Bill

Jan. 13 (UPI) — Republican Rep. Randy Fine introduced legislation Monday authorizing President Donald Trump to take measures necessary to acquire Greenland, amid renewed White House rhetoric about taking the autonomous Danish island.

The Greenland Annexation and Statehood Act, which is anything but assured of passage through the House, would give Trump the power to take the island, including through annexation, and require a report to be submitted to Congress detailing necessary changes to federal law to admit Greenland as the 51st state.

“Whoever controls Greenland controls key Arctic shipping lanes and the security architecture protecting the United States,” Fine, of Florida, said in a statement.

“America cannot leave that future in the hands of regimes that despise our values and seek to undermine our security.”

President Donald Trump has talked of the importance of Greenland to U.S. national security since his first term, but he has increased rhetoric about acquiring the island since returning to the White House last year.

Following the U.S. military abduction of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolas Maduro, earlier this month, and amid heightened geopolitical concerns, the Trump administration has increased its rhetoric about acquiring Greenland.

Trump said Sunday that the United States must control the territory, which is an autonomous island of Denmark, a NATO ally.

“One way or another, we’re going to have Greenland,” he said, adding that “if we don’t take Greenland, Russia or China will. And I’m not letting that happen.”

The threat to Greenland’s sovereignty has drawn staunch criticism from Democrats, Denmark and other European and NATO allies.

The U.S. Pituffik Space Force Base is located on Greenland, and Jesper Moller Sorensen, Denmark’s ambassador the United States, has said that since 1951, the United States has had the option to establish additional military bases and increase its military presence on the island.

Sorensen said he met with Fine on Monday and made clear that Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

“Together, [Greenland] & [Denmark] are ready to deepen our security cooperation w. [the United States] to strengthen our collective defense within @NATO,” Sorensen said on X.

Welcome back to the Times of Troy newsletter, where the new year has gotten off to somewhat of a rocky start at USC. The defensive coordinator search drags on. The Trojans’ five-star quarterback is in the transfer portal. The women’s basketball team lost consecutive games for the first time in two years. The men’s team got pummeled on its trip through Michigan.

I talked to Eric Musselman two days after the Trojans lost to Michigan State by 29. The team was already in Minneapolis, the third leg of a brutal, three-game road swing. It was a stop I knew would mean a lot to Musselman. Minnesota, after all, was where his father, Bill Musselman, got his big break as a basketball coach. He coached in Minneapolis for four seasons and, in 1972, brought the Golden Gophers their first Big Ten title in 53 years.

“The building was sold out,” Musselman recalled proudly last week. “And then the hockey arena was sold out because of the extra people that wanted to come to games. They’d have to watch it on closed-circuit TV.”

Musselman saw it all up close at a young age — the highs, the lows of being a college coach. I think he’d agree that that time spent watching those Golden Gopher teams would ultimately serve as the foundation for his own career coaching basketball. Today, 25 years after his father died, it still feels that way to Musselman, whose career has followed an eerily similar path to his late father.

“I don’t think he did a very good job teaching me anything other than [basketball],” Musselman joked.

Every day, he finds himself asking what his dad would have done. He thinks of him most when adversity strikes, like it did last week. His Trojans, after an impressive 12-1 start, were in a tenuous spot after its first two games of the new year, reeling from two blowout losses and stuck on the road for 10 days. Musselman wondered, as they practiced that morning in Minneapolis, what his father might say to help them snap the team out of its slump.

“I felt his presence this morning, before we went to practice, telling me what he would do in this situation,” Musselman told me.

Whatever it was, it worked. USC ended its losing streak by escaping Minneapolis with a win.

His dad never saw him reach the dream they’d both been striving for. His father died less than two years before he was named the head coach of the Golden State Warriors. His absence was crushing to Musselman, who considered him his “best friend.”

In his new office, just before he was introduced as coach, Musselman broke down in tears.

“I felt like my dad had been mentoring me to do this as a baby,” Musselman told Dan Le Batard in 2025. “It was his thought that this could happen. The fact that he wasn’t going to be there for it, it hurt.”

When I heard Musselman tell that story last year, it hit me particularly hard. I lost my own dad about a year and a half ago. He died suddenly of a heart attack, and his absence has felt like a gaping hole in those mile-marker moments — such as when my son took his first steps or went to his first football game. That’s when it becomes painfully clear how long he’s been gone.

Musselman has spent his coaching career surrounded by those reminders of his father. I told him I couldn’t imagine being constantly reminded of my dad’s absence whenever I went to work.

“I would say it’s harder that way,” Musselman told me. “But also, I feel closer to him. Even though he’s not here. I wouldn’t feel like that if he’d been a dentist.”

I still find myself struggling to find that silver lining. But talking to Musselman, I found it reassuring to hear how often he still feels his father’s presence. That’s not something I ever would’ve understood before losing my dad.

On Friday, in Minneapolis, Musselman was back in the building that meant so much to him and his dad. Everywhere there were reminders of their past life, happy reminders of how much his father had meant to him — and to. so many others.

Transfer portal notes, Week 2

Husan Longstreet

(Luke Hales / Getty Images)

—Five-star quarterback Husan Longstreet is in the transfer portal. USC made its case to keep Longstreet. But he wanted to start somewhere as a redshirt freshman, ideally at a contender, and USC couldn’t give him that. There’s a small chance Longstreet could look around and decide there’s no better opportunity than the one he has in L.A. But Longstreet already visited Louisiana State. USC plans to forge on with incoming freshman Jonas Williams as its future under center.

—USC found its punter for 2026, and he’s an Aussie. Lachlan Carrigan spent last season at Memphis, averaging 43.2 yards per punt as a freshman. For what it’s worth, that’s better than USC’s punter last season, Sam Johnson, who averaged 42.1 yards per punt.

—Don’t be surprised if USC doesn’t make many more waves in the transfer window. The Trojans have added six players so far, five of which are joining the defense. New wideout Terrell Anderson is going to play a big part on offense. I like defensive tackle Alex VanSumeren as an experienced option on the interior, and cornerback Jontez Williams seems like a clear upgrade. But this portal class isn’t going to blow anyone away. The plan had always been to deemphasize transfers this season.

Chad Baker-Mazara slams two points home against Minnesota.

(David Berding / Getty Images)

—USC intends to keep its defensive staff intact. Could that affect a coordinator hire? My understanding is that USC is currently expecting to retain its defensive staff. Defensive line coach Shaun Nua was at one point brought up as a coordinator candidate at Brigham Young, his alma mater. But a hire was made. Eric Henderson was floated as a possibility at Georgia Tech, his alma mater. They chose a different coordinator Saturday. As USC searches for its own coordinator, the hope has been to find someone who would fit in alongside its current staff. Could that limit the pool of coaches considering the job? Potentially, yeah. But Lincoln Riley has made it clear ever since he came to USC that he values continuity and loyalty. That’s also been reflected in his assistants’ contracts, which would cost USC a pretty penny to buy out, if it came to that. Plans are always subject to change, depending on the candidate that comes along or how the carousel works out. But the goal right now is to keep the gang together.

—As anxious as it might make you, it’s better that USC takes its time in finding a defensive coordinator. Before USC announced the hire of Chad Bowden as general manager, fans were losing their minds at how long it was taking to bring someone in. But those same fans would probably argue now that the wait ended up being worth it. There’s no reason to think the same couldn’t be true at defensive coordinator. It’s been two weeks since Lynn left for Penn State, and there have been ongoing conversations with candidates. Don’t be surprised if the search continues on without conclusion through the next week as well.

—Star freshman Alijah Arenas’ debut will wait at least another week. The hope has always been to have the five-star freshman back by mid-January, but it’s looking more like that timeline could be pushed back a bit. Having seen him practice, it’s clear his explosiveness is intact after such a long layoff. The big question, as is often the case with knee injuries, is whether Arenas will be able to move as well on the defensive end. He should start off playing a healthy amount of minutes right away … assuming the plan stays the same.

—Chad Baker-Mazara bounced back in a big way Friday. Can he keep it up? After a brutal stretch in the state of Michigan in which the Trojans’ leading scorer shot just five of 17, Baker-Mazara scored 29 points, with eight assists. Without him, USC wouldn’t have been able to hang on in overtime against Minnesota. But relying on Baker-Mazara to be the top option could continue to produce roller-coaster results this season. Arenas could help take the pressure off, especially as the stakes are raised in the coming weeks.

