Opinion: How the science of child development can help parents stress less this holiday season
Holiday gift ideas for the movie lover, from bios and books to a status totePresident-elect Donald Trump believes he can cut a deal that would keep TikTok legal — while addressing the U.S. government’s national security concerns. TikTok, under a law passed this year, faces a Jan. 19 deadline that will make the video app illegal in the U.S. unless Chinese parent ByteDance divests its ownership stake. TikTok challenged the law on First Amendment grounds, and after losing an appellate court ruling is seeking an emergency injunction from the Supreme Court to block the law from taking effect. Trump, in an amicus brief filed on his behalf with the Supreme Court on Friday, asked the high court to stay the Jan. 19 deadline — one day before Trump takes office — in order to “grant more breathing space to address these issues.” “President Trump alone possesses the consummate dealmaking expertise, the electoral mandate and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing the national security concerns expressed by the Government — concerns which President Trump himself has acknowledged,” the brief says. The Jan. 19 deadline “interferes with President Trump’s ability to manage the United States’ foreign policy and to pursue a resolution to both protect national security and save a social-media platform that provides a popular vehicle for 170 million Americans to exercise their core First Amendment rights.” “President Trump takes no position on the merits of the dispute,” the brief says. “Instead, he urges the Court to stay the statute’s effective date to allow his incoming Administration to pursue a negotiated resolution that could prevent a nationwide shutdown of TikTok, thus preserving the First Amendment rights of tens of millions of Americans, while also addressing the government’s national security concerns. If achieved, such a resolution would obviate the need for this Court to decide extremely difficult questions on the current, highly expedited schedule.” While Trump’s brief says he takes “no position” on the TikTok ban, it also says that “the First Amendment implications of the federal government’s effective shuttering of a social media platform used by 170 million Americans are sweeping and troubling. There are valid concerns that the Act may set a dangerous global precedent by exercising the extraordinary power to shut down an entire social-media platform based, in large part, on concerns about disfavored speech on that platform.” The brief continues, “Perhaps not coincidentally, soon after the Act was passed, another major Western democracy — Brazil — shut down another entire social-media platform, X (formerly known as Twitter), for more than a month, apparently based on that government’s desire to suppress disfavored political speech.” Trump’s brief also says the D.C. Circuit’s opinion “grants only cursory consideration to the free-speech interests of Americans, while granting decisive weight and near-plenary deference to the views of national-security officials. Yet the history of the past several years, and beyond, includes troubling, well-documented abuses by such federal officials in seeking the social-media censorship of ordinary Americans.” Trump also says in the brief that the Act raises “concerns about possible legislative encroachment on prerogatives of the Executive Branch under Article II” of the Constitution. “This case presents an unprecedented, novel and difficult tension between free-speech rights on one side, and foreign policy and national-security concerns on the other,” according to the filing. “As the incoming Chief Executive, President Trump has a particularly powerful interest in and responsibility for those national-security and foreign-policy questions, and he is the right constitutional actor to resolve the dispute through political means.” During his first term as president, Trump was unsuccessful in his efforts to force ByteDance to sell majority control in TikTok to U.S. owners, also citing national security fears. Trump’s divest-or-ban executive order was found unconstitutional by federal courts on First Amendment grounds. At a press conference at Mar-a-Lago compound this month, when asked about TikTok, Trump replied, “I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok” because of his belief that the app helped drive young voters toward his side of the ballot. On Sept. 4, 2024, Trump posted on Truth Social, “FOR ALL THOSE THAT WANT TO SAVE TIK TOK IN AMERICA, VOTE TRUMP!” Trump is in a unique position to obtain a resolution to the TikTok situation in part because he “is one of the most powerful, prolific and influential users of social media in history.” The brief notes that Trump currently has 14.7 million followers on TikTok “with whom he actively communicates, allowing him to evaluate TikTok’s importance as a unique medium for freedom of expression, including core political speech.” In addition, Trump, as the founder of social media platform Truth Social, has “an in-depth perspective on the extraordinary government power attempted to be exercised in this case — the power of the federal government to effectively shut down a social-media platform favored by tens of millions of Americans, based in large part on concerns about disfavored content on that platform.” Also Friday, several free-speech groups and three members of Congress filed amicus briefs with the Supreme Court advocating for the court to grant TikTok’s emergency injunction blocking the law on First Amendment grounds .
