at a place where its very difficult to go back to being able to move about freely. But most of florida right now, were seeing a lot of movement, a lot of indoor crowds again with low Vaccination Rates and low mask wearing. Were hearing about ambulances being delayed, hospitals obviously overcrowded. Are you seeing that in your hospital . Are there patients who you cant see . Who cant be admitted to the Hospital Or Cant get the immediate care they need because of the crowding of Covid Patients . Yeah. Where were at right now is that the Health Care System is certainly being stressed. Were still able to safely take Care Of patients who are very, very sick. Patients having things like strokes and Heart Attacks but patients that might need to be transported from one facility to another, those transfers are taking a long period of time if they can even happen at all. Patients without an urgent or acute disease or maybe have more chronic Disease Or Disability or reasons they cant do transportation on their own, they may suffer by long ambulance times, long waits in ambulances, problems with ambulances being able to get around because theyre waiting to unload patients at hospitals because the Emergency Departments have patients waiting to go upstairs so It Trickle Downs in the community. A lot of this preventable if people would get vaccinated, as you say. Dr. Wilson thanks for your time this morning. We appreciate it. A Florida Judge on friday knocked down the States Order banning local School Boards from implementing Mask Mandates saying the sweeping action out of the tallahassee State House does not pass constitutional muster. The judge said School Districts have the right to set policies like Mask Mandates as long as they have compelling State Interest and have a narrowly tailored plan of action. The judge is not ruling against Ron Desantis but taking action from barring State Agencies from enforcing local orders. In response, the Governors Office said, quote, the ruling is made with incoherent justifications not based in science or facts or focused on the merits of the case presented. The state plans to appeal. Joining us now mark caputo. You know florida politics better than anyone. How is this playing out in the state where you have the governor from the State House in tallahassee handing down mandates and local School Boards, teachers, superintendents, saying we have to violate your order to keep our kids safe . Im just going to rely on the polling. Quinnipiac doesnt have a great record of polling in florida a lot of polls have been democratic leaning. If you do look at the Governors Approval ratings hes slightly above water. When people are asked about masks and the particulars of the governors universal Mask Mandate Ban so to speak, it just doesnt farewell. Its not only in the public polling its also in the private polling, some polling from the republican Party I Cant discuss publicly. But ive seen it and its not good for desantis and even republicans at a high level are wondering why did he have to pick this fight . Understand this, is that now in this School Year, desantis is going an extra step than he did the previous year. You see, the previous year we had schools open in florida and he was among the first governors, if not the first governor to embrace having kids back in the classroom but he gave parents an option and they had the ability to learn from home or go into class where they had to wear masks. So you had smaller Class Sizes which implemented or necessitated or led to more social distancing and you had universal masking. Now theres the third factor, the Delta Variant. It appears, all signs are, that its more contagious and infects more people, including more young people. Yet, despite those changes, the governor has plowed ahead to embark on this course of action. So far the polling or when you talk to people individually indicate its not popular with the majority of floridans. That raises the question, who is the Governor Signaling to with this fight . Is it a national audience he wants to run for President Some day. Does he want to keep the Base Close . A fight with a Schoolteacher Or Superintendent saying i dont want a political fight i dont want my kids to get sick in classrooms so im going to put them in masks. What does he get out of this . So far what you see with Governor Desantis, both the polling in florida and nationwide is his management in covid and his defiance, fighting against the media, so to speak, liberals, scientists and doctors has been popular with the republican base. It would be nice to ask Governor Desantis these questions, its difficult to ask him direct questions. Another question that we have in the press and the public at large whos paying attention to this, is the governor made a really, Big Strong Push early on to get old people vaccinated and spread vaccines. Once it hit a certain level in florida he begandeemphasizing vaccinations and began implementing laws that ban vaccine passports. Ron desantis still says that more in kind of a hand waving way, you should get vaccinated. Instead hes focussing on regeneron, which makes sense because it helps people who initially test positive to keep from going to the hospital or dying, but theres still millions who arent vaccinated. And the governor is not consistently and strongly messaging to them now the way he did in the past to get vaccinated. And there is a portion of the republican base, a vocal portion of the republican base that are antivaccination. I know my brother is one of them and its very difficult to persuade him otherwise. If you see the president or former President Trump in alabama got booed for talking about vaccine. Theres a portion of folks that dont want to hear it and if you bring it up, theyre going to boo you. And Governor Desantis is, in many ways, siding with them over School Boards and teachers in his state. Mike barnicle is here with a question for you. Mark, as you know, various State Legislatures around the country, republicans have poured a lot of money into those legislative races and captured the legislatures in many of the states. In florida, tell us what your view is of this infection, this political infection where basically the governor of florida is saying its okay to gamble with the health of your children, your small children, School Age children, whats the impact from what he says and how he behaves within the Florida Legislature . Do they all go along with this . Is this a good position to hold . I wouldnt say they all go along with it. But the reality is Ron Desantis and the Florida Legislature are representing their constituents and there is a big divide when you look at the Polling And Talk to people, between partisans. Democrats are much more scared of the virus and much more likely to take very strong precautions against it and republicans, relatively speaking are not. And we have this Red And Blue World here and theres not a lot of purple. Which is kind of rare in some respects for florida, which is a purple state. I dont see this being solved any time soon, except for the cases in florida and the hospitalizations and the deaths eventually declining. We have signs right now that hospitalizations and cases have plateaued and are declining a little. Deaths are going to continue to spike for a couple of weeks. As that fades away, the question is going to be have we had enough people in the state, about 50 of the total population vaccinated, the others havent, but we had 3. 3 Million people out of 21 Million people affected. We might have built a lot of, so to speak, Herd Immunity we dont know. But as the cases decline so will the temperature over this. Until then its hot and not a lot of bipartisanship over this. Mark mark, good to see you, s for joining us. Just ahead, the head of fema on the Recovery Efforts under way in louisiana. As ida just an hour ago downgraded to a tropical storm. Back in one minute. O a tropicalm back in one minute with live better u, my What Ifs were erased. I cant let diabetes get in my way. Ive got way too much stuff to do. So heres what i do. I wear this dexcom g6. It continuously sends my Glucose Numbers to my phone. And this arrow shows me where im headed and how fast. Without fingersticks or scanning, making it much easier to keep my glucose in range. Which for me is between 100 and 160. And the more time i spend in range, the better i feel. And the more i can check off my list. Check out dexcom. Com inrange. Lets run it back. This may look like a regular Movie Night. But if youre a kid with diabetes, its more. Its the simple act of enjoying time with friends, knowing you understand your glucose levels. We are at the top of the hour, its 6 00 in the morning and The Sun is rising over the French Quarter in New Orleans. Were following, now, tropical Storm Ida, which has been downgraded from a hurricane. It made Landfall Yesterday with winds of 150 miles an hour. A category 4 bumping up against Category 5 territory. Lets go to Bill Karins for the latest on the storm. How is it looking . Were get Breaking News in through the night. Now that daylight is Coming Up well get pictures to show you whats going on. We keep getting these Flash Flood emergencies in different areas. One area had 14 inches of rain, a family on facebook in their attic asking for people to come and rescue them, we know that is a trouble area. And the cajun navy said theyre going to be in there this morning trying to rescue people. There could be A Thousand people that need rescue there. Well see what that looks like at daybreak there and a new Flash Flood emergency issued for alliance, louisiana, a small community on the Mississippi River, they said the levy breached there on highway 23, i was looking at the maps and seeing what the population is, its a small area but what jumping out at me is the Phillips 66 refinery is there too right in the middle of the Flash Flood emergency. Not only do we have potential to have injuries and fatalities from the Flash Flooding but you look at what the environmental impacts look like from the storm. Let me bring you to the latest from the storm, its been downgraded to a tropical storm. It was amazing how long this stayed a hurricane. It was almost 18 hours after landfall it was still a hurricane. A lot of that had to do with the warm Swamp Water in Southern Louisiana. The winds are at 36 in mccomb. The winds arent causing too much damage. The highest winds were obviously at landfall well show you those pictures when we get them later this morning when we get the helicopter to show you what it looks like. Even well built houses will be torn apart. We know we have significant Roof Damage to structures, including a hospital. Thats what you get with an 80 to 90 mile per hour wind. I think we could get gusts from 50 to 60. Not worried about you in memphis or tupelo, mccomb. Likely in the 50 to 60 range. The biggest concern here on out is going to be rainfall. I mentioned problems with the levies. Flash flooding is going to be an issue. Mississippi and alabama. Look at the rain up to the eastern Sea Board into southern New England in the days ahead. Under a moderate risk of Flash Flooding if you live on a Stream Or River including areas from new York City to d. C. Into areas of Kentucky And Tennessee you have to watch out because its been a wet summer, weve had numerous Flash Flooding events and this looks dangerous in the days ahead. Ida is weakening wind wise but rainfall its going to be a big issue all the way through Thursday Morning until it exits areas around boston. A million people without power in louisiana, including all of New Orleans at last check. What are the implications of that . Obviously the heat is the biggest thing for people in that city and state. Its as humid as it can be in louisiana if in late august, but what does that mean to have no power. We heard many of the Power Lines are down in the mississippi and officials are trying to recover those now. Yeah, theyre nottimeline, t hearing them make that mistake. But when theyre saying its going