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The post Man killed in Russian shelling of Kharkiv region appeared first on Ukraine Intelligence.

Russia’s overnight bombing of regions in eastern Ukraine killed at least one, officials said on Sunday after Moscow ended a self-declared Christmas ceasefire and vowed to fight on until it defeats its neighbour.

* Shellfire echoed on Saturday around the near-deserted streets of the Ukrainian town of Bakhmut, focus of the most intense fighting in Russia’s invasion. Reuters could not ascertain the origin of the shells heard in Bakhmut.

* The Russian-installed governor of the Crimean city of Sevastopol said air defences had shot down a drone in what he suggested was the latest attempted Ukrainian attack on a port where Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is based.

* The founder of Russia’s highest-profile mercenary organisation, the Wagner group, said he wanted his forces and the regular Russian army to capture Bakhmut because it possessed “underground cities” that can hold troops and tanks.

* Justice ministers from around the world will gather in London in March to boost international support for the International Criminal Court in its investigations of alleged war crimes in Ukraine, the British government said.

* Tears of joy streamed down worshippers’ faces as Ukraine’s main church celebrated a “return” to Kyiv’s Cathedral of the Assumption on Orthodox Christmas day, shortly after taking control of it from a rival church with alleged ties to Russia.

* President Vladimir Putin praised the Russian Orthodox Church for supporting Moscow’s forces fighting in Ukraine in an Orthodox Christmas message designed to rally people behind his vision of modern Russia.

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Travellers began streaming across land and sea crossings from Hong Kong to mainland China on Sunday, many eager for long-awaited reunions, as Beijing opened borders that have been all but shut since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

After three years, the mainland is opening its border with Hong Kong and ending a requirement for incoming travellers to quarantine, dismantling a final pillar of a zero-COVID policy that had shielded China’s people from the virus but also cut them off from the rest of the world.

China’s easing over the past month of one of the world’s tightest COVID regimes followed historic protests against a policy that included frequent testing, curbs on movement and mass lockdowns that heavily damaged the second-biggest economy.

“I’m so happy, so happy, so excited. I haven’t seen my parents for many years,” said Hong Kong resident Teresa Chow as she and dozens of other travellers prepared to cross into mainland China from Hong Kong’s Lok Ma Chau checkpoint early on Sunday.

“My parents are not in good health, and I couldn’t go back to see them even when they had colon cancer, so I’m really happy to go back and see them now,” she said, adding that she plans to head to her hometown in eastern China’s Ningbo city.

Investors hope the reopening will eventually reinvigorate a $17-trillion economy suffering its lowest growth in nearly half a century. But the abrupt policy reversal has triggered a massive wave of infections that is overwhelming some hospitals and causing business disruptions.

The border opening follows Saturday’s start of “chun yun”, the first 40-day period of Lunar New Year travel, which before the pandemic was the world’s largest annual migration of people returning to their hometowns of taking holidays with family. Some 2 billion people are expected to travel this season, nearly double last year’s movement and recovering to 70% of 2019 levels, the government says.

Many Chinese are also expected to start travelling abroad, a long-awaited shift for tourist spots in countries such as Thailand and Indonesia, though several governments – worried about China’s COVID spike – are imposing curbs on travellers from the country.

Travel will not quickly return to pre-pandemic levels due to such factors as a dearth of international flights, analysts say.

China on Sunday also resumed issuing passports and travel visas for mainland residents, and ordinary visas and residence permits for foreigners. Beijing has quotas on the number of people who can travel between Hong Kong and China each day.

Videos posted on Chinese social media showed workers at Shanghai’s Pudong airport overnight taking down bright blue boards marking routes through its international terminal to enforce a regime that required travellers from abroad to quarantine for up to eight days upon arrival.

Other videos showed people hugging emotionally upon reuniting at the airport gate.

At Hong Kong’s Lok Ma Chau checkpoint, a driver who only gave his surname Yip, said he was among those who could not wait to travel to the mainland.

“It’s been three years, we have no time to delay,” he said.

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There has rightly been a lot of focus this month on incoming House Republican George Santos and his numerous disqualifying scandals. But while Santos is a disaster, he’s far from the only incoming House Republican who shouldn’t even be allowed in the Capitol on a visitor pass.

Take, for instance, newly elected House Republican Cory Mills of Florida, who just took office last night. He’s already tweeting this kind of evil garbage, for which House Democrat Eric Swalwell correctly called him out:

Part of the problem is that because Donald Trump was a lifelong con artist and consistently behaved like an infantile jerk while he was in office, plenty of other lifelong con artists and infantile jerks are now running for office as Republicans as well.

