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Transgender women to be banned from Capitol Hill female bathrooms under new House GOP proposal

FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., is introducing a resolution to ban transgender women from using women’s restrooms at the U.S. Capitol. Mace is expected to file the resolution on Monday. She told Fox News Digital of the measure, “The sanctity of protecting women and standing up against the Left’s systematic erasure of biological women starts here in the nation’s Capitol.” JOHNSON BLASTS DEM ACCUSATIONS HE VOWED TO END OBAMACARE AS ‘DISHONEST’ The South Carolina Republican plans to introduce a measure “prohibiting Members, officers, and employees of the House from using single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex, and for other purposes,” according to text previewed by Fox News Digital. It comes just before the first openly transgender lawmaker, Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, D-Del., is set to join Congress in January. House Republicans have previously changed rules on their side of Congress, such as when ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., scuttled metal detectors outside the House chamber after winning the gavel from previous Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. MIKE JOHNSON WINS REPUBLICAN SUPPORT TO BE HOUSE SPEAKER AGAIN AFTER TRUMP ENDORSEMENT Mace’s legislation would charge the House sergeant at arms with enforcing the rule. It’s a preview of what kind of changes Republicans could look to pass when they control both houses of Congress next year.  MATT GAETZ FACES GOP SENATE OPPOSITION AFTER TRUMP SELECTION FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL Republicans hammered Democrats on transgender issues in the most recent election, particularly the topic of trans youth athletes in school sports. The House GOP moved to restrict federal dollars for transgender health care and to block trans student athletes from participating in school sports teams of their chosen gender. Mace previously introduced a bill that would have forced illegal immigrants with a history of sex crimes or violence against women to be deported. That bill passed with the support of 51 Democrats and all House Republicans.

