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McCaughey: Biden lays booby trap for GOP president

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:41:59 GMT

The Biden administration is setting a booby trap in case a Republican wins the presidency in 2024.The White House just unveiled a proposed rule that would make it even harder than in the past for an incoming Republican president to wrestle control of the left-leaning federal bureaucracy and actually implement the conservative policies promised to voters.Of the 2.2 million federal civil workers, only 4,000 are presidential appointees. The rest stay in their jobs, from one administration to the next, protected by rules that make it nearly impossible to discipline or replace them.They overwhelmingly favor the Left. A staggering 95% of unionized federal employees who donate to political candidates give to Democrats, according to Open Secrets. Only a tiny 5% support Republicans.Some federal workers in high positions slow-walk or even derail a Republican president’s agenda — and get away with it.Why bother to vote if the left-leaning deep state stays in charge no matter who wi...

Wes Anderson keeps it short & sweet with ‘Henry Sugar’

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:41:59 GMT

LIDO, Venice, Italy – Following summer’s well-received “Asteroid City,” Wes Anderson makes an immediate return for Oscar attention with “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.”This Netflix short, an adaptation of a Roald Dahl story that runs just 39 minutes, is eligible for Academy Awards consideration as Best Live Action Short.“Sugar” fits snugly into the well-known eccentricities of Anderson’s cinematic world.“I got to know the Dahl family when doing ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox,’ ” Anderson, 54, said, referring to his hugely popular 2009 stop-motion adaptation of Dahl’s novel.“I grew up loving Dahl’s books,” he continued, “and ‘Sugar’ is one of my favorites. But I couldn’t see how I could do it. So the estate” – Dahl died in 1990 at 74 – “held it for me.”When he decided it was time, “What I wanted to keep from it was Dahl’s language. The film is about the words, the performance of the words by these great actors.”“Henry Sugar” – published in a 1977 collection of Dahl stories — has Sugar...

5 ways to ensure a greater work-family balance

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:41:59 GMT

Individuals have to juggle many different responsibilities on a daily basis. Those with full- or part-time jobs, children, spouses or partners, or aging family members that require assistance, will often find they are pulled in different directions. In many cases, work takes priority over family time because people rely on their jobs for the income that funds their lifestyles. Rather than jeopardizing that income, certain individuals will make time concessions that favor employment over personal relationships and family time.Recent data indicates that many people are trapped in unhealthy work-life balances and can’t find the time to unwind and enjoy themselves. The e-commerce company Groupon asked 2,000 Americans about stress at work and 60% indicated that pressures and responsibilities of the workplace and home life do not have boundaries.Learning to balance work and life better may come from following these tips.1. Find more time. While there’s no way to add extra hour...

Dear Abby: Possible BF just wanted a hookup

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:41:59 GMT

Dear Abby: I am 36, still single and depressed about it. I recently met someone who seemed perfect. He has his own place with laundry facilities, and his job is the kind where he doesn’t have a bunch of other people in his life. So when he asked me over, I went.I thought because our friends and family were similar, his values would be, too. I expected he would want to get to know me and have a conversation, but he went right for kissing. I’m so disappointed. Then he told me he doesn’t want a relationship! Why did he do that? Why do they want to kiss but then not have a relationship? Does he prefer to sit home each night alone and enjoy someone only on Saturdays? What IS that?I want someone all the time in my life, like a married couple has. My parents are still together. They had a few problems along the way, but they are still together. Why are the men I meet not marriage material? — On Wrong Path in PennsylvaniaDear Wrong Path: When searching for a relation...

As writers reach tentative deal and actors look ahead, here are the Hollywood Strikes’ key players

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:41:59 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The double-barreled strike that brought Hollywood to a halt may be half over after a tentative deal has been struck to return screenwriters to work after nearly five months.The two sides had been divided on issues of pay, the size of writing staffs on shows and the use of artificial intelligence in how scripts are created. The agreement, still subject to the approval of union members, was reached Sunday night after five days of lengthy negotiations.Actors, who joined the writers on strike in July, have their own issues but there have been no discussions about resuming negotiations with their union yet. That is likely to change now.Here’s a look at the key figures who helped reached the agreement, and those who could make the next one. CAROL LOMBARDINIHer name is little known outside the industry, and she nearly never speaks to the media, but as head of the opposition in both the writers and actors strikes, Carol Lombardini is arguably the most important sing...

