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2025-01-23
Kentucky ends Mizzou volleyball's season in Sweet 167xm xyz alamy downloader

Alex Ovechkin is expected to miss 4 to 6 weeks with a broken left legThe iconic ‘Ho Mann Jahaan’ trio, Mahira Khan, Adeel Husain and Sheheryar Munawar took fans on a nostalgia trip, as they recreated ‘Shakar Wandaan Re’ at the latter’s wedding. As the three superstars of ‘Ho Mann Jahaan’ reunited after nine years, for the sangeet night of Arhan, aka Sheheryar Munawar, it was only fair to treat their fans with a little recreation of their ultimate wedding song ‘Shakar Wandaan Re’ and the trio didn’t miss the opportunity for sure. The viral little glimpse of their performance on social media has fans in an absolute nostalgia as the trio burns the dance floor with the hook step of the song and safe to say, neither of the three superstars has aged a bit in all these years. Notably, the coming-of-the-age musical drama ‘Ho Mann Jahaan’ marked the directorial debut of filmmaker Asim Raza. Besides the lead trio, the ensemble cast of the ARY Films offering also featured Sonya Jehan, Bushra Ansari, Nimra Bucha, Arshad Mehmood and Jamal Shah. The film opened to a highly successful box office weekend and continued to run in theatres for several weeks, making it one of the highest-grossing films of the year and Pakistani cinema in general. Meanwhile, showbiz heartthrob Sheheryar Munawar tied the knot with his fiancée Maheen Siddiqui, in an intimate Nikah event, on Friday.

A growing list of foreign policy challenges faces Trump in his second termHAL BRADY: Welcome New Year 2025

Colby Rogers made 6 of 9 3-pointers and scored 28 points as host Memphis defeated No. 16 Ole Miss 87-70 on Saturday afternoon. Rogers fouled out and finished one 3-pointer and one point short of his career-highs in both categories and Memphis never trailed. PJ Haggerty added 17 points, Dain Dainja had 16 and Moussa Cisse, an Ole Miss transfer who's in his second stint with the Tigers (10-3), had 13 points and 11 rebounds. Sean Pedulla scored 13, Jaylen Murray had 12 and Malik Dia added 11 to lead the Rebels (11-2), who had won their last five games. Memphis scored the first five points of the second half to increase its lead to 43-36. Pedulla made a layup for Ole Miss' first points, but Nicholas Jourdain made consecutive field goals to push the lead to nine. Mikeal Brown-Jones made two free throws for the Rebels before Haggerty made a 3-pointer and Cisse added a tip-in for a 52-40 lead. Pedulla made a jumper before Brown-Jones was ejected for committing a Flagrant 2 foul. Haggerty made both of the technical free throws and Rogers added two 3-pointers to push the lead to 16. Ole Miss got within 11 points four times, but couldn't get any closer until Matthew Murrell's dunk trimmed the lead to 76-67 with five minutes remaining. Rogers answered with a 3-pointer and Dainja added two field goals to increase the lead to 16. Murray made a free throw, but the Rebels didn't make a field goal during the final 5:32. The Tigers scored the first four points of the game and Haggerty had four as they opened a 9-2 lead. The Rebels made consecutive field goals before Memphis scored eight straight points for a 17-6 lead. Eduardo Klafke made a 3-pointer to end the run, but Rogers' 3-pointer helped the Tigers increase the lead to 27-14. Ole Miss scored the next seven points before Cisse's basket ended the run. The Rebels closed within four points four times Brown-Jones made two free throws to trim the lead to 38-36 at halftime. --Field Level MediaDiverse virus populations coexist on single strains of gut bacteria December 12, 2024 NYU Langone Health / NYU Grossman School of Medicine A study offers evidence that a single bacterial species -- the host of the phage -- can maintain a diverse community of competing phage species. Knowing how more than one kind of virus can survive over time on a single bacterium could help in designing next-generation viral (phage) cocktails to treat bacterial infections. