Pelican Press

Billionaire Gautam Adani charged in New York with massive ****** Billionaire Gautam Adani charged in New York with massive ****** Chairperson of Indian conglomerate Adani Group, Gautam Adani addresses a gathering during the inaugural session of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 in Gandhinagar on January 10, 2024. Punit Paranjpe | AFP | Getty Images Gautam Adani, the chair of India’s Adani Group conglometerate and one of the world’s richest people, has been indicted in New York federal court with other defendants in connection with an alleged multi-billion-dollar ****** scheme, authorities said Wednesday. Adani and two other defendants, Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain, who are executives of Adani Green Energy Limited, are accused of conspiring to commit wire ****** and securities ****** for their roles in obtaining funds from investors in the ******* States and international lenders “on the basis of false and misleading statements,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn said. “The defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars and Gautam S. Adani, Sagar R. Adani and Vneet S. Jaain lied about the bribery scheme as they sought to raise capital from U.S. and international investors,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace. This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates. Source link #Billionaire #Gautam #Adani #charged #York #massive #****** Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Texas ‘Bluebonnet Textbook’ Would Teach ******-Based Curriculum to Students – Big Vote Coming Texas ‘Bluebonnet Textbook’ Would Teach ******-Based Curriculum to Students – Big Vote Coming The Texas State Board of Education is one step closer to signing off on a new ******-based curriculum for elementary public schools. The state’s education board held a preliminary vote Tuesday on its “Bluebonnet” textbook that would provide optional course material for kindergarten through fifth-grade students. The curriculum was designed with a multi-disciplinary approach that uses reading and language arts lessons to reiterate concepts in other subjects, such as history or social studies, according to the Texas Tribune. So kindergarteners would learn about the “golden rule” through a lesson on the story of the Good Samaritan, found in the Gospels. Or students would learn about the significant role ****** played in artwork such as Leonardo da Vinci’s painting “The Last Supper,” a Guardian report explains. A poetry unit for fifth graders would examine the Book of Psalms from the Old Testament alongside poems from Robert Frost and William Carlos Williams. Adopting the curriculum is optional for schools. However, they would receive additional funding, $60 a student, if the school participates. Educators, parents, and advocates weighed in Monday at the State Board of Education’s final meeting of the year. Critics argued the curriculum’s ********** teachings would alienate students of other faiths, while proponents made the case that it would give students a more holistic educational foundation. Educator Megan Tessler said the lesson plans contradict the public school mission. “This curriculum fails to meet the standard of an honest, secular one,” Tessler said. “Public schools are meant to educate, not indoctrinate.” Others strongly backed the idea. “Parents and teachers want a return to excellence,” said Cindy Asmussen, testifying Monday. “Stories and concepts in the ****** have been common for hundreds of years,” and that, she said, is a core part of classical learning. The second-largest teacher’s union in the country also weighed in. The Texas chapter of the ********* Federation of Teachers said in a statement that the curriculum “violate(s) the separation of ******* and state and the academic freedom of our classroom” as well as “the sanctity of the teaching profession.” The program was designed by the Texas Education Agency earlier this year after the passage of a law giving it a mandate to create its own free textbook. The agency said in a statement in May that the materials “were developed using the best evidence from cognitive science to ensure teachers have access to quality, on-grade-level materials that enable teachers to focus on delivering the highest-quality instruction and providing differentiated supports to students.” The proposal to incorporate religious teaching in Texas public schools is similar to other efforts around the country to allow students to learn about the ******’s impact on history and civilization. As CBN News reported, Louisiana is taking steps to display a Ten Commandments poster in classrooms. That effort is being disputed in the courts. And Oklahoma is looking to reintroduce the ****** in public school classrooms. Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters is spearheading the effort which is also facing legal challenges. “We’re going to continue to stand up against these ******** left-wing groups and say, listen, the ******, in its historical context, belongs in the classroom,” Walters told CBN News. “And frankly, what have we seen since the ****** was removed from the classroom? Society, in almost every way, has gone downhill.” Walters believes that bringing biblical principles back into Oklahoma classrooms will reshape the state’s education system and restore foundational values. “We’re not pushing individuals to be **********. We’re not pushing a religion on them. What we are doing is making sure that our kids understand ********* history, and that is essential for our kids to understand what made America great,” he said. The Texas State Board of Education will have a final vote on their textbook Friday. ***Please sign up for CBN Newsletters and download the CBN News app to ensure you keep receiving the latest news from a distinctly ********** perspective.*** Source link #Texas #Bluebonnet #Textbook #Teach #BibleBased #Curriculum #Students #Big #Vote #Coming Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

During World War II, This Farmer Risked Everything to Help His ********* ********* Neighbors During World War II, This Farmer Risked Everything to Help His ********* ********* Neighbors By Jake Whitney Photographs by Kevin Miyazaki On the morning of May 29, 1942, Mary Tsukamoto awoke to find her mattress on the floor. Glancing around the bedroom that she shared with her husband, Al, it took her a moment to get her bearings: Today was the day she and her family would lose their freedom. Their bed frame, along with the rest of their furniture, was in storage. “We had broken no law, committed no ********* act,” she later wrote. But “on this day we were to leave our homes. No one knew where we were to go nor for how long we would be gone. … We were labeled as ********** because our faces were *********.” Al and Mary’s daughter, Marielle, who was 5 at the time, clearly recalls that morning. “I remember getting up early, and it was cold,” Marielle, now 87, said to me recently. “I was told to go get my grandmother. She was in her 60s and was in the garden crying because she believed she wouldn’t come back alive.” As her grandmother, Ito, cried in her rose garden, her grandfather, Kuzo, took one last look at the grapevines he had planted 20 years earlier. “It is the darkest day of our lives,” he told the family. “We are about to lose our treasured liberty. Will we ever see this dear place again?” Kuzo Tsukamoto had left Hiroshima around 1885, when he was 17. After laboring in the cane fields of Hawaii, fishing for salmon in Canada and repairing railroad tracks in the Northwestern ******* States, he settled in Florin, an agricultural community nine miles south of Sacramento. ********* immigrants there had innovated a technique for planting strawberries between rows of grapevines that “proved to alter the economic history” of the town, according to the Florin Historical Society. Soon, Florin was shipping 250 train cars of strawberries per season and calling itself the Strawberry Capital of the World. Kuzo’s wife, Ito, joined him in Florin in 1902, and they had four children—Margaret, Edith, Alfred (Al) and Nami. In 1920, they moved to a 35-acre farm. The wreckage of U.S. ships in the ********* ******* on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941 Alamy A note in a shop window in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, posted by the store’s ********* ********* owners before their relocation. Getty Images In Florin, where white Americans and ********* immigrants’ families lived and worked side by side, racism was always present. An alien land law prohibited ********* immigrants from becoming citizens and owning land, so first-generation immigrants, known by the ********* word issei, typically had to wait until they had children—nisei, the second generation—before they could buy land. (They either bought land under their children’s names or waited for their children to grow old enough to buy it themselves.) And while some ******* were grateful to ********* farmers for driving the town’s economic *****, others resented their success. “When the ********* were scarce and we were their customers, they were our friends,” Al Tsukamoto, then 80, recalled in a 1992 interview for the ********* ********* Citizens League (JACL). “But as the ********* population grew and built their own stores and stopped patronizing [white-owned stores], they didn’t like us.” The ******** of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, brought that resentment out into the open, now disguised as patriotism. Immediately after the *******, the FBI arrested more than 1,200 ********* community leaders on the West Coast, identifying them from a list of “suspect ****** aliens” compiled using U.S. Census information. In her 1988 book We the People: A Story of Internment in America (co-written by Elizabeth Pinkerton), Mary described how agents “had suddenly appeared at [peoples’] doors and taken them away.” The older issei were the most suspected. One of the Tsukamotos’ issei neighbors, who was recovering from a *******, had difficulty speaking. After agents interrogated him, he was so afraid he had mistakenly implicated others that he hanged himself. Politicians exploited the fury against Japan to rally voters, and newspapers used it to sell papers. An op-ed by sports columnist Henry McLemore in January 1942 was representative. It read, in part: “I am for immediate removal of every ********* on the West Coast to a point deep in the interior. … Let ’em be pinched, hurt, hungry and ***** up against it. … I hate the *********. And that goes for all of them.” Cartoonists, meanwhile, portrayed ********* people as plotting, bucktoothed buffoons. Theodor Geisel, the editorial cartoonist for PM, a ******** magazine in New York, drew a cartoon showing squinty-eyed ********* lining up along the West Coast to be given dynamite. The caption read “Waiting for the Signal From Home.” The cartoonist (better known by his pen name, Dr. Seuss) never formally apologized for his ******* cartoons. Arguably the most damaging newspaper article was by Walter Lippmann, the widely read ******** columnist. In February 1942, after a dinner with Earl Warren, the pro-internment California attorney general, Lippmann wrote that the Pacific Coast was in “imminent danger” of an ******* “from within and from without.” He cited as evidence the fact that there was no evidence: In a case where an “****** alien” hasn’t committed any sabotage, he wrote, it “is a sign that the ***** is well organized and that it is held back until it can be struck with maximum effect.” The column ran in more than 250 newspapers, and the next day, every member of Congress from West Coast states signed a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt recommending “immediate evacuation of all persons of ********* lineage.” Shortly afterward, the president signed Executive Order 9066, which permitted the U.S. military to remove citizens from designated zones. This allowed the U.S. military to relocate anyone of ********* descent living in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Alaska and Hawaii to one of ten barbed-wire-encircled camps. These camps were situated in some of the most inhospitable land in the country, such as the sunbaked Arizona desert and the fetid swampland of Arkansas. The Tsukamotos learned that they would still be required to pay the mortgage and taxes on their farm during incarceration. If they didn’t, California law permitted banks and the state to take over “abandoned properties.” Al and Mary considered reaching out to the Florin Fruit Growers’ Association (FFGA), the local farmers’ cooperative, for help. But Al came to suspect that the association, whose leadership was dominated by white farmers, was not making deals in the best interests of ********* ********* families. Instead, the Tsukamotos turned to a state agricultural inspector named Bob Fletcher, who certified fruit and produce in California and Arizona. A taciturn man, Fletcher had nevertheless become friendly with the Tsukamotos in the course of his work. Al proposed an arrangement: If Fletcher could tend their farm and pay their bills, he could keep the profits. And not only the Tsukamotos’: Al asked Fletcher if he would also work the farms of two other ********* families, the Okamotos and Nittas, and pay their bills as well. This would mean tending 90 acres of Tokay grapes for an unknown duration of time. Fletcher, who had no experience raising grapes, said he needed to think about it. Within a week, he gave his answer: He would help, and because he would have to quit his job to handle the work, he would