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Friday, February 2, 2024

2/2 WAKE-UP CALL: U-S Again Targets Yemen


The U.S. struck Houthi targets in Yemen, citing the threat they pose to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the Red Sea. That comes as Washington prepares its response to an Iran-backed militia’s drone attack that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan on Sunday. Houthi rebels have said their latest assaults on global shipping are aimed at pressuring Israel and the international community to end the Israel-Hamas war. Analysts say their goal is to control the Arabian Peninsula. 

The attacks in the Red Sea, as well as the warships and mines clogging the Black Sea since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, threaten a long-held global concept allowing any country to sail the high seas. Stateside, the U.S. announced new sanctions against Israeli settlers in the West Bank, as concerns grow that Israel hasn’t done enough to curb the attacks on Palestinians there.

BIDEN SANCTIONS WEST BANK SETTLERS: President Joe Biden ordered the U.S. to impose financial sanctions on Israeli settlers who have attacked Palestinians in the West Bank in his administration's most significant action to try to calm West Bank violence amid the Israeli-Hamas war. The sanctions, which Biden authorized Thursday, target four Israelis who engaged in actions that "undermine peace, security and stability in the West Bank" through violence aimed at Palestinian civilians. While much of the world's attention has been focused on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank have surged since Oct. 7.

➤DEFENSE SECRETARY TALKS ABOUT BEING MIA: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin apologized publicly for the first time for keeping secret his January hospitalization related to cancer treatment, saying the medical challenges were a "gut punch" and his initial instinct was to keep it private. 

Austin has faced bipartisan criticism for concealing his cancer diagnosis and hospitalization from the White House, Congress, his own staff and the public. Austin underwent surgery for prostate cancer on Dec. 22, then was taken on Jan. 1 by ambulance from his home in northern Virginia to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for complications that had developed. 

➤FLA SENDS GUARD TO TEXAS: Gov. Ron DeSantis is sending Florida National Guard and State Guard members to Texas to assist with placing razor wire along the southern border, DeSantis announced Thursday. The Supreme Court ruled last week that the federal government had the power to remove razor wire and other barriers the Texas government erected at the border, but Texas National Guard continued placing the wire last week.  Florida will send up to 1,000 National Guard members and State Guard volunteers to assist Texas "relatively shortly." “The goal is to help Texas fortify this border, help them strengthen the barricades, help them add barriers, help them add the wire that they need to so that we can stop this invasion once and for all,” DeSantis said from Jacksonville’s Cecil Airport Thursday morning. “And the states have to band together.”

NY Post 2/2/24
➤MIGRANT THUGS MAY BE HEADED TO CALIF: Four of the migrants cut loose without bail after allegedly ganging up on two NYPD cops near Times Square may be on the run. Cops believe the group hopped on a bus bound for California on Wednesday after giving phony names to a church-affiliated nonprofit group that helps migrants get rides out of the city, according to law enforcement sources. Four migrants were charged with assault on a police officer and obstruction immediately after the shocking, caught-on-video attack Saturday in Midtown: Darwin Andres Gomez, 19, Kelvin Servita Arocha, 19, Wilson Juarez, 21, and Yorman Reveron, 24. All were released without monetary bail, though Reveron, who had prior arrests on his rap sheet, was put on supervised release.

➤FEDS AFTER AMAZON: Amazon is facing a government order that could make it responsible for the safety of goods from so-called third party sellers.  The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is set to decide whether Amazon’s online retail business makes it a distributor, according to people familiar with the matter. That designation could give it the same safety responsibilities as traditional retailers for goods it sells for outside vendors on its website and ships for them through its logistics network, potentially opening up the company to lawsuits and extensive recalls. Amazon has said that it invests in product safety across its site and that for the more than 60% of sales that are by third parties, it is merely a platform for sellers and buyers to connect, and therefore not responsible for ensuring the quality and safety of those products. Amazon accounts for nearly 40% of all e-commerce in the U.S., according to research firm eMarketer.

➤TRUMP'S LEGAL FEES SOAR: Civil lawsuits could end up costing Donald Trump and his family real-estate conglomerate as much as half a billion dollars.  In one New York case where an ex-columnist alleged defamation, the ex-president is facing verdicts exceeding $88 million. In another, the New York Attorney General claims he exaggerated his wealth to lenders and is seeking $370 million, plus interest during any appeal. The attorney general has also asked the judge to restrict Trump’s ability to apply for loans and acquire commercial real estate in New York. If the fraud case results in a large penalty, Trump might need insurance companies to help structure bonds guaranteeing payment should his appeal efforts fall short. Trump has said the case is a political hit job. In the defamation suit, he could seek to reduce the punitive damages. Trump’s net worth is an estimated $3 billion; in a deposition last year, he testified that he had more than $400 million in cash.

