National and international media news & headlines compiled by CLG

U.S., Britain carry out strikes against Houthis in Yemen, officials say | 12 Jan 2024 | The United States and Britain launched strikes from the air and sea against Houthi military targets in Yemen in response to the movement’s attacks on ships in the Red Sea, a dramatic regional widening of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. As witnesses in Yemen confirmed explosions throughout the country to Reuters, Joe Biden cautioned in a statement late on Thursday he would not hesitate to take further action if needed. “These targeted strikes are a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of navigation,” Biden said. Britain’s ministry of defence said in a statement,”Early indications are that the Houthis’ ability to threaten merchant shipping has taken a blow.”

U.S., UK begin bombing Yemen – Houthis –There were reports of explosions in Sanaa and Hodeidah on Friday | 11 Jan 2024 | The U.S. and the UK have launched an attack on Yemen, striking the cities of Sanaa and Hodeidah, Houthi spokesman Abdulsalam Jahaf said early on Friday. Washington and London have not made any official announcements as of yet. However, multiple British and American outlets reported that an attack was “imminent” on Thursday evening, citing anonymous sources inside the White House and 10 Downing Street. “Now America, Britain, and Israel are launching raids on Hodeidah, Sanaa, Dhamar, and Saada,” Jahaf said on X. “We will discipline them, God willing.” There were at least three explosions in Sanaa, Reuters reported citing local witnesses.

Iran says U.S.-Britain attack on Houthis will fuel instability in region | 12 Jan 2024 | Iran said on Friday it condemns the U.S.-Britain attack on Houthis in Yemen warning that it will fuel “insecurity and instability” in the region, Iranian state media reported. “We strongly condemn the military attacks carried out this morning by the United States and the United Kingdom on several cities in Yemen,” said Nasser Kanaani, spokesperson at Iran’s foreign ministry. “These attacks are a clear violation of Yemen’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and a breach of international laws,” he added.

Democrats fume after Biden orders Yemen airstrikes without congressional approval: ‘Unacceptable violation of the Constitution’ | 11 Jan 2024 | Several Democrats on Capitol Hill scolded Joe Biden Thursday for launching airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen without congressional approval, arguing that the action was unconstitutional. “The President needs to come to Congress before launching a strike against the Houthis in Yemen and involving us in another middle east (sic) conflict,” Rep. Ro Khanna posted on X. “That is Article I of the Constitution. I will stand up for that regardless of whether a Democrat or Republican is in the White House.” “Section 2C of the War Powers Act is clear: POTUS may only introduce the US into hostilities after Congressional authorization or in a national emergency when the U.S. is under imminent attack,” the California Democrat went on. “Reporting is not a substitute. This is a retaliatory, offensive strike.” Echoing Khanna, Rep. Val Hoyle (D-Ore.) posted, “These airstrikes have NOT been authorized by Congress. The Constitution is clear: Congress has the sole authority to authorize military involvement in overseas conflicts. Every president must first come to Congress and ask for military authorization, regardless of party.”

Pentagon report finds failure to track $1 billion in weaponry for Ukraine –Nearly 40,000 pieces of highly sensitive military equipment were not adequately inventoried, a new report has concluded | 11 Jan 2024 | More than 1 billion worth of sophisticated weaponry sent to Ukraine by the U.S. was poorly tracked, according to a new report by the Pentagon’s inspector general. The redacted version of the inquiry’s findings was made public on Thursday, one day after it was submitted to the U.S. Congress. The investigation focuses on the implementation of enhanced end-use monitoring (EEUM) procedures by the Pentagon. These procedures apply to a limited range of highly sensitive and sophisticated equipment and weaponry, including shoulder-mounted missile systems, kamikaze drones, night-vision devices, and other hardware. According to the report, the U.S. and its partner nations have supplied Ukraine with an estimated 1.699 billion worth of EEUM-designated hardware… As of June 2, 2023, approximately 59% of the total value, just over 1 billion, remained improperly tracked.

