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Book Review: ‘The Secret Public: How Music Moved ****** Culture From the Margins to the Mainstream,’ by Jon Savage Book Review: ‘The Secret Public: How Music Moved ****** Culture From the Margins to the Mainstream,’ by Jon Savage THE SECRET PUBLIC: How Music Moved ****** Culture From the Margins to the Mainstream, by Jon Savage Jon Savage, the author of the epic punk history “England’s Dreaming,” returns with an even longer examination of the dual histories of pop music and gay life, from the beginning of the rock era in 1955 to the fall of disco in 1979, ending just before MTV and AIDS. His intention in “The Secret Public” is to show how gay musicians and audiences affected the mainstream, but too often the connections are left implied. Over more than 700 pages, we are provided pocket biographies of the gay or ********* musicians Little Richard, Johnnie Ray, Joe Meek, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Dusty Springfield, Janis Joplin, Janis Ian, Jobriath, Tom Robinson and Sylvester. But there are also long excursions into the lives of figures who are not gay, or not musicians: Elvis Presley, James Dean, Andy Warhol, Rock Hudson, Bette Midler, Joe Orton, Donna Summer, Grace Jones, the New York Dolls and the Bee Gees. Their presence is often perplexing. Presley’s appeal was very much focused on millions of teenage girls, and only tangentially on gay men. Dean, Hudson and Orton have nothing to do with pop music, unless you count the Beatles’ rejection of Orton’s screenplay “Up Against It.” It’s certainly interesting to read about these people, but their relation to the thesis is tenuous. (That the book, first published in the U.K. and very Brit-centric, was originally subtitled “How L.G.B.T.Q. Resistance Shaped Popular Culture (1955-1979)” may explain the mixed messaging.) Along the way we look in on Susan Sontag’s famous essay “Notes on ‘Camp,’” summed up in her quote, “Camp is a woman walking around in a dress made of three million feathers.” But unless I’m unaware of a newly discovered “Susan Sontag Sings Lotte Lenya” album, she is not especially relevant to a book that promises to be about music’s gay influence on mainstream culture. Source link #Book #Review #Secret #Public #Music #Moved #****** #Culture #Margins #Mainstream #Jon #Savage Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

WA election 2025: Early voting starts on Monday ahead of only leaders’ debate of campaign WA election 2025: Early voting starts on Monday ahead of only leaders’ debate of campaign Voters eager to cast their ballot in the State Election will have their chance from Monday, with early voting booths opening across the State. With both parties launching their respective election campaigns on Sunday, voters will now get their chance to have their say at 61 early voting booths across the State. Trends in early voting rates have driven expectations that more than half of WA voters will cast their ballot before the official March 8 polling day. Booths will be open from Monday to Saturday this week, and will close on the Labour Day public holiday before reopening Tuesday to Friday next week. Voters also no longer require a reason to vote early. Applications also remain open for postal voting, with ballots expected to hit mailboxes over the course of this week. So far, the WAEC has received 160,000 applications for postal votes. “Early voting offers flexibility and convenience for voters, ensuring more people can participate, regardless of work or personal commitments,” Electoral Commissioner Robert Kennedy said. “We encourage all eligible voters to take advantage of early polling if they are unable to vote on 8 March.” Voters will also have a chance on Monday to see Premier Roger Cook and Liberal leader Libby Mettam go head-to-head for the only time during the campaign on 7NEWS’ exclusive election debate. Airing from 6.30pm on Monday, Mr Cook and Ms Mettam will face questions from The West ***********’s State Political Editor Jessica Page and 7NEWS Perth State Political Editor Geof Parry. The debate will be moderated by 7NEWS’ Tim McMillan. Source link #election #Early #voting #starts #Monday #ahead #leaders #debate #campaign Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Spicy, Sparkling New Romance Novels Spicy, Sparkling New Romance Novels Novels have always reflected technology. How we write fiction changed after the invention of photography, radio, film and email. This month we look at two romance novels that make a strong case for what we might call the Instagram or TikTok voice, as well as a historical that reminds us that the past is not as different a country as we might wish. By Adriana Herrera The heroine of A TROPICAL REBEL GETS THE DUKE (Canary Street, 424 pp., paperback, $18.99), Doctora Aurora Montalban, was neglected as a child and later disdained by male peers. Now that she’s running an ******** women’s clinic in Belle Époque Paris, Aurora’s long-established defenses are the emotional equivalent of a portcullis with a moat and battlements. She’s loathed Apollo, the brash and beautiful biracial Duke of Annan, since the instant they met — but after she has to bring a client to the apartment he uses for his romantic trysts, and he tells her to keep the key, Aurora decides she might as well put the duke and his beautiful body to a more carnal use. But only temporarily — the duke will eventually need a duchess, and Aurora’s reputation is far too tarnished to help him conquer polite society. This romance is harrowing in a way that hits all too close at the moment: It’s brutal about the dangers of outlawing abortion and contraception, and frank about the harm women come to at the hands of men who use sex as a weapon. It’s a testament to Herrera’s skill that a book with so many unflinching realities is also so unapologetically sexy. Aurora’s self-enforced loneliness evokes the deepest pity, and it’s gratifying to see how quickly the stubborn, fiery Apollo learns to indulge and comfort her. The man is, as they say, down bad. By Julian Winters I THINK THEY LOVE YOU (St. Martin’s Griffin, 336 pp., paperback, $18) reads the way an Instagram filter looks. Denzel “Denz” Carter is the social media director for his family’s powerhouse event-planning company, so it would be strange if he didn’t sound like a born and raised child of the internet. But when his father announces his retirement, and pits Denz against his Type A older sister for the position of chief executive, Denz knows he’ll need to hustle if he wants the job. That’s when he runs into his college ex, the man who shattered Denz’s heart. Newly returned from London, working with a nonprofit agency for ****** youth, Braylon needs Denz’s political connections — and in return, he offers to pose as Denz’s boyfriend to make him look stable and settled. Fake relationships, we know, never stay fake for long — and Denz is not prepared for the way Braylon’s new accent and familiar charms mount a dual assault on the distance he’s trying to maintain. We’re purely in Denz’s head for this emotional roller coaster. Romances told from a single character’s point of view used to be the exception rather than the rule, outside of the chick lit trend around the turn of the millennium, but they’re flourishing on BookTok and in younger reader spaces. It’s tempting to theorize this is at least in part because social media is itself experienced through a single perspective: You see what your account can see, and anything happening behind the curtain on other accounts may as well be invisible. Evading a block via a secondary account is considered a little shady, and I have to wonder if this makes a change in narrator feel subliminally dishonest to readers steeped in this mode of discourse. By Bal Khabra In SPIRAL (Berkley, 357 pp., paperback, $19), which does shift between the two leads’ perspectives, social media is primarily a site of deception, illusion and rumor. Once again we’re in fake dating territory: The rookie pro hockey player Eli needs a girlfriend as a shield against intrusive press questions and aggressive female fans. His friend arranges a date with Sage, a ****** ballerina who’s just learned that auditioning for her dream role is contingent on having a significant following on social media. Eli’s intense following will juice Sage’s numbers, and Sage’s presence in photos will let the press focus on Eli’s game rather than his reputation off the ice. As they curate their social media accounts, both Eli and Sage choose images to maintain the narrative that they are carefree, successful and happy, though they each have struggles they’re desperate to keep hidden. They are constantly switching between selves — the confident professional, the traumatized child, the teasing friend — and the book’s emotional journey lies in finding where their real, solid truths lie. Source link #Spicy #Sparkling #Romance #Novels Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

