House Republican Leadership Blocking Fix to Limit Controversial Spy PowersTexas quarterback Quinn Ewers has not been included in the conversation for top NFL draft prospects, but he's still managed to impress many around the league. Per ESPN's Jordan Reid , Ewers earned praise for his ability to overcome his tumultuous 2024 season, which included an in-game benching. "He's tough as nails mentally because of all of the background noise is impossible to ignore," an AFC area scout told Reid. "Despite all of that, he's dealt with getting benched and returned as the starter in the same game, which says a lot about his toughness." Ewers was benched in the first half of Texas' Week 8 loss to Georgia and replaced by redshirt freshman Arch Manning, but he showed his resiliency when he returned after halftime to throw two touchdown passes. He also missed time with an abdominal injury early in the year before making his return. In nine games, Ewers has thrown for 2,089 yards, 23 touchdowns and six interceptions. The No. 3 Longhorns are 10-1 entering Saturday's game against No. 15 Texas A&M. A strong finish to the season would go a long way toward improving Ewers' draft stock.
CHS Inc stock hits 52-week low at $28.75 amid market shiftsLOS ANGELES — Londynn Jones scored 15 points, making all five of her 3-pointers, and fifth-ranked UCLA stunned No. 1 South Carolina 77-62 on Sunday, ending the Gamecocks’ overall 43-game winning streak and their run of 33 consecutive road victories. The Gamecocks (5-1) lost for the first time since April 2023, when Caitlin Clark and Iowa beat them in the NCAA Tournament national semifinals. With South Carolina’s loss, No. 2 UConn could move to No. 1 in this week’s rankings when they are announced Monday. The Huskies will face Oregon State Monday night in the opener of the Baha Mar Women’s Championship in the Bahamas. Te-Hina Paopao scored 18 points and Tessa Johnson scored 14 for the Gamecocks, whose road winning streak was third-longest in Division I history. It was the first time UCLA took down a No. 1 team in school history, having been 0-20 in such games. The program’s previous best wins were over a couple of No. 2s — Oregon in 2019 and Stanford in 2008. Elina Aarnisalo added 13 points as one of five Bruins in double figures. UCLA (5-0) dominated from start to finish, with the Bruins’ suffocating defense preventing the Gamecocks from making any sustained scoring runs. South Carolina: The Gamecocks trailed by double-digits at halftime for the first time since Dec. 21, 2021, against Stanford, according to ESPN. Chloe Kitts, who averages a team-leading 14 points, finished the game with 2 points on 1 of 7 shooting. UCLA: The Bruins led 43-22 at halftime. Eight different players scored and contributed to 11-0 and 7-0 runs in the first and second quarters as they shot 52% from the field. The first quarter set the tone for a game in which the Gamecocks never led. They missed their first nine shots and were 4 of 18 from the floor in the quarter. UCLA ran off 11 straight points to take a 20-10 lead into the second quarter. The Bruins dominated the boards, 41-34, and held the Gamecocks well under their scoring average of 80.2 points. South Carolina travels to Florida to meet Iowa State in the Fort Myers Tipoff on Thanksgiving. UCLA travels to the Rainbow Wahine Showdown in Hawaii to play UT Martin on Friday.
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Here’s what development around the Virginia Beach Convention Center could look likeTV’s Dr. Oz invested in businesses regulated by agency Trump wants him to leadElon Musk (L) with Donald Trump (R) (Image: AP/Brandon Bell) Like Lynx deodorant, wet dreams and the comedian Jimmy Carr, libertarianism is meant to be a phase men grow out of by at least their late teens. Elon Musk, however, appears to be growing more adolescent as he ages. His “small government” ideology is obviously blinkered, conveniently skating over the billions in taxpayer loans and contracts he has received. Nonetheless, it is increasingly central to both his political and business decisions. Indeed, he is emerging as the leader of an extreme libertarian faction within US President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team. Can DOGE save some coin? Murdoch to Musk: How global media power has shifted from the moguls to the big tech bros Read More All Republican factions seem to agree on reducing immigration and “wokeness”. But whereas the “national conservatives” led by Vice President-elect JD Vance are invigorated by economic protectionism, Musk appears more excited about deregulation and slashing public service jobs. His intellectual influences appear to be arch free-marketeer Milton Friedman and President of Argentina Javier Milei , who is famous for taking a literal chainsaw to government spending. This would merely be sad, if Musk weren’t edging closer to real political power. On one hand, Musk’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is a sham “department”, a made-up office without congressional oversight. It has no defined powers, in contrast to the real departments being led by the national conservative set. However, Musk seems to have genuinely influenced Trump’s recent thinking, along with DOGE co-leader and fellow austerity enthusiast Vivek Ramaswamy. “These