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PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Newly married and sworn as a Naval officer, left his tiny hometown in 1946 hoping to climb the ranks and see the world. Less than a decade later, the death of his father and namesake, a merchant farmer and local politician who went by “Mr. Earl,” prompted the submariner and his wife, Rosalynn, to return to the rural life of Plains, Georgia, they thought they’d escaped. The lieutenant never would be an admiral. Instead, he became commander in chief. Years after his presidency ended in humbling defeat, he would add a Nobel Peace Prize, awarded not for his White House accomplishments but “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” The life of James Earl Carter Jr., the 39th and longest-lived U.S. president, ended Sunday at the age of 100 where it began: Plains, the town of 600 that fueled his political rise, welcomed him after his fall and sustained him during 40 years of service that redefined what it means to be a former president. With the stubborn confidence of an engineer and an optimism rooted in his Baptist faith, Carter described his motivations in politics and beyond in the same way: an almost missionary zeal to solve problems and improve lives. Carter was raised amid racism, abject poverty and hard rural living — realities that shaped both his deliberate politics and emphasis on human rights. “He always felt a responsibility to help people,” said Jill Stuckey, a longtime friend of Carter’s in Plains. “And when he couldn’t make change wherever he was, he decided he had to go higher.” Carter’s path, , pitted moral imperatives against political pragmatism; and it defied typical labels of American politics, especially caricatures of one-term presidents as failures. “We shouldn’t judge presidents by how popular they are in their day. That’s a very narrow way of assessing them,” Carter biographer Jonathan Alter told the Associated Press. “We should judge them by how they changed the country and the world for the better. On that score, Jimmy Carter is not in the first rank of American presidents, but he stands up quite well.” Later in life, Carter conceded that many Americans, even those too young to remember his tenure, judged him ineffective for failing to contain inflation or interest rates, end the energy crisis or quickly bring home American hostages in Iran. He gained admirers instead for his work at The Carter Center — advocating globally for public health, human rights and democracy since 1982 — and the decades he and Rosalynn wore hardhats and swung hammers with Habitat for Humanity. Yet the common view that he was better after the Oval Office than in it annoyed Carter, and his allies relished him living long enough to see historians reassess his presidency. “He doesn’t quite fit in today’s terms” of a left-right, red-blue scoreboard, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who visited the former president multiple times during his own White House bid. At various points in his political career, Carter labeled himself “progressive” or “conservative” — sometimes both at once. His most ambitious health care bill failed — perhaps one of his biggest legislative disappointments — because it didn’t go far enough to suit liberals. Republicans, especially after his 1980 defeat, cast him as a left-wing cartoon. It would be easiest to classify Carter as a centrist, Buttigieg said, “but there’s also something radical about the depth of his commitment to looking after those who are left out of society and out of the economy.” Indeed, Carter’s legacy is stitched with complexities, contradictions and evolutions — personal and political. The self-styled peacemaker was a war-trained Naval Academy graduate who promised Democratic challenger Ted Kennedy that he’d “kick his ass.” But he campaigned with a call to treat everyone with “respect and compassion and with love.” Carter vowed to restore America’s virtue after the shame of Vietnam and Watergate, and his technocratic, good-government approach didn’t suit Republicans who tagged government itself as the problem. It also sometimes put Carter at odds with fellow Democrats. The result still was a notable legislative record, with wins on the environment, education, and mental health care. He dramatically expanded federally protected lands, began deregulating air travel, railroads and trucking, and he put human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy. As a fiscal hawk, Carter added a relative pittance to the national debt, unlike successors from both parties. Carter nonetheless struggled to make his achievements resonate with the electorate he charmed in 1976. Quoting Bob Dylan and grinning enthusiastically, he had promised voters he would “never tell a lie.” Once in Washington, though, he led like a joyless engineer, insisting his ideas would become reality and he’d be rewarded politically if only he could convince enough people with facts and logic. This served him well at Camp David, where he brokered peace between Israel’s Menachem Begin and Epypt’s Anwar Sadat, an experience that later sparked the idea of The Carter Center in Atlanta. Carter’s tenacity helped the center grow to a global force that monitored elections across five continents, enabled his freelance diplomacy and sent public health experts across the developing world. The center’s wins were personal for Carter, who hoped to outlive the last Guinea worm parasite, and nearly did. As president, though, the approach fell short when he urged consumers beleaguered by energy costs to turn down their thermostats. Or when he tried to be the nation’s cheerleader, beseeching Americans to