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIN Email Viruses that infect and kill bacteria, called phages, hold promise as new treatment types for dangerous infections, including strains that have become resistant to antibiotics. Yet, virologists know little about how phages persist in the populations of bacterial cells they infect, hampering the development of phage therapies. Published online December 13 in the journal Science , a new study offers the first evidence that a single bacterial species, the host of a phage, can maintain a diverse community of competing phage species. Led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Oxford, and Yale University, the study showed that several phage species coexist stably on a population of a genetically uniform strain of E. coli , a bacterial species that colonizes the human gut and includes disease-causing versions. The researchers found that, despite competition between the viruses, different phage species preferred slower or faster growing cells that randomly appeared in the population. In this way, each phage species was able to find a separate niche on the same host, leading to stable coexistence. Lack of local access to nutrients (starvation), for instance, may slow the growth of some cells to preserve scarce resources. In the current study, two species of phage, labeled N and S, co-existed because N was more fit to survive in fast-growing bacterial cells, while phage S was better in slow-growing cells. The designers of phage therapies hope to avert the problem in treatment with antibiotics, where a certain drug kills bacteria but leaves alive the fraction that by chance are the most resistant to that drug's mechanism of action. These survivors are a major concern because they have become resistant to available treatments. "Knowing how more than one kind of phage can survive over time on a single bacterium could help in designing next-generation phage cocktails," said first study author Nora Pyenson, PhD, a post-doctoral scholar in the lab of co-author Jonas Schluter, PhD, of the Institute of Systems Genetics at NYU Langone Health. "For example, each phage species might attack the bacterium in a different part of its lifecycle and enabling the whole population to be killed before resistance to the treatment evolves." "No phage therapies have yet become standard treatments for bacterial infections, either because in past attempts a single phage did not kill all the targeted bacteria or because the bacteria evolved to be resistant, similar to the evolution of antibiotic resistance," adds Dr. Pyenson. Labs are already testing phage treatments as an alternative to antibiotics. A co-author of the current paper, Paul Turner, PhD, at Yale University, for instance, leads a clinical trial that uses phages against the species Pseudomonas aeruginosa , which can contribute to severe inflammation in the lungs of patients with cystic fibrosis. Dr. Schluter's lab is studying the role of phages in the gut ecosystem of humans and mice that could shape future therapies for infections like Salmonella . A main goal is to anticipate the impact of phage administration and design phage therapies that, unlike current versions that must be tailored to a single patient, work universally across many patients. Importance of Phage Ecology Understanding species diversity is a fundamental question in ecology and evolutionary biology. A major factor enabling diversity, from birds to plants to bacteria, is that species find ways to coexist while still competing for resources. However, viruses were not traditionally thought of in this "social" context. The current research team experimentally tested the long-held assumption that the genetic diversity of bacteria limits the diversity of viral species. This led to an expectation that one phage type would outcompete all others to be the lone survivor. However, just as multicellular organisms host a wide array of bacterial species within their microbiome, the new results show that a single bacterial strain can, itself, host a diverse community of phage species. "Our study contributes to the burgeoning field of studying the social lives of viruses," adds Dr. Pyenson. "We often think of viruses purely in terms of their impact on the host, but they also exist in the context of other viral species. These phage communities show how diversity emerges even among the simplest bits of biology." Interestingly, the presence of a diverse population of bacteria in the human gut is a sign of health, as the diverse set of species (microbiome) is better able to resist attempts at dominance by any invading, disease-causing species. By the same token, the population of viruses occupying the bacteria that live in the gut is also emerging as an important regulator of health, with abnormal phage mixes thought to contribute to conditions like sepsis. "This work represents a shift in our understanding of phage ecology," said Dr. Schluter, also a professor in the Department of Microbiology at NYU Langone. "Thanks to Nora's work, which she carried through a pandemic and across four labs, we can now begin to understand the evolution of phages when they are in community with diverse viral species and how this shapes