US Senate passes Republican border security bill without Trump tax cuts US Senate passes Republican border security bill without Trump tax cuts By Gabriella Borter WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate passed a Republican bill promoting President Donald Trump’s immigration, energy and defense policies in the early hours of Friday morning, despite Trump’s preference for a House of Representatives version of the bill that would include trillions of dollars in tax cuts. The Senate’s narrower resolution, which marks Republicans’ most sweeping legislative win since Trump took office, orders Congress to spend more money on defense and Trump’s hardline immigration and border security policies, while also encouraging more development of fossil fuels. Trusted news and daily delights, right in your inbox See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. The vote tally was 52-48. All Republicans supported it except Senator Rand Paul, who had introduced an unsuccessful amendment to require spending cuts. Trump this week came down firmly in favor of House Republicans’ plan for a single sweeping bill, which includes extending $4.5 trillion in tax cuts. House Republicans have a narrow and fractious 218-215 majority, which will make passing that bill difficult. The Senate’s bill, which leaves the issue of Trump’s desired extension of his 2017 tax cuts to a later date, will serve as a backup in case House Republicans cannot come to an agreement on how to pay for the tax cuts in their bill without slashing funding for popular safety net programs like Medicaid and Social Security or adding significantly to the country’s $36 trillion debt. “I hope we can get one big, beautiful bill in the House, but we need to act on border security and national security now. We’re running out of time,” Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham said after debate on amendments had concluded around 4:30 AM (0930 GMT). Trump has said he does not want to touch the safety net programs while also pushing for tax cuts, presenting competing desires that congressional Republicans are struggling to translate into budget reality. The Senate measure, a $340 billion fiscal 2025 budget resolution, boosts spending by $85 billion a year for four years to fund tighter border security, Trump’s deportation of immigrants in the country illegally, energy deregulation and an increase in military spending. The House budget resolution includes those same priorities along with $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, while seeking to cover the cost through $2 trillion in spending cuts and accelerated economic growth based mainly on the tax and energy policy changes it would usher in. Both chambers of Congress need to pass the same budget resolution to unlock the parliamentary tool that would enable Republicans to enact Trump’s legislative agenda in a way that circumvents Democratic opposition and the Senate filibuster. Republican leaders in the House hope to advance their version of a budget outline next week. AMENDMENT MARATHON Only two amendments to the bill were adopted, both introduced by Republicans. Their sponsors said they were aimed at reducing excessive regulatory burdens and federal spending, and safeguarding Medicaid and Medicare. “I know my Democratic colleagues are going to try tonight to use scare tactics to message that Republicans don’t support these vital programs, but we do,” Republican Senator Dan Sullivan said upon introducing his amendment. Democratic Senator Ron Wyden spoke in opposition to Sullivan’s amendment, saying it would do “nothing to stop Republicans from cutting these essential healthcare programs.” Senate Democrats, who are in the ********* and had little chance of stopping the budget plan’s passage, opposed it in an all night “vote-a-rama” session by filing unsuccessful amendment after amendment and giving floor speeches accusing Republicans of selling out American families to ultimately give tax breaks to the wealthy. Among the dozens of proposed and blocked Democratic-sponsored amendments were ones aiming to prohibit tax cuts for those earning over $1 billion annually, to prevent reductions in funding and staffing necessary to respond to the bird flu epidemic, and to keep seniors from losing healthcare benefits due to potential Medicaid cuts. (Reporting by Gabriella Borter; Editing by Susan Fenton) Source link #Senate #passes #Republican #border #security #bill #Trump #tax #cuts Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

‘We’re clearly heading towards collapse’: why the Murdoch empire is about to go bang | Rupert Murdoch ‘We’re clearly heading towards collapse’: why the Murdoch empire is about to go bang | Rupert Murdoch When some of the mind games and manoeuvres that turned a Murdoch family “retreat” into an ordeal appeared in Succession, the TV drama about squabbling family members of a right-wing media company, members of the real-life family started to suspect each other of leaking details to the writers. The truth was more straightforward. Succession’s creator, Jesse Armstrong, said that his team hadn’t needed inside sources – they had simply read press reports. Future screenwriters have been gifted a whole load of new Murdoch material in the past few days, after two astonishing stories in the New York Times and the Atlantic lifted the lid on the dysfunction, paranoia and despair at the heart of the most powerful family in global media. The stories followed the end of the secret trial involving the fate of the Murdoch family trust. The mogul’s four eldest children – Lachlan, James, Elisabeth and Prudence – were set to inherit the family firm following Rupert’s death. But four years ago, just after turning 90, Rupert had tried to cut James, Liz and Prue out of their inheritance and hand the businesses over to Lachlan, his favoured heir who also happens to share his increasingly right-wing politics. The lawsuit was brought by the three errant offspring, and in December a Nevada commissioner ruled in their favour, accusing Rupert and Lachlan of acting in “bad faith”. The trial took place in secret, but the fallout – thanks to the New York Times investigation and a 13,000-word Atlantic interview with James – has been anything but. Rupert Murdoch with his sons Lachlan, left, and James, right, who called his father a ‘misogynist’. Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters Among the highlights – or the lowlights if you’re a Murdoch – were the revelation that Rupert’s plan to disinherit three of his four eldest children was dubbed “Project Family Harmony”, that Rupert’s lawyer had accused the three children of being “white, privileged, multibillionaire trust-fund babies”, and that James now viewed his father as a “misogynist”. As Jesse Armstrong might have said, he didn’t need to make it up. The fallout from this family saga will not just be felt by Rupert’s six children (two by his third wife, Wendi Deng, inherit an economic rather than controlling stake) but by a vast business empire which includes Fox News in the US, HarperCollins and news titles, including the Times and the Sun in the ***. While News *** made no comment, a former adviser was furious at the potential impact. “It’s hard to overstate how uncertain everyone associated with the company feels right now. You’ve got some great journalists doing great work while squabbling billionaires fall out over even more money.” The decision by the Nevada family court judge is still to be approved after Rupert and Lachlan lodged an appeal, but few lawyers believe they will succeed. If the dispute is to be settled before the trust dissolves in 2030, the most likely scenario is for a ***** of parts of the business valued at a combined $43bn. Such disposals could end decades of Murdoch family influence in the US and British political systems. The timing of this very public washing of the family linen comes just as the businesses themselves are enjoying a political and legal *****. The anti-environmentalist, right-wing causes espoused by Murdoch’s Fox News may be loathed by some of his children but are very much in tune with the new US president. About a week before the NYT exposé, a withered-looking Rupert was pictured in the Oval Office alongside President Trump. Meanwhile, in the ***, News Corp has finally settled with Prince Harry, effectively ending a phone hacking scandal which kicked off in 2011. At a time when the news should be good for the future of the business, family members are at loggerheads over their share in the future. A dysfunctional family presiding over a functioning business. Claire Enders, who has studied the Murdoch empire for 40 years, is among many analysts who see little logic in the recent developments. “As a business analyst, I don’t see what the purpose was. I don’t see what they’re in such great disagreement about, since they’ve all contributed hugely to the value created since the nadir of the company only 13 years ago.” Author Michael Wolff tells me that the latest shenanigans simply “confirm” the hypothesis of his latest book on the family, which he called The Fall: The End of the Murdoch Empire. “I think that we’re clearly heading toward that [collapse]…Lachlan will be fired and the rest of the company will be dismantled.” Following the excoriating court ruling, Rupert has to