overcome a collective “crisis of confidence.” Republican Ronald Reagan exploited Carter’s lecturing tone with a belittling quip in their lone 1980 debate. “There you go again,” the former Hollywood actor said in response to a wonky answer from the sitting president. “The Great Communicator” outpaced Carter in all but six states. Carter later suggested he “tried to do too much, too soon” and mused that he was incompatible with Washington culture: media figures, lobbyists and Georgetown social elites who looked down on the as “country come to town.” Carter carefully navigated divides on race and class on his way to the Oval Office. , Carter was raised in the mostly Black community of Archery, just outside Plains, by a progressive mother and white supremacist father. Their home had no running water or electricity but the future president still grew up with the relative advantages of a locally prominent, land-owning family in a system of Jim Crow segregation. He wrote of President Franklin Roosevelt’s towering presence and his family’s Democratic Party roots, but his father soured on FDR, and Jimmy Carter never campaigned or governed as a New Deal liberal. He offered himself as a small-town peanut farmer with an understated style, carrying his own luggage, bunking with supporters during his first presidential campaign and always using his nickname. And he began his political career in a whites-only Democratic Party. As private citizens, he and Rosalynn supported integration as early as the 1950s and believed it inevitable. Carter refused to join the White Citizens Council in Plains and spoke out in his Baptist church against denying Black people access to worship services. “This is not my house; this is not your house,” he said in a churchwide meeting, reminding fellow parishioners their sanctuary belonged to God. Yet as the appointed chairman of Sumter County schools he never pushed to desegregate, thinking it impractical after the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board decision. And while presidential candidate Carter would hail the 1965 Voting Rights Act, signed by fellow Democrat Lyndon Johnson when Carter was a state senator, there is no record of Carter publicly supporting it at the time. Carter overcame a ballot-stuffing opponent to win his legislative seat, then lost the 1966 governor’s race to an arch-segregationist. He won four years later by avoiding explicit mentions of race and campaigning to the right of his rival, who he mocked as “Cufflinks Carl” — the insult of an ascendant politician who never saw himself as part the establishment. Carter’s rural and small-town coalition in 1970 would match any victorious Republican electoral map in 2024. Once elected, though, Carter shocked his white conservative supporters — and landed on the cover of Time magazine — by declaring that “the time for racial discrimination is over.” Before making the jump to Washington, Carter befriended the family of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., whom he’d never sought out as he eyed the governor’s office. Carter lamented his foot-dragging on school integration as a “mistake.” But he also met, conspicuously, with Alabama’s segregationist Gov. George Wallace to accept his primary rival’s endorsement ahead of the 1976 Democratic convention. “He very shrewdly took advantage of his own Southerness,” said Amber Roessner, a University of Tennessee professor and expert on Carter’s campaigns. A coalition of Black voters and white moderate Democrats ultimately made Carter the last Democratic presidential nominee to sweep the Deep South. Then, just as he did in Georgia, he used his power in office to appoint more non-whites than all his predecessors had, combined. He once acknowledged “the secret shame” of white Americans who didn’t fight segregation. But he also told Alter that doing more would have sacrificed his political viability – and thus everything he accomplished in office and after. King’s daughter, Bernice King, described Carter as wisely “strategic” in winning higher offices to enact change. “He was a leader of conscience,” she said in an interview. Rosalynn Carter, who at the age of 96, was identified by both husband and wife as the “more political” of the pair; she sat in on Cabinet meetings and urged him to postpone certain priorities, like pressing the Senate to relinquish control of the Panama Canal. “Let that go until the second term,” she would sometimes say. The president, recalled her former aide Kathy Cade, retorted that he was “going to do what’s right” even if “it might cut short the time I have.” Rosalynn held firm, Cade said: “She’d remind him you have to win to govern.” Carter also was the first president to appoint multiple women as Cabinet officers. Yet by his own telling, his career sprouted from chauvinism in the Carters’ early marriage: He did not consult Rosalynn when deciding to move back to Plains in 1953 or before launching his state Senate bid a decade later. Many years later, he called it “inconceivable” that he didn’t confer with the woman he described as his “full partner,” at home, in government and at The Carter Center. “We developed a partnership when we were working in the farm supply business, and it continued when Jimmy got involved in politics,” Rosalynn Carter told AP in 2021. So deep was their trust that when Carter remained tethered to the White House in 1980 as 52 Americans were held hostage in Tehran, it was Rosalynn who campaigned on her husband’s behalf. “I just loved it,” she said, despite the bitterness of defeat. Fair or not, the label of a disastrous presidency had leading Democrats keep their distance, at least publicly, for many years, but Carter managed