What they don’t get is that Trump’s win in 2016 had nothing to do with anything Trump said or did, and Trump’s seven million vote loss in 2020 was more indicative of what Americans thought of him. This kind of con artistry and clownery will continue to play very poorly for the Republican Party, and will only end up costing them in 2024.

The post Newly elected House Republican steps in it appeared first on Palmer Report.

The incident occurred on a November 26 Air India flight from New York to to New Delhi.

Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images

• Shankar Mishra, a former Wells Fargo VP, was arrested in India on Saturday, local outlets reported.
• Officials accused Mishra of drunkenly urinating on a 72-year-old woman on an Air India flight in November.
• After a search to locate him, Mishra now faces charges including sexual harassment for the incident.

Shankar Mishra, a former vice president for the Indian subsidiary of Wells Fargo, was arrested on Saturday after a search by police and was charged with sexual harassment, obscenity, and “insulting the modesty of a woman.”

The charges are related to a November 26 incident in which Mishra drunkenly urinated on a fellow passenger, a 72-year-old woman, during an Air India flight from New York to New Delhi, police said. On Friday, Mishra was described by a senior police official as “missing,” with law enforcement searching for him in the state of Karnataka, India. Local news outlet Mirror Now reported on Saturday he had been taken into judicial custody and was expected to remain there for 14 days, though he had filed a petition for bail.

In response to the incident, Air India is reconsidering its policy of serving alcoholic beverages, Mirror Now reported. Representatives for the airline did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. 

Wells Fargo confirmed on Friday that Mishra had been fired. A statement released by the international banking giant described the incident as “deeply disturbing.”

Representatives for Wells Fargo did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment.

Senate Bill 129 is legislation that has been proposed in the state of Oklahoma. This legislation has been created by the Oklahoma state senate and would have some serious implications on the lives of many should it be voted into law.

Isn’t that just dandy? What is in this bill? Perhaps the bill contains things that would improve Oklahomans’ lives, like raising the minimum wage or positive changes to health care. Well — not quite. You see, this legislation does not address anything to HELP the American people.

In fact, this innocent-sounding bill that Oklahoma Republicans want to become law aims at criminalizing doctors. Doctors who provide care to the transgender community. Under the age of 26. I repeat — doctors who provide care to transgender people under the age of 26 would be branded criminals. No care for transgender people, and if any doctor DARES to provide said care, they would be committing a felony. Positively draconian.

“Prosecution for a criminal violation of this subsection must be commenced within forty (40) years after the commission of the such offense.” SB 129 is evil. It isn’t just dangerous — it is madness. And it must be stopped. So activists worldwide let people know about this. Look it up, do your research and make it front-page news. You’ll be helping to save lives if you do so.

The post This is disturbing beyond words appeared first on Palmer Report.

From left, Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., attend the House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing of the United States Department of Justice with testimony from Attorney General Merrick Garland, Oct. 21, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Michaels Reynolds/Pool via Associated Press, File

• Kevin McCarthy was elected speaker on Friday night after a week of disarray and 15 rounds of voting.
• The battle for speaker revealed new divisions among the hard-right wing of the party.
• Thanks to the events of the past week, McCarthy may struggle to manage the slim GOP majority.

What would’ve been the House GOP’s first week back in the majority since 2018 turned into a days-long chaotic battle over who would lead the chamber in the 118th Congress.

After a wild Friday night on the House floor, Rep. Kevin McCarthy ultimately won the speakership after 15 rounds of voting during which a hardline faction of 20 Republicans refused to vote for him until he made a number of concessions. The extent of those concessions was not entirely clear, but the ordeal revealed a GOP with newly complex divisions.

“It’s a schism within a schism,” Kevin Kosar, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who studies Congress and US politics, told Insider.

The GOP for years has increasingly been divided into MAGA-type lawmakers — essentially devoted supporters of former President Donald Trump — and those more willing to go against or distance themselves from the former president.

But the speaker battle showed those MAGA lawmakers are divided amongst themselves more than ever before, suggesting the bloc may be more unpredictable in the new Congress than it previously seemed — which could make McCarthy’s job of navigating a slim majority much more difficult.

The ‘Trumpy tribe’ divided

“Factions within parties are normal,” Kosar said. “If we didn’t have factions within parties, it would be kind of creepy.”