Dems’ Gaetz outrage follows long history of questionable DOJ acts under Biden

Criticisms have mounted surrounding President-elect Trump naming former Rep. Matt Gaetz as his pick for U.S. attorney general, following nearly four years of actions taken by the Biden administration’s Department of Justice that came under fierce fire from conservatives.  Trump named Gaetz as his pick for attorney general last Wednesday, coming as a surprise to both conservatives and liberals alike. Democrats have notably slammed the choice, citing the House Ethics Committee’s investigation into Gaetz’s alleged sexual misconduct with a minor. Gaetz has long denied any wrongdoing, and the Trump transition team said they are confident the Senate will confirm Gaetz.  “I know Matt personally. He is a great person. He’s a man of integrity. He also is a brilliant litigator. He served on the House Judiciary Committee for eight years. Anyone who has watched him in those hearings knows that he’s incredibly impressive,” Karoline Leavitt, the transition team’s spokesperson and Trump’s recently announced pick for press secretary, said on Fox News last week.  “Like President Trump, Matt Gaetz has been a victim of the weaponized Department of Justice, and one of the promises President Trump made to the American people was to root out the corruption at the DOJ. We have seen this agency turn against the American people because of their political beliefs. Matt Gaetz and President Trump are going to put an end to that, and that’s what the American people want. That’s why they elected him,” Leavitt added.  SPEAKER JOHNSON OPPOSES RELEASING MATT GAETZ’S HOUSE ETHICS REPORT: ‘OPEN A PANDORA’S BOX’ The Biden administration’s Department of Justice, led by Attorney General Merrick Garland, has repeatedly come under fire for a series of actions viewed as targeting conservatives.  The DOJ was heavily criticized by parents nationwide in 2021, when Garland issued a memo directing the FBI to use counterterrorism tools related to parents speaking out at school board meetings against transgender-related issues and critical race theory curricula. The memorandum followed the National School Boards Association (NSBA) sending a letter to President Biden, asking that the federal government investigate parents protesting at school board meetings, claiming school officials were facing threats at meetings.  The NSBA requested that parents’ actions should be examined under the Patriot Act as “domestic terrorists,” sparking Garland’s eventual memo, which did not use the phrase “domestic terrorist.” “After surveying local law enforcement, U.S. Attorney’s offices around the country reported back to Main Justice that there was no legitimate law-enforcement basis for the Attorney General’s directive to use federal law-enforcement and counterterrorism resources to investigate school board-related threats,” the House Judiciary Committee stated in an interim report on the memo last year.  Garland testified before the Senate last year that the memo “was aimed at violence and threats of violence against a whole host of school personnel,” not parents “making complaints to their school board,” but the memo set off a firestorm of criticism from parents, nonetheless.  “The premier law enforcement agency of the United States of America, the FBI, was used as a weapon by the DOJ against parents who dared to voice their concerns at the most local level – their school board,” Moms For Liberty founder Tiffany Justice told Fox News Digital last year.  Other parents sounded off on social media, facetiously asking if they looked like a “domestic terrorist,” and others stating “arrest me” online in response to protesting liberal school policies.  GAETZ-GATE: NAVIGATING THE PRESIDENT-ELECT’S MOST BAFFLING CABINET PICK The Biden DOJ again came under fire for claims it was fraudulently targeting religious Catholics when the FBI arrested a Pennsylvania dad in 2022 who frequently prayed outside of abortion clinics.  Mark Houck, a Catholic dad of seven who would often pray outside a Philadelphia abortion clinic, was arrested at his rural Pennsylvania home in Kintnersville by the FBI. The arrest stemmed from an altercation he had with a Planned Parenthood escort in Philadelphia in October 2021. Houck was accused of pushing the abortion clinic escort, who allegedly verbally harassed Houck’s 12-year-old son outside the clinic.   The Biden administration alleged Houck violated the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which makes it a federal crime to use force with the intent to injure, intimidate and interfere with anyone because that person provides reproductive health care.  Houck was acquitted by a jury last year, after arguing that he was protecting his son. He and his wife Ryan-Marie argued the FBI used excessive force during the arrest, filing a lawsuit against the DOJ earlier this year alleging the arrest followed a “faulty and malicious investigation.”  FBI ARREST OF PENNSYLVANIA PRO-LIFE ACTIVIST ‘STINKS TO HIGH HEAVEN,’ FORMER PROSECUTOR SAYS: ‘LOSER CASE’ In Georgia, the DOJ came under fire for suing the state after it passed the Election Integrity Act of 2021, which overhauled its election laws, including limiting ballot drop box locations and requiring absentee voters to provide a form of identification – such as a driver’s license or the last four digits of their Social Security number – when requesting an absentee ballot. Biden, along with Democrats nationwide and Hollywood actors who frequently film in the Peach State, sounded off on the election laws, including the 46th president calling them “Jim Crow 2.0.”  “This is Jim Crow in the 21st century. It must end. We have a moral and constitutional obligation to act,” Biden said in March 2021. ‘JIM CROW 2.0?’ CONSERVATIVES BLAST DEMOCRATIC FEARMONGERING AFTER GEORGIA SMASHES EARLY VOTING RECORDS “This law, like so many others being pursued by Republicans in statehouses across the country is a blatant attack on the Constitution and good conscience. Among the outrageous parts of this new state law, it ends voting hours early so working people can’t cast their vote after their shift is over. It adds rigid restrictions on casting absentee ballots that will effectively deny the right to vote to countless voters,” Biden added.  The DOJ filed a lawsuit against the state, claiming that portions of the law had a “purpose of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race,” the DOJ

Pennsylvania Supreme Court upholds exclusion of certain mail-in ballots, in victory for GOP