—Blue chip Aussie freshman Sitaya Fagan could technically play this season for the USC women. But no matter how much the Trojans may need the 6-foot-4 standout’s size and athleticism in the paint, I’m told USC will stick to its plan to have Fagan sit and learn the rest of this season, in order to hit the ground running for the 2026-27 slate. Fagan is still just 17, and the intent of her coming stateside now was to give her time to acclimate. That long-game approach is ultimately a good thing, even if USC is struggling in the frontcourt right now and could use a new face.

Olympic sports spotlight

A few days before the men’s volleyball season kicked off Saturday, USC announced a contract extension for coach Jeff Nygaard through 2028. This season marks Nygaard’s 11th as coach, and while his career record of 123-136 might not seem all that impressive on paper, competing in indoor men’s volleyball is actually more difficult than you might think at USC.

Nygaard previously only had 4 ½ scholarships to split among his team, and with the cost of attendance at USC higher than most anywhere else in college volleyball, it made for a smaller pool of players available in an otherwise talent-rich region. But the advent of revenue sharing and roster limits removed the cap on those scholarships, meaning USC can pay more of the way for men’s volleyball players if it chooses.

Of course, men’s volleyball isn’t the only Olympic sports program asking for that investment. But while USC has other major sports programs it must pour money into, other small schools are now finding themselves in a unique position of power. For a program such as Long Beach State, one that doesn’t have to support football, why not pour money into building a men’s volleyball powerhouse?

It’s more of an uphill climb in that sense for USC and Nygaard, which is part of the reason why the school offered him an extension. There’s been an effort to maintain continuity with the programs that face those similar challenges.

“It validates a number of different things we’re trying to do and how we’re doing our business,” Nygaard told me. “The continuity piece is huge for just the bedrock of the program, just to trust that they get, day after day, they don’t have to deal with massive change.”

USC was 21-7 last season and finished second in the MPSF. That was a breakthrough that Nygaard is hoping to build on. It started Saturday with a sweep of St. Thomas Aquinas.

“We’re working towards taking our good to great,” Nygaard said.

In case you missed it

Kara Dunn’s late scoring surge can’t save No. 21 USC in loss to Minnesota

Chad Baker-Mazara scores 29 points, leading USC to overtime win over Minnesota

USC quarterback Husan Longstreet announces he’s entering transfer portal

‘We were too casual.’ USC women lose big lead and fall to Oregon

What I’m watching this week

The team from “The Traitors” after winning at last year’s Emmy Awards.

(Richard Shotwell / Richard Shotwell/invision/ap)

One of the best competition reality shows on television is back on Peacock. “The Traitors” has never failed me in any season, and the first three episodes of this one have already delivered. You can always count on this show to reinvent itself, and this season adds an interesting twist to the traitor dynamic.

If you haven’t already tried “The Traitors” before, now is the time to get on board.

Until next time …

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at ryan.kartje@latimes.com, and follow me on X at @Ryan_Kartje. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has vetoed a bill that would have reduced the prison sentence of his right-wing rival and predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted of plotting a coup.

On Thursday, Lula followed through with his promise to block the legislation, which had passed Brazil’s opposition-controlled Congress last year.

“In the name of the future, we do not have the right to forget the past,” Lula wrote in a series of social media posts, saying that it would have benefitted “those who attacked Brazilian democracy”.

The veto came on the third anniversary of the 2023 attack on the Three Powers Plaza in the capital of Brasilia, where government buildings representing the presidency, Congress and the Supreme Court stand.

On January 8 of that year, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed the buildings in an apparent attempt to provoke a military response that would remove Lula from power.

In marking the anniversary of the attack, Lula called on Brazilians to stand up for their young democracy, which began after a period of violent dictatorship in the late 20th century.

“January 8th is marked in history as the day of democracy’s victory. A victory over those who tried to seize power by force, disregarding the popular will expressed at the ballot box. Over those who have always defended dictatorship, torture, and the extermination of opponents,” Lula wrote online.

“The attempted coup on January 8, 2023, reminded us that democracy is not an unshakeable achievement.”

Bolsonaro’s sentence

The January 8 attack caused millions of dollars in property damage and dozens of injuries, as police and protesters clashed in the government plaza.

The incident evoked comparisons to the violent riot at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, where supporters of President Donald Trump attempted to disrupt the certification of his 2020 election defeat.

Likewise, Bolsonaro, a former army captain, had refused to concede his defeat to Lula after a narrow loss in the 2022 elections.

Rather, he and his allies had argued that Brazil’s electronic voting machines were susceptible to fraud, and they challenged the election results in court. Their petition, however, was thrown out for its “total absence of any evidence”.

Still, many of Bolsonaro’s supporters backed his claims and took to the streets to protest the election results. The weeks surrounding Lula’s inauguration in January 2023 were fraught, with reports of a bomb threat and an attack on police headquarters in Brasilia.

Prosecutors later accused Bolsonaro and his allies of leading a criminal conspiracy to overturn the election results.

One of the options the defendants allegedly weighed was to declare a “state of siege” in Brazil, which would allow the military to take control and new elections be held. Another option was reportedly to assassinate Lula and his running mate, Geraldo Alckmin.

Bolsonaro has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied any wrongdoing, framing the accusations instead as a political hit job.

Still, in September, he was sentenced to 27 years in prison after being found guilty on counts including attempting a coup, causing damage to public property, attempting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, participation in a criminal enterprise, and the deterioration of a listed national heritage site.

He began his prison term in November, after he was found to have damaged the ankle monitor used to ensure he was not a flight risk.

Weighing October’s election

Conservative politicians, however, have decried the prison sentence as excessive and called for its reduction.

Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo has petitioned the Trump administration in the US to intervene on behalf of the imprisoned ex-president, and his eldest child, Flavio Bolsonaro, even hinted he might suspend his 2026 presidential bid if his father were released.

On December 10, Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies passed legislation that would reduce the sentences of nearly 1,000 people linked to the January 8 attack, including Bolsonaro.

A week later, on December 17, the Senate followed suit, sending the leniency bill to the president for his signature.

But Lula had repeatedly pledged to reject the bill, risking the possibility that Brazil’s Congress could override his veto.

“ This is a bill that really is a litmus test in Brazilian politics,” Gustavo Ribeiro, a journalist and founder of The Brazil Report, told Al Jazeera. “Conservatives overwhelmingly supported it, while liberals are adamantly against it.”

Still, Ribeiro described the bill as a compromise between Brazil’s centre-right and far-right forces.

“The centre-right tried to work a sort of a middle-of-the-road solution that is not full amnesty but would allow Bolsonaro to leave incarceration after two years, in what we call in Brazil a semi-open prison sentence,” he explained.

He sees Brazil’s general election in October as a significant factor in Congress’s passage of the bill, noting that Bolsonaro remains a popular figure on the right.

“Because Bolsonaro has such a big clout with conservatives, many in Congress – many right-of-centre lawmakers – fear that if they do not lend their full support to any cause that Bolsonaro espouses, they will lose support,” Ribeiro said.

Lula is seeking a fourth term as president in October’s election, and he is expected to face Bolsonaro’s son Flavio at the ballot box.

WASHINGTON — In a remarkable rebuke of Republican leadership, the House passed legislation Thursday, in a 230-196 vote, that would extend expired healthcare subsidies for those who get coverage through the Affordable Care Act as renegade GOP lawmakers joined essentially all Democrats in voting for the measure.

Forcing the issue to a vote came about after a handful of Republicans signed on to a so-called “discharge petition” to unlock debate, bypassing objections from House Speaker Mike Johnson. The bill now goes to the Senate, where pressure is building for a similar bipartisan compromise.

Together, the rare political coalitions are rushing to resolve the standoff over the enhanced tax credits that were put in place during the COVID-19 crisis but expired late last year after no agreement was reached during the government shutdown.

“The affordability crisis is not a ‘hoax,’ it is very real — despite what Donald Trump has had to say,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, invoking the president’s remarks.

“Democrats made clear before the government was shut down that we were in this affordability fight until we win this affordability fight,” he said. “Today we have an opportunity to take a meaningful step forward.”

Ahead of voting, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bill, which would provide a three-year extension of the subsidy, would increase the nation’s deficit by about $80.6 billion over the decade. It would increase the number of people with health insurance by 100,000 this year, 3 million in 2027, 4 million in 2028 and 1.1 million in 2029, the CBO said.

Growing support for extending ACA subsidies

Johnson (R-La.) worked for months to prevent this situation. His office argued Thursday that federal healthcare funding from the COVID-19 era is ripe with fraud, pointing to an investigation in Minnesota, and urged a no vote.

On the floor, Republicans argued that the subsidies as structured have contributed to fraud and that the chamber should be focused on lowering health insurance costs for the broader population.

