Jayden Daniels and the offense stalling have the Commanders on a three-game losing streak
A judge on Monday rejected a request to block a San Jose State women’s volleyball team member from playing in a conference tournament on grounds that she is transgender. Monday’s ruling by U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Kato Crews in Denver will allow the player, who has played all season, to continue competing in the Mountain West Conference women’s championship scheduled for later this week in Las Vegas. The ruling comes after a lawsuit was filed by nine current players who are suing the Mountain West Conference to challenge the league’s policies for allowing transgender players to participate. The players argued that letting her compete was a safety risk and unfair. While some media have reported those and other details, neither San Jose State nor the forfeiting teams have confirmed the school has a trans women’s volleyball player. The Associated Press is withholding the player’s name because she has not publicly commented on her gender identity. School officials also have declined an interview request with the player. Judge Crews referred to the athlete as an “alleged transgender” player in his ruling and noted that no defendant disputed that San Jose State rosters a transgender woman volleyball player. He said the players who filed the complaint could have sought relief much earlier, noting that the individual universities had acknowledged that not playing their games against San Jose State this season would result in a forfeit in league standings. He also said injunctions are meant to preserve the status quo. The conference policy regarding forfeiting for refusing to play against a team with a transgender player had been in effect since 2022 and the San Jose State player has been on the roster since 2022 – making that the status quo. The player competed at the college level three previous seasons, including two for San Jose State, drawing little attention. This season’s awareness of her identity led to an uproar among some players, pundits, parents and politicians in a political campaign year. The tournament starts Wednesday and continues Friday and Saturday. San Jose State is seeded second. The judge's order maintains the seedings and pairings for the tournament. Several teams refused to play against San Jose State during the season, earning losses in the official standings. Boise State and Wyoming each had two forfeits while Utah State and Nevada both had one. Southern Utah, a member of the Western Athletic Conference, was first to cancel against San Jose State this year. Nevada’s players stated they “refuse to participate in any match that advances injustice against female athletes,” without providing further details. Crews served as a magistrate judge in Colorado’s U.S. District Court for more than five years before President Joe Biden appointed him to serve as a federal judge in January of this year. Gruver reported from Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Hanson from Helena, Montana. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Get local news delivered to your inbox!
With so much chaos in the world, from the United States’ slide toward authoritarianism to the wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Ukraine, you could be forgiven for not being focused on what’s going on this week in Baku, Azerbaijan. World leaders are gathered there for the annual United Nations climate talks. Their task at the summit, known as COP29, is arguably the most important one in the world: to determine how to execute and build on virtually every nation’s commitment to reduce fossil fuel combustion to protect humanity from a dire and growing threat. This is no time to look away or diminish the urgency and importance of those pledges and imperatives. Negotiations this year are particularly concerned with how to raise up to $1 trillion a year in climate finance to help the world’s developing and vulnerable nations, which have caused little of the pollution that is heating up the planet but are already facing the brunt of the consequences. The rich countries that are overwhelmingly responsible for the crisis, having spewed far more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, are predictably resistant to paying more. As the conference approached its scheduled end this week, the U.N.’s climate chief chided negotiators for digging in their heels and wasting time with bluffing and brinkmanship. Even if a strong agreement is hammered out, there is no real assurance against backtracking. The agreement that emerged from last year’s conference called for “ transitioning away ” from fossil fuels for the first time, but a year later, countries have made no substantial progress on doing so. The backdrop of these talks isn’t exactly encouraging, either. They’re being held in a petrostate for the third year in a row and are again awash with fossil fuel lobbyists . The host country, whose president told conference attendees that oil and gas are a “ gift of God ,” plans to ramp up fossil fuel production over the next decade. Some nations and corporations , meanwhile, have been retreating from their climate commitments . It doesn’t help that Donald Trump, president-elect of the world’s largest historical carbon emitter, has a long history of making false statements about climate science and renewable energy. He has announced a series of Cabinet choices who have misrepresented the reality of climate change . His pick for Energy secretary, oil and gas services executive Chris Wright, has falsely asserted that “there is no climate crisis” and “there is no such thing as clean energy or dirty energy.” But just as we can’t outrun the laws of