(NewsNation) — A new year has ushered in a possible new posture toward China by the U.S.

The White House told NewsNation the Biden administration will continue to get tougher through a series of new policies in 2023 aimed at limiting China’s influence, economic growth, and military strength.

“We are facing a competitor that is determined to overtake U.S. technological leadership and willing to devote nearly limitless resources to that goal,” Jake Sullivan, national security adviser said.

Sullivan called it the “Protect Agenda.”

The plan no longer views Chinese growth as beneficial to the U.S. as a partner, but rather as a threat from a geopolitical rival.

The shift on China builds on what the Trump administration started, and we’re already seeing the Biden administration implement it. In the last few months, the White House has imposed limits on American companies’ foreign investments in China and on their manufacturing of certain things there, such as microchips, saying it will, “prevent companies that receive taxpayer money from turning around and making investments in China that undermine our national security.”

But the “Protect Agenda” may end up hurting American consumers. Continued tariffs and strained relations with China could result in Americans paying more for everyday products. That’s a price the White House and most of Congress seems willing to pay.

“There is a bipartisan concern over the long-term U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis.

In the new year, Gallagher will chair the brand new select committee on China, designed with largely the same goal as the White House’s “Protect Agenda.”

Gallagher told NewsNation earlier this year that his biggest worry is China’s growing military and the threat of a Taiwan invasion.

“We are simply not acting with the requisite sense of urgency this threat demands,” Gallagher said.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said prices for everything imported from China increased 1.8% from last year.

(NewsNation) — An airline employee in Alabama is dead on New Year’s Eve due to an industrial incident, according to the Montgomery Regional Airport.

A tweet posted shortly after 6 p.m. on the official account for the airport said that “around 3 pm an American Airlines ground crew piedmont employee was involved in a fatality, no additional information is available at this time.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the deceased,” the tweet stated.

The worker was reportedly on the ramp of a parked regional carrier flight at the time of the incident. The airline was closed after the incident, and two people briefed on the matter said they believe the employee was killed in an accident involving one of the airplane’s engines, according to Reuters.

“We are saddened to hear about the tragic loss of a team member of the AA/Piedmont Airlines, said Wade A. Davis, executive director of Montgomery Regional Airport. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family during this difficult time.”

Normal operations have since resumed, but all flights were grounded until about 8:30 p.m. Saturday.

The deceased employee has not yet been named and the circumstances of the death have not been released, as an investigation is underway.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

In a recently released January 6 committee transcript, new information was learned about Trump sycophant Lindsey Graham. Georgia Secretary of state Bard Raffensperger said that he was extremely turned off when Graham tried to contact him about the results of the 2020 presidential election. He said that call was placed by Graham on November 13, 2020. And Raffensperger said Lindsey had a rather strange request.

Apparently, Graham spoke about credit card companies. And he explained that these companies retain millions of signatures. Gabe Sterling handled the call, and reportedly, Graham was pitching a sort of different kind of process for signature verification, and that is when the talk of credit card companies came up.

“He was talking about a process of using companies, and I didn’t know exactly where he was going,” said Raffensperger. “I just didn’t want to go where he was. — where I thought he might want to go. I just thought it best not to call him back.”

This is weird and a little bit eerie. What in the world was Lindsey Graham thinking? There wasn’t any type of LEGAL process that could have been used. Lindsey Graham is in a lot of trouble here. A lot of things sort of lead straight back to him — things that cannot be explained away.

“We just never got back to him,” Raffensperger explained. Well, that’s likely because he didn’t want to break the law. Graham was likely feeling him out, seeing if he was the type who WOULD break the law, testing him, pushing buttons, trying to see how far he could go.

Lindsey Graham is one of the saddest cases of this whole sordid story. And by “saddest,” I do not mean to imply I feel sorry for him. On the contrary, he disgusts me.

But if anyone out of this whole thing should have known better, it’d be Graham. The guy has now destroyed his reputation and his political future, and who knows, perhaps prison time will also follow. All for one red-faced traitor who never gave a damn about him.

The post This is creepy even for Lindsey Graham appeared first on Palmer Report.

Authorities around the world are imposing or considering curbs on travellers from China as COVID-19 cases in the country surge following its relaxation of “zero-COVID” rules.