“Only 7% of the population relies on Obamacare marketplace plans. This chamber should be about helping 100% of Americans,” said Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), chair of the House Ways and Means Committee.

While the momentum from the vote shows the growing support for the tax breaks that have helped some 22 million Americans have access to health insurance, the Senate would be under no requirement to take up the House bill.

Instead, a small group of senators from both parties has been working on an alternative plan that could find support in both chambers and become law. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said that for any plan to find support in his chamber, it will need to have income limits to ensure that the financial aid is focused on those who most need the help. He and other Republicans also want to ensure that beneficiaries would have to at least pay a nominal amount for their coverage.

Finally, Thune said there would need to be some expansion of health savings accounts, which allow people to save money and withdraw it tax-free as long as the money is spent on qualified medical expenses.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), who is part of the negotiations on reforms and subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, said there is agreement on addressing fraud in healthcare.

“We recognize that we have millions of people in this country who are going to lose — are losing, have lost — their health insurance because they can’t afford the premiums,” Shaheen said. “And so we’re trying to see if we can’t get to some agreement that’s going to help, and the sooner we can do that, the better.”

Trump has pushed Republicans to send money directly to Americans for health savings accounts so they can bypass the federal government and handle insurance on their own. Democrats largely reject this idea as insufficient for covering the high costs of healthcare.

Republicans bypass their leaders

The action by Republicans to force a vote has been an affront to Johnson and his leadership team, who essentially lost control of what comes to the House floor as the Republican lawmakers joined Democrats for the workaround.

After last year’s government shutdown failed to resolve the issue, Johnson had discussed allowing more politically vulnerable GOP lawmakers a chance to vote on another healthcare bill that would temporarily extend the subsidies while also adding changes.

But after days of discussions, Johnson and the GOP leadership sided with the more conservative wing, which has assailed the subsidies as propping up ACA, which they consider a failed government program. He offered a modest proposal of healthcare reforms that was approved, but has stalled.

It was then that rank-and-file lawmakers took matters into their own hands, as many of their constituents faced soaring health insurance premiums beginning this month.

Republican Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Robert Bresnahan and Ryan Mackenzie, all from Pennsylvania, and Mike Lawler of New York, signed the Democrats’ petition, pushing it to the magic number of 218 needed to force a House vote. All four represent key swing districts whose races will help determine which party takes charge of the House next year.

Trump encourages GOP to take on healthcare issue

What started as a long shot effort by Democrats to offer a discharge petition has become a political vindication of the Democrats’ government shutdown strategy as they fought to preserve the healthcare funds.

Democrats are making clear that the higher health insurance costs many Americans are facing will be a political centerpiece of their efforts to retake the majority in the House and Senate in the fall elections.

Trump, during a lengthy speech this week to House GOP lawmakers, encouraged his party to take control of the healthcare debate — an issue that has stymied Republicans since he tried, and failed, to repeal Obamacare during his first term.

Mascaro and Freking write for the Associated Press. AP writer Matt Brown contributed to this report.

In between such pistol-packing antiheroes as Bonnie Parker and Luigi Mangione, financially-squeezed Americans rooted for Tony Kiritsis, a working stiff who took his mortgage lender hostage in 1977 Indianapolis, claiming that the loan company cheated him out of his land. “Dead Man’s Wire,” the title of Gus Van Sant’s wonky true crime caper, comes from Kiritsis’ weapon: a shotgun tied to a noose looped around the neck of his prisoner, Richard Hall. His hair-trigger homemade contraption pressured all three major networks into giving Kiritsis airtime to explain his grievances to the public. Pressing a sawed-off barrel to Hall’s head, the hot-tempered chatterbox told the cameras, “I am sorry I humiliated this man this way, even though he must’ve surely had it coming.”

To the establishment’s horror, many viewers sided with Kiritsis. “How about some Tony Kiritsis t-shirts, some Tony Kiritsis badges, a Tony Kiritsis fan club?” one supporter wrote to the local paper, the Indianapolis News.

Or how about a biopic that fires blanks?

Van Sant has long taken aim at the intersection of violence and mass media culture. Over his career, he’s attacked it from several angles, including the fame-seeking satire of “To Die For,” his elegy for the publicly out politician of “Milk” and the clinical ennui of “Elephant,” his take on the Columbine massacre, in which his pair of teen killers numb themselves with grisly entertainment. Kiritsis’ story is an irresistible target: an ignored man thrilled to have the attention of the spanking new Action News squads who barge onto the scene unprepared for the risk they might broadcast an on-air murder.

But this time, Van Sant seems more interested in the period-piece décor and the aesthetics of early video footage (the cinematography is by Arnaud Potier) than he is in the bleak humor of Kiritsis’ televised tirade cutting to a burger commercial. The result is a faintly comic curio that hurtles along without much impact.

The mishaps start when Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgård) storms Meridian Mortgage’s office only to discover his intended captive, the ruthless M.L. Hall (Al Pacino), is away vacationing in Florida. Hall’s cowed and coddled son Richard (Dacre Montgomery) will have to do, even though the real estate scion is so passive that he barely bothers to fight for his life. If you’ve seen the original footage of the bizarre press conference where Hall, a twitch from assassination, stares blankly past the flashbulbs, then you know that Van Sant and Montgomery (the “Stranger Things” bully cast against type) get their victim exactly right while robbing Kiritsis, and the audience, of a worthy adversary. In one cold yet weightless moment, the boy-man realizes his own dad might not care whether he survives.

At least the younger Hall’s dull demeanor — then coded as dignity, now as soullessness — makes Kiritsis seem more alive. The real Kiritsis was short-statured with a car salesman’s sideburns; he had the kind of face you only see onscreen during competitive bowling. Lanky, hunched and fragile, Skarsgård’s version isn’t quite as salt-of the-earth, although he’s captured his rapid patter and the burning menace in his eyes. He plays the role somewhere between a soapbox preacher and a “Scooby-Doo” episode that imagines Shaggy unmasking a money-grubbing bad guy and threatening to beat him to death.

Kiritsis is so convinced of his righteousness that he genuinely believes the mortgage company’s manipulations, not his own murder threat, to be the big story. When Hall proves too mute to debate, Kiritsis vents to a radio disc jockey named Fred (Colman Domingo), even though Fred is more interested in smooth tunes than hard news. (Springboarding from this and his perky TV host role in “The Running Man,” Domingo needs to star in his own comedy stat.) Won’t someone, even an inessential young reporter played by Myha’la, poke into the alleged scam?

Yet despite how often Austin Kolodney’s script has Kiritsis say he just wants to be heard, the soured mortgage deal is so impossible to follow that even the movie itself deems it unnecessary. Our attention pivots to the futility of this self-described “little guy” trying to get someone with clout to take him seriously. In this period, criminal psychology was just starting to go mainstream. An FBI agent (Neil Mulac) instructs the Indianapolis cops to think deeper about Kiritsis’ motivations, wielding chalk to illustrate how anger is rooted in humiliation and disrespect. Kiritsis is screaming mad and the police’s yawns aren’t helping.

Today, Kiritsis would have a podcast. But cranks like him seem especially at home in the 1970s — the mad-as-hell decade — when their polyester button-downs make them look extra itchy around the collar. It’s easy to picture Kiritsis exiting a double-feature of “Network” and “Dog Day Afternoon” and vowing that he, too, isn’t going to take it anymore.

Van Sant sees the parallels between Kiritsis and “Dog Day Afternoon’s” populist bank robber Sonny Wortzik — heck, he’s even stunt-cast Pacino as the fat-cat financier — but the film doesn’t appear to have the budget to examine how Kiritsis’ anger fires up the cash-strapped masses. It certainly can’t afford to include the real-life scene at an Indianapolis Pacers game where an arena of basketball fans cheered for his not-guilty verdict, although I would have settled for even a bit player who helps us understand why a jury of his peers let him off the hook.

Instead, the movie inexplicably squanders its energy on needle drops that act against the mood: the watery irony of Donna Summer’s “Love to Love You Baby” cooing over an image of Hall handcuffed in a bathtub. Better is Danny Elfman’s spartan and fraught score, particularly the dyspeptic drums.

Was Kiritsis a narcissistic madman or a schmuck who’d put too much trust in the American ideals of hard work and fair treatment? Van Sant alludes to the latter when the televisions keep showing John Wayne on other channels, the gunslinging Duke setting things right in a classic western or winning the 1977 People’s Choice statuette for best actor.