He pointed to the MAGA lawmakers who often buck the Republican establishment, but also to the progressive Democrats, like Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Pramila Jayapal, who have sparred with and made demands of their leadership as well.

However, the MAGA representatives, many of which are members of the House Freedom Caucus, have almost without exception united around similar causes, typically taking the stance of Trump himself. Those lawmakers include Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Jim Jordan of Ohio, and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, among others.

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., left, talks with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., during the eleventh vote in the House chamber as the House meets for the third day to elect a speaker and convene the 118th Congress in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023.

Alex Brandon/Associated Press

They were among the Republicans to embrace some of Trump’s most extreme views, including the false claims of widespread fraud about the 2020 presidential election, and all voted to overturn the election results on January 6, 2021.

But during the House speaker battle this week, some of them found themselves on opposites sides, even after their would-be leader, Trump, took a stance.

“Trump himself is yelling that people should get behind McCarthy and guess what, you’ve got 20 people just ignoring him,” Kosar said, adding one can argue the “Trumpy tribe” of people in the House have actually diminished “because they have split amongst themselves.”

Longtime allies Greene and Gaetz were in direct opposition, with her standing behind McCarthy and Gaetz leading the charge against him. Greene even complained that Gaetz and other members of the Freedom Caucus, including Boebert and Perry, shut her out of negotiations with McCarthy.

“Do you know why I’m upset? Because Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, and Scott Perry, the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, walked into Kevin McCarthy’s office last night and made their own personal demands about what subcommittee chairmanships they want to have, and who they want on committees, and who they want taken off committees,” she said on Tuesday. “And guess what? The chairman of the Freedom Caucus negotiated nothing for me.”

Jordan was also standing behind McCarthy, pitting him against Perry, his close ally. “These guys used to be brothers in arms. Not anymore. Not on this topic,” Kosar said.

Many were watching to see if Trump chiming in would sway the votes, but when he endorsed McCarthy on Wednesday and urged lawmakers to get behind the Californian, the 20 holdouts didn’t budge, indicating Trump’s own influence is diminishing in the MAGA wing of the party.

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., talks to Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., after Gaetz voted “present” in the House chamber as the House meets for the fourth day to elect a speaker and convene the 118th Congress in Washington, Friday, Jan. 6, 2023.

Alex Brandon/Associated Press

Navigating the divisions with a slim majority 

McCarthy won the speakership by making concessions to the hardline Republicans opposing him. Reports, including from Bloomberg and Politico, have said those concessions may include a government spending cap and a House rules framework that would diminish the speaker’s power and give more power to individual members. 

For instance, McCarthy was said to have agreed to a rule change to expand the rights of members to “motion to vacate the chair,” which would essentially allow a single lawmaker to force a chamber-wide “no confidence” vote for the speaker.

With such a slim majority over the Democrats — 222-213 — McCarthy will need the support of almost every member of his party to pass legislation. Meaning although MAGA lawmakers make up a relatively small percentage of the Republican conference, McCarthy will need at least some of their support.

With new divisions and animosities on display after the House speaker battle, it’s unclear how effectively McCarthy will be able to do just that.

“How many sore heads are there going to be after this is settled? How many rubbed wrong feelings from those who went to the mat on each side of this?” Kosar told Insider this week before the final vote on Friday.

“And how is that going to play out for the ability of the GOP to build majorities and cooperate, and pull the team together and let bygones be bygones? That’s an open question.”

While the House Republicans were busy embarrassing themselves with a fifteenth round of voting, President Biden is making good on all of their promises to fix the economy. The new jobs report came out Friday with a trifecta of good news for Democrats on the economy. Not only have unemployment levels hit their lowest level in 50 years at 3.46% but wages have grown by 0.27% with over 717,000 new jobs created this month alone.

These numbers are more than just good, drawing from a pattern we’ve seen of consistently good. This pattern is enough to get us out of inflation by the end of the year – a problem that Republicans desperately tried to run on despite having no realistic solutions in mind on how to fix it.

There’s also a strong likelihood that the growth will continue as manufacturing plants continue to open. For manufacturing jobs alone, we’re seeing some incredible strength – with over 750,000 jobs being created in that sector since President Biden took office. Despite Republican promises on an economy that works for everyone, there’s not a single statistic to demonstrate this is true – and in fact, a great deal to indicate the opposite.

The post Trifecta of good news for Biden and the Democrats appeared first on Palmer Report.