They cite a lack of information from China on variants and are concerned about a wave of infections. China has rejected criticism of its COVID data and said it expects future mutations to be potentially more transmissible but less severe.

Below is a list of regulations for travellers from China.

UNITED STATES

The United States will impose mandatory COVID-19 tests on travellers from China beginning on Jan. 5. All air passengers aged two and older will require a negative result from a test no more than two days before departure from China, Hong Kong or Macau. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also said U.S. citizens should also reconsider travel to China, Hong Kong and Macau.

The UK will require a pre-departure negative COVID-19 test from passengers from China as of Jan. 5, the Department of Health said on Friday.

France will require travellers from China to provide a negative COVID test result less than 48 hours before departure, the health and transport ministries said on Friday.

From Jan. 1, France will also carry out random PCR COVID tests upon arrival on some travellers coming from China, a government official told reporters.

The country has mandated a COVID-19 negative test report for travellers arriving from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Thailand, the health minister said. Passengers from those countries will be quarantined if they show symptoms or test positive.

Japan will require a negative COVID-19 test upon arrival for travellers from mainland China. Those who test positive will be required to quarantine for seven days. New border measures for China went into effect at midnight on Dec. 30. The government will also limit requests from airlines to increase flights to China.

Italy has ordered COVID-19 antigen swabs and virus sequencing for all travellers from China. Milan’s main airport, Malpensa, had already started testing passengers arriving from Beijing and Shanghai. “The measure is essential to ensure surveillance and detection of possible variants of the virus in order to protect the Italian population,” Health Minister Orazio Schillaci said.

Spain will require a negative COVID-19 test or a full course of vaccination against the disease upon arrival for travellers from China, the country’s Health Minister Carolina Darias said.

Malaysia will screen all inbound travellers for fever and test wastewater from aircraft arriving from China for COVID-19, Minister Zaliha Mustafa said in a statement.

Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Centre said all passengers on direct flights from China, as well as by boat at two offshore islands, will have to take PCR tests upon arrival, starting on Jan. 1.

South Korea will require travellers from China to provide negative COVID test results before departure, South Korea’s News1 news agency reported on Friday.

AUSTRALIA

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia was monitoring the situation in respect of China “as we continue to monitor the impact of COVID here in Australia as well as around the world.”

The Southeast Asian country is being “very cautious” and could impose measures such as testing requirements on visitors from China, but not an outright ban, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said.

As an accountant-turned-writer, it is fitting that Donald Trump’s tax returns were released on the last business day of 2022, giving me the perfect subject for my last Palmer Report piece of the year. Being from Chicago, it is fitting the notorious Chicago gangster Al Capone was sentenced to 11 years in prison for tax evasion, after a scrappy Chicago financial sleuth George E.Q. Johnson nailed him for tax evasion.

And now, the Manhattan District Attorney has Trump nailed for tax evasion. According to Pulitzer Prize winning lecturer David Cay Johnston, over the past six years Donald Trump used “fake businesses” to file 26 Schedule C’s to report huge expenses to artificially offset earnings on his other business, allowing Trump to turn $154 million of positive income, into $53 million in losses.

Trump knew those tactics were fraudulent. He was audited and tried civilly in New York City and New York State over his 1984 tax returns when he used the same Schedule C tactic to claim $600,000 in losses on his NY businesses. Two judges wrote scathing opinions against Trump, putting him on notice.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is investigating Trump for tax matters. On December 7th, Bragg got convictions on all 17 counts of tax fraud against Trump Organization, which is 100% owned by Donald Trump. So, conviction for tax evasion seems like a sure thing.

But we must prevent this from happening in the future. Currently, there is no federal law requiring presidential candidates to release their tax returns. When Congress requested Trump’s tax returns four years ago citing a law that required the records be provided, Trump avoided having his returns released or even audited for the first two years of his presidency because his appointed head of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin defied the law.

In 2019, because of Trump, California passed a state law requiring California presidential primary candidates to release their tax returns. However, the California Supreme Court overturned the law citing the California Constitution makes it clear voters must decide. That is why Congress must pass a federal law requiring presidential candidates to release their tax returns. The good news is, 2022 is going out with a bang. The bang of a jail cell slamming on Donald Trump in 2023.

