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Opinion: MAGA billionaires have captured the political systemLos Angeles Chargers (7-4) at Atlanta (6-5) Sunday, 1 p.m. EST, CBS BetMGM NFL Odds: Chargers by 1 1/2 Series record: Falcons lead 8-4. Against the spread: Chargers 7-3-1, Falcons 5-6. Last meeting: Chargers beat Falcons 20-17 on Nov. 6, 2022, in Atlanta. Last week: Ravens beat Chargers, 30-23; Falcons had bye week following 38-6 loss at Denver on Nov. 17. Chargers offense: overall (21), rush (13), pass (20), scoring (18). Chargers defense: overall (13), rush (10), pass (10), scoring (13). Falcons offense: overall (8), rush (14), pass (5), scoring (16). Falcons defense: overall (25), rush (19), pass (26), scoring (26). Turnover differential: Chargers plus-8, Falcons minus-3. RB Gus Edwards could move up as the lead back for Los Angeles as J.K Dobbins (knee) is expected to miss the game . Edwards was activated from injured reserve earlier this month following an ankle injury and had nine carries for 11 yards with a touchdown in Monday night's 30-23 loss to Baltimore. WR Drake London has 61 catches, leaving him four away from becoming the first player in team history to have at least 65 receptions in each of his first three seasons. London has 710 receiving yards, leaving him 140 away from becoming the first player in team history with at least 850 in each of his first three seasons. Falcons RB Bijan Robinson vs. Chargers run defense. Robinson was shut down by Denver, gaining only 35 yards on 12 carries, and the Atlanta offense couldn't recover. The Chargers rank 10th in the league against the run, so it will be a challenge for the Falcons to find a way to establish a ground game with Robinson and Tyler Allgeier. A solid running attack would create an opportunity for offensive coordinator Zac Robinson to establish the play-action passes for quarterback Kirk Cousins. Dobbins appeared to injure his right knee in the first half of the loss to the Ravens, though coach Jim Harbaugh did not provide details. ... The Falcons needed the bye to give a long list of injured players an opportunity to heal. WR WR KhaDarel Hodge (neck) did not practice on Wednesday. WR Darnell Mooney (Achilles), CB Kevin King (concussion), DL Zach Harrison (knee, Achilles) and WR Casey Washington (concussion) were hurt in the 38-6 loss at Denver on Nov. 17 and were limited on Wednesday. CB Mike Hughes (neck), nickel back Dee Alford (hamstring), ILB Troy Andersen (knee), TE Charlie Woerner (concussion) and ILB JD Bertrand (concussion) also were limited on Wednesday after not playing against Denver. C Drew Dalman (ankle) could return. The Chargers have won the past three games in the series following six consecutive wins by the Falcons from 1991-2012. Los Angeles took a 33-30 overtime win in Atlanta in 2016 before the Chargers added 20-17 wins at home in 2020 and in Atlanta in 2022. The Falcons won the first meeting between the teams, 41-0 in San Diego in 1973. Each team has built its record on success against the soft NFC South. Atlanta is 4-1 against division rivals. Los Angeles is 2-0 against the NFC South this season. The Chargers have a four-game winning streak against the division. ... Atlanta is 0-2 against AFC West teams, following a 22-17 loss to Kansas City and the lopsided loss at Denver. They will complete their tour of the AFC West with a game at the Las Vegas Raiders on Dec. 16. ... The Falcons are the league's only first-place team with a negative points differential. Atlanta has been outscored 274-244. The loss of Dobbins, who has rushed for eight touchdowns, could put more pressure on QB Justin Hebert and the passing game. Herbert's favorite option has been WR Ladd McConkey, who has four TD receptions among his 49 catches for 698 yards. McConkey, the former University of Georgia standout who was drafted in the second round, could enjoy a productive return to the state against a Falcons defense that ranks only 26th against the pass. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Cardinals at Vikings prediction: Odds, expert picks, QB matchup, injury update, betting trends, and stats