to remain relevant, writing books and weighing in on societal challenges. He lamented widening wealth gaps and the influence of money in politics. He voted for democratic socialist Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in 2016, and later declared that America had devolved from fully functioning democracy to “oligarchy.” Yet looking ahead to 2020, with Sanders running again, Carter warned Democrats not to lest they help re-elect President Donald Trump. Carter scolded the Republican for his serial lies and threats to democracy, and chided the U.S. establishment for misunderstanding Trump’s populist appeal. He delighted in yearly convocations with Emory University freshmen, often asking them to guess how much he’d raised in his two general election campaigns. “Zero,” he’d gesture with a smile, explaining the public financing system candidates now avoid so they can raise billions. Carter still remained quite practical in partnering with wealthy corporations and foundations to advance Carter Center programs. Carter recognized that economic woes and the Iran crisis doomed his presidency, but offered no apologies for appointing Paul Volcker as the Federal Reserve chairman whose interest rate hikes would not curb inflation until Reagan’s presidency. He was proud of getting all the hostages home without starting a shooting war, even though Tehran would not free them until Reagan’s Inauguration Day. “Carter didn’t look at it” as a failure, Alter emphasized. “He said, ‘They came home safely.’ And that’s what he wanted.” Well into their 90s, the Carters greeted visitors at Plains’ Maranatha Baptist Church, where he taught Sunday School and where he will have his last funeral before being buried on . Carter, who made the congregation’s collection plates in his woodworking shop, still garnered headlines there, calling for women’s rights within religious institutions, many of which, he said, “subjugate” women in church and society. Carter was not one to dwell on regrets. “I am at peace with the accomplishments, regret the unrealized goals and utilize my former political position to enhance everything we do,” he wrote around his 90th birthday. The politician who had supposedly hated Washington politics also enjoyed hosting Democratic presidential contenders as again. Carter sat with Buttigieg for the final time March 1, 2020, hours before the Indiana mayor ended his campaign and endorsed eventual winner Joe Biden. “He asked me how I thought the campaign was going,” Buttigieg said, recalling that Carter flashed his signature grin and nodded along as the young candidate, born a year after Carter left office, “put the best face” on the walloping he endured the day before in South Carolina. Never breaking his smile, the 95-year-old host fired back, “I think you ought to drop out.” “So matter of fact,” Buttigieg said with a laugh. “It was somehow encouraging.” Carter had lived enough, won plenty and lost enough to take the long view. “He talked a lot about coming from nowhere,” Buttigieg said, not just to attain the presidency but to leverage “all of the instruments you have in life” and “make the world more peaceful.” In his farewell address as president, Carter said as much to the country that had embraced and rejected him. “The struggle for human rights overrides all differences of color, nation or language,” he declared. “Those who hunger for freedom, who thirst for human dignity and who suffer for the sake of justice — they are the patriots of this cause.” Carter pledged to remain engaged with and for them as he returned “home to the South where I was born and raised,” home to Plains, where that young lieutenant had indeed become “a fellow citizen of the world.” —-Man arrested for assault on South Carolina congresswoman
(BPT) - This article was sponsored and developed by Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. Cerebral palsy (CP) is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting movement and posture that begins in early childhood development. It is the most common cause of motor disability in children, affecting about one in 345 children in the United States. 1-2 It may happen as a result of lack of oxygen during or around birth, stroke, infection, a problem with metabolism or other problems that cause injury or affect the development of parts of the brain involved in movement control in the first few years of life. 3 CP is a permanent condition, affecting a person for their entire life. People living with CP typically have motor problems, which may include spasticity (abnormal muscle tightness), dyskinesia (uncontrolled movements) or ataxia (poor muscle control), and many people have a mix of these motor disorders. 4 Dyskinesia due to CP (DCP) is one of the most disabling forms of CP and impacts approximately 10% to 20% of people living with CP. 5-6 According to the Cerebral Palsy Foundation (CPF), the combination of irregular and unpredictable movements (chorea) and twisting and repeating movements (dystonia) often disrupt activities and cause significant functional impairment, including the ability to maintain balance, walk or fine motor control. 7 Heather Riordan, M.D., Neurologist and Movement Disorders Specialist, Director of the Phelps Center for Cerebral Palsy at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, discusses the symptoms of chorea and impact on patients in a video shared on the CPF website here . About 30% of people with DCP are affected mostly by these involuntary and irregular movements (chorea), while dystonia is the predominant motor finding in the remaining 70%. 8 However, it is common for both chorea and dystonia movements to be present together. 