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Monday that mail-in ballots with incorrect or missing dates cannot be counted in the 2024 election, delivering a victory to Republican Party officials as they moved to aggressively defend their narrow Senate victory in amid a recount challenge in the Keystone State.  In a 4-3 decision, the state Supreme Court reaffirmed its prior decision that counties in the state cannot count incorrectly dated or undated ballots, explicitly singling out Boards of Elections in Bucks County, Montgomery County, and Philadelphia County, whom they said “SHALL COMPLY with the prior rulings of this Court in which we have clarified” for mail-in and absentee ballots in their Nov. 1 ruling. The decision is a victory for Republican Party officials, who had filed 12 different lawsuits in the state amid an aggressive Senate recount effort following the narrow victory of Republican candidate David McCormick over three-term Democrat Sen. Bob Casey. REPUBLICANS FILE 12 PENNSYLVANIA LAWSUITS IN ‘AGGRESSIVE’ PUSH TO END RECOUNT McCormick had defeated Casey by some 17,000 ballots in the state, or within the 0.5% margin of error that allows Casey to qualify for an automatic recount under Pennsylvania law.  But ahead of the Pennsylvania Senate recount, which officially kicked off on Monday, Republicans had sounded the alarm by election county commissioners in Philadelphia, Bucks County, and Montgomery Count for moving to allow for the counting of incorrectly dated and undated mail-in and absentee ballots—an effort party officials said broke with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision. Speaking to reporters on a call Monday, Republican Party Chair Michael Whatley vowed to maintain “an aggressive, comprehensive and strategic legal posture for as long as it takes to ensure that this election is going to be certified” in Pennsylvania, and to bring an end to what party officials described as “corrupt and despicable conduct” by Democrats in the state. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP While the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Nov. 1 that requiring mail-in ballots to have handwritten dates is constitutional, in a victory for the GOP, the new framing is more direct— establishing that counties trying to count such ballots are indeed trying to violate the law.  This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for more updates. 

Former governor and presidential candidate becomes first to launch bid to chair Democratic Party

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley on Monday became the first person to announce a bid for chair of the Democratic National Committee. “I’m excited to offer my candidacy for Chair of the DNC,” the former two-term Baltimore mayor and two-term Maryland governor who ran for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination said. ‘We must connect our Party with the most important place in America — the kitchen table of every family’s home. Jobs, Opportunity, and Economic Security for all. Getting things done. Hope. A 50 state strategy. Now,” O’Malley emphasized in a social media post. WHO ELSE IS MULLING A BID TO STEER THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY O’Malley, who for the last year has served as commissioner of the Social Security Administration in President Biden’s administration, is hoping to succeed current DNC chair Jaime Harrison, whose term is up early next year.  Harrison is unlikely to seek a second four-year term steering the party in the wake of this month’s very disappointing election results for the Democrats, up and down the ballot. WOULD CALIFORNIANS LIKE VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS TO RUN FOR GOLDEN STATE GOVERNOR IN TWO YEARS? O’Malley, who led the Democratic Governors Association following his gubernatorial re-election in 2010, showcased himself in a New York Times interview published on Monday as a “proven operational leader and a turnaround manager.” “We face enormous challenges and a lot of soul-searching,” the 61-year-old O’Malley said in the interview. “We need to focus on fixing the problem and not the blame.” The next DNC chair will be chosen by the roughly 450 voting members of the national party committee, and O’Malley told the New York Times that he was launching his bid with three endorsements from DNC members and was speaking with others over the past few days. But another longtime DNC member, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, when asked about O’Malley, said, “Who? Where’s he been for the past nine years?” While O’Malley’s first to launch a bid, others are expected to follow, as the Democrats try to rebound after losing the White House and Senate in the 2024 elections and failing to recapture the House. Among those mulling a bid is Rahm Emanuel, a former congressman, Chicago mayor, White House chief of staff and current U.S. ambassador to Japan. Two sources in the DNC orbit confirmed to Fox News last week that Emanuel had been quietly reaching out to committee members as he contemplates a bid.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada ‘could have acted quicker’ on reining in immigration