to take days to salvage that out of the mississippi. They have to fish it out and get the lines out of the river. Youre talking, logistics of that is just mind boggling and on top of that, what about the Barge Traffic that has to get back up the Mississippi River to bring supplies to the midwest and the middle of the country, including gas prices. So you worry about those issues. Theres eight main Transmission Lines that go into New Orleans, all of them went down. I heard people in the parish President S, the Community Boards saying theres going to be investigations into this Power Supply Issue into New Orleans, that its unacceptable. I think theyre trying to prepare the public for a long, extended period of power without power in New Orleans. So youre going to see more people leaving New Orleans that can. The people that cant are going to be stuck there. You worry about the elderly, the people without the financial means, their food will start going bad in their refrigerators shortly, the freezers only last a day or two, and on top of that, how uncomfortable is it being in New Orleans in the summer when overnight lows at near 80 degrees as humid as can be after a rainstorm and during the day its 90, Heat Index about 100. Were just beginning to start to get an idea of what the misery is going to be like in Southeast Louisiana and New Orleans. We worry about the elderly, disabled, people who cant get out of New Orleans. I know the efforts have begun doortodoor to find people and help them. Joining us now from Gulf Port, mississippi, Shaquille Brewster. I see the storm behind you, its spinning in your direction. Reporter this is a continuation of what We Saw overnight and yesterday into the evening. Shows you how quickly things changed. An hour or two ago it seemed as if the Rain And Wind was stopping now you see it picking up. Despite Hurricane Ida no longer being a hurricane, its now a tropical storm. What weve been experiencing here in Gulf Port and the Gulf Coast are the tropical Storm Watches. What that looks like despite it not being a hurricane is this. This is siding from our hotel that flew off in the overnight hours. That shows you, and helps emphasize what officials are saying when they plead with folks to stay home, not go out and venture out when you have the lulls in the storm. One thing We Saw overnight was a Wind Gust up to 74 miles an hour. And again thats under a tropical Storm Watch and not under what you saw in louisiana with the full hurricane. What officials are also watching and what theyre concerned about is not just the wind and rain, but also the Storm Surge. We know about 10 minutes away from here at a marina they saw Storm Surge at a little over 7 feet. You have the River Flooding watches and warnings in this area. The Flash Flood warnings and watches theyre looking at. There are many different issues that folks are paying attention to. Throw on top of that the Tornado Watch we are under right now. Our crew did not get much sleep last night not only because of the reporting that we were doing but the alerts that kept going on overnight with the Tornado Warnings that were in place telling people to hunker down and stay in place. You get an idea of how quickly things change. One thing were not seeing, this is a positive sign on the Gulf Coast, were not seeing the widespread Power Outages youre seeing in louisiana. Here youre looking at about 93,000 outages. In louisiana you have about One Million people out of power. We did lose power at our hotel a little bit over the course of the night you can see behind me with the Street Lights and beyond to the peer there you can see they have power along the Gulf Coast, so that is not the problem. Again, officials are emphasizing despite the fact that power has held up for the most part you have the lulls in the wind, in the rain. Theyre telling people to stay hunkered down, stay sheltered in place until the storm has completely moved out because it could get dangerous very quickly and thats what they want to avoid. There is a lot along that waterfront in Gulf Port, hospitals nearby, a hotel, casino, well let you break off and look around. Be careful as you do. Thank you so much. Well talk to the Fema Administrator in a few moments. We want to turn to afghanistan where the united States Military is fending off attacks against kabuls Main Airport again. Rocket fire reportedly targeting the airport, struck a nearby neighborhood on the eve of the deadline to withdraw from the country. The Washington Post reporting five rockets at least were intercepted by a Missile Defense System. It did not stop the stream of Cargo Jets taking off and landing at the airport. U. S. Forces conducted a Drone Strike against a vehicle carrying multiple Suicide Bombers from afghanistans islamic State Affiliate Isisk yesterday before they could attack the military evacuation at the airport. The united States Military drone fired a missile at a vehicle in a compound between two buildings after people were seen Loading Explosives into the truck. Officials said there was an initial explosion caused by the missile caused by a fireball. Isisk took responsibility for the Suicide Bombing at the Airport On Thursday that killed 13 u. S. Service members and at least 169 afghans. The president and First Lady gathered with the families of those 13 u. S. Service members killed in last Weeks Attack at the airport in kabul. Ally have youal lee reports on the transfer of remains at Dover Air Force Base in delaware. Reporter President Biden honoring the fallen, the u. S. Service members killed in kabul this week arriving home to the united states in flagdraped cases. Among them, 23yearold marine sergeant nicole gee, one of two women killed on the front lines. Days ago she shared this picture from the airport, cradling a Baby Captioned i love my job. One of the last photos shed post. The president himself no stranger to Grief And Loss at times bowed his head and closed his eyes. He and the First Lady along with the secretary of defense, state, and joint Chiefs Fwat erred with families at Dover Air Force Base for hours. Sundays transfer, bidens first as commander in chief. A weight born by President S before him. Joining us white House Reporter for the Associated Press, jonathan lemire. Good morning. Good to see you. Thats a solemn duty a president can perform being at discover yesterday to greet the cases as they came from afghanistan. We have 24 hours or less until the full american withdrawal from afghanistan, what are some of the fears and concerns out of the White House right now . Good morning, willie. Certainly there is no more so let me duty for a Commander And Chief than what We Saw President Biden do yesterday. One that hits hard for him he told aides because of his Son Beau, a veteran. Not because he died in combat, but because of the sacrifice these families make. We are down to the final hours of the evacuation, the shift now is to scramble to get out as many americans as they can before the deadline. The messages went out over the weekend, warning people it was too dangerous at times to travel to the Kabul Airport because of the fear of more terror strikes. P we have had retaliations from u. S. Military, Drone Strikes, the last 24 hours or so. But also messages now saying its frankly too late to evacuate most of the afghan civilians, that they now need to, if they cant get out by Tomorrows Deadline, find their own way, u. S. Officials saying the taliban has agreed to respect the deadline, they wont interfere between now and then. Well see. Theres been debate as to how trustworthy the taliban is. But the threat by isisk and other terror groups were seeing the afghans trying to get out by other means, headed to Land Borders of iran and afghanistan looking to get out ahead of the clutches of the taliban. And there will be some americans who wont get out that will need to find their own way. Its their fate in the final hours that is paramount to the White House and the department of defense. The american intelligence and eyes into isisk is extraordinary, the fact they were able to blow up that truck and intercept the rockets lobbed towards the airport. Whats from the Point Of View of the White House to those afghans trying to get out, the desperate americans still in the country come tomorrow when the last c17 lifts off . Whats the plan . Is there a process in place still . Weve heard from officials that, yes, the united states is leafing on August 31st, but that does not end the mission to evacuate people who want to get out. Right. The Air Lift will be done at the airport at this Point But there will be teams of americans trying to get out from the country, willie. Its going to be challenging, difficult. We heard from President Biden last week in stark terms say when a conflict ends its not possible to get everyone out of that country certainly in that first wave. So there will be other means. There are still going to be talks with the taliban, Hope The Taliban will be agreeable to extending the deadline informally, get people out in the next few days, saying its in your interest for us to leave, you want to control the country, you want this to be you want us out of your hair, were trying to do that but let us get our people out, thats for The Americans. Most officials i have spoken to say theyre confident theyll get The Americans out that they need to. Its different for the afghan allies, the taliban are far less likely to let them go, a lot of them are going to have to make their own way, perhaps with clandestined help from the u. S. Forces. But this is something paramount for the White House even as the deadline comes and goes. We know the president is going to be receiving briefings on this every day, along with the hurricane, this is his focus. They know the story is not going to fade from the headlines as of August 31st. Its been a political blow, at least in the short term for this president but he has told people his primary focus is getting those americans out. Were Hearing Stories of military veterans, private citizens running their own missions to get people out of the country. We want to turn back to the Emergency Response to what is now tropical Storm Ida. Joining us is the administrator of the federal emergency management agency, deeian chriswell. Thank you for being with us this morning. What are you seeing today . Ive been in contact with my regional administrator. Some of the reports were hearing is widespread structural damage and significant structural damage possibly even some building collapses. We have over A Million customers without power right now and we know there have also been some reports of people calling 911 for assistance to get out of their threatened area. Its going to be significant. And these are only the initial reports. Were going to see more as soon as we get the assessment teams out there this morning. The power is a huge concern, A Million residents without power given the late August Heat in that state i assume thats front and center for you all to get the power Back On. What does that process look like . Its definitely a concern. We have shelters, the state has shelters set up across the state right now. Were also prepared to move people into hotels until they can get back into their homes safely. Or identify other long term solutions. The Power Company has brought in, i believe, over 6,000 maybe more than that crews to help restore the power and theres several other crews from other states brought in to support. We also have the Army Core of engineers that is ready to support Power Restoration through the generators for any critical facilities that might need that. How do you begin to identify and locate people who you talked about the 911 calls people who may not be able to make those calls, elderly people, disabled people, people out of the reach of the immediate city of New Orleans, for example. Whats the process like to begin finding them and helping them . Yeah, the first you know, the first responders in louisiana, they know their areas well and know