White House Dossier's

Horrific new stories of Hamas brutality emerge . . . A “beautiful woman with the face of an angel’’ was raped by eight to 10 Hamas terrorists in Israel on Oct. 7, while another tragic victim was beheaded with a shovel while trying to defend herself, a stricken survivor says.

Yoni Saadon, a 39-year-old father of four, told the UK’s Sunday Times that he is still haunted by the horrific scenes he witnessed at the Nova Music festival, when the Hamas fiends slaughtered at least 364 festival-goers, including the gang-raped woman, who begged to be killed. “I saw this beautiful woman with the face of an angel and eight or 10 of the fighters beating and raping her,” recalled Saadon, a foundry shift manager. “She was screaming, ‘Stop it already! I’m going to die anyway from what you are doing, just kill me!’ “When they finished, they were laughing, and the last one shot her in the head,” he said. New York Post

Democrats are trying to say this is the equivalent of civilians being killed during wartime. It is not.

Israel, Hamas engage in some of the fiercest fighting of the war . . . Israeli troops and Hamas fighters were engaged Monday in some of the toughest fighting of the two-month-old war, as Israel looks to decisively finish its operations in and around Gaza City and prepare to move its offensive south. The Israeli military has essentially cornered Hamas fighters in two of their last strongholds in the northern Gaza Strip—the Shajaiya neighborhood of Gaza City and the city of Jabalia, immediately to the north. Israel has conducted heavy airstrikes in those areas since the fighting resumedover the weekend, including one strike that Israeli officials said killed Hamas’s battalion commander in Shajaiya, and which Palestinian officials said caused hundreds of civilian casualties. Wall Street Journal

Israel kills Hamas commander invovled in Oct. 7 attacks . . . Israel’s military says it has killed Haitham Khojari, the commander of Hamas’ Shati Battalion who was involved in the execution of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack in Israel that launched the war. “The IDF, guided by the intelligence of the Shin Bet and the IDF, eliminated Haitham Khojari, the commander of the Shati Battalion of the terrorist organization Hamas, using an Air Force fighter jet,” Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a post on X on Sunday. “Under his command, they launched a raid into Israeli territory on October 7.” Fox News 

RIH - Rest in Hell.

Dana Bash confronts leftist Rep. Jayapal about her views on Hamas raping Israeli women . . . The questions on rape occur at about the 6:40 mark.

Trump still way ahead in poll of Republicans as Iowa nears . . . Former President Trump is maintaining a comfortable lead in the GOP primary, with 60 percent of Republicans saying in a new poll that they would pick Trump in the primary race. The new NewsNation/Decision Desk HQ News poll also found that 21 percent of independent voters also said they would vote for Trump if their state’s primary race was held today. About 11 percent of Republicans said they would vote for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis if the primary were held today, and about 10 percent said they would back former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley. The Hill

A list of potential Trump VP candidates

National Security     

Microsoft inked deals with CCP propaganda outlets . . . Microsoft helped Chinese state-run media outlets disseminate propaganda. The nation’s second largest corporation signed collaboration deals with state-run Chinese media outlets including China Daily and People’s Daily, the latter of which is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese government. Summaries of the deal state Microsoft would provide China Daily with technology that lets the paper target potential readers and gave the People’s Daily access to an artificial intelligence bot specially designed to be controlled and censored by the Chinese Communist Party. Washington Free Beacon

US threatens "appropriate responses" after Iran-backed assault of ships . . . The U.S. warned it was considering “all appropriate responses” after Houthi rebels attacked three commercial vessels in the Red Sea on Sunday, ramping up its rhetoric as Iran-backed militants continue to harass American and international interests in the region.

Following the attacks, a U.S. warship operating nearby responded to the distress calls from the commercial ships, shooting down three aerial drones over the course of the day, U.S. Central Command said in a release. Politico

How about some "inappropriate responses" for once?

