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One night last month, near the end of the Chicago International Film Festival, a particularly long line of moviegoers snaked down Southport Avenue by the Music Box Theatre. The hot ticket? This fall’s hottest ticket, in fact, all over the international festival circuit? Well, it’s a 215-minute drama about a fictional Hungarian Jewish architect who emigrates to America in 1947 after surviving the Holocaust. The film’s title, “The Brutalist,” references several things, firstly a post-World War II design imperative made of stern concrete, steel, and a collision of poetry and functionality. Director and co-writer Brady Corbet, who wrote “The Brutalist” with his filmmaker wife, Mona Fastvold, explores brutalism in other forms as well, including love, envy, capitalist economics and how the promise of America eludes someone like the visionary architect László Tóth, played by Adrien Brody. Corbet, now 36 and a good bet for Oscar nominations this coming January, says his unfashionable sprawl of a picture, being distributed by A24, is also about the “strange relationship between artist and patron, and art and commerce.” It co-stars Felicity Jones as the visionary architect’s wife, Erzsébet, trapped in Eastern Europe after the war with their niece for an agonizingly long time. Guy Pearce portrays the imperious Philadelphia blueblood who hires Tóth, a near-invisible figure in his adopted country, to design a monumental public building known as the Institute in rural Pennsylvania. The project becomes an obsession, then a breaking point and then something else. Corbet’s project, which took the better part of a decade to come together after falling apart more than once, felt like that, too. Spanning five decades and filmed in Hungary and Italy, “The Brutalist” looks like a well-spent $50 million project. In actuality, it was made for a mere $10 million, with Corbet and cinematographer Lol Crawley shooting on film, largely in the VistaVision process. The filmmaker said at the Chicago festival screening: “Who woulda thunk that for screening after screening over the last couple of months, people stood in line around the block to get into a three-and-a-half-hour movie about a mid-century designer?” He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with Fastvold and their daughter. Our conversation has been edited for clarity and length. Q: Putting together an independent movie, keeping it on track, getting it made: not easy, as you told the Music Box audience last night. Money is inevitably going to be part of the story of “The Brutalist,” since you had only so much to make a far-flung historical epic. A: Yeah, that’s right. In relation to my earlier features, “The Childhood of a Leader” had a $3 million budget. The budget for “Vox Lux” was right around $10 million, same as “The Brutalist,” although the actual production budget for “Vox Lux” was about $4.5 million. Which is to say: All the money on top of that was going to all the wrong places. For a lot of reasons, when my wife and I finished the screenplay for “The Brutalist,” we ruled out scouting locations in Philadelphia or anywhere in the northeastern United States. We needed to (film) somewhere with a lot less red tape. My wife’s previous film, “The World to Come,” she made in Romania; we shot “Childhood of a Leader” in Hungary. For “The Brutalist” we initially landed on Poland, but this was early on in COVID and Poland shut its borders the week our crew was arriving for pre-production. When we finally got things up and running again with a different iteration of the cast (the original ensemble was to star Joel Edgerton, Marion Cotillard and Mark Rylance), after nine months, the movie fell apart again because Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We couldn’t get any of the banks to cash-flow the tax credit (for location shooting in Poland). It’s completely stable now, but at that time the banks were nervous about whether the war would be contained to Ukraine or not. And then we finally got it up and running in Budapest, Hungary. Q: That’s a long time. A: Every filmmaker I know suffers from some form of post-traumatic stress (laughs). It sounds funny but it’s true. At every level. On the level of independent cinema, you’re just so damn poor. You’re not making any money, and yet from nose to tail, at minimum, a movie always takes a couple of years. With bigger projects, you might have a little more personal security but a lot less creative security with so many more cooks in the kitchen. Either route you choose, it can be an arduous and painful one. Whether you’re making a movie for a million dollars, or $10 million, or $100 million, it’s still “millions of dollars.” And if you’re concerned about the lives and livelihoods of the people working with you, it’s especially stressful. People are constantly calling you: “Is it happening? Are we starting? Should I take this other job or not?” And you have 250 people who need that answer from you. Every iteration of the project, I always thought we were really about to start in a week, two weeks. It’s just very challenging interpersonally. It’s an imposition for everyone in your life. And then there’s the imposition of screening a movie that’s three-and-a-half-hours long for film festivals, where it’s difficult to find that kind of real estate on the schedule. So essentially, making a movie means constantly apologizing. Q: At what point in your acting career did you take a strong interest in what was going on behind the camera? A: I was making short films when I was 11, 12 years old. The first thing I ever made more properly, I guess, was a short film I made when I was 18, “Protect You + Me,” shot by (cinematographer) Darius Khondji. It was supposed to be part of a triptych of films, and I went to Paris for the two films that followed it. And then all the