what they do. They know where the areas of most concern are and where to go. We have federal resources in there to support the Search And Rescue efforts and theyre coordinating to prioritize the areas they need to search. This storm was massive. I dont have to tell you as we watched the radar yesterday, reaching winds up to 150 miles an hour. It almost got to a Category 5. From your early assessments, based on your predictions of what might happen in Louisiana And Mississippi and elsewhere, how does the Projection Match up to the reality this morning . Unfortunately i think well see more damage than probably what we initially projected. Not only was this a category 4 storm but it Staid A Category 4 storm for hours over southern parts of louisiana. Having those high winds for several hours, Storm Surge for several hours and the intense rainfall. As we get up this morning were hearing reports but well see more destruction. This is going to be a really long recovery. I know you have a busy morning we appreciate you taking time with us. Thanks for being here. We appreciate it. Still ahead on Morning Joe. More from afghanistan where we are seeing a steady stream of american aircraft carrying out evacuations at the airport in kabul. Richard engel joins us next, just hours ahead of Tomorrows Deadline. Youre watching Morning Joe. Well be right back. Youre watc well be right back. Oh, son of a poppyseed ah, theres no place like panera. Enjoy the cool, refreshing strawberry poppyseed salad. Panera. Order on the app today. [relaxed summer themed music playing] summer is a state of mind, you can visit anytime. Savor your summer with lincoln. Without my medication, my small tremors would be extreme. I was diagnosed with parkinsons. I had to retire from law enforcement. It was devastating. One of my medications is Three Thousand Dollars per month. Prescription drugs do not work if you cannot afford them. Aarp is fighting for americans like larry, and we wont stop. 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With Comcast Business you get the network that can deliver Gig Speeds to the most businesses and advanced cybersecurity to protect every device on it all backed by a dedicated team, 24 7. Every day in business is a big day. Well keep you ready for whats next. Comcast business powering possibilities. Welcome back to Morning Joe. Live pictures at 3 53 in the afternoon at the Kabul Airport in afghanistan on the eve of Americas Evacuation and withdrawal after nearly 20 years of war there. The united States Military is working to evacuate hundreds of americans still looking to leave the country before Tomorrows Deadline set by President Biden. According to the latest numbers provided by the State Department approximately 250 u. S. Citizens are still in afghanistan. Since august 14th, united states says it has evacuated more than 122,000 people, including more than 1,200 since yesterday morning. As for the thousands of afghans who worked with the u. S. Military who have not been evacuated. The new york times reports their window to be Air Lifted as closed. A Text Message was sent out late saturday which read in part, quote, we regret to inform you that international military evacuations from Kabul Airport have ended. Joining us now, Chief Forcorrespondent Richard Engel from doha, qatar. Whats your sense on how many people want to get out remain at the airport trying to leave the country . Reporter this has been a violent race to the exit. And it is getting more and more dangerous, more and more chaotic in this last phase, we are less than 24 hours to go. This morning there was a Rocket Attack on the Air Base, blamed on isis. The u. S. Is coordinating with with the taliban, trying to prevent isis from disrupting this process. The u. S. Has conducted now two strikes against isis, including one in kabul. And the taliban are saying that the missed its Target And Hit and killed a family. So as these evacuations, as evacuees are trying, hoping to get on one of these last flights, The Americans are saying, sorry, its over, the window is closed. And theyre conducting this mini drone and Car Bomb and Rocket War with Isis Right in the 11th hour. So you have a tremendously complicated situation. Where the u. S. Is trying to pull out, pull out safely, guard the perimeter and then the last americans like the ones that got the Text Messages saying were going to have to wait it out, were done, the gates are closed. Those who feel they had a good reason to leave they didnt get a chance to make their case, didnt have the appropriate paperwork are now going to face potentially a long wait. They have to wait until they get their documents, until the civilian airport opens or they could potentially make it for the make their way to a Land Border up towards central asia, iran or pakistan. Its not clear when the airport is going to open. There were some talks that the airport was going to operate in coordination with qatar and turkey, it could take weeks for that to happen, but theres been a significant amount of damage at the airport itself and the pilots are not going to fly if they dont have the right reassurances. Its a race to the exit, a violent race to the exit, people are going to be Left Behind and theyre going to be very stressed, to put it lightly, but the taliban is saying its not hunting anyone down, its not going to bother people, it will allow people to leave and then the question is, can they be trusted, taken at their word. Thats the Big Question. Youve covered this war for 20 years, the taliban closely, youve been in among them. They said the right things, like a Pr Effort for the last couple of weeks but the sense from people i talked to is theyre saying the right things until the last american plane lifts off and its back to their medieval business. So whats the sense of what afghan looks like on wednesday . Reporter well, the taliban are being nudged by many different actors, qatar among them, but not only. And they are being nudged in the right direction. They are saying to the taliban, you cant go right back to the way you were. The people wont accept it. Youll face an insurgency, youll be ostree sized by the international Community Youll be hated. You dont want to do this. There are many in the senior taliban leadership who agree with this, want to try to have a fresh start. Want to have taliban light, if you will. Where they control the basic tenants of society based on sharia but not anything like the rule they had in the 90s. A lot of it will also depend on how the world reacts to the taliban. If the world tries to encourage them along, tries to bring them out, maybe it could help. If the u. S. Suddenly slaps sanctions on them, they could have a negative reaction, retrench and retract. So the taliban are trying to explore this new territory, they are saying the right things, and theyre saying the right things for a reason. Because people around them are telling them to say the right things. Some of them believe this, they do want to try differently, they do not want to antagonize a new generation of afghans but i think a lot of it depends on how the world reacts, will they be embraced . Will they be suddenly hit by sanctions . Will events on the ground overtake them . Will there be more Air Strikes against them . I think, talking to them, there are enough in the senior leadership that they do want to give it a try, but the question is, what is their version of giving it a try and how receptive is the world going to be to a new and claimingly rebranded taliban . Jonathan lemire, the White House is putting, out of necessity, a lot of faith in the taliban, many people say misplaced Faith And Hope in the taliban. What do they believe the taliban is capable of and why would they trust them . Well, willie, they dont really have a choice and i think they object to the use of the word trust, they dont. But as Press Secretary Jen Psaki said a few days ago, often the u. S. Has to make deals with unsavory characters, with countries or groups they dont trust out of a matter of necessity. Theyre hopeful the taliban will hold up their end of the Bargain But Wouldnt bank on it. For those who have gotten out, in places like qatar where you are and other Third Party countries, what happens now to those americans but also those afghans who havent been able to get out of kabul, get out of their country. What sort of process do they go through now . Whats next for them . Where could they go . I wish i had an answer to that. Im getting asked that from afghans all around the world. You have a desperate community of people brought out and many of them are in a kind of a legal limbo, theyre going to third countries, the balkans are taking quite a few. Many want to end up in the united states or europe. But they might end up on u. S. Air bases for some time. There are no real, clear answers on where these people are going to end up. We have over 100,000 people who have been brought out of afghanistan and are now in transit, final destination unknown, process unclear, and theyre nervous. Theyre trying to care for their families in third countries. They have one bag. They mostly. Oftentimes they brought the money that they could you know, whatever cash they had. It wasnt hard to get cash out of kabul. Most of them have no Credit Cards of any kinds because before kabul was not a country that operated with Credit Cards. If you tried to operate in Todays World buying anything online, doing anything, you need Credit Cards, documentation, you need a Home Address otherwise youre sort of out of the modern system. So not only are they in transit, they Cant Interface with the modern system. Many dont have internet where they are. There are over 100,000 people right now, more or less stuck in limbo, stuck in an Airport Transit Area in the world, not actually Airport Transit but metaphorically in transit with no idea how long theyll be there and no idea how long it will take or where they end up. Going back to how the taliban are going to react. There are those, ive spoken to them. Ive spoken to senior taliban leaders, the top people, probably within the top ten, who told me, i dont know if theyre telling the truth, many told me they want to open a new page of relations with the united states. That they dont want to go back, but a lot of this will also depend on the kind of reception that they get. Look whats just happened to afghanistan in the last several weeks. The u. S. Pulled troops out, then put them back in, made an alliance with them, now were friends with the taliban, u. S. Is pulling out, if suddenly then the u. S. As as it might happen, slaps sanctions on the taliban, theyre going to be more confused and disillusioned by the west. Because the u. S. Policy toward afghanistan, whos our friend, whos our enemy, how are we going to work there, are we going to have a Military Presence there, seems to be changing by the week. We had 3,000, then they started pulling down, then they double that went in to protect the pull out and within the next 24 hours well be back down to zero. Nbc news chief Foreign Correspondent, Richard Engel in doha, qatar for us. Thanks so much. I know well talk to you tomorrow as The American mission ends officially. Coming up, louisianas hospitals are packed with Coronavirus Patients and now Health Care workers are dealing with the challenge of a recovery from a major hurricane as well. Details on that when we come back. Details on that when we come back welcome to allstate. Phone Notification where weve just lowered our Auto Rates. And savings like that will have you jumping for joy. Now, get new lower Auto Rates with allstate. Because better protection costs a whole lot less. Youre in good hands with allstate. Click or call for a lower Auto Rate today. Before treating your chronic migraine, 15 or more headache days a month each lasting 4 hours or more, youre not the only one with questions about botox®. Botox® prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine before they even start, with about 10 minutes of treatment once every 3 months. So, ask your doctor if botox® is right for you, and if a sample is available. 