Ukraine shells hospital in Donetsk on Christmas Eve –Several patients were injured by glass shards after the blast shattered windows at the healthcare facility | 7 Jan 2024 | The Ukrainian forces launched multiple attacks against civilian targets in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) on Saturday, with one of strikes damaging a hospital in Donetsk, according to local authorities. At least three people were injured after a shell hit the Central Clinical Hospital No 6 in the Leninsky district of Donetsk, according to the Joint Center for Control and Coordination. All of the victims were the patients at the facility. The attack also damaged several houses in other parts of Donetsk, with some witnesses calling it a “Christmas miracle” that no one was seriously injured.

North Carolina latest to scoop retirement funds from Ben & Jerry’s over ice cream brand’s Israel boycott –North Carolina joins Arizona, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Texas in pulling retirement funds over Ben & Jerry’s boycott of Israel | 11 Jan 2024 | North Carolina closed out last year by becoming the most recent state to divest its public employee pension from the corporate parent of Ben & Jerry’s over the ice cream company’s boycott of Israel. North Carolina is a swing state in politics. Other states to pull retirement funds over Ben & Jerry’s boycott of Israel span the traditional political boundaries and include Arizona, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Texas. “We are where we are. We don’t pick which laws to apply and who to apply them to,” State Treasurer Dale Folwell, a Republican, told FOX Business in an interview this week. “I wish I never heard of this subject and wish we didn’t have to do what we had to do.” Folwell announced last month the North Carolina Retirement Systems – which provides retirement benefits for more than 1 million members, including teachers, firefighters, police officers and government employees – is withdrawing 40 million from Ben & Jerry’s and affiliates. This includes its parent company, Unilever PLC, a U.K.-based company. 

Pro-Palestinian protesters block I-5 in Seattle, causing 6-mile backup | 8 Jan 2024 | Pro-Palestinian supporters in Seattle successfully blocked northbound traffic on Interstate 5. The protest occurred on Saturday and caused a six-mile traffic backup for about five hours. Videos on social media show hundreds of protesters on the highway, chanting phrases such as: “Hey hey, ho ho, the occupation has got to go!” This includes the recent blockage of Interstate 5, in which protesters posted clips on social media with the caption “#ShutItDown4Palestine.” Since Israel was attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7, in which over 1,200 Israelis were killed, protesters around the world have joined in the call for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip after the Jewish state struck back in a relentless and ongoing campaign.

House Republican to file impeachment articles against Lloyd Austin | 8 Jan 2024 | A House Republican lawmaker is introducing articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, his office told Fox News Digital on Monday. Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., plans to target Austin on Tuesday as fallout continues over the Pentagon’s delayed disclosure about Austin being hospitalized last week. Rosendale told Fox News Digital in a statement that he believes Austin “violated his oath of office” on multiple occasions, citing the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, the migrant crisis at the border, and last year’s incident with a Chinese spy craft floating above the continental U.S.

Biden admin slammed for ‘defiance of law’ after Pentagon chief’s secret hospitalization | 6 Jan 2024 | U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, said Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin needs to explain why the White House and senior officials weren’t immediately notified that he’d been hospitalized earlier this week until days later, amid a complex time as the Biden administration deals with a slew of national security matters abroad. Austin was admitted to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Monday for complications following a recent elective medical procedure,” Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Friday, at which time the press was told. Ryder said that the hospitalization was kept from the media due to “medical and personal privacy issues.” However, staffers with the National Security Council, the Department of Defense, congressional leaders, and the White House weren’t immediately told, either, officials confirmed to Fox News.

NTSB Chair Says Cockpit Voice Recorder in Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX Was ‘Completely Overwritten’ | 9 Jan 2024 | During an emergency press briefing, Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), disclosed that the cockpit voice recorder on the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX, which experienced a door plug loss mid-flight, had been completely overwritten. Homendy said, “The cockpit voice recorder was completely overwritten. There is nothing on the cockpit voice recorder.” She continued, “There was a lot going on, on the flight deck and on the plane. It’s a very chaotic event. The circuit breaker for the CVR (cockpit voice recorder) was not pulled. The maintenance team went out to get it, but it was right at about the two-hour mark.”

