THE SHOW NOTES: Biden's Houthi Backtrack, The Chinese Lab Surprise, & Protesting Kids With Cancer
Welcome! Lloyd Austin and his team went to extraordinary lengths to hide his medical condition.
NEW: The Fire Department was treating people for hypothermia at the Chiefs game while the temperature was -9 degrees.
HEADLINE: It's so cold, Teslas are struggling to charge in Chicago - NPR
SHOCK: Hamas’ underground tunnels are at least 350 miles long and have turned Gaza ‘into a fortress’ - NY Post
MUST READ: Why the Houthis Matter - Commentary
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The Houthi Backtrack
The US military launched a fresh round of airstrikes against key Houthi positions in Yemen after the terrorist organization launched anti-ship missiles at cargo vessels in the Red Sea on Monday. The third round of strikes from the US preemptively targeted four of the Houthi’s anti-ship ballistic missiles but failed to stop a fifth missile which struck a Greek-owned commodities ship later that day.
Why this matters: The uncontained violence in the Red Sea is forcing commercial vessels to travel around the southern tip of Africa in order to avoid danger. The additional 15-day journey is creating fresh supply chain crises that are predominately impacting the automotive industry according to the Financial Times (paywall).
Yemen: The Pentagon announced that the US Navy on January 11th seized an Iranian shipment of key components for cruise and ballistic missiles that was headed for Yemen. Unfortunately, two Navy Seals were lost at sea and are yet to be recovered.
🚨 Terror: The Biden administration plans to re-designate the Houthis as a terrorist organization after removing the designation when Biden took office in 2021.
Chinese Lab Mapped Deadly Coronavirus Two Weeks Before Beijing Told the World, Documents Show
Chinese researchers isolated and mapped the virus that causes Covid-19 in late December 2019, at least two weeks before Beijing revealed details of the deadly virus to the world, congressional investigators said, raising questions anew about what China knew in the pandemic’s crucial early days.
Documents obtained from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by a House committee and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal show that a Chinese researcher in Beijing uploaded a nearly complete sequence of the virus’s structure to a U.S. government-run database on Dec. 28, 2019. Chinese officials at that time were still publicly describing the disease outbreak in Wuhan, China, as a viral pneumonia “of unknown cause” and had yet to close the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, site of one of the initial Covid-19 outbreaks.
China only shared the virus’s sequence with the World Health Organization on Jan. 11, 2020, according to U.S. government timelines of the pandemic.
Full story at The Wall Street Journal (paywall)
The Gaza Protest at the Cancer Hospital
As if blocking the Brooklyn Bridge or the tunnel into Manhattan weren’t alienating enough to the average New Yorker, pro-Palestinian activists held a raucous march on Monday that included shouting accusations of “genocide” at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Seriously, that actually happened.
“MSK, shame on you / you support genocide, too,” the crowd yelled, according to video circulating online. A leader with a microphone called the cancer center “another complicit institution,” and urged the protesters: “Make sure they hear you! They’re in the windows!” They, meaning, cancer patients? Cancer doctors? Cancer nurses?
Full story at The Wall Street Journal (paywall)
China’s population falls for a 2nd straight year as births drop even after end of one-child policy
China’s population fell by 2 million people in 2023 in its second straight annual decrease, as births dropped for the seventh straight year and deaths jumped following the end of COVID-19 restrictions, the government said Wednesday.
The number of deaths rose by 690,000 to 11.1 million, more than double the previous year’s increase. Demographers said the rise was driven by the aging of the population and the widespread COVID-19 outbreaks that started in December 2022 and continued into February of last year.
The total population stood at 1.4 billion, the statistics bureau said. China, long the most populated country in the world, dropped into second place behind India in 2023, according to U.N. estimates.
The falling births reflect a decline in the fertility rate that is a long-term economic and societal challenge for China. Women are having fewer babies despite government incentives and the easing of its one-child policy in recent years to allow up to three children.
Full story at the Associated Press.
Trending news:
‘We all have concerns’: Hill Democrats see flawed Biden campaign - Rollcall
ABC News cancels New Hampshire Republican primary debate - ABC
Kate Middleton hospitalized for surgery, expected to stay for up to 2 weeks - Fox News
Pakistan condemns deadly Iranian missile strike on its territory as tensions spike across region - CNN
Biz expert says Stanley unleashed 'perfect storm' of viral marketing for Quencher mugs - Fox Business
King Charles III to undergo a 'corrective procedure' next week for an enlarged prostate - Fox News
Amid National Backlash, Colleges Brace for Fresh Wave of Anti-DEI Legislation - Archive
Russian missiles hit Ukrainian apartment buildings in latest deadly strikes on civilian areas - AP
They drove from the Arctic to the South Pole — in an electric car - The Washington Post (paywall)
Market snapshot:
Just heard you talk about the leaf:
I have one. And here is the truth from a person who has had one for 9 years.
We got the leaf at a very deep discount from my husbands work and the state rebate tax. So a car for little to no cost. Sure! It became “our third car”
We are a family that hates car payment and buy reliable cars that last 15 years/250k. The leaf has been interesting and lines my
Doctor’s pocket for the anxiety meds I need to drive it.
Pros:
It doesn’t get dirty and in nine years we have only had to bring it into dealer service once for a computer reboot. No oil changes, tires last forever, and you don’t have the normal wear and tear.
it is quiet and on a level 1 charger in our
Home it costs around $40-$50 per month to charge.
That is where it ends:
We have 67k miles on it. And the battery is and will degrade. So each six months we can go less and less. Have an emergency or run errands. Nope not in the cards.
The battery is weather dependent. Cold or hot temps your battery takes a hit. So using it you have to watch a weather report and decide can you use the AC or Heater today in the car to make it to work.
When we bought it in the early 2010s Nissan and all the EV people talked how “don’t worry, batteries will become cheaper!” “Dealers will help you in ten years by giving battery changes half or cost help” “you will easily be able to upgrade your battery” my favorite “you can go to any Nissan dealership and use their level 2 chargers or fast rapid chargers.”
Today the truth:
Nissan dealerships are refusing to let you charge unless you bought from them “it cost the dealers too much money to let people charge” luckily I have a very kind dealership owner who lets me charge on my lunch break.
Battery replacement is more than the cars are now worth. And Nissan doesn’t care nor will help you unless the battery is under warranty..
Even if you have the funds……..there are no gen 1 Leaf batteries to be found. So if your battery is lucky to be under warranty Nissan will give you trade in cash. No one talks about that.
Go on Reddit for leaf and many people are having complaints about the new batteries. Many claim with the bigger batteries it is too close to other parts of the car which heats the battery and leads to faster battery degradation
Your leaf value is subject to government whims. Due to Biden’s new tax rebates we lost 60% in value of our leaf
Over night. But insurance cost more on my
Leaf than my fully loaded luxury van due to how expensive a repair would be.
Also people will tail you like crazy. I want to put “I swear I am not “one of them”” bumper sticker on.
We use the leaf for short trips and five mile rides.
Charging stations: a joke. Half time they are broke or cost $12 for two hours. I can get gas in ten minutes and it lasts me all week.
The thought is nice. I like not dealing with oil changes but the technology and supply isn’t enough and people
Are being lied to this is a car that can last you long term.
I would like to see DeSantis stay in the race, if only to keep Trump honest (I know that appears to be a bridge too far). DeSantis can keep saying what he would do and has done in Florida as opposed to Trump saying what he would do - but doesn't. It will also keep the Left up at night, because if for some reason Trump has to bail out, DeSantis is their worst nightmare.