2 little 2 late

House votes to clamp down on Trump’s power to attack Iran

The US House of Representatives has voted in favor of a bill restricting President Donald Trump’s ability to wage war on Iran. The vote comes a day after escalatory strikes nearly brought both the US and Iran to the brink of war.

Despite its passage, the bill lacks the teeth to actually curb Trump’s warmaking powers, should he decide to take military action against Iran. As a ‘Concurrent Resolution,’ it does not need Trump’s signature, will not go on to the Republican-controlled Senate for approval, and will not become law. Instead it simply expresses the position of the House.

#BREAKING: #US lawmakers in a nail biter vote approved a resolution limiting President #Trump’s war powers and authority to take military action against #Iran without notifying the US #Congress. pic.twitter.com/8ECAdu9V7a

— Alexandra Brzozowski (@alex_owski) January 9, 2020

The bill was sponsored by former CIA analyst and Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin (Michigan), and calls on Trump to "to terminate the use of United States Armed Forces to engage in hostilities in or against Iran," unless Congress formally declares war on the Islamic Republic. The bill was written in the aftermath of the American assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed at Baghdad airport on Friday in a drone strike.

https://www.rt.com/usa/477848-congress-iran-war-powers-vote/

MPs call on Abkhazia’s president to step down after opposition protesters STORM government

Thousands of opposition protesters took to the streets of Abkhazia’s capital of Sukhum on Thursday, breaking into the office of president Raul Khajimba and demanding a new election.

The police force outside the presidential administration building failed to contain the angry crowd, with people smashing doors and windows to make it inside. Footage from the president’s HQ showed the protesters roaming the offices, overturning furniture and throwing state papers around.

A large crowd remained camped outside the building as the night descended on the Abkhazian capital. The protest leaders urged the people not to disperse until their goal is achieved.

The unrest erupted on the day when the High Court was considering the complaint by the opposition, who insists that the president maintained his post illegally during the election in August. Alkhas Kvitsinia, who lost to Khajimba by less than 2 percent in the second round, argues that a new vote is needed as none of the candidates was able to pass the 50 percent threshold.

Later on Thursday, the Abkhazian MPs held a vote and decided to ask Khajimba to step down and schedule a new election in order to defuse the tensions. The president refused to accept proposal, however, saying that another way out of the crisis must be found.

https://www.rt.com/news/477871-abkhazia-protests-president-election/

New footage appears to show Iranian missile hitting Ukrainian airliner

Newly released video seems to strengthen the U.S., Ukrainian and Canadian theory that an Iranian missile shot down a Ukraine International Airlines flight on Wednesday.

The 20-second video, which was first released and verified by The New York Times, shows what appears to be a missile striking a plane in the night sky, and a fireball erupting from the explosion.

The Times claims it viewed multiple videos that showed the plane did not explode, and instead continued flying for several minutes before turning back toward the airport, then exploding and crashing.

https://americanmilitarynews.com/2020/01/new-footage-appears-to-show-iranian-missile-hitting-ukrainian-airliner/

PT Report: Prosecutions Expose Extensive Iran-Hizballah Operations Network Inside U.S.

The report shows there are countless supporters of Iran and Hizballah living in the United States. Most cases involve financial and other forms of material support. But talk of "sleeper cells" has been around for years, and at least one operative told law enforcement that Iran could activate them to carry out attacks in "certain scenarios."

They tried it at least once.

A senior officer from Iran's deadly Quds Force participated in a plot to kill Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington. Meanwhile, senior members of Hizballah's Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO) have been prosecuted for scouting potential targets for attack in the United States.

These plots were crafted while arch-terrorist Qasem Soleimani led the Quds Force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' (IRGC) elite overseas unit.

Soleimani was the mastermind behind Iran's global terror operations that included last month's rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that killed an American civilian contractor and injured several U.S. military service members, and the New Year's Eve attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

"General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region." the Department of Defense said after the drone strike. The agency held Soleimani and the Quds Force "responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more."

Last April, the Trump administration designated the IRGC, including its Quds Force, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).

"The IRGC FTO designation highlights that Iran is an outlaw regime that uses terrorism as a key tool of statecraft and that the IRGC, part of Iran's official military, has engaged in terrorist activity or terrorism since its inception 40 years ago," said a State Department fact sheet announcing the designation.

Under Soleimani's leadership, the Quds Force trained Iraqi terrorists to make powerful roadside bombs to kill American troops after the 2003 invasion. Also under his watch, the IRGC and Quds Force exploited the turmoil in the wake of the Arab Spring revolts to advance Iranian imperialism in the Middle East and beyond. This included recruiting hundreds and thousands of Shias from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other places to prop up Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad's murderous regime.

Soleimani was also the brains behind the establishment of terrorist networks in the Golan Heights, using Hizballah, Druze, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) operatives to target Israel. Under his command, Shi'ite militia operatives fired rockets toward Israel, and the IRGC and Hizballah launched terror attacks against Jewish targets in Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Thailand, Georgia, and Kenya. In addition to killing Americans and destroying hundreds of thousands of lives in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, Israel, and Gaza, Soleimani has also been responsible for the deaths of Iranians, including during the recent brutal crackdown on Iranian protesters.

https://www.investigativeproject.org/8252/ipt-report-prosecutions-expose-extensive-iran

PRESIDENT AND THE 'PIMP' Bill Clinton poses with Epstein’s ‘pimp’ Ghislaine Maxwell and a sex slave on board private jet the ‘Lolita Express’

BILL Clinton poses side-by-side with suspected pimp Ghislaine Maxwell - as the pair board pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious private jet.

