After Thanksgiving, I watched a new documentary that set me at odds with December's frenzied pace. For me, the month has evolved from a time of calm reflection into a month of haves and wants. National Geographic’s "Tsunami: Race Against Time" chronicles the ravaging impact of the 2004 Indian Ocean eruption on Thailand and numerous other Southeast Asian countries. It hit me hard and gave me the jolt to ask myself how to get off the consumer train. Southeast Asia has my heart; my family and I lived in Asia beginning in the early 2000s. Our children were little then, and we established a set of holiday traditions that meant Christmas in Bangkok with minimal gifts and maximum adventures. The Thais are beautiful people, welcoming and gracious. The Dec. 26, 2004, earthquake and resulting tsunami in the Indian Ocean wrecked countless lives. It killed nearly a quarter of a million people in that region, including thousands of Thais and tourists. The documentary is spellbinding. The viewer becomes a participant in the unbelievable scenery and chaotic devastation the giant waves caused in the early hours of the day after Christmas. Watching the four-part series on a streaming platform created an alarming experience of seeing the water washing away beachgoers, buildings, and even a train. Frequent advertising, however, distracted from and contrasted with the presentation. Ads for mobile phones, fast-food restaurants and shoes horrifyingly broke up the narrative every few minutes: T-Mobile, Chick-fil-A, and DSW in between actual human misery. Relentless phone ads foreshadowed the documentary’s disaster just before smartphones became omnipresent. Ironically, frantic scientists in the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu were tracking the earthquake and tsunami in real time and struggled as they had few options to warn the millions of people who dotted the ocean’s coastlines and were exposed and vulnerable to the massive waves. Today's ads show an American life that seems superficial, too loud, too brightly lit, and primed for consumption compared with 20 years ago. Toggling between the ads and the documentary left me thinking about how to revise my forecast. I don't want to be an extreme version of humankind. Too many technology advancements are going somewhere scary where we all require experiences and stuff on demand, catered precisely to our highly refined sense of personal algorithms. I know a lot of good comes from the high-tech advancements, including ways to help warn about natural disasters such as future tsunamis. What is not good is the louder, self-focused lives presently occupied. I will do better in 2025. I will think more about how to spend my time, effort, and money and try to pay back. I don't want to be that extreme version of humans that play out in those commercials. Do you? Megan Giles Cooney is a columnist for the Traverse City (MI) Record-Eagle. Reach her at megan.cooney1@gmail.com .ST Picks: Teochew kueh - Connecting roots, rebuilding lives
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Meet the Democrats looking to lead the party forward after brutal 2024 losses Democrats line up to be the next Democratic National Committee chair Sign up for the latest with DailyMail.com's U.S. politics newsletter By SARAH EWALL-WICE, SENIOR U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM IN WASHINGTON, DC Published: 20:07, 28 December 2024 | Updated: 20:07, 28 December 2024 e-mail View comments Democrats are beginning to regroup after their brutal losses in the 2024 election , and the first step on their long road forward will be electing new party leadership. The election for the next chair of the Democratic National Committee is set for February 1. Already a series of contenders have announced they are running to lead the Democratic party in the new age of Donald Trump . It comes after Republicans not only won the White House including the GOP president-elect picking up the popular vote for the first time, but Republicans were able to flip the Senate and will hold a slim majority in the House come January. Democrats will be on defense as they face a GOP trifecta with only limited options to block Republicans from enacting their agenda in the new year. At the same time, Democrats have the momentous task of figuring out why voters across the country shifted away from the party as Trump made small gains not just in battleground states and red areas but nationwide. They also have to determine their best messaging approach moving forward if they have any hope of recapturing a majority in Congress in the 2026 midterms . Earlier this month, the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee (RBC) voted to recommend the rules that will guide the election process for the next DNC Chair and other officers. Democrats have the momentous task of figuring out why voters across the country shifted away from the party Marianne Williamson speaking to supporters in February 