Politics

(Reuters) – A state funeral for Jimmy Carter, the former U.S. president who died on Sunday at the age of 100, will be held at the Washington National Cathedral on Jan. 9, the New York Times said.

U.S. President Joe Biden has directed that Jan. 9 be a national day of mourning for Carter throughout the U.S. 

Biden will eulogize Carter at the state funeral following eight days of ceremonies in Georgia and in Washington, the Times reported.

Carter, a Democrat, became president in January 1977 after defeating incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford in the 1976 election. His one-term presidency was marked by the 1978 Camp David accords between Israel and Egypt, bringing some stability to the Middle East. 

He spent his long post-presidential career devoted to humanitarian work, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. World leaders and former U.S. presidents have paid tribute to a man they praised as compassionate, humble and committed to peace in the Middle East. 

A motorcade will take Carter from his hometown of Plains, Georgia, to Atlanta, where he will lie in repose on Saturday and Sunday at the Carter Presidential Center, the Times reported. He will then be flown to Washington on Jan. 6 to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol, the Times reported. After the cathedral service, Carter will be brought back to Georgia for burial.

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing by Howard Goller)

source

In 2024, President Vladimir Putin further cemented his grip on power and sought to counter Russia’s isolation from the West over the war in Ukraine. But he faced continuing challenges, with a deadly attack by gunmen in Moscow and an incursion by Kyiv’s troops on his territory.

As Russia’s nearly 3-year-old war in Ukraine enters a new, potentially pivotal phase amid a new U.S. administration and its uncertain support for Kyiv, here’s a look back at how the year unfolded for Putin:

Putin ran for a fifth term in office with his top opponents either jailed or exiled abroad. But in a rare show of defiance, thousands of Russians queued in the January cold to sign petitions for an unlikely challenger. Boris Nadezhdin, a 60-year-old legislator and war critic, got the 100,000 signatures needed to put him on the ballot, but election authorities eventually barred him from running. Still, the support he received reflected anti-war sentiment and public longing for political competition in an embarrassment for Putin.

On Feb. 16, Putin’s longtime foe Alexei Navalny died in an arctic prison colony while serving a 19-year sentence on charges widely seen as politically motivated. The news of his death at age 47 shocked the world and robbed the opposition of its most charismatic leader. No exact cause of death was given, and his family and allies blamed the Kremlin, which denied involvement. Tens of thousands of mourners attended his Moscow funeral two weeks later in a show of defiance.

On March 17, Putin secured his expected election triumph, which will keep him in office until 2030, following the harshest crackdown on dissent since Soviet times. Five days later, gunmen stormed a concert hall on Moscow’s outskirts, killing over 140 people and setting the venue ablaze. An affiliate of the Islamic State group claimed responsibility, although the Kremlin, without evidence, tried to blame Ukraine for the deadliest attack on Russian soil in almost two decades. The assault stunned the capital and rekindled memories of other attacks in the early years of Putin’s presidency.

Putin made a two-day visit to North Korea in June — his first in 24 years — as the countries deepened their ties in the face of intensifying confrontations with Washington. The pact signed by Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un envisions mutual military assistance if either country is attacked. The new agreement marked their strongest link since the end of the Cold War, adding to concerns in Washington and Seoul.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, arrested in March 2023 and accused of espionage, was convicted and sentenced to 16 years in prison in a swift trial. His employers and the U.S. government denounced the process as a sham and rejected the charges as fabricated. Without presenting evidence, authorities claimed he was gathering secret information for the U.S. Gershkovich, the American-born son of Soviet immigrants, was the first Western reporter arrested on espionage charges in post-Soviet Russia, in a chilling signal to international journalists.

On Aug. 1, Washington and Moscow completed the biggest East-West prisoner swap in post-Soviet history. Those released included Gershkovich and fellow American Paul Whelan, along with prominent Russian dissidents like Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin. The multinational deal freed two dozen people — including Vadim Krasikov, serving a life sentence in Germany for killing a former Chechen militant in Berlin.

