Onda FrantaNASSAU, Bahamas — Scottie Scheffler birdied every hole but the par 3s on the front nine at Albany Golf Club on Friday and finished his bogey-free round with an 8-under 64 that gave him a two-shot lead in the Hero World Challenge. Two months off did nothing to slow the world’s No. 1 player. Scheffler already has eight victories this year and is in position to get another before the end of the year. Scheffler was at 13-under 131, two ahead of Akshay Bhatia (66) and Justin Thomas (67), both of whom had to save par on the 18th hole to stay in range going into the weekend. Scheffler started with a lob wedge to 2 feet for birdie and never slowed until after he went out in 29 to seize control of the holiday tournament against a 20-man field. Scheffler cooled slightly on the back nine, except it didn’t feel that way to him. “Front nine, just things were going my way. Back nine, maybe not as much,” Scheffler said. “A couple shots could end up closer to the hole, a couple putts go in, just little things.” Asked if he felt any frustration he didn’t take it lower — he once shot 59 at the TPC Boston during the FedExCup playoffs — Scheffler sounded bemused. “I think in this game I think a lot of all y’all are looking for perfection out of us,” he said. “Today I shot 8 under on the golf course, not something I hang my head about. A lot of good things out there — clean card, bogey-free, eight birdies. Overall, I think I’m pretty pleased.” Thomas felt his 67 was stress-free, particularly the way he was driving the ball. The wind laid down again, rare for the Bahamas, though it is expected to pick up on the weekend. Thomas wasn’t concerned to see Scheffler get off to a hot start, especially with three par 5s on the front nine and a short par 4 that at worst leaves a flip wedge to the green. “You literally can birdie every hole as soft as the greens are,” Thomas said. “He’s a great player, a great wedge player, and you have a lot of birdie holes to start. I’m honestly surprised he only shot 8 under. It’s a sneaky course because if you fall asleep on some shots, you can get out of position. But if you’re on and focused and really in control of everything — like these last two days with no wind — you can just make so many birdies.” Golf Channel Staff , Golf Channel Staff , Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley had a 67 and was four shots behind. No matter how benign the conditions, it wasn’t always easy. Cameron Young, who opened with a 64 for a two-shot lead, followed with a 75 despite making five birdies. That included a double bogey on the final hole when his approach tumbled down the bank into the rocks framing the lake that goes all the way down the 18th hole. Patrick Cantlay was trying to keep pace playing alongside Scheffler, but he had three bogeys over the final seven holes and fell seven shots behind with a 71. The tournament, hosted by Tiger Woods, is unofficial but offers world ranking points to all but the bottom three players because of the small field. It’s the weakest field in 25 years, but Scheffler at No. 1 gives it enough cachet. He is the first player since Woods in 2009 to start and finish a year at No. 1 in the world. And even after a layoff — giving him time to tinker with a new putting stroke — it looks like it might be a while before anyone changes that.