U.S. Capitol riot instigator given probation –Ray Epps was filmed repeatedly urging fellow Stop the Steal demonstrators to enter the building –“No jail time for Ray Epps! Totally not a fed btw,” Gionet wrote in a post on X on Tuesday following the sentencing. | 10 Jan 2024 | One of the alleged instigators of the U.S. Capitol riot has been sentenced to just a year’s probation after pleading guilty to disorderly conduct in a restricted area, despite his prominent role in the unrest. January 6 rioter Ray Epps, must complete 100 hours of community service and pay a 500 restitution fee, Chief District Judge James Boasberg of the US District Court for the District of Columbia has ruled. The sentence is strikingly light given other defendants, including some who never entered the Capitol or weren’t even in Washington, D.C., at the time of the riot were handed custodial sentences of two decades or more. The court’s decision to allow Epps to “phone in” to his sentencing hearing revived suspicions that he could have been working for the FBI or another agency when he repeatedly urged groups of protesters to enter the building.

Trump prosecutor accused of ‘improper’ relationship with Georgia DA Fani Willis billed $4K for meetings with WH officials –Services rendered by Wade in conjunction with the case seemingly included attending an event with White House counsel in Georgia and a meeting at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. | 10 Jan 2024 | The special prosecutor that District Attorney Fani Willis is accused of having an “improper” relationship with billed the Fulton County DA’s office 4,000 for two eight-hour meetings with White House officials while overseeing the election interference case against former President Donald Trump, according to court documents. The apparent meetings attended by Nathan Wade, an Atlanta-based private attorney hired by Willis to assist in the prosecution of the Trump and his co-defendants, took place in 2022 after he was tapped for the role, according to invoices included in a bombshell court filing by Michael Roman, a former Trump 2020 campaign official. Roman argues in the court filing that Willis should be disqualified from the case and the charges against him dropped because of her alleged “improper, clandestine personal relationship” with Wade.

Fani Willis subpoenaed in Trump prosecutor’s divorce case – as it emerges he wasn’t even approved by board | 10 Jan 2024 | Embattled District Attorney Fani Willis has been subpoenaed to testify in the divorce case of the special prosecutor handling the Trump election interference case, with whom she stands accused of having an “improper relationship.” Furthermore, it has emerged the attorney, Nathan Wade, wasn’t even approved by the relevant board before being hired by the Willis who presides over Fulton County in Georgia. Willis hired Atlanta-based private attorney Nathan Wade as a special prosecutor in the case against Trump and 18 of his associates over their alleged actions following the 2020 election. Despite Wade having no experience prosecuting a complex Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. case like the one against Trump, he was handed a contract which has so far earned his company more than 650,000 in legal fees from the DA’s office.

Georgia DA Fani Willis had affair with prosecutor on Trump case – lawsuit | 8 Jan 2024 | Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had an “improper” and “clandestine” relationship with the married special prosecutor who assisted in securing the Georgia grand jury indictment against former President Donald Trump, a co-defendant in the election interference case alleged Monday. The bombshell court filing made by former Trump 2020 campaign official Michael Roman argues that Willis should be disqualified from the case and the charges against him dropped because “the district attorney chose to appoint her romantic partner, who at all times relevant to this prosecution has been a married man,” to the case. Roman contends that Nathan Wade, a private attorney with the Atlanta-based Wade & Campbell Firm, used some of the nearly 654,000 in legal fees that he’s been paid by the Fulton County DA’s Office for his work on the Trump case to take Willis on lavish vacations to “Napa Valley, California, Florida and the Caribbean.”

Donald Trump defies judge, gives courtroom speech on tense final day of New York civil fraud trial | 11 Jan 2024 | Barred from giving a formal closing argument, Donald Trump wrested an opportunity to speak in court at the conclusion of his New York civil fraud trial Thursday, unleashing a barrage of attacks in a six-minute diatribe before being cut off by the judge. In an extraordinary move for any defendant, Trump not only sought to make his own summation but then brushed past a question from the judge about whether he would follow rules requiring him to keep his remarks focused on matters related to the trial. “I am an innocent man,” Trump protested. “I’m being persecuted by someone running for office, and I think you have to go outside the bounds.”

Trump BANNED from speaking in his own defense in closing argument in New York fraud trial | 10 Jan 2023 | The judge in former President Donald Trump’s New York fraud trial has barred him from speaking in his own defense during closing arguments later this week. The former president, 77, is a defendant in the case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. His business empire in New York is on the line, and James has asked for his business to be fined 370 million for inflating property prices to get favorable loan deals. An attorney for Trump informed Judge Arthur Engoron earlier this week that the ex-president wished to speak during the closing arguments and Engoron initially approved the plan, The Associated Press reported. Now Engoron has rescinded the move, even though Trump is still expected to appear.