Also in August, Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in the largest cross-border raid by Kyiv’s forces. It exposed Russia’s vulnerabilities and dealt an embarrassing blow to the Kremlin, with tens of thousands of civilians fleeing the region. With the bulk of the Russian army engaged in eastern Ukraine, few troops were left to protect the Kursk region. Russia forces have since regained control over part of the territory but have so far failed to completely dislodge Kyiv’s troops.

Putin traveled to regional ally Mongolia in September in a move widely seen as an attempt to counter Western efforts to isolate him over the Ukraine war. Mongolia was among the countries that ratified a treaty establishing the International Criminal Court, which in 2023 issued an arrest warrant for Putin for alleged war crimes in Ukraine. Mongolia ignored calls to arrest the Russian leader and gave him a red-carpet welcome, with both countries signing deals on energy supplies and power plant upgrades.

In October, the Pentagon announced North Korea sent about 10,000 troops to Russia to join the fighting against Ukraine — a move Western leaders said will intensify the war and jolt relations in Asia. Moscow and Pyongyang have remained tight-lipped about the claims of deployment.

Putin also hosted a summit of the BRICS bloc of nations, attended by leaders or representatives of 36 countries, in what many saw as an effort to highlight the failure of U.S.-led efforts to isolate Russia.

Former President Donald Trump won a new term in the White House in November, raising concerns that his administration would cut military support for Ukraine and force it to negotiate with Moscow. Current President Joe Biden allowed Kyiv to use U.S.-supplied longer-range weapons for deeper strikes on Russian soil.

Russia responded by firing a new hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile — called the Oreshnik — at a city in central Ukraine. Putin boasted the missile can’t be intercepted by air defenses. He warned that Moscow could use it for more strikes on Ukraine and also potentially to hit military facilities of NATO countries giving military support to Ukraine.

The government of Syrian leader Bashar Assad crumbled after a lightning offensive by rebels. Putin granted asylum to Moscow’s longtime ally Assad and his family, but the Kremlin’s failure to prevent his downfall nine years after it intervened militarily to prop up his rule exposed the limits of Russia’s power and dented its international clout at a pivotal stage of its war in Ukraine.

Then, an embarrassing attack again brought the war to the streets of Moscow. Lt. Gen Igor Kirillov, the chief of Russia’s Radiation, Biological and Chemical Protection Forces, was killed alongside an aide by a bomb planted outside his apartment building. Putin described Kirillov’s killing as a “major blunder” by security agencies.

On the final weekend of the year, Putin apologized for what he called a “tragic incident” in Russian airspace involving the Dec. 25 crash of an Azerbaijani jetliner that killed 38 people in neighboring Kazakhstan. His statement came amid mounting allegations the plane was shot down by Russian air defenses trying to stop a Ukrainian drone attack near Grozny in the Russian republic of Chechnya. While Russian officials acknowledged that air defense systems were at work, Putin’s apology to Azerbaijan’s leader stopped short of saying Moscow took responsibility.

source

— Oct. 1, 1924: James Earl Carter Jr. is born in Plains, Georgia, son of James Sr. and Lillian Gordy Carter.

— June 1946: Carter graduates from the U.S. Naval Academy.

— July 1946: Carter marries Rosalynn Smith, in Plains. They have four children, John William (“Jack”), born 1947; James Earl 3rd (“Chip”), 1950; Donnel Jeffrey (Jeff), 1952; and Amy Lynn, 1967.

— 1946-1953: Carter serves in a Navy nuclear submarine program, attaining rank of lieutenant commander.

— Summer 1953: Carter resigns from the Navy, returns to Plains after father’s death.

— 1953-1971: Carter helps run the family peanut farm and warehouse business.

— 1963-1966: Carter serves in the Georgia state Senate.

— 1966: Carter tries unsuccessfully for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

— November 1970: Carter is elected governor of Georgia. Serves 1971-75.

— Dec. 12, 1974: Carter announces a presidential bid. Atlanta newspaper answers with headline: “Jimmy Who?”

— January 1976: Carter leads the Democratic field in Iowa, a huge campaign boost that also helps to establish Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucus.

— July 1976: Carter accepts the Democratic nomination and announces Sen. Walter Mondale of Minnesota as running mate.

— November 1976: Carter defeats President Gerald R. Ford, winning 51% of the vote and 297 electoral votes to Ford’s 240.