need to keep some profits, he said. But he refused to take them all, insisting they split them—half for himself and half for the families. An exclusion order posted at the corner of First and Front Streets in San Francisco. Alamy As the Tsukamoto family prepared to be taken away, a number of other “wonderful Caucasian friends” lent support, Mary wrote. One, Mary McComber, brought them casseroles and cakes. The town’s former high school principal, Roy Learned, offered to store their possessions. “Did we ever consider not obeying?” the order, Mary asked in her 1988 book. “Never. … It was our duty, and we had better be there on time.” She added: “How we ached to prove our loyalty to the only country we had ever known!” Her daughter, Marielle, told me recently that the widespread compliance with relocation was cultural but also practical. “You had elderly parents who didn’t speak much English, couldn’t write and didn’t have citizenship. My dad did all the banking and the business. My grandfather couldn’t do that. So if the adults fought back and got themselves arrested, what would happen to the rest of the family?” On May 29, 1942, the Tsukamotos made sure to be at the Elk Grove train station by 9 a.m., as they had been instructed. (Al’s other sisters would also be on the train with their families, along with Mary’s parents, Taro and Kame, and Mary’s siblings—Jean, Julia, Ruth, Isabel and George.) A small group of white friends “braved criticism” to see them off, Mary wrote, bringing them sandwiches and cookies for the trip. George and Margaret Feil took them to the station, while Bob Fletcher drove away their belongings. “We were all on the train crying,” Marielle recalled. “We were hungry, we were hot, we wanted to go home. … About half of us were children. … Were we going to get *******? Were we going to be used as slaves? Nobody knew anything.” If they did manage to make it through whatever came next, all their hopes for the future rested on one man: Bob Fletcher. When Robert Emmett Fletcher Jr. ***** in 2013, obituaries saluted his courage. But I was surprised that his story was not more widely known. So I set out to learn more about him. I found his granddaughter Jill Stowers, who was living in Idaho and who had unearthed a journal, never before published, in which Fletcher wrote about the major events of his life. Between the journal and other new discoveries, I realized there was more of Fletcher’s story to tell. As soon as the ********* families were moved to the camps, Fletcher took over their farms and, per his agreement, began to save money for them. In the process, he angered community members who supported internment. At one point, someone fired a shot into the Tsukamotos’ barn. Interviewed years later about why he agreed to help, Fletcher was characteristically humble. “I don’t think I did anything,” he told Elizabeth Pinkerton in an interview for the JACL, in 1995. “It was just something that needed to be done.” As to the anger he faced in the community and the ********* attempt, he added, “I was too busy to even think about it.” Fletcher was born in 1911, the only child of Robert Fletcher Sr., a farmer, and Olive Fletcher, a schoolteacher. His grandparents had come to California on wagon trains in the 1850s from Pennsylvania and New York. His paternal grandfather, John Fletcher, had been one of the “California 100”—Californians who wanted to ****** for the Union in the Civil War and traveled to Massachusetts to form an all-California battalion. These cavalrymen participated in the Third Battle of Winchester, a key victory for the Union. Those who knew Fletcher described him essentially the same way. Lean and 6-foot-2, he was stoic and unwaveringly polite. Marielle said he “looked like a cowboy” and “kind of reminded me of Gary Cooper.” He was a man of high ideals who believed in hard work. “Grandpa would come in from working the fields and say hello,” Jill Stowers told me of childhood visits to her grandparents. “And then go right back to work, and we wouldn’t see him again until dinner.” A Tsukamoto family photo taken by Al shows (back row, left to right) his father, Kuzo; his wife, Mary; a family friend; Edith and Ken Ouchida; his sister Nami; Lucy Ouchida; and his mother, Ito. In front, the Ouchida children Lester, Harold Jr. and Earl with Marielle. Courtesy Tsukamoto Family Bob Fletcher was a state agricultural inspector during the Great Depression before he agreed to tend the farms of his ********* ********* neighbors. Courtesy Californian musuem Stowers’ father (and Fletcher’s son), also named Robert, born in 1946, emphasized his father’s work ethic as well—but noted that his dedication kept the two of them from seeing much of each other. “He was so busy. He’d come home from wherever he was working, change his clothes, go out in the fields and either cut hay, rake hay or bale hay. … I didn’t really get a chance to talk to him. I spent most of my time with my mom and grandma.” As for any life lessons he learned from his father growing up, he said, with a laugh, “He made me work.” A Vietnam veteran, Robert Fletcher III worked in steel production, then for a lumber company, then the postal service, before starting his own freight company, in Idaho, which he ran until he retired in 2013. When I asked if, growing up, he was aware of what his father had done for the ********* families, he said yes, but mainly from discussions with others; his dad didn’t discuss it much until later in life. While the arrangement between Fletcher and the families was nominally a business deal, the people I spoke with insisted that, for Fletcher, it wasn’t about money. “He didn’t want the money, just enough to cover him,” his son told me. “So when they came back from the camps there was a little cash flow for those people.” Stowers agreed. “I just remember him always saying it was the right thing to do, the neighborly thing to do.” Marielle was the most insistent. “Bob knew we were just like any other Americans,” she told me. “He was a man of few words but he always did what he thought was right.” I also spoke with Karl and Brian Okamoto—sons of Sam Okamoto, a neighbor whose farm Fletcher also saved. Neither brother ever met Fletcher, but they heard his name many times. Fletcher “was like a legend in our family,” Karl said. “He was the guy who preserved the property so that there was something to come back to after World War II.” He added that he’d heard of a Florin man named George Carlisle who also helped pay the bills for multiple ********* families while they were incarcerated. This was corroborated by a JACL interview I found with Percy Nakashima, another farmer in Florin, who asked Carlisle to tend his farm and two other farms while he and his family were sent to the Manzanar camp in the California desert. That arrangement was a formal business deal, and while Carlisle does not appear to have split the profits with the families, Nakashima’s gratitude is apparent on the recording—his voice breaks when he describes Carlisle as “our most trusted Caucasian friend.” Fletcher’s journal consists of 27 pages of handwritten notes. While they are not introspective, several shine more light on how he accomplished his feat and how he felt about it. In his first few journal entries, Fletcher recalled his earliest memories, including “going to town to shop with my mother in a horse and buggy,” “helping drive cattle with my father” and “riding my horse to grammar school.” In 1924, his family moved to a 20-acre farm in Brentwood, California, where his dad planted barley and almonds. Fletcher studied horticulture at the University of California, Davis, where he also ran track and played basketball. After college, he worked as the foreman of a peach ranch in Red Bluff. A couple of years later, he got the position as an agricultural inspector. An entry from Bob Fletcher’s journal reflects the magnitude of the work he’d undertaken. Courtesy Fletcher Family In the entries titled “1942-1945,” one wishes Fletcher had more to say about the war, his work on the farms and what was happening in Florin. But a couple of entries are telling. In one, he notes how he got through the harvest season: “This was a very difficult time, but I was able to get people to help in the harvesting and packing of the grapes. During the harvest we [were] able to get about 15 people to help. Some days we were able to get packed between two and three hundred boxes of Tokay grapes and later ten tons of grapes to the winery.” I discovered more unpublished information about Fletcher in a trove of audio interviews at California State University, Sacramento. The files included interviews with ********* Americans, including a number of Florin residents, conducted for the JACL and focusing on the war years. One interview with Mary Tsukamoto from the 1990s provided evidence that Fletcher, in working the three farms, sacrificed more than had previously been known. In Mary’s JACL interview, she mentioned that Fletcher had had a first wife named Clara (a fact I was able to confirm with the Sacramento County recorder’s office). In Mary’s view, that marriage had collapsed because of his long days working the three farms. Marielle told me that Clara had been helpful to their family while they were incarcerated, often sending items they could not acquire in camp. Fletcher met his second wife, Teresa Cassieri, when she and her mother were hired to help work the ********* ********* farms. They tied the grape vines, and when Fletcher would pick them up in his truck, he told Pinkerton: “She always got in first and sat beside me.” Bob and Teresa married in June 1945, shortly before the Tsukamotos’ return. They had their only child, Robert Fletcher III, the following year. Neither Fletcher’s son nor his granddaughter Jill Stowers was aware that he’d had an earlier marriage. While Fletcher was caring for their farm, the Tsukamotos were trying to settle into their new life. Most of the main camps were not ready right away, so their first destination was the Fresno Assembly Center, which operated between May and October 1942. It was located on sprawling fairgrounds a few miles outside the city and consisted, Mary wrote, of “row after row of ugly, ****** tar-paper-covered buildings in the barren desert,” with “not a single green tree to be seen.” At its peak, the Fresno center held more than 5,000 ********* Americans, with some incarcerees kept in horse stalls. For the Tsukamotos, life in Fresno was awful. Their first shock was the armed guards. One government rationale for internment was that it was for the incarcerees’ own protection. A common retort in the camps was: “So why are the guards pointing their guns at us?” There was no privacy, the barracks were cramped, and the food was often literally sickening. The bathrooms were abominable. Incarcerees had to line up at the toilets in rows, in full view of each other. The first time Mary used the bathroom, she vomited after raw sewage almost splashed on her. Meanwhile, Mary, as executive secretary of Florin’s JACL, was often falsely accused of providing her own family with perks that others did not receive. This resulted in loud, ugly arguments. “The worst in us was exposed as we were forced to give up our dignity,” she later wrote. Still, their lives settled into a routine. There was a newsletter, the Grapevine, that shared news from inside and outside the camp, including updates on the war. There were baseball leagues, and Al got a job as a recreation director, which paid $12 a month. Mary helped organize a summer school program for 1,200 children, and she taught public speaking to grade school kids as well as basic English to the issei. In fact, Mary first discovered her formidable talents as a teacher in Fresno. Bob Fletcher’s granddaughter Jill Stowers and his son, Robert Fletcher III, at his home in Idaho. They remember Fletcher as a hardworking farmer who liked to talk about the weather and the Civil War. Kevin J. Miyazaki/Redux In October, just as the Tsukamotos were settling into Fresno, they were moved to the Jerome Relocation Center, in Arkansas. Mary later recalled how, during the train ride, the ****** porters treated her family and the other ********* incarcerees “with warmth and understanding and seemed to have a special sensitivity to our unjust treatment.” But looking out the window, she was shocked by the “hovels” that ****** Americans lived in. In her JACL interview, she added that even though the ********* were locked in camps, they “realized we were better off, in a way.” At Jerome, there were big challenges from the outset. Many of the bathrooms were non-functioning, and the chamber pots were late in arriving—just as an ******* of dysentery hit the camp. One peculiar issue was that some facilities—closets, toilets, tables, tubs—were unusually small. When the families asked a camp construction worker, he said he’d been told to build facilities for “little brown people.” On top of all that, many in the family were suffering from ongoing health problems. Al had pleurisy, his sister Nami had tuberculosis, and his sister Margaret, mother to seven children, nearly ***** from an ******* of appendicitis. Mary had such painful arthritis that she needed her sisters to type her letters to friends in Florin, including Clara, Bob and the Feils, the couple who had driven them to the train station when they left for the camps. Despite all this, the Tsukamotos found a way to carve out a life. They sent their children to schools, organized sports leagues and partook in the Young Men’s and Young Women’s ********** Associations, the Boy Scouts, the Camp ***** ******, chess and checkers clubs, sewing