With all this public drama and backbiting about who’s going to be the Republican Speaker of the House and who’s going to be the RNC Chair, it’s worth pointing out that there’s been no publicly visible drama at all in the corresponding Democratic races.

When Speaker Nancy Pelosi decided she was retiring from her leadership position, House Democrats got together behind closed doors, hashed things out, settled on Hakeem Jeffries as their new leader, and then made a statement by electing him unanimously.

Were there other Democrats who wanted the gig instead? Maybe. But that’s the stuff you do strictly behind closed doors if you can help it. Then you show the public that you’re an organized, united, professionally run party, worthy of its vote.

Unless you’re the Republicans, in which case you stupidly let internal leadership battles spill over into public view in such an ugly manner that you’re doing everything but throwing food at each other.

Once upon a time it was the Republican Party whose leadership always seemed to put on a united public front for the sake of getting things done and winning, and it was the Democratic Party that was in disarray – or least that’s how it was always reported back in the day. But these days it’s certainly not the case. Republicans in disarray. Democrats in array.

The post Republicans in disarray appeared first on Palmer Report.

The U.S. Senate passed legislation on Thursday authorizing a record $858 billion in annual defense spending, $45 billion more than proposed by President Joe Biden, and rescinding the military’s COVID vaccine mandate.

Senators supported the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, an annual must-pass bill setting policy for the Pentagon, by an overwhelming 83-11 bipartisan majority.

The no votes came from a mix of liberals who object to the ever-rising military budget and fiscal conservatives who want tighter controls on spending.

With the House of Representatives having passed the measure last week, the NDAA next heads to the White House, where Biden is expected to quickly sign it into law.

The fiscal 2023 NDAA authorizes $858 billion in military spending and includes a 4.6% pay increase for the troops, funding for purchases of weapons, ships and aircraft, and support for Taiwan as it faces aggression from China and for Ukraine as it fights an invasion by Russia.

The vote meant Congress has passed the NDAA every year since 1961.

“This is the most important bill we do every year,” said Senator James Inhofe, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, in a statement. This year’s NDAA is named for Inhofe, who is retiring from the Senate.

Because it is one of the few major bills that always passes, lawmakers use the NDAA as a vehicle for a range of initiatives.

This year’s measure, which came after months of negotiations between Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate, includes the State Department auth orization and legislation that would allow U.S. Supreme Court justices and federal judges to shield their personal informationfrom being viewed online.

The fiscal 2023 NDAA includes a provision demanded by many Republicans – and opposed by many Democrats – requiring the secretary of defense to rescind a mandate requiring that members of the armed forces be vaccinated against COVID-19.

A bid to amend the bill to award back pay and reinstate troops who refused the vaccine failed.

The bill provides Ukraine at least $800 million in additional security assistance next year and includes a range of provisions to strengthen Taiwan amid tensions with China, including billions of dollars in security assistance and fast-tracked weapons procurement for Taiwan.

The bill authorizes more funds to develop hypersonic weapons, close the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in Hawaii and purchase weapons systems including Lockheed Martin Corp’s (LMT.N) F-35 fighter jets and ships made by General Dynamics (GD.N).

The NDAA is not the final word on spending. Authorization bills create programs, but Congress must pass appropriations bills to give the government legal authority to spend federal money.

A bill to fund the government through Sept. 30, 2023, – the end of the fiscal year – is expected to pass Congress next week.

Related Galleries:

Peruvian ex-President Pedro Castillo’s prison stay was extended by 18 months amid a deepening diplomatic spat with left-leaning countries in the region that oppose his removal as ongoing blockages threaten logistics at key copper mines.

A judicial panel within the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Castillo, initially jailed for seven days, will remain behind bars as prosecutors continue their investigation into criminal charges against the former leader.

The decision did not touch on the merits of the accusations faced by Castillo, who has been charged with rebellion and conspiracy, but a judge heading up the panel cited the risk of flight by the former president.

Castillo has denied all the charges and has claimed he remains the country’s lawful president.

The leftist Castillo, the son of peasant farmers and a former teacher who won a narrow victory at the polls last year running under the banner of the Marxist Free Peru party, was removed by an overwhelming vote of lawmakers who accused him of “permanent moral incapacity” just hours after Castillo ordered the Congress dissolved on Dec. 7.

The swift removal of Castillo, who led the South American country for just 17 months, has reverberated far beyond Peru’s borders, with several leftist allies of the deposed leader rallying to his support as angry and sometimes violent street protests extend into their second week, with a state of emergency declared.