— January 1977: Carter is sworn in as the 39th president of the United States. On his first full day in office, he pardons most Vietnam-era draft evaders.

—September 1977: U.S. and Panama sign treaties to return the Panama Canal back to Panama in 1999. Senate narrowly ratifies them in 1978.

— September 1978: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Carter sign Camp David accords, which lead to a peace deal between Egypt and Israel the following year.

— June 15-18, 1979: Carter attends a summit with Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev in Vienna that leads to the signing of the SALT II treaty.

— November 1979: Iranian militants storm the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking 52 hostages. All survive and are freed minutes after Carter leaves office in January 1981.

— April 1980: The Mariel boatlift begins, sending tens of thousands of Cubans to the U.S. Many are criminals and psychiatric patients set free by Cuban leader Fidel Castro, creating a major foreign policy crisis.

— April 1980: An attempt by the U.S. to free hostages fails when a helicopter crashes into a transport plane in Iran, killing eight servicemen.

— Nov. 4, 1980: Carter is denied a second term by Ronald Reagan, who wins 51.6% of the popular vote to 41.7% for Carter and 6.7% to independent John Anderson.

— 1982: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter co-found The Carter Center in Atlanta, whose mission is to resolve conflicts, protect human rights and prevent disease around the world.

— September 1984: The Carters spend a week building Habitat for Humanity houses, launching what becomes the annual Carter Work Project.

— October 1986: A dedication is held for The Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta. The center includes the Carter Presidential Library and Museum and Carter Center offices.

— 1989: Carter leads the Carter Center’s first election monitoring mission, declaring Panamanian Gen. Manuel Noriega’s election fraudulent.

— May 1992: Carter meets with Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev at the Carter Center to discuss forming the Gorbachev Foundation.

— June 1994: Carter plays a key role in North Korea nuclear disarmament talks.

— September 1994: Carter leads a delegation to Haiti, arranging terms to avoid a U.S. invasion and return President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power.

— December 1994: Carter negotiates tentative cease-fire in Bosnia.

— March 1995: Carter mediates cease-fire in Sudan’s war with southern rebels.

— September 1995: Carter travels to Africa to advance the peace process in more troubled areas.

— December 1998: Carter receives U.N. Human Rights Prize on 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

— August 1999: President Bill Clinton awards Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

— September 2001: Carter joins former Presidents Ford, Bush and Clinton at a prayer service at the National Cathedral in Washington after Sept. 11 attacks.

— April 2002: Carter’s book “An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood” chosen as finalist for Pulitzer Prize in biography.

— May 2002: Carter visits Cuba and addresses the communist nation on television. He is the highest-ranking American to visit in decades.

— Dec. 10, 2002: Carter is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his “untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”

— July 2007: Carter joins The Elders, a group of international leaders brought together by Nelson Mandela to focus on global issues.

— Spring 2008: Carter remains officially neutral as Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton battle each other for the Democratic presidential nomination.

— April 2008: Carter stirs controversy by meeting with the Islamic militant group Hamas.

— August 2010: Carter travels to North Korea as the Carter Center negotiates the release of an imprisoned American teacher.

— August 2013: Carter joins President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton at the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech and the March on Washington.

— Oct. 1, 2014: Carter celebrates his 90th birthday.

— December 2014: Carter is nominated for a Grammy in the best spoken word album category, for his book “A Call To Action.”

— May 2015: Carter returns early from an election observation visit in Guyana — the Carter Center’s 100th — after feeling unwell.

— August 2015: Carter has a small cancerous mass removed from his liver. He plans to receive treatment at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta.

— August 2015: Carter announces that his grandson Jason Carter will chair the Carter Center governing board.

— March 6, 2016: Carter says an experimental drug has eliminated any sign of his cancer, and that he needs no further treatment.

— May 25, 2016: Carter steps back from a “front-line” role with The Elders to become an emeritus member.

— July 2016: Carter is treated for dehydration during a Habitat for Humanity build in Canada.

— Spring 2018: Carter publishes “Faith: A Journey for All,” the last of 32 books.

