Monday morning news: January 15, 2024

Iowa caucuses setup » The 2024 presidential election officially begins today as Iowa Republicans hold the first-in-the-nation caucuses.

Donald Trump is up big in a recent average of Iowa polls. But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says poll numbers don’t tell the whole story.

DESANTIS: There’s not been a candidate that’s worked harder. And I think particularly here in Iowa, Iowans notice that. Iowans care about it. You’re not entitled to be nominated. You don’t just swoop in and get coronated. You’ve got to earn it. And we’ve earned it.

And former ambassador Nikki Haley said momentum is on her side, and she’s playing the long game.

HALEY: What we’ve said is that we just want to come out of Iowa looking strong. We want to come out of New Hampshire strong. We want to come out of South Carolina strong. You know, continuing state by state.

For his part, former President Trump said he’s confident as he made one final pitch to Iowans over the weekend.

TRUMP: And with your vote, we’re going to defeat crooked Joe Biden. We’re going to take back our country. We’re going to make America great again.

Iowa caucuses preview » And Iowans heading out to caucus today will be brave souls indeed, as they’ll be fighting sub-zero arctic temperatures. WORLD’s Carolina Lumetta reports from Sioux Center, Iowa:

CAROLINA LUMETTA: Snowplows are out in force across Iowa today to make sure voters can get to their precincts for the caucuses.

Monday’s weather forecast puts windchills as low as minus 50 degrees.

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy promises to deliver a “shock to the system” that the polls haven’t captured.

Former President Donald Trump earned endorsements yesterday from two former candidates for president: North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Voting starts tonight at 7 across the state’s over sixteen-hundred precincts.

For WORLD, I’m Carolina Lumetta.

Weather » But Iowans aren’t the only ones feeling the freeze.

Arctic weather has sent temperatures plunging across much of the country.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul warned residents Sunday of life-threatening weather.

HOCHUL: Wind gusts were predicted to be 35 to 40 miles an hour. They are now gusting up to 50 miles per hour. What that means; whiteout conditions, limited or no visibility, and again, very, very dangerous on our roads.

Freezing temperatures are also slamming much of the south.

Lloyd Austin update » The Pentagon says Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin remains hospitalized at Walter Reed National military hospital, but is in good condition and is working from a private room.

A group of House Republicans has penned a letter directly to Austin demanding more information on why he kept the White House in the dark about his hospitalization for several days.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CBS’ Face the Nation…

KIRBY: That is not the way it’s supposed to be. That is certainly something we need to get more answers to. The Pentagon is investigating this, and we’ll see what comes out of that. But that is not the way the process is supposed to work.

The secretary reportedly suffered complications from a surgery for prostate cancer.

He had also kept the White House in the dark about his cancer diagnosis.

Houthi capabilities intact » Houthi rebels in Yemen still have between 70 and 80 percent of their missile and drone arsenal intact after U.S. and British airstrikes last week, according to a New York Times report.

But a U.S. Army spokesman said Friday that the strikes achieved their goal.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield addressing the U.N. Security Council after the operation:

THOMAS-GREENFIELD: The aim of these strikes was to disrupt and degrade the Houthis’ ability to continue their reckless attacks against vessels and commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The Iran-backed rebel group has repeatedly attacked commercial ships in protest of Israel’s war on Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

SOUND: [CHEERING]

Taiwan election » In Taiwan, voters picked a pro-democracy president in weekend elections.

Supporters of Lai Ching-te say his victory is a win for freedom.

TAIWAN: We choose our own president in Taiwan. We are a country. We are a country. We are a light of the world. We love freedom.

Lai is the current vice president and rejects China’s claim of sovereignty over the island of Taiwan.

U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken congratulated Lai sparking a rebuke from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Disney controversy » Disney finds itself at the center of another controversy …over a disturbing deleted scene from The Marvels that has gone viral for all the wrong reasons.

In the scene, the 16-year-old character Kamala Khan, also known as Ms. Marvel is aboard the empty spaceship of another female character, Captain Marvel.

AUDIO: Incoming call from New Asgard. Hello? Oh captain my captain! Oh, you’re not my captain.

She receives a video call from the lesbian Marvel character Valkyrie, who mistakenly think’s Ms. Marvel is married to Captain Marvel.

AUDIO: No! I’m Miss Marvel, Miss — that’s, we're not married. That would be I’m single.

Valkyrie then makes a sexually charged joke to the 16-year-old character that we cannot air or repeat.

The Marvels turned out to be one of the biggest box office bombs in the company’s history along with the ill-fated 2022 animated Disney movie Strange Worlds, which featured a gay teen romance.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: news from the Supreme Court on Legal Docket. Plus, the Monday Moneybeat.

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