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NEW YORK — Cops released photos and a video of the three males that allegedly fatally stabbed a migrant teen last week near City Hall Park and believe the incident may have stemmed from a gang beef. Yeremi Colino, who was traveling with a group, was stabbed to death Dec. 5 after a brawl outside 17 John St. Cops deemed the incident a dispute between two gangs after combing through surveillance video and canvassing witnesses, NYPD Assistant Chief Jason Savino said. According to one witness, the one-minute brawl started after three individuals flashed gang signs, which prompted Colino’s group to confront the trio. Savino said police believe the fight in which Colino was killed was a “crew-motivated incident” involving the Los Diablos de la 42 (Devils of 42nd Street) gang and an Afro-Caribbean group, and that the two groups knew each other prior to the lower Manhattan clash. “Both sides both had weapons. The victim actually swings an unknown object in a downward motion just prior to being stabbed by one of the perpetrators,” Savino said at a press conference Monday. Colino, who was living at the Roosevelt Hotel, a migrant hotel on East 45th Street in East Midtown Manhattan, was stabbed in the chest. An employee at a nearby Walgreens pulled the wounded man to safety inside the store and called 911, and Colino was soon transported to Bellevue Hospital, where he later died. “The individual who passed away, they were actually following the attackers,” NYPD Assistant Commissioner and department spokesman Carlos Nieves said. “They then go out of camera and then they come back and, at that point, you see people scattering because they see what’s happening and they try to get away from the area and come into frame.” Following the stabbing, the Los Diablos gang were said to have “vowed revenge” and called for “every Cocolo shot” — “cocolo” referring to an Afro-Caribbean migrant. Savino expressed concern about the threat as he noted that Los Diablos only have a feud with the Latin Kings gang and that this could spark a “new, undiscovered beef.” “Truth be told, most groups will not go and confront a group flashing gang signs (over) why you’re flashing gang signs,” Savino said. Another man, Alan Magalles Bello, 18 who was with Colino, was stabbed in the left arm and was taken in stable condition to Bellevue Hospital, where he received five stitches. “I was with my friend yesterday. A group of people show up, like a gang, and they pull out a knife towards me and my friend,” Bello told ABC7 . Cops recovered a knife with a brown handle, two wooden sticks and a pair of pliers at the scene. Some on social media charged that the NYPD should be dedicating as much resources and time to finding Colino’s killer as they had put into the massive manhunt for the murderer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a case that’s gripping the nation. But Assistant Chief Savino pushed back on that accusation, saying, “We treat all our cases with severity. Those are the same teams that are also correspondingly in different groups assigned to the high-profile incident.” Cops also rebutted initial news reports that the brawl was sparked by one of the groups asking the other “if they spoke English,” saying the incident was instead triggered by a gang dispute. ©2024 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.Starmer says ‘bulging benefits bill’ is ‘blighting our society’
Google and the US government faced off in a federal court on Monday, as each side delivered closing arguments in a case revolving around the technology giant's alleged unfair domination of online advertising. The trial in a Virginia federal court is Google's second US antitrust case now under way as the US government tries to rein in the power of big tech. In a separate trial, a Washington judge ruled that Google's search business is an illegal monopoly, and the US Justice Department is asking that Google sell its Chrome browser business to resolve the case. The latest case, also brought by the Justice Department, focuses on ad technology for the open web -- the complex system determining which online ads people see when they surf the internet. The vast majority of websites use a trio of Google ad software products that together, leave no way for publishers to escape Google's advertising technology, the plaintiffs allege. Publishers -- including News Corp and Gannett publishing -- complain that they are locked into Google's advertising technology in order to run ads on their websites. "Google is once, twice, three times a monopolist," DOJ lawyer Aaron Teitelbaum told the court in closing arguments. Presiding judge Leonie Brinkema has said that she would deliver her opinion swiftly, as early as next month. Whatever Brinkema's judgment, the outcome will almost certainly be appealed, prolonging a process that could go all the way to the US Supreme Court. The government alleges that Google controls the auction-style system that advertisers use to purchase advertising space online. The US lawyers argue that this approach allows Google to charge higher prices to advertisers while sending less revenue to publishers such as news websites, many of which are struggling to stay in business. The US argues that Google used its financial power to acquire potential rivals and corner the ad tech market, leaving advertisers