— March 22, 2019: Carter becomes the longest-lived U.S. president, surpassing President George H.W. Bush, who died in 2018.

— September 18, 2019: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter deliver their final in-person annual report at the Carter Center.

— October 2019: At 95, still recovering from a fall, Carter joins the Work Project with Habitat for Humanity in Nashville, Tennessee. It’s the last time he works personally on the annual project.

— Fall 2019-early 2020: Democratic presidential hopefuls visit, publicly embracing Carter as a party elder, a first for his post-presidency.

— November 2020:The Carter Center monitors an audit of presidential election results in the state of Georgia, marking a new era of democracy advocacy within the U.S.

— Jan. 20, 2021: The Carters miss President Joe Biden’s swearing-in, the first presidential inauguration they don’t attend since Carter’s own ceremony in 1977. The Bidens later visit the Carters in Plains on April 29.

— Feb. 19, 2023: Carter enters home hospice care after a series of short hospital stays.

— July 7, 2023: The Carters celebrate their 77th and final wedding anniversary.

— Nov. 19, 2023: Rosalynn Carter dies at home, two days after the family announced that she had joined the former president in receiving hospice care.

— Oct. 1, 2024 — Carter becomes the first former U.S. president to reach 100 years of age, celebrating at home with extended family and close friends.

— Oct. 16, 2024 — Carter casts a Georgia mail ballot for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, having told his family he wanted to live long enough to vote for her. It marks his 21st presidential election as a voter.

— Dec. 29, 2024: Carter dies at home.

source

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Sunday the 2023 debt ceiling extension agreed by then House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden will “go down as one of the dumbest political decisions made in years.”

Under the 2023 budget deal Congress suspended the debt ceiling until Jan. 1, 2025. The U.S. Treasury will be able to pay its bills for several months beyond that deadline, but Congress will have to address the issue, possibly around mid-year.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said, “The extension of the Debt Ceiling by a previous Speaker of the House, a good man and a friend of mine … will go down as one of the dumbest political decisions made in years.”

He added, “The Democrats must be forced to take a vote on this treacherous issue NOW, during the Biden Administration, and not in June. They should be blamed for this potential disaster, not the Republicans!”

Republicans, however, will control both chambers of Congress beginning on Jan. 3 and at least some of the party’s lawmakers would have to go along with a debt limit increase or elimination in order for it to become law.

Without the 2023 debt limit increase, the United States would have seen a historic default on its debt payments that would have roiled financial markets worldwide.

A debt default would also likely have brought a downgrade in the U.S. credit rating, raising borrowing costs for businesses and individuals.

At the time, several far-right Republicans in the House of Representatives had pushed for deeper federal spending cuts as a condition for raising the debt limit than what had been negotiated.

About a week ago, with U.S. government discretionary funding due to expire on Dec. 20, Trump, encouraged by billionaire Elon Musk, demanded the debt limit either be eliminated or extended, possibly to 2029 when his presidency would end.

That idea was tacked onto an extension of government funding into March, but it was quickly voted down by a coalition of House Democrats and hard-right Republicans, many of whom represent districts in Trump-leaning states.

A government-funding bill without a debt-limit provision was then enacted into law.

Next month, Republicans in the newly-elected Congress are expected to insist on deep federal spending cuts as a condition for raising the country’s borrowing limit.

Democrats earlier this month argued Trump’s call for an immediate increase or elimination of the debt limit was motivated by his desire to make room for a new round of tax cuts that likely would lower revenues and thus add more to the debt.

The national debt currently stands at about $36.1 trillion due to federal spending levels and tax cuts that have been enacted into law over several decades.

(Reporting by Jasper Ward and Richard Cowan; Editing by Don Durfee and Chris Reese)

source

ATLANTA (AP) — Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who won the presidency in the wake of the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, endured humbling defeat after one tumultuous term and then redefined life after the White House as a global humanitarian, has died. He was 100 years old.

The longest-lived American president died on Sunday, more than a year after entering hospice care, at his home in the small town of Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife, Rosalynn, who died at 96 in November 2023, spent most of their lives, The Carter Center said.

“Our founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia,” the center said in posting about his death on the social media platform X. It added in a statement that he died peacefully, surrounded by his family.

