Canada needs to take Trump's tariff threats seriously: expertsPunches came, but the Aggies absorbed each one. In a battle of two men’s basketball programs that have drawn national attention again this year, Utah State was able to come out on top Sunday in Moraga, California. In their first true road game this year, the Aggies returned home for Christmas with a 75-68 victory. “Saint Mary’s is a storied program on the west coast,” USU head coach Jerrod Calhoun said. “... Our plan was to really, really stretch the defense. They play some seven-footers that struggle to move laterally. Karson Templin and Isaac Johnson made some pick-and-pops.” The Aggies (11-1) were also able to bounce back from their first loss of the 2024-25 campaign and on the road. They also played without injured point guard Drake Allen for the first time this season. Despite the challenges, USU put together one of its best outings at the University Credit Union Pavilion in the final non-conference game of the season. “It’s going to be a great Christmas, but we know what is on the horizon,” Calhoun said. “We are going to give them two days off and then get ready for a great San Diego State team.” Going up against a big team that is known for rebounding, the Aggies were challenged to battle the Gaels (10-3) on the boards Sunday. USU won the battle of the glass, 31-27. All nine Aggies that saw time grabbed at least one rebound. “We had to be more physical,” USU forward Karson Templin said. “That’s what we talked about this week in practice. Credit to Saint Mary’s, they are one of the most physical teams in the country. We knew we had to come out and hit them back.” Guard Dexter Akanno came off the bench to lead the Aggies in rebounds with seven. Fellow guards Ian Martinez and Mason Falslev grabbed six and five boards, respectively. “To ourebound this team, we deserved to win the game,” Calhoun said. “When you come into Saint Mary’s, one of the best rebounding teams in America, you get battle tested. When you outrebound them, you deserve to win.” Sharing the ball was also evident in Sunday’s win. Of the 30 made field goals by USU, 23 came with an assist. All nine Aggies that played had at least one dime. Martinez led the way with five, while freshman guard Jordy Barnes had four. “We knew we had to get out and run and spray the ball ahead and try to play at our pace,” Calhoun said. “We did a good job all week passing it and getting ready for this game.” In the setback against UC San Diego, USU was not only outrebounded, but also struggled in the shooting department. Even with unfriendly rims, the Aggies shot 58.8 percent from the field on Sunday, including 35.3 percent from long range. “Our shooting percentage isn’t something that we really look at, as much as our shot selection,” Templin said. “We are going to take good shots within our offense. We cleaned up some of that and took good shots. We trust our guys to make open shots. I thought we did a really good job of shot selection.” USU shot 65.2 percent in the second half. In fact, the Aggies hit nine straight shots after halftime on their way to the largest lead of the game, 58-41, with 12:51 minutes to play. USU actually hit 14 of 15 shots during a 12-minute stretch of the second half. The only thing that prevented from the Aggies completely blowing the game open was five turnovers during that timespan and the Gaels hitting seven 3-pointers in the second half. “When you make shots, you look a lot better,” Calhoun said. “I have to keep referring to UC San Diego, but the number of layups and threes that we missed in that game were really just outrageous. I knew we would make shots tonight. We had two great days of prep.” Four Aggies reached double figures in scoring, but like in the rebounding and assist departments, all nine USU players scored. It seems like all nine took a turn when the Aggies needed points. Aubin Gateretse got USU started with bucket in the paint and then threw down an alley-oop pass from Martinez. Deyton Albury sandwiched four free throws around a trio of 3-pointers from Templin, who checked in five minutes into the game. The Aggies were up 17-7. “We wanted to open up the floor,” Templin said. “We knew their bigs were going to sag off me.” Isaac Johnson ended a 8-0 run by the Gaels with a long jumper. Falslev and Martinez joined the scoring, as did Akanno and Tucker Anderson with 3-pointers. Gateretse had two more dunks, including one just before halftime that had the Aggies in front at the break, 39-27. “We had a good lead at halftime, and we needed to keep it, especially on the road,” Templin said. Once again in the second half Johnson ended a mini-run by Saint Mary’s, this time with a 3-pointer. Falslev then took over, scoring 10 of the next 14 Aggie points. Templin also had a run with two buckets, including one the gave USU its biggest lead of 17 points. The Gaels hit back-to-back 3-pointers, but then it was Barnes who heated up. The freshman had three straight baskets in a 6-0 run by the Aggies. Then it was Martinez who ended a run by the hosts with two quick field goals, including a dunk off a pass from Barnes. “I’m very, very proud of a lot of guys,” Calhoun said. “I thought we got great effort from a lot of individuals. “... I thought Jordy Barnes really calmed things down. Mason (Falslev) was key in the second half. I thought Templin really got things started. Aubin Gateretse was big time. Deyton (Albury) played really well. Jordy and Deyton played well in the first game without Drake (Allen).” Falslev and Martinez combined to score the final seven points for USU. Falslev finished with a team-best 18 points. Templin netted 13, while Martinez added 11 and Gateretse had 10. “Mason (Falslev) and Ian (Martinez) made big shots,” Templin said. “Jordy Barnes made huge plays down the stretch. Aubin (Gateretse), we just had a bunch of guys make big plays. That’s why we came out on top.” The