The George Santos Saga, Kevin McCarthy Implosion and Marjorie Taylor Greene Circus

Unprecedented times in Congress abounded in 2023, from booting a speaker for the first time in history to near fist fights in the Capitol halls to senior lawmakers’ personal health issues becoming incredibly public.

The House GOP had a particularly wild year. It wasn’t just the ousting of a speaker; don’t forget the expulsion of now-former Rep. George Santos from Congress — the sixth member to ever earn that black mark. Democrats had their own fair share of memorable moments, too, including a certain congressman pulling the Cannon House Office Building fire alarm.

Imprisoned Russian Opposition Leader Navalny Located In Penal Colony 3 Weeks After Contact Lost

MOSCOW (AP) — Associates of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Monday that he has been located at a prison colony above the Arctic Circle nearly three weeks after contact with him was lost.

Navalny, the most prominent foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism. He had been imprisoned in the Vladimir region of central Russia, about 230 kilometers (140 miles) east of Moscow, but his lawyers said they had not been able to reach him since Dec. 6.

Central Gaza Airstrike Kills At Least 68, Adding To Weekend's Bloodshed

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza (AP) — At least 68 people were killed by an Israeli strike in central Gaza, health officials said Sunday, while the number of Israeli soldiers killed in combat over the weekend rose to 15.

Associated Press journalists at a nearby hospital watched frantic Palestinians carry the dead, including a baby, and wounded following the strike on the Maghazi refugee camp east of Deir al-Balah. One bloodied young girl looked stunned while her body was checked for broken bones.

Israel strikes 2 homes, killing more than 90 Palestinians; Biden says he didn’t request a cease-fire

RAFAH, Gaza Strip — More than 90 Palestinians, including dozens from an extended family, were killed in Israeli airstrikes on two homes in Gaza, rescuers and hospital officials said Saturday, a day after the U.N. chief warned that nowhere is safe in the territory and that Israel’s offensive creates “massive obstacles” to distribution of humanitarian aid.

President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, calling it a long and private conversation a day after the Biden administration again shielded Israel in the diplomatic arena. On Friday, the U.N. Security Council adopted a watered-down resolution that calls for immediately speeding up aid deliveries to desperate civilians in Gaza, but not for a cease-fire.

With The Supreme Court On Sideline For Now, Trump's Lawyers Press Immunity Claims Before Lower Court

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump was acting within his role as president when he pressed claims about “alleged fraud and irregularity” in the 2020 election, his lawyers told a federal appeals court in arguing that he is immune from prosecution.

The attorneys also asserted in a filing late Saturday night that the “historical fallout is tremendous” from the four-count indictment charging Trump with plotting to overturn the election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

The Future of Speech on Campus

In the recent congressional hearings about anti-Semitism on campus, Republican Representative Elise Stefanik of New York asked the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania whether calling for “the genocide of Jews” violates their university’s rules or code of conduct with respect to bullying and harassment. The underlying assumption that there have, in fact, been recent calls for genocide on these campuses struck many as resting on an overly broad interpretation. Indeed, Stefanik’s questioning revealed that she seemed to count any use of the Arabic word intifada or the slogan “from the river to the sea” as tantamount to a call for genocide. These are phrases deployed in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—a setting in which both sides have invoked the rhetoric of genocide, but where the meaning of such talk is highly contested.

Israel-Gaza war: Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel paying 'heavy price'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the Gaza war has come at a "very heavy price" for his side.

The military says more than a dozen soldiers have been killed in the territory since Friday, bringing the total of the ground assault to 154.

Saturday was one of its deadliest days - but the Israeli PM there was "no choice" but to keep fighting.

The anatomy of Zionist genocide

On October 7, Hamas fighters breached the Gaza prison fence, launching a coordinated attack on at least seven Israeli military installations and more than 20 surrounding residential communities. Over 1000 Israeli citizens, both civilian and military, as well as dozens of foreign nationals, were killed in the attack. Some 240 others were taken captive. Caught off guard and in disarray, the Israeli military responded to the attack in a frenzy, firing indiscriminately on breached localities, slaying Israeli captives alongside Hamas fighters in the process. It took the Israeli forces nearly a day to recapture all lost territory and secure the Gaza perimeter.

Israeli Airstrikes Flatten 2 Gaza Homes, Killing Over 90 Palestinians

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — More than 90 Palestinians, including dozens from an extended family, were killed in Israeli airstrikes on two homes in Gaza, rescuers and hospital officials said Saturday, a day after the U.N. chief warned that nowhere is safe in the territory and that Israel’s offensive creates “massive obstacles” to distribution of humanitarian aid.

U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, calling it a long and private conversation a day after the Biden administration again shielded Israel in the diplomatic arena. On Friday, the U.N. Security Council adopted a watered-down resolution that calls for immediately speeding up aid deliveries to desperate civilians in Gaza, but not for a cease-fire.

Israeli campaign to kill Hamas leaders likely to backfire, say earlier assassination targets

A worldwide campaign of assassinations of Hamas leaders announced by senior Israel officials is likely to be counterproductive, impractical and ineffective, targets of previous such efforts have suggested.

Benjamin Netanyahu first announced the new strategy two weeks after the 7 October attacks launched by Hamas into southern Israel which killed 1,200 people.