financing fell through. But that first one screened at the London film festival, and won a prize at Sundance, and I was making music videos and other stuff by then. Q: You’ve written a lot of screenplays with your wife. How many? A: Probably 25. We work a lot for other people, too. I think we’ve done six together for our own projects. Sometimes I’ll start something at night and my wife will finish in the morning. Sometimes we work very closely together, talking and typing together. It’s always different. Right now I’m writing a lot on the road, and my wife is editing her film, which is a musical we wrote, “Ann Lee,” about the founder of the Shakers. I’m working on my next movie now, which spans a lot of time, like “The Brutalist,” with a lot of locations. And I need to make sure we can do it for not a lot of money, because it’s just not possible to have a lot of money and total autonomy. For me making a movie is like cooking. If everyone starts coming in and throwing a dash of this or that in the pot, it won’t work out. A continuity of vision is what I look for when I read a novel. Same with watching a film. A lot of stuff out there today, appropriately referred to as “content,” has more in common with a pair of Nikes than it does with narrative cinema. Q: Yeah, I can’t imagine a lot of Hollywood executives who’d sign off on “The Brutalist.” A: Well, even with our terrific producing team, I mean, everyone was up for a three-hour movie but we were sort of pushing it with three-and-a-half (laughs). I figured, worst-case scenario, it opens on a streamer. Not what I had in mind, but people watch stuff that’s eight, 12 hours long all the time. They get a cold, they watch four seasons of “Succession.” (A24 is releasing the film in theaters, gradually.) It was important for all of us to try to capture an entire century’s worth of thinking about design with “The Brutalist.” For me, making something means expressing a feeling I have about our history. I’ve described my films as poetic films about politics, that go to places politics alone cannot reach. It’s one thing to say something like “history repeats itself.” It’s another thing to make people see that, and feel it. I really want viewers to engage with the past, and the trauma of that history can be uncomfortable, or dusty, or dry. But if you can make it something vital, and tangible, the way great professors can do for their students, that’s my definition of success. “The Brutalist” opens in New York and Los Angeles on Dec. 20. The Chicago release is Jan. 10, 2025. Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.
Mbappé scores as Madrid moves closer to Barcelona in Spanish league ahead of tough test at Liverpool
Cowboys star G Zack Martin doubtful to play vs. CommandersOne of the government’s most senior female staffers is suing Defence Minister Richard Marles and the prime minister’s chief of staff, Tim Gartrell, for allegedly ousting her after she complained of bullying by other colleagues. The legal team for Jo Tarnawsky, who is still technically Marles’ chief of staff, confirmed she had launched legal proceedings against Marles, Gartrell and the Commonwealth on Monday. Jo Tarnawsky and Richard Marles. Credit: AAP, Alex Ellinghausen Tarnawsky’s lawyers – solicitor Michael Bradley and barrister Rebecca Davern – claim under the Fair Work Act that the government engaged in adverse action against the staffer by effectively pushing her out of her role after she raised concerns about bullying in Marles’ office. Last month, the chief of staff alleged she was effectively ousted from her job after seeking help for alleged bullying by her colleagues that left her with suicidal thoughts. Marles himself is not accused of bullying Tarnawsky – who is a former diplomat and one of the most senior women in government – but she claims he shunted her aside in April to work in a lesser government role despite never previously taking issue with her performance. “My workplace situation remains unresolved,” Tarnawsky said at a press conference in Parliament House on Monday. “Today, after untenable delays and inaction from the government, I’m lodging legal proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia.” “Taking legal action has come at the end of a very long and traumatic road,” she said. “The government has been afforded multiple opportunities to rectify the wrongs done to me, but it has done nothing except duck and cover, collude and delay.” The legal action represents a major test for Labor’s commitment to creating a more respectful workplace culture in parliament as well as a major distraction from the government’s agenda to pass up to 20 pieces of legislation in the last sitting week of the year. Tarnawsky previously said the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service was briefing lawyers to deal with her after she engaged her own lawyers to access more counselling services. Loading Marles has previously praised Tarnawsky and said he had worked to support her wellbeing and that of his other staff as he managed the situation. “She has given me great service, and I remain deeply grateful for that,” Marles said. His spokeswoman has also disputed unspecified parts of Tarnawsky’s “assertions and recollections” in a statement. Earlier this month, this masthead revealed the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service handled 339 cases in its first nine months, including some categorised as relating to serious issues such as sexual assault, with 10 formal complaints. The support services’ annual report prompted former staffer Brittany Higgins to ask if perpetrators working in politics are being held to account. Bradley said the workplace support service had been “set up to fail”. “[It] ends up being a support service for the member of parliament, including providing the member of parliament with free legal support, and the staffer is left on their own,” he said. More to come. Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter . Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. License this article Political leadership Anthony Albanese Richard Marles Workplace culture ALP Parliament House Olivia Ireland is a workplace relations and federal breaking news reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based at Parliament House in Canberra. Connect via Twitter or email . Most Viewed in Politics Loading