B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Purchases Shares of 5,441 Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN)
This is at once a wise and wonderfully enjoyable book. Mark Lilla treats weighty matters with a light touch, in an elegant prose style that crackles with dry wit. Almost every one of the short sections into which the narrative is divided – and there is a narrative, cunningly sustained within what seems a relaxed discursiveness – takes careful aim and at the end hits the bullseye with a sure and satisfying aphoristic thwock. The central premise of the book is simply stated: "How is it that we are creatures who want to know and not to know?" Lilla, professor of humanities at Columbia University, New York, and the author of a handful of masterly studies of the terrain where political and intellectual sensibilities collide, is an acute observer of the vagaries of human behaviour and thought in general, and of our tendency to self-delusion in particular. He has a genius for the telling epigraph, of which there are many here, set like jewels throughout the text. The first of these, and the most emblematic, is taken from George Eliot's novel Daniel Deronda: "It is a common sentence that knowledge is power; but who hath duly considered or set forth the power of ignorance?" This latter form of power, he tells us, is the subject he means to address. His book is certainly timely. As he notes, there are certain epochs, and surely we are slap bang in the middle of one, when "evident truth" is cast aside in favour of all manner of imbecile imaginings. "Mesmerised crowds still follow preposterous prophets, irrational rumours trigger fanatical acts, and magical thinking crowds out common sense and expertise." There, encapsulated in a sentence, is the predicament we face in our present-day social and political lives. It is remarkable how many instances Lilla finds of the wriggly measures humans adopt in order not to look facts in the face At the outset he... John Banville
“ They are blocking food. Essential needs. Medicine. They are using food as a pressure tactics. A freezing winter is coming. It is going to be tough. Thousands have vanished. Refugee camps are bombed. Universities have been fully destroyed. There were 34 hospitals in Gaza. All destroyed.” Dr Abed Elrazeg Abu Jazer, Chargé d’Affaires at the Embassy of the State of Palestine in Delhi, is a seasoned Indian hand. He has done his PhD from Jamia Millia Islamia Central University in Delhi in political science. His subject was: ‘India and the question of Palestine — 1980-93’. He has worked as a professional journalist since 1995 and has been a media advisor to the Palestinian Authority. He was posted to India as a senior diplomat in 2014. “I miss journalism,” he says, wistfully. In conversation with Amit Sengupta, Editor, timesheadline.in, and a seasoned journalist, who has been writing on Gaza since last October . Yesterday, the Security Council passed a resolution seeking ceasefire in Gaza. This is maybe the fourth or fifth time they have done it. As many as 14 countries have supported it, including France and Britain; but, yet again, America has vetoed the resolution: 14-1. They said the resolution does not have a reference to the hostages. However, the final resolution does have a reference to the hostages. What is your opinion on this? This is not our first experience with the Americans. It has happened so many times in the history of the occupation, and our freedom struggle. You know, they always use the veto against our rights and aspirations. Almost the entire world, including India, has called for a ceasefire, but, no, the US will not allow a ceasefire and always backs Israel to the hilt. Through these decisions, they are going against the collective global voice against the genocide currently happening in Gaza, the world’s biggest open-air prison. Basically that means that nothing has improved on the ground. America has given a green signal to the Israeli aggression — politically and militarily. They simply don’t seem to care for all the other voices in the world. Both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have said that the people of Gaza are suffering. Harris has used this rhetoric many times. But they have done nothing on the ground. Instead, they have pumped bombs, weapons, and billions into Israel which has been used to kill the people of Gaza. This is not a political speech. There are figures and media reports. American reports. Statements from the Pentagon and the State Department in Washington. The New York Times , Washington Post, Wall Street Journal , and others, have all published the facts and figures. They published these stories with all of the details about the continuous supply of military equipment to Israel, the big bombs, including bombs that were being used and tested for the first time. On our people. On civilians. There is continuous military support. These are reports coming from America. This is the type of leadership in the rich countries. Your wife and children were trapped in Rafah at the border with Egypt for a very long