Tuesday, December 24

Inside Syria’s Saydnaya prison and GOP considers how to push Trump agenda: Morning Rundown

Evidence of the Assad regime’s violent suppression of dissent can be found in one of Syria’s most infamous prisons. It is anticipated that the suspect in the death of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare will enter a not guilty plea. And the dark side of one man’s participation in the U.S. body trade.

What to know today is as follows.


After Assad s ouster, evidence of unspeakable cruelty and an Israeli advance

The most well-known gulag in Syria is the Saydnaya military jail, a lair of little concrete cells known as “thehuman slaughterhouse.” In a 2017 study, Amnesty International said that during the 50-year rule of the Assad family, inmates were “regularly tortured through severe beatings and sexual violence,” and that “total silence is enforced” to cause psychological agony.

Days after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s government, Syrians have now poured into the penitentiary located in the rocky hills outside of Damascus. In a desperate attempt to find out if their loved ones were still alive, they tried pickaxes, pry bars, and their own hands. One of the women interviewed by NBC News had come to look for her son, who had gone missing ten years prior. She claimed he was a nurse, but he was accused of being a militant. There was evidence of savage living conditions everywhere. One area included an iron machine, which some called a “execution press,” that was designed to crush prisoners to death.

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Israel, Syria’s neighbor, launched a fresh offensive into its territory while Syrians struggled with the fall of the Assad. As Israeli forces take over the demilitarized buffer zone between the two nations, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that he has directed the military to create a sterile defense zone in southern Syria.

Israel claims to have destroyed Syria’s naval fleet and has carried out hundreds of raids on military installations, weapons depots, and research facilities throughout Syria. Although Israel claims that its activities are meant to keep Assad’s arsenal out of the hands of radicals, its advance has sparked concerns about potential destabilization.


More Syria coverage:

  • Russia


    is providing sanctuary

    to former leader Bashar al-Assad, the country s foreign minister said in an exclusive interview.


Suspect in CEO shooting expected to plead not guilty

According to his attorney, Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old suspect in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, will enter a not guilty plea to the charges in Pennsylvania and is anticipated to enter a similar plea to a murder charge in New York. “Listen, I haven’t seen any evidence that says he’s the shooter,” Pennsylvania lawyer Thomas Dickey, Mangione’s lawyer, told reporters.

Mangione was refused bail during a hearing yesterday and stated he would fight extradition to New York. Mangione smashed into a wall after yelling out of a sheriff’s car when he arrived at the Blair County Courthouse in Pennsylvania. “It’s totally out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience,” he also shouted to reporters.

In the meantime, the suspect’s writings and social media activity continue to provide investigators with new information. Additionally, they are investigating the possibility of a link between Thompson’s murder and Mangione’s back ailment.What more do we know?


More on the suspect:

  • The brother of Ted Kaczynski, the domestic terrorist also known as the Unabomber, said he hopes Kaczynski


    wasn t a key model for Mangione

    .


GOP undecided on how to advance Trump s 2025 agenda

Donald Trump, the president-elect, has stated that he wants to move swiftly to implement key elements of his plan, such as energy policy, border security, and extending his tax cuts from 2017. However, there is disagreement among members about whether congressional Republicans would address his agenda through a procedure known as reconciliation and pass two separate bills or in one bundle.

Republicans will be able to enact significant legislation through reconciliation without requiring any backing from Democrats. Next year, there will be 220 House seats and 53 Senate seats, meaning that almost all Republicans will have to support legislation.

John Thune, the next Senate majority leader, has been advocating for a two-bill approach, saying the GOP should adopt a bill that includes things we know we can do quickly and then address other agenda items later this year in a package. Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith, the House’s top tax writer, contends that Trump’s agenda, especially the tax policy, could be jeopardized if it is divided into two bills.Go here to read the entire story.


More Trump transition and politics news:

  • Trump said he will nominate Fox News personality


    Kimberly Guilfoyle

    and his longtime billionaire friend


    Tom Barrack

    to serve as ambassadors to Greece and Turkey.

  • The House task force that investigated the assassination attempts against Trump


    released a final report

    that included recommendations for the Secret Service.

  • New York Attorney General Letitia James


    rejected Trump s request

    to drop her $486 million civil fraud judgment against him.

  • Sen. Mitch McConnell


    said he was feeling good

    after he fell and sustained minor injuries yesterday.

  • A potentially critical political storyline is brewing in Michigan, where a gubernatorial candidate s decision to run as an independent sends a message about the political establishment, Chuck Todd writes.


    Read the full analysis.


Body brokers thrive with little oversight

Obteen Nassiri needed to pursue a different career path. Following accusations that he had scammed insurers out of millions of dollars and misled patients, he lost his license as a chiropractor and entered the murky U.S. body trade, which had almost no regulations or barriers to entrance.

Nassiri’s new business, Med Ed Labs, operated out of a beige strip mall in Las Vegas between a tattoo parlor and a psychic. It bought corpses from funeral homes and medical schools and then sold or leased them at a premium to organizations, such as the US military, that needed human remains for medical training.

He established a nationwide network of clients and suppliers in a matter of years. In addition, he left a trail of controversy and accusations of unethical behavior, such as handling human remains improperly.Go here to read the entire story.

Read All About It

  • The Bureau of Labor Statistics today


    will release the consumer price index

    for November, with analysts expecting 0.3% growth month over month. That stalled progress could factor into whether the Fed cuts interest rates next month.

  • A bankruptcy judge


    rejected a bid

    by The Onion s parent company to buy Alex Jones Infowars and far-right media empire, ruling the auction process was unfair.

  • The wind-fueled Franklin Fire in Malibu, California,


    has burned around 3,000 acres

    and prompted evacuation orders for about 20,000 people.

  • A judge


    blocked a $25 billion bid

    by supermarket giant Kroger to take over rival Albertsons, saying that the merger would hurt customers.

  • Cincinnati Bengals quarterback


    Joe Burrow s home was burglarized

    , adding to a recent string of break-ins targeting high-profile athletes.

Staff Pick:

Small business owners deal with alleged Covid loan blunder

During the epidemic, a federal lending program gave millions of small companies a lifeline that kept them viable. However, other business owners informed me that their loans had been mistakenly classified as late or sent to collections because the payback of those U.S. Small Business Administration COVID catastrophe loans was now due.

According to an agency representative, the agency has made a concerted effort to be adaptable and responsive to borrowers while managing a record number of catastrophe loans, and its payment systems are operating as intended. However, a number of borrowers and the consultants they engaged claimed that months of irritation or worse had resulted from the SBA’s own mistakes, which ranged from misfiled loans to missed payments. According to one consultant, some of his clients have had poor credit report reports, withheld tax refunds, and tainted Social Security payments as a result.Lewis Kamb, a reporter for FOIA

NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified

Check out these last-minute gifts that will arrive promptly if you need your presents right away. Here are the top presents for each zodiac sign for your astrology-loving friends and family.

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