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WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect on Thursday voiced his support for the dockworkers union before their contract expires next month at Eastern and Gulf Coast ports, saying that any further “automation” of the ports would harm workers. Related Articles The incoming president posted on social media that he met Harold Daggett, the president of the International Longshoreman’s Association, and Dennis Daggett, the union’s executive vice president. “I’ve studied automation, and know just about everything there is to know about it,” Trump posted. “The amount of money saved is nowhere near the distress, hurt, and harm it causes for American Workers, in this case, our Longshoremen. Foreign companies have made a fortune in the U.S. by giving them access to our markets. They shouldn’t be looking for every last penny knowing how many families are hurt.” The International Longshoremen’s Association has until Jan. 15 to negotiate a new contract with the U.S. Maritime Alliance, which represents ports and shipping companies. At the heart of the dispute is whether ports can install automated gates, cranes and container-moving trucks that could make it faster to unload and load ships. The union argues that automation would lead to fewer jobs, even though higher levels of productivity could do more to boost the salaries of remaining workers. The Maritime Alliance said in a statement that the contract goes beyond ports to “supporting American consumers and giving American businesses access to the global marketplace – from farmers, to manufacturers, to small businesses, and innovative start-ups looking for new markets to sell their products.” “To achieve this, we need modern technology that is proven to improve worker safety, boost port efficiency, increase port capacity, and strengthen our supply chains,” said the alliance, adding that it looks forward to working with Trump. In October, the union representing 45,000 dockworkers went on strike for three days, raising the risk that a prolonged shutdown could push up inflation by making it difficult to unload container ships and export American products overseas. The issue pits an incoming president who on the promise of bringing down prices against commitments to support blue-collar workers along with the kinds of advanced technology that drew him support from Silicon Valley elite such as billionaire Elon Musk. Trump sought to portray the dispute as being between U.S. workers and foreign companies, but advanced ports are also key for staying globally competitive. China is opening a that could accommodate ships too large for the Panama Canal. There is a risk that shippers could move to other ports, which could also lead to job losses. Mexico is constructing a port that is highly automated, while Dubai, Singapore and Rotterdam already have more advanced ports. Instead, Trump said that ports and shipping companies should eschew “machinery, which is expensive, and which will constantly have to be replaced.” “For the great privilege of accessing our markets, these foreign companies should hire our incredible American Workers, instead of laying them off, and sending those profits back to foreign countries,” Trump posted. “It is time to put AMERICA FIRST!”
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An Israeli airstrike flattened a multistory building in central Gaza, killing at least 25 people and wounding dozens more, according to Palestinian medical officials, after strikes Thursday across the Gaza Strip killed at least 28 others. The latest deadly strike hit the urban Nuseirat refugee camp just hours after U.S. President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters in Jerusalem that the recent ceasefire in Lebanon has helped clear the way for a potential deal to end the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the deadly strike in Nuseirat. Israel says it is trying to eliminate Hamas, which led the attack on southern Israel in October 2023 that sparked the war in Gaza . The Israeli military says Hamas militants hide among Gaza’s civilian population. The fighting has plunged Gaza into a severe humanitarian crisis, with experts warning of famine in some of the hardest-hit parts of the territory. Israel’s offensive has killed over 44,800 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and around 250 others were taken hostage. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. Here's the latest: UNITED NATIONS – Two U.N. aid convoys were violently attacked in Gaza, making it virtually impossible for humanitarian agencies to operate without putting staff and civilians at risk, the U.N. food agency says. On Wednesday, a 70-truck convoy from Kerem Shalom was waiting for personnel to safeguard the food and other aid destined for central Gaza when there were reported attacks by Israeli forces in the nearby humanitarian zone, the U.N. World Food Program said Thursday. More than 50 people are now estimated to have died in the attacks, including civilians and local security personnel who had been expected to ensure the convoy’s safety, WFP said. The Rome-based agency said the convoy was forced to proceed from Kerem Shalom to central Gaza without any security arrangements, using the Philadelphi corridor, an Israeli-controlled route that had been recently approved and successfully utilized twice. On the way, WFP said, conflict and insecurity led to a loss of communications with the convoy for more than 12 hours. ”Eventually, the trucks were found but all food and aid supplies were looted,” the U.N. agency said. In a second incident, Israeli soldiers approached a WFP convoy moving out of the Kissufim crossing into central Gaza, fired warning shots, conducted extensive security checks, and temporarily detained drivers and staff, the agency said. “As the trucks were delayed, four out of the five trucks were lost to violent armed looting,” WFP said. UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations chief has a message for Israel: Stop the attacks on Syria. Secretary-General António Guterres is particularly concerned about several hundred Israeli airstrikes on several Syrian locations and stresses “the urgent need to de-escalate violence on all fronts throughout the country," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Thursday. The Israeli military said Tuesday it carried out more than 350 strikes in Syria over the previous 48 hours, hitting “most of the strategic weapons stockpiles” in the country to stop them from falling into the hands of extremists. Israel also acknowledged pushing into a buffer zone inside Syria following last week’s overthrow of President Bashar Assad. The buffer zone was established after Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1973 war. Dujarric said Guterres condemns all actions violating the 1974 ceasefire agreement between the two countries that remains in force. And the U.N. chief calls on the parties to uphold the agreement and end “all unauthorized presence in the area of separation” and refrain from any action undermining the ceasefire and stability in the Golan Heights, the spokesman said. DAMASCUS, Syria — Mohammad Salim Alkhateb, an official with the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces — an internationally backed group of the opposition in exile — said his group wants to see a transitional government formed via a United Nations-backed process in the wake of Bashar Assad ouster. It is not yet clear if Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the main rebel group now in control of Syria, will pursue such a process. The insurgents have said an interim government headed by Mohammad al-Bashir, who is also the head of the “salvation government” of HTS in its former stronghold in northern Syria, will oversee the country until March but have not made clear how the transition to a new, fully empowered government would take place. “The transitional governing body should be formed in Geneva to have international legitimacy,” said Alkhateb, who is now in Damascus. “The transitional governing body, whatever its form, whether it is