physics that underlie global warming, we can’t afford more delay in ending the dangerous burning of fossil fuels. None of our procedural, political or financial excuses for inaction mean anything if we continue to pump the atmosphere full of greenhouse gases that endanger life on this planet as we know it. This year is already expected to be the hottest in recorded history , while global carbon emissions are on track to increase an additional 0.8% , reaching another record high . U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called 2024 a “master class in climate destruction.” Earth has already warmed 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit since the preindustrial era and is on track to heat up a total of 4.7 to 5.6 degrees. That ensures more deadly and destructive heat waves, storms, floods and droughts unless we do more, fast, to drive down emissions. Is there hope? Of course. Electric vehicles are spreading rapidly across the world, and renewable sources such as wind and solar accounted for 30% of global energy generation last year — a figure expected to grow even faster this year. We are still in the early stages of a generational shift toward a new and better energy system, and it seems clear that we’re never going back to the dirty, fossil-fueled economy of the past. As Guterres said last week , “The clean energy revolution is here. No group, no business and no government can stop it.” But world leaders need to act quickly and decisively to accelerate the transition. Renewable energy must continue to grow dramatically to outpace rising demand for electricity as economies shift to carbon-free vehicles and appliances. Political setbacks, missed targets and failed ambitions are certainly alarming and demoralizing in the context of such a threat. But we must keep up the fight. Every ton of pollution and fraction of a degree of warming we can prevent will reduce human suffering and ecological damage. If we take action, we don’t need to resign ourselves to the worst possible future. ©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.The Ohio State Buckeyes thrashed the Indiana Hoosiers in their huge Week 13 matchup, with the final score settling in at 38-15. And after the game, there was shortage of trolling from the Buckeyes, which resulted in one of their social media posts quickly going viral. After Indiana opened the scoring with a touchdown, Ohio State proceeded to rattle off 31 unanswered points, before the two sides traded a pair of late touchdowns. The final score of the game, in particular, drew the ire of fans, as they accused Ryan Day of unnecessarily running up the score. As if that wasn't bad enough, the Buckeyes found a way to inflict more pain on the Hoosiers. After Indiana's head coach Curt Cignetti's "Google me" quote took the internet by storm earlier this season, Ohio State shared a post on X, formerly Twitter, with the two-word caption "GoogLed it" in response to Cignetti's message. GoogLed It. #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/JCpi2rwVf6 Indiana was a heavy underdog heading into this game, despite the fact they had yet to lose this season. That didn't stop Cignetti from talking some smack throughout the week, and while it looked like his team meant business early on, that quickly proved to not be the case. The stakes were high for both of these teams, as Ohio State was the No. 2 ranked team in the nation, and Indiana was No. 5. So considering how the Buckeyes picked up a dominant victory, it shouldn't come as much surprise that they are strutting their stuff in the wake of this one. © Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images With this win, Ohio State has further insulated themselves as the No. 2 in the AP Top 25 poll behind the Oregon Ducks. Indiana, meanwhile, will likely tumble down the rankings, as they didn't do much to get rid of the notion that they were only undefeated because of the weak schedule they have faced this season. The Buckeyes appear to be getting hot at the perfect time, as the regular season is coming to a close. They will finish things off in Week 14 against Michigan, where they will be hoping to pick up their 11th win of the season. Related: Ryan Day Issues Savage 5-Word Message After Controversial Late Touchdown vs. Indiana
I have worked as a professor for almost 30 years at two Ivy League institutions -- the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University. Ivy League institutions epitomize the Ivory Tower. We imagine that professors and students discuss rarefied subjects while being disconnected to the reality on the ground. However, I wholeheartedly reject this version of academia. Two weeks ago, I had the immense pleasure of organizing a K-pop conference at Yale University titled "K-pop Production and Consumption: Conversations among Industry Professionals, Social Scientists, and Humanists." My co-organizer was Yale postdoctoral fellow Dr. Lee Won-seok, who happens to be a former drummer in the K-pop industry who worked with acts like Shinhwa and Lee Hyo-ri. The conference was sponsored by multiple units at Yale -- the Council on East Asian Studies to the Institution for Social and Policy Studies, Kempf Fund at the MacMillan Center, and the Yale’s Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration. This is a sign of the relevance of K-pop to numerous academic centers at Yale. My vision was to introduce academics who study K-pop to people that actually work in the industry. For the panelists, we welcomed RBW’s Kim Hyung-kyu, who helped to produce Beast, Mamamoo, Pentagon, G(I)-dle, Oneus, Onewe, Young Posse, and so forth. Next, we had Kim Su-bin, a former idol of the group Say Yes and current songwriter, producer, topliner and