either survive until he turns 99 in 2030 when the trust expires, or reach a settlement with James, Liz and Prue, dubbed the “objecting children” in court. With figures of $1bn for each beneficiary being mentioned in court and time running out, rumours of a ***** of part of the business have multiplied, adding further uncertainty. Although the businesses are riding high politically, Fox News still faces a $2.7bn defamation claim from Smartmatic after on-air comments suggested the electronic voting systems helped rig the 2020 US presidential election. In April 2023, Fox reached a $787.5m settlement in a similar defamation lawsuit by voting technology company Dominion Voting Systems. Yet Fox News is the most profitable part of the Murdoch empire and likely to be the easiest to sell in the short term. It is separately traded and valued at $25bn, and there will be no shortage of billionaires willing to pay for its access and influence. That the company brings profits and political clout is likely to also make it attractive to the Murdoch heirs, including his 13 grandchildren, whatever their politics. One family adviser was incredulous at the suggestion that the more liberal-minded children would want to change its politics entirely: “the idea that the three siblings gang up and set up Guardian TV is ridiculous.” Causes espoused by Murdoch’s Fox News are in tune with the new US president. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images Continued financial dependence on the family businesses was no doubt behind the scathing comment from a spokesperson for Rupert and Lachlan who decried the “litany of falsehoods” in the Atlantic interview coming “from someone who no longer works for the companies but still benefits from them financially”. Both Dow Jones (which includes the Wall Street Journal) and HarperCollins, the world’s second biggest consumer book publisher (whose authors include vice-president JD Vance), could be disposed of but influence and anti-trust regulations are hurdles, unless removed in any upcoming Trumpian bonfire of regulations. At the less financially viable end of the scale are the News *** assets. While Murdoch’s British newspapers have long brought him huge political influence in Westminster – Rupert used the back door entrance to No 10 long before he was an Oval Office regular – there is a question mark over their contribution to the bottom line. The Times and Sunday Times, the Sun and its Sunday sister, could prove tough to sell because of both circulation revenues and regulatory hurdles. Total losses at the Sun over the last five years reached £515m even before the settlement with Prince Harry, amid declining print sales and the high cost of paying damages to victims of ******** information-gathering. In 2021, the title’s overall value was slashed to zero amid the payouts and the difficulty of adapting to a digital-only world. The Times and its Sunday sister title are performing far better, but the continuing saga of the Telegraph Media Group suggests that selling a *** newspaper is far from straightforward. Last year’s Foreign State Influence rules, brought in to stop a member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family buying the Barclay-owned Telegraph, has added another hurdle to a potential takeover. Enders said: “You wouldn’t even be able to put a valuation on those companies [the *** newspapers] because of the rules in place on foreign ownership.” While the radio assets are admired, the company moved its upstart news channel TalkTV online because of losses. The *** assets are also possibly the least loved by every Murdoch except Rupert. Although Rebekah Brooks, long-serving chief executive of News ***, has been described by some insiders as “Rupert’s seventh child”, she remains very much an employee. Liz Murdoch, the only scion who has made her life in the ***, has also long focused on TV assets such as successful production company Sister. News *** declined to comment. In his interview with the Atlantic, which at times makes excruciating reading, James calls his father a “misogynist” unable to see the abilities of his older sisters, Liz and Prue. While critical of his brother’s “reactionary” and “white nativist” ideas, he seems more shocked that his father is not the “devoted free-marketeer” and “believer in immigration as a source of industry and ingenuity” he had long thought he was. Although he has largely kept his counsel since resigning from the News Corp board in 2020, James has been happy to talk to journalists. In 2000, when he had just joined the family firm, I interviewed him for the Guardian in New York. There was a poster of Chairman Mao and an icon of Jesus above a framed picture of James with Rupert behind his desk. “My father’s politics and mine, which I think I understand better than many do, are probably reasonably close,” he said. “I think he is vastly misunderstood politically.” James was about to be sent out to Asia to run Star TV. When I asked to whom he will turn for advice in his new job, he says: “I know it sounds hokey, but I speak to my father.” In court, amid a welter of evidence that at one point saw James weep in the witness box, it emerged that he had not talked to his father for years. The fate of the Murdoch business will have a huge influence on global politics – but, as the writers of Succession understood, it is also a brutal family drama. Jane Martinson is the author of You May Never See Us Again: The Barclay Dynasty. Source link #heading #collapse #Murdoch #empire #bang #Rupert #Murdoch Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

How to Watch the SAG Awards How to Watch the SAG Awards Who is nominated? “Wicked,” which leads all films with five nominations, will go up against the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown” (four), ““Emilia Pérez” (three), “Anora” (three) and “Conclave” (two) for the guild’s top prize, best ensemble. In the best actor race, Adrien Brody (“The Brutalist”), Timothée Chalamet (“A Complete Unknown”), Daniel Craig (“******), Colman Domingo (“Sing Sing”) and Ralph Fiennes (“Conclave”) will square off, while Pamela Anderson (“The Last Showgirl”), Cynthia Erivo (“Wicked”), Karla Sofía Gascón (“Emilia Pérez”), Mikey Madison (“Anora”) and Demi Moore (“The Substance”) will duke it out for best actress. On the TV side, “Shogun” is looking to continue its Emmys and Golden Globe dominance with five nominations, followed by Season 3 of FX’s restaurant dramedy “The Bear” (four) and Netflix’s political thriller “The Diplomat” (three). What award is Jane Fonda receiving? Fonda, the 87-year-old actress who has won two best actress Oscars (for “Klute” in 1972 and “Coming Home” in 1978) and one Emmy (in 1985 for the TV movie “The Dollmaker”) in a career spanning more than six decades, will receive the lifetime achievement award. (Previous winners include Frank Sinatra, Sidney Poitier, Carol Burnett and Barbra Streisand.) What should you watch for? On the film side, all eyes will be on the best actress race: Demi Moore, who plays an aging actress obsessed with regaining her youth in the body horror film “The Substance,” will go up against the 25-year-old Mikey Madison, the breakout star of “Anora.” Can Moore maintain her momentum from the Golden Globes, where she delivered a viral acceptance speech asserting that she had spent her entire career being dismissed as a “popcorn actress”? The supporting actress race also holds considerable intrigue, with Zoe Saldaña, who plays a savvy lawyer in “Emilia Pérez,” having won every major Oscars precursor over Ariana Grande, who plays the bubbly witch Glinda in “Wicked.” But “Wicked” made a strong showing at the SAGs, leading all films in nominations, and the controversy around the old tweets of Saldaña’s co-star, Gascón, continues to dog the candidacies of both Saldaña and the film’s director, Jacques Audiard. Source link #Watch #SAG #Awards Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