two wonderful Americans,” Trump recently said , “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies.” Trump may, as he is wont to do, lose interest in DOGE. But if he takes up even a fraction of Musk and Ramaswamy’s agenda, the results could be catastrophic. The dynamic duo outlined their initial plan in the Wall Street Journal last week, to cut “$500 billion plus in annual federal expenditures that are unauthorised by Congress or being used in ways that Congress never intended”. They claim the president can do this unilaterally, though this would likely be legally contested if pursued. This is merely a downpayment on the $2 trillion (of an annual $6.7 trillion in government outlays) that Musk thinks he can cut. The vast bulk of US government spending is on social security and healthcare, and the vast majority of “expired” spending is on veterans’ health care. Despite being extreme on other measures, Trump dialled down Republicans’ austerity talk in his first term, reassuring pensioners and veterans their benefits wouldn’t be targeted. Trump is either about to adopt a much harsher (and less popular) “fend for yourself” posture towards middle America, or his buddies’ lofty targets will be forgotten and DOGE will devolve into small-scale witch hunts over so-called “woke” spending. Watch this space. Death by a thousand cuts Da pacem, Domine: Why Trump is what democracy needs Read More There is no doubt that Elon himself would prefer a full-scale “slash and burn” approach, as it was the approach he himself adopted upon purchasing Twitter. He fired 6,500 people – about 80% of his workforce, by his own reckoning. He later attempted to rehire some of those very same former employees after acknowledging some “babies” were “thrown out [with the bathwater]”. Particularly affected by redundancies were those working on curation, risk and integrity — namely, those reducing misinformation, defamation and harmful content on the platform, and promoting reputable sources. His leadership of Twitter, now rebranded X, reveals an unresolved tension at the heart of his (and all) libertarianism — the emphasis on freedom ends where his company begins. As CEO, Musk led X in a dictatorial fashion, according to former executives. He told remaining employees to submit to an “extremely hardcore” regime of long working hours or leave the company. As Elizabeth Anderson memorably pointed out , such dictatorial company structures are depressingly common and give the lie to many spruiking “freedom” in other domains. Even after stepping down as CEO, Musk clearly continues to exert god-like influence. He reportedly made a team of 80 engineers tweak X’s algorithm in 2023 to boost his own posts. Australian academics Timothy Graham and Mark Andrejevic investigated whether he had repeated such meddling this year, and found a “statistically anomalous boost” in engagement on Musk’s account since July. Such antics are alienating many users. But no-one is powerful enough to stop Musk internally. So naturally, users’ only avenue is to leave. Bluer skies ahead? “Network effects” (i.e. everyone else being on the platform, and not being elsewhere) have prevented a critical mass of users leaving X... until now. New rival platform Bluesky has blown up in recent weeks, as X users jump ship. The platform just hit 22 million users. That’s still far fewer than X in total, but Bluesky is currently adding more than 1 million users per day, including some of the most high-profile users. Bluesky now up to 22 million users and still growing strong [image or embed] — Benjamin Clark ( @benjamin-clark.bsky.social ) November 25, 2024 at 7:11 AM Albert Hirschman famously suggested three ways a consumer could influence an institution: “Voice”: try to influence the organisation’s decision-making through speaking up, including via coordinated efforts; “Loyalty”: try to stick things out and hope things get better; “Exit”: leave. Which Australian media outlets are leaving X for Bluesky? Read More Musk is impervious to the voices of others, and many of X’s users are tiring of loyalty. Their only option is to exit. Libertarians like Musk typically emphasise exit as their preferred means of exercising freedom (“don’t like it? Leave”). There is a delicious irony in users now saying, “OK, bye”. No social media platform will ever be perfect. But Bluesky’s foundations are better than most. It is based on an open protocol, meaning anyone with the technical know-how can set up their own sister network and bring their data across. Users can curate their own feeds to a greater extent. This provides users with some “voice” and “exit” possibilities, inviting them in as co-creators of the platform rather than force-feeding them slop. Musk will, of course, be just fine if X descends into a Star Wars cantina of fascists and spam bots. He’s still the richest man in the world, after all. But Trump likes winners. The more we can make Musk seem like a loser, the less chance his austerity package has of decimating what’s left of the American welfare state. Bluesky is also just a nicer place to be right now. So join me, X users, in the great X-odus. Let’s show Musk what real freedom looks like. Have something to say about this article? Write to us at letters@crikey.com.au . Please include your full name to be considered for publication in Crikey’s Your Say . 