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Woman really . Tech thats service you can trust. Singers safelite repair, safelite replace. Welcome back to Morning Joe. Daylight now over jackson, mississippi. 6 38 in the morning. As they begin to assess the damage from now tropical Storm Ida. We will get back to that storm in just a moment. Meanwhile, a Florida Radio Host who spoke out against covid19 vaccines died after weeks long battle with the virus. He dubbed himself mr. Antivaxx. The News Journal reports he succumbed to the disease three weeks after becoming infected, he was 65 years old. A prominent texas antimask organizer has also died from covid19, Caleb Wallace passed, quote, peacefully according to a post on a Go Fund Me Written Saturday by his wife, jessica. He was a leader of the antimask movement in texas organizing a Freedom Rally for people, quote, sick of the government being in on control of our lives. He checked himself into the hospital as the condition declined and his selftreatment for covid, including ivermectin, a drug used to prevent worms in livestock, passed away. He leaves his wife and three young children. His wife said we joked around about how he was on one side and i was on the other, and thats what made us the perfect couple. She plans to get a Coronavirus Vaccine after the birth of her baby in september, we are not antivaxxers she said. An international association of Evangelicals Leader has been fired after Husband Appearance on our show. In that appearance, two weeks ago, Pastor Daniel Darling spoke about his column for u. S. Today entitled why i got the vaccine. The national religious broadcaster said his comments in the Article And Interview violated a Company Policy of remaining neutral about the covid vaccine. Darling was fired two days after refusing to sign a letter admitting insubordination. In a statement to Nbc News darling said he is, quote, sad and disappointed that my time at nrb has come to a close. As someone profoundly shaped by Christian Media it was an honor to work on behalf of our members who strive every day to deliver the gospel around the world. I was part of that interview with Dan Darling, he was incredibly thoughtful, respectful of everyone in the organization, of the people in his church. He and i had a conversation about how he sat down with people who were skeptical, and emphasized this was about informing people why he got the vaccine, why it was safe, how it was developed, and outrage that he was fired for something so obvious, thoughtful, and something to christian as looking out for the people around him, including those he worshipped with. Yeah, willie, i remember that interview. I was watching it. And he was extremely thoughtful and he made clear he wasnt pressuring people. He said this is the decision that i came to for myself. I do believe people should take the vaccine, but he said he listened to those who were reluctant and heard them out and understood why some didnt want to. And he felt like maybe he changed some minds but he was respectful of those who didnt. This was not a Pressure Campaign he was launching. He was saying this is the choice i made for myself and i think its best for people in my community. And then to be fired for that, obviously for free speech, is certainly disturbing to say the least. It comes amid, as you went through, a rash of these prominent deaths of people from the conservative, from the right, some of them christian conservatives or evangelicals who have been so violently antimask and antivaccine, only to then you sue come to it themselves but people wonder what damage have they done . They used their platforms, some of them rather significant, to preach against the vaccine, against the masks, and to convince many people not to take it. People who have made it part of their identity, even as theyre seeing friends and Loved Ones fall sick, some die, but so unwavering about their choices, this is something the White House and states are grappling with here how do you convince people set in their ways to not take the vaccine. They recognize the limit to the messages from from the White House, certainly, theyre not listening to government, theyre listening to these people, people in their community, whether its Media Personalities or Local Church leaders or Community Leaders or doctors, you know, who doctors are who they should be listening to because theyre the one telling them to take the vaccine. This is hard, willie and its sad and tragic to see people lose their lives like this. One can only hope people will see these people die from the virus and say im going to get the vaccine after all. This is what dan told us, i dont shame anyone into getting it, i know its a big decision to put a foreign substance into your body but its knew. I do encourage folks to talk to their doctor and consider it because we dont want to see anyone else unnecessarily die of this lethal virus. Those words, those sentiments, respectful of the people he works with, got Dan Darling fired. We will remember a tv legend, the Life And Legacy of Ed Asner when we come back right. This is a gamechanger, who dares to be fearless even when her bladder leaks. Our softest, smoothest fabric keeping her comfortable, protected, and undeniably sleek. Depend. The only thing stronger than us, is you. Brad Apartmentsdotcom has the most petfriendly listings for pet loving renters. So you might say that weve brought more joy to more sweet, innocent and adorable little creatures than any other site. employee ow, stop it. Brad Apartmentsdotcom. The most popular place to find a place. Wow, thats a low price. 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Perfect because were building a better network every single day. Television legend Ed Asner has died at the age of 91. The seventime Emmy Winner was best known for portraying Lou Grant on the Mary Tyler Moore show. Were told he died peacefully yesterday surrounded by family. We have more on Asners Life and career. You know what . You got spunk. Well, yes. I hate spunk a gruff exterior hiding a Heart Of Gold to play Lou Grant, Ed Asner drew from his blue the than a secretarial job. Reporter born in kansas city, missouri, one of his first jobs was on an Assembly Line at a General Motors plant. The Acting Bug bit him in the military, performing for u. S. Troops overseas. Excuse me, please. Reporter in 1969 he landed his big break, a part in an Elvis Presley movie which also featured Mary Tyler Moore. You dont like me . I will fire you. Reporter a year later asner would win the role that made him a star. When i read that first script i said, this is the best character i have ever come across. Reporter after the Mary Tyler Moore show ended Lou Grant spun off. Im not going to embarrass you by printing this. Reporter asner playing the same character for seven more years. I was tired. Part of the show being canceled i thought, oh, boy, have i lost my love of acting . Reporter Asner Preferred Roles that challenged his range as an actor, a Ship Captain conflicted over his first voyage in brute. How much i regret having taken this command. Reporter or a bumbling Santa Opposite will ferrell in elf. I realized i was a better actor and loved it more than ever. Reporter off Screen Asner fought for artists rights, serving two terms as president of the screen actors guild, he was also very vocal against the iraq war. In 2009 Asners Voice as the loveable grumpy old Man Carl from pixars up introduced him to a new generation. With 300 film, television, and voice acting spread credits asner won seven emmy awards, equal parts actor, activist and leader. An old School Approach that helped shape modern hollywood on and off the screen. Steve patterson, Nbc News. Asner a great activist, Philanthropist And Actor was 91 years old. We will be right back with our coverage of now tropical Storm Ida as it continues to spin over the Gulf Coast. T continues to sr the Gulf Coast look at you getting back to normal. Or at least your 2021 version of what normal should be. And no matter what that is, walgreens is here to help you do it your way. With delivery in as little as one hour. Because now. Things come to you. Same Day Vaccination appointments. Because youre ready. And Walgreens Cash rewards you can donate back to your community. The new normal . Have to admit, it does have its upside. Walgreens. Vo just getting by, its an ongoing struggle. Have to admit, thats why President Biden and democrats in congress have a plan to Lower Costs for americas working families. Lower costs of Healthcare Premiums and the price of Prescription Drugs. Pay less for electric bills by moving to clean energy. And do it all by making the ultrawealthy pay their fair share of taxes. Itd be a win for the everyday american family. Right when they could really use one. Congress, lets get this done. As someone who resembles someone else. I appreciate that Liberty Mutual knows everyones unique. Thats why they customize your Car Insurance, so you only pay for what you need. [ nautical horn blows ] i mean just because you look like someone else doesnt mean you eat off the floor, or yell at the vacuum, or need flea medication. Oh, yeah. Thats the spot. Only pay for what you need. Liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty [relaxed summer themed music playing] summer is a state of mind, you can visit anytime. Savor your summer with lincoln. That is a live picture of New Orleans at 6 55 in the morning local time. Monster Storm Ida roared ashore yesterday as one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to strike the u. S. Gulf coast. Landfall took place in louisiana where 16 years earlier to the Day Hurricane Katrina devastated the region. After hours over Land Ida was downgraded this morning to a tropical storm, but still dumping torrential rain as it moves further into the country. Ida is adding to the stress felt by hospital workers at the main campus in jefferson, louisiana. This is cellphone video, shows part of the roof pulling off the building and hurdling toward a window. This morning were getting our first look at some of the damage left in idas wake. This is just some of the destruction. Golden meadow, louisiana, an Hour South of New Orleans. In New Orleans the historic French Quarter was hit hard with significant damage, storm winds completely knocking out the citys power. In all more than One Million people still are without electricity this morning in louisiana. And as ida makes its way through mississippi the flooding will be a big issue there. Lets go to New Orleans, on the ground Nbc News senior national Correspondent Tom llamas. Tom, good morning, The Sun it up over New Orleans. What are you seeing . Reporter willie, good morning. A little bit of destruction in the French Quarter, not much. The French Quarter seems to have withheld a lot of Idas Damage but you have scenes like this, a pile of deborah, a partial ball tone collapse, a Traffic Light that came down along with siding, an awning and some Roof Damage as well, but for the most part the French Quarter looks to have sort of withheld idas winds, the big problem right now as you mentioned is this catastrophic damage to New Orleans power grid. There is no electricity anywhere in this city and I Cant stress enough how important, how horrible this is for the city because right now you may be trying to reach Loved Ones in New Orleans or across Southern Louisiana. Well, the problem is a lot of cellphone towers arent working. Verizon seems to be working but at t seems to be incredibly spotty and then some of those power failures are affecting the sewage pumps as well and theres no power to homes or hotels or any businesses throughout the entire city. So this is kind of what theyre dealing with right now. As The Sun is starting to rise, theyre going to survey more damage. As you mentioned, there have been some building collapses, both here in New Orleans and all across Southern Louisiana and the Big Question