Former US diplomat arrested for spying for Cuba . . . A former American diplomat who served as U.S. ambassador to Bolivia has been arrested in a long-running FBI counterintelligence investigation, accused of secretly serving as an agent of Cuba’s government, the Associated Press has learned. Manuel Rocha, 73, was arrested in Miami on Friday on a criminal complaint and more details about the case are expected to be made public at a court appearance Monday, said two people who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss an ongoing federal investigation. Associated Press

International

Migrants may risk organ trafficking on way to US . . . The market for illegally trafficked human organs such as kidneys, livers and lungs is small but growing — and at least some of the supply appears to be provided by traffickers who target migrants trying to reach the U.S. Jarrod Sadulski, a criminology expert and associate professor at the American Military University, brought the issue to Congress last month with searing testimony about organ trafficking — juvenile organs in particular — along major migrant smuggling corridors. He described one case, told to him by a rehabilitated gang member in Central America, of a 12-year-old boy who was kidnapped in Mexico to harvest his eye. Someone paid $15,000 for it. Washington Times

Yet another adverse result of Biden's cruel immigration policy. Where's the outcry like there was under Trump?

Pope Francis calls climate change a "religious problem" . . . Pope Francis stated in a video sent to a United Nations event Sunday that climate change is “also a religious problem” calling on other clerical leaders to come together to “set an example,” according to Crux Catholic Media. Absent from the COP-28 summit, reportedly due to concerns for his health, the pope sent a message for the inauguration of the new Faith Pavilion at the event. Along with the video, remarks were read by the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, according to Crux Catholic Media. Daily Caller

Money

Economists reverse course, say recession unlikely . . . The economy is increasingly likely to avoid a recession, according to a new survey of more than three dozen leading business economists. The monthly survey, which was conducted by the National Association for Business Economics in November and released on Monday, found that three-fourths of the panel pegged the odds of a recession in the next year at less than 50%, with just 24% saying that a recession is more likely than not. Washington Examiner

Spotify to slash 17% of its staff . . . 

Eek, Ek!

Culture

Portland schools must consider race, gender ID when disciplingin students . . . A new collective bargaining agreement between Portland Public Schools and its unionized teachers requires school officials to consider a disruptive student's race, gender identity, and sexual orientation when crafting that student's disciplinary plan. The plan "must take into consideration the impact of issues related to the student's trauma, race, gender identity/presentation, sexual orientation … and restorative justice as appropriate for the student," according to the agreement. The new disciplinary policy also eliminates mandatory suspensions for students who threaten or harm others. Washington Free Beacon

Susan Sarandon walks back antisemitic comments . . . Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon issued an apology for her comments about Jews at a pro-Palestine rally last month, saying her choice of words “was a terrible mistake.” Ms. Sarandon took the stage at a pro-Palestine rally on Nov. 17 in New York City, proclaiming that Jews are “getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence.” “This phrasing was a terrible mistake, as it implies that until recently Jews have been strangers to persecution, when the opposite is true,” Ms. Sarandon wrote. Washington Times

Probably she thinks Jews control the movie industry and she wants to continue working . . . 

Supreme Court to hear Purdue Pharma opiate case . . . The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on Monday over a bankruptcy deal for Purdue Pharma that would give billions of dollars to those harmed by the opioid epidemic in exchange for shielding members of the wealthy Sackler family from additional opioid-related lawsuits.

The settlement involving Purdue, the maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin, touches on one of the country’s largest public health crises. In taking up the case, the court temporarily paused the deal until it issues a ruling. Experts say any decision may also have important consequences for other cases that use the bankruptcy system to settle claims of mass injuries. NY Times

First they came for the cars, now they're coming for the cows . . . This crusade to stamp out meat is gaining force. A U.N. report last year held that about 7 gigatons of CO2 reductions—about as much emissions generated from global natural-gas combustion—would have to come from people eating less meat. Livestock production accounts for about 11% to 17% of global greenhouse-gas emissions and about 32% of the world’s methane, which is 28 times as potent as carbon dioxide. Pound for pound of protein, beef production generates nearly 18 times as much greenhouse gas—and pork, four times as much—as tofu. Blame cow burps and manure. WSJ

Dog bites man, but this time, it's news . . . Moldovan President Maia Sandu's dog overturned protocol on Thursday by biting visiting Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen on the hand, although Austria's leader was forgiving and later gave the excitable pup a toy. The incident, Moldovan media reported, occurred when the two leaders were strolling in the courtyard of the Moldovan presidential residence and Van der Bellen tried to pet the dog, a rescue named Codrut, or small forest. Reuters

This is how wars get started.