the ‘salvation government’ or any other, what matters is that it has international recognition.” Alkhateb said that the unexpectedly rapid fall of Damascus and departure of Assad after opposition forces launched their offensive had created confusion and a governance vacuum. A day before the insurgents pushed into Damascus, diplomats from countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Iran and Russia met in Qatar to discuss the situation in Syria. Alkhateb said that they had discussed a scenario in which the rebels would halt their advance, keeping the territory they had captured so far in the north — including Syria’s largest city, Aleppo — and the opposition and Assad’s government would go to Geneva for talks on a political settlement to the conflict. However, he noted, “there were no Syrians in that meeting.” Assad fled to Russia before the rebel forces arrived in Damascus but has not officially announced his resignation, which is “why we are living in a vacuum rather than a political transition,” Alkhateb said. He added that creating a professional army should be a priority of the transitional government. “We do not want a civilian who was trained during the revolution to carry military weapons to become the military,” he said. Israel bombed hundreds of military sites in Syria this week in a wave of airstrikes that destroyed “most of the strategic weapons stockpiles” in the country. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the wave of airstrikes in neighboring Syria was necessary to keep the weapons from being used against Israel following the Syrian government’s stunning collapse . WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says Austin Tice, an American journalist missing in Syria for 12 years, “is a top priority for this president.” During a briefing with reporters on Thursday, Jean-Pierre said of Tice, “There is no indication that he is not alive. There’s also no indication about his location or condition.” “What our goal is, is to bring him home. And so, we hope certainly that he is alive and, as we have stated many times before, we are talking through this with the Turks and we want to do everything we can to bring him home,” she said. BEIRUT — Amnesty International said Thursday that four Israeli airstrikes between September and October that killed at least 49 civilians in Lebanon “must be investigated as war crimes.” The rights organization said in a new report that the four strikes targeted homes in the Bekaa Valley, northern and eastern Lebanon, and municipal offices in the south. “These four attacks are emblematic of Israel’s shocking disregard for civilian lives in Lebanon and their willingness to flout international law,” said Amnesty International’s Erika Guevara Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns. The rights group said this report was part of its ongoing investigation into violations of the laws of war in Lebanon. Amnesty International investigated four Israeli airstrikes, including one on Sept. 29 in al-Ain that killed all nine members of the same family. On Oct. 21, a strike in Baalbek city in eastern Lebanon killed six members of the same family. Another on Oct. 14 in the village of Aitou in northern Lebanon killed 23 displaced people, including a 5-month-old baby. A fragment from the attack site in Aitou was identified by an Amnesty weapons expert as likely part of a Mk-80 series aerial bomb, weighing at least 500 pounds. These munitions are primarily supplied to Israel by the United States, Amnesty said. The fourth strike Amnesty investigated was the strike that hit the municipal headquarters in Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon, on Oct. 16, killing 11 civilians including the mayor. “The air strike took place without warning, just as the municipality’s crisis unit was meeting to coordinate deliveries of aid, including food, water and medicine, to residents and internally displaced people who had fled bombardment in other parts of southern Lebanon,” Amnesty said. The rights group said it interviewed survivors and witnesses, examined evidence, and found no military targets near the sites of the four strikes. The Israeli military gave no warnings and did not respond to Amnesty’s inquiries, the group said. DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli airstrike hit the central Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing at least 25 Palestinians and wounding dozens more, Palestinian medics said, just hours after President Joe Biden’s national security adviser raised hopes about a ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza. Photos from the scene of the blast that circulated on social media showed a completely collapsed building with people walking through its mangled and charred remains, smoke rising from piles of belongings strewn over the rubble. Officials at two hospitals in the Gaza Strip, al-Awda Hospital in the north and al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza, reported they received a combined total of 25 bodies from an Israeli strike on a multistory residential building in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp. Palestinian medics also reported that over 40 people, most of them children, were receiving treatment at the two hospitals. The al-Aqsa Hospital said that the Israeli attack also damaged several nearby houses in Nuseirat. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the deadly strike. Israel is trying to eliminate Hamas, which led the attack on southern Israel in October 2023 that sparked the war in Gaza . The Israeli military says Hamas militants hide among Gaza’s civilian population. Israel’s war against Hamas has killed over 44,800 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The fighting has plunged Gaza into a severe humanitarian crisis, with experts warning of famine. Israel says it allows enough aid to enter and blames U.N. agencies for not distributing it. The U.N. says Israeli restrictions, and the breakdown of law and order after Israel repeatedly targeted the Hamas-run police force, make it extremely difficult to operate in the territory. UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. food agency is trying to deal with massive needs in Syria not only from escalating war-related food insecurity and an upsurge in displaced people fleeing Lebanon but also the dramatically new environment following the ouster of Bashar Assad, a senior U.N. official says. “It’s a triple crisis and the needs are going to be massive,” said Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Program, in an interview with The Associated Press late Wednesday. The WFP estimated that 3 million people in Syria were “acutely food insecure” and very hungry. However, that estimate was made before the Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon pushed many Syrian refugees back to their home country, plus the instability caused by the overthrow of Assad. Due to funding cuts, the WFP had been targeting only 2 million of those people, he said. Because WFP has been working in Syria during the 13-year civil war, he said, it has pre-positioned food in the country. It has 500 staff in seven offices nationwide and has operated across conflict lines, across borders, and with all different parties, he said. Skau said Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the main rebel group now in control of Syria, has promised to provide security for WFP warehouses. Humanitarian aid supplies had been looted at U.N. warehouses in the disorder after Assad fell. “We’re not really up and running in Damascus because of the continued kind of uncertainty there,” he said. WFP initially thought of relocating non-essential staff but the situation in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, has been “quite calm and orderly," he said. In the short term, Skau said, “what we’re seeing is that markets are disrupted, the value of the currency dropped dramatically, food prices are going up, transport lines don’t work,” and it’s unclear who will stamp required papers for imports and exports. This means that a bigger humanitarian response is needed initially, he said, but