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Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Donald Trump Wins Iowa Caucus, DeSantis Comes in Second, Haley in Third

Associated Press: Donald Trump has won Iowa’s leadoff presidential caucuses. The former president’s victory gives him a strong start in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination as the contest moves to New Hampshire (Associated Press). Fox News: The Fox News Decision Desk can now project that Governor Ron DeSantis will take second place in the Iowa caucuses. DeSantis will trail Trump by a significant margin, but coming in second may give his campaign a much needed boost. Nikki Haley will come third. She will look to regain support in New Hampshire (Fox News). Hill: Vivek Ramaswamy on Monday night announced he’s dropping out of the 2024 GOP presidential race following a disappointing showing in the Iowa caucuses (Hill). For further breakdown by county, click here (New York Times).

Houthi Forces Strike U.S. Cargo Ship

Jerusalem Post: Houthi forces in Yemen struck the US-owned and operated container ship M/V Gibraltar Eagle with an anti-ship ballistic missile, US Central Command said on Monday, although there were no reports of injuries or significant damage. The dry bulk vessel Gibraltar Eagle was hit by an “unidentified projectile” while sailing 100 miles off the Gulf of Aden and suffered limited damage to its cargo hold, the vessel’s US operator Eagle Bulk Shipping said on Monday. “As a result of the impact, the vessel suffered limited damage to a cargo hold but is stable and is heading out of the area,” Eagle Bulk said in a statement (Jerusalem Post). CBS: The U.S. and allied strikes had not dissuaded the Houthis from targeting cargo vessels in the vital shipping corridor and Mohammed Abdulsalam, a chief political negotiator for the rebel movement, told the Reuters news agency the “attacks to prevent Israeli ships or those heading to the ports of the occupied Palestine will continue” (CBS).

U.S. Destroyer Intercepts Anti-Ship Cruise Missile Shot from Houthi Terrorists in Red Sea

National Review: Days after the U.S. conducted a second round of strikes against Houthi militants and an affiliated radar site, the Houthis responded by launching an anti-ship cruise missile toward the USS Laboon. Thankfully, the Laboon was able to intercept the missile with all hands reported safe. The stakes have been raised with the emergence of cruise missiles and their ability to go far beyond merely bloodying a vessel — they are proven ship-killers that must be treated with due severity (National Review). Wall Street Journal: The Houthi actions in the Red Sea, initially directed against Israeli-linked vessels, have become increasingly indiscriminate, rattled global markets and upended international shipping routes. As Western powers have retaliated, the Red Sea has become a new flashpoint between the U.S. and Iran-backed allies lined up around the region. The Houthis have said their action will only stop if Israel ends its military campaign in Gaza (Wall Street Journal).

Israel’s War with Palestine Reaches 100 Days

Haviv Rettig Gur: The Jews, the Salafist theologian Rashid Rida wrote in 1898 in response to the First Zionist Congress, are “the penniless of the weakest of peoples, whom all governments are expelling.” If such weaklings can push back Islam, the problem of Islamic weakness reaches an intolerable breaking point. This is why the Muslim world largely sat out the cataclysmic Houthi war in Yemen, which saw 85,000 children starved to death, or Assad’s butchery in Syria—but now marches in large numbers for Gaza. It is why an Iranian regime uninterested in rights for its own people engages in a long, expensive multifront war for “Palestinian rights.” Iran did not build Hezbollah to not use it, nor the Houthis or its militias in Iraq and Syria. A war one side thinks is being fought to reclaim Islam’s rightful place in history will not end in Gaza. It has, alas, only just begun (Free Press). Daily Wire: The Biden White House said on Sunday that they are “intensely” pressuring Israel to lower the intensity of their military operations against the Hamas terrorist organization inside Gaza. Kirby said that it was the “right thing to do” to pressure Israel to lower the intensity of its military campaign agains the genocidal terrorists (Daily Wire).

Israeli Soccer Player Released After Arrest in Turkey For Dedicating Goal to Hostages Held by Hamas

Israel War Room: Israel has secured the release of Israeli soccer player Sagiv Jehezkel, who will return home today after Turkey’s authoritarian Islamic regime, headed by terror supporter Recep Erdogan, arrested him for displaying a message of solidarity with hostages held by Hamas (X). National Review: Turkish authorities arrested and detained for interrogation Sunday an Israeli soccer player after he called attention to the hostages Hamas kidnapped during its brutal invasion of Israel on October 7…Turkish prosecutors then launched an investigation against Jehezkel on charges of “inciting people to hatred and hostility (National Review).” After the incident Turkish soccer club Antalayaspor tweeted Jehezkel acted against the national values of Turkey and was suspended from playing with the club (X).