Aggies beat the Gaels in points in the paint, 40-22, bench points, 25-20 and fastbreak points, 12-6. Saint Mary’s did win the second-chance points, 8-2. Calhoun praised Allen for helping from the sidelines in preparation and also other Aggies on the bench, naming Jaxon Smith as an athlete that “was unbelievable in practice the past two days.” “We were really prepared because guys pushed each other in practice,” Calhoun said. After taking a few days off for Christmas, the Aggies must returned focused as big road league games await them. USU will begin with No. 23 San Diego State on Saturday and then play at Nevada.NEWCASTLE, England (AP) — Newcastle’s winning run in the English Premier League came to an abrupt end when goals from Thomas Souček and Aaron Wan-Bissaka gave West Ham a surprise 2-0 win at St. James’ Park on Monday. The Hammers rose into 14th place and the pressure on coach Julen Lopetegui was eased. The London club has been inconsistent all season and Monday’s win was just its fourth in 12 league games. West Ham was worth the win in the end but the three points came courtesy of slack defending by the home side. Emerson whipped in an out-swinging corner after 10 minutes and, with Newcastle defenders rooted to the spot, Souček stole in to nod home the opener. Then eight minutes into the second half, captain Jarrod Bowen found Wan-Bissaka in the penalty box and he was left unchallenged and had time to fire an angled drive past Nick Pope. Newcastle brought on Harvey Barnes, and then Callum Wilson returned from a long-term back injury to make his first appearance of the season but to no avail. The defeat ended a three-game winning streak for Newcastle and left the Saudi Arabia-owned club in ninth place, four points outside the top four. AP soccer:
‘Father time always wins’: Warren Buffett updates plan to give away his $227b fortune - Sydney Morning HeraldWASHINGTON , Dec. 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, December 4 , Dr. Jennifer Bauwens , Family Research Council's Director of the Center for Family Studies, spoke at a rally in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, in support of Tennessee's Senate Bill 1 (SB 1). SB 1 is a commonsense protection for minors from "gender transition" procedures that often result in sterilization and life-long medicalization . Dr. Bauwens has a Ph.D. from New York University and has worked extensively as a researcher and a clinician providing trauma-focused treatment to children in foster-care and adults who have experienced interpersonal and collective traumas. In her role at FRC, she researches and advocates for policies that will best serve the health and well-being of families and communities. She has also testified before Congress regarding "gender transition" procedures. Bauwens stated, in part: "I've spent my career protecting vulnerable and abused children. Today, I stand with all of you to continue the important fight for the safety and well-being of hurting children. Every child deserves the opportunity to receive safe, effective, and loving care when they are in pain. "Unfortunately, some in my profession have set aside everything we know about child development, neurology, and trauma and have instead prioritized ideology over the tenets of good practice. "These individuals willfully ignore good research--which has been funded by our own government--that clearly shows that children lack the developmental capacity and judgment to understand the long-term consequences of altering or removing their healthy body parts. "The fact is, 'gender-affirming care' is the most physiologically invasive practice within the entire mental health field. No other practice used to treat a mental health condition has proven to be this intrusive, since the lobotomy. Despite this reality, 'gender-affirming care' has been permitted across our country, even though it has been shown to be harmful. These procedures should've never been tried on a single child. "Our children and families have been lied to. My profession has told children that all their problems will go away if they deny their biology and try to live as someone else. "For those who have already been harmed, I pray for you to be healed from the destruction caused by these procedures. I pray for you to be healed from the lies that you were told by professionals in my field who made you believe that 'gender-affirming care' would make your pain stop. I also pray for those who genuinely believe that 'gender-affirming care' is good. We care about you enough to tell you the truth. We will continue to pray and fight for you, too, that you would receive true healing and be able to enjoy who God created you to be," Bauwens concluded. FRC, which worked with on-the-ground allies in Arkansas to pass the first such bill in the nation in 2021, submitted an amicus brief in this case, demonstrating that the American medical societies who support gender transition procedures on minors are motivated by politics and ideology. The amicus brief demonstrates that medical societies are recklessly ignoring the data, citing only a handful of slipshod studies that failed to control for relevant variables or to reach statistically or clinically significant results. Meanwhile, medical societies in Western Europe continue to put the brakes on performing experimental "gender transition" procedures on minors. To read FRC and the Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE)'s joint publication, The Trans Youth Phenomenon: Critiques & Hard Questions: https://www.frc.org/booklet/the-trans-youth-phenomenon-critiques-hard-questions To watch Dr. Bauwens' speech, please download the Stand Firm app at the Apple or Google Play Stores. To read Bauwens' full speech, please see: https://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=LK24L09&f=LK24L09 SOURCE Family Research Council
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