their role in health and disease." Along with Drs. Pyenson and Schluter at NYU Langone, and Dr. Turner at Yale, study authors were Asher Leeks and Odera Nweke in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University; Joshua Goldford in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena; Kevin Foster in the Department of Biology at the University of Oxford; and Alvaro Sanchez of the Institute of Functional Biology & Genomics, CSIC & University of Salamanca in Spain. Drs. Foster and Sanchez were corresponding authors alongside Dr. Pyenson. Funding for parts of the work was through the Life Science Research Foundation and the Simons Foundation provided to Dr. Pyenson, and through a New Innovator Award to Dr. Schluter (DP2AI164318) from the National Institute of Autoimmune and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health. Story Source: Materials provided by NYU Langone Health / NYU Grossman School of Medicine . Note: Content may be edited for style and length. Journal Reference : Cite This Page :

The annual general meeting and game of ACBL Western New York Unit 116 will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, at the Buffalo Bridge Center. • • • Congratulations to Saleh Fetouh, who won the most master points among Buffalo area players in the Niagara Open Sectional Tournament Nov. 15 to 17 in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. He earned 19.42 points and was fifth overall. Also doing well were Chongmin Zhang with 8.72 points and Davis Heussler and David Colligan, both with 6.55. • • • The Bridge Center offers a regular schedule of in-person and online games five days a week, with special games on the weekends. Fee for face-to-face games is $8 for members and $11 for non-members. For more info, visit the Buffalo Bridge Center website or call 716-424-0014. Lessons for beginners are being held at the Buffalo Bridge Center from 1 to 3 p.m. Thursdays and 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays. For more information, call Ruth Nawotniak at 716-949-7574 or email ruth2250@outlook.com . Don’t want to clean up the house for kitchen bridge? The Bridge Center also hosts a social game in its lessons room on Tuesday mornings during the regular 10:30 a.m. game. Players can go at their own speed and style. Fee is $5 to cover expenses. In-person games: Tuesdays, 10:30 a.m. For players with fewer than 1,600 points. Simultaneous game for players with fewer than 99 points if there are enough tables. Free lesson at 10. Wednesdays, 10:30 a.m. Open to all players. Simultaneous game for players with fewer than 99 points if there are enough tables. Thursdays, 10:30 a.m. Upgraded to now include players with up to 2,000 points. Simultaneous game for players with fewer than 99 points if there are enough tables. Free lesson at 10. Fridays, 10:30 a.m. Open to all players by pre-registration only. Call 716-424-0014. Virtual games on Bridge Base Online: Mondays, 7 p.m. For players with fewer than 750 points. Wednesdays, 7 p.m. Delaware Wednesday game for players with fewer than 2,000 points. For info on this game, call Ed Harman at 716-480-1666 or email eharmon@roadrunner.com . • • • More access to virtual games on Bridge Base Online is being offered by the Airport Bridge Club, which currently is not holding face-to-face games. It has affiliated with a new group of clubs, the SE Club of Clubs Online Bridge Collective, where most games are $5. For more info, click this link . The Airport Club also continues to be part of the Alliance Bridge Club, which offers more than a dozen games every day. Anyone who has played at the Airport Club is automatically a member. For more info, visit alliancebridgeclub.com or call Airport Club manager Bill Finkelstein at 716-603-6943. • • • The East Aurora Bridge Club begins play at 10 a.m. Wednesdays in the Aurora Senior Citizens Center, 101 King St., East Aurora. Attendance is generally three or four tables. For more info, email director Dave Larcom at dmocral@verizon.net . • • • The Bridge Centre of Niagara in St. Catharines, Ont., offers a mix of online games and in-person games at its club in Tremont Square opposite the Pen Centre shopping plaza off Glendale Avenue. Face-to-face games open to all players are offered at 1 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. There is also a face-to-face game for 499ers (players with fewer than 500 points) at 1 p.m. Monday and Friday, a beginner game with a mini-lesson at 6 p.m. Monday, mentoring at 1 p.m. Tuesdays (register by 9 p.m. Sunday), a 299er game at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday (pre-registration requested); and a 999er