News of the World

[kyonides]

US NEWS

---

Anti-Israel Radicals Stage Insurrection in California State Capitol
Assembly Shut Down; No Arrests

Anti-Israel radicals staged an insurrection in the California State Assembly on Wednesday, shutting down the first day of the state legislative session and forcing lawmakers to flee. There were no arrests, as insurrectionists were allowed to linger in the chamber.

The disruption was staged bythree so-called “Jewish” groups whose claim to Jewish identity is never verified and who, at best, represent a radical fringe of the American Jewish community. Two of the three groups have a history of support for terrorism.

Protesters calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war on Wednesday shut down the California Assembly on the Legislature’s first Capitol floor session of the new year.

Hundreds of demonstrators from Jewish anti-war organizations packed the Rotunda and the Assembly gallery and began chanting, singing and unveiling banners around 1:30 p.m., just as lawmakers reconvened in Sacramento after a months-long recess.
...
Protesters sang “cease-fire now” as lawmakers began leaving the chamber, although a few lingered on the floor and in the back of the room. None of the California Highway Patrol sergeants who provide security at the Capitol removed or arrested any of the demonstrators, who continued singing and chanting to a largely empty room. They remained even after the lights in the Assembly chamber were shut off after the adjournment, continuing to sing while turning on their cell phone flashlights.

The most common charge against those who entered the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, was “obstructing an official proceeding.” No such charges will be brought against the insurrectionists in Sacramento, though they did the same.

Politico noted: “It’s the third time in recent months that cease-fire demonstrators have disrupted a major political event in California, highlighting a widening rift between progressive activists and more mainstream Democrats over the conflict.”

Other News

American Victims of Hamas Attack Plan to Sue North Korea for Providing Weapons

Darshan-Leitner said North Korea “knowingly and intentionally” passes weapons to Iran for distribution to Hamas, so the regimes in both Pyongyang and Tehran are “liable” for the deaths and injuries inflicted on October 7.

In an interview with VOA’s Korean Service recorded on December 27, Darshan-Leitner said she currently represents ten Americans, “including family members who lost their loved ones, as well as U.S. citizens who were injured or who incurred property damage in the attack.” She expected more American victims to join the lawsuit, possibly including hostages presently held prisoner by Hamas after they are released.

“More than 30 Americans, many of them dual U.S.-Israeli citizens, were killed in the attack that initiated the latest round of violence between Hamas and Israel,” VOA noted.

Darshan-Leitner admitted the plaintiffs would face a challenging “burden” to “prove the case,” but she said her team has enlisted “experts who know a lot about North Korea” and how its weapons “wound up in the hands of Hamas.”

 I guess it'd be a lot easier to get the US government to attack Gaza themselves than forcing North Korea pay a single dime as reparations for "having killed" her clients' relatives indirectly.

Offshore Wind Project Cancels Contract Due to Inflation, After Biden Admin Brags of Project’s Success

BP and Equinor said they canceled the project, dubbed the Empire Wind 2, that was to be built off the shores of New York.

A press release stated the two companies had reached an agreement with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), to terminate the Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Certificate (OREC) for Empire Wind 2.

“This agreement reflects changed economic circumstances on an industry-wide scale… The decision recognizes commercial conditions driven by inflation, interest rates and supply chain disruptions that prevented Empire Wind 2’s existing OREC agreement from being viable,” Equinor said.

Molly Morris, president of Equinor Renewables Americas, said in a statement the company is open to more economically viable projects in the future.
...
The Department of the Interior (DOI) and Department of Energy (DOE) both endorsed the project in November, with the DOI praising President Joe Biden and referring to Empire Wind 1 and 2 as a “Bidenomics” success.
...
The agency also said the Empire Wind projects support Biden’s green energy goals.

Just six weeks after its approval, Empire Wind 2 failed due to the economics the Biden administration boasted of.

If it weren't because of the supply chain issues cited there, I'd have made the claim here that they're just scammers looking for new ways to steal a hell of a lot of money from taxpayers over and over again.

Iowa Sheriff on School Shooting: ‘We Are Still Unclear on How Many Are Injured’

During a Thursday morning press conference, Dallas County Sheriff Adam Infante says his office received a 7:37 a.m. alert on a shooting at Perry High School and an officer arrived on scene within seven minutes.

Update: The Associated Press pointed out the suspected Perry High School shooter died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The AP says this bit of information was conveyed to them by a law enforcement official wishing to remain anonymous.
...
Infante said there were “multiple gunshot victims,” adding, “We are still unclear on how many are injured.”