in the next phase, the U,N. will be looking at contributing to Syria’s recovery, and ultimately the country will need reconstruction. Skau said he expects a new funding appeal for Syria and urged donors to be generous. JERUSALEM — President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters in Jerusalem on Thursday that Israel’s ceasefire in Lebanon has helped clear the way for another deal to end the war in Gaza. He plans to travel next to Qatar and Egypt — key mediators in the ceasefire talks — as the Biden administration makes a final push on negotiations before Donald Trump is inaugurated. Sullivan said “Hamas’ posture at the negotiating table did adapt” after Israel decimated the leadership of its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon and reached a ceasefire there. “We believe it puts us in a position to close this negotiation,” he said. Sullivan dismissed speculation that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was waiting for Trump to take office to finalize a deal. He the U.S. believes there are three American hostages still alive in Gaza, but it’s hard to know for sure. He also said “the balance of power in the Middle East has changed significantly” since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, especially with the overthrow of former Syrian President Bashar Assad, a key ally of Hezbollah and Iran. “We are now faced with a dramatically reshaped Middle East in which Israel is stronger, Iran is weaker, its proxies decimated, and a ceasefire that is new and will be lasting in Lebanon that ensures Israel’s security over the long term,” he said. KHIAM, Lebanon — An Israeli strike killed at least one person Thursday in the Lebanese border town of Khiam, the Health Ministry said, less than a day after Israeli troops handed the hilltop village back to the Lebanese army in coordination with U.N. peacekeepers, Khiam is the first Lebanese town Israel has pull out of since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah militants began two weeks ago, and marks an important test of the fragile truce . Lebanon's Health Ministry and state news agency did not provide details on who was killed, and did not report airstrikes elsewhere on Thursday. The Israeli military said the airstrike in Khiam targeted Hezbollah fighters. Lebanese troops deployed in the northern section of the town on Thursday morning and were coordinating with U.N. peacekeepers to finalize Israel’s withdrawal before fully entering into other neighborhoods. An Associated Press reporter who visited Khiam on Thursday observed widespread destruction, with most houses reduced to rubble. Entire neighborhoods were flattened, with collapsed walls and debris scattered across the streets. Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, sharply criticized Israel for striking the town less than 24 hours after the Lebanese army returned, saying it was “a violation of the pledges made by the parties that sponsored the ceasefire agreement, who must act to curb Israeli aggression.” The truce was brokered by the U.S. and France. Israel has previously said the ceasefire deal allows it to use military force against perceived violations. Near-daily attacks by Israel during the ceasefire, mostly in southern Lebanon, have killed at least 29 people and wounded 27 others. Khiam, which sits on a ridge less than 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the border with Israel, saw some of the most intense fighting during the war. The Lebanese army was clearing debris and reopening roads in the northern section of the town. Civilian access to other areas remained challenging as the army clears roads and works alongside the U.N. peacekeepers to ensure the area is free of unexploded ordnance. AQABA, Jordan -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is urging the many players in Syria to avoid taking any steps that could lead to further violence. Blinken spoke to reporters in Jordan on Thursday shortly after meeting King Abdullah II as he opened a trip in the region to discuss Syria's future after former President Bashar Assad's ouster. Blinken will next visit Turkey, a NATO ally and a main backer of Syrian rebel groups. Blinken called this “a time of both real promise but also peril for Syria and for its neighbors.” He said he was focused on coordinating efforts in the region “to support the Syrian people as they transition away from Assad’s brutal dictatorship” and establish a government that isn’t dominated by one religion or ethnic group or outside power. Blinken was asked about Israel’s incursion into a buffer zone that had been demilitarized for the past half century. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the move is temporary and defensive, but also indicated Israel will remain in the area for a long time. Blinken declined to say whether the U.S. supports the move, but said the U.S. would be speaking to Israel and other partners in the region. “I think, across the board, when it comes to any actors who have real interests in Syria, it’s also really important at this time that, we all try to make sure that we’re not sparking any additional conflicts,” he said. ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s intelligence chief, Ibrahim Kalin, arrived in Damascus on Thursday, according to Turkish media reports. Kalin was seen arriving at the Umayyad Mosque to pray, surrounded by a large crowd, according to video shown on Turkish television. The visit is highly symbolic. Turkish officials, who supported the opposition against Syria’s government, had predicted at the start of the civil war in 2011 that President Bashar Assad’s government would fall, allowing them to pray at the Umayyad Mosque. AQABA, Jordan — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is renewing calls for Syria’s new leadership to respect women and minority rights, prevent extremists from gaining new footholds in the country and keeping suspected chemical weapons stocks secure as he makes his first visit to the Mideast since the weekend ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad . Making his 12th trip to the Middle East since the Israel-Hamas war erupted lasted year but amid fresh concerns about security following the upheaval in Syria, Blinken emphasized Thursday to Jordan’s King Abdullah II U.S. “support for an inclusive transition that can lead to an accountable and representative Syrian government chosen by the Syrian people,” the State Department said. Blinken also repeated the importance the outgoing Biden administration puts on respect for human rights and international law, the protection of civilians and stopping terrorist groups from reconstituting. Blinken met with the monarch and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Aqaba before traveling to Turkey for talks with Turkish officials on the situation in Syria and the urgency of securing a long-elusive deal to release hostages and end the fighting in Gaza that has devastated the Palestinian territory since October 2023. Abdullah told Blinken that “the first step to reach comprehensive regional calm is to end the Israeli war on Gaza." ROME — Leaders of the Group of 7 industrialized nations offered their full support for an inclusive political transition in Syria and invited all parties to preserve the country’s territorial integrity. In a message released by Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s office, the leaders said they were ready to support a transition that “leads to a credible government, inclusive and not sectarian, that guarantees respect for the state of law, universal human rights, including rights for women, (and) the protection of all Syrians, including religious and ethnic minorities.” The leaders also underlined the importance that ousted President Bashar Assad’s government is held responsible for crimes, citing “decades of atrocities.” They said they would also cooperate with groups working to prohibit chemical weapons “to secure, declare and destroy” remaining chemical arms in Syria. Italy currently holds the rotating presidency of the G-7, which also includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United States. JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it struck Hamas militants in two locations in the southern Gaza Strip who planned to hijack aid convoys. Palestinian Health officials had earlier said that the two strikes killed 15 men who were part of local committees established to secure aid deliveries. The committees have been organized in cooperation with the Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza. It was not possible to independently confirm either account of the strikes, which occurred overnight into Thursday. Israel has long accused Hamas of hijacking humanitarian aid deliveries, while U.N. officials have said there is no systemic diversion of aid . U.N. agencies and aid groups say deliveries are held up by Israeli restrictions on the entry of aid and movement within Gaza, as well as the breakdown of law and order more than 14 months into the war between Israel and Hamas. Israel has repeatedly targeted the Hamas-run police force, which maintained internal security before the war. The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, the main aid provider in Gaza, said a U.N. convoy of 70 trucks carrying humanitarian aid in southern Gaza “was involved in a serious incident,” resulting in just one of the trucks reaching its destination. It did not provide further details on the incident but said the same route had been used successfully two days earlier. Israel’s offensive, launched after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, leaving the territory heavily reliant on international food aid. DAMASCUS, Syria — An American who turned up in Syria on Thursday says he was detained after crossing into the country by foot on a Christian pilgrimage seven months ago. Travis Timmerman appears to have been among thousands of people released from the country’s notorious prisons after rebels reached Damascus over the weekend, overthrowing President Bashar Assad and ending his family’s 54-year rule. As video emerged online of Timmerman on Thursday, he was initially mistaken by some for Austin Tice, an American journalist who went missing in Syria 12 years ago. In the video, Timmerman could be seen lying on a mattress under a blanket in what appeared to be a private house. A group of men in the video said he was being treated well and would be safely returned home. The Biden administration is working to bring Timmerman home, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Aqaba, Jordan, without offering details, citing privacy. Timmerman later gave an interview with the Al-Arabiya TV network, saying he had illegally crossed into Syria on foot from the eastern Lebanese town of Zahle seven months ago, before being detained. He said he was treated well in detention but could hear other men being tortured.Partway through Donald Trump’s first presidency, Richard Grenell , the newly minted U.S. ambassador to Germany, made the extraordinary announcement that the Trump administration was hoping to boost the forces of the hard right throughout Europe. This was in keeping with Trump’s oft-stated dislike of the supranational principles of the European Union (EU), his support for Brexit, and his very public efforts to get leaders such as Germany’s Angela Merkel to clamp down on immigration from outside of Europe. Indeed, shortly after Grenell’s comments, media reports circulated that Trump was keen to see Merkel ousted as the German Chancellor. This fall, nearly seven years after his comment about the European hard right, Grenell, an avatar of an Internationale-styled alliance for the hard right globally, was, apparently, on the shortlist to become Trump’s new Secretary of State. While he wasn’t ultimately selected, losing out to Florida Senator Marco Rubio and his more “establishment” credentials, Trump’s victory is nevertheless emboldening far right political groups and leaders throughout Europe and beyond. Indeed, immediately after the election, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán — long feted by Trump, Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon, and other MAGA denizens for his championing of what he calls “illiberal democracy,” and his belief that liberals are pushing a “great replacement” of white, Christian Europeans and Americans — announced that he had downed vodka in celebration of Trump’s win . The admiration is mutual: Orbán’s willingness to clamp down on the free press, his populism (which is defined by racism, sexism and homophobia), and his manipulation of the electoral system to ensure the success of his hard-right Fidesz Party have largely made him an outlier in the EU, even as he has become a hero of the U.S. right. In 2022, he addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the premier gathering of the U.S. right wing. Three years on, in a Trumpified Washington, the Hungarian leader will almost certainly be toasted as a great defender of “European values” — even as Trump is set to pull back from U.S. commitments to European defense and, in a move demonstrating a distinct lack of solidarity, to impose tariffs on imports from Europe. In the days after November 5, global far right political figures from across the word — including Argentina, where the new president, Javier Milei, a self-described anarcho-capitalist , has been busily breaking apart his country’s democratic institutions — have been rallying to Trump’s cause. Around Europe, other far right figures similarly reveled in Trump’s victory, including Alice Elisabeth Weidel and Björn Höcke, the leaders of Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which has its roots in Nazi ideology; Geert Wilders, the politically powerful far right leader in the Netherlands; and many other fascist and nationalist figures. Writing in all capital letters, Wilders posted on X , “CONGRATULATIONS PRESIDENT TRUMP! CONGRATULATIONS AMERICA! NEVER STOP, ALWAYS KEEP FIGHTING AND WIN ELECTIONS!” Wilders’ post is indicative of the far right’s shared sense that Trump’s win pushes them, too, that much closer to assuming power within Europe. Earlier this year, the AfD won state elections in the old Eastern Germany, in a seismic shock to the mainstream political parties. Trump’s win further emboldens these far right forces in Europe, which are cynically deploying rhetoric about protecting working people in order to push an anti-immigrant, sexist, white nationalist and anti-environmental agenda. The European far right’s joy at Trump’s win also dovetails with their sympathies for Vladimir Putin’s regime in Russia and their antipathy to the Ukrainians. In recent months, members of the European Parliament who caucus with the hard right Europe of Sovereign Nations group have boycotted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s address to the European Parliament, as have far right and far left figures in Germany and in Austria , in a similar move to GOP figures on Capitol Hill freezing out Zelenskyy. In the U.K., the fiercely anti-immigrant politician Nigel Farage — on whose behalf Trump once lobbied as Farage sought to become the U.K. ambassador to the U.S . and whose Reform Party is currently making a serious run at replacing the Conservative Party as the main party of the right — lost no time in offering his services to the Labour government as something of a Donald Trump whisperer. Because of his friendship with Trump, Farage argued, he was in a prime position to mediate trans-Atlantic deals with the incoming Trump administration and blunt the edge of Trump’s pro-tariffs sword. To its credit, the Labour government quickly sent Farage packing. I’d bet, however, that this isn’t the last of the issue; it ought to surprise no one if over the coming months Trump pressures Keir Starmer’s U.K. government to appoint Farage either as ambassador or as liaison with the new administration in D.C. I’d also wager that far right agitators such as Tommy Robinson — the founder of the racist English Defense League, and a man who, during Trump’s first presidential tenure, approached the Americans to ask for political asylum in order to avoid a prison sentence in the U.K. — may increasingly be feted by Trump administration