CEO of Aiming Music. He has produced almost 400 songs for groups such as Twice, EXO, Super Junior, SF9 and Astro. We also welcomed Dahae Choi, creative director at Hitfire Productions AB in Sweden, and who has an extensive career in music publishing and forming some of the first song camps. Finally, we welcomed Jay Kim, a former employee in PR at a major K-pop entertainment company and currently a K-pop journalist. We invited them to participate along with academics in Sociology, Ethnomusicology, East Asian Studies, Korean Studies, Theatre Arts, English and Classics. We gathered at Yale University for two wonderful days, and everyone had a great time. What was so special was that everyone there was serious about K-pop -- we are all fans, producers and/or consumers of it. Also, we didn’t have to defend its importance to anyone at the conference. We all felt pure joy and happiness throughout the conference -- I don’t know if it was because we all loved music or if we just liked each other. There were so many unique moments. First, we enjoyed welcome messages from five idols/groups including Say My Name, Purple Kiss, Young Posse, Jae-Joong of JYJ and Yonghoon of Onewe. These have been posted on YouTube if you’re interested. Faculty and students learned what it was like to be an idol and the rigorous testing and training that trainees endure. Who knew that trainees at one company had to write monthly book reports? We also learned about various methods for computing the allocation of song royalties. Industry professionals seemed fascinated that professors and Ph.D. students were spending time studying K-pop. In the session, “Fandoms,” we heard about Korean versus international fandoms from professor Mathieu Berbiguier of Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Stephanie Choi of Suny Buffalo talked about how the activities of female fans are a direct response to gender inequities in Korea. We learned about performing materialization and affective labor from Professor Areum Jeong of Arizona State University. She also talked about fan meetings with Taeyong of NCT Dream. In the session titled, “Sounds,” I talked about the link between K-pop and 1980s New Wave Music. Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Michigan Sunhong Kim, previously a professional "gugak" (traditional Korean music) musician, presented her paper on how Suga of BTS uses traditional Korean instrumentation and imagery in "Daechwita" as a commentary on military history during Park Chung-hee’s regime and beyond. We heard about the use of autotune and vocoders in Ateez songs from Professor Donna Kwon, an Ethnomusicology professor at the University of Kentucky. The panel on “Past and Future” featured Dr. Yanxiao He of Tsinghua University whose work ties Classics to K-pop more broadly, and specifically to BTS’s “Dionysus.” We learned about how computational social scientists analyze data on social media platform X to examine the sway BTS carries in shaping the online conversation about discrimination against Asian Americans from Dr. AJ Alvero of Cornell University. Next, we heard fascinating papers by professor Hye Won Kim of Kennesaw State University about the production of K-pop. She is unique in that she was a pop singer and now a professor. Ph.D. candidate Lee So-yoon from The University of Chicago talked about the proliferation of hagwons that offer credentialing to adults who want to work in the K-pop industry -- not as idols, but in production and support roles. Finally, we learned about K-pop markets. Professor Kim Sung-min of Hokkaido University described the reception of K-pop in Japan and how it reflects Japan-Korea relations. Professor Youjeong Oh of the University of Texas, Austin, described how tourism based on BTS has brought fans to Korea. One of the most memorable highlights was during our last reception, where we all participated in a sing-a-long. Hye Won Kim (professionally known as Hey) performed her hit song, “Je T’aime” with Kim Hyung-kyu; Kim Su-bin and Kim Hyung-kyu performed a “freestyle” song -- meaning that they made it up on the spot. Finally, the Korean participants sang “Forever with You” by Lee Moon-sae. Hye Won Kim recorded it and sent it to Lee (apparently they are friends!) on the spot. Shockingly, he responded to her and expressed his happiness at seeing it. I tried to explain to my American friends this was as if we sang “Candle in the Wind” at a party and then someone at the party who is a friend of Elton John’s texts the video to him, and then he immediately responds. This was truly surreal and magical. If we think of all the groups who were mentioned during the conference or played during our lunch breaks, I think we covered all the generations from Seo Taiji, H.O.T., S.E.S., 2NE1, Girls Generation, Beast, TVXQ, Super Junior, Big Bang, EXO, BTS, GOT7, Twice, iKON, Seventeen, Pentagon, Brave Girls, NCT 127, Ateez, Stray Kids, G(I)-dle, TXT, Enhyphen, NewJeans, Zerobaseone, and Young Posse. Still, how memorable is it that we ended with a song by Lee Moon-sae, who debuted in 1978. Not bad for a two-day conference in Connecticut, right? Grace Kao Grace Kao is an IBM professor of sociology and professor of ethnicity, race and migration at Yale University. The views expressed here are the writer’s own. -- Ed.NoneVictor Wembanyama and Anthony Edwards will play Christmas Day games for the first time on Wednesday as the NBA delivers its 77th year of contests on the holiday. French centre Wembanyama, last season's NBA Rookie of the Year, will lead the San Antonio Spurs into New York to face the Knicks, who have the league's longest holiday history. The Knicks have played the most Christmas games of any NBA club at 56 entering this year, the first coming in 1947, the year the first NBA Christmas game was played. Wembanyama, a 20-year-old who stands 7-foot-3 (2.21m), averages 24.8 points, 9.