It’s no wonder that Kiritsis figured he’d be a hero, too — and that, in real life, many of the people watching at home agreed — although as obvious as that point is, it would have been nice if Van Sant explored it. At least we get Kiritsis’ sentimental, expletive-laden version of an awards speech which devolves into him thanking his family, Hall’s family and even the police academy before he gets hustled offstage. Kiritsis is certain he’s accomplished something great. We’re glumly aware of how many others are waiting their turn in the wings.

Trump has ‘greenlit’ bipartisan push to sanction countries that buy Russian energy exports, Lindsey Graham says.

United States President Donald Trump has backed a bill to impose sanctions on countries that buy Russian oil, including China and India, an influential Republican senator has said.

Lindsey Graham, a senator for the US state of South Carolina, said on Wednesday that Trump had “greenlit” the bipartisan bill following a “very productive” meeting.

Graham’s Sanctioning Russia Act, drafted with Democrat Richard Blumenthal, would give Trump the authority to impose a tariff of up to 500 percent on imports from countries doing business with Russia’s energy sector.

“This bill will allow President Trump to punish those countries who buy cheap Russian oil fueling Putin’s war machine,” Graham said in a statement, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

““This bill would give President Trump tremendous leverage against countries like China, India and Brazil to incentivize them to stop buying the cheap Russian oil that provides the financing for Putin’s bloodbath against Ukraine.”

China and Russia continue to be major buyers of Russia’s oil despite US and European sanctions imposed on the Russian energy sector in response to Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

China bought nearly half of Russia’s crude oil exports in November, while India took about 38 percent of exports, according to an analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. Brazil dramatically ramped up its purchase of subsidised Russian oil after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but those imports have fallen substantially in recent months.

The latest US push to increase pressure on Russia comes as Moscow and Kyiv are engaged in Washington-brokered negotiations to bring an end to the nearly four-year war.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration for the first time gave its backing to European proposals for binding security guarantees for Ukraine, including post-war truce monitoring and a European-led multinational force.

Russia, which has repeatedly said that it will not accept any deployment of NATO member countries’ soldiers in Ukraine, has yet to indicate that it would support such security measures.

In his statement on his bill, Graham said the legislation was timely in light of the current situation in Ukraine.

“This will be well-timed, as Ukraine is making concessions for peace and Putin is all talk, continuing to kill the innocent,” he said.

SACRAMENTO — A California lawmaker introduced a bill Monday to crack down on fake liens filed against politicians, court employees and businesses that can force victims to spend thousands of dollars in legal fees to clear their names and repair their credit.

The bill by Assemblymember Diane Papan (D-San Mateo) comes after a Times investigation in July found lien claims filed with the secretary of state’s office are used by antigovernment agitators, including so-called “sovereign citizens,” for conspiracy-laced demands and vendettas. The U.S. Justice Department and the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service have called fake liens a form of “paper terrorism.”

“This isn’t an exotic or onerous fix,” Papan said Monday after the state Legislature returned to the Capitol to begin a new session. “The fact is that someone can do irreparable damage to someone’s reputation and their ability to have good credit. And we can certainly do better in California.”

Liens are recorded in state Uniform Commercial Code databases across the country, with the public filings intended to standardize interstate transactions and alert creditors about business debts and financial obligations.

The Times’ investigation found that state databases of UCC liens, which were designed to be straightforward and quick to file, are inherently vulnerable to abuse. A single false filing can claim an individual or business owes debts worth hundreds of millions or even trillions of dollars. Others flood victims with repeated filings that make it appear they are entangled in complex financial disputes.

In California, a lien recorded with the secretary of state costs $5 to file, but removing a fraudulent one from the public database requires a court order, which can cost thousands in attorney and court fees. The state does not notify a person when a lien names them as the debtor, allowing fake filings to remain in California’s public database for years before a victim discovers them. Many politicians and government employees learned from The Times that they had been targeted with spurious filings.

Under Assembly Bill 501, the secretary of state’s office would be required to notify individuals within 21 days if they are named as a debtor in a lien filing. The legislation also would delay court fees until the end of judicial proceedings.

In cases where the lien is found to be fraudulent, the bill would make the guilty party liable to the victim for three times the amount of court fees paid. The bill would also increase the maximum civil penalty for filing a fraudulent lien to $15,000, up from $5,000. California law already makes it a felony to knowingly file a fake lien.

“Victims of these fraudulent filings often have no idea they’ve been targeted until real harm is done,” Papan said. “That harm can look like wrecked credit, failed background checks, or failed mortgage applications while the people committing the fraud face relatively little risk or consequence.”

The National Assn. of Secretaries of State said the vast majority of UCC filings are legitimate. But, in a 2023 report, the association said that “fraudulent or bogus filings” were a widespread and persistent problem across the country, warning that they “can create serious financial difficulties for victims.”

One high-profile California public official who was unaware he had been named in a UCC claim until contacted by The Times said he was alarmed to find that the filing contained his home address. The Times identified hundreds of other UCC filings with no apparent legal basis that also listed the home addresses of government officials and prominent power-brokers, effectively turning the state’s public database into a doxing tool.

In the debt claims, individuals falsely allege government officials owe them money or property, in some cases claiming ownership of the victim’s home. Other fake filings target businesses with claims of being owed cash and cars. In some cases, individuals file dozens or hundreds of fake liens. Paid online classes associated with fringe antigovernment ideologies teach people how to record UCC liens, often promoting the filings as a way to pressure perceived adversaries or falsely claiming that the filings can erase debts.

Michael Rogers, a San Diego attorney who represents auto dealers targeted by fake filings, said AB 501 would “greatly curb some of the systemic abuses used by the sovereign citizen movement and others” who file unsupported or fraudulent lien notices.

Consumer credit expert John Ulzheimer said in July that liens can complicate a person’s ability to obtain a mortgage or a company’s chances of securing lines of credit. In some cases, he said, the filings can derail job applications for positions that require thorough background checks.

Papan said her bill would restore “balance and accountability” to the UCC system, ensuring it remains a trusted commercial tool while adding protections for Californians targeted by fraudulent filings.

“We can’t allow the Uniform Commercial Code to be used as a weapon,” Papan said. “The fact that these forms are being used to damage the integrity of commercial transactions is very troubling.”

When the Mississippi Legislature reconvenes in the Capitol’s marbled halls this month, one voice will scarcely be heard: constituents’.

Citizens and advocates are occasionally invited by lawmakers to speak at the Capitol. But unlike some other statehouses in the U.S., there are no formal opportunities for constituents in Mississippi to provide public comment or testimony in committee hearings, remotely or in writing.

“Constituents should have a voice when it comes to policy making,” said Sarah Moreland-Russell, an associate professor in the School of Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis who has studied testimony’s impact on the lawmaking process.

Moreland-Russell said she was “very surprised” to learn that there are no opportunities for Mississippi’s citizens to regularly provide testimony at the statehouse.

“If you’re not hearing from the people that are actually being affected by a policy, then how do you know it’s truly going to be effective?” she asked.

In Louisiana, House and Senate rules mandate proponents and opponents of bills have the opportunity to speak on a piece of legislation. In Alaska, a network of 22 offices across the state provides opportunities to participate in legislative meetings and submit written public comment, as well as provide legislative information to constituents in remote parts of the state. Every bill in Colorado receives a hearing with public comment. And in Arizona, an online system allows residents to register opinions and request to testify on bills from their homes.

Moreland-Russell’s research showed that most legislators, regardless of political party, find testimony from constituents and experts influential. Testimony increased lawmakers’ awareness of issues, encouraged them to conduct additional research and sometimes even changed their votes.

“Stories can be extremely influential,” Moreland-Russell said. She said legislators found personal anecdotes paired with supporting data most impactful.

In Mississippi, bills frequently fly through the committee process, often with little discussion by lawmakers and no input from the public. The Senate’s typo-riddled bill to phase out the income tax — one of the most notable bills to come out of the 2025 legislative session — quickly passed through committee with little debate.

Senate Public Health Committee Chairman Hob Bryan, a Democrat who has served in the Legislature since 1984, said committee hearings used to involve frequent debate, amendments and discussion among subcommittees.

“Everything now is just perfunctory,” he said.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many state legislatures implemented new ways for the public to participate remotely, including options to present remote testimony or gather constituent feedback online.

But Mississippians who do not live in Jackson or cannot attend the Legislature still do not have the opportunity to watch many of the state’s committee proceedings. The Mississippi House of Representatives does not livestream or record its committee meetings, though it does livestream proceedings in the House chamber.

Meanwhile, the Mississippi Senate livestreams most of its committee meetings and all of its full chamber proceedings. This is a marker of Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann’s commitment to transparency, spokesperson Hannah Milliet said in an email.

