January 02 2025

1. Death Toll Rises to 15 in New Orleans Terror Attack
2. US Murder Rate Declines in 2024
3. House Set for Critical Speaker Vote Friday
4. Chinese Hackers Breached Treasury Sanctions Office
5. Israel Uses AI System to Generate Gaza Targets
6. College Football Playoffs: Three Games Complete, Sugar Bowl Postponed
January 2, 1974: President Nixon signs national speed limit into law

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1. Death Toll Rises to 15 in New Orleans Terror Attack

The man who plowed a rented pickup truck into a crowd in New Orleans early New Year’s Day, killing at least 15 and injuring at least 35, had previously posted videos on social media indicating that the Islamic State inspired him to kill, President Joe Biden said. An ISIS flag was also found in the truck after the “despicable attack,” Biden said, describing a “very fluid” situation as officials continue to look for “any connections, associations or co-conspirators.” Authorities identified the man as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. citizen, and said he was killed in a shootout with police. They added that they do not believe he acted alone and that the incident is being investigated as an act of terrorism.

Article Source: WaPo

2. US Murder Rate Declines in 2024

The last year was often tumultuous and chaotic, but it ended with good news: Murders and crime in general declined across the country throughout 2024. The data contains a lot of good news. First, the drop in murders that began in 2022 has accelerated. Murders fell so quickly that 2024 could have ended with fewer murders than the year before the pandemic. The nationwide murder rate was still on track to be higher than it was during its lowest point ever recorded, in 2014, but not much higher. (The 2024 data is up-to-date through October.) 

Article Source: NYT

3. House Set for Critical Speaker Vote Friday

The Constitution dictates that the 119th Congress begins at noonet on Friday.   And the first order of business in the House is to elect the Constitutional officer for the legislative branch of government: Speaker of the House.   Only the House votes for Speaker. And the House can’t do anything – I’ll repeat that, anything – until it chooses a Speaker.   It can’t swear-in Members until the House taps a Speaker and he or she is sworn-in. The Speaker then swears-in the rest of the body, en masse. Then the House must adopt a rules package to govern daily operations. Only then can the House go about debating bills, voting and constructing committees for hearings.   If the House fails to elect a Speaker on the first ballot, it must proceed to a second ballot.   And on and on.   Consider for a moment that the House had never even taken a second vote for Speaker in a century before the donnybrook two years ago. It took four ballots to re-elect late House Speaker Frederick Gillett, R-Mass., in 1923.    What is past is prologue for the House. Consider how the House consumed 15 rounds spread out over five days before electing former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in January, 2023. The Speakership remained vacant – and thus, the House frozen – for 22 days after Republicans dumped McCarthy nine months later.

Article Source: @ChadPergram

4. Chinese Hackers Breached Treasury Sanctions Office

Chinese government hackers breached a highly sensitive office in the Treasury Department that administers economic sanctions against countries and groups of individuals — one of the most potent tools possessed by the United States to achieve national security aims, according to U.S. officials. The targeting of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as well as the Office of the Treasury Secretary — developments not previously reported — reflects Beijing’s determination to acquire intelligence on its most significant rival in the global competition for power and influence, said the officials, who like others interviewed for this report spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.  A top area of interest for the Chinese government, current and former officials said, would be Chinese entities that the U.S. government may be considering designating for financial sanctions.

Article Source: WaPo

5. Israel Uses AI System to Generate Gaza Targets

After the brutal Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, the Israel Defense Forces deluged Gaza with bombs, drawing on a database painstakingly compiled through the years that detailed home addresses, tunnels and other infrastructure critical to the militant group. But then the target bank ran low. To maintain the war’s breakneck pace, the IDF turned to an elaborate artificial intelligence tool called Habsora — or “the Gospel” — which could quickly generate hundreds of additional targets. The use of AI to rapidly refill IDF’s target bank allowed the military to continue its campaign uninterrupted, according to two people familiar with the operation. It is an example of how the decade-long program to place advanced AI tools at the center of IDF’s intelligence operations has contributed to the violence of Israel’s 14-month war in Gaza. The IDF has broadcast the existence of these programs, which constitute what some experts consider the most advanced military AI initiative ever to be deployed. People familiar with the IDF’s practices, including soldiers who have served in the war, say Israel’s military has significantly expanded the number of acceptable civilian casualties from historic norms. Some argue this shift is enabled by automation, which has made it easier to speedily generate large quantities of targets, including of low-level militants who participated in the Oct. 7 attacks. “What’s happening in Gaza is a forerunner of a broader shift in how war is being fought,” said Steven Feldstein, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment, who researches the use of AI in war.

Article Source: WaPo

6. College Football Playoffs: Three Games Complete, Sugar Bowl Postponed

Rose Bowl - Ohio State 41 Oregon 21

Fiesta Bowl - Penn State 31 Boise State 14

Peach Bowl - Texas 39 Arizona State 31 /2OT

Sugar Bowl Postponed (see #1)

January 2, 1974: President Nixon signs national speed limit into law

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Sources

1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/01/02/new-orleans-truck-attack-investigation-updates/

2. https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/dynamic/render?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20250101&instance_id=143598&isViewInBrowser=true&nl=the-morning&paid_regi=1&productCode=NN&regi_id=61468173&segment_id=187050&sendId=187050&uri=nyt://newsletter/2db92719-22dc-59ff-80cd-48dff748341c&user_id=02b32d846497687a8f0c061d7ffd16b1

3. https://x.com/chadpergram/status/1874625602948358355?s=46&t=nVb-5uC_WM3Cp0R0dGiqHQ

4. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/01/01/treasury-hack-china/

5. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/12/29/ai-israel-war-gaza-idf/