The Death of Competition in American Elections The Death of Competition in American Elections President Trump’s return to Washington has tested the bounds of presidential power and set off alarms among Democrats, historians and legal scholars who are warning that the country’s democratic order is under threat. But a close review of the 2024 election shows just how undemocratic the country’s legislative bodies already are. After decades of gerrymandering and political polarization, a vast majority of members of Congress and state legislatures did not face competitive general elections last year. Instead, they were effectively elected through low-turnout or otherwise meaningless primary contests. Vanishingly few voters cast a ballot in those races, according to a New York Times analysis of more than 9,000 congressional and state legislative primary elections held last year. On average, just 57,000 people voted for politicians in U.S. House primaries who went on to win the general election — a small fraction of the more than 700,000 Americans each of those winners now represents. Increasingly, members of Congress are not even facing primary challenges. About a third of the current members of the House ran unopposed in their primary. All but 12 of those districts were “safe” seats, meaning 124 House members essentially faced no challenge to their election. The absence of primaries is even more striking in state legislatures. More than three-quarters of those primary races in 2024 were uncontested, according to voting data from The Associated Press. Lawmakers who do face primaries are often left beholden to a small number of ideologically aligned, fiercely partisan voters — a group all too willing to drag elected representatives to the fringes and to punish them for compromise with the other side. “Most members of both parties, liberal and conservative, they’re more worried about losing their primary than losing the general election,” said Haley Barbour, a onetime aide to President Ronald Reagan and a former chair of the Republican National Committee. Competition has been on the decline in elections for both Congress and state legislatures over the past century, according to academic studies. But the meager number of competitive elections in 2024 points to a problem that is far from being fixed, and may be growing worse. This reality has helped Mr. Trump expand his ranks of loyal lawmakers in Congress and crush nearly all dissent in his party. In recent months, he and his allies have repeatedly wielded the threat of primary challenges to keep Republican lawmakers toeing the Trump line on issues like federal funding and the president’s cabinet nominations. But the fear of a primary challenge can also twist local politics, where state power brokers and well-funded interest groups can push lawmakers to take broadly unpopular positions. For example, in Idaho, where just four out of 105 state legislative races were competitive in November, lawmakers declined for six years to consider expanding access to Medicaid. When the issue finally got on the ballot in 2018, six in 10 voters endorsed it. The lack of competition in elections has contributed to Americans’ cratering trust in government. A recent Times/Ipsos poll found that 88 percent of adults believed the political system was broken and that 72 percent saw the government as mostly for elites. Just 25 percent viewed government as mostly working for the good of the country. “They’ve lost track of their voters,” Rory Duncan, 65, a Republican and a retired military veteran from Washington County, Md., said of his local government. “They’ve gerrymandered everything. We used to have a Republican, but they’ve gerrymandered it so much that there’s no way a Republican can get elected.” ‘More extreme candidates are winning’ Far fewer Americans vote in primaries than in general elections. Last year, roughly 30 million voters cast a primary ballot in a congressional election (that figure does not include Louisiana, which has a unique primary method). The total turnout in the general election was more than 156 million. Uncontested and low-turnout primaries plague both red and blue states. In Georgia, a battleground controlled largely by Republicans, 10 of the state’s 14 members of the U.S. House did not face a primary challenge. In deep-blue New York, 21 of the state’s 26 House members ran unopposed in their primary. Incumbency still gives politicians a huge advantage come election season. But incumbents are increasingly tempting targets for primary challenges because those races are largely ignored — making it easier to mount an outsider campaign that targets a few faithful voters. Of the 59 House members who have lost re-election contests since 2020, nearly half — 28 — were defeated in primaries. In state legislatures, more incumbent lawmakers lost re-election in the primaries than in the general election last year, according to the political database Ballotpedia. “One thing incumbents worry about is that it’s pretty easy for someone who doesn’t like you to pull together a super PAC and get money,” said Robert G. Boatright, an elections scholar at Clark University, in Worcester, Mass., who in 2013 literally wrote the book on congressional primaries. Two decades ago, Mr. Boatright said, incumbents lost primaries because of scandal, age or national issues that overrode local loyalties. Today, they are felled by ideological opponents or issue-oriented interest groups often backed by wealthy patrons or legions of small donors with few ties to the races they are financing. For much of the 2010s, one of the most powerful forces in Texas politics was a group called Empower Texans, the political project of a handful of oil-and-gas billionaires. The group’s political action committee poured millions into replacing more moderate Texas Republican politicians with social conservatives, generally by backing insurgents in primary races. Though the group’s track record was spotty, Texas politics today is dominated by right-wing leaders, like Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who were early beneficiaries of its millions. On the left, groups like Justice Democrats have had an outsize impact by almost exclusively backing more progressive working-class candidates against more traditional Democrats in a relative handful of carefully chosen primary contests. The group’s first slate of candidates in 2018, funded largely with small contributions from donors nationwide, included Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic Socialist who ousted a 10-term incumbent in that year’s primary and who has since become one of the most prominent House Democrats. While the Justice Democrats believe they are pushing the party’s centrist policies to the left, extremism is not simply a matter of liberals versus conservatives, according to the group’s communications director, Usamah Andrabi. “Our primaries are not left versus right. They’re bottom versus top,” he said. “If we have to scare corporate politicians into fighting for working people, then they should be scared.” Nevertheless, Steven Rogers, an expert on state politics at Saint Louis University, in Missouri, said politicians who edged closer to the political fringes were less likely to face primary challenges. “It’s becoming increasingly clear that over time, more extreme candidates are winning at both state legislative and congressional levels,” he said. A mirage of meaningfulness Even contested primary elections can sometimes be a mirage, offering little threat to an incumbent or to the candidate in a state’s dominant party. Michael Podhorzer, a strategist and the former political director of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., recently analyzed election data to determine how many state legislative primaries last year were competitive and “meaningful” — decided by 10 percentage points or fewer, and with the winner prevailing in the general election. He found that in the 35 states that held elections for both state legislative chambers last year, just 287 of more than 4,600 primaries met that definition. That leaves many voters without real representation: The districts that did not have meaningful primaries or general elections last year have roughly 158 million citizens, Mr. Podhorzer said, while those with meaningful primaries have only about 10 million. Experts are quick to point out that beyond gerrymandering, the political “sorting” of like-minded voters moving into the same communities has exacerbated the lack of competition. Linda Sacripanti, 58, a Democrat who lives in the deep-red northern panhandle of West Virginia, has experienced both of these political realities. Participating in primary elections, she says, simply means that “I have some choice in which Democrat is going to lose.” But for roughly 20 years, Ms. Sacripanti, who works in sales, lived in North Carolina, near Charlotte. She recalled voting for Jeff Jackson in Democratic state legislative primaries, when Mr. Jackson represented a deeply blue district in the State Senate. He parlayed that into a run for Congress in 2022, winning a similarly blue seat by 18 points. “Charlotte itself is pretty, pretty blue, so my vote had even more weight during the primaries,” Ms. Sacripanti said. “So I do think that it mattered.” In early 2024, Republicans in North Carolina won a legal challenge that allowed them to redraw the congressional and state legislative maps, wiping away Mr. Jackson’s district and effectively forcing him to resign (he is now the state’s attorney general). Last year, only 10 of the state’s 170 legislative seats had a meaningful primary, including just a single State Senate seat out of 50, according to data from Mr. Podhorzer. “It was just, ‘Change up the districts and get him the heck out of there,’” Ms. Sacripanti said. “When you look up ‘gerrymander’ in the dictionary, it goes right to North Carolina.” Source link #Death #Competition #American #Elections Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

