In The News Today, and other things.

Exclusive: Investigators Uncover Orgy, VA Official Who Had Sex with 32 Different Coworkers at Tennessee Veteran Hospital

WP AI generated image.

Several top Veterans Affairs officials in Tennessee resigned as an internal investigation and a broader congressional probe into alleged sexual misconduct intensified, Breitbart News has learned.

Congressional investigators discovered that one man who resigned, whose name they would not tell Breitbart News but sources familiar say was a bargaining unit biomedical employee, had dozens of sexual relationships with women who worked at the Mountain Home VA medical center in Tennessee.

In fact, the congressional investigators told Breitbart News this one man slept with no fewer than 32 different women who worked there—and the man and several of the women bragged about their exploits on an online group forum on a government communication portal that VA officials use to communicate about veteran healthcare and facility operations.

What’s more, sources familiar with the congressional investigation told Breitbart News they uncovered that an orgy of at least 12 officials who work at the facility took place. It’s unclear at this time whether the orgy happened on government property at the VA facility or off-site—but the mere fact that a dozen of the government workers employed there did this is astounding.

“The fact that the culture would even allow this to happen in the first place is absolutely wild and it all starts at the top,” a senior congressional aide familiar with the facts of the ongoing investigation told Breitbart News on Tuesday.

This scandal threatens to upend the closing days of outgoing Democrat President Joe Biden’s administration and could engulf senior officials like VA Secretary Denis McDonough.

The story first surfaced in the summer as the House Committee on Veterans Affairs announced through chairman Rep. Michael Bost (R-IL) sending a letter to McDonough that the committee was investigating the matter. Later, in September, Bost pressed for more information and asked more questions on the matter.

Bost wrote to McDonough in September that since his initial letter in July that “whistleblowers have been in communication with Committee staff and provided further details on the allegations and information regarding additional allegations of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and improper interpersonal relationships at the Mountain Home VA, which facility leadership allegedly did not address properly, that were previously unknown to Committee staff.”….


South Korean Assembly Votes to Invalidate Martial Law as Soldiers Break In

Soldiers withdraw from Korea’s National Assembly in the early hours of Wednesday morning after lawmakers vote to overturn President Yoon Suk Yeol’s introduction of martial law in Yeouido, western Seoul. [YONHAP]

Yoon’s orders suspended all political activity in South Korea until further notice, but DP lawmakers raced into the parliament building and urged colleagues to join them, even as police and military forces surrounded the building to lock it down. Military helicopters were seen buzzing over the National Assembly building as soldiers prepared to break down the barricaded doors.

According to Korea Joongang Daily (KJD), matters came to a head at 12:47 a.m., when DP lawmakers voted on their motion to lift martial law, just as soldiers were breaking through the windows.

The voting process continued to its completion at 1:01 a.m. local time, as the 190 lawmakers present in the National Assembly building voted unanimously to overturn martial law. The speaker’s office promptly declared Yoon’s order “null and void.”

Speaker Woo Won-shik then asked all soldiers and police to leave the building. Observers reported the helicopters departed, and they have reportedly done so after lingering for about half an hour.

“If the President does not abide by the results of the motion passed at the National Assembly it is clear treason and an illegal act,” legislator Cho Kuk declared, adding that Yoon’s impeachment will now be on the table…


America’s Stone Age Ports: How Unions Block Progress

The International Longshoremen’s union promises a strike in January in order to ban automation.

But that will hurt everyone—including them!

Technology replaces dangerous jobs. It creates safer, higher-paid ones.

Here’s how:


Pete Buttigieg’s Bizarre Crime-Fighting Fantasy

Pete Buttigieg gives his recipe for reducing violent crime. Apparently, crime has nothing to do with fatherless homes and everything to do with bad drinking water.


Death sentence upheld for property tycoon in Vietnam — unless she pays $9 billion before execution

Vietnamese property tycoon Truong My Lan (C) looks on at a court in Ho Chi Minh city, April 11, 2024, where she was sentenced to death in one of the country’s biggest fraud cases, with damages estimated at $27 billion.STR/AFP/Getty

A Vietnamese court upheld the death penalty Tuesday for a property tycoon in a multibillion-dollar fraud case — but said her life could still be spared if she paid back three quarters of the assets she embezzled.

