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I'm Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley with Georgia How. It's Thursday, February first, and this is your Morning Wire Afternoon Update.

Us military forces carried out a self-defense strike against Houthi unmanned aerial vehicles and a ground control station early this morning. Daily Wire Senior Editor, Khabit Phillips, has more.

According to Sentcom, the military determined that a recently discovered UAV ground control station, as well as a number of UAVs in the Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, presented an immediate threat to ships passing through the Bob Elmandeb Strait. As a result, Sentcom says the station was hit, along with 10 one-way UAVs. Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken announced earlier this month that the US would reclassify the Houthi militants of Yemen a terrorist organization, a designation which will enable the US to more effectively restrict the group's access to financial support. Iran-backed proxy groups such as the Houthis have launched over 150 rocket and drone attacks on US basis in Iraq and Syria since the beginning of the Israel Hamas war.

Members of the Democratic Squad, Representatives Cori Bush and Rachida Taleb voted against a house bill barring Hamas terrorists from entering the United States. The bill, HR 6679, 422 to 2, making Bush and Taleb the only members of the chamber to oppose it.

The No Immigration Benefits for Hamas Terrorists Act expanded a US ban on Palestine Liberation Organization officers to include all PLO members, Hamas members, and any others who participated in the October seventh attack on Israel.

President Biden issued an executive order today that targets Israeli settlers in the West Bank who he says are perpetrating violence and intimidation toward Palestinians in the area. The President is imposing financial sanctions and visa bans in an initial round against four specific individuals. This follows the death of an American teen who was shot in the West Bank.

A former Senate staffer accused of filming himself, engaging in sexually explicit activity in a Senate hearing room, will not face criminal charges. The US Capitol Police announced today that they were closing the investigation roughly six weeks after the pornographic video surfaced due to a lack of evidence showing a crime had been committed. Capitol Police said the two people of interest were not cooperative, and the now former Congressional Staffer exercised his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and refused to talk to us.

The agency said it would consider any new evidence should it come to light. The staffer who since resigned worked for Democratic Senator Ben Cardin. Here's the Senator reacting to the incident last month.

I was angry, disappointed.

It's a breach of trust.

The mother of the Oxford high school shooter who gunned down four classmates and wounded six others took the stand in her manslaughter case today to counter claims that she was a negligent mother. She told the court that she and her school shooter son were close despite evidence of negligence. The son reportedly developed 13 cavities due to poor dental hygiene and spent most of his time in his unkept bedroom. The testimony comes in the same week that her affair with a fire captain was brought to light. Prosecutors argued that she was focused more on her affair than her disturbed son. Here's a bit from the testimony today.

My son, he had one bedroom, and it got out of control. Every time I go to clean it, I just shut the door. I just didn't want to deal with it. Then I told him he could just use the guest bedroom until I could get his room to be cleaned. But yeah, he was in a second bedroom because I just didn't want to clean his room anymore. It was just enough.

She's facing up to 60 years in prison in the first case of a parent being charged over a student school shooting.

The Oregon Supreme Court ruled today that 10 Republican lawmakers who staged a six-week long walkout last year to stall bills on abortion and transgender health care cannot run for re-election.

The ruling upholds a decision made by the Oregon Secretary of State to disqualify the senators for violating a voter-approved law aimed at stopping such boycott. Measure 113 amended the state Constitution to bar lawmakers from re-election if they have more than 10 unexcused absences.

The Christian veteran charged with a hate crime for beheading a Satanic statue in the Iowa State Capitol, has now raised more than $100,000 for his defense fund. Michael Cassidy, the 35-year-old Mississippi resident and Navy Reservist, was arrested and charged with criminal mischief. The Satanic temple of Iowa was given permission to set up the display near a nativity scene. Cassidy explained his actions to Fox News.

Nobody was there, and it offended me. It touched a nerve. It was righteous indignation. I'd call it Christian civil disobed, pulled it apart, put it in a garbage bag. Then I went down to security and told them what I did. I wasn't running away or anything like that. I told them what I did. They were very professional. Then they gave me the citation and sent me on my way.

And a federal judge has dismissed Disney's lawsuit against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Disney alleged that the governor had retaliated against the entertainment giant after they criticized the state's limits on classroom discussion of sexuality. Disney and other opponents criticized it by calling it the Don't Say Gay law, but the judge said Disney lacked standing and jurisdiction in their lawsuit.

Those are your drive home updates this afternoon. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire. Com. For more in-depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, listen to the latest full episode of MorningWire every morning.