No Exit – The New York Times No Exit – The New York Times In furtive messages, sent through handmade signs, hidden phones and gestures behind glass, some of the migrants expressed a sense of constant, overwhelming fear. Most did not want their faces to be seen, fearful of repercussions for being photographed by journalists. We did as much window-to-window communication as we could. In the central room, Artemis Ghasemzadeh, a 27-year-old migrant from Iran, scrawled “Help” on the window in lipstick. She was one of the few who did not conceal their face. Outside, my colleague, the New York Times reporter Julie Turkewitz, held up a notebook with her phone number, written for the migrants to see from their rooms — and message if they could. We learned that the 10 Iranian migrants had converted to Christianity, which according to Iran’s Shariah law, is a crime punishable by death. They had illegally entered the United States in the last month, and were detained in San Diego before being deported to Panama. We learned, too, that many of the migrants had arrived at the U.S. border from such countries as Afghanistan and China, hoping to seek asylum. Now they are trapped in Panama, where the Trump administration sent them because those nations will not accept them, or for other reasons. Officials in Panama say they are adhering to international protocols in their treatment of the migrants, and that two United Nations organizations oversee the migrants. Lawyers in the country say it is ******** to detain people without a court order for more than 24 hours. In the room below Ms. Ghasemzadeh, we established contact with three ******** nationals. One man wrote “China” and his phone number in toothpaste on the window. He held up a ********-language ****** and a crucifix to the window. He gave his surname as Wang, but in an interview expressed fear about being identified, saying it could be used against him if he were forcibly returned. “I would rather jump off a plane than go back to China,” he said. Since the above picture was taken last week, officials in Panama have said that more than half of the migrants have agreed to be deported to their countries of origin. Among them are the two Indian migrants, who entered the United States on Jan. 29 after a two-year journey, intending to seek asylum. Guards restrained them with handcuffs on their feet and hands. In an interview from the hotel, they said they had signed papers to be deported back to India, and that they would not complain. They had been given medical treatment, food and a place to sleep, they said. Migrants who did not agree to be deported would be taken to a detention camp on the outskirts of the jungle known as the Darién Gap, Panama’s security minister said. He described the decision to hold the migrants as part of an accord with the United States. Nearly 100 have already been moved from the hotel to the camp. We have yet to see the migrants there, and even in downtown Panama City we could only see so much. Some people closed their curtains or stayed out of view. To the right of Mr. Wang’s room, someone paced back and forth between the bed and a night stand, the lights off. We glimpsed just restless moving feet. Alan Yuhas contributed. Source link #Exit #York #Times Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

iPhone designer still asks: ‘I wonder what Steve Jobs would do?’ – despite being told not to | Design iPhone designer still asks: ‘I wonder what Steve Jobs would do?’ – despite being told not to | Design Sir Jony Ive, the innovative designer of Apple’s iMac, iPhone and Apple Watch, and a close friend and ­collaborator of the late Steve Jobs, says he still often asks himself: “I wonder what Steve would do?” Ive told BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs on Sunday that he does so despite the fact that Jobs had specifically told him not to before his death in 2011, aged 56. “He used to say I really don’t want you to be thinking ‘Well, what would Steve do?’,” Ives said. The designer, who was born in Chingford, Essex, and moved to San Francisco to work at Apple in 1992, worked alongside the company’s ­co-founder and CEO five years later, when Jobs was called back in to help the struggling company after a ******* working elsewhere. Jobs’ return marked an immediate improvement for Ive, he recalled. “It was remarkable that, despite the limitations of my ability to communicate, Steve understood what I thought and how I felt,” Ive said. He told host Lauren Laverne that he feels Jobs’ reputation as demanding and ruthless is unfair: “If you have such a clear, pure view of ­creating something new … if you are serious about actually wanting to develop and make it, you can’t just say ‘well, here’s an idea’ because if that’s how you’re going to behave, it will remain an idea.” He added that he couldn’t read anything about Jobs for 10 years after his death. The designer, who grew up in Staffordshire, bemoaned the lack of understanding about art and design in many schools and recalled how he felt his intelligence was questioned by teachers because he was shy and wanted to spend time making things. Fears that the technology he has helped to create could now be interfering with human creativity worry Ive, he said, adding that he finds it difficult to monitor his own use of technology. While he praised all the benefits that have flowed from the arrival of the iPhone, he said he feels a responsibility for the unintended, negative aspects. This is in his mind when he makes decisions about the tech of the future, he added. Ive’s concern about the threat posed by AI is mixed with his excitement about its possibilities, he said. His main worry is the unchecked speed of development. “We need time to understand and react,” he said. He did not give details of the AI project he spoke about working on last autumn with OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, but is enthusiastic: “It’s probably the first time in my career that I’m inspired by capability in this way.” Among Ive’s musical choices were Don’t You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds and part of the soundtrack from the Disney Pixar robot movie Wall-E. Source link #iPhone #designer #asks #Steve #Jobs #told #Design Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

UFC Seattle post-fight show: Reaction to disappointing end to Song Yadong’s win over Henry Cejudo – MMA Fighting UFC Seattle post-fight show: Reaction to disappointing end to Song Yadong’s win over Henry Cejudo – MMA Fighting UFC Seattle post-fight show: Reaction to disappointing end to Song Yadong’s win over Henry Cejudo MMA FightingUFC Fight Night: Cejudo vs Song Main Card Results | Highlights, Winner Interviews & More From Seattle UFCSong decisions Cejudo after accidental eye poke ESPNUFC Fight Night 252 predictions: Is Cejudo or Song the better man in Seattle? MMA JunkieHenry Cejudo declares he and Michael Bisping are ‘brothers’ as he loses eye sight during UFC Seattle loss to Song Yadong Bloody Elbow Source link #UFC #Seattle #postfight #show #Reaction #disappointing #Song #Yadongs #win #Henry #Cejudo #MMA #Fighting Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Song Yadong remorseful after UFC Seattle main event-ending eye poke – MMA Junkie Song Yadong remorseful after UFC Seattle main event-ending eye poke – MMA Junkie Song Yadong remorseful after UFC Seattle main event-ending eye poke MMA JunkieUFC Fight Night: Cejudo vs Song Main Card Results | Highlights, Winner Interviews & More From Seattle UFCSong decisions Cejudo after accidental eye poke ESPNUFC Fight Night 252 predictions: Is Cejudo or Song the better man in Seattle? MMA JunkieDana White shuts down Henry Cejudo vs. Song Yadong rematch after UFC Seattle controversy Bloody Elbow Source link #Song #Yadong #remorseful #UFC #Seattle #main #eventending #eye #poke #MMA #Junkie Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

The Time of Ninja codes (November 2024) The Time of Ninja codes (November 2024) Updated November 18, 2024: Checked for codes! It’s hard to stand out from the crowd with so many Naruto-inspired Roblox games, but this title manages to pull it off. Explore the hidden village, complete quests, battle against other ninjas as you level up your shinobi, and redeem The Time of Ninja codes to gain the upper hand! All The Time of Ninja codes list Active The Time of Ninja codes dialoguefixes! — Rewards (New) 20viewersonbytelivethanksforthisguys — Rewards sextou1 — Rewards zrb4iano — Rewards stupidnetwork — Rewards (Works only on gameplay servers) Expired The Time of Ninja codes leeisout! bestfixever! eightgatesiscoming! cookinglee! sorryforleeproblems bigupdatesoon fixmeditation! meditationshutdown! saturdayfixes1 codesinmenu! ihatespeedbugs! thxbrandon! bugfixes9999 fixramproblem10 thanks3m sorryforthedelay90 skeletonupdate90 newitems90 shutdown909090 lindao polenguinho Bytebirthday SinbadIsTheGoat leeisout! bestfixever! eightgatesiscoming! cookinglee! sorryforleeproblems bigupdatesoon fixmeditation! meditationshutdown! saturdayfixes1 codesinmenu! ihatespeedbugs! thxbrandon! bugfixes9999 fixramproblem10 thanks3m sorryforthedelay90 skeletonupdate90 newitems90 shutdown909090 lindao polenguinho Bytebirthday SinbadIsTheGoat zr4ismybaby! hygonratlover! docedeleite elementrework sorryforbugs999999 2M fixessorry reboleichaum RAIDBOSS SorryMobile sorryforredeyes! BETA NOMOREHEALER160 SORRYFORBUGSBRO NOMOREHEALER160 BUGFIX FAMILYCODE 4KCODEH flopalovehealer ttonback deladinhoproscrias fixtraining