Politics
Baltics, in Russia’s Shadow, Demand Tougher Stance From West
VILNIUS, Lithuania — Demanding assurances that the Baltic States is not going to grow to be Russia’s subsequent battleground, Lithuania’s president firmly instructed America’s high diplomat on Monday that warnings to discourage Moscow from additional aggressions are “now not sufficient.”
Hours later, Latvia’s overseas minister dismally predicted that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would shatter any perception that the area may ever let down its guard towards President Vladimir V. Putin. “We have now no illusions about Putin’s Russia anymore,” International Minister Edgars Rinkevics mentioned. “I don’t see any good motive to imagine Russia may change its coverage.”
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken is more likely to get the same earful on Tuesday in Estonia as he tries to persuade Baltic leaders, who’re additionally a part of NATO, that the USA is doing all it might probably to cease Russia’s assault on Ukraine from spreading throughout Europe — whereas remaining cautious to not set off a wider battle.
In a area that borders Russia, and which all too nicely remembers the pressured rule of the Soviet Union, the Baltics are warily watching the disaster in Ukraine as a bellwether for their very own safety. Ukrainian flags are hung from doorways and draped from balconies throughout the capitals of Lithuania and Latvia. Blue-and-yellow posters, lights and billboards broadcast the area’s help for Ukraine. In Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, a commuter bus had changed its digital route show on Monday with a message that learn, merely, “Vilnius ? Ukraina.”
In Riga, the Latvian capital, Mr. Blinken mentioned it was “very shifting” to see the outpouring of help for Ukraine within the Baltics, which he praised as a longtime “democratic wall” towards authoritarian rule.
However Baltic leaders seem unhappy with the extent of navy help the USA is offering to assist deter Russian advances, both to Ukraine immediately or to its allies in Europe. Mr. Rinkevics additionally mentioned worldwide sanctions towards Mr. Putin’s allies may very well be toughened, and he referred to as on European states to cease the oil and fuel imports from Russia which have grow to be Moscow’s financial lifeline.
Russia supplies 10 % of the world’s oil and greater than a 3rd of the European Union’s pure fuel. Western sanctions are largely engineered to permit firms in Europe to proceed to purchase Russian vitality, and the White Home has resisted extra aggressive penalties for worry that they might drive up the value of gasoline and different vitality prices for People.
Europe, Baltic leaders instructed Mr. Blinken, has entered a brand new chapter.
“Sadly, the worsening safety scenario by means of the Baltic area is of nice concern for all of us and world wide,” mentioned President Gitanas Nauseda of Lithuania. “Russia’s reckless aggression towards Ukraine as soon as once more proves that it’s a long-term menace to European safety, the safety of our alliance, regardless of how the top of the battle in Ukraine comes.”
He added: “I have to say that strengthening deterrence is now not sufficient, and we want extra protection right here in place. In any other case, it will likely be too late right here, Mr. Secretary. Putin is not going to cease in Ukraine if he is not going to be stopped.”
Mr. Blinken sought to reassure the officers that, as fellow members of NATO, the Baltic States could be robustly defended ought to Russia attempt to transfer in.
Citing the NATO collective protection pack that “an assault on one is an assault on all,” Mr. Blinken mentioned the USA and the remainder of the navy alliance “will defend each, each inch of NATO territory ought to it come underneath assault.”
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“There must be little doubt about that on anybody’s thoughts,” Mr. Blinken mentioned.
It was a message he repeated all through the day.
There are already 1000’s of American troops within the Baltics, nearly all of which have been despatched within the face of Russia’s current aggressions, and Mr. Blinken famous that the Pentagon has despatched F-35 fighter jets because it considers a extra everlasting presence of U.S. forces to the area.
On the identical time, the USA and different NATO states have rushed greater than 17,000 antitank weapons, together with Javelin missiles, to Ukraine in an effort to assist the besieged nation defend itself from Russia’s much more highly effective navy. Mr. Blinken mentioned an estimated 70 % of help supplied by the USA is already in Ukraine’s fingers.
Although Ukraine’s leaders have pleaded for NATO to ascertain a no-fly zone over its skies — a requirement that the nation’s overseas minister, Dmytro Kuleba, delivered to Mr. Blinken this previous weekend at Ukraine’s border with Poland — neither the USA nor the remainder of the navy alliance is prepared to take that step, anxious that it will escalate a battle that has already created the most important refugee disaster in Europe since World Warfare II.
Mr. Blinken additionally sidestepped a query on Monday as as to if Poland would offer its fighter planes to Ukraine after being outfitted with American F-16 jets, though he mentioned earlier this week that the deal was being thought-about.
Whether or not it might probably go although rapidly sufficient to stanch the bloodshed in Ukraine, the place Russian shelling has killed civilians and thousands and thousands of individuals have been left homeless, is just not but clear.