6 For people living with DCP, these movements can occur in any region of the body, including the arms and legs, torso and face and may vary in severity. They are often triggered or made worse by stimulation or stress. Because dyskinesia can occur at rest and/or when actively using the body, the problems with movement are very burdensome in day-to-day living, with discomfort and pain affecting the quality of life for people and their caregivers. 9 Jen Lyman, mom to a son with DCP, highlights how dyskinesia makes communicating more difficult. "The most difficult thing about dyskinesia is watching my son struggle to do things that he wants to do, but the extra movements get in the way...special things, such as using a touch screen to video chat with his grandmother, are nearly impossible despite his best efforts to use his hands and fingers. Something so simple, yet so special for him should be effortless." DCP has a wide-ranging impact on the individual, including lifelong challenges with movement, a higher risk of other medical issues, a higher rate of mental health challenges and difficulties with communication. 10-12 "Those of us who have the privilege to serve patients with dyskinetic, hyperkinetic or mixed cerebral palsy see the functional impact of this very challenging type of tone every day," said Susan Biffl, M.D., Rehabilitation Medicine Specialist at Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego and Assistant Professor at UC San Diego School of Medicine. "Patients face challenges with self-care, independence, mobility, communication, fine motor skills that affect occupational and recreational activities, swallowing, social interactions and even sleep. As this tone is variable, it is much more challenging to treat than more consistent tone issues, such as spasticity." Treatment Options There are currently no Food and Drug Administration-approved treatments for DCP. Dystonia and chorea are often managed separately as they respond differently to various treatments, which can make treatment challenging. 3 Most drugs being investigated for DCP have focused on dystonia, and more research is needed to determine potential treatments for chorea. New treatment options are needed to help manage these movement disorders and improve daily function and quality of life for those affected. "After 20 years of caring for individuals with cerebral palsy, I continue to find those with dyskinetic cerebral palsy among the most challenging to treat, largely due to the limited effectiveness of available pharmacologic options," said Joyce Oleszek, M.D., Professor, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Colorado School of Medicine. "There is an urgent need for more robust evidence to support pharmacologic treatments for this condition, given its profound impact on function, comfort and quality of life." Ongoing Research Clinical studies are important in the development of treatment options, allowing researchers to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of new medicines. The data from clinical studies are used to determine if an investigational treatment can be approved for use to treat certain disorders. There are ongoing clinical studies evaluating potential treatments for DCP, including one for chorea. Neurocrine Biosciences is conducting the KINECT ® -DCP clinical study, a Phase 3, randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled study investigating the study drug, valbenazine, for the treatment of DCP. The clinical study is currently enrolling children, adolescents and adults six to 70 years of age who have been diagnosed with DCP. "The Cerebral Palsy Foundation is excited to partner with Neurocrine Biosciences on this study," said Rachel Byrne, Executive Director of the Cerebral Palsy Foundation. "We are proud to support strong research that can potentially bring meaningful change to the lives of those living with cerebral palsy." If you or someone you know may be eligible for this research study, please visit the study website for additional information here: FindADCPStudy.com . REFERENCES © 2024 Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. All Rights Reserved. CAP-NBI-US-0115 12/2024 NBI-98854-DCP3018_11DecMatRelease_v1.0_25November2024HOW Kashmiri Brothers are treated in Himachal Pradesh. We Request administration of Himachal Pradesh that kindly look into this matter immediately. Video Source:-Social Media Important Update in the Himachal Pradesh Communal Harassment Case: The Himachal Pradesh Police have registered an FIR against the woman Block Development Council (BDC) member involved in the incident. Director General of Police (DGP) Himachal Pradesh, Dr. Atul Verma Sahab,...
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House approves $895B defense bill with military pay raise, ban on transgender care for minorsSyracuse vs. Tennessee: This college basketball prediction includes our best bet of the game. AP Pat Sharyon | Special Correspondent Syracuse will head to Knoxville to face No. 3 Tennessee at Thompson-Boling Arena on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. EST. To our local readers: let us apologize for the prediction you’re about to read. No one knows better than an Upstate New Yorker that miracles do happen, but this isn’t 1980. The game is not taking place in Lake Placid. Tennessee will win. Our best for tomorrow is Tennessee -20.5 (-105). Fade us if you dare. This preview includes Dimers’ best bets and predicted scoreline for Syracuse Orange vs. Tennessee Volunteers. To unlock Dimers’ full suite of data-driven betting insights, which includes daily props, trends, and parlays, sign up for Dimers Pro with promo code SYRACUSE10 , which will save you 10% off your first