insanebooster trytofixping canetaazulazulcaneta vailuanamiga thanks1M thanks8K healerisgod THANKS50KVISITS 10spins FIXANDNEWS SORRYSHUTDOWN thanks2k khirow NOTYLINDO RELEASETESTERS ainwpapai sorrymobile SORRYFORNEWBUGS FLAWLESSBirthday lepolepo SORRYFORNEWBUGS FIXANDNEWS RELEASE THANKS70KVISITS Related: Anime Heroes Simulator codes and Shinobi Battlegrounds codes How to redeem codes in The Time of Ninja To redeem The Time of Ninja codes in a matter of seconds, heed our advice: Image by PC Invasion Image by PC Invasion Launch The Time of Ninja in Roblox. Click the Menu button (1) in the top-left corner of the screen. Click the ExtraMenu button (2) on the right side of the menu. Click the bird icon (3) to access the code redemption box. Type your codes into the text field (4). Hit Enter (5) to claim your prize. This article is the best place to find the latest The Time of Ninja codes, as we keep updating the list with new codes as soon as they drop. Make sure to bookmark it and check back often! PC Invasion is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy Source link #Time #Ninja #codes #November Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Electronic devices used in car thefts to be banned Electronic devices used in car thefts to be banned Sophisticated electronic devices used by criminals to steal cars are set to be banned under new laws in England and Wales. More than 700,000 vehicles were broken into last year – often with the help of high-tech electronic devices, including so-called signal jammers, which are thought to play a part in four out of 10 vehicle thefts nationwide. Until now, police could only bring a prosecution if they could prove a device had been used to commit a specific offence, but under new laws in the Crime and Policing Bill the onus will be on someone in possession of a device to show they had it for a legitimate purpose. Making or selling a signal jammer could lead to up to five years in prison or an unlimited fine. Keyless repeaters and signal amplifiers scramble the signal from remote key fobs inside people’s homes, enabling criminals to unlock cars. They are the most common way theft from a vehicle – or the theft of the vehicle itself – occurs. Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson said: “These thefts have a devastating effect on victims, who need their vehicles to go about their everyday lives.” According to the 2022/23 Crime Survey for England and Wales, an offender manipulated a signal from a remote locking device in 40% of thefts of vehicles nationwide. In London, that figure rose to approximately 60%. A significant proportion of vehicle theft is also driven by organised crime groups, which are constantly trying find ways to overcome security measures on vehicles by exploiting vulnerabilities in vehicles and new technologies. Motoring groups say car manufacturers must also step up efforts to make vehicles more secure. AA president, Edmund King, said: “This is a positive step, and these tougher sentences should make would-be thieves think again before stealing cars. Relay theft and signal jamming is all too frequent and these measures will give police forces more opportunities to tackle car crime.” The National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) welcomed the announcement. Lead for vehicle crime, Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Simms said the possession, manufacture, ***** and supply of signal jammers had provided an “easily accessible tool for criminals… for far too long”. “These devices have no legitimate purpose, apart from assisting in criminal activity, and reducing their availability will support policing and industry in preventing vehicle theft which is damaging to both individuals and businesses.” She added. The government’s flagship Crime and Policing Bill will be introduced to Parliament on Tuesday. Source link #Electronic #devices #car #thefts #banned Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Police officer allegedly accessed child abuse material Police officer allegedly accessed child abuse material A Tasmanian police officer has been stood down after he was charged with accessing child abuse material. The 54-year-old Launceston man was charged by the Tasmanian Joint Anti Child Exploitation team, comprising Tasmania Police and the *********** Federal Police, and stood down from duty immediately. He was expected to face Launceston Magistrates Court on Sunday evening. The charges followed investigations into a report from the United States National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about an online user transmitting child abuse content. Police allegedly identified the man as the online user and executed search warrants in Launceston and Hobart on Sunday during which they found and seized electronic devices they allege contained child abuse material. The devices will be subject to further forensic examination. The man was arrested at his home and charged with one count of using a carriage service for child abuse material, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in jail. “This is distressing news, and wellbeing services are being made available to all staff as required,” Tasmania Police said in a statement on Sunday. “As an organisation, we have committed to better-protecting children and ensuring the values and behaviour of Tasmania Police meets the high standards expected by the community.” Tasmanian Police said it would continue to work alongside the AFP on the investigation and as part of the Tasmanian Joint Anti Child Exploitation team. “It is not appropriate for us to comment further as the matter is before the courts,” the statement said. The AFP urged members of the public who have information about people involved in child abuse to come forward. “The AFP and its partners are committed to stopping child exploitation and abuse and the AFP-led *********** Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) is driving a collaborative national approach to combating child abuse,” it said in a statement. “If you know abuse is happening right now or a child is at risk, call police immediately.” 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) National ******* Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028 Lifeline 13 11 14 Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for people aged 5 to 25) Source link #Police #officer #allegedly #accessed #child #abuse #material Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Viral video shows massive brawl at Atlanta airport boarding gate Viral video shows massive brawl at Atlanta airport boarding gate The Brief Cellphone video captured the moments a large brawl broke out at Atlanta’s airport. Atlanta police say the fight happened earlier this week. The incident appears to have taken place at a Spirit Airlines departure gate. ATLANTA – Travel plans took a violent turn for some passengers at Atlanta’s airport on Wednesday. Cellphone video captured the moments a brawl broke out at what appeared to be a Spirit Airlines boarding gate. What we know Viral video captured fists flying during the brawl at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Feb. 19. In the video that’s gotten nearly a half million views since it was posted Friday, a large group of travelers can be seen punching and kicking one another in front of what appears to be a Spirit Airlines wall advertisement. One woman can be seen jumping over her seat to get in on the action—while a different angle shows some travelers running to get out of harm’s way. Atlanta police say they responded to reports of a large disturbance at the airport, but by the time they got to the gate, the crowd had dispersed. What we don’t know It’s still unclear what prompted the fight or whether any of the travelers involved faced any consequences. The other side FOX 5 Atlanta reached out to a spokesperson for Hartsfield-Jackson and Spirit Airlines for comment. We’re still waiting to hear back from both. The Source Atlanta police provided information included in this report. ATLUncensored provided permission to share the viral video. Source link #Viral #video #shows #massive #brawl #Atlanta #airport #boarding #gate Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