Earlier this week, four nations led by leftist presidents – Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia and Mexico – signed onto a joint statement declaring Castillo “a victim of undemocratic harassment.”

A bloc of left-wing countries meeting in Havana, including Cuba, Bolivia, Venezuela and Nicaragua, also forcefully backed the jailed Castillo, rejecting what they described as “the political framework created by right-wing forces.”

Foreign Minister Ana Cecilia Gervasi, new to the post after President Dina Boluarte took over from Castillo last week, responded on Thursday by summoning home Peru’s ambassadors in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia and Mexico for consultation.

Gervasi wrote that the consultations “relate to interference in the internal affairs of Peru” in a post on Twitter.

She did not specify when the talks would take place, or what other actions Boluarte’s government might take.

Peru’s constitution allows a president to shut down Congress, but only if lawmakers approve motions of no confidence twice on the president’s Cabinet, which did not happen on the day of his ouster last Wednesday.

Related Galleries:

The U.S. Congress on Thursday passed legislation that would allow U.S. Supreme Court justices and federal judges to shield their personal information from being viewed online in response to a rising number of threats targeting them.

The Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act, named for the son of a federal judge who was fatally shot in 2020, was attached to the annual must-pass defense policy bill that the Senate endorsed 83-11.

The defense bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives last week and now heads to President Joe Biden for his signature.

The judicial security measure, which the federal judiciary backed, had long languished in Congress before its supporters were able to tack it on to the National Defense Authorization Act.

The measure remained in the 4,000-plus page defense bill despite criticism from public interest groups who say it could chill free speech and undermine efforts to scrutinize judges’ conflicts of interest.

The bill was named for the 20-year-old son of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas, who was shot and killed at her home in New Jersey by a disgruntled lawyer posing as a deliveryman in an attack in July 2020 that also injured the judge’s husband.

The attack highlighted the growing number of threats targeting judges. The U.S. Marshals Service said judges were subject to 4,511 threats and inappropriate communications in 2021, up from 926 in 2015.

The measure would make it illegal for commercial data brokers to knowingly sell, license or purchase addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers and other personally identifiable information of judges or their immediate family.

Government agencies could not publicly post judges’ personal information, and the bill bars other businesses and people from posting their information online if a judge requests they not do so. Violators could face lawsuits by the judiciary and financial penalties.

The bill contains exemptions, including for journalists using information for news. Sponsors of the bill, including Senator Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, say it is narrowly tailored to protect judges.

But critics including the groups Demand Justice and Fix the Court say the bill could unconstitutionally restrict discussion about judges’ conflicts of interests and obscure sources of information about them and their families.

They say its provisions even allow for demands to remove information concerning the employers of Supreme Court justices’ spouses, hindering efforts to determine if a justice should be recused from a case.

The issue of conflicts involving justices’ spouses has been central to a debate over whether conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas should recuse himself from cases concerning the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol because his wife, Ginni Thomas, advocated for overturning the 2020 presidential election.

If you don’t say your prayers, they won’t be answered. Except, sometimes, when you put your music out into the world it can become a prayer that is, actually, answered. At least that’s what happened to Hillel Tigay, the music director at L.A.’s Ikar community.

A long-time fan of Tears for Fears, he sang their iconic “Mad World” at this year’s Kol Nidre straight after the Amidah. And this Friday, Dec. 16, Curt Smith from the 80s pop band is joining Tigay to sing “Mad World” and two other songs at the community’s Kabbalat Shabbat service.

About 10 years ago, my former colleague, Rebecca Spence wrote about Tigay, as a new singer on the West Coast. He had left his Jewish rap group M.O.T. (Members Of the Tribe) to make a CD of spiritual songs influenced by all the same 1980s pop groups that I’d loved when I was growing up. “Judeo” mashed together a pop sensibility and a biblical awareness in a brave attempt bring a new type of recording to Jewish music.

Since then, Tigay has worked at Ikar, shining light on an illustrious congregation with his music, and I followed my fascination with Tears for Fears to write a book about them and to cover their occasional intersection with Judaism (personnel, ideology, dance). For Tigay, though, their music and the music of others, like Peter Gabriel, has become part of his spiritual practice.