subscription payment. Note: If you’re using this preview to bet on college basketball, you can claim huge betting bonuses with our brand new exclusive bet365 bonus code “SYRACUSE”, while all sports fans in New York State can take full advantage of our NBA League Pass FanDuel promo code. Additionally, bettors are encouraged to check out this exclusive promo offer from DraftKings and the latest deal from BetMGM. Please note that in New York, you cannot bet on in-state college teams. This applies to both home and road games. That said, you can bet on college teams from schools located outside of the state. Syracuse vs. Tennessee betting preview Explore the interactive widget below to view the latest spread, total, and moneyline betting odds and probabilities for the Syracuse-Tennessee game at Thompson-Boling Arena. This prediction and best bet for Tuesday’s college basketball matchup between Syracuse and Tennessee is from Dimers.com , a dependable source for sports betting predictions. Check out all the important details on tonight’s game, as well as the best odds sourced from the top sportsbooks in the country. Game details Key information on the Syracuse vs. Tennessee matchup, including where the game is and what time it tips off. Teams: Syracuse vs. Tennessee Date: Tuesday, December 3, 2024 Time: 7:30 p.m. EST Location: Thompson-Boling Arena NCAAM rankings: Updated AP Top 25 College basketball news: Check the latest updates from the official NCAA basketball news site Odds The latest and best odds for the college basketball showdown between the Syracuse and Tennessee. Spread: Syracuse +20.5 (-115), Tennessee -20.5 (-105) Moneyline: Syracuse +1600, Tennessee -2800 Total: Over/Under 145.5 (-105/-110) The odds and lines featured here are the best available from selected sports betting sites at the time of publication and are subject to change. Expert prediction: Syracuse vs. Tennessee Utilizing state-of-the-art data analysis and machine learning, the experts at Dimers have executed 10,000 simulations of Tuesday’s Syracuse vs. Tennessee matchup. According to Dimers’ famous predictive analytics model, Tennessee is more likely to defeat Syracuse at Thompson-Boling Arena. This prediction is based on the model giving Tennessee a 97% chance of winning the game. Furthermore, Dimers predicts that Tennessee (-20.5) has a 53% chance of covering the spread, while the over/under total of 145.5 points has a 52% chance of going over. These predictions and probabilities are accurate at the time of publication but are subject to potential changes. Syracuse vs. Tennessee best bet Our top pick for the Syracuse vs. Tennessee game on Tuesday is to bet on Tennessee -20.5 (-105) . This betting advice is formulated through world-class modeling and valuable betting intelligence, designed to assist you in making smarter decisions. Score prediction for Syracuse vs. Tennessee Dimers’ predicted final score for the Syracuse vs. Tennessee game on Tuesday has Tennessee winning 84-62. This expert prediction is based on each team’s average score following 10,000 game simulations, offering a glimpse into the potential outcome. College basketball Tuesday: Syracuse vs. Tennessee Get ready for Tuesday’s college basketball game between Syracuse and Tennessee at Thompson-Boling Arena, which is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. EST. We emphasize that all of the college basketball best bets and college basketball predictions in this preview are based on 10,000 data-driven simulations of the Syracuse vs. Tennessee game, and they are correct at the time of publishing to help you make more informed choices when placing bets at online sportsbooks . Please remember to gamble responsibly and seek reputable sources for accurate and up-to-date information when making online betting choices. 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Unions attack 2.8% Government pay rise proposal for NHS workers and teachers(Bloomberg Opinion) -- This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, the underwater noise of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. Sign up here . Today’s Agenda The New Enron December 2nd is known for many things. It’s the birthday of Britney Spears, Charlie Puth and the Environmental Protection Agency. It’s the anniversary of the first-ever controlled nuclear fission chain reaction. And it’s the day that Enron filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001. It’s also the day that Enron decided to... resurrect itself from the dead? Sure, why not: pic.twitter.com/9kt4g0Q84Z— Enron (@Enron) December 2, 2024 Exactly 23 years after the scandal-ridden energy enterprise went under, its name and logo are back in action. You can already buy a company hoodie for $118 and a polo for $98. Once a grift, always a grift, I suppose. The old Enron did all the things they tell you *not* to do in Accounting 101. After a $40 billion shareholder lawsuit, the conglomerate became the poster child for financial fraud and a bunch of top executives were charged with corruption. “In 2001, or 2011, those things were bad things,” writes Matt Levine. “Nobody wanted to invest in Enron, what with it being ‘synonymous with willful corporate fraud and corruption.’” But 2024 is different: “Standards are lower, and people are up for a bit more fun. If you launched Enron Corp. on the stock exchange today — even without a business — the stock would go up, because that is funny.” According to the new website, the revamped Enron is “dedicated to solving the global energy crisis.” And yet one of the company’s key pillars is “permissionless innovation,” which smells very crypto-scammy, not at all good for the environment and, quite frankly, overdone: RadioShack already did this, like, three years ago. Perhaps that’s why Enron 2.0 has all the hallmarks of a parody: It appears to have used Shutterstock and iStock images in its employee testimonials. It says “Enron” is now a backronym that stands for Energy, Nurture, Repentant, Opportunity and Nice. And it even has a disclaimer saying the site is “for entertainment purposes only.” But Matt says “these days you’d say that even if you actually were launching a crypto token, or a meme stock, or for that matter an energy company.” The sad thing is, this planet could use a company that wants to solve the global energy crisis. We have a lot of problems and very few people willing to solve them. Javier Blas says the oil cartel is inflating prices. David Fickling says a heat wave is straining Australia’s grids. Katja Hoyer says the entire continent of Europe is still reliant on Russian gas. And don’t even get F.D. Flam started on the whales. “President-elect Donald Trump has used saving whales, of all things, as a reason he has promised to shut down all US offshore wind energy projects when he takes office,” she writes, calling the idea absurd. “Fossil fuels are not only dirtier but their extraction and transport create far more underwater noise.” It’s a shame that Enron’s employees — and Trump, for that matter — seem more interested in helping crypto whales than actual whales. Thanksgiving Pardons Last week, not only did Peach and Blossom get spared from slaughter, so too did President Joe Biden’s son Hunter. Biden is far from the only president who has helped a loved one avoid prison: “Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter each pardoned brothers. Donald Trump pardoned his daughter’s father-in-law (whom he now says he will appoint as ambassador to France). Even Abraham Lincoln pardoned his wife Mary Todd Lincoln’s sister, whose husband had served as a Confederate general,” Noah Feldman writes. “Seen from a human perspective,” Noah says Biden’s decision to spare his son is “about the most understandable action of his whole presidency.” But when Noah puts his Legal Scholar hat on, he says it’s a “tragedy for the republic,” and evidence of the “Trump effect.” The previous president’s pursuit of chaos — dating back to 2016 when he promised to lock up Hillary Clinton — has muted our collective sense of shock and outrage. In turn, Noah says it’s led to “the politicization of criminal investigation and prosecution,” which will likely worsen if Kash Patel — a political operative that Barbara L. McQuade says could carry out Trump’s personal revenge tour — ends up running the FBI. But Biden also is to blame. What Trump began, his Democratic successor intensified: “Biden’s administration made the belated — and in retrospect, disastrous — decision to seek criminal prosecution of Trump when it became clear he was a credible candidate to challenge Biden for the presidency,” Noah writes. “Now we live in a world where Democrats will hardly bat an eye at a presidential pardon for a wayward son, and in which Republican criticisms can easily be dismissed as hypocritical.” I pardoned this link from the paywall, so you can read the whole thing for free. You’re welcome! High Command Elsewhere in disastrous political decisions, you have Trump’s choice for Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth. The Bloomberg Opinion editorial board says the former Fox News host is marred by a “checkered past” which seems to get uglier by the day. Look no further than this damning account of his time as the president of Concerned Veterans for America, as reported by The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer yesterday. An unearthed whistle-blower report describes Hegseth “as being repeatedly intoxicated while acting in his official capacity— to the point of needing to be carried out of the organization’s events.” At one such event — a tour through Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio — a former staffer claimed Hegseth drunkenly chanted “Kill All Muslims!” At another, he reportedly brought his team to a strip club in Louisiana, where he was accused by one of his female colleagues of attempting sexual assault. If, somehow, one was able to overlook the deeply unsettling accusations, Bloomberg’s editors still say that Hegseth is not the man for the job. “Leading an $850 billion bureaucracy that oversees nearly 3 million troops and civilian employees would be a daunting task for even the most experienced nominee,” they write. “Hegseth lacks experience of high command, as well as any background in defense policy or strategy, industrial issues, budgeting, international diplomacy, or in navigating interagency and interservice frictions.” Instead, Hegseth seems more interested in playing the role of Woke Police: “He argues that diversity, equity and inclusion programs are sapping warfighters of their martial spirit. He wants transgender troops out of the military and women out of combat roles. He’d also like to purge ‘woke’ generals from the ranks... far from the most pressing concerns facing the US military,” the editors argue. Telltale Charts Tyler Cowen says humans are not hanging out in public as much as we used to. I wonder why... To be clear, it’s not just Starbucks. McDonald’s is also to blame: “The fast-food icon raised prices in response to the spike in post-pandemic inflation only to discover that a broad swath of Americans can no longer afford Big Macs,” Nir Kaissar writes (free read). Although they’re rolling back some price hikes, Nir says the incoming Trump administration’s tariffs and deficits could stoke inflation. Trump’s next trade war also means you can say goodbye to Cyber Monday shopping