2024. The former Democratic presidential candidate announced her bid for DNC chair the day after Christmas To be elected, the candidate must be receive a majority of the votes cast by the DNC members. If that does not happen on a first ballot, it will head to a second ballot and so on until the person is elected. Here are the candidates running for DNC chair in the upcoming leadership election: Marianne Williamson Speaker, author and activist Marianne Williamson announced she is running to lead the Democratic party after long-shot presidential bids in 2020 and 2024. Williamson argues politics is not about what people think but what they feel and that it does not matter how many times people are contacted if they're not feeling it. She believes the party has been working with an outdated '20th century toolkit' which cannot create a political phenomenon necessary to take on MAGA. 'We've got to create a solution on the level of the problem. The greatest political car mechanic in the world is not the answer, because the problem is that we're on the wrong road. And people can feel it,' she wrote in a post. She believes she is the person to lead the party forward because she has been working in personal transformation for more than 40 years and knows something about 'changing people's hearts and uplifting people's spirits.' Williamson has argued the Democratic party has strayed from its advocacy for working people, and unless they reverse that, they won't do any better than in 2024. She has also been critical of the Democratic party's handling of the 2024 election because it did not hold a robust primary. She accused the party of 'ethical corruption' and argued it did not carry out the will of the people by backing Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris after he dropped out. Williamson vowed her first move if elected DNC chair would be to go on a listening tour. Martin O'Malley Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley announced his bid for DNC chair in November and has called for Democrats to focus messaging on what people talk about at the kitchen table Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley was the first candidate to announce his intentions to run for DNC chair last month. The former governor has argued Democrats' messaging always needs to go back to the 'kitchen table' and that the party needs to 'return to our true selves' to win. He's also claimed the party is about 'hope for tomorrow' while Republicans are about fear. He previously served as governor from 2007 to 2015, mayor of Baltimore from 1999 to 2007 and most recently served as commissioner of the Social Security Administration under President Biden. O'Malley, 61, gained national attention when he ran as a third long shot candidate against Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary. The former governor has said the party needs to learn from candidates who won in states where Harris lost at the top of the ticket. He has the backing of prominent Democrats from his home state of Maryland including several lawmakers and signaled he's not running to be a 'peacetime DNC Chair.' Ken Martin Ken Martin is the chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party and a candidate for DNC chair. He has said Democrats have a branding and messaging problem that needs to be fixed Ken Martin is the current chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party, a post he has held since 2011. He announced his bid for DNC chair last month with a video in which he introduced himself as someone raised as a single mom who got involved in politics in high school and has been in the fight ever since. Martin, 51, has argued the party needs a leader 'who can connect with working-class voters and restore faith in the party.' He touts turning around the Minnesota Democratic party which was in debt when he became chair. He also pointed out Democrats in his state have 22 statewide elections in a row. Martin argued he's 'not a creature of DC' but knows how the DNC works. He has said Democratic party ideas such as increasing the minimum wage, paid family leave and abortion protections are popular but need to be reconnected to the party. Martin has said Democrats have a branding and a messaging issue that needs to be fixed. His campaign slogan in the race is 'Build to win. Build to expand. Build to last.' James Skoufis New York State Senator James Skoufis launched a bid for DNC chair as an outsider and underdog looking to bring generational change to the party James Skoufis is the New York state senator who represents part of the state about 50 miles north of New York City in Hudson Valley. The little-known 37-year-old state lawmaker launched his bid late last month as an outsider and underdog representing generational change. He has argued Democrats need to 'show up and compete everywhere' including in rural red areas and pointed out he has won in Trump country three times. Skoufis has also called for his