As reaction poured in from around the world, President Joe Biden mourned Carter’s death, saying the world lost an “extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian” and he lost a dear friend. Biden cited Carter’s compassion and moral clarity, his work to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless and advocacy for the disadvantaged as an example for others.

“To all of the young people in this nation and for anyone in search of what it means to live a life of purpose and meaning – the good life – study Jimmy Carter, a man of principle, faith, and humility,” Biden said in a statement. “He showed that we are a great nation because we are a good people – decent and honorable, courageous and compassionate, humble and strong.”

Biden said he is ordering a state funeral for Carter in Washington.

Businessman, Navy officer, evangelist, politician, negotiator, author, woodworker, citizen of the world — Carter forged a path that still challenges political assumptions and stands out among the 45 men who reached the nation’s highest office. The 39th president leveraged his ambition with a keen intellect, deep religious faith and prodigious work ethic, conducting diplomatic missions into his 80s and building houses for the poor well into his 90s.

“My faith demands — this is not optional — my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can, with whatever I have to try to make a difference,” Carter once said.

A moderate Democrat, Carter entered the 1976 presidential race as a little-known Georgia governor with a broad smile, outspoken Baptist mores and technocratic plans reflecting his education as an engineer. His no-frills campaign depended on public financing, and his promise not to deceive the American people resonated after Richard Nixon’s disgrace and U.S. defeat in southeast Asia.

“If I ever lie to you, if I ever make a misleading statement, don’t vote for me. I would not deserve to be your president,” Carter repeated before narrowly beating Republican incumbent Gerald Ford, who had lost popularity pardoning Nixon.

Carter governed amid Cold War pressures, turbulent oil markets and social upheaval over racism, women’s rights and America’s global role. His most acclaimed achievement in office was a Mideast peace deal that he brokered by keeping Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at the bargaining table for 13 days in 1978. That Camp David experience inspired the post-presidential center where Carter would establish so much of his legacy.

Yet Carter’s electoral coalition splintered under double-digit inflation, gasoline lines and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. His bleakest hour came when eight Americans died in a failed hostage rescue in April 1980, helping to ensure his landslide defeat to Republican Ronald Reagan.

Carter acknowledged in his 2020 “White House Diary” that he could be “micromanaging” and “excessively autocratic,” complicating dealings with Congress and the federal bureaucracy. He also turned a cold shoulder to Washington’s news media and lobbyists, not fully appreciating their influence on his political fortunes.

“It didn’t take us long to realize that the underestimation existed, but by that time we were not able to repair the mistake,” Carter told historians in 1982, suggesting that he had “an inherent incompatibility” with Washington insiders.

Carter insisted his overall approach was sound and that he achieved his primary objectives — to “protect our nation’s security and interests peacefully” and “enhance human rights here and abroad” — even if he fell spectacularly short of a second term.

Ignominious defeat, though, allowed for renewal. The Carters founded The Carter Center in 1982 as a first-of-its-kind base of operations, asserting themselves as international peacemakers and champions of democracy, public health and human rights.

“I was not interested in just building a museum or storing my White House records and memorabilia,” Carter wrote in a memoir published after his 90th birthday. “I wanted a place where we could work.”

That work included easing nuclear tensions in North and South Korea, helping to avert a U.S. invasion of Haiti and negotiating cease-fires in Bosnia and Sudan. By 2022, The Carter Center had declared at least 113 elections in Latin America, Asia and Africa to be free or fraudulent. Recently, the center began monitoring U.S. elections as well.

Carter’s stubborn self-assuredness and even self-righteousness proved effective once he was unencumbered by the Washington order, sometimes to the point of frustrating his successors.

He went “where others are not treading,” he said, to places like Ethiopia, Liberia and North Korea, where he secured the release of an American who had wandered across the border in 2010.

“I can say what I like. I can meet whom I want. I can take on projects that please me and reject the ones that don’t,” Carter said.

He announced an arms-reduction-for-aid deal with North Korea without clearing the details with Bill Clinton’s White House. He openly criticized President George W. Bush for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He also criticized America’s approach to Israel with his 2006 book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.” And he repeatedly countered U.S. administrations by insisting North Korea should be included in international affairs, a position that most aligned Carter with Republican President Donald Trump.