right now is will there need to be massive rescues. There are low lying areas, some areas what we call the river towns as well that may have gotten a lot of water, places like leplace. There were no mandatory evacuations for the most part, it was just there wasnt enough time and yet you all all those lines of traffic to get out. Emergency officials are telling people dont come back to New Orleans, its still too dangerous, there is no power. We want you to stay put. If you are here, stay inside. Willie . Nbcs Tom Llamas in New Orleans for us this morning. Thanks so much. Bill karins, Meteorologist Bill karins, take a look at the storm for us right now, where its headed but also, you know, as we looked at those Winds Yesterday of 150 miles an hour, we obviously feared the worst, bumping up against Category 5 territory there. The sun is up now over the Gulf Coast, how is the reality comparing to some of those predictions. Its exactly what you would expect with a category 4. You are not seeing, you know, like a Category 5, you know, or higher, sometimes you are left with the foundation of the house, thats t Theres Nothing else left. We are not seeing that, but ive been seeing Pictures Day Break here of a lot of those structures that are destroyed. You kind of you see the building and you see the debris and dont know what it looked like beforehand. You will be seeing those pictures all day today. We look at houma, the leaves are stripped off all the trees, i was seeing those pictures, thats expected, the trees that are still standing, that is. Areas down at the coast is what were still waiting to see, how bad that Storm Surge was, what damage that did and the winds. We have Flash Flood emergencies going on. We have Levee Problems in John La Fee and the alliance areas, those areas will need rescues, small communities but they have damaged levees with water rising and thats a Flash Flood emergency. We have Flash Flood emergencies for hammond, leplace for 10 to 18 inches of rainfall and the water has risen because of the rain in those areas. Thats not a Levee Problem thats a Water Problem from the reason. Flash flood warnings cover a huge section of mississippi, alabama and louisiana. Let me take you through the numbers, happy to say the winds were almost completely done with wind issues. They downgraded it further, tropical storm only 45 maximum sustained winds. This will probably be a tropical depression later on this afternoon. On my Wind Map Graphic you can see Gulf Port at 37, thats what that onshore flow coming on from the gulf, 37 in jackson. So if you still have power in mississippi, odds are you will end today with power in mississippi because the winds arent strong enough anymore to cause a lot of extensive tree damage. Isolated at best. Here are some Wind Gusts willie was talking b the highest we had, an incredible gust, 172 mile per hour Wind Gust. That is rarified air in one of the strongest recorded Wind Gusts we have seen with any hurricane recorded in our Countrys History. By the way, this was tied for the fifth strongest landfalling hurricane in our Countrys History and also tied laura from last year that hit Cameron Parish on the other side of louisiana. Other issues today, we have a Tornado Watch until 5 00 p. M. For a good chunk of mobile to monroeville, also including the Biloxi Area and pensacola. As far as the path goes we take this storm later today up to northern mississippi, tomorrow through northern portions of alabama, tennessee, wednesday through west virginia, virginia and then Thursday Morning right over the top of new Jersey And Tourn New England and all of this means this is going to continue to be a huge rainfall threat. Even if it loses its tropical status this storm will be a huge issue. Look at Flash Flood warnings in southern Mississippi And Alabama and north of New Orleans, thats all those Flash Flood emergencies or Flash Flood warnings i was talking about and rainfall totals additional three to five inches in northern mississippi and then were going to take this mess through the mountainous soggy soaked soil of areas from the appalachians right through southern New England. We have been talking about it also, also a lot of attention on New Orleans, the hugest Population Center without power and theyre saying theyre going to assess the damage today. Theyre not even giving a hint of how long they think this could last for so i think people need to prepare for an extended period of being without power and that means your food goes bad, that means youre living without Air Conditioning in New Orleans in the summertime. Theres a lot of people with disabilities and the elderly, theyre going to need a lot of help in the face ahead. No question about it. When you consider those Power Lines, some of them are in the Mississippi River right now, that sounds like a long process from where were sitting. What should we be concerned about right now . The winds have died down, great news, its a tropical storm now. Youve talked about Storm Surge, youve talked about flooding. If you live along the Gulf Coast, if you live in New Orleans what are the biggest concerns this morning . The New Orleans concerns have dim nirnd. The levees held, the winds have come down, we may see some rain bands today, but thats the good part. New orleans south wards where the worst of the damage is the storm has minimized, you know, what the effects will be today so the rescue crews will be able to get in there, the Coast Guard, all of our government resources from fema, everyone else will be able to get in there and assess the damage, the fire crews will be out with chain saws clearing the roads so they can get the help into the people who need it. Thats the good thing. The problems that are occurring is New Orleans north wards, southern mississippi, everywhere in maroon on this map is where we have fr warnings, that means high streams, high rivers, roads being washed out. Thats where theyre telling people stay where you are, dont go out there. Even though the winds have come out we dont want you out driving around because its still hazardous because of the torrential rain that is still falling. Bill karins, we will check back with you shortly. Joining us from leplace, louisiana, sam brock. Good morning. What does it look like there . Willie, good morning. Im about 20 miles or so west of leplace simply because we were there earlier this morning i can tell you its staggering, but there is no signal, there is no infrastructure there to support doing a live report unfortunately so we came back out and as you see on the road here, im on 61 north, this basically is the connecting between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, one of them anyway, there are trees and Power Lines littering the highways to the point where you Cant Pass in many sections of this road. They have some serious issues in terms of transportation, but well beyond that there is a Crisis Unfolding in leplace right now, willie, that is, again, about a 20 or 30 Minute Drive from there. I spoke with the Fleet Captain overnight of the cajun navy that they were trying to get into the neighborhood and assess whats going on. A population of 30,000 west of New Orleans. He confirmed mimi if the reports are accurate there are hundreds if not thousands of people placing calls to be rescued in there. He told me at about 10 00 past night to maybe 1 30 in the morning this morning the water started to rise in some places, it was only a couple feet in others, it was about 12 feet, theres one family, willie, that was communicating with wdsu our Nbc Station in New Orleans to say they were in the attic of their house just trying to get out, waiting it out, and the 911 Communications have been strained to put it mildly. New orleans, in fact, even said if you need to get someone for an emergency, you might not be able to call us. Find your local Fire Station or find a Police Officer because we Cant Help you right now. Same goes in st. John st. John the baptist parish which is where leplace is right now, i spoke with a Police Officer outside on the roadway and said where are all these folks stuck . He said everywhere in this parish. We could not get back there at the time, now we are in the light of day and we will try to get some crews in there to see whats actually going on in terms of rescue efforts, but there is the potential right now not just in that community but adjacent kmunts for people surrounded by water. We know theres 4,900 plus louisiana national guardsmen that have been deployed, some 200 high water vehicles they will be use to go try to reach them. The question becomes where are they in this Crisis Process right now as finally we have a clear picture with The Sun Coming Up of whats going on. Willie . Same, we will let you dig in and see how bad it is there. Outside leplace, sam, thanks very much. Joining us from Gulf Port, mississippi, Nbc News correspondent Shaquille Brewster who has been keeping us posted all morning. How have things changed since we talked to you last . Reporter you keep having that variation in the Wind Factor and the rain factor, the winds have just picked up in the past five minutes or so and the rain continues to fall. Remember, we are still on the outermost part of this hurricane, now a tropical storm. I think thats the important point to note. The fact that this is now no longer Hurricane Ida but tropical Storm Ida, that is what people in Gulf Port have been experiencing really all Day Yesterday and throughout the night, but just because its a tropical storm does not mean that there is not that Damage Or Potential for damage. Here We Saw the siding of our roof or of our hotel fall off. We have seen downed trees or downed tree limbs. There was also a possible tornado that occurred overnight. That has not been confirmed by the national Weather Service yet, but homeowners and homes were damaged because of a tree that fell after the result of a funnel cloud. So that is something that folks are paying attention to here, but its not only the rain, its not only the wind, theres also the concern about the Storm Surges and possible River Flooding. And that is why uhoh initials saying despite the conditions that may calm down from time to time, despite the fact that you may have a period of time where the Wind Or Rain dies down, they want people to shelter in place until this storm really moves out the way because of how quickly those conditions can change and you might hear some of the wind as its picking up as im talking to you right now. I will tell you one big thing, and this is a positive factor here in mississippi, its the idea that they have not seen the widespread Power Outages that youre seeing in the louisiana area. While you have about A Million people there without power, you see some of the lights behind me actually they just went off because The Sun is Coming Up, but the lights in this area are still on and that means the power is still on. We lost power a little bit last night, but it came Back On fairly quickly. So youre not dealing with that impact that you saw in the louisiana area, but, again, officials are saying dont get a false sense of security from the fact that power is still in place in many areas of this mississippi region. Theyre saying the winds that can pick up very quickly, the rain that can pick up very quickly can still make conditions very dangerous. So theyre telling people to take it easy, dont venture out yet, let this storm make its way through the region. Certainly a huge positive that the power has held up. Lets hope it stays that way. Shaq brewster for us in Gulf Port, mississippi. Shaq, thanks so much. Jonathan lemire, President Biden who you cover every day is obviously watching the evacuation of afghanistan, tomorrow is the deadline, weve seen some violence around there again in the last 24 hours, but also watching a major hurricane hit the Gulf Coast. Yeah, its twin crises for this White House right now, willie. Certainly hes getting updates around the clock on the situation in afghanistan as weve