party to recommit to a populous message and move away from 'hair on fire texts and emails.' He has pushed to move the party funds away from consultants and expensive TV ads and dedicate resources to sate and local parties where people can do the work in communities face-to-face. Ben Wikler Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler at a campaign event November 1 Ben Wikler is the chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party where he is credited with a series of Democrats winning in the state even as Trump won the top of the ticket. The party in his state has been focused on a year-round effort to help Democrats across Wisconsin. Wikler has served as Wisconsin Democratic party chair since 2019. While he has been at the helm, Democrats flipped the state Supreme Court, helped reelect Governor Tony Evers, and he believes the state is on track for Democrats to recapture a majority in the state legislature in 2026. He also previously served as Washington, DC director of the progressive policy advocacy group MoveOn. Wikler has argued of all the swing states that went to Trump in 2024, Wisconsin has the smallest shift toward the Republican president-elect. He has called for Democrats to have a 'nationwide permanent campaign' and has focused his messaging on working people. Wikler launched his DNC chair bid in December 1 arguing what Democrats have done in his state can be done nationwide and needs to demonstrate to people that the party is on their side. His slogan in the DNC chair race is 'Unite. Fight. Win.' Democrats Republicans Politics Share or comment on this article: Meet the Democrats looking to lead the party forward after brutal 2024 losses e-mail Add comment
Eagle-eyed viewers spot Tulisa was eager to remove 'all traces' of I'm A CelebNoneThe question sounds so basic and friendly. But it’s actually loaded, as many mothers can attest. “Do you just love getting to be home with him all the time?” asks the younger, more put-together woman in the supermarket. “Must be so wonderful.” Wonderful, of course — and sometimes brain-numbing and soul-draining too, some exhausted fulltime moms might reply. Especially if, like Amy Adams’ character in Marielle Heller's “Nightbitch," they’d left their prized art gallery job to this other woman. And so Adams responds, twice, showing in this very opening scene exactly why her typically brave, brutally frank performance lifts this movie from an oddly uneven script to something unequivocally worth seeing. First we get the honest answer, the one no one really gives until later in the shower: she feels “stuck inside of a prison of my own creation,” where she torments herself and ends up binge-eating Fig Newtons to keep from crying. She is angry all the time. Oh and, she has gotten dumber. Then we rewind and director-writer Heller has Adams give her real answer: “I do, I love it! I love being a Mom.” There we are, two minutes and 13 seconds into “Nightbitch” and you may already find yourself wowed by Adams. If not, just wait until her Mother is sitting at a chic restaurant with a bunch of colleagues from the art world, and her fangs come out. And we don’t mean figuratively. We mean literally. Let’s go back to the beginning, shall we? “Nightbitch” is based on the 2021 novel by Rachel Yoder, a feminist fable that the author has said came from her own malaise when pausing work for child-rearing. She sets her tale in an unidentified suburb of an unidentified city. Mother (characters all have generic names), formerly an admired installation artist, spends her weekdays alone with her adorable, blond 2-year old Son. Husband has a job that seems to bring him home only on weekends. The early scenes depicting Mother’s life are tight and impactful, a contrast to the confused havoc that will come toward the end of the film. Life revolves around the playground and the home, with occasional trips to storytime at the library where she notes, in narration, that she has no interest in the company of other moms — why should they be friends just because they're moms? In fact, Mother lives in solitude, and director Heller does a nice job illustrating how that feels you can almost feel the weight of the afternoon coming around, at this comfortable but hardly ostentatious home, when it’s too early for dinner and you’ve done all the activities already and you wonder if you can make it through the day. Then things start to get weird. In the bathroom mirror, Mother starts noticing things. Her teeth are getting sharper. There’s something weird coming out of an apparent cyst at the bottom of her spine. She finds extra nipples. And that’s before she starts eating rare meat. (Also, if you love cats, you may want to close your eyes at one point.) Somewhow Adams, who also produces here, makes these things seem, if not quite natural, then logical. What's happening is that Mother’s frustration is becoming ferocious. Dangerously ferocious. But also — empowering. At night, or