Daily News Brief for Thursday, January 4th, 2024

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Thursday, January 4th, 2024. 
 
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https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/us-national-debt-tops-34t-first-time-history
 
US national debt tops $34T for first time in history
 
The U.S. national debt topped $34 trillion for the first time ever, crossing a critical milestone at a time when government spending is already under scrutiny.
 
The national debt – which measures what the U.S. owes its creditors — hit $34 trillion as of Friday afternoon, according to new data published by the Treasury Department. By comparison, just four decades ago, the national debt hovered around $907 billion.
 
 "We are beginning a new year, but our national debt remains on the same damaging and unsustainable path," said Michael Peterson, CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, which advocates for fiscal sustainability.
 
The historic debt level comes as Congress races to finalize critical funding bills in order to prevent a government shutdown.
 
The national debt is expected to nearly double in size over the next three decades, according to the latest findings from the Congressional Budget Office. At the end of 2022, the national debt grew to about 97% of gross domestic product. 
 
Under current law, that figure is expected to skyrocket to 181% at the end of 2053 – a debt burden that will far exceed any previous level. 
 
"Though our level of debt is dangerous for both our economy and for national security, America just cannot stop borrowing," said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
 
The White House was quick to blame Republicans on Tuesday evening for the astronomical rise in the federal debt.
 
"This is the trickle-down debt — driven overwhelmingly by repeated Republican giveaways skewed to big corporations and the wealthy," Michael Kikukawa, White House assistant press secretary, said in a statement provided to FOX Business.
 
Even more worrisome is that the spike in interest rates over the past year and a half has made the cost of servicing the national debt more expensive.
 
That is because as interest rates rise, the federal government's borrowing costs on its debt will also increase. In fact, interest payments on the national debt are projected to be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget over the next three decades, according to the CRFB.
 
Payments are expected to triple from nearly $475 billion in fiscal year 2022 to a stunning $1.4 trillion in 2032. By 2053, the interest payments are projected to surge to $5.4 trillion. 
 
To put that into perspective, that will be more than the U.S. spends on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and all other mandatory and discretionary spending programs.
 
https://mynorthwest.com/3944857/rantz-homeless-fecal-matter-behind-explosion-shigella-cases-portland/
 
Homeless fecal matter behind explosion of Shigella cases in Portland
 
Homeless people are spreading Shigella in and around downtown Portland, Oregon. Cases are now surging and could lead to a public health emergency.
 
Shigella is a highly contagious bacteria that spreads through fecal matter. It’s usually spread when the bacteria is on someone’s hand and then they touch their mouth, or through sex. The Portland metro saw at least 218 cases of shigellosis in 2023, with 45 cases in December alone. Many of them occurred in Old Town.
 
As cases rise, Multnomah County Deputy Health Officer Dr. Teresa Everson is advising the public to be alert, but not panic, as the cases are not occurring in the general public. But there’s fear in the community that that may change. The county is offering some infected homeless people free motel rooms to isolate in so they can mitigate the spread.
 
“These cases can occur because bathrooms, handwashing sinks and soap can be hard to access when you aren’t housed,” she told KGW-TV. “And unhoused community members are at higher risk of infectious diseases in general, as they experience poorer health than the broader public.”
 
Still, Everson advises people living and working in Old Town to be extra vigilant in washing hands. Though, she said most of the cases appear to be a result of sexual contact.
 
Symptoms of Shigella infection include diarrhea, stomach cramps fever and vomiting that can last anywhere from three to 10 days. It can be treated with antibiotics.
 
Though it’s rare to see this specific kind of outbreak amongst the homeless, once it spreads, it may be hard to contain since the homeless aren’t especially hygienic with a lack of access to restrooms. But it’s a crisis of Portland’s own making. Permissive left-wing policies have allowed homelessness to explode in Portland, rendering the city unrecognizable.
 
In the waning months of 2023, officials finally committed to implementing a new strategy to target homelessness after public pressure forced them to accept the reality on its streets. In a long-overdue move, the city finally decided to enforce a camping ban on public property. The new policy was set to put much-needed restrictions in place, banning camping on all public property from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and limiting it during other hours. It’s a clear message: No more overnight stays in city parks, along riverbanks or near busy streets.
 
But a judge stopped the ban from commencing after activist attorneys representing five homeless Portlanders sued the city. It’s part of a consistent strategy to stop any homeless policies from being enforced, with Radical Left activists fighting to keep homeless on the streets where they will now spread Shigella.
 
Seattle and King County experienced a similar surge in cases that were addressed in 2021 after Public Health learned that 84% of the cases hit the homeless.
 
https://www.foxnews.com/world/japan-airlines-passenger-plane-burst-flames-tokyos-haneda-airport
 
Japan Airlines plane bursts into flames after collision at Tokyo's Haneda airport, leaving 5 dead
 
A thick plume of black smoke rose over an airport runway in Japan on Tuesday after a Japanese aircraft collided with a coast guard aircraft and burst into flames, local media reported.
 