been discussing, trying to get americans out ahead of that deadline, of course, the focus is also here at home on that storm. He visited fema yesterday, you know, gave sort of a Pep Talk to those there and vowed federal support. In fact, hes already declared it a major disaster area, which allows federal aid to supplement recovery in those states including for Housing And Home repairs, loans and other emergency assistance. Certainly there will be teams from the federal government already on the ground across the gulf and will be heading in over the next couple of days. We are also seeing response from other states like california and new york sending specialists down there to help as we so often see in a disaster like this other parts of the country rallying around the impacted area. And thats going to continue for the next few days. Theres already talk of course of a president ial visit to the Storm Site but that wont be anytime soon. It takes such a huge amount of security as it clears such a huge footprint for any president to travel to a disaster site. It would simply be too much of a drain of resources on the ground there now, resources that need to be focused on restoring power, digging out homes, clearing trees, getting people to safety. So it could be days if not a week or more before the President Sets foot down there. But they are carefully watching whats going on, we expect to hear briefings from the federal government later today. And theres great concern about the flooding, about the lack of power and about what they will find as the storm slowly starts to move out of the area. Officials are just sorting through the damage. We will see what the president has to say about it today. Jonathan, thanks so much. Up next here, the latest from afghanistan where overnight the united states shot down rockets aimed at the Kabul Airport. Details when Morning Joe comes right back. Airport. Details when Morning Joe comes right back eg, im 68 years old. I do motivational speaking in addition to the substitute teaching. I honestly feel that thats my calling to give back to younger people. I think most adults will start realizing that they dont recall things as quickly as they used to or they dont remember things as vividly as they once did. Ive been taking prevagen for about three years now. People say to me periodically, man, youve got a memory like an elephant. Its really, really helped me tremendously. Prevagen. 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That is Secretary Of State Antony Blinken Yesterday warning of another possible Terror Threat in afghanistan. The united States Military is depending off more attacks against kabuls Main Airport there. Rocket fire apparently targeting kabuls International Airport struck a nearby neighborhood on the eve of the deadline for american troops to withdraw from the country. As many as five of the rockets according to the Washington Post were intercepted by a Missile Defense System. The barrage did not halt the steady stream of u. S. Military c 17 Cargo Jets taking off and landing at Hamid Karzai International Airport. In a statement the White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said President Biden had been briefed on the thwarted Attack Writing the president is informed operations continue uninterrupted at Hamid Karzai International Airport and has confirmed his order that commanders redouble their efforts to prioritize doing whatever is necessary to protect our foorss on the ground. U. S. Forces conduct add Drone Strike against a vehicle carrying multiple Suicide Bombers isisk. This is yesterday before those people could attack the ongoing military evacuation at the airport. The Associated Press reports an afghan official speaking on the condition of anonymity said three children were killed in the strike. According to a senior u. S. Official united States Military drone fired a missile at a vehicle in a compound between two buildings after individuals were seen Loading Explosives into the truck. The official said there was an initial explosion caused by the missile, followed by a much larger fireball perhaps by the explosives inside the vehicle. A spokesman for central command said, quote, substantial and powerful subsequent explosions resulted from the destruction of the vehicle which may have caused additional casualties. He added the military a investigating further and, quote, we would be deeply saddened by any potential loss of innocent life. Skais took responsibility for the Suicide Bombing at Kabul Airport on thursday that killed 13 u. S. Service members and at least 169 afghans. Lets bring in Matt Bradley, live in germany overlooking ramstein Air Base, the destination for most of the evacuating flights from afghanistan. So, matt, we are literally on the eve of the evacuation one Day Left before The American forces leave afghanistan. What does the Traffic Look like into ramstein right now . Reporter yeah, well, actually we are still seeing that traffic obviously, i mean, this is still going on at pace. I mean, were still seeing commercial airlines taking off, were still seeing some of those c7, c 17, C 130s landing here, bringing evacuees. Were hearing as of about 7 30 a. M. This morning that there are now 15,000 afghan evacuees who are living at that base. This is a moving target and in the next 12 hours they said theyre expecting about 1,700 to arrive and about 2,000 to leave. Notice how that has changed. So now theyre expecting fewer to arrive in the next 12 hours than will be leaving. It used to be more that they were accepting more and more and more and fewer and fewer were taking off, now its the opposite. It looks like that Evacuation Effort is kind of starting to slow down and push more in the direction of people moving on from ramstein towards the united states, most of them to dulles airport in virginia, rather than just more of accepting and accepting and that Tent City that we were walking through the other day growing large and larger. Willie, this base is at capacity. 15,000 evacuees are still here, that number is probably going to stay around there. Thats about as much as they can take. Now were hearing that there are evacuees who are going to ciganella a navy Air Base in italy and rhoda an Air Base in spain, were talking about a couple thousand there. They do need to stop off in europe so they can be processed by the State Department before they finally move on to the u. S. And we know, matt, there are still some americans left in afghanistan with one Day Left of these evacuations and many, many afghans who would like to leave the country. What happens to them as this deadline is met as President Biden has promised on the 31st, which is tomorrow, what happens on wednesday, on September 1st to those Left Behind . Yeah, you know, i dont really know. And ive spoken with some young afghans who were trying to get out. I actually spoke with a young woman last week, she was on a bus trying to get into the airport, she sat on that bus for about ten hours. The taliban came on and were looking around, inspecting everybody. Its tough because they have to get through the taliban check points and in order to do that they have to identify themselves to the taliban. So if they dont make it into the airport, if they dont get out of the country, then they have to return to talibanoccupied kabul, knowing that the taliban has their names, their contact details, all their information, knowing the taliban knows that theyve been trying desperately to leave the country. So its unclear whats going to happen to them. These young people i was speaking torques they were actually willing to give the taliban the benefit of the doubt because right now despite all of the stories that theyve heard from their parents and their friends, their relatives who remember that brutal taliban rule back in the 1990s, so far the taliban hasnt shown itself to necessarily be quite the cruel Task Master that they had back in the 90s and theyre willing to entertain the idea that maybe they can either live under taliban rule, maybe they can go and get on a plane at a talibancontrolled airport in kabul and fly out after the u. S. Has completely evacuated, after that August 31st deadline. Thats a possibility maybe. Weve also heard some things, that maybe Turkey And Qatar may come together and create some kind of international institution that would then have governance over the airport, shared governance with the taliban. All of those discussions unclear where theyre going, whether or not that would be successful. I mean, whether the taliban would agree to allow third or fourth countries to take control or to have some stake in the management of the airport going forward. Theres a lot of plans that are out there right now, but its hard to say. Its hard to know exactly whats going to happen after that date, after tomorrow, August 31st, that deadline. Nbcs Matt Bradley in germany for us. Thank you very much. Up next, we will go to the White House where President Biden is standing firm behind his decision to withdraw from afghanistan tomorrow. Morning joe is coming right back. 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People who see healthcare a little bit differently. Where technology helps doctors provide more precise care. Leading to faster, better outcomes and puts improved health in all of our hands. Because seeing a healthier World Isnt far in the future. Were building it. Now. Ge building a world that works. President biden and first Lady Biden honored the fallen during a dignified Transfer Yesterday at Dover Air Force Base in delaware. The remains of the 13 american Service Members killed on thursday in that attack at Kabul Airport draped in american flags were returned to Gold Star families. 11 marines, a Navy Medic and an army soldier. Lets bring in Nbc News white House Correspondent mike memoli. This is of course the most solemn duty a president can perform as commander in chief, something that the president performed as Vice President about five years ago. Reporter yeah, willie, this is obviously a difficult set of days for the White House. Its really hard to think of in recent memory in a fouryear president ial term a convergence of crises quite like what the biden administration is facing now. You started the show of course with that Monster Hurricane bearing down on one of the most vulnerable stretches of coastline in the country. You have the ongoing pandemic and millions of americans set to return to school and to work with a highly transmissible Delta Variant still raging. But, of course, the high Wire Act walked by the White House in the next 24 hours ahead this have deadline really came to life with this incredible scene at Dover Air Force Base yesterday as the president met privately with some of those families of the lost, heroes in afghanistan and then participated for roughly an hour in the most solemn proceeding you could imagine. No sound audible other than the commands being issued by the Honor Guards and as the Press Pool that was there for that Moment Yesterday described it, the anguish, sobbing of some of the Family Members who participated, willie, we have talked so often about this President S relationship with grief, of course, the grief he has experienced himself having lost two children, a wife in tragic circumstances. The role he has played as consoler in chief so often sharing that empathy that he has built over the course of years himself, this on Display Yesterday, but in a very different way, willie. This is really the first time he is doing this as a result of decisions he has made as president of the united states. This is a burden White House officials are telling me hes feeling very significantly at this moment. You could see him yesterday watching every one of those transfer cases from the moment they stepped off the plane until the moment they were put in those vehicles and really bowing his head in prayer each time. You think of the moment just a few days ago when he spoke to the country and at one point after bowing his head for a