The former US President is seen smiling on the steps of the plane – dubbed the Lolita Express - next to Maxwell, in astonishing pictures exclusively obtained by The Sun.

In another image he has his arm round Epstein's personal masseuse and sex slave Chauntae Davies - who had been ordered to wear a 'pilot' shirt to look professional.

Other never-seen-before images show Clinton traveling on the infamous Boeing 727 jet while playing cards and chomping on a cigar.

Now, for the first time, Chauntae Davies has revealed the extraordinary details of Clinton's long distance flight to Africa with Maxwell and a number of other celebrities.

The star-studded group – which included actors Kevin Spacey and

Chris Tucker – visited Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Mozambique, Johannesburg and Cape Town in a five-day humanitarian trip

https://www.the-sun.com/news/us-news/224545/bill-clinton-jeffery-epsteins-ghislaine-maxwell-lolita-express/

Omar giggles while colleague discusses US troop deaths

The following is an excerpt from Blaze Media’s Capitol Hill Brief email newsletter:

The current debate over tensions between the United States and Iran has provided plenty of opportunities for politicians to rack up negative headlines, and Ilhan Omar has certainly taken them.

Omar was caught on camera laughing and giggling while fellow House Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee talked about United States casualties from the Iraq war at a Wednesday press conference, following a classified briefing on Iran. But that was not the only news from the press conference. Omar also claimed that discussions about war leave her “stricken with PTSD,” which drew criticism from one of her House Republican colleagues who served in Afghanistan.

Additionally, Omar criticized the announcement of sanctions against Iran as an effort to “starve the innocent people of Iran,” despite the fact that she has no problem calling for sanctions against Israel as a supporter of the BDS movement.

https://www.conservativereview.com/news/omar-giggles-colleague-discusses-us-troop-deaths/

Rep. Elise Stefanik: ‘Impeachment Dam Is Breaking,’ Pelosi Holding Off to Protect Schiff

“Pelosi has been exposed and the impeachment dam is breaking,” Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) said Wednesday.

Appearing on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity,” Stefanik called it “audacious and outrageous” for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) to try to control the Senate by withholding the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump – after declaring impeachment an urgent matter that couldn’t wait:

https://www.cnsnews.com/blog/craig-bannister/rep-elise-stefanik-impeachment-dam-breaking-pelosi-holding-protect-schiff#utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cns&utm_campaign=b-StefanikImpeachmentDamIsBreaking

Colo. police confiscate guns with red flag law one day after it took effect

Colorado saw its first request to take guns away from a resident one day after the state’s controversial ‘red flag’ law took effect. This first example came January 2nd after Denver police were called to the scene of a domestic dispute.

According to the affidavit, a man was allegedly intoxicated and threatened to kill himself. Officers used this as evidence of a “credible threat” in their request to a judge under the new law. If a judge approves the request, police will be able to hold the man’s guns for 364 days and could prevent him from owning other firearms during that time.

Some are skeptical of the new law due to its vague language, which allows weapons to be confiscated without criminal charges.

“To go in and conduct a search warrant on someone’s home, based on the word of a third party…I think that’s a huge overreach of the Constitution and that’s where I’d have to draw the line,” said Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams.

https://www.oann.com/colo-police-confiscate-guns-with-red-flag-law-one-day-after-it-took-effect/

Battleground Niger: Almost 90 people dead in jihadi attack on army base

More than two dozen soldiers were killed in a suspected jihadist attack on an army base in Niger, near the border with Mali. 63 attackers also died in the onslaught.

The attack took place at Chinagodrar on Thursday, and is the latest in a slew of terror attacks on the Nigerien army on the country’s western border. Nigerien Defense Department spokesman Colonel Souleymane Gazobi blamed the attack on “terrorist elements.”

The attack comes a month after 71 Nigerien soldiers were slain by Islamist terrorists at another outpost near the Malian border. The attack, a Defense Department spokesman said, was of “unprecedented violence,” and was marked by “artillery fire and the use of suicide bombers by the enemy.”

Much of western Niger has been under a state of emergency for more than two years, as attacks from militants based in Mali are commonplace. Fighters aligned with Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), and Al-Qaeda have been blamed for the attacks, which have hammered the Nigerien military for several years.

https://www.rt.com/news/477870-terrorist-attack-base-niger/

Medically assisted deaths prove a growing boon to organ donation in Ontario

Ontario's waiting list for organs typically hovers around 1,600 without any great headway made to eliminate that number.

Ontarians who opt for medically assisted deaths (MAiD) are increasingly saving or improving other people’s lives by also including organ and tissue donation as part of their final wishes.

In the first 11 months of 2019, MAiD patients in the province accounted for 18 organ and 95 tissue donors, a 14 per cent increase over 2018 and a 109 per cent increase over 2017. (Figures for December 2019 are not yet available.)

According to Trillium Gift of Life Network, which oversees organ and tissue donation in Ontario, the 113 MAiD-related donations in 2019 accounted for five per cent of overall donations in Ontario, a share that has also been increasing. In 2018, MAiD-related donations made up 3.6 per cent of the province’s total donations, and in 2017 just 2.1 per cent.

“The decision to pursue MAiD is totally separate from the decision to donate organs,” cautions Ronnie Gavsie, Trillium’s chief executive officer, “but we do want patients to have their last will carried out.”

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/medically-assisted-deaths-prove-a-growing-boon-to-organ-donation-in-ontario