Special counsel named for Biden classified documents case: Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel to investigate the retention of classified documents by President Biden after the end of his term as vice president in 2017. Robert Hur, a former U.S. attorney during the Trump administration, was named to investigate the circumstances that resulted in the classified documents being stored at a Washington think-tank bearing Biden”™s name and in the garage of Biden”™s home in Wilmington, Delaware. Hur pledged to investigate the matter “with fair, impartial and dispassionate judgment.”
Consumer Price Index at 6.5%: The U.S. Department of Labor reported that the Consumer Price Pndex (CPI), a measurement of what consumers pay for goods and services, was up in December by 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. That level is down from November”™s 7.1% year-over-year increase and below the 9.1% peak recorded last June. The Core CPI, which omits food and energy prices from its measurement, was up 5.7% in December from the previous year and lower than the 6% reading in November.
Randy Cox sues New Haven for $100 million: Randy Cox, the Black man who suffered injuries while in New Haven police custody that left him paralyzed from the chest down, is suing the City of New Haven and the five arresting officers who left him incapacitated $100 million. The officers involved in Cox”™s arrest who refused to provide him with medical attention after he injured his head in a police van are Oscar Diaz, Betsy Segui, Ronald Pressley, Jocelyn Lavandier and Luis Rivera ”“ they have been charged by State”™s Attorney with two misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment in the second degree and cruelty to persons, and all five pleaded not guilty. New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker has indicated he would prefer a settlement with Cox rather than a civil trial.
Feds admit UFO sightings are up: The Pentagon and federal intelligence agencies have released a study that acknowledged reported sightings of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena ”“ more commonly known as UFOs ”“ were up during the past two years, and half of the new sightings remain unexplained. The study reported the number of UFO sightings ”” which were most frequently made by Air Force and Navy pilots ””stands at 510, with 366 of those reports filed since March 2021. But more than half of the sightings were confirmed to be drones, balloons or airborne debris, 171 sightings were defined as “uncharacterized and unattributed.”
A rare Taiwan-NATO interaction: A Taiwan Air Force officer acknowledged a rare interaction between his country”™s military and NATO. The Japan Times reported that Lt. Col Wu Bong-yeng attended a six-month academic program at the NATO Defense College in Rome during 2021, even though Taiwan has no diplomatic relations with the NATO nations and is only close in defense ties with the U.S. Wu described his attendance as “an academic exchange, not a military exchange,” although he added his NATO counterparts “were very curious about Taiwan.” China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has made aggressive efforts to isolate Taiwan globally ”“ only 14 countries have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and Vatican City is the only European country with diplomatic ties to the island.