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the federal government in Canada “could have acted quicker” to reign in the massive influx of migrants entering the country following the coronavirus pandemic.  Trudeau’s remarks came during a nearly seven-minute video he posted online over the weekend, during which the prime minister laid out the reasons why Canada was putting limits on its temporary foreign worker program, while also reducing the number of permanent residents allowed entry into Canada by as much as 27% by 2027.  Trudeau largely blamed “bad actors,” such as corporations and universities, for enticing immigrants to come to Canada, where there was a massive labor shortage following the pandemic. He pointed out that many of these predatory entities lured hordes of immigrant workers with false promises of college degrees, permanent residency, jobs and more.  CANADA’S TRUDEAU FACING REVOLT FROM WITHIN AS POPULAR CONSERVATIVE LEADER LOOKS TO CAPITALIZE However, Trudeau also suggested that the federal government was at least partly to blame for not “turn[ing] off the taps faster” after the country’s labor shortage waned. “Looking back, when the post-pandemic boom cooled and businesses no longer needed the additional labor help, as a federal team, we could have acted quicker, and turned off the taps faster,” Trudeau said in his video message. “Immigration is primarily a federal job. We have the levers to rein it in. So we are.” Canada’s new plan, introduced formally last month, seeks to reduce the threshold of immigrants allowed into the country who are seeking permanent residency over the next three years. In the first year, 2025, the allowable threshold will be reduced from 500,000 to 395,000, followed by a 2026 threshold of 380,000 immigrants seeking permanent residency and finally, in 2027, the limit will be set at 365,000. In addition to the changes impacting immigrants seeking permanent residency, Canada will also begin limiting the number of temporary foreign workers allowed into the country for the first time. The limit aims to reduce the share of temporary foreign workers in Canada to 5% of the overall population. CANADA LAUNCHES SUDDEN IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN AMID PUBLIC PRESSURE: REPORT Meanwhile, Trudeau’s liberal government has seen waning support among voters this year. Amid that decreasing support, Canada began cracking down on visa requirements and started turning away more immigrants showing up at its front door, Reuters reported in September. On average, Canada turned away roughly 20% more immigrants per month during the first seven months of this year, the outlet indicated. During a podcast conversation about Canada’s ongoing immigration challenges, released Friday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said the chaos in Canada’s immigration system has largely occurred under Trudeau’s leadership, who Poilievre said ushered in a 300% increase in Canada’s population over several years. The Conservative Party leader also blamed Trudeau for much of the waste, fraud and abuse the prime minister spoke of in his video that resulted in such a massive influx in immigration post-coronavirus pandemic.  “Now, [Trudeau] is basically denouncing his entire immigration policy and expecting us to believe that he can fix the problems that he caused,” Poilievre concluded. “The bottom line is we have to fix our immigration, get back to the best system in the world, the one that brought my wife here as a refugee legally and lawfully, the one that brought so many people here to pursue the Canadian promise.”

At least five people killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon’s capital

Israeli strikes on densely populated central Beirut have killed at least five people in the third attack in two days in the middle of Lebanon’s capital, the Ministry of Public Health says. “The Israeli enemy strike on Zuqaq al-Blat in Beirut killed five people and injured 24,” a ministry statement said about Monday’s attack. The official National News Agency (NNA) said an apartment near a Shia Muslim place of worship was targeted. The building is located near the parliament, several embassies and a United Nations building. “A hostile drone targeted a residential apartment behind the Husseiniya of Zuqaq al-Blat in the capital Beirut, causing great damage,” the NNA said. The working-class district of Zuqaq al-Blat has welcomed many displaced people who fled Israeli strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon as well as Beirut’s southern suburbs. Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem, reporting from Beirut, said the area that was hit is “very densely populated” and is packed with cafes. “At the moment, there is no indication who the target is,” Hashem said. The area was cordoned off by security forces as residents rushed to help with the rescue efforts. Monday’s attack took place several hundred metres away from the site of a strike on Sunday in the Mar Elias neighbourhood, which the Health Ministry said killed three people, including a woman. Israel has not commented on the strikes in central Beirut, but Hezbollah has confirmed that one air raid in the area killed its spokesman Mohammad Afif. That strike, also on Sunday, hit the Lebanese office of Syria’s ruling Baath Party, killing Afif and four members of his media team, Hezbollah said. The Health Ministry said seven people were killed in the attack. One killed in northern Israel Meanwhile, a woman was killed and 10 people were wounded on Monday when a rocket struck a building in a northern Israeli town, Israel’s ambulance service said. The rocket hit a multistorey building in the town of Shfaram. The Israeli military said Hezbollah had launched more than 100 projectiles towards Israel on Monday. “Interception attempts were made, and fallen projectiles were identified,” the military said. One such claimed interception left at least four people injured after falling shrapnel hit Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv. Earlier on Monday, an Israeli air strike targeted the main water facility in the southern port city of Tyre, killing two local officials and injuring two others. The attack severely damaged the facility, prompting the Tyre municipality to urge residents to ration their water use until repairs could be made, NNA said. Those killed in the attack included Samer Shaghri, a local elected official called a mukhtar, who handles residents’ administrative affairs, and Qassem Wehbi, the deputy mayor of Burj al-Shamali, a town east of Tyre. The strikes were carried out as a United States-backed proposal for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah is set to be discussed. A government minister close to Hezbollah said Lebanon will convey its “positive position” on the proposal this week. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who is mediating for the group, is expected to meet with US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut on Tuesday. Labour Minister Mostafa Bayram, who met with Berri on Monday, said Hezbollah’s function “is to make sure the [Israeli] aggression fails to achieve its goals while negotiation is for the state and the government”. Since September 23, Israel has ramped up its air campaign in Lebanon and has sent in ground troops after almost a year of cross-border exchanges following Israel’s assault on Gaza. Lebanese authorities said more than 3,510 people have been killed since Hezbollah and Israel began exchanging fire in October last year. Most of the casualties have been recorded since September. Adblock test (Why?)