and publishers with no choice but to use its technology. The government wants Google to divest parts of its ad tech business. Google dismissed the allegations as an attempt by the government to pick "winners and losers" in a diverse market. The company argues that the display ads at issue are just a small share of today's ad tech business. Google says the plaintiffs' definition of the market ignores ads that are also placed in search results, apps and social media platforms and where, taken as a whole, Google does not dominate. "The law simply does not support what the plaintiffs are arguing in this case," said Google's lawyer Karen Dunn. She warned that if Google were to lose the case, the winners would be rival tech giants such as Microsoft, Meta or Amazon, whose market share in online advertising is ascendant as Google's share is falling. The DOJ countered that it simply "does not matter" that Google is competing in the broader market for online ads. "That is a different question" than the market for ads on websites that is the target of the case, said Teitelbaum. Google also points to US legal precedent, saying arguments similar to the government's have been refuted in previous antitrust cases. Dunn also warned that forcing Google to work with rivals in its ad products would amount to government central planning that the court should reject. If the judge finds Google to be at fault, a new phase of the trial would decide how the company should comply with that conclusion. And all that could be moot if the incoming Trump administration decides to drop the case. The president-elect has been a critic of Google's, but he warned earlier this month that breaking it up could be "a very dangerous thing."Tens of thousands of Spaniards protest housing crunch and high rents in Barcelona
Two teams of six from Horizon School each entered a recycled electric vehicle (EV) into the EVolocity Auckland Regional Finals held at Whenuapai Airforce Base in Auckland last month, with one of them pulling off a, well, shock win. The event marked the culmination of the year-long EVolocity programme, which is available to schools throughout New Zealand and asks teams to design and build an EV. EVolocity, a charitable organisation that promotes sustainable engineering, gives each team an electric motor kit, some guidelines to follow, and runs workshops throughout the year, but everything else is up to the students. The Horizon team that finished first overall competed in their three-wheeler kart Horizon Classics against schools from around Auckland in a variety of events, including drag races, slalom and endurance/efficiency. Their Horizon stablemates entered a similar kart called Volt Velocity, which was also competitive but had high energy readings, which saw them finish further back. Horizon School physics and mathematics teacher Roushan Johnson, who helped guide the Year 11 and 12 students through the build process during the year, says they were the underdogs and not expecting to win. “None of us thought we’d win the regionals. It was incredible, the kids were ecstatic. “Some of them even thought it was more about participation, we’d get to see what it was like and then try again,” Johnson says. What makes the result even more remarkable is this was Horizon’s first year in the EVolocity programme and its teams had a tiny budget and fewer resources than some of the other schools, not to mention zero sponsorship. Johnson says it’s very easy to spend “four or five grand” on a kart and that one of the school’s he spoke to had spent $10,000. “We’re a very small school, with less than 300 students. We had no money, and no backing. We reached out to sponsors, but had no luck whatsoever.” This meant the students had to salvage materials, find ways to fundraise, and come up with innovative designs that were cost effective. “At first, they wanted to build a full-blown four-wheeler, then realised four wheels was too complicated and very expensive. So they went with one wheel at the back with two in the front to provide more balance and better steering. “A lot of the materials used was recycled scrap that the students got from Northland Waste’s Warkworth Re:Sort transfer station. They grabbed whatever they could find – a couple of old bikes, a wheelchair and even an ironing board.” All up, each Horizon EV only cost around $200 to build. Following the regionals, Horizon’s two karts were put on display at the Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) in Auckland for one day as part of its STEM Fair (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Johnson says the school will definitely be participating in the EVolocity programme in 2025. EVolocity is an electric vehicle (EV) programme that asks teams to design, build and race an EV. It aims to promote sustainable engineering and is available to intermediate and secondary schools, either as part of the curriculum or as an extra-curricular project.Starmer says ‘bulging benefits bill’ is ‘blighting our society’