What’s extra apparent is how closely the casualties are weighing on the Baltics.
“We can not afford for Ukrainian cities to grow to be one other Srebrenica, Grozny, or Aleppo,” mentioned Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania’s overseas minister.
Politics
Trump team signs memorandum of understanding with Biden White House to formalize transition
President-elect Trump’s transition team announced on Tuesday that it has agreed to a memorandum of understanding with the Biden White House allowing the two sides to formally begin the transition of power.
“After completing the selection process of his incoming Cabinet, President-elect Trump is entering the next phase of his administration’s transition by executing a Memorandum of Understanding with President Joe Biden’s White House,” Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, announced in a press release.
“This engagement allows our intended Cabinet nominees to begin critical preparations, including the deployment of landing teams to every department and agency, and complete the orderly transition of power.”
The press release went on to explain that the transition “will not utilize taxpayer funding for costs related to the transition” in order to be “consistent with President Trump’s commitment to save taxpayers’ hard-earned money.”
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The press release added that the transition will “operate as a self-sufficient organization” in a “streamlined” manner and that “security and information protections” are already built in so that “additional government bureaucratic oversight” will not be required.
The transition team also said an “existing” ethics plan is in place that will be posted to the website of the General Services Administration.
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“The Transition landing teams will quickly integrate directly into federal agencies and departments with access to documents and policy sharing,” the press release stated. “Per the agreement, the Transition will disclose the landing team members to the Biden Administration.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Trump has been facing heat from his Democratic critics in recent weeks for not agreeing to the memorandum sooner. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent a letter to the GSA last week slamming the president-elect.
Signing the documents means the government can now provide security clearances and briefings to incoming administration officials and the FBI can screen Trump’s picks for the Cabinet and other key posts. The agreements also provide “office space, IT equipment, office supplies, fleet vehicles, mail management, and payment of compensation and other expenses,” according to the GSA.
That process is designed to uncover personal problems, criminal histories and other potential red flags that would raise questions about a nominee’s suitability for key jobs.
Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report
Politics
She won a seat in the California Legislature — by campaigning for abortion rights in Nevada
RENO — Weeks before election day, more than 150 volunteers boarded early morning buses in Sacramento and traveled east, through the towering mountains of the Humboldt–Toiyabe National Forest and across the Nevada border to convince voters to approve a ballot measure that they, as Californians, could not vote on themselves.
When the group of mostly women landed 130 miles later in eclectic Reno, “the biggest little city in the world,” they set out on foot to knock on doors in unfamiliar neighborhoods, asking for support on an initiative to enshrine abortion rights in the Nevada constitution.
It was all part of Democrat Maggy Krell’s strange campaign for the California Assembly. Facing a sleepy race against an often missing-in-action Republican contender for the legislative seat that represents Sacramento County, the former Planned Parenthood attorney pivoted her energy and supporters to a battleground state fighting for the same protections California voters approved two years ago.
“This is my adopted campaign,” Krell said amid the chimes of slot machines, wearing a hot pink blazer and matching tennis shoes at a makeshift volunteer headquarters inside a Reno casino last month.
Her risky plan worked. Not only is Krell, a former deputy attorney general for the California Department of Justice, poised to be sworn into the state Legislature on Dec. 2 but the Nevada abortion measure passed overwhelmingly.
The way Krell saw it, the California voters that believed in her would understand why protecting their neighbors’ abortion rights was important. In 2022, California voters passed a similar measure to enshrine abortion access in the state constitution after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a federal right to the procedure.
“I don’t think it was a wacky strategy at all,” Krell said earlier this month. “I’m really glad I did it. I felt like it was the most important thing I could be doing with my time.”
The unique campaign strategy was prescient, as even Republican voters who helped Trump win the presidential election supported abortion rights measures across the country, solidifying the issue as one that crosses political and cultural lines.
“Nevada voters reaffirmed an undeniable truth: Reproductive freedom is a winning issue that mobilizes voters in historic numbers,” Reproductive Freedom for All President and Chief Executive Mini Timmaraju said in a statement following the election.
Krell, 46, has never been in public office before but considered a run for Sacramento mayor this year and unsuccessfully ran for county district attorney a decade ago.
She won more than 65% of the vote in Assembly District 6, a safely Democratic district that includes downtown Sacramento, home to the California Capitol, against young Republican newcomer Nikki Ellis. Ellis, who works for the state Chamber of Commerce, ran an unusually quiet campaign and reported no fundraising or spending activity to the state.
Krell will replace Kevin McCarty, a Democrat who served in the state Legislature for a decade who is poised to be elected mayor of Sacramento.
As a former prosecutor, Krell worked in the California Department of Justice under Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, then state attorney general, and helped to take down Backpage, a classifieds website that allegedly facilitated sex trafficking.