Among the center’s many public health initiatives, Carter vowed to eradicate the guinea worm parasite during his lifetime, and nearly achieved it: Cases dropped from millions in the 1980s to nearly a handful. With hardhats and hammers, the Carters also built homes with Habitat for Humanity.

The Nobel committee’s 2002 Peace Prize cites his “untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” Carter should have won it alongside Sadat and Begin in 1978, the chairman added.

Carter accepted the recognition saying there was more work to be done.

“The world is now, in many ways, a more dangerous place,” he said. “The greater ease of travel and communication has not been matched by equal understanding and mutual respect.”

Carter’s globetrotting took him to remote villages where he met little “Jimmy Carters,” so named by admiring parents. But he spent most of his days in the same one-story Plains house — expanded and guarded by Secret Service agents — where they lived before he became governor. He regularly taught Sunday School lessons at Maranatha Baptist Church until his mobility declined and the coronavirus pandemic raged. Those sessions drew visitors from around the world to the small sanctuary where Carter will receive his final send-off after a state funeral at Washington’s National Cathedral.

The common assessment that he was a better ex-president than president rankled Carter and his allies. His prolific post-presidency gave him a brand above politics, particularly for Americans too young to witness him in office. But Carter also lived long enough to see biographers and historians reassess his White House years more generously.

source

By Moira Warburton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter died at age 100 on Sunday. Here are several key events from the Georgia Democrat’s time in office from 1977 to 1981.

CAMP DAVID ACCORDS

The Camp David Accords were a series of agreements signed in 1978 between Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. The agreements, brokered by Carter at the presidential retreat in Maryland, eventually led to Israel and its Arab neighbor signing their first peace treaty.

Begin and Sadat were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978 for their work toward peace. Carter won in 2002 in part for his “untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts.”

U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS

Although relations between the United States and China had been slowly warming for several years prior to Carter taking office, it was under his administration that the two countries overcame opposition at home and announced they would officially recognize each other, opening formal diplomatic relations in 1979 after months of secret negotiations.

IRAN HOSTAGE CRISIS

In 1979 Iranian revolutionaries seized 52 staff members at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held them hostage for 444 days, ostensibly to punish the United States for giving asylum to Iran’s recently deposed leader. Carter came off looking feeble in the public eye after a military rescue mission he ordered in 1980 ended in failure with eight U.S. troops dying in an aircraft mishap.

The hostages were released minutes after Ronald Reagan was sworn into office to replace Carter in 1981.

ENERGY CRISIS

Energy prices and production were shaky throughout the 1970s, but the Iranian revolution in 1979 was a flashpoint for upheaval in global oil markets, leading to a major decrease in production and resulting jump in cost. The summer of 1979 was marked by long lines of motorists waiting at gas stations for rationed fuel. Carter responded by pledging to decrease reliance on foreign oil imports and focus on improving energy efficiency, but public confidence was irreparably shaken.

ECONOMIC WOES

Carter’s re-election campaign in 1980 was marred by fears of a recession. His administration struggled to deal with inflation at over 14% by 1980, caused by high energy prices after the 1979 gas shortage. He and his advisers attempted to tackle inflation by increasing interest rates to over 17%, but this contributed to a recession during the presidential campaign of 1980.

(Reporting by Moira Warburton in Washington; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

source

ROSEVILLE, Minn. (AP) — Republicans will start the year with at least a temporary majority in the Minnesota House after a Democrat decided not to appeal a judge’s decision that he failed to establish residency in the suburban district he was elected to represent.

That means Republicans will have a slim 67-66 majority in the House when the Legislature begins Jan. 14. That may not last long because Gov. Tim Walz has already scheduled a Jan. 28 special election in the Democratic-leaning district that Curtis Johnson won by 30 points in November.

“While I disagree with the conclusions reached by the District Court, I recognize that whatever the decision on appeal the ultimate decision belongs to the Legislature, where it appears there is no viable pathway for me being allowed to retain my seat,” Johnson said in his resignation letter Friday. “Rather than dragging this out further, I have decided to resign now, so that a special election can be held as soon as possible.”