Live footage on public broadcaster NHK showed Japan Airlines passenger plane JAL-516 on a runway at Tokyo's Haneda airport with flames coming out of its windows. Shortly after, the plane was entirely consumed.
 
The coast guard aircraft pilot escaped, but the five crewmembers were killed, NHK reported. An official confirmed that a Bombardier Dash-8 Coast Guard plane was involved in the collision.
 
A Japan Airlines spokesperson said more than 300 passengers were on board when the aircraft initially caught fire. NHK reported all 379 passengers and crew ultimately escaped from the plane.
 
The aircraft JAL flight 516 had flown out of Shin Chitose airport in Japan to Haneda, officials said. Haneda is one of the busiest airports in Japan.
 
All runways and services at the airport were suspended.
 
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/spencerbrown/2024/01/02/veterans-and-service-members-demand-pentagon-accountability-for-vaccine-mandates-n2633048
 
'Enough Is Enough': Veterans and Service Members Demand Accountability From DoD
 
Saying that "all internal efforts to rectify recent criminal activity within the Armed forces" have been "exhausted," more than 200 military veterans and service members signed and published a "Declaration of Military Accountability" on January 1 over the Department of Defense's its enactment and enforcement of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
 
Invoking the Declaration of Independence in a declaration of their own, the current and former members of the U.S. military state that America has reached a point in its history where it is "necessary to admonish the lawless, encourage the fainthearted, and strengthen the weak" as the "affairs of our nation are now steeped in avaricious corruption and our once stalwart institutions, including the Dept of Defense, are failing to fulfill the moral obligations upon which they were founded."
 
Unlike the Declaration of Independence, the signers of the Declaration of Military Accountability "seek no separation" as the patriots of 1776 did from Great Britain, "but through this letter and the efforts we pledge herein, we pursue restoration through accountability."
 
On the Pentagon's enactment of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, the declaration states that "military leaders broke the law, trampled constitutional rights, denied informed consent, permitted unwilling medical experimentation, and suppressed the free exercise of religion," actions that meant "[s]ervice members and families were significantly harmed."
 
"Their suffering continues to be felt financially, emotionally, and physically," the declaration emphasizes of those affected by the DoD's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. "Some service members became part of our ever-growing veteran homeless population, some developed debilitating vaccine injuries, and some even lost their lives."
 
Despite these outcomes, the declaration says "military leaders are continuing to ignore our communications regarding these injuries and the laws that were broken," calling the DoD's silence "an apparent attempt to avoid accountability."
 
Naming a list of military leaders who "enabled lawlessness and the unwilling experimentation on service members" including "GEN Milley, ADM Grady, GEN McConville, ADM Gilday, ADM Lescher, Gen Brown, Gen Berger, Gen Smith, VADM Kilby, VADM Nowell, VADM Fuller, LTG Martin, Lt Gen Davis, MG Edmonson, GEN Williams, ADM Fagan, VADM Buck, Lt Gen Clark, MG Francis, LTG Dingle, Lt Gen Miller, RADM Gillingham, and numerous others," the declaration emphasizes that they "betrayed the trust of service members and the American people."
 
"Their actions caused irreparable harm to the Armed Forces and the institutions for which we have fought and bled," the current and former members of the military say. "These leaders refused to resign or take any other action to hold themselves accountable, nor have they attempted to repair the harm their policies and actions have caused."
 
Due to this lack of accountability, the 231 signatories to the declaration state their intention to "do everything morally permissible and legally possible to hold our own leadership accountable" because they "as service members and veterans...feel particularly responsible for the DoD and, in according with our oaths...will make every effort to demonstrate by example how an institution can put its own house in order."
 
Signing "on behalf of hundreds of thousands of service members and the American people, while appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for guidance and purity of intention, mutually pledge to each other that we will do everything in our power, through lawful word and action, to hold accountable military leaders who failed to follow the law when their leadership and moral courage was most desperately needed," the declaration explains. 
 
The action that will follow from the declaration, it explains, includes running for Congress and seeking appointments within the executive branch while those in active service "will continue to put fulfilling our oaths ahead of striving for rank or position."
 
In addition, the declaration pledges that those who have the legal authority to do so will "recall from retirement the military leaders who broke the law and will convene courts-martial for the crimes they committed." Those who become lawmakers will "introduce legislation to remove all retirement income for the military leaders who were criminally complicit, and we will ensure none serve in or retire from the Senior Executive Service."
 
Emphasizing that fulfilling their oaths to the Constitution requires "persistent vigilance," the declaration's signers also pledge to "train those who come after us to fulfill their duty in achieving this accountability and safeguarding against such leadership failures hereafter."
 
"While all good things come to an end, we refuse to allow our nation to go quietly into the depths of decadence and decay," the veterans and service members declare. "We promise to exhaust all moral, ethical, and legal means to restore the rule of law and will begin by attempting to hold senior military leaders accountable" in addition to fighting to enforce the Constitution and "put an end to the two-tiered justice system."
 
The Declaration concludes: "May future generations see our efforts and, God willing, may they also be recipients of the great gift of liberty that we have had the honor of safeguarding.”