so she thinks, she is a wild dog. Aspects of the film work wonderfully. Mother’s relationship with Son (twins Arleigh and Emmett Snowden) is lovely, largely due to a decision to let the young boys talk freely, with the adult actors reacting to their words. It lends a grounding realism to a film that quickly veers surreal. Less successful is the relationship between Mother and Husband (Scoot McNairy), which takes on too much importance as the film goes on, in a baffling way, rather than Mother’s transformation. (Also, just asking, has anyone in this movie ever heard of a babysitter?) More importantly, a story that posits itself on such a tantalizing idea — that by transforming into a dog, Mother discovers her true nature and power —resorts late in the game to a safer story about a marriage that never seemed appealing enough for us to care about anyway. It doesn't help that it's hard to grasp the distracting subplot about Mother’s own mother. None of this takes away from the strength of Adams’ performance. You believe her love for her child as much as you believe her resentment for what he is taking away from her. And Adams can make almost any line work, including one about a walnut. But we digress. It’s an irony that for reasons of storytelling, characters have generic names — because Adams is such a singular and particular, talent. The journey she embarks upon is bizarre indeed, but you won’t regret taking it with her. “Nightbitch,” a Searchlight Pictures release, has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association “for language and some sexuality. “ Running time: 98 minutes. Two stars out of four. Jocelyn Noveck, The Associated Press
KINGSTON, N.Y. — The Ulster County Sheriff’s Office could get advanced equipment designed to detect items even in the murkiest of waters.Sheriff Juan Figueroa is seeking legislative approval to purchase a “Marine Sonic ARC Explorer MKII system,” which, according to the company’s website is “the newest generation of Marine Sonic Technology’s towed side scan sonar [...]Collaboration marks 70 years of Sincere Fine Watches
A list of mispronounced words provides a retrospective of 2024, from Kamala to Chappell
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Why it’s so hard to create a truly recyclable Keurig coffee podHunter Biden gun case terminated after President Joe Biden's sweeping pardonMeet the Democrats looking to lead the party forward after brutal 2024 losses Democrats line up to be the next Democratic National Committee chair Sign up for the latest with DailyMail.com's U.S. politics newsletter By SARAH EWALL-WICE, SENIOR U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM IN WASHINGTON, DC Published: 20:07, 28 December 2024 | Updated: 20:07, 28 December 2024 e-mail View comments Democrats are beginning to regroup after their brutal losses in the 2024 election , and the first step on their long road forward will be electing new party leadership. The election for the next chair of the Democratic National Committee is set for February 1. Already a series of contenders have announced they are running to lead the Democratic party in the new age of Donald Trump . It comes after Republicans not only won the White House including the GOP president-elect picking up the popular vote for the first time, but Republicans were able to flip the Senate and will hold a slim majority in the House come January. Democrats will be on defense as they face a GOP trifecta with only limited options to block Republicans from enacting their agenda in the new year. At the same time, Democrats have the momentous task of figuring out why voters across the country shifted away from the party as Trump made small gains not just in battleground states and red areas but nationwide. They also have to determine their best messaging approach moving forward if they have any hope of recapturing a majority in Congress in the 2026 midterms . Earlier this month, the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee (RBC) voted to recommend the rules that will guide the election process for the next DNC Chair and other officers. Democrats have the momentous task of figuring out why voters across the country shifted away from the party Marianne Williamson speaking to supporters in February 2024. The former Democratic presidential candidate announced her bid for DNC chair the day after Christmas To be elected, the candidate must be receive a majority of the votes cast by the DNC members. If that does not happen on a first ballot, it will head to a second ballot and so on until the person is elected. Here are the candidates running for DNC chair in the upcoming leadership election: Marianne Williamson Speaker, author and activist Marianne Williamson announced she is running to lead the Democratic party after long-shot presidential bids in 2020 and 2024. Williamson argues politics is not about what people think but what they feel and that it does not matter how many times people are contacted if they're not feeling it. She believes the party has been working with an outdated '20th century toolkit' which cannot create a political phenomenon necessary to take on MAGA. 