Inspector General Finds the EPA Misplaced Billions of Taxpayer Dollars

Daily Wire: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) failed to suitably report billions of dollars in fiscal 2022 spending, the agency’s inspector general determined, prompting condemnation from GOP lawmakers. The inspector general’s team found award-level obligations — or spending commitments — were underreported by $1.2 billion and award-level outlays — or money actually paid — were underreported by $5.8 billion, meaning that 12.9% of the EPA’s total award-level obligations and 99.9% of the EPA’s total award-level outlays were not reported in fiscal 2022. Also noted by the watchdog was that the EPA also did not report “any” of its Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act outlays and underreported its COVID pandemic-related outlays (Daily Wire). Fox News: “The lack of complete and accurate reporting also led to taxpayers being initially misinformed about the EPA’s spending, and policy-makers who relied on the data may not have been able to effectively track federal spending,” the OIG report concluded (Fox News).

Fulton County DA Fani Willis Pulls Race Card Amid New Misconduct Allegations

Fox News: Fulton County, Georgia district attorney Fani Willis, who brought charges against former President Donald Trump on election interference, claims allegations brought against her of having an “improper” romantic relationship with a prosecutor were made because they are Black. Court documents filed earlier this month say Willis hired special prosecutor Nathan Wade, her alleged partner, to prosecute Trump and benefited financially from the relationship in the form of lavish vacations the two went on using funds his firm received for working the case. Willis said on Sunday that John Floyd and Anna Green Cross, both prosecutors assigned to the case, are both white and were not targeted (Fox News). Post Millennial: Georgia prosecutor in Trump case speaks at church after allegations that she hired a lover to aid in that case: “You cannot expect black women to be perfect and save the world” (X). National Review: Representative Jim Jordan sent a letter to Wade on Friday demanding documents and information as part of an investigation into “politically motivated” prosecutions in the Fulton County DA’s office (National Review).

Hamas Terror Attack in Ra'anana Leaves 17 Injured, One Fatality

Hamas claimed credit. Times of Israel: An elderly woman was killed and at least 17 people were injured, including at least seven children and teenagers, in a multipronged Palestinian car-ramming and stabbing terror attack in the central Israel city of Ra’anana early on Monday afternoon. During the attack, the perpetrators — two West Bank Palestinians working in Israel illegally — seized at least three vehicles and rammed pedestrians in several locations in the city, also stabbing one or more of their victims (Times of Israel). Jerusalem Post: Three of the victims overall are in serious condition, seven are in moderate condition, and five are lightly injured. France’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that two of the wounded parties hold French citizenship (Jerusalem Post).

Judiciary and Oversight Committees Will Issue New Subpoenas for Hunter Biden

NBC: House Republicans on the Judiciary and Oversight Committees said Sunday that they will issue new subpoenas for President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden after his lawyer said he would comply with a congressional subpoena if the lawmakers issue a “new proper” one. Comer and Jordan maintained that their initial subpoenas requesting his deposition behind closed doors are “lawful and legally enforceable” and again criticized his defiance of the subpoenas. Hunter Biden’s legal team had asserted that their client would only testify in a public setting. On the day he was scheduled to appear for a closed-door deposition last month, Hunter Biden instead delivered public remarks in front of the Capitol, taking no questions (NBC). National Review: The committees have thus far shown that Biden family members – led by the president’s son Hunter and brother Jim, and abetted by the president’s meetings and phone calls with their business associates – raked in an astounding $24 million over the five years between 2014 and 2019 (i.e., including the years from 2014 through 2016 when Joe Biden was vice-president) from agents of corrupt and anti-American regimes (National Review).

10.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to Work from Home While Recovering

Spencer Brown: After two weeks of hospitalization for treatment of an infection developed following surgery for prostate cancer — and being AWOL for days without President Biden and other senior U.S. officials’ knowledge — Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was discharged from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Monday. Saying that Secretary Austin “continues to recover well,” the Department of Defense said that he “will recuperate and perform his duties remotely for a period of time before returning full-time to the Pentagon.” In the meantime, the DoD said the Secretary of Defense “has full access to required secure communications capabilities.” Austin said in an accompanying statement that he would “continue to recuperate and perform my duties from home” but is “eager to fully recover and return as quickly as possible to the Pentagon” (Townhall). Axios: Austin’s hospitalization caught many U.S. officials by surprise when it was announced on Jan. 5 — four days after he was admitted. The backlash over the lack of communication from Austin and the Department of Defense was swift, and some in Congress stated they had lost faith in Austin’s ability to perform his duties. Despite the pushback and calls for Austin’s resignation, the White House said it has no plans to remove him from his post (Axios). Spencer Brown: Biden called a lid hours ago, the secretary of defense is laid up at home, and Iran is now (reportedly) directly firing on U.S. targets (X).