Biden to travel to Kansas City to tout infrastructure plan, continuing Midwest tour . . . President Biden will travel to Kansas City, Missouri to promote his signature infrastructure package, signed into law last month. Mr. Biden will head to Missouri on Wednesday to discuss how the law “delivers for the American people by rebuilding roads and bridges, upgrading public transit, replacing water infrastructure, and creating good-paying, union jobs,” according to the White House. Mr. Biden has been promoting the law in several Midwestern states, including Minnesota and Michigan. The law moved through the Senate in August and by the House in November, passing both chambers with bipartisan support. Thirteen Republicans joined Democrats in voting for the bill in the House, despite GOP leadership whipping members against it. Washington Times

 

 

 

Biden, Putin to hold video call Tuesday amid Ukraine tensions . . . President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin will speak via video call this week to discuss fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine and other topics, the White House said Saturday. The White House’s announcement of the call, which is scheduled for Tuesday, comes hours after it was made public by the Kremlin. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the two leaders will discuss a range of topics including cyber security, regional issues and strategic stability. “President Biden will underscore U.S. concerns with Russian military activities on the border with Ukraine and reaffirm the United States’ support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” Ms. Psaki said in a statement. The two leaders have held only one face-to-face talk in Geneva in June and their last known phone call was July 9. Washington Times

 

2024 Watch: Former Vice President Mike Pence’s Jan. 6 conundrum . . . Former Vice President Mike Pence says he knows he did "the right thing" on Jan. 6 in certifying the 2020 election and ignoring the requests from then-President Donald Trump to overturn the Electoral College results.
"I know in my heart of hearts that on that day, we did our duty, under the Constitution," Pence said in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network that was released a few days ago. "I don't know if President Trump and I will ever see eye to eye on that day. Or that many of our most ardent supporters will agree with my decision that day. But I know I did the right thing." Fox News

 

Chris Christie urges Republicans to move on from Trump, hints of White House run . . . Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie helped build Donald Trump up in the 2016 presidential primary and now he’s trying to tear him down before the 2024 election. He says it’s time for the Republican Party to move on from the boisterous former president and his stolen election claims. The blunt ex-prosecutor and governor has been test-driving his anti-Trump message as part of a public relations blitz around the release of his new book “Republican Rescue,” separating himself from the lion’s share of Republicans who still hail Mr. Trump as their unquestioned leader. Washington Times

 

 

 

 

US defense chief warns of China ‘rehearsals’ for attack on Taiwan . . . Lloyd Austin, US defence secretary, warned that China’s air incursions by fighter jets, bombers and other warplanes near Taiwan appeared to be rehearsals for military operations against the country. “It looks a lot like them exploring their true capabilities and sure it looks a lot like rehearsals,” Austin said in a speech on Saturday at the Reagan National Defense Forum. Austin did not appear to suggest that China was preparing for conflict in the near future, but the country’s air force has significantly increased the scale and frequency of missions into Taiwan’s “air defence identification zone” this year. The military activity, coupled with rapid technological advances by the People’s Liberation Army, have raised concerns about China’s intentions towards Taiwan, over which it claims sovereignty. Some experts believe China’s recent rapid expansion of its nuclear arsenal is designed to make it harder for the US to intervene in any conflict over Taiwan. Financial Times

 

Apple notified State Department employees of phone hacking linked to NSO Group software . . . Apple Inc. last week notified 11 U.S. State Department employees in Uganda that their iPhones were hacked, and investigators have linked the attack to a tool developed by NSO Group, an Israeli technology company that was blacklisted by the Biden administration, according to a person familiar with the matter. Some of the targeted State Department employees were foreign service officers who are U.S. citizens, while others appear to be locals working for the embassy, the person familiar with the matter said. The hacked phones were linked to State Department email addresses, the person said. Fox News

 