College Insider is a periodic compilation of notes, quotes and inside information from the college athletics scene and curated by Forum sports reporters Jeff Kolpack (jkolpack@forumcomm.com) and Eric Peterson (epeterson@forumcomm.com). FARGO — North Dakota State College of Science is launching a women's soccer program next fall, a challenge that Steven Ness embraces. “The first thing that appealed to me was the opportunity to start a program," Ness said. NDSCS recently announced Ness as the program's first head coach. The program will compete at the non-scholarship NJCAA Division III level. The Wildcats are set to compete in the Minnesota College Athletic Conference, which has four current women's soccer members in Rochester Community and Technical College, Anoka-Ramsey Community College, Lake Superior Community College and Alexandria Technical and Community College. NDSCS is set to have seven varsity sports once women's soccer is launched. Ness and athletic director Reggie Jackson both said the Fargo-Moorhead area is going to be a natural recruiting area to target for the Wildcats. “Fargo-Moorhead has always had great talent," Ness said. “Soccer is pretty big in the Fargo metro area and we’re not far from there," Jackson added. "We're another place those kids can look to play soccer." Ness officially starts Dec. 1 and building a roster is a top priority. He would like to have a roster of at least 22 players for the first season and in a best-case scenario around 30. “We’re going to look as hard as we can because we’re already behind," Ness said. "We’re going to be super strategic and we’re going to work very hard.” Jackson said NDSCS President Rod Flanigan was a driving force behind adding women's soccer. "The launch of our women’s soccer program marks a significant milestone in NDSCS’s history," Flanigan said. Jackson said the soccer team will play home games at Frank Vertin Field, where the football team plays. The plan is to have a new artificial turf surface by next fall. The school has a total 2024 fall enrollment of around 3,300 students, Jackson said, so adding another sport is a natural progression. “We have very good enrollment and our students are looking for something to be active in," Jackson said. Jackson added the team has eight conference games slated for next fall and the goal would be to schedule around seven more nonconference contests for the inaugural season. Ness has around 10 years of coaching experience at the high school level between Fergus Falls Public Schools and Fergus Fall Hillcrest. He also has experience as a referee and referee coordinator for the Fergus Falls Youth Soccer Association. “He really wanted to get this off the ground," Jackson said. “It was his energy as well as his vision. This is going to be a five-year process building a program from nothing.” The Concordia women's basketball team has been the top scoring offense over all levels on the NCAA early in the season. The Cobbers are averaging 106.3 points per game through three games to lead Division III. Carson-Newman leads Division II with 94.0 points per game, while Florida State leads Division I with 100.7 points per game. "That's crazy," said Cobbers head coach Kim Wagers . "It's probably skewed a little bit. I think we've probably played the fewest games." The Cobbers have an 83-57 road victory against Minnesota-Morris, a 150-44 home victory against Providence (Manitoba) and an 86-75 road victory against Wisconsin-Stout. “We like to play at a pretty fast pace, which definitely helps from a scoring standpoint," Wagers said. "We’re shooting it well from deep, which is really fun to see. We really emphasize ball movement and pushing pace.” Senior guard Carlee Sieben and senior forward Makayla Anderson lead the way for the Cobbers in scoring. Sieben is averaging 20.7 points per game, while Anderson is netting 19.0 points per contest. “It’s really nice to have that inside-outside presence," Wagers said of the senior duo. “It creates matchup issues for some teams. ... It’s really fun that type of balance to really have two go-to (players).” Concordia is shooting 54% from the field and 53% from 3-point range through three games. The Cobbers play at Wisconsin-River Falls at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 26, to continue their nonconference schedule. “I think our group is a pretty tight-knit group," Wagers said. "They are playing with each other and through each other. It's been fun to see." The 6-foot Anderson was named the Minnesota Intercollegiate Conference offensive player of the week, scoring a career-high 26 points in the team's victory at No. 13-ranked Wisconsin-Stout on Saturday, Nov. 23. Minnesota State Moorhead junior Logan Kinsey scored a career-best 27 points in a 74-70 loss against Michigan Tech on Saturday, Nov. 23, in Duluth, Minnesota. The 6-foot-6 Kinsey shot 9-for-17 from the field and also grabbed nine rebounds. The Dragons (5-1) lost for the first time this season. MSUM next plays Northern State on Dec. 5 at Alex Nemzek Fieldhouse to start Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play. ... Mayville State senior guard Mackenzie Hughes scored 30 points in a 79-63 women's basketball victory against NCAA Division II Minot State last Thursday. The Comets, an NAIA program, are off to a 5-1 start and host Minnesota-Morris at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 26.