Death toll in Taiwan factory fire lowered to nine, with one missing. Four victims were firefighters

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:41:59 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Authorities said late Sunday that one person remained missing following a fire at a golf ball factory in Taiwan, after forensic analysis revealed that some bones found earlier in the day were not human.The blaze Friday night killed nine other people, including four firefighters. Launch Technologies Co., the operator of the plant, is a major global supplier of golf balls.Authorities had reported earlier that the remains of two people were found Sunday morning and of a third person in the afternoon, putting the death toll at 10. But one set of bones from the morning turned out to be non-human, officials said. Taiwan’s Central News Agency, quoting a Pingtung County fire official, said an explosion caused part of the building to collapse about 6:10 p.m. Friday, trapping firefighters and workers under rubble. A second explosion followed 20 minutes later.More than 100 people were injured in the blaze at Pingtung Technology Industrial Park. The fire was not extinguish...

Ukraine is building an advanced army of drones. For now, pilots improvise with duct tape and bombs

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:41:59 GMT

LUHANSK REGION, Ukraine (AP) — Flying above enemy lines, a Ukrainian reconnaissance drone sends a clear image back to soldiers hiding in a basement a few kilometers away: A Russian armored vehicle is idling along a key logistics route, looking like easy prey in the artillery-scarred green landscape.Then, in a flash, the image disappears, and the drone operator’s screen is replaced by a jumble of black and white pixels.“Snow,” says a calm commander known by the battlefield name Giocondo, who allowed The Associated Press to follow him and his unit of drone pilots on condition of anonymity to protect their identities. High-tech warfare cuts two ways, and the Russians use electronic beams to disable the drone’s signals.Seconds later, the drone pilot switches to a frequency the Russians cannot easily exploit. The bird’s-eye image of the armored vehicle reappears, and a second drone – this one laden with explosives – is quickly launched. It zips toward the target.Nineteen months int...

Jury selection set to open in terrorism trial of extended family stemming from 2018 New Mexico raid

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:41:59 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Jury selection is set to open Monday in federal court as members of an extended family face kidnapping and terrorism charges stemming from a raid of their squalid New Mexico encampment in 2018 by agents seeking a sickly, missing 3-year-old boy.The boy’s badly decomposed remains were eventually found in an underground tunnel at the compound on the outskirts of Amalia near the Colorado line. Authorities allege the family engaged in firearms and tactical training in preparation for attacks against government, tied to an apparent belief that the boy would be resurrected as Jesus Christ and provide instructions.An exact cause of death was never determined amid accusations that the boy was deprived of crucial medication linked to disabilities. Federal prosecutors opted for kidnapping charges.Two men and three women have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring to support planned attacks on U.S. law enforcement officers, military members and government emp...

Facial recognition technology jailed a man for days. His lawsuit joins others from Black plaintiffs

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:41:59 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Randal Quran Reid was driving to his mother’s home the day after Thanksgiving last year when police pulled him over and arrested him on the side of a busy Georgia interstate.He was wanted for crimes in Louisiana, they told him, before taking him to jail. Reid, who prefers to be identified as Quran, would spend the next several days locked up, trying to figure out how he could be a suspect in a state he says he had never visited.A lawsuit filed this month blames the misuse of facial recognition technology by a sheriff’s detective in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, for his ordeal.“I was confused and I was angry because I didn’t know what was going on,” Quran told The Associated Press. “They couldn’t give me any information outside of, ‘You’ve got to wait for Louisiana to come take you,’ and there was no timeline on that.”Quran, 29, is among at least five Black plaintiffs who have filed lawsuits against law enforcement in recent years, saying they we...

Past high-profile trials suggest stress and potential pitfalls for Georgia judge handling Trump case

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:41:59 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Judge Peter Cahill hardly slept during the six weeks he presided over the murder trial of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for killing George Floyd.Cameras in the courtroom broadcast the veteran Minnesota judge’s every word to a global audience. Outside, the nation waited nervously for the outcome of a slaying that galvanized the movement for racial justice. “When you’re in a high-profile trial, you feel the stress, you feel the pressure even if you’re not reading the papers,” he told an audience of judges last year at The National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada.Cahill’s experience provides a glimpse of the additional scrutiny and strain that await the four judges overseeing the criminal cases against former President Donald Trump.But the challenge facing Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee in Georgia is unlike any of the others. For one, he is the only judge so far to allow television cameras in the courtroom to broadcast hearings and any trials. He is presidi...