time, even while the killings continued relentlessly. All communication systems were dismantled. Thankfully, they are now in India. In recent times, Israel has started evacuating refugee camps, like the Jabalia camp at the Israeli border, which is the largest refugee camp with more than 100,000 displaced people. They have been bombing shelters, hospitals, and schools. Almost 250,000 people were reportedly forced to move from Northern Gaza at gunpoint. There is no food. Aid has been stopped by the Israeli military. Many young boys and men have been taken in vehicles to unknown destinations. This is a one-sided war. A strategic war. It is not war. It is a genocide. It is not between two soldiers or two armies. Here, there is one strong country with a strong army, backed by the biggest military power in the world, and some Western countries. Gaza has 2.5 million unarmed people. Yes, most of them are refugees; they live in refugee camps. The majority of the people are extremely poor. They get basic food with UN support — wheat or sugar. Now, bombs are targeting them in tents. People are living on the beach, in tattered tents, in the open. In big houses, more than 100 people are taking shelter. One bomb destroys all of them. Civilians. Israel knows about them, uses its technology for surveillance, and then they bomb them. So this is the target and this is their war. You can see videos that are evidence. Almost 90 percent of Gaza is fully destroyed. I am from Rafah in the south. It’s on the border with Egypt. Almost 90 percent of Rafah has been totally destroyed. Including my house. My brothers and father’s house as well — we are neighbours. Their homes too have been destroyed. We have lost everything. My father is 90 — now he is a displaced refugee. Many others are like him now. Some people have lost everyone in their families. Thousands of children have turned orphans, including seriously wounded children. Consider their trauma. They are blocking food. Essential needs. They are using food as pressure tactics. Jordon, Emirates, other countries are sending food. But they are blocking it — using food against the people. It’s extremely difficult for the survivors. Now, a freezing winter is coming. It is going to be really tough. Thousands of people have vanished. There are other types of suffering. No schools. Universities have been fully destroyed. There were 34 hospitals in Gaza. All destroyed. There was the Abu Yusuf hospital in Rafah, one of the main hospitals. This is the latest hospital they have bombed. Fully destroyed. Apparently, there are only three hospitals, damaged or otherwise, which are still there. Scores of doctors and nurses (and patients) have been killed. Even doctors have been arrested and taken to unknown destinations. There are epidemics and diseases. How are the people coping with it? Health care has been severely hit. Minimal primary health care is available. They are not allowing medicine or medical aid from outside. They are not allowing doctors, specialists, or volunteers to enter Gaza. Surgeries are urgently required for many patients. But where are the doctors? Nobody can enter Gaza. It’s totally controlled by them. Even the international media is not coming. Only Israeli media is coming with their soldiers. They are the spokespersons of the Israeli government. They publish the Israeli agenda. For example, we have lost 188 journalists since October 7, 2023. Many of them were killed in targeted assassinations. Local civilians are now working as journalists. They too are being targeted. There is no internet or connectivity. Nobody’s coming from outside to report. No big channels like CNN or NBC or the New York Times, Washington Post, etc. They are targeting journalists because they don’t want ground reports to reach the world. They want to wipe out the truth from the world’s consciousness. Hence, you will not see, for instance, stories about human beings trapped or buried under the rubble. Or similar stories. If there is a ceasefire, and journalists can enter, you will see that thousands of buried or forgotten stories will emerge from the ravaged landscape of Gaza. That is also why they don’t want a ceasefire. Several men and young boys have been picked up recently and taken to unknown places by the Israeli army. And how many Palestinian children and women and others are in prison in Israel? They have arrested several people from the north and the south of Gaza, and also from the West Bank. They have built new prisons. The prisoners are treated with cruelty. This is their policy. They catch the people for no rhyme or reason, and they take them to the prisons. They punish them. It’s very bad. They torture them. And this has been going on much before this one-sided war started last October. They treat the 2.5 million people like prisoners in a gated society. They control everything. Nobody can travel without their permission. Nobody can go out of Gaza. There is no education, no employment, no food security. The economic condition is abysmal. They are not only killing the people physically, it’s a daily and endless mental