****** on prisoner release delay: 'Humiliating the hostages? Lies in order to break ceasefire' – The Jerusalem Post ****** on prisoner release delay: 'Humiliating the hostages? Lies in order to break ceasefire' – The Jerusalem Post ****** on prisoner release delay: ‘Humiliating the hostages? Lies in order to break ceasefire’ The Jerusalem PostNetanyahu playing ‘dirty games’ to sabotage Gaza truce deal: ****** Al Jazeera EnglishHamas says Israel’s claim on hostages’ handover ceremony is pretext to evade its obligations ReutersTrump Should Listen to the Bibas Family, Not to Bibi Netanyahu HaaretzNetanyahu to hold security consultations tonight on remaining hostages The Times of Israel Source link #****** #prisoner #release #delay #039Humiliating #hostages #Lies #order #break #ceasefire039 #Jerusalem #Post Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

XRP (Ripple) Will Soar More Than 100% by the Year’s End in 2025 XRP (Ripple) Will Soar More Than 100% by the Year’s End in 2025 In 2012, a group of developers who eventually founded the financial technology company Ripple created XRP (CRYPTO: XRP), a digital asset that makes cross-border payments faster and cheaper. XRP is currently the third most valuable cryptocurrency behind Bitcoin and Ethereum. Former Goldman Sachs analyst Dom Kwok wrote earlier this year, “High chance that XRP flips ETH very soon.” As of Feb. 21, XRP has a market value of $154 billion, and Ethereum has a market value of $338 billion. That means Kwok’s prediction implies that XRP will soar 120% from its current price of $2.66. I see two catalysts that could cause XRP’s price to double (or more) in the next year. First, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may dismiss its lawsuit against Ripple in the near future. Second, the SEC may approve spot XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs) later this year. Read on for more details. In December 2020, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple. The agency asked the court to fine the company $2 billion because it allegedly raised over $1.3 billion by selling XRP as an unregistered security, both directly to institutional investors and indirectly through digital exchanges. In July 2023, Federal Judge Analisa Torres issued a split decision, ruling direct sales to institutional investors violated securities law but indirect sales through digital exchanges did not. Torres ordered Ripple to pay $125 million, much less than what the SEC requested. The agency has since appealed the ruling. The SEC filed its opening brief with the appeals court earlier this year, and Ripple plans to file its opening brief in April. But the lawsuit may be dismissed before that happens. The SEC has undergone a radical change since former Chair Gary Gensler resigned on Jan. 20. Specifically, the day after his departure, the agency formed a cryptocurrency task force to create sensible regulations. “The SEC has relied primarily on enforcement actions to regulate crypto retroactively and reactively, often adopting novel and untested legal interpretations along the way. Clarity regarding who must register, and practical solutions for those seeking to register, have been elusive. The result has been confusion about what is legal, which creates an environment hostile to innovation and conducive to fraud. The SEC can do better.” Meanwhile, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to strengthen American leadership in digital financial technologies. The directive created a working group to evaluate the creation of a national digital asset stockpile. That may position the government as a buyer of cryptocurrency, which could legitimize digital assets and encourage adoption by institutional investors. Story Continues Here’s the bottom line: The regulatory climate has become more favorable for cryptocurrency companies since President Donald Trump took office. Consequently, I think the SEC may simply drop its lawsuit against Ripple in the coming months. If that happens, XRP could soar. Indeed, its price rocketed 69% during the 24-hour ******* after Federal Judge Torres handed Ripple a partial win in July 2023. Image source: Getty Images. Several asset managers have recently filed paperwork with the SEC requesting permission to create spot XRP ETFs. The agency has up to 240 days to make a decision, which puts the deadline in mid-October 2025. Spot XRP ETFs would offer more convenient exposure than direct ownership. Rather than buying XRP through costly cryptocurrency exchanges, investors could buy spot XRP ETFs through existing brokerage accounts. By reducing friction, those investment vehicles could bring more institutional and retail investors to the market. That scenario has already played out to some degree with Bitcoin. The SEC approved spot Bitcoin ETFs in January 2024, and the cryptocurrency soared more than 100% over the following year. Brazil recently approved the first spot XRP ETF, and if the U.S. SEC follows suit, I think XRP could more than double in value in short order. Before you buy stock in XRP, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and XRP wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $823,858!* Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 917% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 178% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of February 21, 2025 Trevor Jennewine has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Ethereum, Goldman Sachs Group, and XRP. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Prediction: XRP (Ripple) Will Soar More Than 100% by the Year’s End in 2025 was originally published by The Motley Fool Source link #XRP #Ripple #Soar #Years Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Auckland still thriving, Mariners in strife in ALM Auckland still thriving, Mariners in strife in ALM ROUND 20 OF THE A-LEAGUE MEN COMPETITION AT A GLANCE: THEY SAID IT: “I don’t know where the game is going. If that is a penalty, then we’re in trouble.” – Melbourne City coach Aurelio Vidmar was incensed by a contentious spot kick awarded to Melbourne Victory in Saturday night’s derby. MAN OF THE WEEK: Neyder Moreno. The Colombian secured himself a piece of New Zealand footballing history in Auckland FC’s 6-1 smashing of Wellington, netting the first-ever hat-trick in the A-League Men’s newest rivalry. Increasingly establishing himself in Steve Corica’s XI, the 28-year-old has now scored in four of his side’s last five games. TALKING POINT: Vidmar and Victory coach Arthur Diles both had plenty of bones to pick with the officials after a drama-laden 2-2 derby draw. Diles said big games needed to be awarded to the best referees – indicating that hadn’t happened on Saturday night, while Vidmar was fuming that Victory skipper Roderick Miranda wasn’t sent off. STAT ATTACK: Melbourne City have now gone a remarkable eight Melbourne derbies without a win, dating back to 2023. BEAT THAT: Moreno may have grabbed a hat-trick but it was Logan Rogerson with the pick of the goals in Auckland’s humiliation of the Phoenix, lasering a long-range drive to make it 5-0 in the 80th minute. UNDER PRESSURE: The pressure is understandably piling on Giancarlo Italiano after Wellington’s 6-1 drubbing. But reigning champions Central Coast weren’t at the races in a 4-0 defeat to Western Sydney and now sit a full seven points outside the top six – below arch-rivals Newcastle. UP NEXT: Third-placed Western United head north to take on Central Coast on Friday night, when Wellington host City. Adelaide United travel to take on Auckland in a tantalising top-two clash, Brisbane host Victory and Macarthur FC take on Sydney FC. On Sunday, Western Sydney host Perth. Source link #Auckland #thriving #Mariners #strife #ALM Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

CNN Data Reporter Reveals Trump’s New ‘Great Weakness’ CNN Data Reporter Reveals Trump’s New ‘Great Weakness’ CNN data reporter Harry Enten spotted a major warning sign for President Donald Trump in the latest polling data as voters give him low marks in the one area that used to be his greatest strength: the economy. “I honestly never thought I’d see the day in which Donald Trump would be polling so poor on the economy, but that day is here,” Enten said on Thursday. Enten said four new polls “tell a consistent story” about Trump: His approval ratings, which were in positive territory last month as he began his second term in office, have now completely reversed. “Trump is on the negative side of the ledger,” Enten said. “His net approval is negative. He is underwater like ‘The Little Mermaid.’” All four of the new polls released Thursday show him with a negative net approval rating, he pointed out, making it Trump’s “worst day of polling” since he took office. But it’s his numbers on the economy that really stand out. “This was one of Donald Trump’s great strengths,” Enten said. “Now it’s one of his great weaknesses.” Enten said that in February 2017, at a similar point during Trump’s first term in office, an Ipsos poll had him up by 16 points on the economy. Now, he said, that same poll has him down by 8. He said it comes down to one core issue ― and it’s the same one that bedeviled Trump’s predecessor. “As I said last week, inflation ate the Joe Biden presidency alive, and right now it is very much the case that Donald Trump is in danger of inflation eating his presidency alive, because his net approval ratings on the economy are underwater.” See more below: Source link #CNN #Data #Reporter #Reveals #Trumps #Great #Weakness Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