Uruguay's voters choose their next president in a close runoff with low stakes but much suspenseNvidia Stock Investors Can Expect Revenue and Profit to Rise Further
Monday At Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a new technology with tremendous long-term investment potential. But don't assume that all AI stocks are speculative or high-octane growth businesses. There are plenty of opportunities for dividend investors to add AI exposure to their portfolios, too. Some companies in the best positions to lead the AI industry pay dividends. Their core businesses are enhanced by AI or even have growth opportunities. No, they aren't high-yield stocks that income-focused investors would prefer, but their dividend growth potential makes them wealth compounders to buy and hold for the long term -- including these three AI stocks. 1. Broadcom Semiconductor giant Broadcom ( AVGO -1.47% ) specializes in chips for connectivity applications, such as networking, server storage, and broadband. And it acquired companies to build enterprise infrastructure software into about 40% of its business. This created a diversified technology company that generated $51.5 billion in revenue in its fiscal year 2024, with $19.4 billion (37%) of that in free cash flow . The company paid and raised its dividend for 15 consecutive years at an average hike of 14.7% over the past five years. The current payout ratio is only 48% of its fiscal year 2024 earnings, so investors should feel good about the dividend's security and growth potential. Analysts estimate Broadcom will grow earnings by an average of nearly 22% annually over the long term, according to Yahoo! Finance. Its promising growth expectations are mainly due to its AI-related opportunities. The company has secured deals to develop AI chips for some notable customers, which management has yet to name formally. This year, Broadcom's AI-related revenue totaled $12.2 billion, and management believes it will grow substantially as these chip deals get underway, making the long-term dividend potential sky-high. 2. Microsoft Microsoft ( MSFT -1.73% ) is on a 22-year dividend growth streak. The company has become an AI business on multiple levels, integrating the technology throughout its software products to enhance the user experience. And it owns Azure, the world's second-largest cloud computing platform, whose growth is fueled by the AI applications it deploys. Microsoft keeps growing despite its staggering size, reaching a $3.2 trillion market cap and $254 billion in annual revenue. Analysts estimate the business will grow earnings by a yearly average of 13% over the long term. That should spell inflation-beating dividend increases. The dividend is also about as safe as they come. The payout ratio is only 26% of 2024 earnings estimates, and Microsoft is one of two public companies with an AAA credit rating -- higher than the U.S. government. This ironclad balance sheet gives it the utmost financial flexibility and security. Investors looking for safety and growth should look no further than Microsoft. 3. Meta Platforms Social media titan Meta Platforms ( META -0.59% ) is new to the dividend game, initiating its payout this year. And it has the ingredients for dividend stardom. Meta is arguably the world's best advertising business, generating profits by showing digital ads to the 3.29 billion people who view Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads daily. CEO Mark Zuckerberg pushed Meta hard into AI. It created an open-source AI model (Llama) and built the data centers to support its vast computing requirements. The company is also investing billions in its Reality Labs segment , which could add to its growth if it makes money at some point. Meta's dividend is only 9% of the company's 2024 earnings estimates, so the growth potential is obvious. I probably wouldn't expect overly aggressive increases as long as the company is losing money on Reality Labs, but investors have a solid shot at double-digit dividend growth. Analysts estimate earnings will rise by an average of 17% annually over the long term, so the dividend could easily sustain high growth while keeping the payout ratio low. Meta is likely a dividend growth star in the making.Kylian Mbappé scored and Real Madrid moved within four points of Spanish league leader Barcelona with a 3-0 win at Leganes on Sunday ahead of its eagerly awaited Champions League match at Liverpool. Federico Valverde and Jude Bellingham also scored to close the gap on Barcelona, which conceded two late goals in a 2-2 draw at Celta Vigo on Saturday. Madrid has played one game less than Barcelona after its match at Valencia was postponed because of the deadly floods in October. Madrid will make the trip to England to face Premier League leader Liverpool on Wednesday in the Champions League, and is hoping to recover from a demoralizing 3-1 home loss against AC Milan in the previous round of matches. Madrid's attack worked well against Leganes with Vinícius Júnior playing inside and Mbappé more on the flank. The France striker scored after going four straight games without finding the net for the Spanish powerhouse. “We switched their positions and the team was able to stay in control during the whole match,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. Fourth-place Villarreal scored an equalizer in stoppage time to salvage a 2-2 draw at fifth-place Osasuna. Ante Budimir scored twice in the first 20 minutes for Osasuna. Villarreal, which was coming off three straight victories in all competitions, scored through Álex Baena in the 67th and a penalty kick converted by Gerard Moreno three minutes into injury time. Osasuna, sitting three points behind Villarreal, was coming off a 4-0 loss at Madrid. Also Sunday, Sevilla ended a two-game losing streak in the league with a 1-0 win against Rayo Vallecano, which played the entire second half with 10 men after Unai López was sent off for a hard foul. Djibril Sow scored Sevilla's goal in the 27th. Sixth-place Athletic Bilbao hosted midtable Real Sociedad later Sunday in the Basque Country derby. AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccerStock market today: S&P 500 closes lower as Nvidia, AMD lead dip in tech