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CHICAGO (AP) — Sam Darnold threw for 90 of his 330 yards in overtime to set up Parker Romo's game-ending 29-yard field goal , and the Minnesota Vikings outlasted the Chicago Bears 30-27 on Sunday after giving up 11 points in the final 22 seconds of regulation. Darnold threw two touchdown passes, Jordan Addison caught eight passes for a career-high 162 yards and a touchdown, and T.J. Hockenson had 114 yards receiving for the Vikings (9-2), who remained one game behind Detroit in the rugged NFC North. Caleb Williams threw for 340 yards and two touchdowns for the Bears (4-7), who lost their fifth straight and fell to 5-18 in one-possession games under coach Matt Eberflus, who is 14-31 in 2 1/2 seasons. Minnesota appeared to have the game in hand, leading 27-16 with 1:56 left after Romo kicked a 26-yard field goal. But the Bears weren’t finished. Deandre Carter made up for a muffed punt that led to a touchdown in the third quarter with a 55-yard kickoff return to the 40. Williams took it from there, capping an eight-play drive with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Keenan Allen. A 2-point conversion pass to DJ Moore made it 27-24 with 22 seconds remaining. The Bears recovered the onside kick and Williams hit Moore over the middle for a 27-yard gain to the 30 before spiking the ball. Cairo Santos made a 48-yard field goal as time expired. Chicago won the coin toss, but Williams was sacked for a 12-yard loss on second down, leading to a three-and-out. The Vikings took over at the 21, and Darnold led a 10-play drive, overcoming a sack and two penalties. Darnold connected with Hockenson for a 29-yard completion that put the ball on the 9. He took a knee and then Romo nailed the winner. Darnold surpassed his previous season high of 19 touchdown passes with a 2-yarder to Addison on the first play of the second quarter, and he made it 14-7 with a 5-yard score to Jalen Nailor late in the first half. He completed 22 of 34 passes. Aaron Jones ran for 106 yards and a score for the VIkings. Williams was 32 of 47 with a 103.1 passer rating in his second straight solid performance since Thomas Brown replaced the fired Shane Waldron as offensive coordinator. Moore caught seven passes for 106 yards and a touchdown, and Allen added 86 yards receiving and the late TD. Injuries Vikings: LB Ivan Pace Jr. (hamstring) and LT Cam Robinson (foot) left in the first quarter. ... Darnold missed two plays after he was hit by Gervon Dexter Sr. on a pass play with about 6 1/2 minutes. Up next Vikings: Host Arizona next Sunday. Bears: Visit Detroit on Thanksgiving. ___ AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL Andrew Seligman, The Associated Press
When cash handouts help win polls, incentives for politicians to create jobs are low Incumbent Mahayuti’s giant victory in Maharashtra was a sum of many parts, including driven cadres, expert booth management, hard electioneering and a well-oiled poll machinery. And, not least, its cash handouts. Mahayuti brass are crediting the “landslide victory” to govt’s cash transfer schemes. They’ve called their Ladki Bahin scheme a “game changer”. In Jharkhand too, Maiya Samman scheme paid big dividends to incumbent JMM govt. Money talks. Cash works. It is expected now that all political parties will attempt to outdo one another by raising the bar on the amount and coverage of such schemes. In fact, this played out within weeks in Jharkhand. In Aug, JMM govt floated a ₹1k every month dole to women. BJP in Oct promised the same group ₹2.1k. Soren govt jacked up the handout to ₹2.5k payable from Dec. Populist state handouts are in reality a matter of concern, as every politician worth his salt knows. Political veterans have red flagged the cost – Ladki Bahin has a budget of ₹46k cr for 2.4cr women that’ll only go up as the amount is enhanced to ₹2.1k a month. Where the money will come from is only one half the challenge. The lasting damage is the impact on the economy. Effectively, rich electoral returns on cash transfers become a disincentive for politicians to create jobs. The jobs crisis, in Maharashtra and all-India, has remained intractable. Jobless growth has remained constant for over 15 years as has the recognition that GDP is only half the picture. The missing half is the workforce, growing by 7mn-8mn per year, and ordinary people, aka the voting people. Over 65% of India’s workforce is under age 35. Underemployment is savage. Colleges churn out unemployable graduates. Instead of increasing, share of total workforce in manufacturing has declined from 12.1% in 2018-19 to 11.4% in 2023-24. Chatter is not on growing jobs, but redefining employment. Worryingly, the best brains at the top are moving overseas. Even the low-skilled are migrating given the wage gap between home and destination country for the same jobs. Political parties have their finger on people’s pulse. Their manifestos respond to income distress. But govts are failing to create opportunities. Over the last several election cycles, this has seen cash handouts hardwired into party manifestos. It’s a winning formula for electoral security. But no income security has consequences for India, stuck in the low-middle-income trap.