Al Jazeera 360 pushes back against Swedish claims film is ‘dangerous’

The team behind an Al Jazeera 360 documentary has rejected claims by the Swedish prime minister that a film about child protection laws in Europe is “dangerous”. The three-part investigative documentary Behind Closed Doors, produced by Al Jazeera 360 – a video-on-demand platform that is part of the Al Jazeera Media Network – follows families from various backgrounds and nationalities who have faced the traumatic experience of having their children forcibly removed by social authorities in Norway, Sweden, Germany and Luxembourg. On November 10, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson likened the documentary to the so-called LVU campaign, a misinformation campaign that gained traction on social media in 2022 that suggested Swedish authorities were kidnapping children from Muslim families. But Awad Joumaa, head of originals at Al Jazeera 360, said the attacks on the film were “misleading”. “Al Jazeera 360 emphasises that the series was developed to explore a complex social issue affecting families across northern Europe,” a statement from Al Jazeera 360 said. “Behind Closed Doors presents diverse families from various backgrounds and nationalities who have faced the traumatic experience of having their children forcibly removed by social authorities. In some cases, children were not only separated from their parents but were also split up and placed in different cities, leaving parents unaware of their children’s whereabouts and with no access to them.” SVT, Sweden’s national broadcaster, also criticised the documentary, saying that it omitted some details on the cases included in court documents. However, Joumaa said that was misleading, adding that both court documents and the reasons for the child removals were prominently displayed on the screen and that rulings or decisions that contradicted the families’ claims were shown, ensuring that the official perspective was presented alongside the families’ narratives. “This approach provided viewers with both perspectives, allowing them to form their own opinions,” he said. ‘Security consequences’ Swedish authorities declined to participate in the documentary, unlike those in Germany, which provided an official for comment. However, the Swedish reaction to the film has been vocal, with PM Kristersson writing on social media that Behind Closed Doors could be “dangerous for Sweden”. He also told the Swedish newspaper Expressen that it could lead to a heightened threat level against the country. Sofia Bard, who heads the Swedish Institute, which analyses Sweden’s image in the rest of the world, told SVT that the documentary could contribute to a negative image of Sweden and affect the country’s influence internationally. She also stated that it could have “security consequences”, referencing the LVU campaign and the Quran burnings that have occurred in the Nordic nation and led to anti-Sweden protests in several Muslim-majority countries last year. At the time, the Swedish Security Service (SAPO) raised its assessment of the level of threat against Sweden to four on a scale of one to five amid mounting international tension over the burning of copies of the Quran at demonstrations. Joumaa, however, says the Swedish reaction overlooks the film’s depth and the broader issues it seeks to examine. “The assertion that Behind Closed Doors poses a security threat to Sweden seems to be based solely on the opinion of one security analyst, who appears to have made a rapid assessment of the series, which actually spans three parts,” Joumaa said. “This claim overlooks the film’s depth and the broader issues it seeks to explore, focusing instead on a narrow perspective without fully engaging with the content.” He added that the production team made several attempts to involve Swedish authorities, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, offering them a chance to present their viewpoint. While the ministry redirected the request to the responsible agency, the Ministry of Social Affairs rejected an interview request and chose not to cooperate. Joumaa added that the documentary did not attempt to influence its audience, and instead presented the evidence and expert opinions, leaving the judgement up to the viewer. “We are simply putting the arguments and the perspective and the issue on the table, and that whole point of free debate has been missed,” he said. To view part one of Behind Closed Doors (in Arabic), click here. Adblock test (Why?)