groups, and ping pong clubs, as well as patriotic ********* groups like the ******* Service Organizations and the Red Cross. Marielle told me that many incarcerees wanted to help the war effort; they rolled bandages or wove camouflage nets. Mary was the coordinator for all the ******’ and women’s organizations. Al was again a recreation director, and Mary’s father, Taro—also interned at Fresno and Jerome, along with her mother and her siblings—was a head cook. Mary’s book is filled with passages about their efforts to create a life in the camps they could be proud of while remaining loyal Americans. “We began to feel a great responsibility,” she wrote. “Here was a laboratory of life, a miniature society, so to speak, that teemed with all sorts of possibilities. Acts of thoughtfulness, kindness, neighborliness and caring were contagious. We had a rare opportunity to turn this adversity into a positive force in our lives.” The Jerome Relocation Center, Denson, Arkansas. Alamy The incarcerees put on such a brave face that it frustrated Ansel Adams, the famed landscape photographer, when he visited the Manzanar camp near California’s ****** Valley National Monument in 1943. His goal was to generate opposition to the camps by sharing their plight in his photographs, but the incarcerated families insisted on dressing up, cleaning their barracks and smiling for the photographs. The resulting pictures seem to depict families in cramped but contented circumstances—doting relatives beaming at a child, a man reading a newspaper, spectators watching a baseball game against a backdrop of mountains. Years later, when Adams donated his collection to the Library of Congress, he wrote, “The purpose of my work was to show how these people, suffering under a great injustice, and loss of property, businesses and professions, had overcome the sense of defeat and dispair [sic] by building for themselves a vital community in an arid (but magnificent) environment.” But his portraits of camp life didn’t convey that sense of injustice and loss. Instead, as Richard Reeves pointed out in his 2015 book Infamy: The Shocking Story of the ********* ********* Internment in World War II, Adams’ photographs ended up reinforcing the government’s portrayal of the camps as an extended vacation. One group of incarcerees did unabashedly enjoy its time in camp. As Marielle put it, “high school kids had a blast.” In their daily lives back home, she explained, ********* ********* teenagers typically had to work the fields in the morning, go to school during the day, and in the evenings do chores and homework. On weekends, they’d be back in the fields. In the camps, teenagers didn’t have such responsibilities. Instead, they “started bands, played sports and had dances,” she said. “The kids were like, ‘Hey, this is freedom.’” There was an ugly side to this, however. The incarcerees were forbidden to speak ********* in camp meetings. So in cases where parents and grandparents of teenagers did not speak English, the teenager suddenly became the family leader. “So the older ********* who had been the community leaders no longer had power,” Marielle explains. “They were sort of cast aside.” When I told my family and friends that I was researching ********* ********* internment, many asked a version of the same question: Why didn’t America lock up Germans and Italians? In fact, some people of ******* and Italian ancestry were locked in camps overseen by the Justice Department. However, only first-generation immigrants were targeted—not their *********-born children or naturalized citizens—and only a fraction of those. The total number of interned Germans and Italians was around 14,500. While this number is minuscule compared with the 125,284 ********* incarcerees, racism does not appear to have been the only factor behind the difference. As Susan H. Kamei points out in her book When Can We Go Back to America?, Germans and Italians were the two largest foreign-born populations in America at the time. There were 1.2 million *******-born Americans, and more than 5 million Americans who had two *******-born parents. There were even more Italians. The sheer numbers meant their mass internment would have been a logistical nightmare. And unlike ********* (and ********) immigrants, Germans and Italians were allowed to become ********* citizens, which meant that they made up an enormous voting bloc. Neither politicians nor military leaders wanted to risk alienating them. According to Marielle, after her family arrived at Jerome, her father and other adults volunteered to work with farmers near the camp for free. But the farmers refused. Later, after Jerome became a holding camp for ******* POWs, these same farmers accepted help from ******* soldiers and not only paid them but in some cases also allowed them to live in their homes. At the same time, thousands of ********* citizens of ********* ancestry had been serving in the U.S. Armed Forces—some 5,000 at the time of Pearl Harbor. In January 1942, all ********* Americans were classified as “****** aliens ineligible for the draft.” Soldiers of ********* descent were discharged. Karl Okamoto near the original farmland his family owned in Florin, California. Bob Fletcher saved the Okamotos’ farm along with the Tsukamotos’. Kevin J. Miyazaki/Redux In January 1943, the U.S. government announced that nisei would be allowed to enlist in the Army again. An all-nisei combat unit was being assembled, and the military was recruiting from the camps. While many incarcerees met this news with excitement—Al Tsukamoto wanted to enlist but couldn’t because of his pleurisy—it resulted in confusion and contention. Incarcerees at all the camps over age 17 (even those who didn’t plan to enlist) were forced to fill out a loyalty oath—and two of the questions were often misinterpreted. One asked if the internee was prepared to ****** for the ******* States wherever ordered. The other asked if they would “swear unqualified allegiance to the ******* States” and disavow any allegiance to Japan. As Marielle put it, “If you’re 80 years old and asked, ‘Are you willing to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces wherever ordered?’ what are you supposed to say?” About 12 percent of incarcerees answered no to the “unqualified allegiance” question or gave a qualified “yes.” This created paranoia and suspicion between incarcerees and authorities, and also among the incarcerees themselves. In some cases, incarcerees did, in fact, remain loyal to Japan in some capacity. “The emotional struggle was a great one,” Mary wrote. “Many of us were on the verge of mental breakdowns.” The pressures and lack of privacy weighed so heavily on Mary’s sister Jean that she had to be institutionalized. The late winter of 1943 was the most difficult ******* for the Tsukamotos. The cold brought depression, the loyalty questionnaire brought division, and a number of friends and extended family members ***** or became ill. Mary and Al worried about the toll that camp life was taking on Marielle’s development. “We were down at the bottom of the pit,” Mary later said. By spring 1943, however, things began to look up. The War Relocation Authority decided to allow incarcerees who were deemed loyal Americans to find jobs beyond the camp. For those who did not get jobs, trips outside camp were occasionally allowed. Mary, for example, was permitted to take a bus ride to Jackson, Mississippi, to attend a YWCA leadership conference. In the fall, the government began allowing incarcerees to leave the camp for good, though they still weren’t allowed to return to the West Coast. Al was able to leave in September for a job prospect in Chicago. Unhappy there, he moved on to Kalamazoo, Michigan. He landed a job at the Peter Pan Bakery, whose owner was hiring workers from the camps. In November, Mary and Marielle were allowed to leave Jerome to join Al in Kalamazoo. “We got off the train, and Al came running to meet us,” Mary wrote. “Happiness sometimes defies description. Our new life in Kalamazoo had begun.” By the spring of 1944, Mary’s father, brother and sister Julia all joined Al at the bakery. Al seemed to enjoy the work—in his JACL interview, he boasts about his cake-making prowess—but the owner insisted that ********* Americans work night shifts so no customers would see them. Julia found it humiliating to be hidden from customers, so she asked for and was granted a day job. When a customer spotted her and launched a boycott, she was sent back to night shifts. This had a profound effect on Julia, who had long suffered from depression. She later took her own life. While the family was in Kalamazoo, Bob Fletcher wrote with the sad news that Uppie, the family dog, had run away only a few months after the Tsukamotos departed. Marielle was devastated, assuming that Uppie had gone searching for them. But Fletcher had good news, too: The price of grapes was soaring, so the families would have savings when they returned. Marielle Tsukamoto with her mother, Mary, and her dog, Uppie, before their incarceration. Courtesy Tsukamoto Family On December 17, 1944, President Roosevelt revoked the West Coast exclusion order, allowing ********* Americans to go back to their homes there. Some returned home immediately, only to face vigilantes and violent confrontations. “Going home turned into a frightening mistake for them,” Mary wrote later. The Tsukamotos finally set out for Florin in the summer of 1945. Al arranged to acquire a green ’42 Dodge from white friends back home, which they used for the return trip. They got seven flat tires along the way. As a rule, they followed the most direct route and avoided stopping for ***** of confrontations, as Mary later wrote in her book, even if that meant traveling “over the high mountains, along dangerous cliffs.” They did, however, stop to give rides to ********* servicemen. Mary believed it was their “patriotic duty as good ********* citizens.” This became impossible, however, after they stopped in *****, Arizona, to pick up Al’s sister Edith’s family, the Ouchidas; the Dodge was crammed with seven people and their belongings, along with Marielle’s new dog, a Scottie named Inky. The family finally reached town before dawn on July 10, 1945. They had been gone for three years and 42 days. But their happy homecoming was tempered by the town’s shocking appearance: businesses boarded up, cars and tractors stripped of parts, houses burned to the ground. The onetime “Strawberry Capital of the World” looked like a ghost town. The Tsukamotos dropped off the Ouchidas and headed toward their farm. (Kuzo, Ito and Nami, along with Mary’s parents and her sister Jean, would later return to Florin by train.) When Al turned onto their street, he cut the *********** to avoid attracting attention. Pulling into their driveway, no one spoke. The main house out front, the barn leaning against the walnut trees, the two old cabins by the bathhouse—all appeared as they had when the family was forced out in May 1942. Al, Mary and Marielle each got out of the car and raced around the farm, touching things to make sure they were real. Then, Marielle told me, they entered their home to find Bob and Teresa Fletcher waiting—with smiles, hugs and a meal on the table. “They were just so welcoming,” Marielle said. In a rare emotive passage in his journal, Fletcher expressed pride in what he did for the ********* ********* farmers. “I was always glad … when the families came home in 1945 and found [their] ranches in fairly good shape, which wasn’t the case for many of the families that returned.” Indeed, the Tsukamotos were among the lucky ones. Vandalism, theft and mismanagement were widespread in Florin. In Mary’s JACL interview, she spoke about the irresponsible tenants the FFGA had hired to oversee local farms. Many “hadn’t even paid the taxes,” she said. “They’d use [the family’s] tractor and ruin it. … The grapevines were half ***** because they hadn’t watered [them] enough.” One Florin farmer named George Miyao had his truck stolen and tractor stripped of parts. In a JACL interview, Miyao spoke of another family whose tenant refused to leave the house upon their return; after the family kicked him out, he burned their house down. Percy Nakashima had had a friend whose supposed caretaker “sold the ranch at the first opportunity and kept the money.” Incidents like these were common across the West Coast. One high-profile case involved Mary Masuda, who had been interned in *****, Arizona. Masuda returned to her farm in Orange County, California, to find squatters. The Native Sons of the Golden West, who were notoriously anti-*********, swooped in to defend the squatters and warned her to leave the county immediately. Unafraid, Masuda contacted the press and moved back into her house. Her story attracted widespread sympathy because it turned out that Masuda’s oldest brother, Kazuo, had been ******* while fighting with the 442nd Infantry Regiment, an all-nisei combat unit that became one of the most decorated regiments in ********* history. Marielle Tsukamoto and California Museum staffer Jessica Cushenberry review photos from the internment exhibition, where Tsukamoto volunteers. Kevin J. Miyazaki/Redux Of more than 90,000 ********* Americans from California who were incarcerated in the internment camps, most would never return to farming. Total losses to ********* ********* property and income may have been as high as $4 billion. Richard Reeves, in Infamy, cites a government estimate that West Coast ********* Americans lost 75 percent of their assets. So where did the people go? Some remained where they had gotten jobs back