US intelligence-sharing convinces allies of Russian threat to Ukraine . . . EU and Nato allies have swung behind the Biden administration’s assessment that Russia may be poised to invade Ukraine following unprecedented sharing of US intelligence on Moscow’s military preparations. Weeks of sustained US diplomatic engagement with European governments, backed by a sharing of intelligence normally reserved for its closest allies, have helped convince some previously skeptical capitals, including Berlin, that the Kremlin could soon order its troops into Ukraine. The effort has galvanised support for the need for robust sanctions threats to deter the Kremlin. Joe Biden will warn Vladimir Putin against any invasion in a planned video summit on Tuesday, with the full backing of Nato and the EU for retaliatory measures, European defence and security officials told the Financial Times. Financial Times

 

Satellite imagery indicates Russian military activity on Ukraine border . . . Satellite imagery indicates that Russian forces have gathered on the Ukraine border ahead of a planned video call this week between Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin. Biden and Putin will speak in a video call Tuesday, the Kremlin said, as tensions between the United States and Russia escalate over a Russian troop buildup on the Ukrainian border. Fox News

 

 

Rogues Are on the March Around the World . . . Iran, Russia and China are all seeking to establish new regional hegemony, and they’re often working together to do it. Their leaders don’t appear to believe Mr. Biden can or will do anything to stop them. Iran revealed its disdain for U.S. entreaties last week as nuclear talks resumed in Vienna. The U.S. opened the proceedings with a sanctions waiver to let Iran sell electricity to Iraq. The result? A senior U.S. official conceded Saturday, after the latest round of talks finished, that Iran had shown no willingness to slow its uranium enrichment and even walked back its agreements from previous rounds. U.S. and European officials briefed the press about Iran’s intransigence but seemed at a loss about how to respond. The Iranians are “continuing to accelerate their nuclear program in particularly provocative ways,” a U.S. official told the press on background, and their “latest provocation” was preparing “for the doubling of their production capacity of 20% enriched uranium” at its secret Fordow facility. Wall Street Journal

 

China threatens countermeasures if U.S. boycotts Beijing Olympics . . . U.S. politicians should stop calling for a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics to avoid hurting bilateral ties and China will take "countermeasures" if necessary, China's foreign ministry said on Monday. The Biden administration is expected to announce this week that U.S. government officials will not attend the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.

Zhao Lijian, China's foreign ministry spokesman warned  at a news conference, "If the U.S. insists in wilfully clinging to its course, China will take resolute countermeasures." Reuters

 

Burma: Aung San Suu Kyi gets 4 years in prison for incitement, violating COVID-19 restrictions . . . Aung San Suu Kyi, the 76-year-old former leader of Burma who was ousted earlier this year during a military coup, was sentenced Monday to four years in prison on charges of incitement and violating COVID-19 restrictions, reports said. Suu Kyi’s trial was conducted behind closed doors and her conviction could further inflame protesters in the country that has grappled with violent protests and a tanking economy. On Sunday alone, an army vehicle plowed into a peaceful march by anti-government protesters in Yangon, reportedly killing three.  Fox News

 

U.S. embassy in Tokyo warns of 'suspected racial profiling' by Japanese police . . . The United States Embassy in Tokyo on Monday warned in a tweet of incidents of suspected racial profiling of non-Japanese by Japanese police. Japan is a mostly ethnically homogeneous country where some people equate more immigrants with a rise in crime, although foreign labour is increasingly needed to make up for a declining and ageing population. "The U.S. Embassy has received reports of foreigners stopped and searched by Japanese police in suspected racial profiling incidents. Several were detained, questioned, and searched," the tweet said. "U.S. citizens should carry proof of immigration and request consular notification if detained." Reuters

 