stalwarts such as Elon Musk (whose X site gave Robinson back his platform after he had previously been banned for making racially inflammatory comments). Trump has shown that he views everything, including bedrock alliances, as being transactional. Thus, it wouldn’t be that much of a surprise if the U.S.’s 47 th president conditioned security agreements and reduced tariffs on European countries. If and when he does so, Brexit-era Britain, self-exiled from the EU, desperate to retain its relationship with the U.S. and, in its isolation, peculiarly vulnerable to the threat of tariffs, will likely be particularly pressured to embrace hard right stances on immigration and culture war issues similar to those pushed by the Trump administration. How Europe responds to this stress test emanating from its erstwhile ally and security guarantor across the Atlantic will determine the viability both of social democracy and of the European Union over the coming years. Now that Trump — a man whose own former chief of staff says is an admirer of Hitler and is “fascist to his core” — is leading the GOP, we can expect the U.S. Republican Party to do everything in its power to seed discord and to boost the European far right in the years ahead.
Most of us are not professional chefs or caterers or decorators, so the thought of cooking for and entertaining a Thanksgiving crowd can be daunting. That's why we turned to the experts — professional chefs and caterers and interior designers — to discuss some typical Thanksgiving mistakes and how to avoid them. Adobe Stock "The overriding first mistake people make is they think they have more time than they do," said Bistro to Go Cafe and Catering executive chef Kate Kobylinski. She regularly hosts her extended family of 30 and knows "every single problem." "Food takes longer to cook, the table takes longer to set and houses take longer to clean than you think." Clean your house on Monday. On Wednesday, dice vegetables so they're "food-show ready," as Kobylinski put it. Prepare (but don't cook) your green bean casserole (leaving off garnishes like fried onions) so it can just be popped in the oven and set the dining room table. Don't feel that you have to do everything yourself. But be as specific as possible when doling out the assignments. "Don't let them make their own decisions!" Kobylinski said emphatically. Thanksgiving is "micromanager's heaven." For example, have someone bring ice on Thanksgiving Day because going out to buy it takes time and ice hogs freezer space. If you don't like making desserts, have someone bring one. If a guest wants to prepare a side dish, great, but decide beforehand what they will bring. Ahead of dinner, interior designer Kacie Cope likes to set out all of her serving platters with Post-it notes attached denoting what will go on them. "You'll be amazed if you have them labeled," she said. "People can help in a jiff." During the evening, Kobylinski gives people assigned jobs, such as serving drinks or taking charge of an after-dinner game. And the chef is forgiving about using premade ingredients, like gravy or cranberry jelly. "There's no right or wrong way to make any of your foods," she said. But you might want to give a homemade touch to prepared ingredients, like adding sauteed onions or celery to prepared gravy. "Everyone goes into Thanksgiving Day with a half-frozen turkey," said Kobylinski. "And you can't get the bag of giblets out because they're frozen in place." It takes one day for every 4 pounds of turkey meat to defrost in the refrigerator. (No, it is not safe to leave your frozen turkey out on the counter to thaw and breed bacteria.) So if you've got a 20-pound bird, you've got to start thawing on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. However, there are other methods. Kobylinski suggests submerging the bird and running a thin stream of cold water over it. "It doesn't have to be a lot of water." The U.S. Department of Agriculture says there are only three ways to safely thaw food: In the refrigerator, in cold water or in the microwave. To safely thaw turkey in cold water, the USDA says it takes about 30 minutes per pound. Put the turkey in a leak-proof plastic bag to prevent cross-contamination and submerge it. Change the water every 30 minutes, and cook immediately when it's thawed. If opting for your microwave, follow its instructions for thawing and cook immediately. Then, if you're running late and need to speed things up to satisfy the hungry hordes, you can cut the bird in half before cooking (skin side up). This significantly reduces cooking time, requiring about 10 minutes per pound. Kobylinski also recommends resting the turkey on vegetables in the oven to keep the bottom from getting burned. Adobe Stock Private chef and culinary educator Emily Larsen warns that those plastic thermometers in supermarket turkeys are setting you up for failure. The USDA says that you should cook a turkey until the internal temperature is 165 degrees. Plastic thermometers don't pop out until the breast meat is at about 180 degrees, "when your turkey is completely dry," Larsen said. Plus, people forget that meat continues to cook once it's out of the oven. She recommends taking a bird out of the oven when it is at 155 degrees — she likes to use an inexpensive instant-read folding probe thermometer — and continue to monitor it. (Insert it into the thickest part of the breast, avoiding the bone.) "Ten dollars [for the thermometer] can save your Thanksgiving," she said. Some feel that buying a frozen rather than fresh bird is another no-no, since freezing leaches water out of the turkey. However, if, despite your best efforts, your turkey is lacking moisture, Kobylinski has a fix: Put warm chicken or turkey stock and clarified butter into a mister and spritz sliced turkey with it before serving. "The same with stuffing if it's too dry," she said. Thanksgiving Day is not the time to try out a completely new recipe. And you don't have to lay out 10 side dishes. In addition to opting for a simple menu, Kobylinski also recommends figuring out how long your items will take to cook and what method of cooking it requires ahead of time. Your turkey will be monopolizing your oven for four hours, so other oven foods should be limited or be easily reheated during the time that the turkey is resting. (As for resting a turkey, the chef puts her turkey on a hot plate with towels over it so "the meat rebinds itself and stabilizes for a smoother cut.") "Stovetop items should be staggered," she said, so you don't have a frying pan and three pots all going at once. As a sample menu, she suggests you might have one baked potato dish and one mashed. And for vegetables, one baked dish and one that is blanched or grilled. Interior designers advise against going too crazy with holiday-specific décor. "There's a lot that's being sold to us that we feel like we need," said Pittsburgh interior designer Amanda Bock. Do you really need a turkey-shaped vase or pilgrim figurines? "They're out for two weeks, and then you have to figure out where to store them," agreed Cope. "It takes an already busy season and makes it stressful in an unnecessary way." Cope says you can take things that are already part of your menu and use them as décor — a bowl of nuts or cranberries, or even removing the label from a cranberry sauce tin and repurposing it as a vase for flowers and fall leaves. Bock adds that dining room table décor should be kept to a minimum, since you'll need space for your food. You don't have to have "big chargers and five plates and three different glasses, plus all of your Thanksgiving food on the table," Bock said. If you do have flowers or a centerpiece in the middle of the table, keep it low, Cope advised. "That way, you can actually see the person who's across the table from you." Tableware and tablecloths might be in fall colors, so they can be repurposed throughout the season. Water glasses or wine goblets could be amber-toned, Bock suggests. Well in advance of your guests' arrival, think critically about the setup of your home. Don't be afraid to rearrange your furniture so your