➤SMALL PLANE CRASH KILLS ;'SEVERAL': Several people were killed when a small plane crashed into a Florida trailer park on Thursday night, setting fire to several homes, according to local fire officials. The single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza V35 went down in the Bayside Waters mobile home park in Clearwater just south of the Clearwater Mall around 7:08 p.m., according to the Clearwater Fire and Rescue Department. The pilot of the plane reported engine failure before going down, the FAA said in a statement. The agency said it’s not clear how many people were on board. The wreck resulted in “several fatalities, both from the aircraft and within the mobile home,” according to Clearwater Fire and Rescue Chief Scott Ehlers. Video released by the fire and rescue department showed the apocalyptic-looking scene, with the plane wreckage still smoldering next to charred buildings and trees.



➤DARIUS RUCKER FACING LEGAL TROUBLE: Country music star and Hootie & the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker (right) is facing legal trouble after a recent arrest in Tennessee. Rucker was booked Thursday in a Williamson County jail on misdemeanor drug possession charges, a spokesperson with the Williamson County Sheriff confirmed to The Tennesseean. The musician was charged with two counts of simple possession and casual exchange and one count of violation of registration law following an arrest in Franklin.  Rucker was released Thursday after posting $10,500 bond. Rucker's attorney Mark Puryear said the singer is "fully cooperating with authorities related to the misdemeanor charges."

➤REPORT: BMG TO DROP ROGER WATERS: Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Water’s record label is planning to part ways with the musician following inflammatory comments regarding Israel and Ukraine in recent months, according to reports.  The German-based company, BMG, signed a publishing agreement with Water in 2016 and was scheduled to release a newly recorded version of Pink Floyd’s 1973 album “Dark Side of the Moon” last year, but the deal was canceled when CEO Thomas Coesfeld took the helm in July 2023, Variety reported. According to Variety, “Sources tell Variety that BMG is preparing to separate entirely from the veteran musician.”  

Rogers (left) has been accused of antisemitism in recent years, most recently claiming that he doesn’t know “what actually happened” when Hamas launched its surprise invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, killing at least 1,200 and taking more than 200 hostages into the Gaza Strip. Waters even said he wasn’t convinced it wasn’t a “false flag operation” during an interview with journalist Glenn Greenwald, expressing doubt about the death toll and Hamas’ role in the attack. The musician said there was “something very fishy” about the attack, stating “we don’t know what they [Hamas] did do” during the invasion when asked if the attack could be “justified.”

➤RAVENS MARK ANDREWS HELPS SAVE WOMEN: Ravens star Mark Andrews is being hailed as a hero after stepping in to help a woman in a medical emergency. A post on X went viral on Thursday afternoon, detailing a mid-flight emergency that saw the three-time Pro Bowler step in to lend a helping hand in stabilizing a passenger’s heart rate after medical personnel struggled to find a strong pulse. “A woman on my @southwest flight from Baltimore to Phoenix this morning had a mid-flight medical emergency,” user Andrew Springs wrote. “The doctor and nurse attending to her couldn’t find a strong pulse, her blood pressure was extremely low, and required oxygen to breathe. It was genuinely scary. “A man in the aisle seat popped up, ‘Could it be her blood sugar? I have a diabetic testing kit.’ “It was @Ravens TE Mark Andrews. Andrews instructed the medical professionals (equal citizen heroes in this story) on using his test kit. Eventually her heart-rate stabilized.

🏀76ERS’ EMBIID HAS A KNEE INJURY: Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid has been diagnosed with a meniscus injury in his left knee. His treatment plan is not yet determined, but he’ll definitely be out through this weekend at least. The NBA’s reigning MVP was injured during Tuesday’s game against the Golden State Warriors.

⚾CORBIN BURNES HEADED TO BALTIMORE: The Milwaukee Brewers are trading pitcher Corbin Burnes to the Baltimore Orioles, the Orioles announced yesterday. Burnes is a three-time All Star and 2021 winner of the Cy Young award.

🏀LAKERS SHOCK THE CELTICS: The Los Angeles Lakers won a shocking 114-105 upset over the Celtics yesterday in Boston. And this was with LeBron James and Anthony Davis sitting on the sidelines. Austin Reaves gets much of the credit for delivering 32 points.

🏈COMMANDERS FIND A NEW HEAD COACH: The Washington Commanders are expected to hire Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn as their new head coach. Quinn was head coach for the Atlanta Falcons from 2015 to 2020.

➤WINTRY MIX BATTERS CALIF: An atmospheric river, also known as a "Pineapple Express," continued to slam into California on Thursday, pounding the state with heavy rain and snow and triggering road closures and rockslides. It's the first of two storms forecast to wallop California over the next few days with periods of rain, snow, wind and flooding. A second atmospheric river, which meteorologists said could be much stronger than the first storm, was expected to barrel into California on Sunday and into Monday. 

"There has been some flooding from today's storm across parts of SoCal (especially in/near Long Beach), but the Sun-Tue system has *much greater* potential for more widespread and more serious flooding/debris flows in SoCal," Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, said on X, formerly Twitter.

➤FRIDAY'S WEATHER MAP:



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