ATLANTA (AP) — Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who won the presidency in the wake of the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, endured humbling defeat after one tumultuous term and then redefined life after the White House as a global humanitarian, has died. He was 100 years old. The longest-lived American president died on Sunday, more than a year after entering hospice care , at his home in the small town of Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife, Rosalynn, who died at 96 in November 2023 , spent most of their lives, The Carter Center said. “Our founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia,” the center said in posting about his death on the social media platform X. It added in a statement that he died peacefully, surrounded by his family. As reaction poured in from around the world, President Joe Biden mourned Carter’s death, saying the world lost an “extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian” and he lost a dear friend. Biden cited Carter’s compassion and moral clarity, his work to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless and advocacy for the disadvantaged as an example for others. “To all of the young people in this nation and for anyone in search of what it means to live a life of purpose and meaning – the good life – study Jimmy Carter, a man of principle, faith, and humility,” Biden said in a statement. “He showed that we are a great nation because we are a good people – decent and honorable, courageous and compassionate, humble and strong.” Biden said he is ordering a state funeral for Carter in Washington. Businessman, Navy officer, evangelist, politician, negotiator, author, woodworker, citizen of the world — Carter forged a path that still challenges political assumptions and stands out among the 45 men who reached the nation’s highest office. The 39th president leveraged his ambition with a keen intellect, deep religious faith and prodigious work ethic, conducting diplomatic missions into his 80s and building houses for the poor well into his 90s. “My faith demands — this is not optional — my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can, with whatever I have to try to make a difference,” Carter once said. A moderate Democrat, Carter entered the 1976 presidential race as a little-known Georgia governor with a broad smile, outspoken Baptist mores and technocratic plans reflecting his education as an engineer. His no-frills campaign depended on public financing, and his promise not to deceive the American people resonated after Richard Nixon’s disgrace and U.S. defeat in southeast Asia. “If I ever lie to you, if I ever make a misleading statement, don’t vote for me. I would not deserve to be your president,” Carter repeated before narrowly beating Republican incumbent Gerald Ford, who had lost popularity pardoning Nixon. Carter governed amid Cold War pressures, turbulent oil markets and social upheaval over racism, women’s rights and America’s global role. His most acclaimed achievement in office was a Mideast peace deal that he brokered by keeping Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at the bargaining table for 13 days in 1978. That Camp David experience inspired the post-presidential center where Carter would establish so much of his legacy. Yet Carter’s electoral coalition splintered under double-digit inflation, gasoline lines and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. His bleakest hour came when eight Americans died in a failed hostage rescue in April 1980, helping to ensure his landslide defeat to Republican Ronald Reagan. Carter acknowledged in his 2020 “White House Diary” that he could be “micromanaging” and “excessively autocratic,” complicating dealings with Congress and the federal bureaucracy. He also turned a cold shoulder to Washington’s news media and lobbyists, not fully appreciating their influence on his political fortunes. “It didn’t take us long to realize that the underestimation existed, but by that time we were not able to repair the mistake,” Carter told historians in 1982, suggesting that he had “an inherent incompatibility” with Washington insiders. Carter insisted his overall approach was sound and that he achieved his primary objectives — to “protect our nation’s security and interests peacefully” and “enhance human rights here and abroad” — even if he fell spectacularly short of a second term. Ignominious defeat, though, allowed for renewal. The Carters founded The Carter Center in 1982 as a first-of-its-kind base of operations, asserting themselves as international peacemakers and champions of democracy, public health and human rights. “I was not interested in just building a museum or storing my White House records and memorabilia,” Carter wrote in a memoir published after his 90th birthday. “I wanted a place where we could work.” That work included easing nuclear tensions in North and South Korea, helping to avert a U.S. invasion of Haiti and negotiating cease-fires in Bosnia and Sudan. By 2022, The Carter Center had declared at least 113 elections in Latin America, Asia and Africa to be free or fraudulent. Recently, the center began monitoring U.S. elections as well. Carter’s stubborn self-assuredness and even self-righteousness proved effective once he was unencumbered by the Washington order, sometimes to the point of frustrating his successors . He went “where others are not treading,” he said, to places like Ethiopia, Liberia and North Korea, where he secured the release of an American who had wandered across the border in 2010. “I can say what I like. I can meet whom I want. I can take on projects that please me and reject the ones that don’t,” Carter said. He announced an arms-reduction-for-aid deal with North Korea without clearing the details with Bill Clinton’s White House. He openly criticized President George W. Bush for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He also criticized America’s approach to Israel with his 2006 book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.” And he repeatedly countered U.S. administrations by insisting North Korea should be included in international affairs, a position that most aligned Carter with Republican President Donald Trump. Among the center’s many public health initiatives, Carter vowed to eradicate the guinea worm parasite during his lifetime, and nearly achieved it: Cases dropped from millions in the 1980s to nearly a handful. With hardhats and hammers, the Carters also built homes with Habitat for Humanity. The Nobel committee’s 2002 Peace Prize cites his “untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” Carter should have won it alongside Sadat and Begin in 1978, the chairman added. Carter accepted the recognition saying there was more work to be done. “The world is now, in many ways, a more dangerous place,” he said. “The greater ease of travel and communication has not been matched by equal understanding