Republican House Speaker Jason White told Mississippi Today in 2024 that he has no objection to livestreaming committee hearings and said the Rules Committee would look into the policy.

But Republican House Rules Chairman Fred Shanks said in November there has not been any talk of livestreaming the meetings. White did not respond to a request for comment.

Simple changes, such as requiring committees to provide notice of hearings and publish agendas ahead of time, would give constituents more opportunities to participate in the legislative process, said Safia Malin, interim policy director for Jackson-based civic engagement nonprofit One Voice.

The Senate has a page on the Legislature’s website to publish agendas, though they are not always shared. The House does not post agendas online. And committee hearings in both chambers occasionally occur at the last minute.

Democratic Rep. Jeramey Anderson has proposed a rule to require House committees to post agendas 24 hours before meeting for the past seven years. None has ever made it out of committee.

“Mississippians deserve to know what bills are being taken up before they walk into a committee room — not five minutes before, and not after the decisions are already made,” Anderson said in a written statement to Mississippi Today.

“The refusal to provide even basic notice isn’t an accident,” he said. “It’s a deliberate choice that keeps the public from testifying, keeps advocates from participating, and keeps voters from holding their elected officials accountable.”

The state Legislature is allowed to meet behind closed doors. The Mississippi Ethics Commission has repeatedly ruled that the Legislature is not covered by the state’s open meetings law. Hinds County Chancellor Dewayne Thomas affirmed the ruling in February.

The House Republican Caucus — which holds a strong majority — frequently meets behind closed doors before committee meetings, effectively shielding discussion on legislation from the public.

Shanks said he has never had a constituent ask him about speaking at the Capitol. He said he makes his phone number available for constituents to call him at any time.

“As far as somebody making a public comment at a committee meeting, a lot of our committee meetings are pretty quick, and some of them are last-minute,” Shanks said.

“It would be pretty hard to do.”

Dilworth writes for Mississippi Today. This story was originally published by Mississippi Today and distributed through a partnership with the Associated Press.

SACRAMENTO — California State Treasurer Bill Lockyer recently said he was retiring from public office next year, so how does he explain filing papers this week to form a campaign committee for a possible run for lieutenant governor in 2018?

He probably won’t run for lieutenant governor in 2018, but the filing allows him to keep his large political war chest in play to influence elections of other candidates, a spokesman said.

As many other politicians have done, Lockyer is exploiting a much-criticized loophole in the campaign finance law so he can continue to use more than $2.2 million in surplus campaign funds after he leaves office next year.

Normally, an elected official would have to close his campaign committee no later than nine
months after the date he leaves office or the term of office ends.

But many politicians form new committees for offices they do not intend to seek so they can continue to have use of the money for years to come. That way they can contribute to candidates and causes using political funds rather than personal funds.

“His decision to retire from elective office stands,” spokesman Tom Dresslar said. “He hasn’t changed his mind. But at this point he doesn’t want to completely foreclose any options in 2018.”

“Besides, to make sure he can continue using the money to support select candidates and causes beyond 2014 he was gonna have to transfer his campaign funds to a new committee eventually. He decided the sooner the better,” Dresslar said.

ALSO:

States try to tackle ‘secret money’ in politics

States crack down on campaigning nonprofits

Obama picks California watchdog for FEC

patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com

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WASHINGTON — President Trump issued the first vetoes of his second term on Tuesday, rejecting two low-profile bipartisan bills, a move that had the effect of punishing backers who had opposed the president’s positions on other issues.

Trump vetoed drinking water pipeline legislation from Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, a longtime ally who broke with the president in November to release files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He also vetoed legislation that would have given the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida more control of some of its tribal lands. The tribe was among groups suing the administration over an immigration detention center in the Everglades known as “ Alligator Alcatraz.”

Both bills had bipartisan support and had been noncontroversial until the White House announced Trump’s vetoes Tuesday night.

Trump appeared to acknowledge the tribe’s opposition to the detention facility in a letter to Congress explaining his veto. “The Miccosukee Tribe has actively sought to obstruct reasonable immigration policies that the American people decisively voted for when I was elected,” Trump wrote.

Trump did not allude to Boebert in his veto of her legislation, but raised concerns about the cost of the water pipeline at the heart of that bill.

Boebert, one of four House Republicans who sided with House Democrats early on to force the release of the Epstein files, shared a statement on social media suggesting that the veto may have been “political retaliation.”

“I sincerely hope this veto has nothing to do with political retaliation for calling out corruption and demanding accountability. Americans deserve leadership that puts people over politics,” her statement said. Boebert added in another post: “This isn’t over.”

The Florida legislation had been sponsored by Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez, whom Trump has endorsed. Gimenez and the Miccosukee Tribe were not immediately available for comment on Wednesday.

When asked whether the vetoes were punishment, the White House did not answer and instead referred to Trump’s statements explaining the vetoes.

Congress can override the vetoes by a vote of two-thirds of the members of the House and the Senate, but it’s unclear if there’s enough support in the Republican-controlled chambers to do so, especially heading into a midterm election year where many of them will be on the ballot and many GOP members will count on Trump’s backing.

Boebert’s legislation, the “Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act,” aimed to improve access to clean drinking water in eastern Colorado.

While the congresswoman has long been a staunch supporter of Trump, she found herself at odds with the president with her support this year for legislation that required the Justice Department to release files related to Epstein.

Trump fought the proposal before reversing in the face of growing Republican support for releasing the files. Members of his administration even met with Boebert in the White House Situation Room to discuss the matter, though she didn’t change her mind.

Republican Rep. Jeff Hurd of Colorado, who co-sponsored the legislation, said he was “deeply disappointed” by Trump’s veto.

“This was a bipartisan, unanimous bill passed by Congress to uphold a long-standing federal commitment to southeastern Colorado,” Hurd said in a statement.

He said the legislation did not authorize any new construction spending or expand the federal government’s original commitment to the pipeline project, but adjusted the terms of repaying its costs.

Price and Kinnard write for the Associated Press. Kinnard reported from Chapin, S.C.

YouTuber Steve Marsh and partner Alicja had their Christmas dinner at Sherry’s Bar in Benidorm and were stunned when the bill for their three-course meal with wine arrived at their table

A YouTuber who enjoyed a three-course Christmas feast in Benidorm with his other half has confessed they were taken aback by the final bill.

Steve Marsh jetted off to the Spanish resort with his partner Alicja, where the couple tucked into their festive meal at Sherry’s Bar.

As they left the restaurant, Steve and Alicja chatted about the cost – €70 for the pair, working out at just over £61 for two – with Alicja admitting her shock that it wasn’t €70 each, hailing the establishment for its excellent value.

Following the meal, Steve declared himself “broken” after demolishing the generous roast dinner complete with all the trimmings and wine, which came as part of the package.

Before heading off for a dip in the sea, he remarked: “But to be able to get a Christmas dinner in Spain on the 24th of December, that was pretty good wasn’t it? Oh boy. Nobody said it was easy.”

While Steve and Alicja opted for a Benidorm Christmas, questions have been raised about what the future holds for this beloved British holiday hotspot.

In recent times, Europe has witnessed repeated waves of anti-tourism demonstrations, with residents voicing their frustrations.

Consequently, there are worries that visitors might look elsewhere, potentially damaging local European economies.

Benidorm isn’t shielded from these economic shifts, with one visitor branding it a “ghost town” and “empty” during a late summer visit. The TikToker, posting as @yorkshirebargainhunter, shared clips online revealing just how deserted Benidorm has become, according to the Express.

They remarked: “If you’re in Benidorm right now, what do you think? Why do you think it’s so quiet? Why is nobody around? Even this bar here is fully shut down.

“We’re in the height of summer. Everywhere should be absolutely rammed, but it’s not. It’s absolutely dead. This is one of the main strips in Benidorm and it should be absolutely rammed.”

Amid reports of declining visitor numbers, tourism bosses have indicated that holidaymakers might be staying away because they no longer feel welcomed.

Speaking to the Majorca Daily Bulletin, Miguel Pérez-Marsá, head of the nightlife association, said: “The tourists we’re interested in are being driven away; they don’t feel welcome and are going to other destinations.”

SANTA MONICA — Derek Shearer is in the big leagues now, but he cut his political teeth in Santa Monica.

Shearer, a top economic adviser to Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton, was a planning commissioner in Santa Monica for five years. He credits the city with teaching him about politics and about what an activist government can do.

Now busy with the Clinton campaign, Shearer can be found churning out memos, fielding press calls, lunching with Clinton supporters and doing a hundred other tasks necessary to run the campaign in California. He has been on leave since June from his position as a public policy professor at Occidental College.