He added, “There is no further danger to the public. The community is safe.”

Infante said the shooting occurred at a time when many teachers and students were not at the school, which was best case scenario.

He said the identity of the shooter has been confirmed but that identity is not being released at this time.

MIDDLE EASTERN NEWS

---

Several Articles

Israeli Supreme Court Strikes Down Judicial Reform, 8-7, Despite Ongoing War

Israel’s Supreme Court struck down the first, and most moderate, of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial reforms on Monday in a close 8-7 decision that risked dividing the country again in the midst of an existential war against Hamas terrorists.

The opposition and far left, including the U.S. State Department-funded Movement for Government Quality, celebrated the ruling and warned Netanyahu not to resist it. Netanyahu and his governing coalition said they would delay reacting until after the war.

Israel’s judiciary is the most powerful in the democratic world, and is virtually unchecked. Netanyahu and his government won an election in 2022 with a large majority, partly on the basis of a promise to reform the judiciary. Most of the proposed reforms were parallel to existing practices in other democracies. The left, relegated to the minority, took to the streets and organized massive protests that observers likened to a “color revolution,” aimed at ousting Netanyahu or at least making him completely ineffective.

The government delayed passage of the reforms to allow time for negotiation with the opposition. When talks failed, Netanyahu tried to pass the reforms piecemeal, starting with the least objectionable proposal, barring judges from striking down legislation or government action on the basis of “reasonableness,” a subjective standard that depends on the judge’s own, personal opinion.
...
There were three issues at stake. The first was whether the Supreme Court had jurisdiction to hear the case at all. Israel does not have a formal constitution and has no real judicial review; the courts simply seized the power to review legislation in the 1990s.

 I suspect this was the method both the Israeli left wing and the US government chose as their preferred method to stop the war in Gaza.

Hezbollah Chief Threatens ‘No-Limits’ War on Israel in Defense of Hamas

The head of the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, threatened to wage a “no-limits” war against Israel in remarks on Wednesday responding to a drone strike on a senior leader of Hamas.

Hamas is a Sunni terrorist organization that shares a genocidal jihadist ideology – and Iranian state funding – with Hezbollah. While the leaders of the two groups and their supporters occasionally clash publicly, Hezbollah has enthusiastically supported Hamas following its terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, in which Hamas terrorists killed 1,200 people, abducted an estimated 250, and engaged in a wide range of atrocities, including infanticide, gang rape, and burning people alive. While Hamas is a Sunni terrorist organization, Hamas is led by Shiite Muslim jihadists.
...
Hamas lost one of the founders of its “military” terror wing, the Qassam Brigades, and the second-in-command of its political office, Saleh al-Arouri, on Tuesday to a drone strike targeting a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, where Hezbollah operates as an influential political party in addition to a terrorist organization. The Qassam Brigades are believed to be the Hamas terrorists responsible for the October 7 attack.
...
Nasrallah delivered incendiary remarks on Wednesday, vowing revenge on Israel for the strike, his most radical comments since October 7. According to Iranian state outlet Fars News, Nasrallah declared the drone attack on the outskirts of Beirut an attempt to target Lebanon directly, not a strike against Hamas, and claimed Hezbollah would wage a war with “no rules” against Israel if military activity in Lebanon expanded.

Iranian Media Claim at Least 103 Dead in Explosions at Terror Chief Qasem Soleimani’s Tomb

Multiple Iranian state-affiliated news outlets reported the deaths on Wednesday of between 20 and 73 people at a parade honoring late terrorist Qasem Soleimani near his tomb in southern Kerman, the result of what investigations are initially describing as “twin” explosions detonated by remote.

Update: Since the time of publication of this article, Iranian authorities have updated the casualty count to 103 people killed and 141 wounded, including some in critical condition.

The IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency reported on Wednesday that two explosions rocked the event “as people were packed on a road leading to a cemetery where the tomb of General Soleimani is located,” 13 minutes apart. Terrorists often use multiple explosions to target both their initial victims and first responders deploying to save those injured.

“Sources told a Tasnim reporter in Kerman that the perpetrator or perpetrators of the attack have exploded two explosive-laden suitcases with remote controllers,” the outlet asserted, describing the explosions as terrorism.

Prior reports suggested the possibility of an accidental gas cylinder explosion, though local officials later began openly declaring the explosions intentional.
...
Footage from the event indicated that the Iranian regime had mobilized thousands of people to crowd into the city and march to the cemetery, an attempt to rehabilitate Soleimani’s image in life as a mass murderer into that of a beloved patriot.
...
The Iranian regime ultimately replaced Soleimani with Esmail Qaani, a more low-profile terrorist with a significant role in Iran’s involvement in Syria.