'We've got to create a solution on the level of the problem. The greatest political car mechanic in the world is not the answer, because the problem is that we're on the wrong road. And people can feel it,' she wrote in a post. She believes she is the person to lead the party forward because she has been working in personal transformation for more than 40 years and knows something about 'changing people's hearts and uplifting people's spirits.' Williamson has argued the Democratic party has strayed from its advocacy for working people, and unless they reverse that, they won't do any better than in 2024. She has also been critical of the Democratic party's handling of the 2024 election because it did not hold a robust primary. She accused the party of 'ethical corruption' and argued it did not carry out the will of the people by backing Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris after he dropped out. Williamson vowed her first move if elected DNC chair would be to go on a listening tour. Martin O'Malley Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley announced his bid for DNC chair in November and has called for Democrats to focus messaging on what people talk about at the kitchen table Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley was the first candidate to announce his intentions to run for DNC chair last month. The former governor has argued Democrats' messaging always needs to go back to the 'kitchen table' and that the party needs to 'return to our true selves' to win. He's also claimed the party is about 'hope for tomorrow' while Republicans are about fear. He previously served as governor from 2007 to 2015, mayor of Baltimore from 1999 to 2007 and most recently served as commissioner of the Social Security Administration under President Biden. O'Malley, 61, gained national attention when he ran as a third long shot candidate against Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary. The former governor has said the party needs to learn from candidates who won in states where Harris lost at the top of the ticket. He has the backing of prominent Democrats from his home state of Maryland including several lawmakers and signaled he's not running to be a 'peacetime DNC Chair.' Ken Martin Ken Martin is the chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party and a candidate for DNC chair. He has said Democrats have a branding and messaging problem that needs to be fixed Ken Martin is the current chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party, a post he has held since 2011. He announced his bid for DNC chair last month with a video in which he introduced himself as someone raised as a single mom who got involved in politics in high school and has been in the fight ever since. Martin, 51, has argued the party needs a leader 'who can connect with working-class voters and restore faith in the party.' He touts turning around the Minnesota Democratic party which was in debt when he became chair. He also pointed out Democrats in his state have 22 statewide elections in a row. Martin argued he's 'not a creature of DC' but knows how the DNC works. He has said Democratic party ideas such as increasing the minimum wage, paid family leave and abortion protections are popular but need to be reconnected to the party. Martin has said Democrats have a branding and a messaging issue that needs to be fixed. His campaign slogan in the race is 'Build to win. Build to expand. Build to last.' James Skoufis New York State Senator James Skoufis launched a bid for DNC chair as an outsider and underdog looking to bring generational change to the party James Skoufis is the New York state senator who represents part of the state about 50 miles north of New York City in Hudson Valley. The little-known 37-year-old state lawmaker launched his bid late last month as an outsider and underdog representing generational change. He has argued Democrats need to 'show up and compete everywhere' including in rural red areas and pointed out he has won in Trump country three times. Skoufis has also called for his party to recommit to a populous message and move away from 'hair on fire texts and emails.' He has pushed to move the party funds away from consultants and expensive TV ads and dedicate resources to sate and local parties where people can do the work in communities face-to-face. Ben Wikler Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler at a campaign event November 1 Ben Wikler is the chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party where he is credited with a series of Democrats winning in the state even as Trump won the top of the ticket. The party in his state has been focused on a year-round effort to help Democrats across Wisconsin. Wikler has served as