Trump transition says Cabinet picks, appointees were targeted by bomb threats, swatting attacksThe 63-year-old writer was supposed to have been executed after being imprisoned for seven months. But he soon realized the men at the door weren't from former Syrian President Bashar Assad ’s notorious security forces, ready to take him to his death. Instead, they were rebels coming to set him free. As the insurgents swept across Syria in just 10 days to bring an end to the Assad family’s 50-year rule , they broke into prisons and security facilities to free political prisoners and many of the tens of thousands of people who disappeared since the conflict began back in 2011. Barhoum was one of those freed who were celebrating in Damascus. “I haven’t seen the sun until today,” Barhoum told The Associated Press after walking in disbelief through the streets of Damascus. “Instead of being dead tomorrow, thank God, he gave me a new lease of life.” Barhoum couldn’t find his cellphone and belongings in the prison so set off to find a way to tell his wife and daughters that he’s alive and well. Videos shared widely across social media showed dozens of prisoners running in celebration after the insurgents released them, some barefoot and others wearing little clothing. One of them screams in celebration after he finds out that the government has fallen. Torture, executions and starvation in Syria's prisons Syria's prisons have been infamous for their harsh conditions. Torture is systematic, say human rights groups, whistleblowers, and former detainees. Secret executions have been reported at more than two dozen facilities run by Syrian intelligence, as well as at other sites. In 2013, a Syrian military defector , known as “Caesar,” smuggled out over 53,000 photographs that human rights groups say showed clear evidence of rampant torture, but also disease and starvation in Syria's prison facilities. Syria’s feared security apparatus and prisons did not only serve to isolate Assad’s opponents, but also to instill fear among his own people said Lina Khatib, Associate Fellow in the Middle East and North Africa program at the London think tank Chatham House. "Anxiety about being thrown in one of Assad’s notorious prisons created wide mistrust among Syrians,” Khatib said. “Assad nurtured this culture of fear to maintain control and crush political opposition.” Just north of Damascus in the Saydnaya military prison, known as the “human slaughterhouse,” women detainees, some with their children, screamed as men broke the locks off their cell doors. Amnesty International and other groups say that dozens of people were secretly executed every week in Saydnaya, estimating that up to 13,000 Syrians were killed between 2011 and 2016. “Don’t be afraid ... Bashar Assad has fallen! Why are you afraid?” said one of the rebels as he tried to rush streams of women out of their jam-packed tiny cells. Tens of thousands of detainees have so far been freed, said Rami Abdurrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based pro-opposition war monitor. Over the past 10 days, insurgents freed prisoners in cities including Aleppo, Homs, Hama as well as Damascus. Families seek loved ones who have been missing for years Omar Alshogre, who was detained for three years and survived relentless torture, watched in awe from his home far from Syria as videos showed dozens of detainees fleeing. “A hundred democracies in the world had done nothing to help them, and now a few military groups came down and broke open prison after prison,” Alshogre, a human rights advocate who now resides in Sweden and the U.S., told The Associated Press. Meanwhile, families of detainees and the disappeared skipped celebrations of the downfall of the Assad dynasty. Instead, they waited outside prisons and security branch centers, hoping their loved ones would be there. They had high expectations for the newcomers who will now run the battered country. “This happiness will not be completed until I can see my son out of prison and know where he is,” said Bassam Masri. “I have been searching for him for two hours. He has been detained for 13 years," since the start of the Syrian uprising in 2011. Rebels struggled to control the chaos as crowds gathered by the Court of Justice in Damascus. Heba, who only gave her first name while speaking to the AP, said she was looking for her brother and brother-in-law who were detained while reporting a stolen car in 2011 and hadn't been seen since. "They took away so many of us,” said Heba, whose mother’s cousin also disappeared. “We know nothing about them ... They (the Assad government) burned our hearts.”