guests move to different areas and don't all congregate in your kitchen. "You want to make sure that there are areas where people can sit and chat, watch the parade or just hang out together," Bock said. Set up a drinks station and an hors d'oeuvres station in different parts of the house, Bock suggests. Though, she admits, "I can't do that in my house because my dogs would just gobble up the hors d'oeuvres." She suggests repurposing a kitchen nook for kid seating, or as a serving area. Kobylinski might set up a half-built puzzle in a side room. She even puts out winter jackets and boots for "the gentlemen" for the moment when she urges them to go out on the porch to smoke cigars and drink brandy so they won't be underfoot. As a finishing touch, don't neglect to set the mood by using lamps around the room instead of harsh overhead lights. Putting out tapers or tea candles establishes an intimate feeling. "That just leans into the cozy fall vibe," Cope said of low lighting. But don't use scented candles, Bock warns. Or a smelly flower arrangement. "That can overwhelm you when you're eating," Bock said. Putting on a favorite music playlist can set the mood and take away self-consciousness, especially early in the evening. The most important thing on Thanksgiving is simply for everyone to enjoy each other's company. A little advance preparation can help you, the host, stay relaxed throughout the evening so you can interact with your guests. As Bock advised, "Keep it simple for Thanksgiving." Let friendship and fellowship be the stars of the show. The 98th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade coverage is slated from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. EST Thursday, Nov. 28. This year's event will feature 28 clown crews, 26 floats, 16 giant balloons, 11 marching bands, five performance groups, three "baloonicles"—cold-air inflatables driven down the parade route, and numerous performers. Stacker curated a selection of photographs from the past century of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade to help illustrate the history of the iconic event. The parade in New York City, presented by department store chain Macy's, was first held in 1924 under the heading "Macy's Christmas Parade" to promote holiday sales and spotlight the newly expanded and, at the time, largest in the world Herald Square store in Manhattan. The success of the event led organizers to turn the spectacle into an annual tradition. Each year, the parade ends outside the same Herald Square Macy's location. The event has been televised nationally since 1953 on NBC. The parade at first featured Central Park Zoo animals escorted by Macy's employees and professional entertainers for 6 miles from 145th Street in north Manhattan's Harlem to Macy's. A quarter of a million onlookers lined the streets. Real animals were replaced with balloons in 1927; that same year, the name of the event was changed to Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The longest-running parade float is the event's unofficial mascot, Tom Turkey. Tom features moving wings, head, and eyes and usually functions as the lead float in the parade. Bringing up the caboose in virtually all the parades is Santa Claus who ushers in the holiday shopping season with his arrival at Macy's Herald Square. The parade offers a glimpse into pop culture of the time, from beloved children's entertainment to hit Broadway shows and musical acts. The Radio City Rockettes, formed in 1925, have performed in the parade annually since 1957. In 1933, the outside temperature was 69 degrees F, the warmest it's been; 2018 was the coldest day in parade history at 19 degrees F. In 2022, for the first time, the event featured a trio of women hosts. Today, more than 44 million people tune in to watch the parade. Keep reading to learn more about the parade's history and see some iconic shots of the event. You may also like: Game on: The booming growth of online gaming Eugene Gologursky // Getty Images for Macy's, Inc. In Macy's first Thanksgiving parade, Santa Claus sat atop a float pulled by a team of horses down Broadway. That year floats, bands, and Central Park Zoo animals were featured in the procession. At the parade's end, Santa Claus was crowned "King of the Kiddies" on Macy's balcony at the 34th Street entrance. Macy's quickly announced the parade would be an annual event. Bettmann // Getty Images The large balloons that replaced live zoo animals in 1927 were filled with regular air and had no release valves—they were simply let go to pop in the air following the parade. 1928 marked the first year of Macy's inflating balloons with helium to allow them to float. They were also outfitted with valves so the helium could gradually escape rather than waiting for the balloon to inevitably pop, and featured a return address so anyone who found them could return them and receive a reward. In this photo from 1928, a 35-foot fish and 60-foot-long tiger were featured prominently in the parade. A $100 prize was offered for each balloon recovered after its release. Underwood Archives // Getty Images The Thanksgiving parade enjoyed rapid growth throughout the 1930s, with more than 1 million revelors lining the parade route in 1933. In this 1931 photo, a giant hippopotamus balloon makes its way down Broadway. A blue hippo balloon—possibly this one—released after the parade was still at large several days later, thought to be somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. Bettmann // Getty Images In this image, the Felix the Cat balloon is led down Broadway by its four handlers tailed by Terrible Turk and Willie Red Bird. The original Felix the Cat character balloon made its parade debut in 1927, but was destroyed after its post-parade release by a high tension wire in 1931. The Terrible Turk also was destroyed the same year by an electric sign. In 1932, Macy's Tom Cat balloon got stuck in the propeller of a plane when the aviator flying the plane tried recovering the balloon for a reward. While the plane eventually landed safely, that event marked the final year of releasing balloons after the parades and offering prizes for their return to Macy's. George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images Pinnochio, Tin Man, and Uncle Sam make their way along the parade route in 1939. Mickey Mouse made his debut five years earlier with a balloon designed in part by Walt Disney; Mickey's handlers were also dressed as mice. New iterations of Mickey appeared over the next 70 years as the character evolved. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was canceled from 1942-1944 because of supply shortages during World War II, namely helium and rubber. Festivities returned in 1945. The Christmas classic "Miracle on 34th Street" was released in 1947 and prominently features actual footage from the 1946 parade. 1948 marked the parade's first network television broadcast. You may also like: Legendary interior designers from every decade of the 20th century Camerique // Getty Images The 23rd annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was held Nov. 24, 1949. In this photo, a teddy bear makes its way through Times Square. This parade marked the second appearance for the bear. Other balloons made their debut: Freida the Dachshund, Howdy Doody on the Flying Trapeze, and Macy's Hobo Clown. Bettmann // Getty Images Macy's original character The Giant Spaceman made his debut in 1952's parade, measuring 70 feet long and 40 feet wide and weighing 600 pounds. More than 25 gallons of paint went into painting the astronaut. An estimated 2.25 million people lined the streets for the festivities that year. Bettmann // Getty Images Throngs of onlookers pack the sidewalks in Manhattan's Times Square during this 1955 parade. Mighty Mouse, an animated superhero created by Terrytoons, is seen in the back left of the photo. Mighty Mouse made his debut in the Thanksgiving Day parade in 1951; he appeared in 80 short films between 1942-1961. Bettmann // Getty Images The iconic peacock float makes its debut in this photo of the 1961 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. That