The Santa Monica resident spends half his time on the road trying to get across to the electorate Clinton’s economic manifesto, which he helped craft along with Rhode Island businessman Ira Magaziner and Harvard economist Robert Reich. The booklet-length document outlines Clinton’s economic plan and is credited with helping revive the lagging Clinton campaign in June.

An old friend of Clinton, Shearer said the plan incorporates few of his own original ideas. “I don’t try to push my solutions” on the candidate, he said. Instead, he advises Clinton on a range of subjects, helping the candidate find information and expertise.

“Derek is the kind of person that thinks you should bring a lot of people together to discuss an issue,” said Manuel Pastor, an economics professor at Occidental and a fellow at the college’s International and Public Affairs Center, which Shearer directs.

But Shearer is a believer in the Clinton message.

“The core message is not that we need better tinkering with the Federal Reserve or we need to tinker a bit with this or that tax rate,” Shearer said. “It’s that there are structural problems in the economy. We need to deal with the institutions in the society, a lot of which are run down or decayed or not running very well.”

He points to SMASH, the alternative public school his children attended in Santa Monica, as an example of the country’s decaying infrastructure. Built in the 1930s, the school is “crumbling,” Shearer said.

Shearer and Clinton met in the late ‘60s when Shearer was working as a free-lance journalist in London and Clinton was on a Rhodes scholarship at Oxford. Both shared an opposition to the Vietnam War and a passionate interest in government. The two men, both 45, have remained friends since.

Shearer said that when they met Clinton was much the same as he is today–”a natural politician” and unrelentingly gregarious.

When Clinton visited Shearer’s home during the California primary, he stood out in the middle of the street and talked to neighbors, Shearer recalled.

And during an impromptu visit to the Venice beach boardwalk, Clinton took the opportunity to talk policy with roller-skaters. He attracted such a large crowd in a bookstore that he eventually had to make a quick getaway out the back door, Shearer said.

“He’s very at ease with people and always has been,” he said.

Even during the lowest points of the Clinton campaign–when charges of marital infidelity were flying–Shearer never lost faith in his chosen candidate.

And he had been there before. “I had been involved in the (Gary) Hart campaign four years before. I had always felt that Hart should not have withdrawn, that the American people want to hear about issues,” Shearer said. He felt the same way about Clinton.

Shearer has taught at UCLA, Tufts University in Massachusetts and the UC Santa Barbara. He moved to Occidental in 1981 and now directs its public policy program.

He tries to bring his zest for real world politics to the classroom, teaching about “how policy really gets made.” His students learn to deal with bureaucracies, write up policy decisions and even craft public relations brochures.

Shearer said he often invites journalists, campaign consultants and local politicians to talk to students, along with nationally known figures such as consumer advocate Ralph Nader and economist John Kenneth Galbraith.

By most accounts, Shearer is more liberal than Clinton. In fact, the Orange County Register in an Aug. 4 editorial singled out Shearer as evidence of the Clinton campaign’s leanings to the left.

But Shearer rejects the “liberal” label in favor of “progressive.”

“What being a progressive means is that you believe that government can make a difference in people’s lives,” he said.

To Shearer, the city in which he lives offers an example.

Smart planning and wise public investment have given Santa Monica its place in the sun, he said. He pointed to the Third Street Promenade–and the decision to zone it to encourage movie theaters to move to the area–as an example of good planning. The theaters attract lots of customers who patronize other businesses on the walkway, he said.

Although Santa Monica is touted by travel writers and urban planners alike as a pleasant and livable community, elections have always been contentious. Because of his experiences here, he is unfazed by the bruising presidential race.

Shearer recalled personal attacks when he ran on a reform slate in Santa Monica in 1981. When his wife, Ruth Goldway, served as mayor in the early ‘80s, she received death threats and had to have police protection, he said.

Shearer made the leap from local politics to the national scene quite some time ago. In fact, it seems as if the Yale graduate was destined for a role in government. His office at Occidental is full of photographs of himself with well-known political figures, among them Sen. Alan Cranston and, of course, Clinton. One black-and-white photo shows Shearer’s journalist father interviewing Lyndon Johnson.

Shearer served on the board of directors for the National Consumer Cooperative Bank during the Carter Administration, and in the 1970s, he was an economic adviser to Jerry Brown.

But Shearer refused to speculate about the role he would play in a Clinton administration.

“I’ve learned . . . that you don’t plan your life around the outcomes of campaigns,” he said.

BUENOS AIRES, Dec. 26 (UPI) — Argentine President Javier Milei’s government is promoting a reform that seeks to redefine the role of the state in public education, curb direct government intervention and give families greater control over their children’s schooling.

A proposed law would legalize homeschooling, expand school choice and grant parents a more active role in school governance, including mechanisms to influence the appointment or removal of principals.

The stated goal is to introduce greater competition among educational institutions to attract students. The initiative has been submitted to Congress, and debate could begin in March.

The reform focuses primarily on basic education, which includes preschool, primary and secondary levels, while also introducing changes to the university financing system.

If approved, it would fully replace the current National Education Law in force since 2006.

“Argentina faces a deep educational crisis, as shown by our students’ results in national and international assessments,” a report by the Ministry of Deregulation and the Secretariat of Education said.

Internationally, PISA tests, which measure skills in math, reading and science, show stagnation or a sustained decline in the performance of Argentine students.

“Compared with other countries in the region, Argentina consistently ranks among the worst performers,” the report said.

Domestically, national assessments show that more than 80% of students in their final year of secondary school fail to reach satisfactory levels in math, while more than 40% have difficulties with reading comprehension.

The official diagnosis also describes the system as overly centralized and bureaucratic, with little room for pedagogical innovation and oversight mechanisms considered weak and lacking transparency.

“The family is the natural and primary agent of education; civil society is the space where it develops through various institutions and projects; and the state has the obligation to guarantee access, continuity and completion of studies at all levels,” the draft law says.

At the secondary level, reform would promote agreements between schools, companies and the productive sector to improve general education and vocational guidance.

Basic education also would be declared an essential service, requiring a minimum level of classes.

The bill recognizes multiple teaching modalities, including in-person, hybrid, community-based, home-based and distance learning, all subject to supervision and evaluation under national and local standards.

Julio Alonso, an academic at the University of Buenos Aires, told UPI the education reform is part of a broader package of changes pushed by the government.

“It is not an isolated measure. It is linked to labor and tax reforms,” he said.

According to Alonso, the central change lies in redefining the role of the state relative to that of families.

“The state takes on a subsidiary role. It guarantees access, but the main decisions fall to parents. The family is formally established as the central actor in the education system,” he said.

Another key point, he said, is the abandonment of a unified national curriculum. Provinces and the country’s capital would assume full responsibility for education, while the federal government would be limited to setting common minimum content.

“The idea of a national education project is left behind. In practice, responsibilities are further delegated to provincial governments,” Alonso said.

He added that the initiative also decentralizes education financing by eliminating the legal spending floor equivalent to 6% of gross domestic product.

“Under this reform, provinces would cover costs with their own resources, while the national government would concentrate spending on direct transfers to families,” he said.

A third pillar of the proposal concerns teachers, with greater family participation in evaluation processes, though not in hiring decisions.

Alonso warned, however, that the reform faces political and social obstacles. The ruling coalition lacks a majority in Congress and depends on support from provincial lawmakers — a weakness recently seen during the budget debate.

On the social front, Alonso anticipates strong resistance, particularly over cuts to the university system, with possible strikes and protests.

Algeria’s parliament has begun debating a draft law that would criminalise France’s colonial rule from 1830 to 1962. Al Jazeera’s Nada Qaddourah explains what we know about the bill.

Once again, Bill Plaschke has literally jinxed another Southern California sports team with his proclamation questions regarding the Rams:

Who’s going to beat them?

Who’s going to stop the unstoppable offense?

Who’s going to score on the persistent defense?

Who’s going to outwit the coaching genius?

I have the answers, and it’s not just Seattle. It’s their special teams, their defensive backs and it’s coach Sean McVay’s play-calling. Well, maybe the referees … but that’s for another day.

Thanks again for the poison-pen article, Bill.

Gary Grayson
Ventura

Just four days after Bill Plaschke promised that the Rams would win the Super Bowl, the team blew a big lead and lost in a stinker to the Seahawks. Like my mother told me when I was a kid: Be honest, respect others, and bet against Plaschke — you’ll win every time!

Jack Wolf
Westwood

Can we quit the Rams praise now? They can’t tackle anyone that gets past the line of scrimmage. Coach Sean McKay and defensive coordinator Chris Shula went into a shell as the Rams lost the game to the Seahawks and any chance of a long playoff run.

