Axios PM: 🇺🇸 "For conspicuous gallantry"

Plus: ¡Feliz Navidad, Charlie Brown! | Thursday, December 16, 2021

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Capital One   Axios PM By Mike Allen ·Dec 16, 2021 Today's PM — edited by Justin Green — is 498 words, a 2-minute read.     1 big thing: 🇺🇸 "For conspicuous gallantry" President Biden awards the Medal of Honor to Army Master Sgt. Earl Plumlee in the East Room today. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images President Biden awarded the Medal of Honor today to Army Master Sgt. Earl D. Plumlee for his service as part of the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) in Afghanistan. From the citation: "While deployed to Afghanistan, then-Staff Sergeant Plumlee instantly responded to a complex enemy attack that began with a massive explosion that tore a sixty-foot breach in the base's perimeter wall. Ten insurgents wearing Afghan National Army uniforms and suicide vests poured through the breach." Defending the base, Plumlee — now serving at Fort Lewis, Washington — jumped in a vehicle and raced toward the detonation. The vehicles came under enemy fire from the front and right. Using his body to shield the driver, Plumlee left the vehicle "while simultaneously drawing his pistol." Plumlee "killed two insurgents, one with a well-placed grenade and the other by detonating the insurgent's suicide vest using precision sniper fire." An insurgent "detonated his suicide vest, mortally wounding a U.S. Soldier. Staff Sergeant Plumlee, with complete disregard for his own safety, ran to the wounded Soldier, carried him to safety, and rendered first aid." 🎖️ At the same ceremony, the commander-in-chief awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously to: Army Sgt. First Class Alwyn Cashe for service in Iraq in 2005. Cashe is the first Black recipient of the Medal of Honor for military actions since Vietnam, the White House said. Army Sgt. First Class Christopher Celiz for service in Afghanistan in 2018. Read the citations ... Full story.     2. Sweeping U.S. action on China Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios   Congress sent President Biden a bill banning U.S. imports from the Chinese region of Xinjiang unless companies can prove the products weren't made with forced labor. Also today, notes Axios' Zachary Basu: The Senate agreed to hold a vote to confirm Nick Burns, a widely respected former diplomat, as U.S. ambassador to China. The Commerce Department blacklisted China's top military medical research institute and 11 affiliates over concerns about Beijing's development of biometrics and "brain-control" weapons. The Treasury Department added eight Chinese companies to an investment blacklist for facilitating the surveillance of Uyghurs.     A message from Capital One Why 10 million Americans canceled their post-secondary school plans     The pandemic deferred many dreams, including those of would-be college students. But a Capital One grant could help prevent that disruption. Here's how: Its $1.4 million grant aids in the development of a chatbot that connects students with admissions officers and scholarship information. Learn more.     3. Catch up quick The view from inside the American Legion Theatre in Mayfield, Ky. Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images   A Haitian gang released the 12 remaining kidnapped members of a Christian missionary group. Go deeper. Vice President Harris said she and President Biden haven't spoken about re-election plans for 2024, reports The Wall Street Journal's Tarini Parti. Two women accused Chris Noth of sexual assault, Kim Masters writes for The Hollywood Reporter. Noth, who played Mr. Big in "Sex and the City," called the accusations "categorically false." TPG plans to list on Nasdaq under ticker symbol "TPG" — with $109 billion in assets under management. Go deeper.     4. ¡Feliz Navidad, Charlie Brown! "A Charlie Brown Christmas." Photo: ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images Few realize that "A Charlie Brown Christmas" has a Mexican American godfather, reports Axios' Russell Contreras. Bill Melendez directed the CBS special when few Hispanics worked in the entertainment business. "A Charlie Brown Christmas" will air on most PBS stations on Dec. 19. Photo: Ted Streshinsky/Corbis via Getty Images Above: Melendez directs children recording the dialogue for "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" in 1967.     A message from Capital One The Big Easy takes on city-wide flooding     The Greater New Orleans Foundation has been working to build the "live better with water" movement since 2010. What this means: With a grant from Capital One, the nonprofit is developing a program to install green, flood-resistant infrastructure in the city while creating new jobs for residents.   Like this email style and format? 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