same year, Miss Teenage America Diane Lynn Cox appeared in princess attire sharing a float with "Prince Charming" actor Troy Donahue. You may also like: Baltimore buried its urban streams—now an artist is bringing one back William Lovelace/Daily Express/Hulton Archive // Getty Teen performers appear in classic roller skates in this image from the 1961 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The sign above the skaters reads "Macy's presents A Fantasy of Christmas in New York." Archive Photos/Getty Images This 1961 photo shows shoulder-to-shoulder parade onlookers at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The year marks the first balloon featuring Bullwinkle Moose and the first year for floats with Pinocchio, The Racetrack Grandstand, Cinderella, Peacock, Ferris Wheel, Brigadoon, Meet the Mets, and Santa's Sleigh. Several years later, in 1968, Macy's creative team figured out how to design floats up to 40 feet tall and 28 feet wide that could fold into 12.5-by-8-foot boxes for strategic transportation from New Jersey to Manhattan via the Lincoln Tunnel. William Lovelace/Express // Getty Images A Bullwinkle Moose balloon floats down Broadway in this 1972 photograph of the parade. The 46th annual parade featured five firsts for floats: Alphabet Blocks, Snow Mountain, Windmill, Curious George, and Santa's Holiday Home. Stan Wolfson/Newsday RM via Getty Images Woody Woodpecker greets the crowd as he floats past One Times Square during the 63rd annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1989. In the coming years, safety concerns troubled '90s-era parades—namely the wind. Strong gusts in 1993 pushed a Sonic the Hedgehog balloon into a Columbus Circle lamppost that broke and hurt a child and off-duty police officer. Four years later, intense winds caused a Cat in the Hat balloon to hit a lamppost, hurling debris into the air that fractured the skull of a spectator who spent 24 days in a coma. The incident, among others, led then-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani to form a task force. Bettmann // Getty Images The Soaring Spirit Canoe float, pictured here in 1995, made its debut in the parade in 1986. Popular '90s balloons included Bart Simpson, Cat in the Hat, and The Rugrats. Evan Agostini/Liaison // Getty Images New York City first responders carry two American flags during the Nov. 22, 2001, 75th Anniversary of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which was also held on the heels of 9/11. They honored those killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that year. New Yorkers crowded the streets to watch the parade, which featured 15 giant balloons and marching bands that all added an air of patriotism to the event. STAN HONDA/AFP via Getty Images Dora the Explorer makes her balloon debut in this 2005 photo. That same year, the M&M 's chocolate candies balloon collided with a streetlight in Times Square, and debris from it injured two siblings. TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images A woman dressed in an elf costume sprinkles spectators with confetti in Times Square during Macy's 85th Thanksgiving Day parade on Nov. 24, 2011. Sonic the Hedgehog and Julius the sock monkey, which was created by Paul Frank, made their balloon entrances that year. You may also like: 5 tips for making your next event more affordable Michael Nagle // Getty Images Snoopy and Woodstock made their way along the 89th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade route Nov. 26, 2015. To date, Snoopy boasts the most years flown as a character balloon in the event. James Devaney/WireImage // Getty Images In this 2016 photo, spectators like this one recorded videos of the parade on their phones. More than 24 million people were estimated to have streamed the parade that year on TV. Noam Galai // Getty Images The Pikachu balloon floats down Central Park West for its fourth time during the 91st annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2017. That year's lineup featured 1,100 cheerleaders and dancers, more than 1,000 clowns, 28 legacy balloons, 26 floats, 17 giant helium balloons, 12 marching bands, and six performance groups. Dia Dipasupil // Getty Images Performers in this photo prepare at the 94th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Nov. 26, 2020. The event was one of few public occasions to be kept on schedule during the COVID-19 pandemic, albeit in a tempered manner. Much of the performances were pre-taped and the parade route was massively reduced. Participants wore masks and balloon handlers were cut by nearly 90%. Eugene Gologursky // Getty Images for Macy's Inc. Santa Claus celebrates at the 97th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in this photo from Nov. 23, 2023. First-time giant balloons included Beagle Scout Snoopy, Leo (Netflix), Monkey D. Luffy, Po from "Kung Fu Panda," and The Pillsbury Doughboy. Copy editing by Lois Hince. You may also like: From the Roman Empire to your therapist's office: The history of the chaise lounge James Devaney // Getty ImagesValparaiso hires longtime Marietta coach Andy Waddle to take over its football program
Holiday gift ideas for the movie lover, from bios and books to a status toteFor “Hysteria!” actresses Anna Camp and Julie Bowen, horror is harder than comedy. “Horror is really hard actually because there is a fine line you have to walk; you have to make it feel grounded and you’re put in these extreme circumstances: You’re being possessed or pulled through the air, there’s nothing you can do to relate to that,” explained Camp of “Pitch Perfect” fame. “With comedy, you can have a relatable situation and go, ‘I’ve been in situations like that.’ There’s nothing you can compare (horror) to, so you have to use your imagination. I find it harder. Your imagination goes home with you at the end of the day. You’re still thinking crazy thoughts.” Bowen, best known for playing Claire Dunphy on “Modern Family,” agreed. “Comedy’s pretty binary because it’s like either you can make people laugh or you don’t. I can’t watch horror. I’m terrified, terrified! I am the easiest scare in the world, so as far as doing (horror), I want to make it as real as possible. It was hard because I had to be really, really crazy. There were times when I’d get back to my hotel room at 3 a.m., I didn’t want to be alone in my head,” said Bowen, laughing. Camp, Bowen, Royal Oak native Bruce Campbell (“Evil Dead”), showrunner David A. Goodman (“Futurama”), and Ypsilanti native/creator Matthew Scott Kane (“American Horror Story”) were promoting “Hysteria!” at the New York Comic Con in October. The horror series is streaming on Peacock. Set in the fictional Michigan town of Happy Hollow, the first episode of “Hysteria” begins with a popular quarterback’s disappearance and a pentagram is discovered on a garage door. As a result, rumors of the occult and satanic influence run rampant through the town. A trio of outcasts in a heavy metal band called Dethkrunch exploit this by rebranding themselves as a satanic metal band, which leads to them becoming the targets of the town’s witch hunt. “Something on my mind a lot in 2019 was we’re living in this post-factual age with social media. It seemed like decades and decades ago, you could trust the news. Now everything is in question. When lies end up getting disseminated as truth, that starts to warp people’s version of reality. Suddenly, they’re living in a world other people are not. That was going on in the world I was living in and I very quickly connected it to the 1980s satanic panic. It’s not really that different because people were saying Ozzy Osbourne, Jason Voorhees (of ‘Friday the 13th’), and the Smurfs were going to turn your kids into satanists and kill you in your sleep. That didn’t happen. It wasn’t true, but so many people got worked up into such a fervor over it, bad things happened. ... It was smoke without fire,” Kane said. “Disinformation is not new,” Campbell said. “Disinformation will tear a town apart.” Campbell portrays Happy Hollow Police Chief Ben Dandridge. “This guy’s a reasonable cop; he’s a rational person who doesn’t treat