Russell Hosaka
Torrance

How many more times do we need to see Emmanuel Forbes chasing a receiver because of a blown coverage or missing an assignment and giving up a big play. The secondary is the weak link in the Rams defense and he’s absolutely a broken link. Chris Shula, please put someone else back there. The mascot Rampage would be a better choice than Forbes.

Doug Vikser
Manhattan Beach

Bill Plaschke writes of the Rams: “Who’s going to score on the persistent defense?” Maybe the Lions with 34 points?

William P. Bekkala
West Hollywood

Bill Plaschke’s Rams encomium is puzzling. During the course of the game I watched, Detroit moved through the Rams defense like Sherman through Georgia. This was, at best, park football. The first team that exploits the Rams defense as the Lions did and consistently moves the ball on offense will defeat the Rams.

Skip Nevell
Eugene, Ore.

Just when the Rams thought that they solved their kicking situation, they lost another game because of a missed field goal. After the game, they must have been kicking themselves.

Jeff Hershow
Woodland Hills

It looks like the Bills are going to win the Super Bowl, because Plaschke wrote, “The Bills? Not ever.”

Vaughn Hardenberg
Westwood

The commander of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said Friday that the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) should not be “politicized,” voicing opposition to a bill in South Korea that seeks to grant the government control of non-military access to the buffer zone.

The remarks by USFK Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson, who also doubles as commander of the U.N. Command (UNC), followed a recent UNC statement in opposition to the pending bill.

He said the armistice agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War should remain the barometer governing behavior. Under the armistice, the UNC currently has the authority to approve or deny access to the DMZ.

“What we want to try to make sure that we do is, number one, we don’t allow that area to become politicized … we signed an agreement to say that we will maintain this buffer here,” Brunson said in an episode of security-focused podcast series “War on the Rocks.”

Brunson noted that South Korea recently proposed military talks with North Korea to discuss how to clarify the Military Demarcation Line in the DMZ in a bid to prevent possible clashes near the inter-Korean border, but emphasized that all actions should be based on the armistice agreement.

“What governs our behavior is the armistice, and we’ve got to adhere to the standards put forward in the armistice. And as long as we do that, there won’t be any challenges,” he said. “What we can’t do is seek to change the way we do business in abrogation of a legal document, which is the armistice.”

The USFK commander’s call urging the need to adhere to the armistice came just days after the UNC issued a rare statement underscoring its role as the “administrator” of the DMZ, which stretches about 250 kilometers in length and 4 km in width, and has served as a buffer between the two Koreas since the end of the Korean War.

Speaking on Seoul’s plan to seek a conditions-based handover of wartime operational control from Washington within President Lee Jae Myung’s five-year term ending in 2030, Brunson said the United States has no intention to “hold this up at all.”

He still emphasized that the bilaterally agreed-upon conditions should be met for the transfer.

“We’ve got to make sure that we’ve met all those conditions whether they be operational, whether they be material based, whether it might be something as simple as protection that those things are all in place before we go and do this,” he said.

Against such a backdrop, Brunson touted how South Korea’s “thriving” defense industry and participation in multinational drills like Talisman Sabre, held in Australia, have strengthened its capabilities as well as role in the wider Indo-Pacific region and called on the country to further “pull away from the Peninsula and become more engaged.”

“I’ve talked a lot about the centrality and importance of the Republic of Korea to the entirety of the Indo-Pacific by virtue of their economy, by virtue of the size of their military, by virtue of their ability to continue to develop technologies,” he said, referring to South Korea by its formal name.

“They are just preeminently important to peace in the Indo-Pacific.”

Copyright (c) Yonhap News Agency prohibits its content from being redistributed or reprinted without consent, and forbids the content from being learned and used by artificial intelligence systems.

Legislation reflects Democrats’ efforts to seek tighter oversight of Trump administration’s military action.

The United States Senate has passed a $901bn bill setting defence policy and spending for the 2026 fiscal year, combining priorities backed by President Donald Trump’s administration with provisions designed to preserve congressional oversight of US military power.

The National Defense Authorisation Act (NDAA) was approved in a 77-20 vote on Wednesday with senators adopting legislation passed by the House of Representatives last month. It now goes to Trump for his signature.

Several provisions in the bill reflect efforts by Democratic lawmakers, supported by some Republicans, to constrain how quickly the Trump administration may scale back US military commitments in Europe.

The bill requires the Pentagon to maintain at least 76,000 US soldiers in Europe unless NATO allies are consulted and the administration determines that a reduction would be in the US national interest. The US typically stations 80,000 to 100,000 soldiers across the continent. A similar measure prevents reductions in US troop levels in South Korea below 28,500 soldiers.

Congress also reinforced its backing for Ukraine, authorising $800m under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative with $400m allocated for each of the next two years. A further $400m per year was approved to manufacture weapons for Ukraine, signalling continued congressional support for Kyiv and cementing Washington’s commitment to Europe’s defence.

Asia Pacific focus, congressional oversight

The bill also reflects priorities aligned with the Trump administration’s national security strategy, which places the Asia Pacific at the centre of US foreign policy and describes the region as a key economic and geopolitical battleground.

In line with that approach, the NDAA provides $1bn for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, aimed at strengthening defence cooperation as the US seeks to counter China’s growing military influence.

The legislation authorises $600m in security assistance for Israel, including funding for joint missile defence programmes, such as the Iron Dome, a measure that has long drawn broad bipartisan support in Congress.

The NDAA increases reporting requirements on US military activity, an area in which Democrats in particular have sought greater oversight.

It directs the Department of Defense to provide Congress with additional information on strikes targeting suspected smuggling and trafficking operations in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific, adding pressure on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to provide lawmakers with video footage of US strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats operating in international waters near Venezuela.

Lawmakers moved to strengthen oversight after a September strike killed two people who had survived an earlier attack on their boat.

Some Democratic lawmakers said they were not briefed in advance on elements of the campaign, prompting calls for clearer reporting requirements.

Sanctions and America First

The legislation repeals the 2003 authorisation for the US invasion of Iraq and the 1991 authorisation for the Gulf War. Supporters from both parties said the repeals reduce the risk of future military action being undertaken without explicit congressional approval.

The bill also permanently lifts US sanctions on Syria imposed during the regime of President Bashar al-Assad after the Trump administration’s earlier decision to temporarily ease restrictions. Supporters argue the move will support Syria’s reconstruction after al-Assad’s removal from power a year ago.

Other provisions align more closely with priorities advanced by Trump and Republican lawmakers under the administration’s America First agenda.

The NDAA eliminates diversity, equity and inclusion offices and training programmes within the Department of Defense, including the role of chief diversity officer. The House Armed Services Committee claims the changes would save about $40m.

The bill also cuts $1.6bn from Pentagon programmes related to climate change. While the US military has previously identified climate-related risks as a factor affecting bases and operations, the Trump administration and Republican leaders have said defence spending should prioritise immediate military capabilities.

WASHINGTON — The Senate gave final passage Wednesday to an annual military policy bill that will authorize $901 billion in defense programs while pressuring Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to provide lawmakers with video of strikes on alleged drug boats in international waters near Venezuela.

The annual National Defense Authorization Act, which raises troop pay by 3.8%, gained bipartisan backing as it moved through Congress. It passed the Senate on a 77-20 vote before lawmakers planned to leave Washington for a holiday break. Two Republicans — Sens. Rand Paul and Mike Lee — and 18 Democrats voted against the bill.

The White House has indicated that it is in line with President Trump’s national security priorities. However, the legislation, which ran more than 3,000 pages, revealed some points of friction between Congress and the Pentagon as the Trump administration reorients its focus away from security in Europe and toward Central and South America.

The bill pushes back on recent moves by the Pentagon. It demands more information on boat strikes in the Caribbean, requires that the U.S. maintain its troop levels in Europe and sends some military aid to Ukraine.

But overall, the bill represents a compromise between the parties. It implements many of Trump’s executive orders and proposals on eliminating diversity and inclusion efforts in the military and grants emergency military powers at the U.S. border with Mexico. It also enhances congressional oversight of the Department of Defense, repeals several years-old war authorizations and seeks to overhaul how the Pentagon purchases weapons as the U.S. tries to outpace China in developing the next generation of military technology.

“We’re about to pass, and the president will enthusiastically sign, the most sweeping upgrades to DOD’s business practices in 60 years,” said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Still, the sprawling bill faced objections from both Democratic and Republican leadership on the Senate Commerce Committee. That’s because the legislation allows military aircraft to obtain a waiver to operate without broadcasting their precise location, as an Army helicopter had done before a midair collision with an airliner in Washington, D.C., in January that killed 67 people.

