THE WAR ROOM: The government of Yemen has declared war against Houthi rebels as the Houthis continue to take strategic territory and also carried out successful drone and ballistic missile strikes two Saudi Aramco oil facilities, leaving them in flames. 

  The Houthis, backed by Iran, have opened what amounts to a second front in the regional war at the seagoing chokepoints of oil transportation out of the Middle.

  In a televised speech, Rashad al-Alimi, the leader of the Yemeni said that his armed forces will seek to reclaim the territory lost to the Houthis over the past 12 years.  Saudi Arabia then pledged “full operational support” to the Yemeni military to fight the Houthis until they are “eliminated.”

  The NY Times reports that the US is providing intelligence, planning, and targeting assistance to Saudi Arabia to help its Yemeni allies. 

ANIMAL HOUSE: The NY Times learned the punishments for seven Cornell University frat house boys after they were named in a complaint about gang rape in 2024.

  Two of the students were expelled and a third, who already graduated, was barred from campus. One of those expelled was the kid who sent a message to the rest of the house that there was free sex available upstairs.

  One of those suspended was kicked out for two years, the other, three semesters.

  The remaining two were ordered to study sexual harassment, social media use, and bystander intervention. They also had to  write “reflection papers,” essays of contrition.

LEGAL ENVIRONMENT: The Supreme Court begins its term hearing a case that would decide whether local governments can sue oil companies to recover damages brought on by climate change,billions of dollars in costs for floods, droughts, wildfires, and other climate-related disasters.

  The lawsuit was brought by the city of Boulder, Colorado against the oil companies Suncor Energy and Exxon Mobil. The city argues that the companies “knowingly and substantially” fueled the climate crisis by “producing, promoting and selling a substantial portion of the fossil fuels that are causing and exacerbating climate change.” 

  The Trump administration has joined in defending the oil giants and, interestingly, Justice Samuel Alito has recused himself from the case without explanation.

DESPERATION: President Trump is out there stumping for Republican candidates as the polls show an increasing likelihood that his party could lose control of both the House and Senate. Trump has said, “They don’t account for the fact that Trump is out campaigning,” referring to himself in his habitual third person.

  He is encouraging people to vote by mail even though he has claimed that mail balloting is rife with fraud.

  Trump attacked Fox News for not giving full coverage to his rallies, posting that, “Sad to see that Fox & Friends (Sunday) is not covering our packed house and incredibly enthusiastic (beyond!) Rally that took place in Ohio last night, or the ones in Alabama, Texas, or Oklahoma over the past two days.”

  That could be because Fox does not want to show the empty seats. Katie Rogers reports for The NY Times that while Trump supporters are still enthusiastic, in Alabama; “There were swaths of empty seats at the 10,000-capacity athletic center where Mr. Trump spoke on Friday. In Ohio a day later, several areas of an upper deck were empty by the time Mr. Trump finished speaking at a 4,500-capacity high school student activity center.”

  Part of Trump’s  campaign is a series of television ads paid for by the federal government that Trump claims are merely to “promote” the country. Some samples: 

  Ad One, (“Love Me” / Communism Warning): “Together, we will defeat communism, socialism and Marxism in America. America will never be a communist country.”

  Ad Two, (Cast Out the Marxists): “We will cast out the communists, Marxists and fascists. We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country.”

  Another ad titled “God Made Trump” was shown at the mid-term Republican convention. It says, “I need somebody with arms strong enough to rustle the deep state. So God made Trump.”

INFINITE SCROLL:

— President Trump announced that he will name four top administration officials to a “Super Intelligence Force” to coordinate the federal government’s response to artificial intelligence.

— Trump posted today that, “125 Million People voted today in the first round of India’s Presidential Election.” Actually, it was Brazil that voted, not India.

— The President posted a series of pictures that he says show what terrible shape the Kennedy Center is in. His fight to renovate or demolish the cultural center is not over.

 THE SPIN RACK: A Russian drone yesterday struck at one end of a key bridge in the Ukraine capital of Kiev as cars could be seen crossing.  Two people were injured and when the smoke had cleared the bridge was still passable. The airstrike came during a visit from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. — The US has removed all of its B-1 long-range bombers from a base in England that the Brits say had been the target of a possible terrorist plot. The bombers had been used in strikes against Iran. — — Dozens of people are reported to be in isolation after a 28-year-old Russian female laboratory technician at an institute dedicated to studying the plague and other infectious diseases died of an undisclosed illness. “No micro-organisms associated with the employee’s professional duties were detected in samples taken from the patient,” the institute announced, adding that the “epidemiological situation” in the region was stable.

BELOW THE FOLD: Michael Goessling, a 59-year-old executive at a St. Louis distribution company who was adopted at birth has learned that his  biological father is Michael McDonald, the singer-songwriter from the Doobie Brothers.  “I was very prepared for Mike, the retired plumber, or Mike, retired accountant,” Goessling told The Washington Post. “I was not prepared for Mike, five-time Grammy-award-winning Rock and Roll Hall of Famer.”

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