and mutual respect.” Carter’s globetrotting took him to remote villages where he met little “Jimmy Carters,” so named by admiring parents. But he spent most of his days in the same one-story Plains house — expanded and guarded by Secret Service agents — where they lived before he became governor. He regularly taught Sunday School lessons at Maranatha Baptist Church until his mobility declined and the coronavirus pandemic raged. Those sessions drew visitors from around the world to the small sanctuary where Carter will receive his final send-off after a state funeral at Washington’s National Cathedral. The common assessment that he was a better ex-president than president rankled Carter and his allies. His prolific post-presidency gave him a brand above politics, particularly for Americans too young to witness him in office. But Carter also lived long enough to see biographers and historians reassess his White House years more generously. His record includes the deregulation of key industries, reduction of U.S. dependence on foreign oil, cautious management of the national debt and notable legislation on the environment, education and mental health. He focused on human rights in foreign policy, pressuring dictators to release thousands of political prisoners . He acknowledged America’s historical imperialism, pardoned Vietnam War draft evaders and relinquished control of the Panama Canal. He normalized relations with China. “I am not nominating Jimmy Carter for a place on Mount Rushmore,” Stuart Eizenstat, Carter’s domestic policy director, wrote in a 2018 book. “He was not a great president” but also not the “hapless and weak” caricature voters rejected in 1980, Eizenstat said. Rather, Carter was “good and productive” and “delivered results, many of which were realized only after he left office.” Madeleine Albright, a national security staffer for Carter and Clinton’s secretary of state, wrote in Eizenstat’s forward that Carter was “consequential and successful” and expressed hope that “perceptions will continue to evolve” about his presidency. “Our country was lucky to have him as our leader,” said Albright, who died in 2022. Jonathan Alter, who penned a comprehensive Carter biography published in 2020, said in an interview that Carter should be remembered for “an epic American life” spanning from a humble start in a home with no electricity or indoor plumbing through decades on the world stage across two centuries. “He will likely go down as one of the most misunderstood and underestimated figures in American history,” Alter told The Associated Press. James Earl Carter Jr. was born Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains and spent his early years in nearby Archery. His family was a minority in the mostly Black community, decades before the civil rights movement played out at the dawn of Carter’s political career. Carter, who campaigned as a moderate on race relations but governed more progressively, talked often of the influence of his Black caregivers and playmates but also noted his advantages: His land-owning father sat atop Archery’s tenant-farming system and owned a main street grocery. His mother, Lillian , would become a staple of his political campaigns. Seeking to broaden his world beyond Plains and its population of fewer than 1,000 — then and now — Carter won an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1946. That same year he married Rosalynn Smith, another Plains native, a decision he considered more important than any he made as head of state. She shared his desire to see the world, sacrificing college to support his Navy career. Carter climbed in rank to lieutenant, but then his father was diagnosed with cancer, so the submarine officer set aside his ambitions of admiralty and moved the family back to Plains. His decision angered Rosalynn, even as she dived into the peanut business alongside her husband. Carter again failed to talk with his wife before his first run for office — he later called it “inconceivable” not to have consulted her on such major life decisions — but this time, she was on board. “My wife is much more political,” Carter told the AP in 2021. He won a state Senate seat in 1962 but wasn’t long for the General Assembly and its back-slapping, deal-cutting ways. He ran for governor in 1966 — losing to arch-segregationist Lester Maddox — and then immediately focused on the next campaign. Carter had spoken out against church segregation as a Baptist deacon and opposed racist “Dixiecrats” as a state senator. Yet as a local school board leader in the 1950s he had not pushed to end school segregation even after the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision, despite his private support for integration. And in 1970, Carter ran for governor again as the more conservative Democrat against Carl Sanders, a wealthy businessman Carter mocked as “Cufflinks Carl.” Sanders never forgave him for anonymous, race-baiting flyers, which Carter disavowed. Ultimately, Carter won his races by attracting both Black voters and culturally conservative whites. Once in office, he was more direct. “I say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over,” he declared in his 1971 inaugural address, setting a new standard for Southern governors that landed him on the cover of Time magazine. His statehouse initiatives included environmental protection, boosting rural education and overhauling antiquated executive branch structures. He proclaimed Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the slain civil rights leader’s home state. And he decided, as he received presidential candidates in 1972, that they were no more talented than he was. In 1974, he ran Democrats’ national campaign arm. Then he declared his own candidacy for 1976. An Atlanta newspaper responded with the headline: “Jimmy Who?” The Carters and a “Peanut Brigade” of family members and Georgia supporters camped out in Iowa and New Hampshire, establishing both states as presidential proving grounds. His first Senate endorsement: a young first-termer from Delaware named Joe Biden. Yet it was Carter’s ability to navigate America’s complex racial and rural politics that cemented the nomination. He swept the Deep South that November, the last Democrat to do so, as many white Southerners shifted to Republicans in response to civil rights initiatives. A self-declared “born-again Christian,” Carter drew snickers by referring to Scripture in a Playboy magazine interview, saying he “had looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times.” The remarks gave Ford a new foothold and television