Ramsey County Judge Leonardo Castro ruled last week that Johnson didn’t live in the Roseville-area district for the required six months ahead of the election and is therefore ineligible to serve.

Johnson’s Republican challenger, Paul Wikstrom, presented surveillance video and photos in court to show Johnson did not reside in the apartment he claimed as his residence. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported that the lack of utility hookups and regular activity at the apartment reinforced that conclusion.

Republican Rep. Lisa Demuth, who is in line to become House speaker with the GOP in control, said she is pleased the judge’s decision will stand. Previously, leaders of both parties had been working out a power-sharing agreement given that the chamber was expected to be divided equally 67-67.

“This confirms that Republicans will have an organizational majority on day one, and we look forward to ensuring that a valid candidate represents District 40B in the upcoming legislative session,” Demuth said in a statement.

Although Democrats argue that Republicans would need to have at least 68 seats to control the House. or pass laws.

The Democrats should be able to stop Republicans from being able to pass laws, but the GOP could still push its agenda. Republicans will have working control of committees to advance bills to the floor, which could force Democrats from swing districts to face tough decisions on bills. And Republicans could try to launch investigations they have been seeking for a long time into the Walz administration and problems it has had limiting fraud.

Democrats had been expecting to have a one-vote edge in the Senate, but that chamber is now evenly split at 33-33 after former Majority Leader Sen. Kari Dziedzic died Friday from cancer. A special election will also be held for her Democratic-leaning Minneapolis district, but that hasn’t been scheduled yet.

Demuth also questioned whether Walz has the power to set the special election so quickly even before the Legislature certifies the vacancy. If that argument prevails that would extend Republican control of the House longer, but the secretary of state’s office told Minnesota Public Radio that Walz’s order setting the special election is proper.

Whenever the election happens, Democrats are confident they will win the seat, current House speaker Rep. Melissa Hortman said.

“A prompt special election will allow the voters of District 40B to ensure that they will be represented in the Minnesota House for the bulk of the session,” Hortman said in a written statement. “We expect the district will again vote to elect a Democrat by overwhelming margins.”

A pending court challenge in a different suburban district could also affect the balance of power in the House, but it appears Democrats will likely prevail in that dispute. Incumbent Democratic Rep. Brad Tabke, of Shakopee, was declared the winner by 14 votes over Republican Aaron Paul despite 20 missing ballots that were accepted but never counted and then apparently thrown away. At a hearing, his attorneys presented six of those affected voters who testified that they supported Tabke, which would be enough to preserve his win. A judge is expected to decide within the next few weeks how to proceed.

source

(SRN NEWS) – He says he will make it a priority of his administration to, in his words, “stop the transgender lunacy”.  Speaking at a recent rally

Mr. Trump vowed that on day one he will “sign executive orders to end child sexual mutilation, get transgender out of the military and out of our elementary schools and middle schools and high schools.  And we will keep men out of women’s sports.” 

Political analysts say the president’s decision to take on transgenderism helped him win the election. 

source

ATLANTA (AP) — Republicans plan to move quickly in their effort to overhaul the nation’s voting procedures, seeing an opportunity with control of the White House and both chambers of Congress to push through long-sought changes that include voter ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements.

They say the measures are needed to restore public confidence in elections. In the new year, Republicans will be under pressure to address Trump’s desires to change how elections are run in the U.S., something he continues to promote.

The main legislation that Republicans expect to push will be versions of the American Confidence in Elections Act and the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, said GOP Rep. Bryan Steil of Wisconsin, chair of the Committee on House Administration, which handles election-related legislation. The proposals are known as the ACE and SAVE acts, respectively.

“As we look to the new year with unified Republican government, we have a real opportunity to move these pieces of legislation not only out of committee, but across the House floor and into law,” Steil said in an interview. “We need to improve Americans’ confidence in elections.”

Republicans are likely to face opposition from Democrats and have little wiggle room with their narrow majorities in both the House and Senate. Steil said he expects there will be “some reforms and tweaks” to the original proposals and hopes Democrats will work with Republicans to refine and ultimately su

GOP: Current voter registration relies on an ‘honor system’

Republicans say the current process relies on an what they call an honor system with loopholes that have allowed noncitizens to register and vote in past elections, something that has occurred.