Feminist ideology in India’s constitutional discourseEdmundo González says he will take office as president of Venezuela on January 10 The Venezuela’s opposition have called for a protest for December 1, while Nicolás Maduro has warned his opponents not to ‘underestimate the strength’ of his regime Edmundo González Urrutia , the opposition leader who declared himself the winner of Venezuela’s controversial presidential elections on July 28 — a claim supported by voter tally sheets collected after the vote —, has reiterated his intent to return to the country and take office as president on January 10, 2025 — the scheduled date for the transfer of power. The Biden administration also remains confident that a political transition will take place on that day, according to sources within the White House. “We are fighting, raising our voices — the voices of all Venezuelans abroad,” González Urrutia declared, in what was perhaps one of his most direct statements about returning to Venezuela following his forced exile two months ago . In an interview with W Radio, he also revealed plans to embark on a tour across Latin America, though he did not specify the timeline or which countries he intends to visit. Typically cautious in his remarks , González Urrutia was unequivocal this time about his determination. He refrained from disclosing details about how he plans to re-enter Venezuela but emphasized: “Everyone is committed to ensuring Venezuela’s reconstruction begins on January 10. To do so, we are relying on the support and backing of every one of you, wherever you may be.” The political landscape has become increasingly tense since Donald Trump’s victory in the United States and, more notably, his appointment of Marco Rubio as Secretary of State . This development has fueled a new round of coded messages, threats, warnings, and appeals between Nicolás Maduro’s government and the opposition, signaling the gravity of the looming political shift. Washington’s recognition of González Urrutia as Venezuela’s legitimate president-elect has added yet another layer to these exchanges. After a period of relative silence, the rhetoric of opposition leadership — especially from María Corina Machado — has taken a notably resolute tone. The message being sent is that it is not willing to negotiate timelines with the ruling party. Machado, who shares a strong rapport and a similar outlook with Marco Rubio on Venezuela’s situation, appears committed to fully leveraging the political potential of international sanctions against the Maduro government. This approach has enraged Chavismo — the governing force — and unsettled some factions within the opposition itself. On Friday, the Venezuelan prosecutor’s office announced charges against Machado, accusing her of supporting a recent U.S. sanctions package targeting the regime. In a rare moment of bipartisan agreement, Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. reached consensus on the BOLIVAR Act, legislation that formalizes sanctions against Venezuela and imposes severe penalties on those engaging in business with the Maduro regime. Meanwhile, González Urrutia has pledged to return to Caracas, while Machado has called for a nationwide and international protest on December 1. Machado, along with Magalli Meda, a prominent leader of the opposition party Vente Venezuela, has urged Venezuelans to participate in a demonstration by painting their hands red — a symbol referencing the ongoing repression in the country. “We must act now. This December 1 will be a unique, unprecedented, and courageous protest,” Meda declared. “The world will turn its attention to the cause of a nation determined to fight to the end.” On social media platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), opposition figure Iván Simonovis — who was a political prisoner of the Chavista regime for over 15 years — and retired U.S. military officer Erik Prince have rallied behind the call for action, promoting hashtags warning of the regime’s impending downfall and referencing potential political negotiations for Maduro’s removal from power. Chavista leadership has responded to these declarations with escalating threats. On the same day as Meda’s announcement, authorities intensified surveillance around the Brazilian embassy in Caracas, where six prominent opposition leaders, including Meda, have taken refuge. Reports of police patrols, drone flyovers, and power outages at the embassy highlight the regime’s efforts to clamp down on dissent as the opposition ramps up its campaign for change. The Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), which maintains firm control over the National Assembly, is currently debating a law modeled after the U.S. Bolívar Act, similarly named the Liberador Simón Bolívar Act. This proposed legislation seeks to impose lifetime political disqualification and revoke the citizenship of individuals who have advocated for or facilitated international sanctions against Venezuela. The measures would include confiscating passports and stripping these individuals of their nationality. Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly, has taken aim at opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, calling him “that old coot” and claiming he “will spend the rest of his days abroad.” His sister, Delcy Rodríguez, vice president of Venezuela, echoed the hardline stance, asserting that within Chavismo, “nobody is willing to negotiate with fascism.” Diosdado Cabello, the regime’s second-in-command and Minister of the Interior and Justice, issued a particularly pointed warning, inviting González Urrutia to return to Venezuela via the Simón Bolívar International Airport: “We have a welcome committee ready for him; we’re polishing his handcuffs.” Nicolás Maduro himself, during a televised address, warned opposition figures not to “underestimate the strength of this revolution. Don’t try it — you will regret it.” In response, María Corina Machado has argued that such drastic measures by Chavismo signal not strength but weakness. Maduro, however, appears very sure that he will be inaugurated as president for another term on January 10. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition Tu suscripción se está usando en otro dispositivo ¿Quieres añadir otro usuario a tu suscripción? Si continúas leyendo en este dispositivo, no se podrá leer en el otro. ¿Por qué estás viendo esto? Tu suscripción se está usando en otro dispositivo y solo puedes acceder a EL PAÍS desde un dispositivo a la vez. Si quieres compartir tu cuenta, cambia tu suscripción a la modalidad Premium, así podrás añadir otro usuario. Cada uno accederá con su propia cuenta de email, lo que os permitirá personalizar vuestra experiencia en EL PAÍS. En el caso de no saber quién está usando tu cuenta, te recomendamos cambiar tu contraseña aquí. 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Venezuela Nicolás Maduro Caracas Edmundo González Urrutia María Corina Machado Presentation of analysis on Christopher Columbus’ alleged remains postponed indefinitely Edmundo González says he will take office as president of Venezuela on January 10 The story of Guns N’ Roses’ failed album: 17 years of turmoil, a ban in China and hardcore porn in the studio From Bannon to Musk: The decade that made misinformation the new normal US targets financial structure of Mexican cartel CJNG and includes nine partners on the Treasury’s ‘black list’ Germany is ‘kaput’: Why the economic model no longer works in the proud country of automobiles An intact 80-million-year-old fossil is the ‘Rosetta Stone’ that promises to decipher bird evolution Father of children who survived 40 days in the Colombian jungle arrested for sexual abuse A mythical, historic Macondo: ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ becomes a Netflix series12 tactics America's wealthiest use to save big on taxes, from putting mansions in trusts to stashing fortunes for a 1,000 years
What do Syria’s other rebels want now?New Delhi, Nov 23 (PTI) The Congress on Saturday described the Maharashtra poll outcome as "unexpected and inexplicable", and claimed that the level-playing field in the state was disturbed in a targeted manner as part of a conspiracy to defeat it. The opposition party, however, hailed the poll results in Jharkhand, saying the people of the state have categorically rejected the "politics of polarisation" peddled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance swept the Maharashtra polls, decimating the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) with a landslide victory, while the INDIA bloc retained Jharkhand, voters in both states giving the parties in power an emphatic thumbs up. Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh asserted that his party may have lost the polls in Maharashtra but it would continue to raise the issues that it has been raising since the parliamentary polls. "On Maharashtra, there can be no two ways about it that in a targeted manner, the level-playing field, a phrase that the Election Commission often uses, was disturbed. The election results are unexpected, very surprising and inexplicable," Ramesh said. "Some people are analysing the poll results of Maharashtra and saying this is a victory of development, and an NCP leader has stated that the Congress party's fake narrative has been rejected by the people of the state. This is wrong, there should not be any doubt that the agenda we had during the Lok Sabha polls -- economic inequalities, social polarisation, protection of the Constitution, a caste census and the Modani scams -- these issues are as important and we will continue to raise those," he added. The people of Maharashtra have not rejected this, the Congress leader said. The Congress will analyse the results but even those who won did not expect this, Ramesh said. "We were expecting that we will get the mandate. Farmers were upset and everyone believed that we will get the mandate. The results are absolutely opposite to this, but this does not mean that we will deviate from our agenda," he said. "We will re-energise our organisation on the basis of this agenda. We have gotten a jolt but this jolt was given. There was a conspiracy to defeat us," Ramesh claimed. He said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had a word with AICC Maharashtra in-charge Ramesh Chennithala and in the next 24 to 36 hours, there will be a meeting where various issues related to the poll results will be discussed. Hailing the Jharkhand Assembly polls verdict, Ramesh congratulated the people of the state for showing the country a new way and "categorically rejecting" the politics of polarisation. "(Assam Chief Minister) Himanta Biswa Sarma, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, (Union minister) Shivraj Chouhan, Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- what all did they not say? The entire election was about one issue and one word -- 'ghuspetiya' (infiltrators). Attempts were made to create fear but people have given a decisive verdict," he said. "This is a positive message for the whole country that