(2) Thai authorities spent the past 24 hours preparing the area with screens to keep the media out (good), and ambulances and helicopters on standby ready to ferry the boys to hospital. The mission is risky; anything could happen.
(7) IMO the extreme difficulty of this mission cannot be overestimated. This article talks about the various Australian divers involved, including the uniquely qualified doctor: smh.com.au/world/asia/the…
(8) The first two boys are out of the cave! Fantastic.
(9) Sydney Morning Herald reported 11 minutes later that a third boy has made it out - unconfirmed as yet.
(10) An ambulance takes each boy to a nearby field where they are transferred to a helicopter then hospital to help them recover. The boys & their coach were assessed inside the cave by a doctor as fit to make the journey out.
(24) Operation is now pausing for 10-20 hours to prepare oxygen & other critical supplies before resuming. It's late at night here so I bid you goodnight. Check @SaksithCNA for updates &
(26) There's a growing body of Thai cartoons in support of the boys, whose soccer team is named the Wild Boars. This drawing is titled "Boar Go Home." 😘
(27) The above cartoon was in a tweet with the Thai hashtag #พาทีมหมูป่ากลับบ้าน which means "Bring the boar team back home." As @BloodStrokes pointed out, the caption in the drawing appears to be Japanese for "To be continued." Which the mission is... and Godspeed to them.
(28) Once the rescue mission is complete, I think an art exhibition of drawings, cartoons and photos, with proceeds going to the Saman family, the boys & the NGOs, would be great. This event is historic for the Thai people & everyone who serves in emergency management worldwide.
(30) Retraction: I reported last night that 6, not 4 survivors were out of the cave, & that one of them had been named. The official press briefing corrected these claims, which were made by MSM outlets. Was a timely reminder to self-check all claims... a perennial issue.
(31) "Thai state-owned news agency... says the rescue mission
will begin before 5pm local time [6am US EDT], citing local rescue
officials." I would take most of the below claims with a grain of salt, though, since some MSM claims last night were false.
(32) Video clip of a diver moving through the 15" part of the cave, showing how fast the current is. Similar clips from the rescue operation in the thread that follows:
(39) Confirmed: A 5th boy has been rescued and brought to hospital along with the 4 from yesterday. Everything remains on track to extract more survivors from the cave tonight. It's almost 6pm local time, with several hours left before they are expected to complete Day 2.
(40) One of my favorites of all the #ThaiCaveRescue cartoons:
(51) 8 boys now out of the cave, per Reuters. Waiting to hear if more will be rescued tonight or whether effort will be suspended until Day 3. Night all, from NZ.
(52) Implication that not all of the first four boys were conscious when rescued. That's understandable, given the challenges. Hopefully it was temporary.
(2) Brett M. Kavanaugh will soon be the 102nd Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the USA. He has earned this highest honor throughout his life, inspired by his trailblazing mother, Judge Martha Kavanaugh.
His title for these few hours is Associate Justice Designate.
(3) This statement from the Supreme Court explains the two ceremonies:
(2) This WaPo reporter is incorrect about the vote being "scheduled for" Saturday. The earliest time a vote COULD be held is Saturday pm. There's no reason not to hold it on Sun/Mon IF we need Daines. I think we won't. Read my 5 tweets about him here:
(1) A directory of my Kavanaugh threads since July 9, 2018.
I never planned more than a couple of threads about him this year but, I shoulda known the Dems would try to destroy whoever was the nominee this time.
(2) Like Democrats, I'd already decided how I felt about him before his nomination was announced. I live-tweeted the announcement, which was a great event in itself.
(3) I followed Kavanaugh's progress over the summer and on September 22nd, I finally wrote a thread about the preparations for the all-important hearing on September 27th. It covers the hearing before the next thread started the day after.
(2) Mitch laughing to himself about how absurd it is that he has to push his way through the crowd of reporters on 9/25/18.
(3) Sen Grassley is 85 years old. (Democrats have senators around that age, too.)
Today he had to hold onto a Capitol Police officer to reduce the risk of a reporter knocking him over. This has to stop. Senators must return to being able to walk around freely at work.
(2) First Lady Melania Trump is a natural in this important role.
She's one of those women whose face lights up whenever she is around children. God Bless our great First Lady.
👠🇺🇸
(3) FLOTUS left Joint Base Andrews in her trademark high heels and arrived in Ghana wearing practical flats. She still looks sensational, whatever she happens to wear!
(2) Cloture in the Senate is a procedural step that you can learn more about at the link below. The senate.gov website is the best resource for learning about Senate procedure and a lot more. Same for house.gov.
(3) Watching live Senate floor proceedings is boring as hell, as they pass bills for naming Post Offices, & so on. But every now & then, they confirm a SCOTUS judge. And this time, they will affirm our great #BillOfRights#DueProcess & the hard-won #RuleOfLaw. Seriously. 🇺🇸🦅