Wisconsin Democratic party chair since 2019. While he has been at the helm, Democrats flipped the state Supreme Court, helped reelect Governor Tony Evers, and he believes the state is on track for Democrats to recapture a majority in the state legislature in 2026. He also previously served as Washington, DC director of the progressive policy advocacy group MoveOn. Wikler has argued of all the swing states that went to Trump in 2024, Wisconsin has the smallest shift toward the Republican president-elect. He has called for Democrats to have a 'nationwide permanent campaign' and has focused his messaging on working people. Wikler launched his DNC chair bid in December 1 arguing what Democrats have done in his state can be done nationwide and needs to demonstrate to people that the party is on their side. His slogan in the DNC chair race is 'Unite. Fight. Win.' Democrats Republicans Politics Share or comment on this article: Meet the Democrats looking to lead the party forward after brutal 2024 losses e-mail Add commentEtsy's chief product officer Daniel Nicholas sells $81,900 in stock
Trump’s no freak, he’s the ultimate American
Catch all the action as a basketball doubleheader between the Fergus Falls Otters and the Moorhead Spuds takes place Tuesday, Dec. 3 on WDAY Xtra. The girls game tips off at 6 p.m. and the boys face off at 7:30 p.m. You can catch all the action on WDAY Xtra or streaming online at Inforum.com. SUBSCRIPTION RATES & PLANS WDAY Sports+ is available for $9.99 per month or $100 per year and also includes access to weekly high school games in North Dakota and western Minnesota and games involving Minnesota State University Moorhead. Subscribers outside of the WDAY-TV broadcast footprint will not be able to access Bison games live but can watch them on the site after they conclude. SUBSCRIBE HERE : https://inforum.com/wdayplus ** Note: If you have an existing news subscription, you will need a separate livestream subscription to access this content **Bank of America signs again with FIFA for US-hosted Club World Cup that still has no TV deals
Kanpur (UP), Dec 28 (PTI) The Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur has terminated the PhD programme of the then Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mohd Mohsin Khan, who allegedly raped a 26-year-old IIT-K research scholar, an official said on Saturday. The action to cancel the PhD programme of Mohsin Khan, a 2013 batch PPS officer, has been taken after a recommendation from DGP headquarters. Also Read | Kalyan Girl Rape-Murder Case: Senior Advocate Ujjwal Nikam To Represent Case in Court, Announces Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis. Mohsin Khan was pursuing his PhD in cybercrime and criminology from IIT-K. Director of IIT Kanpur Manindra Agarwal said that they have received a letter from the police department stating that the NOC (No Objection Certificate) issued for Khan to pursue the PhD programme has been cancelled. Also Read | Raigad: Pune School Principal Dharmendra Deshmukh Drowns off Kashid Beach During Picnic Trip in Maharashtra's Murud. "Soon after getting the letter, the institute also terminated the PhD programme of Mohd Mohsin Khan, the then ACP Kanpur. The written communication has been made regarding termination," Agarwal told PTI. The IIT-K student lodged an FIR against Khan on December 24 on charges of criminal intimidation and defaming her. IIT-Kanpur's PhD student had stated in her FIR that Khan threatened her with serious life consequences and made objectionable posts with the intent to defame her by levelling fake charges. The ACP and his lawyer allegedly made a tweet and shared objectionable posts on social media platforms with the intent to defame her, the Assistant CP (Kalyanpur) Abhishek Pandey said. After receiving threats from Khan, the student told the police that she had confined herself to her hostel as she was scared of the consequences. She also told the police that Khan befriended her by falsely claiming to be unmarried and established a relationship with her. He later pressured her for physical intimacy under the pretext of marriage, Pandey said. She further told the police that every time she would bring up marriage, Khan would harass her. Unable to endure the distress, she approached the IIT-K's administration, including the director and professors, who assured her support. Based on her complaint, a five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Additional DCP (Traffic) Archana Singh has been constituted to probe the matter, police said. "The SIT has been directed to conduct a detailed investigation and ensure the case is disposed of based on facts and evidence," Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Ankita Sharma had earlier said. Meanwhile, the SIT has given 48 hours to Mohsin Khan to record his statements in the case, an official associated with the SIT requesting anonymity said. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)