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 4.0 blocked shots a game for the Spurs, who return to the Christmas lineup for the first time in eight years. "Very excited just about spending Christmas in New York," Wembanyama said. "Going to be like the movies I hope, maybe get a little snow. "I'll approach it just like any other game. We've got to learn about their team, scout them and apply it for sure. I'm sure it's going to be special. I'm sure the league is going to make it something special that we're going to be able to feel." Edwards, a two-time NBA All-Star guard who helped the United States capture gold at the Paris Olympics, will try to spark the Minnesota Timberwolves on a holiday road trip to Dallas in a rematch of last season's Western Conference finals. "Ant-Man" leads the T-Wolves with 25.3 points a game and also has 5.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.4 steals a contest this season. The league's past three champions will also take the court on Wednesday with the defending champion Boston Celtics playing host to Philadelphia, the 2022 trophy-lifting Golden State Warriors playing host to the Los Angeles Lakers and the 2023 winner Denver Nuggets on the road at Phoenix. Lakers star LeBron James, who turns 40 next Monday, is the NBA career leader in points on Christmas with 476 in a record 18 games on December 25. He and former Miami teammate Dwyane Wade share the lead in wins by a player on Christmas with 10. The Lakers and Knicks share the NBA record for Christmas wins by a team with 24 for each. This year marks the 40th anniversary of Bernard King scoring 60 points, the highest NBA total on Christmas Day. Three other players -- Rick Barry, Wilt Chamberlain and Slovenian Luka Doncic -- have scored 50 or more in a game on the holiday. Dallas guard Doncic joined the club with a 50-point effort last year. The Lakers (16-13) and Golden State (15-13) are fighting for seventh in the Western Conference just ahead of San Antonio (15-14) and Minnesota and Phoenix, both 14-14. Dallas is fourth in the West at 19-10, just ahead of Denver 16-11. The Celtics are second in the Eastern Conference at 22-7, ahead of New York (19-10) while Philadelphia has struggled to a 10-17 start, 12th in the East. js/pb
Iranian authorities have lifted a ban on Meta's instant messaging platform WhatsApp and Google Play as a first step to scale back internet restrictions, Iranian state media reported on Tuesday. The Islamic Republic has some of the strictest controls on internet access in the world, but its blocks on US-based social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are routinely bypassed by tech-savvy Iranians using virtual private networks. "A positive majority vote has been reached to lift limitations on access to some popular foreign platforms such as WhatsApp and Google Play," Iran's official IRNA news agency said on Tuesday, referring to a meeting on the matter headed by President Masoud Pezeshkian. "Today the first step in removing internet limitations... has been taken," IRNA cited Iran's Minister of Information and Communications Technology Sattar Hashemi as saying. Social media platforms were widely used in anti-government protests in Iran. In Septemberm the United States called on Big Tech to help evade online censorship in countries that heavily sensor the internet, including Iran.Ohio State Goes Viral for Trolling Indiana After Week 13 Blowout
( MENAFN - AzerNews) By Alimat Aliyeva China is actively expanding its Nuwa satellite system, which iscurrently the largest national orbital system of commercial Earthremote sensing radar satellites, Azernews reports. The system includes 12 PIESAT spacecraft, with plans to increasethe number to 114. All of these satellites have been successfullycalibrated and are transmitting high-resolution data and imagesback to Earth. By 2025, over 20 satellites are expected to beoperational as part of the system. The Nuwa system already offers global coverage, including remotepolar regions and the equator, making it capable of monitoring theentire Earth's surface. The satellites can capture images with aresolution of up to 1 meter, even through clouds and in all weatherconditions, including precipitation. One of the most significant features of Nuwa is its ability toperform high-precision monitoring of Earth's surface. Usingadvanced artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, the system cananalyze satellite images with millimeter accuracy. This enablesreal-time monitoring of critical infrastructure, such as dams andlandslides, providing invaluable data for disaster prevention andrisk management. The combination of radar imaging and AI technology makes theNuwa system a groundbreaking tool for a variety of applications,including environmental monitoring, urban planning, agriculture,and national security. In the long term, China plans to leverage the Nuwa satellitenetwork to enhance its space economy, promote global data-sharinginitiatives, and assert itself as a leader in the global remotesensing market. The system could also play a key role in disasterrelief by providing real-time data for faster response to naturaldisasters like earthquakes, floods, and wildfires. As the system continues to grow, it could revolutionize globalsurveillance and data analytics capabilities, providing newopportunities for governments and businesses to make more informeddecisions in fields like climate change monitoring, urbandevelopment, and resource management. MENAFN24122024000195011045ID1109028294 Legal Disclaimer: MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.