Islamic State Claims Responsibility for Iran Bombings

Nope Iranians, it wasn't Israel at all.

The Islamic State on Thursday used one of its channels on the messaging platform Telegram to claim responsibility for the bombings in Iran that killed almost a hundred people at a ceremony to honor terrorist mastermind Qassem Soleimani.

Iranian officials have been insinuating or outright accusing the United States and Israel of organizing the bomb attacks on Wednesday – the fourth anniversary of Soleimani’s elimination by a U.S. drone strike while he was coordinating terrorist attacks on Iraqi soil.
...
Thousands of Iranians were attending an event to mark the anniversary of Soleiman’s “martyrdom” in his hometown of Kerman on Wednesday when two explosions occurred within ten minutes of each other. The bomb triggered a stampede, while the second killed both fleeing civilians and first responders, a fairly common terrorist tactic.
...
On Thursday, the Islamic State issued a statement on Telegram saying two of its members “activated their explosive vests” at the ceremony for Soleimani.

Iran Air Says Saudi Arabia Not Allowing Pilgrimage Flights, Stalling China-Led Peace Deal

Iran Air, the national airline, announced on Wednesday that it would not be able to make its promised flights to Saudi Arabia because Riyadh had not finalized the permits it needs to enter Saudi airspace.

The much-anticipated flights – expected to reach the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from Tehran, Mashhad, and Isfahan – were intended to bring Iranian pilgrims to participate in the Umrah, an Islamic pilgrimage to the city of Mecca.
...
According to Iran International, a dissident outlet, “approximately six million Iranians have been awaiting the resumption of Umrah” since 2015. The flights expected to begin this week were estimated to have brought 30,000 Iranians to Saudi Arabia for the religious pilgrimage and Iranian officials had anticipated that as many as 400,000 Iranians were to have made Umrah by summer 2024.
...
Iran and Saudi Arabia have not allowed direct flights in eight years and halted Umrah flights specifically in 2015, when the Yemen civil war erupted. The delayed flights were expected to begin on Thursday. The agreement to resume flights is one of several deals brokered by communist China between Iran and Saudi Arabia last year. Diplomats from both nations announced in a surprise meeting in Beijing in March 2023 that they had agreed to begin the process of normalizing diplomatic ties after years of strife, exacerbated by Iranian proxy terrorist groups bombing Saudi targets, particularly the Yemeni Houthi jihadist insurgency. The Chinese Communist Party declared itself the world’s premier peacemaker as Riyadh and Tehran agreed to reopen embassies, resume flights, and gingerly resume government-to-government contact.

Well, we could deduce now that their Chinese honeymoon ended abruptly.

LATIN AMERICAN NEWS

---

Argentina & the Middle East

Argentina Detains Mideast Nationals for Alleged Terror Plot Against Jewish Sporting Event

Argentina on Wednesday announced the arrest of three foreign nationals, specifically citizens of Syria and Lebanon, who were suspected of planning a “terrorist act” at the Pan-American Maccabi Games.

Security Minister Patricia Bullrich said her office received intelligence from the U.S. and Israel that led to the December 30 arrest of the three suspects, who were staying at a hotel two blocks from the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires. Their proximity to the embassy was concerning because it was the target of an infamous terrorist attack in 1992.

An Iraqi national with allegedly falsified Argentine documents was also arrested outside the Israeli embassy in October after a week of bomb threats were phoned into the embassy.

Bullrich said the suspects were “waiting for a package that came via the delivery system from Yemen,” which she described as a “strong wake-up call,” given that much of Yemen is controlled by the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists who have been attacking ships in the Red Sea.
...
She said the package, which weighed about 35 kilograms (about 77 pounds), had been seized and examined by the authorities.

Bullrich said the detainees’ identities would be kept confidential for the moment because the investigation is under “summary secrecy” orders and because confirming their identities could be difficult. She noted one of the detainees carried “passports of a different nationality” than the one used to gain entry to Argentina.

“If a person has a Syrian passport, a Colombian passport, and a Venezuelan passport and enters with different passports, what is their real identity? What is their nationality?” she wondered.

The Colombian government issued a statement Wednesday, naming one of the detainees as Chassan Naem Chatay, a Colombian citizen by adoption since May 2022. The statement from Colombia said consular assistance would be provided to Chatay but offered no further details about his origins.