game at 1 p.m. Thursday. The club currently hosts two virtual games on Bridge Base Online. There’s one for players with fewer than 750 points at 10 a.m. Tuesdays, and an open game at 7 p.m. Thursdays. For more info, click here . • • • Face-to-face play in non-sanctioned clubs is offered at the Tonawanda Senior Center on Wednesday afternoons and at the Amherst Senior Center on Monday and Friday afternoons. • • • Tournament calendar 2024 District 5 STAC (Sectional Tournament at the Clubs) – Participating ACBL-sanctioned clubs. Monday, Dec. 9, to Sunday, Dec. 15. Toronto Non-Life Master Regional – Sheraton Centre, 123 Queen St. West, Toronto, Ont. Friday, Jan. 3, to Sunday, Jan. 5. For more info, click this link . Toronto New Year's Sectional – Sheraton Centre, 123 Queen St. West, Toronto, Ont. Friday, Jan. 3, to Sunday, Jan. 5. For more info, click this link . 2025 Cleveland Rock & Roll Regional – Embassy Suites Hotel, 5800 Rockside Road, Independence, Ohio. Wednesday, Jan. 8, to Sunday, Jan. 12. For more info, click this link . Niagara Sectional – Holiday Inn & Suites, 327 Ontario St., St. Catharines, Ont. Friday, Feb. 7, to Sunday, Feb. 9. Buffalo Spring Sectional – Buffalo Bridge Center, 60 Dingens St., Buffalo. Friday, March 28, to Sunday, March 30. Toronto Easter Regional – Sheraton Centre, 123 Queen St. West, Toronto, Ont. Tuesday, April 15, to Sunday, April 20. For more info, click this link . • • • Bridge club websites: Click names for links. Bridge Center of Buffalo . Western New York Unit 116 . The Airport Bridge Club, which continues to be on hiatus, does not have a website. For info, call 716-603-6943. • • • Duplicate scores from ACBL Live for Clubs Week of Nov. 11 to Nov. 17 ACBL Affiliated Clubs Buffalo Bridge Center Monday evening – 0-750 game online. Carol Licata and Larry Himelein, 70.37%; Jeannine and Michel Dupuis, 61.11%; Michael and Jim Hassett, 53.70%; Fran Schmidt and Richard McGowan, 53.70%. Buffalo Bridge Center Tuesday morning – 0-1,600 game. North-south, Paula Rosen and Maryann Szafran, 57.85%; Joanne Nover and Larry Himelein, 57.84%; Betty Metz and John Brennan, 53.99%; Joyce Greenspan and Audrey Ray, 53.07%; Pat Wolcott and Joe Miranda, 50.96%; east-west, Agi Maisel and Pat Haynes, 61.19%; Ruth Nawotniak and Paul Zittel, 59.82%; Dennis Daley and Brian Fleming, 53.23%; Carol Licata and Ilene Rothman, 46.98%. Buffalo Bridge Center Wednesday morning – Open game. Donna Steffan and Jay Levy, 64.58%; (3-way tie) Kamil Bishara and Fred Yellen, Judy Graf and Jim Gullo, Davis Heussler and Howard Foster, 53.13%. Buffalo Bridge Center Thursday morning – 0-2,000 game. Larry Himelein and David Schott, 81.48%; Betty Metz and Dennis Daly, 57.94%; Marilyn Wortzman and Jim Easton, 56.48%; Jim McClure and Richard McGowan, 50.92%. Buffalo Bridge Center Friday morning – Open game. (Tie) John Ziemer and Vic Bergsten, Judy Graf and Mike Ryan, 56%; Jay Costello and Bud Seidenberg, 55%; Martha Welte and Larry Abate, 52%. Bridge Club of East Aurora Wednesday morning – Open game. Sandi England and Walt Olszewski, 61.46%; Jan and Carl Hasselback, 60.42%; Linda Zittel and Joanne LaFay, 53.13%; Joan and Bob Ciszak, 50%. Delaware Wednesday evening – 0-2,000 game online. Deborah Zimmerman and Tom Karnowski, 67.13%; Sue Manning and Sam Khayatt, 63.89%; Jim Lanzo and Bill Rich, 58.33%; Marilyn Wortzman and Jim Easton, 56.25%; Mary Ball and Joyce Frayer, 50.23%; Sherry Siegel and Gary Keenan, 50%. Other clubs Amherst Senior Center Friday afternoon – North-south, (Tie) Edna and Ron Fill, Walt Olszewski and Ed Drozen, 58%; east-west, Mary and Jim Atwood, 58%; Fritz Schweiger and Carol Neuhaus, 55%. Tonawanda Senior Center Wednesday afternoon – Susan and Harvey Lichtblau, 75%; Rose Bochiechio and Edna Fill, 59%. • • • Unit 116 Master Point Leaders for Virtual Club Play Jan. 1, 2024, to Oct. 31, 2024 0-5 Points – Michael Rupp, 4.94; Maxine Seller, 0.59. 5-20 Points – Fran Holmes, 6.91; Devon Marlette, 2.67; Marie Aaron, 0.90; David Taylor, 0.67; Jeannine Dupuis, 0.16. 20-50 Points – Brian Fleming, 15.26; Michel Dupuis, 10.76; Ilene Rothman, 9.69; Maxine Johnson, 4.83; Kathleen Voigt, 3.80; Maureen Saab, 3.50; Donna Starnes, 2.22; Phyllis Stasiowski, 1.43; Karen Dearing, 1.33; Peggy Stock, 0.42. 50-100 Points – Maria Schory, 34.71; Howard Epstein, 19.17; Gary Keenan, 14.09; John Houghtaling, 13.42; Mike Metzger, 12.90; Cynthia Tashjian, 10.30; Candace Graser, 8.99; Mary Ellen Cotter, 6.28; Susan Burns, 5.30; Amy Habib, 4.62. 100-200 Points – Carol Licata, 21.14; Jim Hassett, 17.94; Fran Schmidt, 11.70; Judith McDermid, 10.16; Jim Greno, 9.04; Joan Ciszak, 7.59; Betsy Greno, 7.09; Susan Levy, 2.57; Janet Desmon, 1.99; Bill Noltee, 1.97; Betty DeFeo, 1.66. 