Monday morning news: December 9, 2024

Syria » Thousands of Syrians celebrating the ouster of the Assad regime. Celebratory gunfire echoing through the streets after a stifling, nearly 14-year civil war.

In Washington Republican Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina says the world is now a better place with Bashar al Assad chased out of Syria.

WILSON:  This is so good. This is so significant. The fall of the Assad dictatorship, the ripple effect of this is just going to be remarkable. It, it's truly, I believe, equivalent to the Berlin Wall, which led to a ripple effect of dozens of countries becoming free after 50 years of occupation and totalitarian control.

Officials say Assad’s outers means Russia is losing access to a warm water port, and Iran is losing supply lines to the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon.

Assad is taking refuge in Russia, which granted his family asylum. Moscow’s forces helped to prop up the Assad regime for years.

President Biden said Sunday:

BIDEN: At long last, the Assad regime has fallen. This regime brutalized and tortured and killed literally hundreds of thousands of innocent Syrians.

Syria: What’s next » But plenty of questions remain.

The rebels who defeated Assad's forces are made up of a coalition of groups banded together to overthrow the regime. The strongest group in the coalition is HTS, which the U.S. has designated as a terror group.

Biden said the United States will do what it can to achieve stability in Syria.

BIDEN:  Looking ahead. The United States will do the following. First of support Syria’s neighbors, including Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Israel, should any threat arise from Syria during this period of transition. I'll speak with leaders of the region in the coming days.

The rebels face the daunting task of healing bitter divisions in a country still split among armed factions. One rebel commander said “we will not deal with people the way the Assad family did."

President-elect Donald Trump says the United States should have no involvement in Syria, saying “This is not our fight.”

Trump interview » Trump is also calling for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine.

TRUMP: Hundreds of thousands of bodies laying all over fields. It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen, and it never should have been allowed to happen.

While he doesn’t take office until next month, Trump says he is actively working to bring an end to the war. He met over the weekend with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zeleskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Zelenskyy posted on social media that the trio discussed reaching "a just peace.”

Zelenskyy says any deal would have to pave the way to a lasting peace. The Kremlin's spokesman says Moscow is open to talks with Ukraine.

Notre Dame » Trump’s meeting in Paris happened on the sidelines of a ceremony celebrating the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral …

… which just hosted its first Mass since a catastrophic fire in 2019. Archbishop Laurent Ulrich presided over the Mass …

ULRICH: [SPEAKING FRENCH]

Notre Dame’s journey from ruin to reopening was a painstaking process. More than a billion dollars in donations poured in from around the world to restore the historic cathedral.

Secret Service » The Secret Service has kept too many secrets from Congress. That according to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who served on a House task force investigating the agency’s failures, which almost led to the assassination of Donald Trump.

Democratic Congressman Jason Crow:

CROW:  Their response is, this is an ongoing criminal investigation and we can't give that information to Congress. That, in my view, is an unacceptable position.

That task force held its final meeting last week. And Republican Congressman Mike Kelly told CBS’ Face the Nation:

KELLY:  The whole goal from day one is to restore the faith and trust and confidence that the American people must have in this agency. At this point, it's probably at the lowest ebb it's ever been.

In testimony last week, Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe conceded that the agency failed its mission, and said those responsible for those failures are being held accountable but he did not expound on what that meant.

TikTok » The popular social media app TikTok could be heading closer to an all-out ban in the United States over security and privacy concerns. But some lawmakers say they’re skeptical that it will actually happen.

A federal court last week rejected TikTok's appeal to overturn a law that would force the company's Chinese owner to sell the platform or face an all-out ban.

Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna voted against that legislation and says he believes the mood has shifted Washington on the issue.

KHANNA:  I had a minority position. Now every politician is, uh, celebrating their TikTok following. Uh, but let's see. Look, let's see where it goes with the Supreme Court.

But it may be the Supreme Court that decides the matter, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is asking the high court to review the appeals court ruling. In that decision, the court ruled that the law did not violate the First Amendment and that the law was justified in protecting the U.S. from foreign nations.

US intelligence agencies have warned that the Chinese communist government could gain access to American user data or launch an influence campaign.

Gas prices » Gas prices dipped after the Thanksgiving weekend to a three-year low. The national average for a gallon of regular unleaded is now $3.02. That’s down 3 cents from a week earlier and down almost a nickel per gallon from this time last month.

And industry analyst Trilby Lundberg says prices could drop further as gas stations just got a price cut from wholesalers.

LUNDBERG:  It was so recent that retailers getting that price cut at wholesale have not yet had time to pass through. I think that they can pass through a few more pennies sometime in the next few days, so we'll probably see a little more price cut on the way.

Oklahoma has the cheapest gas in the nation right now, with a per-gallon average of $2.52.

Hawaii edges out California for the most expensive gas at $4.56 per gallon.

I’m Kent Covington and still ahead, a state court tackles concerns surrounding prescribing puberty blockers and surgery for gender dysphoria.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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