comedians pounced — including NBC’s new “Saturday Night Live” show. But voters weary of cynicism in politics found it endearing. Carter chose Minnesota Sen. Walter “Fritz” Mondale as his running mate on a “Grits and Fritz” ticket. In office, he elevated the vice presidency and the first lady’s office. Mondale’s governing partnership was a model for influential successors Al Gore, Dick Cheney and Biden. Rosalynn Carter was one of the most involved presidential spouses in history, welcomed into Cabinet meetings and huddles with lawmakers and top aides. The Carters presided with uncommon informality: He used his nickname “Jimmy” even when taking the oath of office, carried his own luggage and tried to silence the Marine Band’s “Hail to the Chief.” They bought their clothes off the rack. Carter wore a cardigan for a White House address, urging Americans to conserve energy by turning down their thermostats. Amy, the youngest of four children, attended District of Columbia public school. Washington’s social and media elite scorned their style. But the larger concern was that “he hated politics,” according to Eizenstat, leaving him nowhere to turn politically once economic turmoil and foreign policy challenges took their toll. Carter partially deregulated the airline, railroad and trucking industries and established the departments of Education and Energy, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He designated millions of acres of Alaska as national parks or wildlife refuges. He appointed a then-record number of women and nonwhite people to federal posts. He never had a Supreme Court nomination, but he elevated civil rights attorney Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the nation’s second highest court, positioning her for a promotion in 1993. He appointed Paul Volker, the Federal Reserve chairman whose policies would help the economy boom in the 1980s — after Carter left office. He built on Nixon’s opening with China, and though he tolerated autocrats in Asia, pushed Latin America from dictatorships to democracy. But he couldn’t immediately tame inflation or the related energy crisis. And then came Iran. After he admitted the exiled Shah of Iran to the U.S. for medical treatment, the American Embassy in Tehran was overrun in 1979 by followers of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Negotiations to free the hostages broke down repeatedly ahead of the failed rescue attempt. The same year, Carter signed SALT II, the new strategic arms treaty with Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet Union, only to pull it back, impose trade sanctions and order a U.S. boycott of the Moscow Olympics after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Hoping to instill optimism, he delivered what the media dubbed his “malaise” speech, although he didn’t use that word. He declared the nation was suffering “a crisis of confidence.” By then, many Americans had lost confidence in the president, not themselves. Carter campaigned sparingly for reelection because of the hostage crisis, instead sending Rosalynn as Sen. Edward M. Kennedy challenged him for the Democratic nomination. Carter famously said he’d “kick his ass,” but was hobbled by Kennedy as Reagan rallied a broad coalition with “make America great again” appeals and asking voters whether they were “better off than you were four years ago.” Reagan further capitalized on Carter’s lecturing tone, eviscerating him in their lone fall debate with the quip: “There you go again.” Carter lost all but six states and Republicans rolled to a new Senate majority. Carter successfully negotiated the hostages’ freedom after the election, but in one final, bitter turn of events, Tehran waited until hours after Carter left office to let them walk free. At 56, Carter returned to Georgia with “no idea what I would do with the rest of my life.” Four decades after launching The Carter Center, he still talked of unfinished business. “I thought when we got into politics we would have resolved everything,” Carter told the AP in 2021. “But it’s turned out to be much more long-lasting and insidious than I had thought it was. I think in general, the world itself is much more divided than in previous years.” Still, he affirmed what he said when he underwent treatment for a cancer diagnosis in his 10th decade of life. “I’m perfectly at ease with whatever comes,” he said in 2015 . “I’ve had a wonderful life. I’ve had thousands of friends, I’ve had an exciting, adventurous and gratifying existence.” Sanz is a former Associated Press reporter.
Judge rejects request to sideline SJSU volleyball player
The 12th Governing Council of the Lagos State Polytechnic has officially exited as its tenure for the polytechnic has been completed. The council announced its exit at a meeting held on Monday, December 9, 2024 at its Isolo Campus. The exit of the Polytechnic Governing Council became a necessity since the institution has been transformed into a university. In 2022, the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), Ikorodu, and two other higher institutions – Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education ((AOCOED), Ijanikin, Lagos; and Michael Otedola College of Primary Education (MOCPED), Noforija, Epe, Lagos formally assumed their new status as universities following the signing into law, the bills seeking conversion of the three institutions to universities by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu. LASPOTECH was established in 1977 through a retroactive Lagos State Edict No. 1 of 1978 as a College of Science and Technology with the mission thrust that is vocational. However, it was immediately merged with the Lagos State School of Agriculture in Ikorodu in August of 1978. A decade after, which is in 1988, its nomenclature was changed to Lagos State Polytechnic. To some extent, the polytechnic had undergone some transition in its development. At the beginning, with about five departments, namely, Accountancy and Finance, Management and Business Studies, Insurance, Secretarial Studies and Basic Studies and offer of GCE ‘A’ Level courses in the Arts and Sciences, it has now over 56 programmes which include Accountancy, Agricultural Engineering/Technology, Agricultural Technology, Architectural Technology, Arts And Design, Banking And Finance, Building Technology, Business Administration & Management, Chemical Engineering Technology, Civil Engineering Technology, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical/Electronic Engineering Technology, Estate Management and Valuation, Fisheries Technology, Food