200-300 Points – Maria Amlani, 45.97; Laura Houghtaling, 13.42; John Scott, 1.78; Patty Porter, 1.68. 300-500 Points – Kusum Phadke, 26.10; Pat Haynes, 17.72; Bob Ciszak, 15.44; Margaret Zhou, 6.09; David Schott, 5.19; Jim McClure, 4.89; Joanne Nover, 4 even; Ruth Nawotniak, 3.43. 500-1,000 Points – Martha Townson, 81.73; Terry Hamovitch, 55.61; Bram Hamovitch, 54.29; Ed Harman, 22.21; Sushil Amlani, 22.16; Larry Himelein, 17.56; Bill Rich, 16.90; Richard McGowan, 16.66; Joyce Frayer, 15.90; Diana Smith, 15.64. 1,000-1,500 Points – Jim Lanzo, 155.02; Vic Bergsten, 52.17; (tie) Jim Easton, Marilyn Wortzman, 10.43; Mary Ball, 8.16; Bob Kaprove, 0.83; Ed Rupp, 0.68; Bert Feasley, 0.67; Kamil Bishara, 0.60. 1,500-2,500 Points – John Bava, 41.04; Walt Olszewski, 14.11; Pinky Regan, 10.02; Rajat Basu, 6.64; Sandi England, 2.99; Paula Kotowski, 2.11; Joyce Greenspan, 1.58; Nancy Kessler, 1.54. 2,500-3,500 Points – Art Morth, 15.65; Linda Burroughsford, 9.69; Elaine Kurasiewicz, 1.53; Dale Anderson, 0.98; Mike Silverman, 0.60; Bill Rushmore, 0.28. 3,500-5,000 Points – Judy Padgug, 20.96; Martha Welte, 10.29; Davis Heussler, 10.14; Ken Meier, 4.75; Barbara Libby, 2.38; Chongmin Zhang, 1.88. More than 5,000 Points – Saleh Fetouh, 98.76; Jay Levy, 38.66; Dian Petrov, 5.75. • • • The Duplicate Bridge column is compiled weekly by Buffalo News Staff Reporter Dale Anderson. The print version stopped appearing Saturdays in The News in March 2020 when the pandemic forced local bridge clubs to halt face-to-face play. These days you can find it in two places online. Google “Duplicate Bridge” plus the current Saturday date and that should bring up a link to it on buffalonews.com , the Buffalo News website. Another place to find it is on Dale Anderson’s bridge blog at http://newsdupli.blogspot.com/ Deadline for submission of scores and notices is Tuesday night. Email danderson@buffnews.com or dahotwings@aol.com . Office phone is 716-849-4420. • • • A Gold Life Master , Dale Anderson has a career total of more than 2,970 master points. He occasionally writes about his quest for the next measure of achievement, Sapphire Life Master (3,500 points), and other bridge adventures here . Email danderson@buffnews.com . Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Reporter {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.Xinjiang launches coal resource development labTagovailoa carves up Pats with 4 TDs, Dolphins win 3rd straight game with 34-15 rout of New EnglandBiden says healthy women help US prosperity as he highlights White House initiative on their health

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Mike McDaniel has seen a change in quarterback Tua Tagovailoa over the past month. “He's found a way to improve the way he plays the position throughout the game,” the Dolphins coach said Sunday, after Tagovailoa threw for four touchdowns in a dominant 34-15 win over the New England Patriots. “The most monumental thing that you have to overcome as a quarterback is playing the position regardless of the ebbs and flows," McDaniel added, "so not changing how you play based upon positive or negative results and letting every play stand on its own.” Tagovailoa has mastered that ability to remain even-keeled during Miami's three-game winning streak, McDaniel noted, highlighted by his 317-yard passing performance on Sunday. The Dolphins (5-6) have a thin margin for error the rest of the season but have kept themselves afloat with a strong stretch that includes two-straight 30-point games. With their win at New England (3-9) in Week 5, the Dolphins have swept their division rivals in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1999-2000. Tagovailoa, who moved to 7-0 in his career against New England, entered the game with a league-high 73.4% completion rate and went 29 for 40. He has 11 passing touchdowns and just one interception since returning from injured reserve in Week 8. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.The Los Angeles Rams (9-6) host the Arizona Cardinals (7-8) on Saturday, December 28, 2024 at SoFi Stadium and will aim to extend a four-game winning streak. What channel is Rams vs. Cardinals on? What time is Rams vs. Cardinals? The Rams and the Cardinals play at 8:10 p.m. ET. NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more. Rams vs. Cardinals betting odds, lines, spread Rams vs. Cardinals recent matchups Rams schedule Cardinals schedule NFL week 17 schedule This content was created for Gannett using technology provided by Data Skrive.