“The special carve-out was exactly what caused the January 29 crash that claimed 67 lives,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, said at a news conference this week.

Cruz said he was seeking a vote on bipartisan legislation in the next month that would require military aircraft to use a precise location sharing tool and improve coordination between commercial and military aircraft in busy areas.

Boat strike videos

Republicans and Democrats agreed to language in the defense bill that threatened to withhold a quarter of Hegseth’s travel budget until he provided unedited video of the strikes, as well as the orders authorizing them, to the House and Senate Committees on Armed Services.

Hegseth was on Capitol Hill on Tuesday ahead of the bill’s passage to brief lawmakers on the U.S. military campaign in international waters near Venezuela. The briefing elicited contrasting responses from many lawmakers, with Republicans largely backing the campaign and Democrats expressing concern about it and saying they had not received enough information.

The committees are investigating a Sept. 2 strike — the first of the campaign — that killed two people who had survived an initial attack on their boat. The Navy admiral who ordered the “double-tap” strike, Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, also appeared before the committees shortly before the vote Wednesday in a classified briefing that also included video of the strike in question.

Several Republican senators emerged from the meeting backing Hegseth and his decision not to release the video publicly, but other GOP lawmakers stayed silent on their opinion of the strike.

Democrats are calling for part of the video to be released publicly and for every member of Congress to have access to the full footage.

“The American people absolutely need to see this video,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). “I think they would be shocked.”

Congressional oversight

Lawmakers have been caught by surprise by the Trump administration several times in the last year, including by a move to pause intelligence sharing with Ukraine and a decision to reduce U.S. troop presence in NATO countries in eastern Europe. The defense legislation requires that Congress be kept in the loop on decisions like those going forward, as well as when top military brass are removed.

The Pentagon is also required, under the legislation, to keep at least 76,000 troops and major equipment stationed in Europe unless NATO allies are consulted and there is a determination that such a withdrawal is in U.S. interests. Roughly 80,000 to 100,000 U.S. troops are usually present on European soil. A similar requirement keeps the number of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea at 28,500.

Lawmakers are also pushing back on some Pentagon decisions by authorizing $400 million for each of the next two years to manufacture weapons to be sent to Ukraine.

Cuts to diversity and climate initiatives

Trump and Hegseth have made it a priority to purge the military of material and programs that address diversity, anti-racism or gender issues, and the defense bill codifies many of those changes. It would repeal diversity, equity and inclusion offices and trainings, including the position of chief diversity officer. Those cuts would save the Pentagon about $40 million, according to the Republican-controlled House Armed Services Committee.

The U.S. military has long found that climate change is a threat to how it provides national security because weather-related disasters can destroy military bases and equipment. But the bill makes $1.6 billion in cuts by eliminating climate change-related programs at the Pentagon.

Repeal of war authorizations and Syria sanctions

Congress is writing a closing chapter to the war in Iraq by repealing the authorization for the 2003 invasion. Now that Iraq is a strategic partner of the U.S., lawmakers in support of the provision say the repeal is crucial to prevent future abuses. The bill also repeals the 1991 authorization that sanctioned the U.S.-led Gulf War.

The rare, bipartisan moves to repeal the legal justifications for the conflicts signal a potential appetite among lawmakers to reclaim some of Congress’ war powers.

Groves writes for the Associated Press.

WASHINGTON — Four centrist Republicans broke with Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday and signed onto a Democratic-led petition that will force a House vote on extending for three years an enhanced pandemic-era subsidy that lowers health insurance costs for millions of Americans.

The stunning move comes after House Republican leaders pushed ahead with a health care bill that does not address the soaring monthly premiums that millions of people will soon endure when the tax credits for those who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act expire at year’s end.

Democrats led by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York needed 218 signatures to force a floor vote on their bill, which would extend the subsides for three years.

Republican Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Robert Bresnahan and Ryan Mackenzie, all from Pennsylvania, and Mike Lawler of New York signed on Wednesday morning, pushing it to the magic number of 218. A vote on the subsidy bill could come as soon as January under House rules.

“Unfortunately, it is House leadership themselves that have forced this outcome.” Fitzpatrick said in a statement.

Origins of a Republican revolt

The revolt against GOP leadership came after days of talks centered on the health care subsidies.

Johnson, R-La., had discussed allowing more politically vulnerable GOP lawmakers a chance to vote on bills that would temporarily extend the subsidies while also adding changes such as income caps for beneficiaries. But after days of discussions, the leadership sided with the more conservative wing of the party’s conference, which has assailed the subsidies as propping up a failed marketplace through the ACA, which is widely known as “Obamacare.”

House Republicans pushed ahead Wednesday a 100-plus-page health care package without the subsidies, instead focusing on long-sought GOP proposals designed to expand insurance coverage options for small businesses and the self-employed.

Fitzpatrick and Lawler tried to add a temporary extension of the subsidies to the bill, but were denied.

“Our only request was a floor vote on this compromise, so that the American People’s voice could be heard on this issue. That request was rejected. Then, at the request of House leadership I, along with my colleagues, filed multiple amendments, and testified at length to those amendments,” Fitzpatrick said. “House leadership then decided to reject every single one of these amendments.

“As I’ve stated many times before, the only policy that is worse than a clean three-year extension without any reforms, is a policy of complete expiration without any bridge,” Fitzpatrick said.

Lawler, in a social media post, similarly said that “the failure of leadership” to permit a vote had left him with “no choice” but to sign the petition. He urged Johnson to bring the plan up for an immediate floor vote.

Path ahead is uncertain

Even if the subsidy bill were to pass the House, which is far from assured, it would face an arduous climb in the Republican-led Senate.

Republicans last week voted down a three-year extension of the subsidies and proposed an alternative that also failed. But in an encouraging sign for Democrats, four Republican senators crossed party lines to support their proposal.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., argued against the Democratic extension as “an attempt to disguise the real impact of Obamacare’s spiraling health care costs.”

Freking writes for the Associated Press.

SEOUL, Dec. 17 (UPI) — The United Nations Command objected to a legislative effort in South Korea that would transfer authority over non-military access to the Demilitarized Zone from the UNC to Seoul, as debate grows over control of one of the world’s most sensitive border areas.

The UNC’s rare public statement follows renewed calls by Unification Minister Chung Dong-young and ruling party lawmakers for a bill that would allow the South Korean government to approve civilian entry into the DMZ without prior UNC authorization.

In a press release issued Tuesday, the U.S.-led UNC reiterated its authority to implement and enforce the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement, including control over access to the DMZ.

“Since 1953, UNC has been the successful administrator of the Demilitarized Zone, a role that has been essential in maintaining stability, especially amid periods of heightened inter-Korean tensions,” it said.

Citing provisions that assign “civil administration and relief” within the zone to the UNC commander and grant the UNC Military Armistice Commission exclusive jurisdiction over entry approvals, the command stressed that no person, military or civilian, may enter the DMZ without specific authorization.

“Civil administration and relief in that part of the Demilitarized Zone which is south of the Military Demarcation Line shall be the responsibility of the Commander-in-Chief, United Nations Command,” the statement said.

The release added that the UNCMAC reviews access requests under established procedures designed to avoid actions that could be perceived as provocative or that could endanger safety.

The issue resurfaced earlier this month after Chung publicly backed legislation that would allow South Korea to grant access for “peaceful use” without UNC approval, arguing that current restrictions undermine Seoul’s sovereignty and the civilian use of the DMZ.

Chung cited recent cases in which Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Hyun-jong and Cardinal Lazzaro You Heung-sik were denied access to the buffer zone.

Seoul’s defense and foreign ministries have expressed reservations about the proposal, however, warning that separating civilian access from UNC procedures could complicate armistice maintenance and military coordination.

The UNC statement noted that the South Korean military already carries out “critical tasks such as policing, infrastructure support, medical evacuation [and] safety inspections,” highlighting what it described as Seoul’s sovereignty and primary role in its own defense.

In a follow-up release Wednesday, the UNC said it had granted Kim access to the DMZ for a briefing on North Korean military activities and South Korea’s response measures, as well as discussions on preventing accidental clashes.

“UNC is committed to maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and actively supports measures that reduce the risk of miscalculation between military forces near the Military Demarcation Line,” it said.

Thousands of people joined demonstrations across Brazil to protest against a bill that would reduce the prison sentence of former President, Jair Bolsonaro. He was jailed for plotting a failed coup after losing the elections in 2022.