Technology, Horticultural Technology, Hospitality Management, Insurance, Leisure and Tourism Management, Marketing, Mass Communication, Mechanical Engineering Technology, Mechatronics Engineering Technology, Office Technology And Management, Quantity Surveying, Science Laboratory Technology, Statistics, and Urban And Regional Planning among others. LASPOTECH has one more year to closed down and allow the new LASUTECH to assume its full status across the three campuses. Speaking at its exit meeting on Monday, the Chairman of the defunct LASPOTECH Governing Council, Prof. Rasheed Kola Ojikutu, noted that the council has to cease to exist since the institution has been transformed into a university. While appreciating the members of the council, Ojikutu stated that the council recorded a huge success due to the cooperation of the members. He boasted that he was able to steer the wheel of the council because of his contentment, integrity and humbleness. The council chairman said he detests people flaunting their power and using it at will. “I hate people using their power anyhow. Don’t use your power at will, it should be the last resort,” he said. He, therefore, appreciated all the members of the council for their support and resilience to the end of the tenure. Also speaking, the Poly Rector, Dr. Nurudeen Olaleye, said the council has to be dissolved in order to pave way for the university that has taken over the polytechnic. While appreciating the council for its support over the years, Olaleye said he was very lucky to work with the 12th council, saying it helped him to grow and have seamless tenure as the last rector of the legacy polytechnic. He appreciated the council especially the council chairman for creating conducive environment for him as a rector, saying working with the council chairman gave him the muscle to achieve greatly for the institution. He also appreciated Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for his effort to make the institution a best place to work. “We thank Almighty God for the journey so far. It is only by his grace that we are successful. “I will say I’m a very lucky person to have worked with this council. I had the opportunity to learn, unlearn and relearn.” Meanwhile, the LASUSTECH Vice Chancellor, Prof. Olumuyiwa Odusanya, who was represented by the University Registrar, David Ogungbe, appreciated the council especially for the infrastructure it was able to build in the university during the tenure.WASHINGTON D.C., DC — Republican senators pushed back on Sunday against criticism from Democrats that Tulsi Gabbard , Donald Trump's pick to lead U.S. intelligence services , is “compromised” by her comments supportive of Russia and secret meetings , as a congresswoman, with Syria’s president, a close ally of the Kremlin and Iran. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat and veteran of combat missions in Iraq, said she had concerns about Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's choice to be director of national intelligence . “I think she’s compromised," Duckworth said on CNN’s “State of the Union," citing Gabbard's 2017 trip to Syria, where she held talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad. Gabbard was a Democratic House member from Hawaii at the time. “The U.S. intelligence community has identified her as having troubling relationships with America’s foes. And so my worry is that she couldn’t pass a background check,” Duckworth said. Gabbard, who said last month she is joining the Republican Party, has served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades. She was deployed to Iraq and Kuwait and, according to the Hawaii National Guard, received a Combat Medical Badge in 2005 for “participation in combat operations under enemy hostile fire in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom III." Duckworth's comments drew immediate backlash from Republicans. “For her to say ridiculous and outright dangerous words like that is wrong," Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma, said on CNN, challenging Duckworth to retract her words. “That’s the most dangerous thing she could say — is that a United States lieutenant colonel in the United States Army is compromised and is an asset of Russia.” In recent days, other Democrats have accused Gabbard without evidence of being a “Russian asset.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, has claimed, without offering details, that Gabbard is in Russian President Vladimir “Putin’s pocket.” Mullin and others say the criticism from Democrats is rooted in the fact that Gabbard left their party and has become a Trump ally. Democrats say they worry that Gabbard's selection as national intelligence chief endangers ties with allies and gives Russia a win. Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat just elected to the Senate, said he would not describe Gabbard as a Russian asset, but said she had “very questionable judgment.” “The problem is if our foreign allies don’t trust the head of our intelligence agencies, they’ll stop sharing information with us,” Schiff said on NBC's “Meet the Press.” Gabbard in 2022 endorsed one of Russia’s justifications for invading Ukraine : the existence of dozens of U.S.-funded biolabs working on some of the world’s nastiest pathogens. The labs are part of an international effort to control outbreaks and stop bioweapons, but Moscow claimed Ukraine was using them to create deadly bioweapons. Gabbard said she just voiced concerns about protecting the labs. Gabbard also has suggested that Russia had legitimate security concerns in deciding to invade Ukraine, given its desire to join NATO. Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri said he thought it was “totally ridiculous” that Gabbard was being cast as a Russian asset for having different political views. “It’s insulting. It’s a slur, quite frankly. There’s no evidence that she’s a asset of another country,” he said on NBC. Sen. James Lankford, another Oklahoma Republican, acknowledged having “lots of questions” for Gabbard as the Senate considers her nomination to lead the intelligence services. Lankford said on NBC that he wants to ask Gabbard about her meeting with Assad and some of her past comments about Russia. “We want to know what the purpose was and what the direction for that was. As a member of Congress, we want to get a chance to talk about past comments that she’s made and get them into full context,” Lankford said.Stock market today: Nvidia drags Wall Street lower as oil and gold rise
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