East. (Margaret, her husband and their seven children stayed behind in Michigan, and the Tsukamotos considered staying there as well.) Others moved to cities that had emptied of white workers during the war. Before the war, only a few thousand ********* Americans lived east of the Rocky Mountains. Afterward, most nisei moved primarily to seven states: Illinois, Colorado, Ohio, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota and New York. In Florin, where 2,500 ********* residents had been incarcerated, the strawberry industry would never return to its golden years. Many returning Florinites sold their farms immediately or worked them a few more years before selling. Percy Nakashima switched to tomato farming. When this didn’t work out, he got a job with Del Monte Foods in Sacramento. George Miyao sold his farm in 1952 but stayed in Florin to work as a gardener. Harold Ouchida moved to New Jersey to work for the Bird’s Eye frozen food company. According to Mary, Bird’s Eye actively recruited ********* ********* former farmers because of their skill in handling vegetables. But for many former incarcerees it was difficult to get back on their feet. Mary wrote of Florinites living in “barns or shacks” and working menial jobs to survive. Reeves described how many destitute ********* were forced to live in “shoddy towns, trailer parks and abandoned Army barracks” after the war. And then there were the issei who resisted going home at all—afraid of white people, ****** with America. Some ***** by ********. Some returned to Japan. Al and Mary decided to tear out the grapevines that Kuzo planted all those years ago. They sold the farm in 1949, and Mary got a job as a teacher in the Elk Grove Unified School District, while Al worked for the Sacramento Army Depot repairing communications equipment. Marielle, meanwhile, thrived outside the camps. In grade school, she was a Girl Scout and sang in the ******* choir. (The family were Methodists.) In high school, she was a radio reporter, student body secretary and officer of various clubs. She attended the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, and followed in her mother’s footsteps by embarking upon a distinguished teaching career. In the 1980s, Congress established the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, which concluded that internment had been a “grave injustice” born out of “******* prejudice, war hysteria and a ******** of political leadership.” Just ten people had been convicted of spying for Japan, and all had been white. Mary Tsukamoto was a driving force behind the redress movement. Upon retiring as a teacher in 1976 after 26 years, she was the executive secretary of the Florin JACL Redress Committee. In 1981, she testified before a House subcommittee hearing in San Francisco. “My life was never the same,” Mary wrote, about speaking at the hearing. “The urgency of my bold commitment took precedence over everything else in the days that were left for me on this earth.” In 1983, Mary launched the Time of Remembrance program for the Elk Grove Unified School District, which brought together students and former incarcerees. She also created the ********* ********* Archival Collection at California State University. In 1987, the year before she published her book, she helped the Smithsonian curate artifacts for an internment exhibition titled “A More Perfect Union.” In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act, which provided $20,000 in redress to each camp survivor. Mary and Al were at the White House for the signing, and Mary went on to receive a National Humanitarian Award. An elementary school in the Elk Grove district was named after her, and she was among the first two people honored as a Notable Californian by the California State Senate. The Fletcher Farm Community Center, on land donated by Bob Fletcher, regularly hosts board meetings for the ********* ********* Citizens League. Kevin J. Miyazaki/Redux In her JACL interview and in her book, Mary repeatedly expressed gratitude to Bob Fletcher. She called him “one in a million” and “our faithful friend.” For their part, after the Tsukamotos returned, Bob and Teresa bought a 54-acre ranch on which they raised cattle and hay. Their marriage was a happy one, by all accounts. Stowers said that Teresa complemented Bob’s stoicism with a gregarious personality. She was a jokester, and her grandpa “mellowed out” as he aged. Unsurprisingly, Fletcher kept busy after the war. He helped create the Florin ***** Protection District, in 1953, where he served as chief for 12 years. In 1959, he helped found the Florin County Water District, to protect the water rights of local farmers. In 1985, he was involved in creating the Florin Historical Society, where he served as president and board member. In 1996, Mary said of Fletcher: “He’s still our best friend. And he’s still alive, so we’re very happy we can tell him that over and over again.” Fletcher said, “I don’t think there’s anyone I like better than Mary.” Three weeks after Mary ***** in 1998, U.S. Congressman Robert Matsui paid tribute to her on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. He honored her “personal strength and determination in … pursuing justice and promoting the heritage of all ********* Americans.” He added, “Her impact on our national heritage and the very fabric of who we are as a country will be felt for many generations to come.” In 2011, Matsui’s wife, Doris, who succeeded him in office, had the opportunity to honor Fletcher on the House floor, saluting his many decades of civil service and his “ability to look past ******* barriers and help save the farms of three ********* ********* families.” On a blustery morning this past February, Marielle Tsukamoto, who now lives in Elk Grove, about ten miles south of Florin, stood in the lobby of Sacramento’s California Museum, waiting for a group of fifth graders. She was there to act as a docent for an exhibition called “Uprooted,” which tells the story of ********* ********* internment. The students were from Florin Elementary, and their teacher had assigned them to read about Marielle and watch all the interviews with her he could find online. When they spotted her, they treated her like a celebrity. “There she is!” one girl yelled, giggling and jumping. “Can I take your picture?” another shouted. The students were a diverse group from a low-income area, and Marielle happily posed for selfies. With curly brown hair and glasses, she was dressed in a ****** jacket over a pink turtleneck with a Polynesian sun necklace. Not even five feet tall, she was about the same height as most of the students. She was astonishingly energetic, and her commentary held the students rapt. Bob (right) and Teresa Fletcher (left) with Al, Mary and Marielle Tsukamoto. “He’s still our best friend,” Mary said at the end of her life. Courtesy of Fletcher Family The show included an interactive display where visitors could ask questions of Marielle and other former incarcerees, bringing up videos of prerecorded answers. It also included a life-size replica of a camp “apartment.” The apartment was bare-bones—they were typically 20 by 25 feet and held as many as eight people—with a chamber **** between the beds. Marielle paused in front of a large ******-and-white photograph of Bob Fletcher standing in a field, part of a display honoring non-********* Americans who helped interned families. He wore a floppy cap and a suede jacket, surrounded by wooden posts and vines. Before Fletcher ***** in 2013, at age 101, he donated five acres of his land to the town of Florin. On that land now sits a park as well as Fletcher Farm Community Center, which displays old artifacts from Florin, including items related to internment, and hosts community meetings and events. That afternoon, Marielle and I visited the center and drove past Bob and Teresa’s old home, a modest ranch. Other stops included the Florin Buddhist *******, built in 1919, as well as the original location of the Florin ********* Methodist *******, from around the same time. During the internment years, both buildings were used to store the possessions of ********* ********* families who had been sent away. But Florin, like almost everywhere else in America, has been highly developed since the 1940s. Its main drag is crammed with housing complexes, strip malls, gas stations and two used car dealerships. When Marielle recognized an area where a piece of her family’s farmland had been, it was a parking lot belonging to an industrial company. There were several stretches that remained flat and green enough that I could imagine old Florin. I thought of what Kuzo might have seen when he first arrived there. Early settlers, awestruck by the area’s wildflowers, named the town after the ****** word for flower. The region’s beauty may have played a role in Kuzo’s decision to settle here. It was the ********* dream come true, until it wasn’t. I also thought of Bob Fletcher, toiling in the vineyards. He had quit his job, lost a wife, made enemies and worked 18-hour days to keep up. Once, during the Tsukamotos’ incarceration, he received a letter from Mary that read: “We should be the ones to send you courage and strength and cheer as you undertake this great struggle. … Sometimes it is hard to write a cheerful letter because we get so self-centered here. But it isn’t very bad. Much depends on our attitudes. I think we are strong enough to take it.” One can imagine Fletcher reading Mary’s words of resolve and vowing to stay the course, no matter the duration, no matter the difficulties. If Mary could take it—and Al and Marielle and Kuzo and Ito and George Miyao and Percy Nakashima and tens of thousands of other ********* Americans unjustly incarcerated—then he sure as ***** could, too. As Marielle told the schoolchildren that day, Fletcher was an “honorable *********” who deserved recognition even though he didn’t seek it. “When people asked him why he helped us, he always said, ‘Oh, I didn’t do anything special. It was just the right thing to do.’” Get the latest History stories in your inbox? Filed Under: Agriculture, ****** ********* History, ****** Americans, California, Farming, World War II Source link #World #War #Farmer #Risked #********* #********* #Neighbors Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

The heroes of justice join the roster of The Breakers The heroes of justice join the roster of The Breakers Let those who cherish evil beware, the heroes of justice are joining Dragon Ball: The Breakers cast! Season seven of Dragon Ball: The Breakers begins today! In the leadup to the seventh season of content for The Breakers, which is also the game’s second anniversary, Bandai Namco released a new trailer highlighting the season. The most intriguing thing in the trailer has to be the new raiders coming to the game: the notorious heroes of Justice, Gamma 1, and Gamma 2. At level one players will get the chance to play as Gamma 2 as they work to save the civilians scattered across the map and to stop the “evil kidnappers”. At level two players will get to step into the role of Gamma 1 as they continue the mission to save all of the civilians and defeat the kidnappers, while level three will see more of the same. At level four things get a little more interesting as players will assume the role of Magenta as they search for a device to activate Cell Max, the strongest raider. Survivors will have the chance to get the Super Transphere and turn into Orange Piccolo (Giant) the one character that has the best opportunity to defeat Cell Max. In the last season, Baby was added to the game who offered his own set of gameplay changes. Players who login daily will be able to get rewards, warrior spirits, and siphon tickets as a celebration of the games second anniversary. Throughout the anniversary boosters will also be applied rewarding players with extra experience, increased Zeni, and Warrior Spirits. Source link #heroes #justice #join #roster #Breakers Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Social Security to send notices revealing size of 2025 benefit checks Social Security to send notices revealing size of 2025 benefit checks A new 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment In 2025, retirement benefits will increase by about $50 per month, on average, according to the Social Security Administration. That’s as all beneficiaries will see a 2.5% benefit increase due to the annual cost-of-living adjustment. Notably, the benefit boost for 2025 will be the lowest since 2021. As the pace of inflation has subsided, the cost-of-living adjustment has come down with it, since the Social Security Administration uses government inflation data to calculate the annual change. Beneficiaries saw the highest increases in four decades in 2023, when the COLA was 8.7%, and in 2022, when benefits went up by 5.9%. However, the annual COLA started to come down in 2024, with a 3.2% annual adjustment. “Although price increases have moderated, it’s not as though inflation is over,” said Joe Elsasser, a certified financial planner and president of Covisum, a Social Security claiming software company. If the pace of inflation picks up again, the annual COLA could go up again, he said. Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwards Monthly Medicare Part B premiums to go up Retirees who are enrolled in Medicare Part B — which covers physician services, outpatient hospital services and certain home health services and durable medical equipment — pay monthly premiums. Medicare Part B premiums are often deducted directly from Social Security checks. Beneficiaries can also request to have Medicare Advantage or Part D premiums deducted from Social Security benefit payments, according to Mary Johnson, an independent Social Security and Medicare analyst. In 2025, the standard monthly Part B premium will go up to $185 per month — a $10.30 increase from $174.70 this year. At the same time, Medicare Part B beneficiaries will see their annual deductibles go up to $257 in 2025 — a $17 increase from the $240 annual deductible for 2024. Medicare Part B premiums are based on a beneficiary’s modified adjusted ****** income, or MAGI, from two years prior. In 2025, beneficiaries who had less than or equal to $106,000 in MAGI in 2023 will pay the standard monthly Part B premium, as will married couples with less than or equal to $212,000. However, beneficiaries with higher incomes will be subject to income-related adjustment amounts, or IRMAA, that increase their monthly premium payments. About 8% of Medicare Part B beneficiaries are affected by those income-related adjustments, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Income changes may prompt higher taxes Social Security beneficiaries may request to have withholding for federal taxes from their benefit payments. Beneficiaries may want to consider whether they want to adjust those withholdings, particularly if they anticipate more of their benefits could be taxed, according to Jim Blair, vice president of Premier Social Security Consulting. Social Security benefits are taxed on a formula called combined income — the sum of adjusted ****** income, nontaxable interest and half of Social Security benefits. Beneficiaries may pay no taxes on their benefits, if their combined income is low enough, or up to 50% or 85% of their benefits may be subject to federal taxes if their combined incomes are above certain thresholds. “What we’ve seen with clients is kind of a surge in other income that has caused more of their Social Security to be taxed,” said CFP Brian Vosberg, president of Vosberg Wealth Management in Glendora, California. For example, retirees who have $200,000 in money market accounts or certificates of ******** are seeing higher interest payments on that sum after the Federal Reserve’s string of rate hikes in recent years. That interest income may require beneficiaries to pay a higher federal tax rate on their benefits, Vosberg said. Proactive tax planning can help alleviate that situation, Vosberg said. Strategies such as buying an annuity that lets that interest grow tax deferred or reducing income from other areas, such as IRA withdrawals, can help minimize the tax *****, he said. Retirees should also take note if their incomes have meaningfully changed in the past couple of years, according to Blair. If that’s the case, their monthly Medicare Part B premium rate may no longer be accurate. Beneficiaries can notify the Social Security Administration of life-changing events that affect their incomes and Medicare premiums by filling out a Form SSA-44. Source link #Social #Security #send #notices #revealing #size #benefit #checks Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

House Ethics Committee chairman says panel did not reach agreement on releasing Matt Gaetz report House Ethics Committee chairman says panel did not reach agreement on releasing Matt Gaetz report Why Matt Gaetz is on Capitol Hill Why Matt Gaetz is on Capitol Hill as House Ethics Committee weighs report release 05:49 Washington — The House Ethics committee, meeting to consider the release of a report on its investigation into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, did not reach an agreement on Wednesday afternoon, the committee chairman said. The meeting came one week after the Florida *********** resigned from Congress following President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to select him for attorney general. House Ethics Committee chairman Michael Guest told reporters that the panel had not reached an “agreement to release the report” as he exited the meeting Wednesday afternoon. This is a breaking news story and will be updated. Ellis Kim contributed to this report. Kaia Hubbard Kaia Hubbard is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital, based in Washington, D.C. Source link #House #Ethics #Committee #chairman #panel #reach #agreement #releasing #Matt #Gaetz #report Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

What to know about Trump’s NATO ambassador pick Matt Whitaker – National What to know about Trump’s NATO ambassador pick Matt Whitaker – National Donald Trump says he has chosen his former acting U.S. attorney general Matt Whitaker to serve as U.S. ambassador to NATO, the bedrock Western alliance that the president-elect has expressed skepticism about for years. Trump, in a statement, said Whitaker was “a strong warrior and loyal Patriot” who “will ensure the ******* States’ interests are advanced and defended” and “strengthen relationships with our NATO Allies, and stand firm in the face of threats to Peace and Stability.” The choice of Whitaker as the nation’s representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an unusual one, given his background is in law enforcement and not in foreign policy. Whitaker had been considered a potential pick for attorney general, a position Trump instead gave to Matt Gaetz, a fierce loyalist who has been seen as divisive even within his own party. The NATO post is a particularly sensitive one given Trump’s regard of the alliance’s value and his complaints that numerous members are not meeting their commitments to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense. Story continues below advertisement 1:31 Canada must double defence spending to meet NATO target, PBO report finds Whitaker is a former U.S. attorney in Iowa and served as acting attorney general between November 2018 and February 2019, as special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference was drawing to a close. Before then, he was chief of staff to Trump’s first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, before being picked to replace his boss after Sessions was fired amid lingering outrage over his decision to withdraw from the Russia investigation. Whitaker held the position for several months, on an acting basis and without Senate confirmation, until William Barr was confirmed as attorney general in February 2019. Whitaker has been a relentless critic of the federal ********* cases against Trump, which appear set to evaporate after Trump’s election win. Whitaker has used regular appearances on Fox News to join other Republicans in decrying what they contend is the politicization of the Justice Department over the past four years. Story continues below advertisement Whitaker has little evident foreign policy or national security experience, making him an unknown to many in U.S. security circles. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Retired Gen. Philip Breedlove, a former supreme allied commander of NATO, said the ambassador’s position was “incredibly important” within the U.S. and NATO security framework, as the direct representative of U.S. presidents in decision-making within the alliance. “The bottom line is they are looked to have the credibility of the president when they speak,” Breedlove said. 9:40 ‘He’s deadly serious’: John Bolton on Trump’s warning to NATO allies Previous ambassadors to NATO have generally had years of diplomatic, political or military experience. Trump’s first-term NATO ambassador, former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, did not, although she had been involved in foreign policy issues while in Congress. Breedlove said a security background was not essential to the post, but being seen as having a direct line to the president was. Story continues below advertisement “They need to be seen as actually representing what the president intends. To have the trust and confidence of the president, that’s what’s most important in that position,” he said. During his 2016 campaign, Trump alarmed Western allies by warning that the ******* States, under his leadership, might abandon its NATO treaty commitments and only come to the defense of countries that meet the transatlantic alliance’s defense spending targets. More on World More videos Trump, as president, eventually endorsed NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense clause, which states that an armed ******* against one or more of its members shall be considered an ******* against all members. But he often depicted NATO allies as leeches on the U.S. military and openly questioned the value of the military alliance that has defined ********* foreign policy for decades. In the years since, he has continued to threaten not to defend NATO members that fail to meet spending goals. Earlier this year, Trump said that, when he was president, he warned NATO allies that he “would encourage” Russia “to do whatever the ***** they want” to countries that are “delinquent.” Trending Now Canada echoes U.S. warning over carrots in deadly E. coli outbreak Canada Post strike talks continue but ‘lot of ground’ ******** “‘You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent?’” Trump recounted saying at a February rally. “‘No I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the ***** they want. You gotta pay. You gotta pay your bills.’” Story continues below advertisement Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary-general at the time, said in response that “any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security, including that of the U.S., and puts ********* and ********* soldiers at increased risk.” 2:13 How Trump’s threats could affect Canada, NATO allies NATO reported earlier this year that, in 2023, 11 member countries met the benchmark of spending 2% of their GDP on defense and that that number had increased to 18 in early 2024 — up from just three in 2014. Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has spurred additional military spending by some NATO members. Trump has often tried to take credit for that increase, and bragged that, as a results of his threats, “hundreds of billions of dollars came into NATO,” even though countries do not pay NATO directly. Whitaker, Trump noted in his announcement, is a former Iowa football player. Story continues below advertisement Whitaker has faced questions about his past business dealings, including his ties to an invention-promotion company that was accused of misleading consumers. The Wall Street Journal in 2018 published an email revealing an FBI investigation into the company, World Patent Marketing Inc. The July 10, 2017, email was from an FBI victims’ specialist to someone who, the newspaper said, was an alleged victim of the company. A Justice Department spokeswoman told the newspaper at the time that Whitaker was “not aware of any fraudulent activity.” When Whitaker was named acting attorney general, he was grilled in a contentious House hearing by Democrats who scrutinized his perceived lack of prior experience to serve as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer. “We’re all trying to figure out: Who are you, where did you come from and how the heck did you become the head of the Department of Justice,” New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, now the top House Democrat, said at one point. When Whitaker tried to respond, Jeffries interrupted: “Mr. Whitaker, that was a statement, not a question.” Those selected for the NATO job in recent years have included retired Gen. Douglas Lute, the current U.S. ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, former acting deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and diplomacy academics who previously served on the National Security Council such as Ivo Daalder and Kurt Volker. Source link #Trumps #NATO #ambassador #pick #Matt #Whitaker #National Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