For Tigay, music has “always been the absolute foundation piece of prayer,” the air that breathes life into services “to lift people up and to connect.” Without song, the psalms are only half what they could be, “it’s like a hot air balloon, you can have the designs and the diagrams that say the balloon is this shape and size, but without the air it’s nothing. To me that’s what services are without music, like an architectural plan without a building.”

At the beginning of the pandemic, Tigay released another Judeo album — “Vol. II: Alive.” His new group Palms Station — that he describes as “Arcade Fire-esque” — has recently followed that up with an album called “Stand Together. Fall Apart.” But music and prayer are parts of a whole for Tigay who sees music as something that has been central to Judaism since ancient times. In a Zoom discussion, he mused on what it meant to be a people who have persisted around the account of the Torah — a story that is sung.

Hillel Tigay and Curt Smith practice together in Tigay’s studio. Courtesy of Hillel Tigay

The day after Yom Kippur, to Tigay’s surprise, Smith re-tweeted a clip of the Kol Nidre service as the congregation, clad in white, stood and sang, beating their breasts. He wrote that he would “love to hear the full version,” and within two days someone had fulfilled that wish and Smith had posted the complete performance on his own public Facebook page. Between different platforms, the performance has been watched hundreds of thousands of times.

“I first heard of Hillel & IKAR when three or four of my friends independently sent me the version of Mad World he performed during a service. I reached out to tell him how moving I found it,” Smith said. “Personally I think it’s important at this point in time, as we see a rise in antisemitism in America, to stand up and voice my support and solidarity with the Jewish community in any way that I can.”

Despite appearances, L.A. is a small town. Friends of Smith and Tigay brought them together through social media, then email, then a dinner and then Smith suggested that he actually come in and sing with the congregation. They agreed on a set list of three songs — one from Smith, one from Tigay and “Open Arms” by Elbow, which Smith suggested and which comes from the same spiritual palette.

At 6 p.m. Pacific Time, December 16, watch Smith and Tigay sing at Ikar’s Kabbalat Shabbat. Maybe you will hear the traditional song of welcome to the Sabbath bride “L’cha Dodi,” but you will definitely hear “Mad World,” “Open Arms” and “Alive” from Palms Station.

The post For one 1980s pop fan, this Shabbat service is a dream come true appeared first on The Forward.

Ukraine defence minister says half of mobilised Russians are being prepared more thoroughly for new offensive in coming months

• See all our Ukraine war coverage

Vladimir Putin is preparing for a major new offensive in the new year, Ukraine’s defence minister has said. In an interview with the Guardian, Oleksii Reznikov, said evidence was emerging that the Kremlin was preparing a broad new campaign despite a series of humiliating battlefield setbacks for Russia in recent months. Referring to Russia’s partial mobilisation of about 300,000 soldiers, Reznikov suggested that while half – often after receiving minimal training – were being used to reinforce Moscow’s forces now, the remainder were being prepared more thoroughly for future offensives.

The head of Ukraine’s armed forces believes Russia will make a renewed attempt at capturing the capital, Kyiv, after its previous attack was repelled earlier this year. In an interview with the Economist, Gen Valeriy Zaluzhny said he was trying to prepare for Russian forces to have another go at taking the city, possibly in February or March.

Russian shelling killed two people, including a Red Cross worker, in Kherson on Thursday and completely cut power in the southern city, Ukrainian officials said, with temperatures near freezing. Moscow-allied officials in the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk, meanwhile, said they had come under some of the heaviest shelling in years from Ukrainian forces, leaving one person dead.

Russia is to double the number of test launches of its intercontinental ballistic missiles to eight next year from four in 2022, the commander of strategic rocket forces was quoted as saying on Friday. Sergei Karakayev told the military newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda that the eight test flights would be scheduled from two launch sites – one near Murmansk in the north, the other near Volgograd in the south.

A Russian airbase in Kursk was struck on Wednesday night, a senior Ukrainian official has said. Anton Gerashchenko, a senior presidential adviser to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, posted a series of updates on Telegram, saying an “unknown drone” struck the military facility.

The US military announced it would expand training in Germany of Ukrainian military personnel. Starting in January, 500 troops a month would be trained, building on more than 15,000 Ukrainians trained by the US and its allies since April.

Electricity blackouts due to Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s power infrastructure are crippling its economy, including in key sectors such as mining and manufacturing. The report in the Washington Post said Ukraine needed another $2bn a month on top of the $55bn already projected for next year to meet basic expenses.