The post Out with a bang appeared first on Palmer Report.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered the development of new intercontinental ballistic missiles and massive production of tactical nuclear weapons to counter threats from the United States and South Korea, state media said on Sunday.

At a key meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party, Kim highlighted the need to boost the country’s nuclear arsenal and secure “overwhelming military power” to defend its sovereignty and security.

Kim accused Washington and Seoul of carrying out a “plot to isolate and stifle” Pyongyang, calling it “unparalleled in human history.”

“He presented the task of developing another intercontinental ballistic missile system with a rapid nuclear counterattack capability as its basic mission,” the official KCNA news agency said.

The report came hours after North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile off its east coast, in a rare late-night, New Year’s Day weapons test.

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Saturday focused a year-end report on the judiciary on the need for stepped up security for federal judges, amid a surge in threats and as the United States is embroiled in a bitter debate over abortion.

Roberts’ nine-page annual report came just two weeks after the U.S. Congress approved legislation that aims to bolster security for Supreme Court justices and federal judges by allowing them to shield their personal information from being available online.

“The law requires every judge to swear an oath to perform his or her work without fear or favor, but we must support judges by ensuring their safety,” Roberts wrote, adding, “A judicial system cannot and should not live in fear.”

According to the U.S. Marshals Service, judges were subject to 4,511 threats and inappropriate communications in 2021, up from 926 in 2015. Threats targeting members of Congress have also significantly escalated in recent years.

“I want to thank the members of Congress who are attending to judicial security needs … essential to run a system of courts,” Roberts wrote in his 2022 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary.

An armed California man was charged last June with attempted murder after being arrested near the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

The man told authorities he was upset about a draft Supreme Court opinion that was leaked in May, which paved the way for the conservative-leaning high court to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing the right to abortion nationwide.

Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the majority opinion in this year’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, later said the leak made conservative justices “targets for assassination.”

Liberals have criticized the high court’s 6-3 conservative majority as being out of step with public sentiment on abortion and other cases touching on social issues.

With several more high-profile cases pending, the Supreme Court potentially could end affirmative action policies used to increase racial diversity on college campuses and make it easier for businesses to refuse services to LGBT people based on free-speech rights.

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With fireworks planned in Paris, hopes for an end to war in Kyiv, and a return to post-COVID normality in Australia and China, Europe and Asia bid farewell to 2022.

It was a year marked for many by the conflict in Ukraine, economic stresses and the effects of global warming. But it was also a year that saw a dramatic soccer World Cup, rapid technological change, and efforts to meet climate challenges.

For Ukraine, there seemed to be no end in sight to the fighting that began when Russia invaded in February. On Saturday alone, Russia fired more than 20 cruise missiles, Ukrainian officials said, with explosions reported throughout the country.

Evening curfews remained in place nationwide, making the celebration of the beginning of 2023 impossible in many public spaces. Several regional governors posted messages on social media warning residents not to break restrictions on New Year’s Eve.

In Kyiv, though, people gathered near the city’s central Christmas tree as midnight approached.

“We are not giving up. They couldn’t ruin our celebrations,” said 36-year-old Yaryna, celebrating with her husband, tinsel and fairy lights wrapped around her.

Oksana Mozorenko, 35, said her family had tried to celebrate Christmas to make it “a real holiday” but added: “I would really like this year to be over.”

In a video message to mark the New Year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Time Magazine’s 2022 Person of the Year, said: “I want to wish all of us one thing – victory.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin devoted his New Year’s address to rallying the Russian people behind his troops fighting in Ukraine.

Festivities in Moscow were muted, without the usual fireworks on Red Square.

“One should not pretend that nothing is happening – our people are dying (in Ukraine),” said 68-year-old Yelena Popova. “A holiday is being celebrated, but there must be limits.” Many Muscovites said they hoped for peace in 2023.

Paris was set to stage its first New Year fireworks since 2019, with 500,000 people expected to gather on the Champs-Elysees avenue to watch.

Like many places, the Czech capital Prague was feeling the pinch economically and so did not hold a fireworks display.

“Holding celebrations did not seem appropriate,” said city hall spokesman Vit Hofman, citing “the unfavourable economic situation of many Prague households” and the need for the city to save money.

Heavy rain and high winds meant firework shows in the Netherlands’ main cities were cancelled.