Under the current system, those seeking to register are asked to provide either a state driver’s license number or the last four digits of a Social Security number. A few states require a full Social Security number.

Republicans say the voter registration process is not tight enough because in many states people can be added to voter rolls even if they do not provide this information and that some noncitizens can receive Social Security numbers and driver’s licenses. They believe the current requirement that anyone completing a voter registration form sign under oath that they are a U.S. citizen is not enough.

They want to force states to reject any voter registration application for which proof of citizenship is not provided. Republicans say that could include a REAL ID-compliant driver’s license, a passport or a birth certificate.

One state flags noncitizens with regular audits

In Georgia, a perennial presidential battleground state, election officials said they have not encountered any hiccups verifying the citizenship status of its nearly 7.3 million registered voters. They conducted an audit in 2022 that identified 1,634 people who had attempted to register but were not able to be verified as U.S. citizens by a federal database.

A second audit this year used local court records to identify people who said they could not serve as a juror because they were not a U.S. citizen. Of the 20 people identified, six were investigated for illegal voting, though one of those cases was closed because the person had since died.

“What we’ve done by doing those audits is give voters confidence that we do not have noncitizens voting here in Georgia,” said Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state. “And when society is highly polarized, you have to look at building trust. Trust is the gold standard.”

Raffensperger, a Republican who supports both voter ID and proof of citizenship requirements, credits the state’s early adoption of REAL ID and use of automatic voter registration for ensuring voter lists are accurate. The latter is something he hopes more Republicans will consider, as he argued it has allowed Georgia election officials to use the motor vehicle agency’s process to verify citizenship and track people moving in and around the state.

“You have to get it right because you’re talking about people’s priceless franchise to vote,” Raffensperger said.

Look to states as laboratories for voting reforms

If Congress does pass any changes, it would fall to election officials across the country to implement them.

Raffensperger and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, said it would be a mistake to move the country to a single day of voting, something Trump has said he would like to see happen, because it would eliminate early voting and limit access to mail ballots. Both methods are extremely popular among voters. In Georgia, 71% of voters in November cast their ballots in person before Election Day.

Both said they hoped lawmakers would look to what is working in their states and build off those successes.

“We’ve proven time and time again in our states that our elections are secure and are accurate,” Benson said.

source

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge is signaling that Rudy Giuliani’s contempt hearing next Friday might not end so well for the former New York City mayor and onetime personal lawyer for President-elect Donald Trump as two Georgia election poll workers try to collect a $148 million defamation award they won against him.

Judge Lewis J. Liman in Manhattan issued an order Friday in which he was dismissive of what he described as attempts by Giuliani and his lawyer to dodge providing information to the election workers’ lawyers.

And he said the litigants should be ready at the contempt hearing to explain why he should not grant a request by lawyers for the two election workers that he make adverse inferences from evidence in the case that would put Giuliani’s Palm Beach, Florida, condominium in danger of being surrendered to satisfy the defamation award.

The judge also said he may rule on the contempt request at the hearing.

Giuliani has maintained that the Palm Beach property is his personal residence now and should be shielded from the judgment. He faces a Jan. 16 trial before Liman over the disposition of his Florida residence and World Series rings.

Lawyers for the election workers filed the contempt request after saying Giuliani had failed to turn over a lease to his Manhattan apartment, a Mercedes, various watches and jewelry, a signed Joe DiMaggio shirt and other baseball momentos. The judge ordered Giuliani to turn over the items in October.

Giuliani’s lawyers have predicted that Giuliani will eventually win custody of the items on appeal. A request for comment was sent to a lawyer for Giuliani, who was supposed to be deposed on Friday.

The contempt hearing follows a contentious November hearing in which Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor, became angry at the judge and said Liman was treating him unfairly.

Giuliani was found liable last year for defaming the two Georgia poll workers by falsely accusing them of tampering with ballots during the 2020 presidential election.

The women said they faced death threats after Giuliani falsely claimed they sneaked in ballots in suitcases, counted ballots multiple times and tampered with voting machines.

source