in 2025. Andrea Felsted says bargain hunters should get the good deals while they last. “No matter how adept retailers have become, there will be no sidestepping the impact of broad tariffs,” she warns. Further Reading Free read: Who’d want to run a western automaker like Stellantis? — Chris Bryant Walmart’s DEI reversal isn’t all about Robby Starbuck. — Beth Kowitt Explaining economics to Trump won’t save Mexico. — Juan Pablo Spinetto Women’s hockey is right to be confident — but don’t get reckless. — Adam Minter Australia’s under-16 social media ban is better than nothing. — Catherine Thorbecke New York City can show the US how to build more housing. — Conor Sen India can’t afford to doom the world’s carbon credit markets a second time. — Mihir Sharma Minnesota’s state legislature is just about as evenly divided as possible. — Patricia Lopez Investment banks will lose billions of dollars of revenue to private rivals. — Paul J. Davies The Fed’s big monetary policy rethink needs to be better than last time. — Bill Dudley ICYMI Intel’s CEO got booted by the board. The New York Philharmonic has a new chief. Being active on social media helps the job hunt. Kickers New York City’s tiny duck treasure hunt. The history of Wisconsin’s famous Kringle. The rise of the random destination wedding. America stopped cooking with tallow for good reason. Area man runs 700 miles to make art. (h/t Jhodie Williams) Notes: Please send raspberry Kringle and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. Sign up here and follow us on Threads, TikTok, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Jessica Karl is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and author of the Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
HOW Kashmiri Brothers are treated in Himachal Pradesh. We Request administration of Himachal Pradesh that kindly look into this matter immediately. Video Source:-Social Media Important Update in the Himachal Pradesh Communal Harassment Case: The Himachal Pradesh Police have registered an FIR against the woman Block Development Council (BDC) member involved in the incident. Director General of Police (DGP) Himachal Pradesh, Dr. Atul Verma Sahab,...FARGO — For the third year in a row the West Fargo Sheyenne Mustangs are headed to the North Dakota Class A volleyball state championship. The East Region No. 1-seeded Mustangs defeated the East Region No. 3 Fargo Shanley 25-11, 25-17, 15-25 and 26-24 in the Class A semifinals Friday at the Fargodome. "It's so special to me," said Sheyenne senior outside hitter Alexa Killoran. "Coming back as a senior, it just means so much more." The two-time defending state champion Mustangs will battle West Region No. 1 Bismarck Century in the title match at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23. Century defeated West Region No. 3 Bismarck Legacy in three sets in Friday's other semifinal. Century is a nine-time state champion and was going for its own three-peat in 2022 when Sheyenne defeated the Patriots in five sets for the Mustangs' first state title. Sheyenne head coach Leah Newton said that, as with the Mustangs' other state title-appearing teams, it's been rewarding to see the growth of this team's players throughout the season. "You want it so bad for them," Newton said. "The fact they were able to fight and make that happen is pretty cool." The Mustangs fended off a fourth-set push from the Deacons, who were trying to force a fifth set. Both teams never led by more than two points. Tied at 24-24, Sheyenne scored back-to-back points, with right-side hitter Cora Metcalf delivering the match-winning kill. Killoran said the team focused on remaining calm, but needed to be ready for whatever was thrown its way. "We said, 'Just pretend the score is 0-0,' " Killoran said. "We wanted to come out aggressive every single time the ball was served or touched. We wanted to have that same intensity." The Mustangs erupted offensively in the first set to lead 13-1. Libero Baylor Dinger served three straight aces en route to Killoran's set-sealing kill. Sheyenne trailed throughout the first half of the second set, but a seven-point run turned the tides and the Mustangs gained control at 19-13. Sheyenne closed out the set with a 4-0 run, capped by outside hitter Abby Smithoff's kill. Shanley countered in the third set. Already leading by five, the Deacons rattled off eight-straight points to go ahead 18-6. Outside hitter Katelyn Ommen had multiple kills and an ace in the set. Mustangs middle hitter Reilly Bryant notched a team-high seven kills. Metcalf had five kills and seven blocks, and Dinger aced five serves. Makayla Amundson ended with 19 set assists and Marley Budeau had 18 assists. "We came out with a fiery attitude," Newton said. Ommen led the the Deacons with nine kills, three blocks and 22 digs. Clara Robin and Megan Dietz both had six kills. Ella Stimpson had 26 set assists and 18 digs, and Carly Hulstein had four kills and three blocks. Shanley will face off against Bismarck Legacy in the third-place contest at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23. "We're going to go hard (Saturday) and we're going to finish strong," said Deacons head coach Taylor Preston. The Mustangs remain poised for what the championship match will bring, Newton said. "We're going to have to play tough team ball and be ready," Newton said. "(The team we play) is going to be wanting it just as bad as us." Killoran added: "We need to come out confident and aggressive. Serve the ball super aggressive and just have faith in ourselves and our teammates."Former President Jimmy Carter Dead at 100