Liverpool shines in Champions League, dumping Real Madrid down the table. Dortmund rises to 4th
NoneThere wasn’t any one moment this season when Rome Odunze felt like he’d built enough chemistry with his quarterback, fellow Bears rookie Caleb Williams. There may never be, at any point in their careers. “You gotta go out there and prove it on the field,” the receiver said this week. “We have to continue to do that ... Kind of like Davante Adams and Aaron Rodgers, they have to go out and prove that every single Sunday, too. And they continue to do so. “Even though we’re at the inception of our duo, you still have to prove it.” The Bears envisioned Williams and Odunze would become one of the best young quarterback-receiver pairings in the NFL — though maybe not to the extent of the former Packers-turned-Jets —when they drafted the former first and the latter ninth in April. The two have shown flashes of that this season — Odunze caught a 50-50 ball for 30 yards on fourth-and-1 Sunday — but not often enough to avoid a nine-game losing streak. Odunze fumbled twice in the first quarter of Sunday’s 34-17 loss to the Lions, once on a fly sweep handoff from Williams, another after a 19-yard catch. Perhaps that’s why Odunze, who is rarely short on words, gave a stilted answer when asked how he evaluated his rookie season. “I couldn’t tell you,” he said. “We still got games to go. I can’t really encapsulate it yet.” Through 15 games, Odunze’s performance has fallen just shy of Marvin Harrison, Jr., the Ohio State receiver that so many Bears fans pined for and who was picked fourth by the Cardinals. In 15 games, Harrison Jr. has 51 catches on 100 targets for 726 yards. Odunze has 51 catches on 95 passes for 701. Harrison has seven touchdowns to Odunze’s three, though. Harrison is fourth in receiving yards among rookie receivers, Odunze fifth. The Jaguars’ Brian Thomas has a league-high 1,088 rookie receiving yards. Neither Harrison nor Thomas has had to break in a rookie quarterback the way Odunze has. The good news is that he and Williams can grow together. The bad news has been self-evident this season, as the Bears’ offense has struggled to find consistency on and off the field. Williams is on his third different offensive coordinator and second different play-caller. “I think Rome has been consistent from Day 1,” interim head coach Thomas Brown said. “The ball hasn’t always found him throughout the year as far as his role in kind of how it plays out from a progression standpoint. “But when he’s had an opportunity to make plays, the guy constantly shows up.” Williams has seen that, even though Odunze ranks third on the team in catches and targets and second in receiving yards. “Being able to have him here and grow with him and our relationship over the years is going to be vital, I think, for the team,” Williams said. “So I’ve been able to be able to continue that and continue to grow that. [It] t is going to be really fun — and really vital.” NOTE: The Bears held a walk-through Tuesday and estimated their player’s participation for a real practice. Guard Teven Jenkins (calf). safety Elijah Hicks (ankle/foot), running back Travis Homer (hamstring) and tight end Marcedes Lewis (rest) were among the players who would have sat out.