politics of polarisation can be defeated and we will defeat it," the Congress leader asserted. Addressing the presser, Congress's media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said as the principal opposition party, "we find it our responsibility to keep raising issues of transparency in elections". "The Lok Sabha election was fought in the name of Modiji in Maharashtra and the BJP did not do well. The same state gives the same BJP 132 out of 148 seats (contested by the saffron party) within four-five months. What kind of a strike rate is this? Is this strike rate possible? Democracy is our concern," Khera said. "Whether we win or lose, we will continue to question the election process and raise issues of transparency. In a country where exam papers are leaked, can we blindly trust the machines? You cannot shut us up by showing the results of Jharkhand. To date, apart from poetry, we have not received any concrete answer from the Election Commission," he said. (This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)
No. 21 Creighton's Steven Ashworth doubtful for Players Era Festival opener against AztecsAfter a stellar premiere followed by two straight episodes of grinding setup, Silo ’s second season really gets rolling this week, with one of the most gripping hours of the entire series. We get a major character death and one pulse-pounding action sequence, balanced by some quiet, well-observed character moments that actually advance the plot rather than slow the momentum. There’s so much to discuss with “The Harmonium” that I almost don’t know where to begin. So let’s begin with an ending: the sad and shocking farewell of Judge Mary Meadows. I feel like we’ve just gotten to know Judge Meadows over the past two weeks, and we get a couple of scenes in this episode to make her loss even more meaningful. First, she has an extended conversation with Lukas, who’s trying to avoid being sent to the mines. Before she makes her decision, she asks him what he’s learned from watching the night skies in the dining hall, and when she realizes his knowledge is rudimentary, she lectures him on what stars are and how our world both revolves and orbits, changing how the skies look each night. Then Lukas asks if there are other worlds too, and Meadows immediately calls in the guards, sentencing him to the mines for five years. (She doubts he’ll survive even one.) Meadows’s other big scene happens with Bernard, who is clinging hard to the Order and trying to follow its step-by-step instructions for “How to Prevent a Rebellion That Kills Everybody in the Silo.” Although he clearly has (reciprocated!) romantic feelings for the judge, he’s wary of many of Mary’s moves, including her agreeing to review Lukas’s case and her agreeing to meet with a delegation from Mechanical. She tries to explain that she’s just defusing tension through bureaucracy, but the “IMPEACH MEADOWS” signs (hung at Sims’s secret command) make Bernard too nervous about what might happen next. It doesn’t help when her thoughts about her impeachment are, “I don’t care; I’ll be long gone before it could happen.” So he invites her over for a dinner date, promising to let her try on the suit he’s ordered for her excursion outside the silo. After some pleasant chitchat and some Erik Satie, Meadows asks to see the suit, and when Bernard stares at her for a long time, she realizes he’s poisoned her. (The man does love to poison, folks.) In the minutes they have left together, they have a plot-relevant conversation as Bernard asks about the time she disappeared for four days, and Meadows responds by alerting him to what was on Juliette’s scandalous hard drive, dropping a name — Salvador Quinn — that I’m sure we’ll hear more about later. Then he pulls out a pair of forbidden VR goggles from his relic stash and lets her spend her final seconds watching Costa Rican wildlife. It’s a nice bit of staging that we don’t see what she sees. We have to use our imaginations — and Tanya Moodie’s excellent performance — to picture it all. Why kill the judge? This is all part of Bernard’s larger plan to whip up public anger against Mechanical, thus strangling the Down Deep rebellion in its cradle. The delegation from below works its way up the stairs throughout this episode, starting at one of the lowest levels, where Knox shows his people a list of names that he believes are the people who died in multiple past rebellions, never mentioned in their history classes. They send a message to Meadows to ask for a meeting, in which they’re going to lay out their plan to try out the advanced suit/tape technology and explore outside. (Knox, it turns out, is aching for Juliette and desperate to find out if she’s still alive out there.) Before they reach the judge’s chambers, there are challenges. Rumors of the meeting have spread through the upper levels, where an angry mob — stoked by Sims and Bernard, of course — has assembled to stop them. The delegation then flexes their muscles by dropping a red ball down the silo’s center, signaling to their comrades in Mechanical to shut down the power. All of this pleases Bernard. The power shutdown reminds everyone how dangerous Mechanical can be. And when Bernard encourages the mob to let the delegation through to see the judge, he springs his next trap. He and Sims have posed the corpse of Judge Meadows behind her desk with a