The Adpocalypse Conundrum Continues as Twitch Gets Sued by Elon Musk on Grounds of a Problem Allegedly Plaguing the Streaming Platform The Adpocalypse Conundrum Continues as Twitch Gets Sued by Elon Musk on Grounds of a Problem Allegedly Plaguing the Streaming Platform There’s no denying the fact that Twitch is the king when it comes to live streaming platforms, giving players the chance to shine and experience their favorite titles for masses who are eager to watch. The streaming platform has found itself in yet another hurdle. (Image via Twitch) As a live streaming platform, Twitch is incredibly strict with content streamers that can push out and almost immediately hands down sanctions if streamers are caught doing something inappropriate. However, it seems like Elon Musk isn’t scared of the Amazon-owned platform, as he’s suing it for boycotting ads. Elon Musk is Going After Twitch Now and No One Can Stop Him Elon Musk and his ex-wife Talulah Riley (Image Credit: Your Tango) If you’re unaware, back in August 2024, Elon Musk decided to file a lawsuit against all the members of the Global Alliance of Responsible Media, claiming that they’re working together to boycott his X platform. The lawsuit stated that the companies within this alliance came together and ********** the flow of advertising revenue for the platform formerly known as Twitter. Musk purchased it back in October 2022 and has been actively involved in restructuring the platform. Musk’s X has decided to add even the Amazon-owned live-streaming platform to its list of defendants in the lawsuit. X claims that Twitch has illegally held back all kinds of advertisements on the platform and hasn’t bought any ads on the platform in the US. Musk suggests that the streaming platform has only spent a substantial amount in other countries since November 2022. We still don’t have a public statement about these claims from both companies, and that’s likely going to be the case since it’s an ongoing lawsuit. It’s going to be interesting to see how things pan out for the platform formerly known as Twitter. Ever since Musk’s takeover, it hasn’t been able to fix its advertiser failures. According to reports, X’s revenue fell by nearly 40% in the first half of 2023. Even though some advertisers have returned to the platform after Donald Trump’s election win, the spending from these brands is nowhere near previous levels. Elon Musk is a True Gamer Who Loves Diablo 4 Musk loves playing Blizzard’s Diablo 4. (Image via Joe Rogan) While chatting with Joe Rogan in his podcast, Musk opened up about his love for video games and how they can help gauge mental tiredness. According to him, there were only two Americans in the global top 20 of Diablo 4’s leaderboard, and he was one of them. Back in October, Blizzard’s Diablo 4 was making waves on Steam and hit record-high player counts. This proves just how popular the title is and how challenging it must be to make it to the top 20 globally. Musk’s reveal of his ranking on the game’s global leadership has shocked many players, and they can’t help but wonder how his schedule allows him to play the game and climb the ranks. Many speculate that there might be someone else playing on his behalf while he’s working. Whether or not we’ll ever see Elon diving deeper into how he manages to run his businesses and play among the best in Diablo 4 ******** to be seen. However, it proves that just like all of us, he’s a gamer at heart who finds video games the perfect way to bust some stress! With that said, do you think Musk has made a major error by going after Amazon-owned Twitch? Let us know in the comments below. Source link #Adpocalypse #Conundrum #Continues #Twitch #Sued #Elon #Musk #Grounds #Problem #Allegedly #Plaguing #Streaming #Platform Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

D-Link refuses to patch yet another security flaw, suggests users just buy new routers — D-Link told users to replace NAS last week D-Link refuses to patch yet another security flaw, suggests users just buy new routers — D-Link told users to replace NAS last week A handful of legacy D-Link routers are susceptible to RCE (Remote Code **********) threats as the company outright refuses to offer patches, stating that the devices have reached EOL (End Of Life) and suggests users trash them instead. This report follows a previous incident where D-Link ******* to patch over 60,000 NAS devices and recommended users purchase newer models. Going over the advisory, D-Link says attackers can ******** code remotely (RCE) on these routers owing to a stack buffer overflow vulnerability. D-Link didn’t share the exact specifics of this threat, possibly to ward off potential hackers. Even so, this unleashes a pandora’s box of possible threats, including, but not limited to, data theft, malware and spyware installation, and DoS attacks. In other words, if you own the following routers: DSR-150, DSR-150N, DSR-250, DSR-250N, DSR-500N, or DSR-1000N; your data and privacy are at serious risk. A quick look over the report shows that four out of six of these routers were discontinued just this year. And — to no one’s surprise — D-Link explicitly says, “If a product has reached End of Support (“EOS”) / End of Life (“EOL”), there is normally no further extended support or development for it.” Here’s a list of the specific models in question: Swipe to scroll horizontally Model End Of Life Date DSR-150 May 1, 2024 DSR-150N May 1, 2024 DSR-250 May 1, 2024 DSR-250N May 1, 2024 DSR-500N September 30, 2015 DSR-1000N October 30, 2015 “D-Link US is prohibited to provide support for these EOL/EOS products. D-Link strongly recommends that this product be retired and cautions that any further use of this product may be a risk to devices connected to it.” D-Link Users in the U.S. can snag a newer model at discounted rates — but that doesn’t compensate for the lack of patches, which leave a myriad of unsuspecting users at risk. Alternatively, the report says that various devices on this list are open to third-party firmware with unofficial patches — but going that route will void your warranty (not that it matters much, anymore). Just recently, various NAS models from D-Link were found prone to the CVE-2024-10914 vulnerability — but, due to EOL concerns, the firm declined to patch them and proposed users purchase new routers instead. Given D-Link’s disregard for security flaws in its devices, this news might deter potential customers or business partners. Nonetheless, if you think it’s time for an upgrade, you can check out our Wi-Fi router list to get the best bang for your buck. Get Tom’s Hardware’s best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Source link #DLink #refuses #patch #security #flaw #suggests #users #buy #routers #DLink #told #users #replace #NAS #week Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Get the most out of these tax-favored accounts in 2025 Get the most out of these tax-favored accounts in 2025 Benefits enrollment season is here, and with it comes an opportunity for workers to tune up their workplace savings plans and sock away more money on a tax-favored basis. Traditional tax-deferred accounts, like 401(k) plans and individual retirement accounts, are just the beginning for savers. With the proliferation of high-deductible health care plans as employers aim to reduce their costs, more employees are gaining access to health savings accounts – which allow savers to contribute on a pretax or tax-deductible basis, grow on a tax-free basis and permit tax-free withdrawals if they’re for qualified health expenses. In 2023, there were $123 billion in HSA assets held in more than 37 million accounts, reflecting a 19% increase in assets from the prior year, according to Devenir Group . As tempting as it may be for savers to plow money into HSAs and other tax-favored accounts, they’ll need to draw up a strategy before they do so. “HSAs are very underutilized, but they may not be appropriate for everyone and every situation,” said Marguerita Cheng, certified financial planner and CEO of Blue Ocean Global Wealth in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Indeed, she noted that a significant medical expense can eat up a sizable chunk of savings in these accounts. Establishing a savings waterfall To ramp up after-tax growth potential, UBS’ Chief Investment Office recommends that investors set up a “savings waterfall” plan. This starts with setting up an emergency fund to cover six to 12 months of expenses, contributing to your 401(k) plan such that you qualify for the company match on savings, and socking away the maximum amount for your health savings account (which in 2025 would be $4,300 for those with self-only coverage or $8,550 for family health plans). After meeting those priorities, UBS found, savers with the means can max out their 401(k) contributions (up to $23,500 in 2025, plus $7,500 in catch-up contributions for those over age 50 – or a new and even higher catch-up contribution of $11,250 for workers aged 60-63). They can also earmark additional funds toward 529 college savings plans and taxable brokerage accounts. Asset location Since these workplace savings accounts have different tax treatments, investors who can allocate toward them can fine-tune the taxes they pay when they draw down from retirement. They can also work with a financial advisor to ensure these accounts are holding the right kinds of assets – which can help enhance after-tax returns. For instance, income-paying assets, such as bonds, might be better held in a tax-deferred account, like a 401(k) or an individual retirement account. Consider that corporate bonds spin off interest that’s taxed at the same rate as ordinary income, which can be as high as 37%. In a tax-deferred account, investors won’t be on the ***** for the tax bill until they begin drawing down from it. Stocks and exchange-traded funds that pay qualified dividends could be a good fit in a brokerage account. Qualified dividends are subject to a tax of either 0%, 15% or 20%, depending on an investor’s taxable income. Avoid holding funds that spin out hefty capital gains in this account, though. They can bring unexpected taxable consequences . In a tax-free account like the HSA, investors may be able to take a long-term perspective and invest in high-growth assets. But you’ll want to be sure to have at least enough of your HSA funds held in cash so that you can cover your deductible. Amounts exceeding that can be invested, however. “If you have the dollars, you can have more of a growth orientation,” said Cheng. “You don’t have to keep it in money market funds, but having said that, you can’t forecast whether you get ***** or break bones. I wouldn’t put it in something too volatile.” Source link #taxfavored #accounts Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Paolini leads Italy to Billie Jean King Cup title Paolini leads Italy to Billie Jean King Cup title Two-time grand slam finalist Jasmine Paolini has capped a breakthrough season by leading Italy to their first Billie Jean King Cup title since 2013, defeating Rebecca Sramkova 6-2 6-1 to seal a 2-0 victory over Slovakia in the final of the women’s team competition. The No.4-ranked Paolini was the runner-up at the French Open in June and at Wimbledon in July, making her the first woman since Serena Williams in 2016 to get to the title matches at Roland Garros and the All England Club in the same season. Before this year, Paolini, 28, had lost in the first or second round in all 16 career appearances at majors. “Unbelievable year. Unbelievable. A crazy year. To finish like this, with a title … it’s amazing. I don’t have words to describe it. I’m trying just to enjoy every moment,” Paolini said. “I feel lucky to be in the position. I feel lucky to be part of this team.” She also teamed with Sara Errani to win a doubles gold medal at the Paris Olympics in August. They were lined up to play in the concluding match against Slovakia, but it wasn’t needed because Italy clinched the best-of-three series by sweeping the two singles matches. “Jasmine raised her level really high this year … She’s an example for all of us,” said her teammate, 78th-ranked Lucia Bronzetti, who took Wednesday’s opener 6-2 6-4 score against Viktoria Hruncakova before a crowd that included International Tennis Hall of Famer and equal rights pioneer Billie Jean King. Italy, who eliminated Iga Swiatek and Poland in the semi-finals, earned their fifth championship a year after finishing as the runners-up to Canada. “I’m so proud of them. They ****** every day,” Italy captain Tathiana Garbin said. “This journey was incredible.” The triumph adds to what’s been quite a recent run for Italy in tennis, including two grand slam trophies in 2024 and the No.1 men’s ranking for Jannik Sinner, who helped his country claim last year’s Davis Cup. Sinner and Italy meet Argentina in the men’s quarter-finals on Thursday, also in Malaga. This is the first time the two premier International Tennis Federation team events are being held at the same site. Bronzetti never had played a BJK Cup singles match until this week. She said she didn’t find out until Tuesday night that she would be in the line-up against Slovakia. “I didn’t sleep very well,” Bronzetti said. “You’re not playing just for yourself … You’re playing for your team and your country.” Slovakia, who won the BJK Cup in 2002, eliminated the ******* States, Australia and Great Britain to get to the final. Source link #Paolini #leads #Italy #Billie #Jean #King #Cup #title Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Care Bears: Unlock the Magic announced for PS5, PS4, and Switch Care Bears: Unlock the Magic announced for PS5, PS4, and Switch Care Bears: Unlock The Magic will launch March 27, 2025 on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4/5. Play alongside Cheer Bear, Bedtime Bear, Tenderheart Bear and all your favorite bears from Care A-Lot, exploring over 200 levels across unique minigames. Get Star Power to remove the Storm Clouds from the Silver Lining, meet the funny Whiffles, and reach the end of the magical road for an exciting surprise. Source link #Care #Bears #Unlock #Magic #announced #PS5 #PS4 #Switch Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Nasdaq 100: Can NVIDIA Earnings ****** the Stock Market? Nasdaq 100: Can NVIDIA Earnings ****** the Stock Market? In our previous , we asked if the outcome of the US presidential elections could ****** the stock market. Based on the Elliott Wave Principle (EWP) and market breadth, we found that upside was more likely than downside. “… if the Bears cannot hold the index’s price below the July ATH, we must focus on the alternative EWP count in Figure 2 below, which is the “dreaded” ending diagonal (ED). … the potential 4th wave, as shown, can become more protracted, i.e., a bounce followed by another move lower before the final 5th wave starts. Market breadth readings and sentiment are getting pretty washed out. … . Thus, the path of least resistance for these indicators appears to be up, which can propel the indexes higher.” Fast-forwarding and the stock market rallied strongly in response to the election, which former president Donald Trump won by a landslide. Yes, markets like certainty. However, the “Trump Trade” lasted only four days, as most gains were given up the following week. The next catalyst is NVIDIA (NASDAQ:) earnings. Our previous update states,: “Since the NDX and NAS are often tied to the hip, it is uncommon for the two to have vastly differing EWP counts.” Below we show the (NAS), where we now have a better-defined potential third wave (W-3) top and W-4 underway. So far, the index has peaked right in the ideal target zone for a bounce (blue W-b), as we forecasted last week. Thus, a 2nd leg lower, the blue W-c, to ideally $18,350+/-150 can be reasonably expected but will only be confirmed on a daily close below $18,650. A last fifth wave, ideally $19500-20500, can commence from there. Unfortunately, since we’re dealing with an ending diagonal, less predictable overlapping price action must be expected. That’s the hand we’re dealt and will have to work with. Namely, ED’s five waves have all three wave internals (abc-abc-abc-abc-abc)—the ‘s advance since the August low shows this well. See Figure 2 below. So each time an abc completes, the market can decide to tag on another abc, aka subdivide. The most obvious observation from the chart is that the rally since that low has not completed five larger (red) waves up, let alone reached the 123.60% extension, which is a typical, minimal upside target for a 3rd wave (red W-iii) in an ED. Thus, we can allow another (grey) a-b-c pattern up from the October 31 low. This means the “Trump Trade” high was grey W-a, the most recent low was grey W-b, and grey W-c to ideally $21,500 is about to commence. A break above $19,200 will help confirm this thesis. The bottom line is that NVDA’s earnings can swing the needle to lower prices temporarily, but contingent on the indexes holding above the September 6 lows, we must still expect higher prices after that. Source link #Nasdaq #NVIDIA #Earnings #****** #Stock #Market Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Gang kingpin in jail on ******* charges is accused of impregnating two jail workers Gang kingpin in jail on ******* charges is accused of impregnating two jail workers A North Carolina inmate said to be the state’s highest-ranking Blood gang member has been accused of impregnating two former jail employees. Darrius Tyson is accused of murdering a man who disappeared in 2022. He’s currently being held in Central Prison in Raleigh. During a hearing on Tuesday, prosecutors claimed Tyson used his position to get drugs and **** inside a Durham facility. One of his nicknames is listed as “King Blood” on the county’s website. Durham County Assistant District Attorney Mary Jude Darrow also accused him of impregnating Lerin Burnette, a contracted nurse, and a detention sergeant named ***** Robertson. The two women were charged with having ******* relations with an inmate, a felony ******. The revelation came during the hearing as Tyson was seeking to have his $1.25m bond reduced. A judge declined the request, according to WRAL. Daniel Meier, Tyson’s attorney, argued that his client was a victim in the matter during the hearing. “He was ********* assaulted by two employees who have been charged with felonies,” he told a judge on Tuesday. “It’s a Class E felony for someone to have ******* relations with a detainee. A detainee by law cannot consent. He is a victim in those cases.” Following the **** allegations, Tyson was transferred from the Durham County Detention Center to the Raleigh prison. He’s been charged with *******, *********** to commit *******, kidnapping and burglary. He previously served time for ******* in 2010 but the conviction was overturned in 2020 due to prosecutorial misconduct. The prosecutors did not turn over exculpatory evidence, the outlet reported. The man’s mother, Murryette Tyson, told WRAL county officials are “out for [her son].” She declined to comment on her son’s ties to the gang or the allegations he had **** with the workers. “He’s innocent,” she told WRAL. “Of all the charges.” She claims her son was assaulted by detention officers in August and that the incident caused him to suffer injuries to his jaw. When the outlet inquired about the allegation, a spokesperson for the jail said no ******** had been reported at the time and they would not be able to investigate a claim based on the details given. Source link #Gang #kingpin #jail #******* #charges #accused #impregnating #jail #workers Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Rattling the Divine: The Mystical Role of the Sistrum Rattling the Divine: The Mystical Role of the Sistrum The sistrum was one of the most sacred musical instruments in ancient Egypt and was believed to hold powerful magical properties. It was used in the worship of the goddess Hathor, mythological character of joy, festivity, fertility, eroticism and dance. It was also shaken to avert the flooding of the Nile and to frighten away Seth, the **** of the desert, storms, disorder, and *********. Isis, in her role as mother and creator, was often depicted holding a pail symbolizing the inundation of the Nile in one hand, and the sistrum in the other hand. It was designed to produce the sound of the breeze hitting and blowing through papyrus reeds, but the symbolic value of the sistrum far exceeded its importance as a musical instrument. Ancient Greek historian, Plutarch, speaks of the powerful role of the sistrum in his essay, “On Isis & Osiris”: “The sistrum makes it clear that all things in existence need to be shaken, or rattled about, and never to cease from motion but, as it were, to be woken up and agitated when they grow drowsy and torpid. They say that they avert and repel Typhon by means of the sistrums, indicating thereby that when destruction constricts and checks Nature, generation releases and arouses it by means of motion.” (Plutarch, Moralia, Book 5, “On Isis & Osiris,” section 63) The sistrum consists of a handle and frame made from brass, bronze, wood, or clay. When shaken the small rings or loops of thin metal on its movable crossbars produced a sound that ranged from a soft rattle to a loud jangling. Its basic shape resembled the ankh, the Egyptian symbol of life, and carried that hieroglyph’s meaning. Archaeological records have revealed two distinct types of sistrum. The oldest variety of sistrum is naos-shaped (the inner chamber of a temple which houses a cult figure). The head of Hathor was often depicted on the handle and the horns of a cow were commonly incorporated into the design (Hathor is commonly depicted as a cow goddess). This sistrum, known as the ‘naos sistrum’ or ‘sesheshet’ (an onomatopoeic word), dates back to at least the Old Kingdom (3 rd millennium BC). In ancient Egyptian art, the sesheshet sistrum was often depicted being carried by a woman of high rank. Nefertari, wife of Ramesses II, holding a sekhem-type sistrum. (Public Domain) During the Greco-Roman *******, a second type of sistrum became popular. Known as sekhem or sekham, this sistrum had a simple, hoop-like frame, usually made from metal. The sekhem resembled a closed horseshoe with a long handle and loose metal cross bars above the Hathor head. A priestess with the sekhem sistrum. (Public Domain) In ancient Egypt, while the sistrum was used in the musical worship of several Egyptian deities, including Amon, Bastet, and Isis, it was especially associated with the worship of the great goddesses Hathor. The sistrum was used in rituals and ceremonies including dances, worship, and celebrations, that honored Hathor. It also seems to have carried ******* or fertility connotations, which probably derives from Hathor’s mythological qualities. Because of its association with Hathor, the sistrum became a symbol of her son Ihy as well, who was often depicted as the archetypal sistrum player. Fragment of a sistrum, 26th dynasty. Sistrum in the name of a priestess of Bastet, Late *******, (664-332 BC) (anonymous/CC BY-SA 2.0 FR) The sistrum continued to be used in Egypt well after the rule of the pharaohs. Rome’s conquest of Egypt in 30 BC, following the ****** of Cleopatra and Mark Antony, helped spread the cult of the goddess throughout the Mediterranean and the rest of the Roman world. The Hathor heads were interpreted as Isis and Nephthys, who represented life and ****** respectively. Marble statue of Isis, the goddess holds a situla and sistrum, ritual implements used in her worship, from 117 until 138 AD, found at Hadrian’s Villa (Pantanello), Palazzo Nuovo, Capitoline Museums. (Public Domain) Worship of the goddess Isis became extremely popular in the Greco-Roman ******* and during this time, the sistrum became inextricably tied to Isis. Temples to Isis were built in every major city, perhaps the largest and most richly decorated being in Rome, near the Pantheon. The temple and its surrounding porticoes were decorated with beautiful wall paintings, some of which show priests or attendants of Isis holding a sistrum. In Greek culture, not all sistrums were intended to be played. Rather, they took on a purely symbolic function in which they were used in sacrifices, festivals, and funerary contexts. Clay versions of sistrums may also have been used as children’s toys. Today, sistra are still used in the rites of the Coptic and ********** churches. Top image: Statue of Hathor, goddess of love, music, and fertility with sistrum and hieroglyphs – AI generated. Source: Iarte/Adobe Stock By Joanna Gillan This article was first published in 2014 and was updated by an Ancient Origins editor in Nov 2024. Source link #Rattling #Divine #Mystical #Role #Sistrum Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Final Fantasy XIV Mobile brings the beloved MMORPG to the palm of your hand Final Fantasy XIV Mobile brings the beloved MMORPG to the palm of your hand Final Fantasy XIV is officially coming to mobile, looking set to slowly bring in years of content It’s being developed by Tencent’s Lightspeed Studios in partnership with Square Enix You’ll soon be able to enjoy Final Fantasy XIV and adventure through Eorze in the palm of your hand! Final Fantasy fans can rejoice because the rumours and speculation have finally ceased, with the official announcement that Final Fantasy XIV for mobile is in the works! And, as we noted before, it will be coming courtesy of Tencent subsidiary Lightspeed Studios, set to work closely in concert with Square Enix. Final Fantasy XIV should need little introduction as one of the most disastrous launches, and subsequently well-earned returns to prominence, in the franchise’s history. Originally released back in 2012, the initial version of Final Fantasy 14 met with a huge amount of criticism for its lacklustre nature, leading to a complete revamp of the development team and the release of a ground-up rebuild fittingly called, A Realm Reborn. Set in the familiar world of Eorzea, Final Fantasy XIV Mobile looks set to promise a good amount of content when it launches. You’ll be able to enjoy nine different jobs at release, switching freely between them using the Armoury system. And naturally, minigames such as Triple Triad will also make a return. Limit break I think this is genuinely a bit of a landmark moment considering how big of a release Final Fantasy XIV was and the very intriguing nature of its fall and subsequent rise. It’s become a cornerstone of Square Enix’s catalogue so the decision to work with Tencent to bring Final Fantasy XIV to mobile represents a seemingly quite close partnership. The only wrinkle I can see is that it seems that Final Fantasy XIV Mobile may not have as much in the way of initial content as some might like. Although I’d guess that the intent is to slowly work their way through incorporating expansions and updates over time, instead of trying to bring in all of Final Fantasy XIV’s quite considerable content from over the years. Source link #Final #Fantasy #XIV #Mobile #brings #beloved #MMORPG #palm #hand Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump administration picks Matt Gaetz, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Pete Hegseth and Elon Musk have ******* misconduct allegations in their past Trump administration picks Matt Gaetz, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Pete Hegseth and Elon Musk have ******* misconduct allegations in their past Matt Gaetz, Pete Hegseth, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Elon Musk are all in line to serve as top government leaders. All have faced varying degrees of ******* misconduct allegations. The president’s picks to carry out his agenda reflect an incoming administration hostile to the norms of the “Me Too” movement. Behavior that might have gotten a person fired or canceled (or not nominated to a cabinet position) over the last several years, appears to be less problematic in the Trump 2.0 era. Combo file: Former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida (top left), Pete Hegseth (top right), Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (bottom left), Elon Musk (bottom right) Gaetz (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images); Hegseth (John Lamparski/Getty Images); Kennedy (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images); Musk (ALLISON ROBBERT/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) To be clear: three of the men — Gaetz, Hegseth and Musk — have consistently denied the allegations against them. Gaetz, Trump’s attorney general pick, said he did not have a ******* relationship with a minor, a 17-year-old, while he was a member of Congress, despite sworn witness testimony to the contrary. Gaetz allies also point to a Justice Department investigation that yielded no charges. A 2017 ******* ******** investigation into the man Trump plans to nominate to be defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, resulted in no charges, according to Hegseth’s lawyer. Hegseth