torture. Everyday existence is hell. What is happening in the West Bank? In the West Bank, large areas have been forcibly taken over by Israeli settlers. Most of them are armed, patronised by their, government, and have full impunity to do whatever they want with the locals. They have taken over our homes and houses. A lot of people have been killed in the West Bank too in recent times. Plus, there are other types of war. There are assassinations. Raids. Arrests. Special operations. There are military invasions. They enter Ramallah and other towns. There are 80 checkpoints. They have divided the land according to their security and other needs. You can’t go from one point to another without their permission. If you travel, a 30-minute journey will take more than three hours. They can arrest anyone at any time. Stop anyone anytime. You can’t cross the King Hussein border with Jordan without their permission. They refuse to refund our tax, agreed as per the Paris Agreement. They make it economically unfeasible to run the administration and cater to civil society needs. With a meagre budget, it becomes extremely difficult for the Palestinian Authority in West Bank to operate. People get 60 or 70 percent of their salaries only. They control the banks. It is like they have actually annexed the West Bank, and now Gaza. This is the original Israeli dream. Western media reports have stuck to a figure of 43,000 people dead, and around 17,000 children dead. This figure remains unchanged despite the daily killings in Gaza since weeks now. Plus, those who are buried under the rubble. Unofficial sources say the toll could be many times more. I think the number is much higher than these media reports. I presume the ministry of health also thinks the same. No one knows the number of people buried under the rubble across Gaza. Among the dead, the number of children and women are many times high. Indeed, they particularly target women and children, especially mothers. They want to eliminate the children en masse because they are the future of Palestine. They kill mothers and young women because they will bring children to this world. That is why the number of women who have been murdered by Israeli army is very, very high. They know everything. They use technology to spy on women. They scan everything. Drones can come in at home, anytime. If I am a peaceful and quiet citizen, and sitting quietly at home, they can come and kill me. They know that there is a civilian family, perhaps one hundred of them are living in the four floors of a building. They know. Like a game in a play station, they play this game of death. They especially choose to kill the mothers because they will give birth to children. Entire families have been wiped out. That is why they kill children in the hospital. Nurses and doctors have been murdered. Even new-born children die because of lack of medical facilities. They need special care. Hence, all medical aid is cut of the little ones. This is the government policy of the Isreali government in Tel Aviv. (Courtesy: www.timesheadline.in ) —–Luke Humphries bid for back-to-back World Championship titles on track after win
Malik Nabers Calls Out Giants Teammates With Expletive 3-Word Message
Matt Gaetz withdraws attorney general nomination
The Savings Game: The basics of estate planningReal Madrid star Jude Bellingham and his younger brother Jobe have amused football fans by “signing” a playful 10-year contract with Championship side Burnley during the Christmas break. The 21-year-old Bellingham, who returned to England during La Liga’s winter break, was spotted alongside Jobe at Crow Wood Hotel & Spa in Burnley by a Clarets fan named Alfie. The young supporter seized the moment to craft a “contract” that read, “We Jobe and Jude agree to sign for Burnley for 10 years,” which the brothers humorously signed. The light-hearted moment was shared on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) by Jude and Jobe’s father. The post garnered widespread attention, even drawing a response from Burnley Chairman, Alan Pace, who joked, “Welcome to the recruitment team Alfie.” ALSO READ: Man Utd receive Marcus Rashford ‘approach’ from Euro giants with £35m fee ‘put forward’ While the gesture delighted Burnley fans, a move to the Championship side is far from reality for either of the Bellingham brothers. Jude, who joined Real Madrid from Borussia Dortmund last summer, has four-and-a-half years remaining on his current contract. The England international had a stellar debut season with the Spanish giants, helping them win La Liga and the Champions League and earning a third-place finish in the 2024 Ballon d’Or rankings. Jobe, currently playing for Sunderland, has three-and-a-half years left on his contract. The 18-year-old has been in impressive form this season, scoring four goals and registering three assists in 20 Championship appearances. Jude was also spotted in the crowd at Ewood Park during Sunderland’s 2-2 draw against Blackburn Rovers on Boxing Day, but he is set to return to Spain for Real Madrid’s first match of 2025 against Valencia on January 3.