An €18bn EU finance package for Ukraine looks likely to go ahead after Poland dropped its opposition. Diplomats from Warsaw had objected to a minimum corporate tax level, which diplomats had told Reuters had “blindsided” those negotiating the deals. They, and Lithuania, had also argued for tighter restrictions on their neighbour Russia.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said the next six months of the conflict with Russia will be “decisive”. In an online address to the European Council on Thursday, Ukraine’s president said: “The next six months will be decisive in many respects in the confrontation Russia started with their aggression.”

Vladimir Putin has said Russia will try to overcome the financial impact of western sanctions by selling gas to its eastern neighbours. In a televised speech he said Russia would develop its economic ties with countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Continue reading…

Ericsson will face a further year’s scrutiny by a mandated compliance monitor imposed as part of a 2019 international bribery settlement.

The Swedish telecommunications giant said that it agreed to  the extension with the U.S. Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission in a press release on Wednesday.

Ericsson promised to report wrongdoing and submit to audits and to the scrutiny of an outside monitor in a $1 billion agreement with the U.S. Justice Department, admitting to accusations that the company had conspired to make illegal payments to win business in five countries. The settlement also resolved similar charges by the SEC of a bribery scheme involving a sixth country.

But Ericsson has twice violated the deal: first, in October 2021 for withholding information, according to the company. And again earlier this year in the aftermath of the Ericsson List investigation.

Reporting by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and 30 media partners revealed a further pattern of bribery, internal corruption probes and misdeeds in more than a dozen countries beyond those included in the DOJ agreement, including in Iraq.

Days after publication, the DOJ told the telecom giant it had breached the corruption settlement a second time by failing to fully disclose misconduct in Iraq.

The monitorship, which commenced in 2020 and was due to last three years, will now run until June 2024.

Ericsson “remains committed to cooperating with the DOJ in connection with the resolution of the breach notification,” the company said in its statement.

The announcement was made on the heels of a new ICIJ investigation showing how corporations repeatedly violate the terms of deferred and non-prosecution agreements as the anti-corruption enforcement strategy has been adopted by countries around the world.

The Justice Department declined to respond to ICIJ’s questions about the extension, and Ericsson referred ICIJ to its published statements. The monitor Andreas Pohlmann did not reply to ICIJ’s request for comment.

A pattern of corruption

The bribery scheme covered by the 2019 deal was aimed at officials in Djibouti, China, Vietnam, Kuwait and Indonesia over a 17-year period, the Justice Department previously said.

The billion-dollar settlement, called a deferred prosecution agreement, suspended criminal charges of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in return for the company’s promise to implement reforms overseen by an independent monitor.

Under the deal, an Ericsson subsidiary, Ericsson Egypt, was allowed to plead guilty to violating anti-bribery laws. Only one Ericsson employee, former account manager Afework Bereket, was charged in the U.S. case.

The Ericsson List investigation, published in February of this year, was based on internal documents revealing that in 2019, Ericsson itself examined employees’ alleged corrupt practices in 15 countries dating back to 2011.

Ericsson had sought permission from the terrorist group known as the Islamic State to work in an ISIS-controlled city in Iraq, the leaked files show. The company paid to smuggle equipment into ISIS areas and made suspicious payments over nearly a decade to finance slush funds, trips abroad for defense officials and payoffs through middlemen to corporate executives and possibly terrorists.

The records describe a pattern of bribery and corruption so widespread, and company oversight so weak, that millions of dollars in payments couldn’t be accounted for – all while Ericsson worked to maintain and expand vital cellular networks in one of the most corruption-ridden countries in the world.

The Ericsson List also shined a light on the DOJ and its controversial reliance on deferred prosecution agreements, a form of probation that critics say does little to deter corporate malfeasance.

The investigation sparked a range of international legal and financial fallout for the telecom giant this year.

The company’s share price plummeted, its chief legal officer is gone, investors and terrorism victims are suing the company, Swedish authorities and the U.S. SEC opened probes, and new financial penalties are expected from the DOJ.

In its press release, Ericsson said that it would use the extended monitorship “to ensure these improvements are ingrained in our organization,” while improving its risk management and compliance controls.

DOJ officials have withheld monitoring reports about companies’ compliance with settlement agreements. ICIJ filed a Freedom of Information Act request a year ago seeking access to the monitor reports, which is pending.

“We want to get this right and, to be a true industry leader, we have to conduct our business in the right way,” CEO and President Börje Ekholm said in the statement.