U.S. and world news for Dec. 23
Jan. 6 committee seeks to ban Trump from office: The House of Representatives”™ committee investigating the Capitol Hill riot on Jan. 6, 2021, has recommended banning former President Donald Trump from holding political office again. The committee”™s 845-page report claimed that “has led to an overriding and straight forward conclusion: the central cause of January 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump, whom many others followed. None of the events of January 6th would have happened without him.” Trump, who has announced plans to seek the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, dismissed the committee ”“ consisting of seven Democrats and two anti-Trump Republicans ”“ as “highly partisan.”
Wicked winter weather: More than half the U.S. is currently experiencing severe winter storm and wind chill alerts, with dramatically cold temperatures being recorded as far south as the Mexican border. As of this morning, more than one million household are without power and more than 3,300 flights were canceled. The Westchester-Fairfield County region is now experiencing heavy winds and rains, and the temperatures are expected to plummet into the single-digit territory.
Three dead in Paris shooting: A gunman has opened fire in central Paris this morning, killing three people and wounding three others. According to a BBC report, the attack was aimed at a Kurdish community center and restaurant. The suspect, a 69-year-old, was arrested and Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau stated he suspect had previously been arrested and charged with a sword attack on Dec. 8 on a migrant camp in Paris, but was later released.
The truth about the photo of Biden groping Zelensky: A photograph of President Joe Biden embracing the backside of the visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has created a viral sensation on social media, but it is a hoax. According to a Newsweek report, the bizarre photo is “little more than a cheeky editing job by an anonymous Photoshop wizard” who manipulated a photo of Biden with his hand on the Ukrainian leader”™s back to make it appear that he was about to goose Zelensky. Nonetheless, critics of both Biden and Zelensky shared the photograph across the Internet, with Red Star Radio Podcast”™s Alexander Mackay quipping the doctored photo was evidence that “Biden thinks that $44 billion buys him exclusive groping rights.”
HGTV star became ill from rundown houses: Celebrity designer Christina Hall has reported that she experienced “mercury and lead poisoning” that may have been the result of her work on the long-running HGTV series “Flip or Flop.” The 39-year-old Hall posted to Instagram that while she initially wondered if her condition resulted from her breast implants, the most likely culprit would have been from her work in “all the gross houses I’ve been in.” “Flip or Flop” found Hall and her now-ex-husband Tarek El Moussa purchasing miserably rundown homes in California and renovating them into desirable properties.