Vaccine Passports Are Wrong for America . . . COVID-19 vaccines are an effective tool in protecting people from serious illness and death. Vaccine passports, however, are a terribly misguided policy that should be resisted and/or rescinded. The inconvenient fact is millions of vaccinated Americans are still getting the coronavirus in what are known as breakthrough infections. In November, The Wall Street Journal found, “There have been more than 1.89 million cases and at least 72,000 hospitalizations and 20,000 deaths among fully vaccinated people in the U.S. this year.” Hence, when daft politicians mandate that businesses can only allow vaccinated customers to dine inside restaurants or enter entertainment venues, they are creating a misleading illusion that vaccinated individuals are safe to be around while the unvaccinated that likely have natural immunity are not.That false dichotomy is not supported by the data. Patriot Post

 

U.S. Plans to Fast-Track Revamped Covid-19 Vaccines . . . The Biden administration is preparing to fast-track authorization of revamped Covid-19 vaccines to combat Omicron as a study from South Africa suggests the fast-spreading variant might cause less severe illness than its predecessors. Federal regulators on Sunday said cases have been identified in 16 states and that the Food and Drug Administration is already in conversations about streamlining authorization for revamped vaccines. Agency officials have met with vaccine makers and are working to set guidelines for the type of data that will be needed to swiftly evaluate the safety and efficacy of changes to current vaccines. Wall Street Journal

 

Before Even Receiving a Name, Omicron Could Have Spread in New York and the Country . . . Much remains unknown about Omicron, including how deadly it is or the degree of protection that Covid vaccines provide against it. But epidemiologists are once again talking about flattening the curve, through mask wearing and more cautious behavior. And they are urging action now, to avoid a repeat of the mistakes made in March 2020, when New York officials were slow to understand just how quickly the virus was spreading throughout the city. Over the past four days, New York’s genome sequencing program has detected seven Omicron cases among residents in New York City, although health authorities have provided little information about the cases. New York Times

 

Trump media partner says it has lined up $1B in capital . . . Donald Trump’s new social media company and its special purpose acquisition company partner say the partner has agreements for $1 billion in capital from institutional investors.
The former president launched his new company, Trump Media & Technology Group in October. He unveiled plans for a new messaging app called "Truth Social" to rival Twitter and the other social media platforms that banned him. TMTG’s plan is to become a publicly listed company through a merger with the publicly traded Digital World Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company whose sole purpose is to acquire a private company and take it public. The institutional investors were not identified in a press release issued Saturday by Trump Media and Digital World. Fox Business

 

 

New York, blue states rank 'least free,' as red states stand out in personal, economic freedoms survey . . . New York was ranked the least free state in the Union, followed closely by Hawaii and California, according to a new survey.
The latest version of the Cato Institute’s "Freedom in the 50 States" also found that New Hampshire is the freest state, with Florida and Nevada as runners-up.
The survey, which has been done every two years since 2000, issued its overall freedom ratings based on a combination of personal and economic freedoms, comparing states along 230 different metrics ranging "from taxation to debt, eminent domain laws to occupational licensing, and drug policy to educational choice," according to its website. Fox News

 

IG Reports Detail CIA Employees’ Sex Crimes Against Children . . . Recently published Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) inspector general (IG) reports show that at least 10 CIA employees or contractors have been suspected of sex crimes against children over a 14-year period, but only one of them has been prosecuted. Buzzfeed News published the IG reports on Dec. 1, after a nearly 10-year fight with the CIA to obtain them. The heavily redacted reports include more than 3,000 records, 75 of them detailing investigations into alleged sex crimes against children from 2005 to 2019. The cases ranged from child pornography being found on government laptops to an official sexually assaulting a 2-year-old female. The CIA often referred the incidents to U.S. attorneys, but prosecutors declined to press charges in all but one instance. Epoch Times

 

Unemployment Rate Among Cuomo Brothers Rises To 100% . . . The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is reporting a drastic rise in the unemployment rate among brothers in the Cuomo family, saying it has increased to a record 100%. "This is unprecedented among Cuomos," said BLS Commissioner Bob Labor. "Contributing factors may include a struggling economy, as well as the fact that they're both corrupt skeezy pervs." Experts expect the Cuomo unemployment rate to tick down later next year when they release their bestselling tell-all books about being corrupt skeezy pervs and then run for public office. Babylon Bee