Moment Of Silence he grasped what looked like a bracelet around his arm, that was actually parts of the rosary that belonged to his Son Beau of course a member of the delaware national guard who served in iraq. The president obviously didnt lose his son in war, but he believes his Sons Cancer in part was a consequence of his time in war, the burn pits that he was near during his time there. So a very difficult day for the president over a course of a series of difficult days that very well could define his presidency, willie. Obviously, mike, this decision, the way the evacuation has been handled over the last month has been criticized heavily, it will be criticized probably for generations as people investigate it and write books about it the way they did with vietnam, but in the here and now, how is this president thinking about afghanistan when that last c 17 lifts off from had a immediate after zie airport tomorrow, what does it look like now for this president in afghanistan . What had the taliban, isis, come back, what is the Approach And Policy . Reporter as Jen Psaki put this on friday this is not really a time at the White House for much selfreflection. There is considerable effort being made to make sure these final hours are safe once where we dont see a repeat of the tragedy We Saw last week. The president directing his commanders to prioritize Force Protection at this moment. We talked about the strike from a drone to neutralize an imminent threat, the rockets that were the president was briefed about overnight that were heading towards Hamid Karzai International Airport, but its been striking, willie, as weve heard from the President Several times over the course of the past week at every moment he has expressed his sincere belief that the decision he made is ultimately the right one for the country, that he knows its difficult moments, but that the decisions that have been passed along from president to president about the future of afghanistan he says hes now willing to absorb all of the second guessing, the potential fallout from what he believes history will judge as the right decision, but clearly as weve been hearing from White House officials over the weekend in particular, there is considerable uncertainty about what happens. What a diplomatic presence looks like for the united states without the military on the ground, even if there is one. Secretary of state tony blinken indicating it is not likely were going to continue any form of an embassy. The White House continues to insist they believe they hold leverage over the taliban in terms of keeping pressure over them to facilitate evacuation of americans and those who remain past this deadline, but this is a decision thats going to be scrutinized for however long Joe Biden remains president of the united states. Mike memory at the White House for us. Thanks so much. Coming up, an update on the fight against covid where teachers increasingly are on the front lines. That story ahead on Morning Joe. N Morning Joe. One, two one, two, three only pay for what you need with customized Car Insurance from Liberty Mutual nothing rhymes with Liberty Mutual. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Wondering what actually goes into your multivitamin . At new chapter, its innovation, organic ingredients, and fermentation. Fermentation . Yes. 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Yasso audfinally yasso ious a ridiculously creamy, crunchy, chocolatey dipped Ice Cream Experience with 25 less calories because its made with greek yogurt. So, thanks for everything ice cream, but well take it from here. Yasso audaciously delicious welcome back to Morning Joe. 8 36 in the morning at the united states capitol. We are monitoring now tropical Storm Ida, we will get back to that in just a moment. Meanwhile, the centers for Disease Control is using the example of one California Teacher to show why teachers and students should wear masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Back on May 19th a teacher in marin county, california, who was unvaccinated came to work thinking her cough, headache and nasal congestion were just her allergies. She typically wore a mask but that day she pulled it down during story time so she could read to her elementary school class. When the teacher tested positive for coronavirus two days later half of her 24 students had been infected, nearly all of them in the two rows closest to her desk. The Outbreak Spread to other classes, siblings and parents some of whom were fully vaccinated. A Cdc Projection shows without masking or testing more than 75 of children across the country could be infected within three months. Meanwhile a Florida Judge on friday knocked down the States Order banning local School Boards from implementing Mask Mandates saying the sweeping action from the State Capital does not pass constitutional muster. The judge in Leon County said School Districts have the right to set policies like Mask Mandates as long as they have compelling State Interest and have a narrowly tailored plan of action. The state says it plans to appeal. Joining us now the superintendent of one district that has pushed back against floridas ban on Mask Mandates, dr. Carly simon of Alachua County public schools. Great to have you Back On the show. Your reaction to the judges ruling yesterday . Well, were very pleased. Judge cooper played out some of the groundwork of our argument. I think the families that brought this case to his court are relieved and happy that this is at least a step in the right direction. Were looking forward to this, but we are well aware that we have more battles to occur and so were managing our expectations and just being patient. From the first time we had you on, dr. Simon, a few weeks ago when this all started you were clear you were not interested in a political fight, that you were just trying to protect the students in your School District. What has it been like for you having the masks on the kids . Have the families been agreeable to it . How has it gone in your district . So as far as agreeable, the majority of our families are very much in support of these efforts. We do have a few Family Members who are not happy with this Plan And Theyve let us know and theyve let us know very strongly that they disagree with our agreement. Judge coopers ruling does help us when we have these negotiations with families that we right now do have a Court Case that supports our efforts. As far as how its going in our schools, we have been open now for three weeks and we have over 500 students who have tested positive in our school since we opened our doors. Thats concerning. That takes up a considerable amount of Effort And Energy from testing to quarantining to Contact Tracing as well as lost instructional time. We are concerned about how contagious the Delta Variant is and were doing the best we can to control it as much as we can, but we know that were dealing with a very powerful virus and its impacting our efforts and thats frustrating on many levels. So even with the masks on the students, you have had 500 cases in your School District . Yes, of students. And we also have our faculty and staff, we run i think we are around over 60, just under 70 positive cases of staff, and thats also complicated because when we have somebody who is out, we have to replace that person. We have to do the Contact Tracing. We have to cover their responsibilities. So we have a lot of people who are spread thin just navigating the covid virus. When you first introduced the idea that you were going to have masks in your schools a few weeks ago you got a threatening letter from the state saying you ought to stop doing it. What has that relationship been like . Have they delivered on any of the threats to you including to withhold pay from staff . So at this point they have made a lot of threats, theyve sent them in various forms of writing to us. As of right now they have not taken any funding out of our allocations. They have asked us to document any of our unlawful activities associated with students and masking and we have countered that none of what we are doing is unlawful and so we are continuing to do what we need to. I would say our relationship right now is strained. We are very much focused on running our school system. We are hoping that we can take this conversation from masking to another level. We need to have online instruction. We need to have more supports for our staff members who are trying to not only teach our students, but make sure that were you know, we are essentially doing public Health Work and we need to have as much support as we can from the state, which right now we dont feel that we are getting that. You talked about some of the most vocal parents who oppose masks in schools. Weve seen them across the country, they say youre muzzling children. They say there is no proof that masks tu actually work, which isnt true we should remind our viewers. What do you say to those parents . How do you handle them . So i actually had a conversation with a family on friday and theyre upset and we have different viewpoints. They have three children in school and i have the responsibility of over 28,000 children in our schools. We just have discussed that as your family you guys can make your own personal choices, but as the superintendent i need to make mine as well to run this organization. We ended up having it ended up being a very productive conversation because when we got down to the discussion of is your child happy . Are they enjoying school . Do they want to be with their friends . And its yes. Yes, they are having fun, the teachers are great. So its you know, its kind of lets focus on what we have in common and the common is that our children are wanting to be in their classes with their friends and enjoy the School Year. So lets do what we can to have that happen. This is this is a nuisance and we should just move on from this discussion because we have much more important things to be focusing on. Jonathan lemire, its so fascinating to hear dr. Simon say that. Weve heard again and again from people who said when i sat and had a calm adult conversation with someone, whether its masks or vaccines, and we talked openly and we werent screaming at each other, we came to an agreement and an understanding about the importance of some of these measures. Right, willie, unfortunately the scenes of screaming have been far too often. Far too common. We certainly have seen them on various newscasts. Such Energy And Anger and politics put into this when it should be about the Safety And Education of these children. Certainly Governor Desantis and the White House have had a war of words over this as well with the White House of course supporting local districts and their ability to ask students to wear masks. Dr. Simon, i want to just drill down a little more with you. You said you have had over 500 positive cases. Have you got a sense among the students, a sense of how sick these children are . We know the Delta Variant seems to impact children more than previous strains of the virus. Secondarily, is there a threshold for a number of cases or illnesses where perhaps some sort of remote option would kick in or even a temporary School Closure . Walk us through as we head to the winter months with potentially cases even increasing, whats the Game Plan here . So as far as access to the level of being sick, we dont have that type of access due to hipaa, so what we would find out if a child ended up being in the icu or in hospitalization in any way, we would find that out through just, you know, a Parent Sharing that information. We dont have that level of information. We have talked quite a bit about closing our schools and we really would like to keep them open as much as possible. We understand that many of our children our schools provide a very safe space, even in the time of covid. And so our goal is to try to provide as much facetoface as possible. With that we are limited in the fact that the governor has not opened