Property developer Truong My Lan, 68, was convicted this year of swindling money from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) — which prosecutors said she controlled — and sentenced to death for fraud totaling $27 billion.

She appealed the verdict in a month-long trial, but on Tuesday the court in Ho Chi Minh City determined that there was “no basis” to reduce her sentence.

However, there is still a chance for Lan to escape the death penalty.

The court said Tuesday that if she returns three-quarters of the stolen assets, her sentence could be reduced to life imprisonment.

That means she could still avoid execution if she returns $9 billion, or three-quarters of the $12 billion she embezzled, the BBC reports. It’s not her final appeal and she can still petition the president for amnesty…


IDF strikes at Hezbollah over ceasefire violations; Syria conflict intensifies TV7 Israel News 03.12

1) Israel strikes at dozens of targets in Lebanon – following Hezbollah mortars fire toward Israel.

2) Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz warns Lebanon that if it fails to enforce the ceasefire – the consequences will be far-reaching.

3) Iran blames the United States and Israel for the latest Turkish-backed onslaught in northwestern Syria.


Investigators find 11 children working ‘dangerous’ overnight cleaning shift in meat processing plant

Seaboard Triumph Foods LLC in Sioux City, Iowa.Google Maps

A cleaning company has been fined $171,000 after federal investigators found 11 children working a “dangerous” overnight shift at a meat processing plant in Iowa.

The U.S. Labor Department said in a statement that it found the children working for sanitation company Qvest LLC at the Seaboard Triumph Foods pork factory in Sioux City, Iowa.

The children were employed to “use corrosive cleaners to clean head splitters, jaw pullers, bandsaws, neck clippers and other equipment at the Seaboard Triumph Foods facility from at least September 2019 through September 2023,” the statement said.

It is the second time a contractor has been caught employing children at the same facility: In May, Fayette Janitorial Services LLC agreed to pay nearly $650,000 for using almost two dozen children at the Sioux City plant and at a Perdue Farms facility in Virginia….


Can Kash Patel Fix the FBI? Trump’s Bold Pick Explained

Donald Trump selects Kash Patel to lead the FBI. Whistleblower and co-host of “The Morning Post” Steve Friend says Patel will try to reform the FBI into a government corruption watchdog instead of a secret police force.

He also likes Patel’s plan to turn the J. Edgar Hoover Building into a public museum.


Judicial Watch: Court Finds Fani Willis in Default in Open Records Lawsuit, Orders Her to Produce Records in Five Business Days

In its lawsuit Judicial Watch stated that Willis’ “representation about not having records responsive to the request is likely false.” Judicial Watch referred to a December 5, 2023, letter from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan to Willis that cites a December 2021 letter from Willis to then-House January 6 Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS). In that letter Willis requested assistance from the committee and offered to travel to DC.

In May 2024, Judicial Watch asked the court to declare a default judgment, noting that Willis was served with the lawsuit in March 2024 and had “not filed an answer,” which “was due 30 days after service.”

The recently issued default judgment states: “The Court finds Defendant [Willis, in her official capacity] is in default and has been since 11 April 2024.” Further, Willis “never moved to open default on any basis (not even during the period when she could have opened default as a matter of right), she never paid costs, and she never offered up a meritorious defense.”

Plaintiff is thus entitled to judgment by default as if every item and paragraph of the complaint were supported by proper and sufficient evidence. O.C.G.A. § 9-11-55(a). Here, this means Plaintiff has established that Defendant violated the ORA by failing to either turn over responsive records or else notify Plaintiff of her decision to withhold some or all such records.

In its complaint, Plaintiff sought the following relief:…


Detransitioner Singer SPEAKS OUT Against Child Gender Affirming Care


Trump’s ‘hell to pay’ warning to Hamas welcomed by hostages’ families: The ‘language we were missing’

President-elect Trump offered a glimmer of hope to families of American Hamas captives after vowing there would be “all hell to pay” if hostages are not released prior to his inauguration on Jan. 20. 

“It’s exactly the type of language we were missing,” Ruby Chen, father of Hamas captive Itay Chen, told “Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade on Tuesday. 

“It’s seven U.S. hostages, and I think that the message was not just directed to Hamas. I think it was also directed to Iran and the other beneficiaries that have been supporting Hamas financially…

Chen added that Trump’s rhetoric “shows his commitment to this topic” and that he cherishes “his obligation to our cause.”

Adi Alexander, father of Hamas hostage Edan Alexander, is also optimistic. Earlier Tuesday, he told “Fox & Friends First” co-host Todd Piro that the hostage issue is “very close” to Trump’s heart.

“He feels for the hostages, and I don’t think he wants this conflict on his plate on January 20th, and he wants to finish the war,” he said…


Trump puts world on notice with America First message

The ‘Outnumbered’ panel discusses how President-elect Donald Trump has taken a firm stance on America-first positioning on global trade and foreign policy in the Middle East.


Manhunt underway after murder convict escaped custody in California

The manhunt for an escaped convict continues for a second day in southern California.

Authorities launched a search for Cesar M. Hernandez Monday morning after the murder convict escaped from a prison van. Hernandez was being transported to a court appearance and upon arrival, he evaded staff custody, jumped out of the van and is at large, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation stated on Monday.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation described 34-year-old Hernandez as 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighing about 161 pounds. He has brown eyes, black hair and was last seen wearing an orange top and pants.

Hernandez was received by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from Los Angeles County on June 27, 2019. He was sentenced to 25 years to life with the possibility of parole for first-degree murder, a second strike offense, per the department’s statement.

Anyone who sees Hernandez or knows about his whereabouts should immediately call 911 or Incident Commander Lt. Anthony Sotello at 661-721-6300 extension 5506.


Israeli Strike Kills Hezbollah Liaison With Syrian Army

PHOTO: X

Syria’s state news agency had reported the strike on the airport road but did not offer details on casualties.

The Israeli military confirmed in a later statement taking out Jumaa in what it called an intelligence-based strike in Damascus, saying his killing “degrades both Hezbollah’s presence in Syria and Hezbollah’s ongoing force-building efforts.”

Israel rarely acknowledges its strikes in Syria, where it has carried out a years-long air campaign against Iranian military assets and those of its allies, including Hezbollah.

In a rare announcement last month, it said it struck Hezbollah intelligence assets near Damascus.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that he was “playing with fire” by allowing Iran to transfer weapons to its allies via Syria.


U.S. provides more security assistance to Ukraine

An M142 HIMARS launches a rocket in the Bakhmut direction in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on May 18, 2023. The U.S. has announced a fresh aid package for Ukraine worth $725 million as President Joe Biden rushes to funnel resources to Kyiv in the final weeks of his administration.Serhii Mykhalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images

The Biden administration is sending an additional $725 million in U.S. taxpayer money to Ukraine for security as its war with Russia continues.

The estimated $725 million is meant to be used on air defense, munitions for rocket systems and artillery, and anti-tank weapons. The announcement aligns with Biden’s previous statement as part of the surge in security assistance to put Ukraine in the “strongest possible position.”

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement, “In response to the entry of North Korean soldiers into this war, the President has decided to adjust permissions on Ukraine’s use of U.S.-provided long-range missiles. And to disrupt Russia’s war machine, the United States has implemented major sanctions against Russia’s financial sector, with more sanctions to follow.”

This is the Biden Administration’s 71st tranche of equipment provided by the Department of Defense inventories directed to Ukraine since August 2021, according to the DOD.

The DOD stated that the U.S. would continue to collaborate with some 50 Allies and partners through the Ukraine Defense Contact Group and its associated Capability Coalitions to “meet Ukraine’s urgently needed battlefield requirements and defend against Russian aggression.”

The additional aid includes:…