But several European cities were experiencing record warmth for the time of year. The Czech Hydrometeorological Institute said it was seeing the warmest New Year’s Eve on record, with the temperature in Prague’s centre, where records go back 247 years, reaching 17.7 Celsius (63.9 Fahrenheit).

It was also the warmest New Year’s Eve ever recorded in France, official weather forecaster Meteo France said.

In Croatia, dozens of cities, including the capital Zagreb, cancelled fireworks displays after pet lovers warned about their damaging effects, calling for more environmentally aware celebrations.

The Adriatic town of Rovinj planned to replace fireworks with laser shows and Zagreb was putting on confetti, visual effects and music.

Earlier, Australia kicked off the celebrations with its first restriction-free New Year’s Eve after two years of COVID disruptions.

Sydney welcomed the New Year with a typically dazzling fireworks display, which for the first time featured a rainbow waterfall off the Harbour Bridge.

“This New Year’s Eve we are saying Sydney is back as we kick off festivities around the world and bring in the New Year with a bang,” said Clover Moore, lord mayor of the city.

Pandemic-era curbs on celebrations were lifted this year after Australia, like many countries around the world, re-opened its borders and removed social distancing restrictions.

In China, rigorous COVID restrictions were lifted only in December as the government reversed its “zero-COVID” policy, a switch that has led to soaring infections and meant some people were in no mood to celebrate.

“This virus should just go and die, cannot believe this year I cannot even find a healthy friend that can go out with me and celebrate the passage into the New Year,” wrote one social media user based in eastern Shandong province.

But in the city of Wuhan, where the pandemic began three years ago, tens of thousands of people gathered to enjoy themselves despite a heavy security presence.

Barricades were erected and hundreds of police officers stood guard. Officers shuttled people away from at least one popular New Year’s Eve gathering point and used loudspeakers to blast out a message on a loop advising people not to gather. But the large crowds of revellers took no notice.

In Shanghai, many thronged the historic riverside walkway, the Bund.

“We’ve all travelled in from Chengdu to celebrate in Shanghai,” said Da Dai, a 28-year-old digital media executive who was visiting with two friends. “We’ve already had COVID, so now feel it’s safe to enjoy ourselves.”

In Hong Kong, days after limits were lifted on group gatherings, tens of thousands of people met near the city’s Victoria Harbour for a countdown to midnight. Lights beamed from some of the biggest harbour-front buildings.

It was the city’s biggest New Year’s Eve celebration in several years. The event was cancelled in 2019 due to often violent social unrest, then scaled down in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.

Malaysia’s government cancelled its New Year countdown and fireworks event at Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur after flooding across the nation displaced tens of thousands of people and a landslide killed 31 people this month.

Celebrations at the capital’s Petronas Twin Towers were pared back with no performances or fireworks.

Reuters 2022 Year in Review

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George Santos (liar and fraud, insurrection party, who the heck knows where he’s from) is quickly becoming a pariah, which is no less than he deserves. All over, people are deriding him. And now old tweets from the untalented Mr. Ripley clone have surfaced.

“LIAR!” This is George Santos having the nerve to tweet and call other people liars. I kid you not. It would be like if Lindsey Graham called someone spineless. So here is a list of some of the people George Santos (if that’s his name) has accused of being liars:

President Joe Biden

Rep. Adam Schiff

New York Mayor Eric Adams

New York Governor Kathy Hochul

And one tweet in particular really stands out. It was found by expert sleuths on Twitter and was apparently sent by Santos in August of 2021: “BIDEN IS A PATHOLOGICAL LIAR!”

Ah, we see the con artist learned his craft, possibly from Trump. The caps and the exclamation points all point toward a Trumpy sort of liar. Naturally, Twitter was hysterical at the idea of George Santos having the nerve to call ANYONE else a liar. But the fact that Santos can still show his face in public does indeed show that he’s shameless.

And now Santos is also being mocked in print. In that regard, I point you toward one of the funniest articles I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. It is called “In defense of George Santos.” It is written by Klaus Marre and I really suggest you not drink anything when reading it. It’s that good (and hilarious.)

So now the young Congressman who at this point has not resigned will walk into Congress, if indeed he does, as a human pariah, the butt of every type of joke there is, a punchline and a fool. Good luck navigating those waters, Con Artist Santos.

The post George Santos takes it on the chin appeared first on Palmer Report.