King Charles has turned heads earlier this week as he sported a pair of previously banned satin breeches to an event at Buckingham Palace. The breeches, steeped in royal tradition, had been a topic of debate leading up to his coronation last year. Ultimately, the King opted for a more modernised pair of Royal Navy trousers for the historic ceremony. However, on Tuesday, he finally donned the ceremonial outfit, which boasts a storied lineage. Accompanied by Queen Camilla, Charles paired the breeches with black silk stockings and bespoke shoes crafted for his coronation by Tony Gaziano of Gaziano & Girling. The shoes, described as black opera pumps with a "family buckle", were made by the Kettering-based company, whose founder noted the King’s "delicate" feet during the fitting process. The satin breeches hold deep historical significance, having been worn by Charles’s grandfather, King George VI, as well as great-grandfather King George V and great-great-grandfather King Edward VII at their coronation ceremonies. In a nod to royal tradition, Charles, 76, also wore a garter on his left leg inscribed with the Order of the Garter’s motto, "Honi soit qui mal y pense", meaning "shame on he who thinks ill of it". Queen Camilla, 77, complemented the occasion by wearing a velvet blue gown and a sentimental piece from the late Queen Elizabeth’s collection, a diamond and aquamarine tiara previously seen on Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh. Camilla paired it with matching aquamarine earrings and a necklace, as well as the King’s family order displayed on a royal blue sash. In a nod to Charles’ passion for sustainability, his likeness is believed to be painted on polymin, rather than ivory. The Diplomatic Corps reception, one of the largest annual events at Buckingham Palace , welcomed approximately 1,000 guests. Invitations were extended to ambassadors, high commissioners, past prime ministers, and other notable public figures. This year’s reception was moved to November to avoid clashing with the Emir of Qatar’s state visit in December. Prince William attended the event alongside his father and stepmother, looking dashing in a black suit and trousers as he mingled with guests. Absent from the event was Princess Catherine, who is gradually resuming royal duties after completing chemotherapy in October. The Duchess of Wales made a public appearance at Remembrance Sunday earlier this month and is reportedly preparing for her Together at Christmas carol service on December 6. This year’s carol service is themed around the Christmas story, which "encourages us to consider the experiences of others and the important human need of giving and receiving empathy."The other evening a good friend and I were sitting around, enjoying each other’s company as seniors will do, when the topic of what hunting will be like 30 years in the future came up. We have both been around enough years to witness many changes in hunting in Pennsylvania. We remember when safety orange wasn’t mandatory. A hunter could only tag one deer per year. Antlerless permits were hard to come by. Crossbows were illegal. Small game was abundant, and fur prices were high. In some ways, it was the good old days. In other ways, today is better. Our biggest concern was the ever-increasing age of the average hunter here in Pennsylvania, now over 50 years of age and getting higher. As these older hunters drop out, and fewer young hunters taking up the pastime, what changes will be necessary? Let’s start with funding. While it’s true the Pa. Game Commission makes money from timber sales and mineral rights, both of which are a product of the state gamelands system, with fewer and fewer hunters buying licenses how long will it be before the taxpayer, not the hunter, will be saddled with the expense incurred by the commission? The only answer will be extra and increased taxes, just like most other states, so get ready to open your wallet. As trapper numbers go down, who is going to control muskrat and beaver populations? My guess is the government will need to somehow pay either to manage these species or at least to repair the damage to roadways caused by an over-abundance of rodent erosion. Will the remaining hunters be asked to control the deer population, or will paid sharpshooters be needed? Pennsylvania already holds top honors for most deer/auto collisions in the nation. Who will farmers go to for help if crop damage is out of control? Will the loss of license money cause the state to sell off state game lands? These properties are now paid for by the hunter, but are open to all to enjoy. It would be a shame for them to disappear. Will there be an overpopulation of bears, leading to more bear/human conflicts? Will diseases such as rabies, distemper, and mange run rampant as nature replaces the hunter? Will fewer people be interested in protecting our woods and waterways if they no longer have a personal interest in protecting them? Or will we simply turn them into more shopping centers? Will organizations such as the National Wild Turkey Federation and Ducks Unlimited, which spend thousands on land improvement and preservation, cease to exist? Then again, maybe life will be like a Disney movie and somehow suddenly everything will be great and mankind and nature will go skipping away hand in hand. What will the next 30, 50 or 100 years bring? Only time will tell, my friend, but until then we can only guess.
