Trump Approves Puerto Rico Earthquake Emergency Declaration

Pompeo Rejects ‘Propaganda’ Claim Soleimani Was on Diplomatic Mission in Iraq

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dismissed a suggestion that Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani was on a diplomatic mission in Iraq when he was killed by an American drone strike last week. The claim, he said, is “fundamentally false” and a piece of “Iranian propaganda.” Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, claimed that Soleimani, who was in charge of the shadowy Quds Force, was in Baghdad on a diplomatic visit. “Does anybody in here believe that?” Pompeo sarcastically told reporters. “Is there any history that would indicate that it was remotely possible that this kind gentleman, this diplomat of great order, Qassem Soleimani, had traveled to Baghdad for the idea of conducting a peace mission? We know that wasn’t true. We not only know the history, we know in that moment that was…

Following a series of earthquakes that hit Puerto Rico over the past several days, President Donald Trump signed an emergency declaration to coordinate relief efforts.

Trump “ordered federal assistance to supplement Commonwealth and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from earthquakes beginning” on Dec. 28, the White House said in a statement on Wednesday. A powerful earthquake on Tuesday caused damage across the island and killed at least one person.

Reports said the 6.4 magnitude tremor knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of customers across Puerto Rico.

The new declaration from Trump “authorizes the Department of Homeland Security [and the] Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures,” the White House said.

A collapsed building with a car crushed underneath, following an earthquake in Yauco, Puerto Rico on Jan. 7, 2020. All the occupants of the home are reported to be uninjured. A 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck Puerto Rico, the largest in a series of quakes in recent days, and caused heavy damage in some areas. (J. Miguel Santiago Twitter via AP)

A map showing the location of the earthquake just off the coast of Puerto Rico on Jan. 7, 2020. (USGS)

Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) called on Trump to approve the commonwealth’s request for aid.

“Now the island can fully begin its recovery process. I will continue to stay in contact with the leaders on the island and offer any assistance I can to help them along the way,” Scott wrote on Twitter after Trump signed the declaration.

Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vazquez signed an emergency declaration to give its government flexibility to respond quickly to the earthquake, she said on Tuesday during a press conference, according to CNN.

FEMA later confirmed it received her declaration and is “working closely with Puerto Rico Emergency Management Bureau” before two teams were deployed to the island.

A home is seen collapsed after an earthquake in Guanica, Puerto Rico on Jan. 7, 2020. (Ricardo Ortiz/Reuters)

Puerto Rico has been hard-hit by natural disasters over the past several years, including two devastating hurricanes and flooding.

But hundreds of quakes have touched the island, including 10 of at least a magnitude 4 on the Richter Scale, since Dec. 28, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its website, reported Reuters.

In 2017, the commonwealth declared itself bankrupt, making it the biggest municipal bankruptcy ever in the United States.

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‘Heckler’s Veto’: UBC Threatened With Legal Action for Cancelling Talk on Antifa

The University of British Columbia is being threatened with legal action over the cancellation of a speaking engagement featuring conservative U.S. journalist Andy Ngo discussing Antifa violence. Sponsored by the Free Speech Club, the event had been given the green light to take place on Jan. 20, but on Dec. 20 the university suddenly cancelled the talk citing safety and security concerns. The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) is calling on UBC to reinstate the event or face legal action, saying cancelling Ngo’s talk goes against the university’s principles regarding academic freedom and free speech. “The decision is unreasonable,” said JCCF staff lawyer Marty Moore in a demand letter to UBC president Santa Ono. “It is an alarming betrayal of the foundational pillar of higher education—the freedom of thought,…