Yogi Adityanath aces UP bypoll test with campaign charisma, slogan
Two senior members of the federal cabinet were in Florida Friday pushing Canada’s new border plan with Donald Trump’s transition team, a day after Trudeau himself appeared to finally push back at the president-elect over his social media posts about turning Canada into the 51st state. Both Trudeau and former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney, who Trudeau has been courting to become Canada’s next finance minister, shared posts on X Thursday, a day after Trump’s latest jab at Canada in his Christmas Day message. It isn’t clear if Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who has repeatedly insisted Trump’s 51st state references are a joke, will raise the issue with Trump’s team when he and Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly meet with them in Palm Beach. The two are there to discuss Canada’s new $1.3 billion border plan with just under four weeks left before Trump is sworn in again as president. He has threatened to impose a new 25 per cent import tariff on Canada and Mexico the same day over concerns about a trade imbalance, as well as illegal drugs and migration issues at the borders. The broad strokes of Canada’s plan were made public Dec. 17, including a new aerial intelligence task force to provide round-the-clock surveillance of the border, and improved efforts using technology and canine teams to seek out drugs in shipments leaving Canada LeBlanc’s spokesman, Jean-Sébastien Comeau, said the ministers will also emphasize the negative impacts of Trump’s threatened tariffs on both Canada and the U.S. Comeau said the ministers will build on the discussions that took place last month when Trudeau and LeBlanc met Trump at Mar-a-Lago just days after Trump first made his tariff threat. It was at that dinner on Nov. 29 when Trump first raised the notion of Canada becoming the 51st state, a comment LeBlanc has repeatedly since insisted was just a joke. But Trump has continued the quip repeatedly in various social media posts, including in his Christmas Day message when he said Canadians would pay lower taxes and have better military protection if they became Americans. He has taken to calling Trudeau “governor” instead of prime minister. Trudeau had not directly responded to any of the jabs, but on Thursday posted a link to a six-minute long video on YouTube from 2010 in which American journalist Tom Brokaw “explains Canada to Americans.” The video, which originally aired during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, explains similarities between the two countries, including their founding based on immigration, their trading relationship and the actions of the Canadian Army in World War 2 and other modern conflicts. “In the long history of sovereign neighbours there has never been a relationship as close, productive and peaceful as the U.S. and Canada,” Brokaw says in the video. Trudeau did not expand about why he posted a link to the video, posting it only with the words “some information about Canada for Americans.” Carney, who is at the centre of some of Trudeau’s recent domestic political troubles, also called out Trump’s antics on X Thursday, calling it “casual disrespect” and “carrying the ‘joke’ too far.” “Time to call it out, stand up for Canada, and build a true North American partnership,” said Carney, who Trudeau was courting to join his cabinet before Chrystia Freeland resigned as finance minister last week. Freeland’s sudden departure, three days after Trudeau informed her he would be firing her as finance minister in favour of Carney, left Trudeau’s leadership even more bruised than it already was. Despite the expectation Carney would assume the role, he did not and has not made any statements about it. LeBlanc was sworn in as finance minister instead the same day Freeland quit. More than two dozen Liberal MPs have publicly called on Trudeau to resign as leader, and Trudeau is said to be taking the holidays to think about his next steps. He is currently vacationing in British Columbia.Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) Price Target Raised to $190.00
Airflow Heating & Air Conditioning: Elevating Indoor Air Quality for Healthier Living
Peters’ push to turn Europe’s eyes south
Simon Harris apologises to carer for ‘not giving her the time she deserved’Warren Buffett Keeps Dumping Apple Shares: Here's the Stock He Is Buying InsteadThe Gophers football program has added a second receiver commitment in two days via the NCAA transfer portal. Nebraska transfer Malachi Coleman pledged to Minnesota on Tuesday and will have three years of eligibility at the U. “Let’s rock,” he posted on social media. Coleman was a top 70 recruit in the nation out of Lincoln (Neb.) East in the class of 2023, but didn’t play much in 2024. Listed at 6-foot-4 and 190 pounds, Coleman played in only one game in 2024, using his redshirt season. As a true freshman in 2023, Coleman had eight receptions for 139 yards and one touchdown. In 2023, he received an average grade out 58.0 by Pro Football Focus and was primarily a split receiver for 332 out of 335 total offensive snaps. Coleman follows two other wideouts to Minnesota: Logan Loya (UCLA) on Monday and Jaovn Tracy (Miami of Ohio) on Dec. 15.
Layne throws 3 TD passes, Idaho beats Idaho State 40-17Cutting in line? American Airlines’ new boarding tech might stop you at now over 100 airports