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Election results on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean have set the background for the final stretch of campaigning for Irish parties ahead of polling day on Friday. Donald Trump’s presidential election victory in the US has brought heightened concern that his administration’s proposals around corporation tax and tariffs would significantly impact Ireland’s economic model. Mr Harris, leader of Fine Gael, has argued Ireland and other EU countries need to prepare for the possibility of trade shocks as he criticised the scale of Sinn Fein’s spending pledges as well as their saving plans. He said: “I think that is irresponsible, I think it is dangerous and I think it is reckless.” He accused Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald of not being able to say what her party was prepared to do in the event of an economic crash, adding that Fine Gael would borrow and stop putting money towards a rainy-day fund. Asked if the party was engaging in “project fear” to dissuade voters against Sinn Fein, Mr Harris said: “I call it ‘project truth’. It’s telling people what’s being discussed right across European capitals.” Ms McDonald told an RTE interview on Wednesday morning that a Sinn Fein government would also be prepared to start borrowing in the event of an economic downturn. Both Mr Harris and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin, who were partners in the last coalition government in Ireland, have made clear they will not countenance Sinn Fein as a potential partner in the next administration in Dublin. One day after the only three-way debate featuring the leaders of the main parties, Mr Martin accused Sinn Fein of being “dishonest” about how they will fund their manifesto plans. Speaking in Dublin on Wednesday, he said he is anxious to get clarity on the issue. “I think Sinn Fein have been very dishonest, frankly, in terms of the funds, because if you go through their figures, and this is a matter of fact, not opinion, they’re predicting a surplus of a billion in 2026, a billion in 2027. “Even in 2025, they’re talking about a mini budget, which would mean reducing the surplus that we’re anticipating in 2025. “There’s a legislative obligation now on any new government to put 0.8% of GDP to one side, and into the funds. There’s no way you can do that with a surplus of a billion in 2026 or 2027, and we would argue they would not have enough funds next year either to put into the funds.” He added: “It means they have no room to manoeuvre if things go wrong, if there’s headwinds come externally, or there are shocks internationally, Sinn Fein is not allowing any headroom at all in terms of room to respond or to move it.” Ms McDonald accused the other two parties of conspiring to keep Sinn Fein out of government and prevent change in Ireland. She said the two men were now “indistinguishable” from each other as she claimed they were suffering “acute amnesia” in regard to their records in government. On a visit to Naas fire station in Co Kildare, she said: “To listen to them, you’d imagine they had just arrived on the scene and that they were going to come up with all of these solutions. “They have had ample chances, ample opportunity, to make things better, and they have failed, and in between the two of them I make the case that now we ask for our chance, with our plans, with our team, to demonstrate how change can happen, how your community, your family, yourself, can be supported when the government is actually on your side.” Mr Martin’s and Mr Harris’ coalition partner Roderic O’Gorman, the leader of the Greens, issued a warning to the public over a future government without his party. On Wednesday, he said it is looking likely that Fianna Fail and Fine Gael will be returned to government – but cautioned they may not want the Greens to continue “fighting hard” on policies. He told reporters: “My sense is certainly the mood music from Fianna Fail and Fine Gael is that they’d like an easier life in the next government – and my concern is they use these small populist parties and right-wing independents.” Mr O’Gorman argued that the Greens could continue to provide stability to government at a time when economic shocks may be around the corner. As the Green leader suggested that relying on independents would be unstable, Mr Martin has also argued that “too much fragmentation would lead to incoherence in government”. Reflecting on Tuesday night’s debate, the Fianna Fail leader said the race remained “too close to call” while Mr Harris said it is “all to play for”. The leaders of Ireland’s three main political parties clashed on housing, healthcare and financial management in the last televised debate before Friday’s General Election. The tetchy debate, which was marked by several interruptions, saw the parties set out their stalls in a broadcast that commentators said did little to move the dial before polling day. The latest opinion poll on Monday put the parties in a tight grouping, with Fianna Fail slightly ahead of Sinn Fein, and Fine Gael in a close third after a significant slide in a campaign marked with several hiccups for Mr Harris’s party. After the 2020 general election delivered an inconclusive result, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, two parties forged from opposing sides of Ireland’s Civil War of the 1920s, agreed to set aside almost a century of animosity and share power – with the Greens as a junior partner. From 2016 to 2020, Fianna Fail had supported Fine Gael in power through a confidence-and-supply arrangement from the Opposition benches in the Dail parliament. Sinn Fein won the popular vote in 2020 but a failure to run enough candidates meant it did not secure sufficient seats in the Dail to give it a realistic chance of forming a government.Matt Rhule, Luke Fickell both downplay postgame encounter between Fickell, Donovan Raiola