******** take record 9 billion domestic trips during Lunar New Year, Xinhua reports ******** take record 9 billion domestic trips during Lunar New Year, Xinhua reports SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) – China notched a record 9.02 billion domestic trips during the 40-day Lunar New Year travel rush, the state Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday, surpassing the 8.4 billion trips taken in the same holiday ******* a year earlier. The travel rush during China’s biggest holiday is often read as a barometer for the country’s economic health and a pressure test for its vast transportation system. The rise in travel was in line with expectations. Some 513 million train trips were taken during the Spring Festival, as the holiday is known in China, up 6.1% on last year, while 90.2 million passengers travelled by air, up 7.4%, according to Xinhua. Trusted news and daily delights, right in your inbox See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. Annual tallies of trips made during the annual travel rush have jumped since the Ministry of Transport revised the metric before the 2023 Lunar New Year to include self-driving road trips on major national expressways. A total of 2.98 billion trips were recorded in the 2019 Spring Festival travel rush, the year before COVID-19 pandemic restrictions hampered travel. (Reporting by David Kirton; Editing by Tom Hogue) Source link #******** #record #billion #domestic #trips #Lunar #Year #Xinhua #reports Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

NetEase Will Reportedly Cut Many Of Its Overseas Studios, Leading To Potential Closures NetEase Will Reportedly Cut Many Of Its Overseas Studios, Leading To Potential Closures NetEase will divest itself of many of its overseas studios, leading to their potential closure, according to a new report. Source link #NetEase #Reportedly #Cut #Overseas #Studios #Leading #Potential #Closures Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Aussie arrested in Switzerland over alleged stabbing Aussie arrested in Switzerland over alleged stabbing Government officials are making urgent efforts to get in contact with an *********** man reportedly arrested in Switzerland. Source link #Aussie #arrested #Switzerland #alleged #stabbing Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Eric Adams sues Trump over missing $80M Eric Adams sues Trump over missing $80M NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Eric Adams filed a lawsuit Friday against President Donald Trump and others in his administration over $80 million the White House removed from a city bank account without permission, after Elon Musk threatened the withdrawal on X. The clawback earlier this month flummoxed local officials and instilled fear the Trump administration could wreak havoc on the municipal purse of a Democratic city with a $115 billion budget. Friday’s suit marks a rare instance of public opposition to the Republican White House from a Democratic mayor who has gone to great lengths to avoid criticizing the president as he sought Trump’s assistance in his federal corruption case, which Trump’s Justice Department has moved to dismiss. That dynamic that has led to calls for Adams to be removed, prompted the resignation of top aides and spurred Gov. Kathy Hochul to propose legislative guardrails around his leadership this week. In its suit, the city is alleging Trump’s team violated federal laws, grant terms and regulations when they reversed the transfer of $80.5 million that had already made its way into a City Hall bank account. Congress approved the funds, which were earmarked for immigrant services. “Without a doubt, our immigration system is broken, but the cost of managing an international humanitarian crisis should not overwhelmingly fall onto one city alone,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement. “With very little help from the federal government, our administration has skillfully managed an unprecedented crisis.” City attorneys are asking for the cash to be restored and for the Trump administration to be enjoined from a similar seizure going forward. “Defendants have acted lawlessly, but have attempted, after the fact, to mask this fact with a semblance of following procedure,” city Corporation Counsel Muriel Goode-Trufant wrote in a complaint filed in federal court. Goode-Trufant alleges federal officials had no grounds to claw back the cash when they invoked a provision in federal banking laws to reverse its payment. The funding was provided through an initiative called the Shelter and Services Program (SSP) run by the Department of Homeland Security. “The statements could not be clearer: Defendants’ purpose for grabbing back the funds was not related to the City’s specific expenditures at all, but to thwart the very purpose of the SSP,” Goode-Trufant wrote. She alleged DHS and FEMA removed the money without following the applicable procedures per federal law, and sent the city a letter laying out concerns money was going to ******** activities — without providing any concrete examples — after the feds had already seized the cash. “The letter is meant to look like it affords the requisite administrative process when, in fact, the decision has already been made to deny payment to the City because Defendants do not want to pay the City for providing the very services to the very people for the very purposes that Congress appropriated the funds and FEMA awarded the grants and approved and made the payments,” Goode-Trufant wrote. The city further claimed Trump officials misrepresented their intentions in a separate legal case regarding the federal government’s authority to freeze funds earmarked for states. DHS and FEMA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The saga began at 5 a.m. Feb. 10, when Elon Musk said in a post on X that DOGE had discovered $57 million sent by FEMA for “luxury hotels in New York City to house ******** migrants. Sending this money violated the law and is in gross insubordination to the President’s executive order.” He added the money was meant for disaster relief for Americans. While the money was paid out by FEMA, it originated from a DHS program meant to reimburse state and local governments for services for non-citizen immigrants. In other words, it had nothing to do with disaster relief. And rather than a luxury hotel, the funds were used to pay a FEMA-approved per-person rate for lodging, according to the suit, in this case at the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had said the Roosevelt was being used as a base for the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The NYPD has said the gang has been recruiting members from city shelters and that members of an offshoot organization have stayed at the Roosevelt. Despite Musk’s mischaracterization of the payment, the Trump administration sacked four FEMA officials responsible for carrying out the transfer. A day after Musk’s post, city officials said they discovered $80 million missing from their bank account — along with a $15,000 overdraft fee that City Hall said has since been cancelled. According to Friday’s lawsuit, the money had been transferred to the city account on Feb. 4. Jeff Coltin contributed to this report. Source link #Eric #Adams #sues #Trump #missing #80M Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Latest Galaxy S25 Ultra Bundle Offer is Too Good – Droid Life Latest Galaxy S25 Ultra Bundle Offer is Too Good – Droid Life Latest Galaxy S25 Ultra Bundle Offer is Too Good Droid LifeOrder your new Samsung Galaxy S25 device and get up to $1,200 in savings USA TODAYSamsung Galaxy S25 review: the smallest top-tier Android left The GuardianThe Galaxy S25 Ultra Is Now 70% Off, Samsung Is Clearing Out Stock GizmodoI shot over 200 photos with the Galaxy S25 Ultra vs OnePlus 13 — here’s the winner Tom’s Guide Source link #Latest #Galaxy #S25 #Ultra #Bundle #Offer #Good #Droid #Life Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Mirra Andreeva: Dubai victory makes Russian youngest WTA 1000 winner Mirra Andreeva: Dubai victory makes Russian youngest WTA 1000 winner Mirra Andreeva made history by becoming the youngest player to claim a WTA 1000 title after the 17-year-old won the Dubai Tennis Championships. The Russian beat Clara Tauson 7-6 (7-1) 6-1 and her victory means she will next week climb into the top 10 for the first time. Andreeva defeated Grand Slam winners Marketa Vondrousova, Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina on her way to the final. “I’d set a goal for myself to be in top 10 by the end of the year,” she said. “Now it’s the end of February and I’ve already made it, so this is something incredible for me.” Denmark’s Tauson, 22, had gone 2-0 up early on but Andreeva soon settled into her game to break back and level the match at 2-2. There was little to separate the two as the first set went to a tiebreak, where Andreeva won the first six points before Tauson sent a return long. Andreeva then dominated the second set, breezing into a 5-1 lead before world number 38 Tauson’s return went long again to seal the title for the teenager. “I’m just super happy with the way I was playing,” added Andreeva. “I was nervous. I think you could see it during the match with all those double faults, some mistakes. “So I’m just really happy that I could manage and deal with the pressure. And now it just feels amazing. “This is something I dreamt of and now my dream came true so I’m just, I’m speechless right now.” Source link #Mirra #Andreeva #Dubai #victory #Russian #youngest #WTA #winner Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]