Croatia's president faces conservative rival in election run-offDoctored images have been around for decades. The term "Photoshopped" is part of everyday language. But in recent years, it has seemingly been replaced by a new word: deepfake. It's almost everywhere online, but you likely won't find it in your dictionary at home. What exactly is a deepfake, and how does the technology work? RELATED STORY | Scripps News Reports: Sex, Lies, and Deepfakes A deepfake is an image or video that has been generated by artificial intelligence to look real. Most deepfakes use a type of AI called a "diffusion model." In a nutshell, a diffusion model creates content by stripping away noise. "With diffusion models, they found a very clever way of taking an image and then constructing that procedure to go from here to there," said Lucas Hansen said. He and Siddharth Hiregowdara are cofounders of CivAI, a nonprofit educating the public on the potential — and dangers — of AI. How diffusion models work It can get complicated, so imagine the AI – or diffusion model – as a detective trying to catch a suspect. Like a detective, it relies on its experience and training. It recalls a previous case -– a sneaky cat on the run. Every day it added more and more disguises. On Monday, no disguise. Tuesday, it put on a little wig. Wednesday, it added some jewelry. By Sunday, it's unrecognizable and wearing a cheeseburger mask. The detective learned these changes can tell you what it wore and on what day. AI diffusion models do something similar with noise, learning what something looks like at each step. "The job of the diffusion model is to remove noise," Hiregowdara said. "You would give the model this picture, and then it will give you a slightly de-noised version of this picture." RELATED STORY | Scripps News got deepfaked to see how AI could impact elections When it's time to solve the case and generate a suspect, we give it a clue: the prompts we give when we create an AI-generated image. "We have been given the hint that this is supposed to look like a cat. So what catlike things can we see in here? Okay, we see this curve, maybe that's an ear," Hiregowdara said. The "detective" works backward, recalling its training. It sees a noisy image. Thanks to the clue, it is looking for a suspect — a cat. It subtracts disguises (noise) until it finds the new suspect. Case closed. Now imagine the "detective" living and solving crimes for years and years. It learns and studies everything — landscapes, objects, animals, people, anything at all. So when it needs to generate a suspect or an image, it remembers its training and creates an image. Deepfakes and faceswaps Many deepfake images and videos employ some type of face swapping technology. You've probably experienced this kind of technology already — faceswapping filters like on Snapchat, Instagram or Tiktok use technology similar to diffusion models, recognizing faces and replacing things in real time. "It will find the face in the image and then cut that out kind of, then take the face and convert it to its internal representation," Hansen said. The results are refined then repeated frame by frame. The future and becoming our own detectives As deepfakes become more and more realistic and tougher to detect, understanding how the technology works at a basic level can help us prepare for any dangers or misuse. Deepfakes have already been used to spread election disinformation, create fake explicit images of a teenager, even frame a principal with AI-created racist audio. "All the netizens on social media also have a role to play," Siwei Lyu said. Lyu is a SUNY Empire Innovation Professor at the University of Buffalo's Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and the director of the Media Forensics Lab. His team has created a tool to help spot deepfakes called "DeepFake-o-meter." "We do not know how to handle, how to deal, with these kinds of problems. It's very new. And also requires technical knowledge to understand some of the subtleties there," Lyu said. "The media, the government, can play a very active role to improve user awareness and education. Especially for vulnerable groups like seniors, the kids, who will start to understand the social media world and start to become exposed to AI technologies. They can easily fall for AI magic or start using AI without knowing the limits." RELATED STORY | AI voice cloning: How programs are learning to pick up on pitch and tone Both Lyu and CivAI believe in exposure and education to help combat any potential misuse of deepfake technology. "Our overall goal is that we think AI is going t impact pretty much everyone in a lot of different ways," Hansen said. "And we think that everyone should be aware of the ways that it's going to change them because it's going to impact everyone." "More than just general education — just knowing the facts and having heard what's going to happen," he added. "We want to give people a really intuitive experience of what's going on." Hansen goes on to explain CivAI's role in educating the public. "We try and make all of our demonstrations personalized as much as possible. What we're working on is making it so people can see it themselves. So they know it's real, and they feel that it's real," Hansen said. "And they can have a deep gut level feel for tthe impact that it's going to have." "A big part of the solution is essentially just going to be education and sort of cultural changes," he added. "A lot of this synthetic content is sort of like a new virus that is attacking society right now, and people need to become immune to it in some ways. They need to be more suspicious about what's real and what's not, and I think that will help a lot as well."
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