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Thursday, December 21, 2023

12/21 WAKE-UP CALL: Supreme Court Likely To Rule on Trump


The Supreme Court will likely have to rule on whether the 14th Amendment’s banning insurrectionists from office applies to Donald Trump The former president’s campaign pledged a swift appeal after Colorado’s highest court ruled 4-3 that Trump was disqualified from the ballot because he had encouraged his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in a bid to stop the certification of President Biden’s electoral victory. Trump won a series of early decisions rejecting such challenges, and before yesterday’s court decision, the issue appeared to be fading in importance.

The last time the Supreme Court was forced to intervene so directly in a presidential election was Bush v. Gore in 2000.

➤HAMAS REJECTS ISRAEL OFFER: Hamas rejected Israel’s offer to stop fighting for one week and allow further humanitarian aid into Gaza in exchange for dozens of hostages. The militant group said it wouldn’t discuss releasing its Israeli captives until a cease-fire went into effect, according to Egyptian officials. For the first time, negotiations were to include Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the second-most powerful Palestinian militant group in Gaza. It wanted a pre-negotiations cease-fire, too, and said Israel must free all its thousands of Palestinian prisoners in return for the 100-plus hostages still in Gaza. Islamic Jihad—which, like Hamas, is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization—also participated in the deadly Oct. 7 attacks and took hostages. The 40 captives Israel wanted freed included all remaining women and children as well as elderly men who need urgent medical treatment. Hamas’s military wing didn’t respond to a request for comment.

➤20,000 DEAD IN GAZA:  The leader of the Hamas political wing was in Cairo on Wednesday for talks toward a truce that could allow more prisoner-hostage exchanges and increased humanitarian aid for the devastated Gaza Strip. Ismail Haniyeh was holding "critical discussions" with Egyptian officials, Egypt Today reported, as the Palestinian death toll surpassed a staggering 20,000. 

Could a truce be near? The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel was offering a one-week pause in the fighting in return for the release of 40 hostages.

➤MANY HOSTAGES SEXUALLY ABUSED: Israeli doctors who have been treating hostages released by Hamas say that some freed hostages revealed they suffered violent sexual assaults in captivity. One of the doctors assessed that "many" of the released Israeli female hostages aged 12 to 48 − there are about 30 of them − were sexually assaulted while held by Hamas in Gaza. The second doctor said many of the freed hostages – both male and female – exhibited signs of PTSD and "came to us as patients with the trauma of those who witnessed very severe sexual assaults." And as evidence of rape, sexual violence and mutilation of women and men during the Hamas attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7 mounts, the families of hostages fear the worst.

➤XI WARNED BIDEN ABOUT TAIWAN: Chinese President Xi Jinping warned President Biden last month that he intends to end Taiwan’s decades-long de facto independence — peacefully, if possible. Xi told the 81-year-old commander-in-chief that “Beijing will reunify Taiwan with mainland China but that the timing has not yet been decided,” NBC News reported Wednesday, citing three current and former US officials briefed on the meeting. The White House didn’t deny the exchange, which occurred during a Nov. 15 summit outside San Francisco that was attended by a dozen US and Chinese officials. “I’m not gonna get into the specifics of the discussion between the two leaders,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Air Force One en route to Milwaukee. “I think you can understand I’m not gonna read out that private conversation.”


➤VENEZUELA FREES 10 AMERICANS: The U.S. and Venezuela have agreed to a prisoner swap in which 10 Americans held in Venezuela will be returned to the U.S. and one associate of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro will return to Venezuela. The Maduro associate was being held on international charges of money laundering and bribery committed for the benefit of Venezuelan government officials. One of the people being returned to the U.S. faces charges here. Fugitive billionaire Leonard Glenn Francis, known as Fat Leonard, fled the U.S. last year after admitting to bribing dozens of U.S. Navy officers to gain military contracts for his business.

➤HARASSMENT OF AMERICAN JEWS BELIEVED TO ORIGINATE ABROAD: The FBI says it believes that much of the harassment of Jewish American synagogues and schools is coming from outside the U.S., according to an FBI memo obtained by ABC News. In addition to false bomb calls, more than 200 acts of “swatting” have been reported. These are false reports made to emergency services to draw an armed response to a location. FBI Directory Christopher Wray testified in October that hate crimes in general have increased by 60 percent in the U.S. since October.

➤MIGRANT FACILITIES AT THE BORDERS ARE PACKED: More than 18,500 people are packed into four of the busiest border crossings in Texas and Arizona as the migrant flood into the U.S. intensifies. On Monday, the Border Patrol logged a record 12,600 migrants crossing the border in 24 hours. Most will be held for a few days until they are evaluated and either allowed to open an asylum claim or deported.President Joe Biden and Congressional negotiators have agreed to placing a cap on the maximum number of asylum requests. However, Congress left for vacation yesterday without voting on the measure.

➤1.6M ADDED T0 U-S POPULATION: The United States gained more than 1.6 million people in the past year, an increase driven by fewer deaths and pre-pandemic levels of immigration, according to data released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau. The rise marked a bump of 0.5% as more states saw population gains than in any year since the start of the pandemic, bringing the U.S. population to 334,914,895. While the increase is historically low, it’s higher than those seen in 2022 (0.4%) and 2021 (0.2%). “Although births declined, this was tempered by the near 9% decrease in deaths,” said demographer Kristie Wilder of the bureau’s population division. “Ultimately, fewer deaths paired with rebounding immigration resulted in the nation experiencing its largest population gain since 2018.” 

Most of that growth took place in the South, the bureau said, which accounted for a whopping 87% of the rise. The nation’s most populous region – the only region to maintain population growth throughout the pandemic – added more than 1.4 million residents, bringing its total to more than 130 million.

Texas added more residents than any other state, gaining more than 473,000 people, followed by Florida’s 365,000 new inhabitants. South Carolina and Florida were the country’s two fastest-growing states, with their 2023 populations rising by 1.7% and 1.6%, respectively.

🏈TEXANS’ STROUD WILL MISS SUNDAY’S GAME: Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud is expected to miss this Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns. It will be the second game Stroud has missed since he suffered a concussion during the Texans’ 30-6 loss to the New York Jets.

⚾METS ADD TWO FROM THE BREWERS: The New York Mets have brought in starting pitcher Adrian Houser and outfielder Tyrone Taylor from the Milwaukee Brewers. Minor league pitcher Coleman Crow will join the Brewers.

🏀STANDING ‘O’ FOR JOEL EMBIID: Joel Embiid got a standing ovation from Philadelphia 76ers fans who were chanting “MVP” during yesterday’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Philly won with a final score of 127-113, and Embiid scored 51 of those points. It was his seventh game in which he scored 50 or more points.





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