Israeli strikes hit ‘component’ of Iran’s nuclear programme: Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country’s air attack on Iran last month hit “a component” of Tehran’s nuclear programme and degraded its defence and missile production capabilities. “There is a specific component in their nuclear programme that was hit in this attack,” Netanyahu said in a speech in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, on Monday without providing details on the element hit. “The programme itself and its ability to operate here have not yet been thwarted,” he added. On October 26, Israeli fighter jets launched three waves of strikes targeting Iranian military assets, weeks after Iran had fired about 200 ballistic missiles at Israel, saying its attack was in response to Israel’s killings of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in the southern suburbs of Beirut and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. At the time of Israel’s attack, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said the strikes “should not be exaggerated nor downplayed”. United States President Joe Biden said before the strikes took place that he would not support an attack on Iranian nuclear sites, which would open up the possibility of an even further escalation in the region. In addition to the claim of an attack on Iran’s nuclear programme, Netanyahu also said in Monday’s speech – which was interrupted by family members of Israeli captives held in Gaza – that three Russian-supplied S-300 surface-to-air missile defence batteries stationed near Tehran had been hit. Netanyahu said Russia had supplied four of the defence batteries to Iran and the other one had been destroyed during an exchange of direct attacks between Iran and Israel in April. Iran has not commented on the Israeli claims. Last week, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, that his government was prepared to address concerns about its nuclear programme before US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration in January. Grossi said achieving “results” in nuclear talks with Iran was vital to avoid a new conflict in the region already inflamed by Israel’s wars on Gaza and Lebanon, stressing that Iranian nuclear installations “should not be attacked”. Stepping up sanctions Netanyahu gave his speech as the European Union and the United Kingdom on Monday expanded their sanctions against Iran over its alleged support for Russia’s war on Ukraine. In a move decried by Tehran, the EU said it will prohibit the export, transfer, supply or sale from the EU to Iran of components used to make missiles and drones. It also banned any transactions with ports “owned, operated or controlled” by sanctioned individuals and entities or otherwise used to supply Russia with drones, missiles, related technology and components. “This measure includes the access to facilities of the ports and locks, such as Amirabad and Anzali, and the provision of any services to vessels,” the EU said in a statement, referring to two Iranian ports on the Caspian Sea. As the bloc’s foreign ministers met in Brussels, it also adopted restrictive measures against Iran’s state-run shipping company IRISL, its director Mohammad Reza Khiabani and three Russian shipping firms accused of ferrying weapons across the Caspian Sea. Brussels had already imposed sanctions on prominent Iranian officials and entities, including airlines, accused of aiding Russia’s war effort. Acting in parallel, Britain also announced new sanctions against Iran, freezing the assets of IRISL as well as national airline Iran Air for allegedly transporting ballistic missiles and military supplies to Russia for use in Ukraine. The British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office also said the Russian cargo ship Port Olya-3, sanctioned for carrying missiles from Iran to Russia, would not be allowed to enter any UK port. “Iran’s attempts to undermine global security are dangerous and unacceptable,” Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a statement in advance of announcing the sanctions at the United Nations Security Council. “Alongside our international partners, we were clear that any transfer of ballistic missiles from Iran to Russia would face a significant response.” The decision follows a previous round of sanctions against Iran and Russia that the UK announced in September alongside Germany and France. Before the new sanctions announcement, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that the EU was using a “nonexistent missile pretext” to target its shipping lines. “There is no legal, logical or moral basis for such behaviour. If anything, it will only compel what it ostensibly seeks to prevent,” Araghchi wrote on X. Iran’s economy has been struggling under the weight of US sanctions imposed after Washington’s unilateral withdrawal from a landmark nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers in 2018. On Monday, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran would respond in due course. Adblock test (Why?)