From Panama to Canada, and Greenland to Iran, the world has already gotten a taste of what a second Trump administration will bring. Starting in the Middle East, President-elect Donald Trump has used his TruthSocial platform to issue pre-presidential orders. Earlier this month he said in part, “if the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East.” Trump did not offer specifics on now, but Hamas, which is backed by Iran, could be even less inclined to negotiate with Trump administration officials than with the current administration because Trump ordered the 2020 strike that killed top Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. At the time, Trump said, “We take comfort in knowing his reign of terror is over.” In another foreign war to the north, Trump’s election has raised doubts about future U.S. support for Ukraine. During the presidential campaign, Trump said if he won he’d end the war before even taking office. On Christmas Day, Russia launched missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and critical energy infrastructure. In response, President Joe Biden directed the Pentagon to continue its surge of weapons deliveries to Ukraine. Some allies and partners have recently been caught off guard by Trump’s statements, mainly issued on TruthSocial. Greenland Prime Minister Mute Bourup Egede was compelled to say the island is not for sale after Trump said, “the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.” Trump made the comment in what was otherwise a routine post announcing Ken Howery as his pick for ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark. Panama President Jose Raul Mulino also rejected similar calls from Trump for the U.S. to take control of the Panama Canal. Closer to home, Canada and Mexico are watching Trump’s every word about tariffs. Last month, in a batch of Truth Social posts, he threatened America’s neighbors with 25% import taxes if they didn’t meet his demands on border security. As Trump juggles all of this, China is watching closely. Since the end of his last term, cyberthreats from China only intensified, as have economic and technological competition with the U.S. Where Trump decides to go on his first international trip after taking office could signal which of these foreign challenges he views as his top priority.None

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 100 former senior U.S. diplomats and intelligence and national security officials have urged Senate leaders to schedule closed-door hearings to allow for a full review of the government's files on former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard , Donald Trump's pick to be national intelligence director. The former officials, who served in both Democratic and Republican administrations, said they were “alarmed” by the choice of Gabbard to oversee all 18 U.S. intelligence agencies. They said her past actions “call into question her ability to deliver unbiased intelligence briefings to the President, Congress, and to the entire national security apparatus.” A spokesperson for Gabbard on the Trump transition team on Thursday denounced the appeal as an “unfounded” and “partisan” attack. Among those who signed the letter were former Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, former NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller, former national security adviser Anthony Lake, and numerous retired ambassadors and high-ranking military officers. They wrote to current Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and incoming Republican Majority Leader John Thune on Wednesday to urge the closed briefings as part of the Senate's review of Trump's top appointments. They urged that Senate committees “consider in closed sessions all information available to the U.S. government when considering Ms. Gabbard’s qualifications to manage our country’s intelligence agencies, and more importantly, the protection of our intelligence sources and methods.” The letter singles out Gabbard's 2017 meetings in Syria with President Bashar Assad, who is supported by Russian, Iranian and Iranian-allied forces in a now 13-year war against Syrian opposition forces seeking his overthrow. The U.S., which cut relations with Assad's government and imposed sanctions over his conduct of the war, maintains about 900 troops in opposition-controlled northeast Syria, saying they are needed to block a resurgence of extremist groups. Gabbard, a Democratic member of Congress from Hawaii at the time of her Syria trip, drew heavy criticism for her meetings with a U.S. adversary and brutal leader. As the letter notes, her statements on the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine have aligned with Russian talking points , diverging from U.S. positions and policy. Gabbard throughout her political career has urged the U.S. to limit military engagement abroad other than combatting Islamic extremist groups. She has defended the Syria trip by saying it is necessary to engage with U.S. enemies. In postings on social media earlier this year she confirmed that the U.S. had for a time placed her “on a secret terror watch list” as a “potential domestic terror threat.” She blamed political retaliation. Neither she nor U.S. authorities have publicly detailed the circumstances involved. Alexa Henning, a spokesperson for Gabbard with the Trump team, called the letter sent to the Senate leaders “a perfect example” of why Trump chose Gabbard for this position. “These unfounded attacks are from the same geniuses who have blood on their hands from decades of faulty ‘intelligence,’" and use classified government information as a "partisan weapon to smear and imply things about their political enemy," Henning said. A spokesperson for Thune did not immediately respond to questions about the request.Stephen Lewis After the election, a headline above a political commentary column in The New York Times caught my attention. Not for politics, but for one word. That headline said, “Voters to Elites: Do You See Me Now?” The word that interests me is “elites,” the plural of “elite” as a noun when applied to a class of people. So, let’s take a closer look because something a little odd seems to be happening. As an adjective, “elite” refers to the best of something, and that comes, not surprisingly from its source in French. Not surprising because so much of English does track back to the French who conquered England in 1066 and ruled that country for an extended period during which that language mixed with our original Germanic roots. OK. So, the word is a French derivative, meaning to select something, or more clearly to select the best of something. The meaning persists in the word as an adjective describing somebody, someplace, or something. An elite football quarterback is one considered to be the best at that position. And so forth. In this regard, the word’s connotative value is clearly positive. Whatever is being called “elite” is being singled out as among the best of other similar things. But as in the headline that prompted this column, the clarity of the word as a noun becomes less clear. Let’s begin with the denotive level of meaning at which a word points to a group. This is perhaps the most basic level of communication. When English speakers hear the word “table,” they can picture an object with a flat top, supported by legs or some sort of column, that serves the purpose of being a place onto which things can be put. That’s a lot of words for a simple concept, I know, but it is central to what I’m talking about. If we can all agree what the denotative meaning of “table’ is, it seems to me we cannot say the same thing about the denotative value of “elites” in the headline. What we can surmise from the rest of the headline is that the word “elites” references the losers of the election. As a matter of political science, one can argue that to explain the results of an election involving millions of voters spread over our huge country is at the very least, a tad over simplistic. Or even to lay the blame for defeat on a group, or subgroup of the electorate is a serious stretch. Moving to the connotative level of meaning, that which describes the positive, neutral, or negative attitude toward what is being denoted, things get interesting in another way. Simply put, “elite” as an adjective describing a noun, or as a noun itself, has a strongly positive connotative value. I will pause to admit that when we add an “ism’ to the word to create “elitism,” we are talking about something different because that word suggests snobbishness and is negative connotatively. We’re closing toward my point, which is to notice how a word that carries a strongly positive connotative value is turned on its head when it is applied to voters. It seems that the negative vibe of “elitism’ has shifted onto the figurative backs of the losers in the election. They lost not because they are elite in some other way in their lives but because as a class of voters they exhibit elitist disdain for the non-elite. And that is what the headline with which I began indicates. The losers did not have the wrong policy prescriptions, but because they are seen as thinking that as elites their views should prevail. And thus were rejected.

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