27 states file an amicus brief in Supreme Court to keep Trump on the Colorado ballot –The Supreme Court is set to hear the arguments for the brief on Feb. 8. | 6 Jan 2024 | Twenty-seven states have filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court, urging the court to keep former President Donald Trump on the Colorado ballot. The brief can be read here. Attorneys general in the states of West Virginia, Indiana and multiple other states argued in the filing that declaring Trump an “insurrectionist” under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution would have “vast consequences that reach far beyond Colorado.”The Supreme Court is set to hear the arguments for the brief on Feb. 8, according to Fox News.

Republicans vote to advance Hunter Biden contempt of Congress citation following his made-for-TV ‘publicity stunt’ with chaotic appearance on Capitol Hill | 10 Jan 2024 | Republicans have voted to recommend Hunter Biden officially be held in contempt of Congress for refusing to sit for a closed-door deposition as part of their impeachment investigation into his father Joe. The House Judiciary Committee was first to vote to approve the contempt resolution 23-14 along party lines, teeing up a full floor vote as early as next week. If that gets cleared, Hunter’s case would be referred to the Biden-led Department of Justice for prosecution and he could face up to a year in prison if convicted. The House Oversight Committee, which held a simultaneous hearing, also voted 25-21 to condemn Hunter and recommend contempt charges. Proceedings were delayed after Hunter sparked utter chaos in Congress by showing up on Capitol Hill. He was accused of a “ridiculous PR stunt” by making a shock appearance to face Republicans threatening to hold him in contempt.

Biden admin efforts to erase Pennsylvania history go down in flames after outrage | 9 Jan 2024 | The National Park Service has withdrawn plans to remove a statue of William Penn from a Philadelphia park commemorating his founding of Pennsylvania, situated at his former home. The preliminary draft proposal for the “rehabilitation” of Welcome Park “was released prematurely and had not been subject to a complete internal agency review,” NPS announced Monday evening. “No changes to the William Penn statue are planned,” a news release said. The park service never explained the reason for the impetus to remove the statue.

Texas National Guard seizes control of park, blocks Border Patrol from entering area in anti-illegal immigration effort | 11 Jan 2024 | The Texas National Guard has seized control of a park at the U.S. southern border and is now blocking Border Patrol from entering the area – part of an effort to stop the surge of illegal immigration into Texas and a move likely to significantly increase tensions between Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the federal government. The state government has taken control of Shelby Park in the city of Eagle Pass, Texas, which has been at the center of the migrant crisis that has engulfed the U.S. border. Authorities have now set up razor wire and fences to block off the area. Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas said he was informed that the decision was made as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s emergency declaration. Salinas told reporters it was not something the city had requested, and he said his understanding is that Border Patrol was now not in the area as a result.

NYC high school students forced into remote learning as 2,000 migrants sheltered in school instead –The move sparked anger from parents and local politicians | 9 Jan 2024 | Nearly 2,000 migrants being sheltered in a tent shelter in New York City are being transferred to a nearby high school, where the students will have to pivot to remote learning due to the disruption it is causing — sparking outrage from residents and local politicians. New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ office said it is moving 1,900 migrants from the tent shelter at Floyd Bennett Field for safety reasons due to the incoming storms and potential high winds. But it is controversially moving them to James Madison High School, which confirmed it was being used as a “temporary overnight respite center” and would be closed as a result on Wednesday — with students being forced to “pivot” to remote learning as a result.

California to provide free sex changes for illegal immigrants | 7 Jan 2024 | As of last week, California’s taxpayer-funded healthcare system now covers sex changes for illegal immigrants, thanks to legislation recently signed by Governor Gavin Newsom. The cost of the program is expected to top 3 billion. California became the first state in the US to provide health insurance to all adults regardless of immigration status on January 1, when legislation signed by Newsom last summer came into effect. Approximately 700,000 illegal immigrants will now have their healthcare covered by the state’s taxpayer-funded Medi-Cal insurance system, according to a press release from State Senator Maria Elena Durazo in May. Among the procedures covered by Medi-Cal are hormone therapy and gender transition surgery, according to a report this week by the Daily Caller.