Tony Gonzales, Chip Roy clash over mass deportation plans

Gonzales’ warning that mass removals of undocumented immigrants are unfeasible got pushback from Roy, who said everyone in the country illegally must be deported.

‘Sanctuary’ city mayor vows she will defy Trump’s mass deportation push: ‘Causing widespread fear’

Boston’s Democrat Mayor Michelle Wu said in an interview on Sunday that her city won’t cooperate with the looming mass deportation operation from the incoming Trump administration — even as the region sees a number of illegal immigrants with criminal charges released back onto the streets. Wu was asked in an interview with WCVB about the Trump administration’s plans to launch a mass deportation operation when it takes office in January, and was asked what Boston’s response will be. “Elections have consequences, and the federal government is responsible for a certain set of actions, and cities, no individual city, can reverse or override some parts of that,” she said. “But what we can do is make sure that we are doing our part to protect our residents in every possible way, that we are not cooperating with those efforts that actually threaten the safety of everyone by causing widespread fear and and having large scale economic impact.” TRUMP CONFIRMS SUPPORT FOR MAJOR STEP IN MASS DEPORTATION PUSH TO ‘REVERSE THE BIDEN INVASION’ “And then we are providing the spaces to reach out directly to our residents, because the last thing we want is for people who are part of our economy, part of our school system, part of our community and the fabric of our city, to feel that all of a sudden they have to retreat into the shadows with because of fear that reaching out to city services, whether it’s calling 911, when you need it, or taking your child to school, those are all city services that have nothing to do with immigration enforcement, and we will continue to protect our residents within those spaces,” she said. Trump made a mass deportation operation a centerpiece of his campaign and on Monday said he was open to declaring a national emergency and using military assets. Fox News Digital reported last week that the Trump administration is already discussing where it can expand detention centers in anticipation of the operation and has spoken to private prison companies about potential expansion. But there is already brewing resistance from blue cities and states, including those that are “sanctuary” cities — meaning they do not cooperate with ICE requests that detained illegal immigrants with criminal charges or convictions be transferred to ICE custody. INCOMING TRUMP ADMIN EYES MASSIVE EXPANSION OF IMMIGRATION DETENTION: ‘HE WILL DELIVER’ Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said she is prepared to use “every tool in the tool box” to protect its citizens and residents and vowed that state police would “absolutely not” assist Trump in the operation. But the state, and the Boston area, have seen a number of ICE arrests of illegal immigrants who have been charged with crimes, including child sex offenses, but then released back onto the streets.  ICE announced this month that it apprehended a Colombian illegal immigrant, who had been arrested on charges of enticing a child under 16, distribution of obscene matter, and lascivious posing and exhibiting a child in the nude. ICE had filed a detainer against him, but it was ignored, the agency said. CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS In March, Fox News embedded with ICE officers in Boston and saw them make five arrests, including four alleged child rapists and a member of MS-13, a group of potential dangerous criminals the officers say were allowed on the streets because of local sanctuary policies that denied the agency’s detainer requests. But the lack of cooperation from those states and cities is unlikely to dissuade the administration. Tom Homan, appointed to be the border czar by President-elect Trump, had a message for those jurisdictions this month. “If you don’t want to work with us, then get the hell out all the way. We’re going to do it. What it means is, rather than send 100 people to Boston, we’re going to send 200 agents to Boston. We’re going to get the job done,” he said.