Explainer-Why OpenAI plans transition to public benefit corporation
How close are we to true driverless vehicles being made available to consumers? The big buzz subject in the automotive world from a decade ago may have slowed; yet there continue to be significant developments in this area. With current developments, automation can vary from level 0 to level 5 within the automotive industry, from sole reliance on driver control, all the way to completely driverless vehicles. There is also considerable investment. The latest report “ Roboshuttles and Autonomous Buses 2024-2044 ” predicts that the global sales revenue of roboshuttles and autonomous buses is to exceed US$67 billion by 2044. The report predicts that roboshuttles and autonomous buses will likely strive for level 5 operation as a long-term goal, although at present they are currently aiming for level 4, where driverless operation can take place within specific areas. Unlike most buses, roboshuttles are designed to be small, with not-too-large capacities, making them suitable to deploy in higher numbers within small areas. Operating under level 4 driving conditions, these vehicles are driverless and efficient, accommodating up to 22 passengers. Despite being smaller than a minibus, the extra room allowed by having no driver means their 4–6-meter length can hold a greater capacity. Commercialization, however, is proving tricky for roboshuttles, with many being deployed on trial but struggling to go any further towards mainstream acceptance. Consequently, IDTechEx reports a decline in the number of players from over 25 to just 12 since 2020, with most companies still in the early stages of development in 2023. Autonomous buses – mini, midi, and city Mini, midi, and city buses are among the various types of autonomous buses. These are higher capacity of buses compared to roboshuttles, at around 100 passengers per city bus. The large number of investments required for autonomous buses to become mainstream is indicated by the limited number of players within the market. The regulatory challenges faced by companies, alongside the increased challenges and slow progress of level 4 systems in larger buses, are also factors slowing down commercialization. There are some successes, such as the autonomous night bus project in South Korea, where a shortage of taxis might otherwise cause transportation concerns, again highlighting a real-world application for these buses. Going forwards, the development of autonomous buses and roboshuttles is likely to continue somewhat slowly due to a lack of funding and regulatory challenges. Dr. Tim Sandle is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for science news.Tim specializes in science, technology, environmental, business, and health journalism. He is additionally a practising microbiologist; and an author. He is also interested in history, politics and current affairs.WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — An online spat between factions of Donald Trump’s supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in his political movement into public display, previewing the fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare the tensions between the newest flank of Trump’s movement — wealthy members of the tech world including billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and their call for more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump’s Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. The debate touched off this week when Laura Loomer, a right-wing provocateur with a history of racist and conspiratorial comments, criticized Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the U.S. Loomer declared the stance to be “not America First policy” and said the tech executives who have aligned themselves with Trump were doing so to enrich themselves. Related Story: Debate Plays Out on X Much of the debate played out on the social media network X, which Musk owns. Loomer’s comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks, whom Trump has tapped to be the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar.” Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump has tasked with finding ways to cut the federal government, weighed in, defending the tech industry’s need to bring in foreign workers. It bloomed into a larger debate with more figures from the hard-right weighing in about the need to hire U.S. workers, whether values in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump’s world and what his political movement stands for. Trump has not yet weighed in on the rift. His presidential transition team did not respond to questions about positions on visas for highly skilled workers or the debate between his supporters online. Instead, his team instead sent a link to a post on X by longtime adviser and immigration hard-liner Stephen Miller that was a transcript of a speech Trump gave in 2020 at Mount Rushmore in which he praised figures and moments from American history. Musk, the world’s richest man who has grown remarkably close to the president-elect, was a central figure in the debate, not only for his stature in Trump’s movement but his stance on the tech industry’s hiring of foreign workers. Technology companies say H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill positions. But critics have said they undercut U.S. citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated, not expanded. Related Story: Musk Was Once on a H-1B Visa Born in South Africa, Musk was once on an a H-1B visa himself and defended the industry’s need to bring in foreign workers. “There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent,” he said in a post. “It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” Trump’s own positions over the years have reflected the divide in his movement. His tough immigration policies, including his pledge for a mass deportation, were central to his winning presidential campaign. He has focused on immigrants who come into the U.S. illegally but he has also sought curbs on legal immigration, including family-based visas. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers. After he became president, Trump in 2017 issued a “Buy American and Hire American” executive order, which directed Cabinet members to suggest changes to ensure H-1B visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants to protect American workers. Related Story: Trump’s businesses, however, have hired foreign workers, including waiters and cooks at his Mar-a-Lago club, and his social media company behind his Truth Social app has used the the H-1B program for highly skilled workers. During his 2024 campaign for president, as he made immigration his signature issue, Trump said immigrants in the country illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country” and promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. But in a sharp departure from his usual alarmist message around immigration generally, Trump told a podcast this year that he wants to give automatic green cards to foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges. “I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country,” he told the “All-In” podcast with people from the venture capital and technology world. Those comments came on the cusp of Trump’s budding alliance with tech industry figures, but he did not make the idea a regular part of his campaign message or detail any plans to pursue such changes.There’s Still Time for Biden to Clear Death Row. Will He?