knife in her chest. Knox & Co. have been set up as patsies for her murder. Bernard lets them start walking back down the stairs for a while before he has Sims whip the mob back into an anti-Mechanical frenzy. The episode ends with a nifty shot of the mob rushing down the stairs, just a few levels above where the Mechanical delegation is fleeing. It says something about how well balanced this episode is that I’ve gotten so deep into the recap without mentioning Silo 17. But rest assured, while the action in Silo 18 (which is finally identified by number out loud by Solo) is very strong this week, the Juliette story line remains this season’s strongest. The main thrust of the action in Silo 17 involves Juliette’s efforts to retrieve a firefighting suit from an area of the silo that’s on the other side of a deep pool of water. The title of the episode comes from Solo’s suggestion for how Juliette can get air during her long swim. There’s a harmonium in a children’s classroom, and the bellows from the instrument — operated by Solo — could pump the air Juliette needs. Juliette’s swimming scene is an outstanding set piece, filled with the kind of unexpected complications that make an already tense sequence more nerve-wracking. Her air tube isn’t long enough. The weight she uses to help pull her down into the water gets stuck. The lockers containing the firefighting suits are locked and have to be pried open. Fantastic plotting and execution here. But Juliette’s biggest obstacle is Solo. Now that Solo is out of the vault, exploring the silo and talking (incessantly) to Juliette, it’s become obvious that he has the interests and attention span of a little boy. Juliette does the math when Solo’s looking at a child’s backpack in the classroom — and talking about how that kid sat next to him — and she realizes he must’ve gone into the vault at age 11 or 12. Even with all his access to music and literature, Solo has been without any grown-up role models, which may be why his taste has stalled at the level of the circus and adventure stories like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea . Solo’s sole purpose in life has been to keep the vault safe, so the longer he spends outside the vault with Juliette, the more distracted and anxious he gets about what might be happening back in his little fortress. He almost abandons Juliette mid-swim, then he takes off back to the vault as soon as she emerges from the water. (He then fumbles his passcode and is briefly locked out, which upsets him even more.) Juliette is able to bond with Solo over their shared feelings of loneliness, curiosity, and fear. But there’s still something uncomfortably off-kilter about their interpersonal dynamic. There’s a heartbreaking moment in this episode when Solo realizes Juliette will have to tear apart the harmonium to make her breathing apparatus. He asks, like a child, “You can put it back together, right?” She responds, like a parent, “We’ll see.” And like moms and kids everywhere, they both know deep down that — in many ways — she’s going to break something that’ll never be fixed. • Because of the nature of life in the Silo — where information is tightly controlled from birth to death — the show hasn’t really been plagued by one of Lost ’s biggest problems, where characters would inexplicably fail to ask relevant questions about this place where they’d been stranded. But now that we know Bernard and Solo have secret knowledge, it may start to get more frustrating when someone like Juliette (who is smart, savvy, and aware there’s more to the story than she’s been told) doesn’t take advantage of an opportunity to get “answers.” • Sheriff Billings has a significant subplot this week, investigating the firebombing from the previous episode and finding it suspicious that Judicial (and perhaps some other entity) is hindering the inquiry by whisking away corpses. Bernard may think he has a tight lock on the post-Juliette narrative in Silo 18, but having a sheriff who worked in Judicial and knows its tendencies could inadvertently keep the rebellion alive. • Keep an eye on Sims as well. He thought his impeachment banners would manipulate Bernard into confiding in him again instead of Meadows. Instead, Bernard now trusts him less. Although Bernard is pleased with the ultimate outcome — the judge’s request to go out nullified and Mechanical properly demonized — he’s not happy his hand was forced. He apparently means to make Sims suffer some consequences. But Sims is a dangerous man who controls his own miniature army, so it may not be the best idea for Bernard to freeze him out. • When Juliette says she’s familiar with oceans, Solo asks if they let people read books in Silo 18, to which she says, “Uh ... no.” Some things are different from silo to silo — for example, Silo 17 had Founders Day and Silo 18 has Freedom Day — but apparently they all see literature as contraband. • I’m glad they didn’t push this too far, but the combination of terror and fascination in Solo’s eyes when Juliette strips down to her undergarments for her swim was wholly the reaction you’d expect from a man whose life was frozen in preadolescence. • To play us out, a little harmonium solo from Solo. Take it! 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Starmer says ‘bulging benefits bill’ is ‘blighting our society’Ironmen all business in state playoff win