About 100 US soldiers participated in "prohibited extremist activity" during the year What's the story

The Pentagon said that about 100 members of the US military have participated in "banned extremist activities" over the past year, including calls for the overthrow of the government or "domestic terrorism."

The US Department of Defense announced, during its presentation of its new directives to the military, that about 100 members of the US military have participated in "prohibited extremist activities" during the past year.

Last February, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered a review of the Pentagon's policies with regard to combating extremism in its ranks.

The announcement came after it was revealed that dozens of ex-military personnel participated in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, when thousands of Donald Trump supporters stormed the Congress headquarters to prevent US lawmakers from certifying Joe Biden's victory in the presidential election.

"The overwhelming majority of men and women in the Department of Defense serve this country with honor and integrity. They honor the oath they took in support and defense of the United States Constitution," Austin Lloyd said in a statement accompanying the Task Force Report on Countering Extremism.

"We see that a very small number of people are violating this section by engaging in extremist activities," he added.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that "about 100" members of the US military in service or reserves have had banned extremist activities over the past year.

The spokesman did not clarify the nature of these activities, but gave examples of prohibited activities, including calls for the overthrow of the government or "internal terrorism."

In its new directives, the working group did not mention specific extremist groups.

Among the task force's recommendations is greater training for the military in what constitutes prohibited extremist activity.

"This includes especially instructions on social media, what is allowed and what is not," said John Kirby.

From political paralysis to the acceleration of the Corona outbreak Biden's accumulated failures in his first year

US President Joe Biden's massive social spending project has suffered a setback after a Democratic senator refused to support the plan, while Biden faces another quandary: his inability to contain the accelerating spread of Covid-19 with the dominance of the new mutant, Omicron.

Paralyzed by his massive project of social and environmental spending that is supposed to enable the United States to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century, with a Democratic senator opposed to the plan, and his inability to contain the accelerating spread of Covid-19, the two-year presidency of Joe Biden appeared in deep trouble. .

Returning to the White House after a weekend at the family home in Delaware, the 79-year-old president, wearing a black face mask, walked straight from the presidential helicopter to the Oval Office, without making a statement and without even paying attention to the journalists huddled in the place.

On Monday, the US President's agenda did not include any public activity.

Biden did not personally respond to the setback to his megaproject by refusing, over the weekend, to support the $1.75 trillion “Build Back Better” investment plan that is supposed to enable the United States to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century on a global scale. Like climate change and Chinese competition.

The leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, sought to raise the morale of his party members, pledging to bring the bill, which is one of the pillars of the agenda of the master of the White House, to a vote in the House.

"We will vote on a revised version of the 'Build Back Better' bill passed by the House of Representatives, and we will continue to vote until something is achieved," Schumer said.

But it was not clear how the bill could be approved by the Democrats' lack of the West Virginia senator's vote in a House in which seats are divided equally between the Republican and Democratic parties.

Manchin announced Sunday in a statement to Fox News that he opposes the bill, which provides for major reforms in health care, immigration, climate and education.

Manchin reiterated Monday in an interview with West Virginia Metro News radio that he would not vote with these overly ambitious reforms.

Also, Republican senators who supported the president's infrastructure project announced that they would not support "Building Back Better", arguing that this project would push the United States toward "socialism."

While Biden opted for silence, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki issued a scathing statement criticizing Manchin and accusing him of "breaking his pledges to the president" and of "a sudden and unjustified change of heart."

With his popularity dropping to about 40 percent, Biden's political balance is at rock bottom less than a year into his presidency, and less than a year before the midterm elections in which Democrats could very well lose a majority in the House and Senate.

Biden, a former veteran senator who considers himself a master of the legislative game, made a personal effort to persuade Manchin to support his plan, angering the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.

"It's really time to let go of the extreme diligence and work for the working families in this country," Alexandrea Ocasio-Cortez, a leading left-wing lawmaker on MSNBC, told MSNBC.

Omicron

As helpless as Biden appeared in the face of a senator from a small state with a population of less than 1.7 million, he seemed helpless in the face of a new outbreak of Covid-19 in a country whose death toll from the Corona virus exceeded 800,000 people.

And on Sunday, White House health advisor Anthony Fauci warned that the coming winter will be very difficult, with the mutant Omicron causing an acceleration in the rate of infections globally.

"Omicron is going to make the coming weeks and months tough," Fauci told NBC News.

More than 70 percent of the population of the United States has received at least one dose of a vaccine, according to the American Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and according to Fauci, 50 million are still unvaccinated.

Hospital occupancy rates are recording a significant increase, while long queues are formed in front of the examination centers, while sporting and entertainment events are canceled, which exacerbates the crisis facing Biden, who was elected on the background of a pledge to defeat the virus and protect Americans after the ambiguous statements of former President Donald Trump about the pandemic.

But controlling the virus has turned out to be difficult in countries where vaccination and the placement of masks has become a source of political division, and where federal directives in many cases end in legal disputes.

Biden, who is scheduled to deliver a speech on Covid-19 on Thursday, sought to impose mandatory vaccinations on the private sector and federal employees, but in recent weeks it was satisfied with urging the population to receive the vaccine.