Krell will take part in a special legislative session called by Gov. Gavin Newsom focusing on how to further “Trump proof” California, including when it comes to protecting abortion rights.
“The best defense that we really have at this point is state constitutional rights,” Krell said. “In light of what’s happened nationally, there’s definitely more work that we need to do.”
Tameiko Heim, of Sacramento, rode four hours round trip on Krell’s bus and knocked on doors in Reno in part because she was concerned about how Trump’s abortion policies could impact maternal deaths, especially among Black women who are at higher risk than most.
“It’s important for us to not rest on our laurels,” she said. “No one should tell me what to do with my body, point blank, period.
As Californians descended on Reno in late October, a place where gamblers and outdoorsmen collide as tourists, it offered them a chance they don’t often get back home in the deep blue state where elections are typically won by a solid Democratic majority without fanfare.
“I wanted to go somewhere where I could knock on a door and make a real difference,” said Talia Smith of Lodi, who does not live in Krell’s district and therefore couldn’t vote for her but is passionate about abortion rights. “This is a rare opportunity for us.”
The campaign also offered a glimmer of hope to some Nevadans who opened their doors weeks ahead of the election, worried that its outcome could risk abortion access nationwide.
Trump was ultimately again elected president, and while he has said he does not plan to impose a national abortion ban, activists have urged caution, pointing to his flip-flopping record and his appointment of U.S. Supreme Court judges who overturned the federal right to abortion two years ago, leaving it up to states.
Patricia Lynch, 76, stood on her front porch in her quiet neighborhood near Reno High School and choked up talking about how, decades ago, she too had spoke out about abortion rights.
She graduated from law school in 1973, the same year that the Supreme Court ruled that abortion is a constitutional right, striking down limitations in states. She met Sarah Weddington, the young Texas attorney who won the landmark Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court case, solidifying abortion as a fundamental right.
In 1990, she helped convince voters to pass a referendum safeguarding Nevada’s abortion laws amid concerns then that politicians could roll back the right.
The self described “old feminist,” wearing a flannel and jeans, held back tears as she placed her hand on Krell’s shoulder — another female attorney fighting for reproductive rights more than 50 years later.
“I’m just thinking back on all the battles. It’s been a long time,” Lynch said. “I can’t believe we’re back and we’re still fighting.”
Politics
Federal judge blocks Biden labor protections for foreign farmworkers
A federal judge in Kentucky rejected expanded protections implemented by the Biden-Harris administration for foreign farmworkers who come to the U.S. under H-2A visas.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves granted an injunction siding with Kentucky farmers and Republican attorneys general in Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia and Alabama who argued that the new rules constituted granting foreign farmworkers collection bargaining rights. Reeves said that Congress, not the Biden-Harris administration, would have to determine whether to allow H-2A visa-holders the right to unionize.
Those new rules, implemented by the U.S. Department of Labor in April, expanded protections for H-2A visa-holders, including requiring employers to ensure they would not intimidate, threaten or otherwise discriminate against foreign farmworkers for “activities related to self-organization” and “concerted activities for the purpose of mutual aide or protection relating to wages of working conditions.”
“In perhaps its most blatant arrogation of authority, the Final Rule seeks to extend numerous rights to H-2A workers which they did not previously enjoy through its worker voice and empowerment provisions,” Judge Reeves wrote. “The DOL justifies this attempted regulatory expansion as an effort to prevent the alleged ‘unfair treatment’ of H-2A workers by employers to protect similarly situated American workers.”
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“The Final Rule not so sneakily creates substantive collective bargaining rights for H-2A agricultural workers through the ‘prohibitions’ it places on their employers,” Reeves wrote. “Framing these provisions as mere expansions of anti-retaliation policies, the DOL attempts to grant H-2A workers substantive rights without Congressional authorization.”
Under a prior preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge in Georgia, the new rules had already been blocked in 17 states. Reeves’ decision does not apply nationwide.
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Congress created the H-2A temporary agricultural visa program in 1986 through the Immigration Reform and Control Act, allowing employers to hire foreign farmworkers on a temporary, seasonal basis, when there is a shortage of U.S. workers to fill the needed positions. It includes protections for American workers, including setting a minimum wage rate for foreigners coming to work under the program.
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman argued that the Biden-Harris administration rules could have caused “serious and irreversible damage to farmers who are just trying to get by and bring food to Kentucky’s dinner tables.”
“We should be working to help Kentucky’s farmers, not put them out of business. This unlawful and unnecessary rule from the Biden-Harris Administration would have made it harder to get farmers’ products to grocery store shelves and would have increased already high prices for families,” Coleman said in a statement. “We will continue to do what’s right to stand up for Kentucky’s farmers.”
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