the teenagers like they’re idiots. It’s all very refreshing,” he said. “I want to play that guy again. I want cops to be that guy. I’m playing the cop (that) cops need to be. That’s my whole motivation for playing this guy: How would you like cops to be, especially the guy in charge, the chief of police? They’re lucky to have Chief Dandridge.” “It was truly an exciting moment when Bruce signed on,” Goodman said. By the end of the first episode, a supernatural phenomenon happens to Linda Campbell, played by Bowen. “Linda seems like one thing, then you realize she’s bananas. She’s either bananas or she’s possessed. Either way, it’s a complicated thing to play,” Bowen said. “With Julie, you can have your cake and eat it too,” Kane said. “She’s this fun, quirky mom. ... As the episode goes on, she’s pulled deeper into this thing and crazy stuff starts happening. That final act of the first episode was my favorite moment with her because this announced that this is not Claire Dunphy. We’re not doing that again; we’re pushing her as a performer. “Julie was so excited about doing stunts. She told us on many occasions she’s very sturdy and can take it. The same goes for Bruce and for Anna. We didn’t ask anyone to give us a flavor of the thing they did before. We cast people we loved so much (in their famous projects) that we wanted to give them the opportunity to do the exact opposite.” Added Bowen: “I got this script and was like, ‘Oh great. She’s a mom. How fun.’ I love moms. I’m a mom, but I felt this was not worth flying out of town to Georgia and being away from my kids. Then I got to the end of the pilot and was like, ‘She’s crazy!’ Is she possessed? There’s a lot more questions. It’s fun to just stretch again and do things I haven’t done in a while, which I found really exciting.” Kane said he felt lucky Bowen signed on at the beginning. “She was the first adult actor to sign on. That gave us such credibility to have a two-time Emmy-winning actor leading this show. Suddenly, it goes from this script from a relatively unknown writer into the new Julie Bowen show,” he said. It was the quality of the writing that attracted Camp, Bowen and Campbell to “Hysteria!” “I loved the script; it was incredibly well-written. It was immersed in the time period. It was such a good coming-of-age story, too — the feeling of being in high school again, being in the 1980s,” Camp said. “I talked to Matt who said my character (Tracy) was incredibly pivotal to the series and we’ll learn about why she is the way she is. So I was like, ‘I’d love to do this!’” For Campbell, the writing is everything. “A lot of times, I’ll get a script that could make the words interchangeable with every other character because the writing is very bland and just doesn’t have the detail you need. This was different. Every character was pretty distinct and pretty well-drawn,” he said. “It’s quality. It’s not a (expletive) show. It’s a real show that’s playing around with interesting themes. A lot of it is still relevant to this day.” “Hysteria!” has other Michigan connections, including University of Michigan alumnus Jonathan Goldstein (“Spider-Man: Homecoming”) and Dondero High School alumnus Jordan Vogt-Roberts (“Kong: Skull Island”), who both serve as executive producers. Kane explained why he set “Hysteria!” in Michigan. “You write what you know. I grew up in Ypsilanti, so that had a lot to do with it. More importantly, when you’re in a small town in the Midwest — somewhere like Michigan — these things don’t ever happen and word spreads fast and paranoia spreads quickly and (everything’s) blown out of proportion and takes up a lot of people’s minds,” he said. “Whether or not something is real doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if there are people willing to believe it does and willing it into the world. What does it matter if it’s objectively real or living rent-free in someone’s head?”
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect on Thursday voiced his support for the dockworkers union before their contract expires next month at Eastern and Gulf Coast ports, saying that any further “automation” of the ports would harm workers. Related Articles The incoming president posted on social media that he met Harold Daggett, the president of the International Longshoreman’s Association, and Dennis Daggett, the union’s executive vice president. “I’ve studied automation, and know just about everything there is to know about it,” Trump posted. “The amount of money saved is nowhere near the distress, hurt, and harm it causes for American Workers, in this case, our Longshoremen. Foreign companies have made a fortune in the U.S. by giving them access to our markets. They shouldn’t be looking for every last penny knowing how many families are hurt.” The International Longshoremen’s Association has until Jan. 15 to negotiate a new contract with the U.S. Maritime Alliance, which represents ports and shipping companies. At the heart of the dispute is whether ports can install automated gates, cranes and container-moving trucks that could make it faster to unload and load ships. The union argues that automation would lead to fewer jobs, even though higher levels of productivity could do more to boost the salaries of remaining workers. The Maritime Alliance said in a statement that the contract goes beyond ports to “supporting American consumers and giving American businesses access to the global marketplace – from farmers, to manufacturers, to small businesses, and innovative start-ups looking for new markets to sell their products.” “To achieve this, we need modern technology that is proven to improve worker safety, boost port efficiency, increase port capacity, and strengthen our supply chains,” said the alliance, adding that it looks forward to working with Trump. In October, the union representing 45,000 dockworkers went on strike for three days, raising the risk that a prolonged shutdown could push up inflation by making it difficult to unload container ships and export American products overseas. The issue pits an incoming president who on the promise of bringing down prices against commitments to support blue-collar workers along with the kinds of advanced technology that drew him support from Silicon Valley elite such as billionaire Elon Musk. Trump sought to portray the dispute as being between U.S. workers and foreign companies, but advanced ports are also key for staying globally competitive. China is opening a that could accommodate ships too large for the Panama Canal. There is a risk that shippers could move to other ports, which could also lead to job losses. Mexico is constructing a port that is highly automated, while Dubai, Singapore and Rotterdam already have more advanced ports. Instead, Trump said that ports and shipping companies should eschew “machinery, which is expensive, and which will constantly have to be replaced.” “For the great privilege of accessing our markets, these foreign companies should hire our incredible American Workers, instead of laying them off, and sending those profits back to foreign countries,” Trump posted. “It is time to put AMERICA FIRST!”
Texans foiled by mistake after mistake in 32-27 loss to TitansCONWAY, Ark. (AP) — Elias Cato scored 23 points as Central Arkansas beat UNC Asheville 92-83 in double overtime on Sunday. Jordan Morris made two free throws with one second left for UNC Asheville (2-3) to force overtime tied at 71. Fletcher Abee's 3-pointer with 33 seconds left in the first overtime tied the game at 79 and led to the second extra period. Michael Evbagharu's layup gave Central Arkansas (2-4) the lead in the second OT and Cato followed with a 3-pointer as the Bears outscored the Bulldogs 21-12 to pull out the victory. Cato added nine rebounds for the Bears. Layne Taylor totaled 19 points, seven assists, six rebounds and five steals. Brayden Fagbemi pitched in with 19 points, seven assists and five steals. The Bulldogs (2-3) were led by Fletcher Abee, who recorded 27 points. UNC Asheville also got 17 points from Josh Banks. Toyaz Solomon finished with 15 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .