Today’s edition of quick hits.
* In Yemen: “The United States and Britain launched military strikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen on Thursday, after weeks of mounting attacks by the Iran-backed militant group in the Red Sea. The strikes, carried out from land and sea, threatened an expansion of the conflict in the Middle East beyond Israel’s war in Gaza — an escalation the Biden administration and its allies have been working to avoid.”
* On a related note: “The Houthis, who say their actions are aimed at supporting Hamas, vowed retaliation for attacks they said had killed at least 5 fighters at multiple sites held by the rebels.”
* The latest bit of good news on inflation: “Wholesale prices unexpectedly declined in December, providing a positive signal for inflation, the Labor Department reported Friday.”
* This should probably be a bigger story: “President Joe Biden announced Friday that federal student debt will be wiped out for certain borrowers who took out relatively small loans and have been in repayment for the past decade. Borrowers who received less than $12,000 in federal loans and have been paying off their balances for at least 10 years ‘will get their remaining student debt cancelled immediately’ in February, Biden said in a statement.”
* Jan. 6 sentence: “A jailed member of the Proud Boys extremist group was sentenced on Friday to more than four years in prison for his role in a mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol three years ago, court records show. William Chrestman, a U.S. Army veteran from Olathe, Kansas, brandished an axe handle and threated police with violence after leading other Proud Boys members to the perimeter of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.”
* On Capitol Hill: “House Speaker Mike Johnson insisted Friday he is sticking with the bipartisan spending deal he struck with the other congressional leaders, but offered no clear path for overcoming hard-right opposition within his own party to prevent a partial government shutdown next week.”
* Austin’s future: “President Joe Biden said Friday that it was a lapse in judgment for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin not to tell him about his hospitalization last week, but he still has confidence in his Pentagon chief.” * Speaking of the Pentagon, the Defense Department felt the need to officially deny the latest bonkers theory floated on Fox News: “A bizarre conspiracy theory about Taylor Swift aired on Fox News’ ‘Jesse Watters Primetime’ on Tuesday, with host Watters suggesting that Swift is a Pentagon psy-op asset who is using her fan base to drum up support for President Joe Biden.” * Noted without comment: “MyPillow, the bedding company founded by conservative activist Mike Lindell, has long been a prominent sponsor for Fox News, its commercials comfortably woven into the fabric of the network’s programming over the past decade. But the partnership appears to have hit a wall. On Friday, Lindell announced on Stephen K. Bannon’s podcast that his company’s media-buying agency was told this week that the network would no longer accept MyPillow advertisements.” Have a safe weekend.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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