December Cold Moon: How the final full moon of 2024 will affect your zodiac sign in the New Year 2025ALAN MENDOZA: Kemi Badenoch's speech was brave and serious - and one so many Britons will agree withAs hundreds of Winnipeg bus shelters await broken glass replacements and wintry weather sets in, the City of Winnipeg is preparing to test out a shatterproof alternative. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * As hundreds of Winnipeg bus shelters await broken glass replacements and wintry weather sets in, the City of Winnipeg is preparing to test out a shatterproof alternative. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? As hundreds of Winnipeg bus shelters await broken glass replacements and wintry weather sets in, the City of Winnipeg is preparing to test out a shatterproof alternative. A new pilot project will test how polycarbonate glass panels could help address the backlog in repairs. At a bus stop on Main Street that has several missing panes of glass, a Transit rider said it has been a struggle to escape recently plummeting temperatures. BORIS MINKEVICH / FREE PRESS FILES City workers clean up broken glass from a bush shelter on Maryland near Notre Dame. The city is launching a new pilot project to see if polycarbonate panels would be a viable alternative for glass in Winnipeg Transit bus shelters. “The winter is coming and it’s getting so cold and there’s a lot of people waiting for the buses. The (shelters) are not so good in quality. I think they should be much more winter-resistant,” said Tammana Bansal. Bansal said the effort to try out shatterproof glass to better keep structures intact is welcome. Another rider agreed. “I think that would be really good, especially when it’s super cold out, when it’s snowing ... and there’s nowhere to go,” said Summer Wilson. A new city tender seeks a company to buy the special glass for a roughly one-year pilot project, which does not yet have an exact start date. Last year, 305 bus shelters had 750 panes of glass damaged, information from Winnipeg Transit shows. This year so far, 233 shelters have been damaged, affecting 591 panes of glass and 93 doors. As of Tuesday, 207 shelters were missing at least some glass, up from 115 at the end of 2023 and 143 at the end of 2022. The city has 880 bus shelters, including 170 that are heated. Winnipeg Transit first confirmed it was planning to test out shatterproof glass at bus shelters in November 2023 but did not post a tender to buy the material until this week. In an email, a Transit spokeswoman said each panel is expected to cost between 2.5 and four times more than regular safety glass. “The cost and number of shelters installed with polycarbonate-style panels... will be determined as part of the (tender) evaluation process,” wrote Megan Benedictson. Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of council’s public works committee, said she’s hopeful the pilot will ease the demand to replace shattered glass. “We’re constantly repairing, it’s costing us about $300,000 a year on replacing glass in the shelters. There are 183 open work orders right now... and it doesn’t seem like it’s coming to an end,” said Lukes (Waverley West). While the tender doesn’t note exactly how many shelters the shatterproof glass will be installed at, Lukes estimates it could be placed at about five to eight sites. She noted a surge in broken glass arrived with the pandemic, caused by vandalism, vehicle crashes and fires. “We’re hoping that this glass (will help prevent that)... There’s actually a lot of businesses that are using it and it’s proving to be very effective,” she said. Lukes said proper shelter is critical for transit riders in a winter city like Winnipeg and will also be needed after Winnipeg overhauls its primary transit network in June. “With the new primary network... virtually everyone’s going to have to make a transfer at some point in their trip ... because it’s a spine-and-feeder system. Your next bus might be five or 10 minutes (away),” she said. The councillor noted social issues appear linked to the shattered glass, as some bus shelters have also been used by the homeless as a place to stay. Chris Scott, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505, said efforts to better maintain shelters are “terribly needed.” “As the work is structured, (bus) operators have to wait out on the street to take over (routes)... so they also need to be protected,” said Scott. The union leader, who represents drivers and bus shelter maintenance crews, said one of his members reported multiple panes of glass being shattered at the same bus shack three times in a short period. “That’s why the department has often exceeded its glass budget in the first third of the year... We understand that this shatterproof glass is more expensive. But, in the long run, it will be a cost savings, if you’re not having to replace those panels on a regular basis,” said Scott. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. However, he suspects catching up on glass replacements could be followed by an increase in the number of people seeking bus shelters to sleep in, since they would become relatively warmer. “This is probably now going to increase occupancy in shelters. (So) those underlying issues that bring that to the forefront have to be addressed as well,” he said. The city will accept bids to provide the shatter-resistant glass until Dec. 16. joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca X: @joyanne_pursaga Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the before joining the in early 2020. . Every piece of reporting Joyanne produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the ‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about , and . Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider . Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support. Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the before joining the in early 2020. . Every piece of reporting Joyanne produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the ‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about , and . Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider . Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support. Advertisement Advertisement