up an online digital option like we had last year, so what were having to do is kind of piece together what we have done last year, but still fall within the requirements of attendance associated with students who are not on campus. So we are hoping that the governor would allow us to have this digital option so families who would like to have their education delivered at home through our digital option, they would have that. At this point that is not something we have, but we are still building this because we do have families who are quarantined. So we are making sure that all of our instruction is on its on an online platform called canvas and we are encouraging our teachers to try to record videos of instruction when they need to. Were also setting up an online Tutoring Program that we hope to have up and running within the week to make sure that students who are absent also will have access to a live teacher who can help coach them through there. But we dont have the same degrees of freedom that we had last year and that is also one of the frustrations. Not only do i have it in my district but ive heard this from many superintendents across the state. If we were to have that digital option it would help considerably to meet the efforts and needs of our students. Were rightly focused on the kids and their health and how theyre experiencing school and their parents as well, but what about the teachers, who you are they doing . No teacher wants to teach through mask, no teacher wants to go virtual its not why they got into the business. How are they responding to the masks, first of all, and how are they feeling about this new School Year . So my teachers and our staff are passionate, dedicated educators. And that is an enormous benefit to us. They are tired. Theyve worked hard. Theyre problem solvers to one of the benefits that we have about having a workforce, thats, you know, passionate about what they do and solve problems, they are doing everything they can to try to meet the needs of the students while also meeting the needs of themselves as an educator as well as their colleagues. So im comforted in the fact that i know that they are working hard, but i will tell you its just like our nursing profession, our medical professions, everybody is tired. Theyve been doing this for a very long time and at some point theyre going to need a break and what were hoping is that if we could have some more solutions then we could try to help them out because we know that theyre trying very hard. Its a difficult job, especially right now, yours included. Thank you for being with us, the superintendent of Alachua County public schools in the state of florida dr. Carlee simon. Thanks for being with us. Lets bring in dr. Vin gupta. First of all, just your reaction to the conversation we had with dr. Simon and some of this fight thats going on not just in the state of florida, but between School Districts, teachers without my medication, my small tremors would be extreme. I was diagnosed with parkinsons. I had to retire from law enforcement. It was devastating. One of my medications is Three Thousand Dollars per month. Prescription drugs do not work if you cannot afford them. Aarp is fighting for americans like larry, and we wont stop. Thats why were calling on congress to let medicare negotiate lower Prescription Drug prices. To make my vision a reality. I have to take every perspective, and see clearly from every Point Of View. With my varilux progressive lenses i seamlessly transition from near to far. And see every detail in sharp focus. When you see no limits, there are no limits. Book now at your local essilor experts to push the limits of your vision. Varilux lenses by essilor. Its my 4 05 theshowmustgoon migraine medicine. Its ubrelvy. For anytime, anywhere migraine strikes, without worrying if its too late, or where i am. One dose can quickly stop my migraine in its tracks within two hours. Unlike older medicines, ubrelvy is a pill that directly blocks cgrp protein, believed to be a cause of migraine. Do not take with strong cyp3a4 inhibitors. Most common Side Effects were nausea and tiredness. Ask about ubrelvy. The anytime, anywhere migraine medicine. Oh, i had never seen a picture of her ask about ubrelvy. Until i got on ancestry. It was like touching the past. My great aunt signed up to serve in the Union Army as a field nurse. My great grandmother started a legacy of education in my family. Didnt know she ran for state office. Ended up opening her own restaurant in san francisco. Paralee wharton elder, lupe gonzalez, mary sawyers, margaret ross. Theres a lot of life that she lived. Who are the strong women in your family . Hey lily, i need a new Wireless Plan for my business, but all my employees need something different. Oh, we can help with that. Okay, imagine this. Your mover, rob, hes on the scene and needs a plan with a mobile hotspot. We cut to downtown, your Sales Rep Lisa has to send some files, asap so basically i can pick the right plan for each employee. Yeah i shouldve just led with that. With at t business. You can pick the best plan for each employee and only pay for the features they need. Dr. Gupta, my apology, the audio problem was on our end. What is your reaction when you hear those conversations, when shes being threatened with having funding withheld because shes trying to protect her students with masks . Not just in the state of florida but texas and other states with downward pressure from governors on School Districts. Good morning, willie. Great to be with you. I admire her courage in the face of being black mailed, incredibly difficult position to be in because School Districts need resources, financial resources for public health as dr. Simon pointed out. I think, willie, for all viewers to give medical perspective to the connect things and courageous things dr. Simon is doing for her families and School District, emphasize this point for parents out there, the purpose of masking is multi fold. The idea is to mitigate exposure of your child to not just covid but all the other respiratory viruses that exit out there. We know kids develop healthy immune systems early. The idea that actual exposure, educating young immune systems to learn and launch defenses to other infectious organisms is what we did when little. Thats how you fend off Rsv And Flu more easily, hopefully more exposure, mitigated exposure to things like coronavirus, it is not 100 i have, but 90 effective in many cases and it will mitigate that while immune systems learn. A year ago at this time we heard kids tolerate covid19 well, when they get it, dont get as sick as adults, hospitalizations are infrequent and we should point out children still make a tiny percentage of total cases in this country. Have things changed with the Delta Variant . Has the calculus changed . Theres been data, willie, that it is a largely adolescent and adult cohort. And what that reveals is that the Delta Variant is more contagious and more severe across age groups than say Alpha Variant or other iterations of coronavirus. What does that mean, for a child unvaccinated, yes, the Delta Variant is much more dangerous than the original version of the virus. Is it more dangerous to children or adults . We dont have that evidence yet. But this is absolutely a different threat than what we have been facing in the course of 2020, for example. And thats what the evidence is showing. You have kids, i have kids, neither of us wants our child sitting in school in a mask, it is not a good way to learn or live but it is a fact of life right now. We are willing to do that to protect them and protect people around them. What would you say to parents that dr. Simon confronts because shes not alone in this country who say youre muzzling my child, theres no evidence the mask is protecting them. If you had a chance to sit across the table from those parents, what would you say . I would say now for those kids five and older, if youre that parent out there questioning utility of the mask, recognize theres no other defense for your child to potentially keep them out of the hospital. It is a mask. Frankly thats it in many districts across the country. Ventilation improvements have not been pursued in many parts of the country where they should be. For that parent out there, the difference between keeping your child safe, as safe as possible and out of the hospital potentially is that mask. Lastly, just say it is not a guarantee that children, frankly adults, can access the care they will need willie in months ahead, Cold And Flu season ahead in icus across the country because of what were seeing. Those from covid and other pathogens. Great to see you this morning. We are one day away from the deadline that President Biden set for the mirn withdrawal, after nearly 20 years in afghanistan. Joining us, chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engle from doha, qatar. Good morning. What does it look like around kabul and the airport with one Day Left . Reporter well, maybe less than one Day Left. Things are wrapping up. And i think were going to hear in the coming hours this is the secret part of the mission. I think were going to get an update later on that it is over, later today or tomorrow. The pentagon is not going to tell us theres one plane left or the last plane is leaving, i dont think were going to hear an indication until it is wheels up and troops are out and safe. Were in the final stage of this right now. It has been a chaotic withdrawal. The u. S. Is withdrawing after 20 years of afghanistan and it is leaving behind a government of the taliban. It is time to look at the success that the u. S. Was able to get out over 100,000 people, enormously logistical challenge, many Left Behind, but what is the legacy . There are people saying was it worth it, was it worth anything, were in the same place we started from. Many we are speaking to say we are worse off than the beginning. Within a few weeks of launching this war the u. S. Is leaving with the taliban in power and the united states having been driven out. It is a tremendous legacy. Go back to Osama Bin Laden. Why did Osama Bin Laden launch 9 11 . What inspired him to do that . He was in afghanistan. He saw a small group of islamist fighters were able to push out the soviet union. He thought why not take on the united states. Right now, a larger group of islamist fighters pushed out the united states. So are we going to see the next Osama Bin Laden, learning the lesson of what is happening right now . This is a profound moment of change for the entire, all of central asia. Theres a hole in central asia. It is being filled now by the taliban, but it is drawing in iran, pakistan, central asia. Iran is moving in, theyre Trading Oil with the taliban already, spreading their influence already. China is trying to put more in roads into afghanistan. So this is a moment not just to think about what happened over the last couple days and the chaotic withdrawal and all of the airlift and people Left Behind, tremendously important. What has the legacy been of deployment after deployment . At least a trillion, some say 2 Trillion spent on this war. The casualties that people are going to need to be treated for injuries for the rest of their lives. It is happening now. We are coming to the conclusion with the united states leaving, wait for an announcement, and leaving a legacy behind that i think some have described as the worst capitulation of western values in our life times. I went to afghanistan and iraq couple weeks ago, it was a republic backed by the united states, backed by the west. Now it is an emerging islamic emrat. Well talk much more with you tomorrow on the official August 31st withdrawal. That does it for us. I will see you tomorrow morning. For now, Stephanie Ruhle picks up coverage. Hi there. I am Stephanie Ruhle. It is monday, august 30th. We are following Breaking News on now tropical Storm Ida, continuing a punishing track across the state of louisiana, with the real threat of more dangerous sto s