reached a confidential settlement with the woman involved. Eight employees of SpaceX filed a lawsuit earlier this year accusing CEO Elon Musk of fostering a hostile work environment that the plaintiffs say was rife with ******* harassment. The eight plaintiffs said that during the course of their employment with SpaceX, they were exposed to “unwanted conduct and comments of a ******* nature by Elon Musk that created a hostile and abusive work environment,” their lawsuit said. Musk denied the allegations, according to the Associated Press. Musk has been tapped to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency, a government agency Trump intends to establish. Kennedy, Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, is the only one of the four who indicated it was possible that he had acted inappropriately, apologizing to a former nanny for allegations of unwanted ******* advances in the 1990s. He told CBS News that he does not recall the conduct in question, but does not want to “leave anybody in the world feeling like I did something that was insensitive or inappropriate.” Asked whether he might have to make a similar apology to someone else in the future, Kennedy replied, “It’s quite possible. I’m 70 years old. I had a very rambunctious life.” Trump himself has been accused of ******* misconduct by at least 15 women. In 2023, a jury found him civilly liable for ********* abusing writer E. Jean Carroll. The Trump transition team has not responded to a request for comment. Machismo was often a centerpiece of Trump’s appeal to voters during the 2024 campaign. He regularly spoke about toughness — whether that trait applied to his immigration policy, combating illicit ***** trade or surviving two ************** attempts. Wrestler Hulk Hogan delivered a ********** speech at the *********** National Convention, ripping off his shirt while lavishing praise on the nominee. And Trump also spent time on right-leaning podcasts with largely male audiences. His entreaties to male culture paid off in November. He had a ******* advantage among male voters against Kamala Harris, winning this group by 13 percentage points, compared to the 8-point advantage he had against President Biden in 2020, and the 11-point margin over Hillary Clinton in 2016. The Senate will have final say on whether Gaetz, Hegseth and Kennedy become confirmed cabinet secretaries. Ahead of their confirmation hearings, *********** senators, who are likely to have to provide nearly all of the votes for these four nominees, did not say much about their prospects. Louisiana Senator John Kennedy was uncertain Tuesday on whether Gaetz could get the 51 votes he’ll need for confirmation. “I wouldn’t bet my house on it one way or the other. And if I were ******** your house, which would be a lot easier, I’d say ‘I don’t know,'” he said. Several Republicans interviewed by CBS News had a similar message: let the vetting and confirmation process proceed, and don’t jump to conclusions, even if the allegations are troubling. “We are going to have conversations,” Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa said. “There needs to be legitimate vetting,” Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski said. “That’s what committees do. This is our job.” Arden Farhi Arden Farhi is the senior White House producer at CBS News. He has covered several presidential campaigns and the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations. He also produces “The Takeout with Major Garrett.” Source link #Trump #administration #picks #Matt #Gaetz #Robert #Kennedy #Pete #Hegseth #Elon #Musk #******* #misconduct #allegations Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Bitcoin hits new record near $95,000 as investors monitor Trump transition: CNBC Crypto World Bitcoin hits new record near $95,000 as investors monitor Trump transition: CNBC Crypto World ShareShare Article via FacebookShare Article via TwitterShare Article via LinkedInShare Article via Email CNBC Crypto World features the latest news and daily trading updates from the digital currency markets and provides viewers with a look at what’s ahead with high-profile interviews, explainers, and unique stories from the ever-changing crypto industry. On today’s show, Andrew O’Neill of S&P Global Ratings discusses how crypto policy changes under Trump could affect crypto prices. Source link #Bitcoin #hits #record #investors #monitor #Trump #transition #CNBC #Crypto #World Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Meta’s latest features for Messenger Calling include AI backgrounds Meta’s latest features for Messenger Calling include AI backgrounds If you’re one of the people out there making calls with Meta’s Messenger app, its latest update adds a bunch of new features for making video and audio calls, according to . When you make a video call, you can add an AI-generated background to your screen by tapping on the effects icon in the sidebar and selecting “Backgrounds.” So instead of showing your friends and family your grungy apartment or your car that you haven’t cleaned out since you bought it, you can replace the background with a field of sunflowers or an alien landscape as one of its suns is setting. That’s something we’ve seen from basically every other video calling platform, so it’s not a big surprise to see Meta add it here. Meta also added some new features for video calls including high definition video, background noise suppression and voice isolation “to help you make clearer, higher-quality calls directly from Messenger,” according to the blog. The HD video feature will be the default mode for Messenger calls made over W-iFi connections. HD calls can also be made on cellular data in settings by turning on “Mobile data for HD video.” Background noise suppression and voice isolation can also be turned on and off in Messenger’s call settings section. You can also leave voice and video messages for your contacts beyond just a line of text and maybe a cheeky emoji or two. Simply tap the “record message” button on the lower right side of the screen to leave a video or audio message if the person you are contacting doesn’t pick up the call. Finally, if you don’t have a free hand but need to make a call, iPhone users can ask Siri to make calls and messages for them on Meta’s Messenger app. Simply activate Siri and say “Hey Siri, send a message to [contact name] on Messenger” and dictate the message you want to send them. Source link #Metas #latest #features #Messenger #Calling #include #backgrounds Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Nvidia Stock Must Break 149.77 to Pave Way for Further Rise Nvidia Stock Must Break 149.77 to Pave Way for Further Rise NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:). engages in the design and manufacture of computer graphics processors, chipsets, and related multimedia software. It operates through the following segments: Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) and Compute & Networking. Nvidia designs and sells GPUs for gaming, cryptocurrency mining, and professional applications; the company also sells chip systems for use in vehicles, robotics, and more. Nvidia’s Compute and Networking business segment, which includes artificial intelligence (AI), is the company’s biggest revenue generator. The Graphics business segment is Nvidia’s second largest revenue generator. Put/Call ratio for Nov. 22 expiry is 0.7866% more calls than puts which suggests the following three scenarios: With Put/Call ratio is around 0.80-0.72 for the next 2 upcoming expiries suggest that the traders are mildly bullish. Earning miss or lower guidance could trigger a short-lived sell-off. As the veteran tech investor won’t sell – regardless of earnings. Earning and guidance in line or better than estimates trigger a sharp rally. Key Highlights: Analysts expect the chipmaker to deliver revenue growth driven by demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure, with record data center sales. All eyes will be on the updates Nvidia’s Blackwell AI chip shipments. Big Tech’s AI spending continues to accelerate at a pace not seen in the past many years. MSFT, AMZN, META (NASDAQ:) & Alphabet (NASDAQ:) have set a huge CAPEX for AI in 2025. NVDA is a cash-rich company with a strong balance sheet as its total debt to total capital of 0.16 is significantly lower than the industry average of 0.30. Technical Analysis Perspective: NVDA has been hovering insider a symmetrical triangle from April 2024 to early October 2024. Typically, these types of triangles form 5 points. Point 1 = April 15, 2024, to June 21 (from 75.61 to 140.76) Point 2 = June 17, 2024, to August 09, 2024, (from 140.76 to 90.69) Point 3 = August 09, 2024, to August 30, 2024, (from 90.69 – 131.26) Point 4 = August 30, 2024, to September 06, 2024 (from 131.26 – 100.95) Point 5 = September 06, 2024, to October 07, 2024 (from 100.95 to 125) breakout point. The upside target of this triangle is 185 – 195 in the coming weeks to months. NVDA needs to break the recent high 149.77 high pre-earnings or during the earnings volatility to pave the way for further rise. A ******** to break 149.77 would suggest a dip to 139 -137 support zone. NVDA 19 years seasonality suggests that it closes 6.9% higher in November 80% of the time. Conclusion: NVDA has been in an uptrend since October 2022, a breakout of a bullish symmetrical triangle is adding fuel to the current rising trend and earnings could be a catalyst force. Fundamental and technical parameters are supporting additional rallies. Let’s see how the earnings and guidance play later this evening. Source link #Nvidia #Stock #Break #Pave #Rise Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Business spending on AI surged 500% this year to $13.8 billion, says Menlo Ventures Business spending on AI surged 500% this year to $13.8 billion, says Menlo Ventures Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images Business spending on generative AI surged 500% this year, from $2.3 billion in 2023 to $13.8 billion, according to data released by Menlo Ventures on Wednesday. The report also found that OpenAI ceded market share in enterprise AI, declining from 50% to 34%. Anthropic doubled its market share from 12% to 24%. The results came from a survey of 600 enterprise IT decision-makers from companies with 50 or more employees, per the report. Menlo is an investor in Anthropic. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Tim Tully, a partner at Menlo Ventures, told CNBC in an interview that the power shift is thanks in part to the advancement of Claude 3.5 and because the majority of companies are using three or more large AI models. Although OpenAI and Anthropic dominated companies’ AI model use, he said, people are “juggling models” and that habit is “not a well-understood piece of data.” “Developers are pretty savvy — they know how to go back and forth between models fairly quickly,” Tully explained. “They’re choosing the model that fits their use case best… and that’s likely Claude 3.5.” Meta’s market share stayed at 16% and Cohere’s share remained at 3%. Google’s rose from 7% to 12%, and Mistral’s lost one percentage point, declining to 5% in 2024. Foundation models — such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude and others — still dominated enterprise spend, the report found, with large language models receiving $6.5 billion in enterprise investment. Menlo’s report was bullish on AI agents, a leading AI trend and area of investment in 2024. Google, Microsoft, Amazon, OpenAI and Anthropic are pursuing the technology. AI agents are viewed as a step beyond chatbots. They can perform multistep, complex tasks on a user’s behalf, and generate their own to-do lists, so that users don’t have to walk them through the process step-by-step. “The agent stuff is real — it’s not hype,” Tully told CNBC. “I don’t think it’s going to cure *******, necessarily, but is it going to make people more productive and help companies generate revenue? Yes.” The report found code generation is the leading use case for generative AI, with more than half of survey responses naming that as a dominant use. Support chatbots came next, at 31%, followed by enterprise search and retrieval, data extraction and transformation, and meeting summarization. Source link #Business #spending #surged #year #billion #Menlo #Ventures Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Chewbacca 2,319-Piece Star Wars Lego Set Gets $55 Discount At Amazon For ****** Friday Chewbacca 2,319-Piece Star Wars Lego Set Gets $55 Discount At Amazon For ****** Friday Amazon has a fantastic ****** Friday deal on the Chewbacca Star Wars Lego set, dropping the price from $200 down to $145. This is very close to the all-time low price ($140) for the 2,319-piece Chewie model kit. We expect this offer to sell out pretty fast, just like earlier this month when Amazon matched Target’s $160 early ****** Friday deal. Thankfully, Walmart also has the $145 Chewbacca deal in stock, so if it sells out at your preferred retailer, make sure to check the other. $145 (was $200) After piecing it all together, you’ll have an 18-inch model of the Wookie hero with his iconic Bowcaster Rifle and bandolier. Like many Lego Star Wars model sets designed for adults, it comes with a display plaque with key details about Chewie and a minifigure. Chewbacca was one of the marquee Lego Star Wars sets released for Return of the Jedi’s 40th anniversary. Chewbacca isn’t the only large-scale Star Wars Lego set on ***** for a big discount right now. Luke Skywalker’s Landspeeder is up for grabs for $175 at Walmart. Normally $240, this highly detailed 1,890-piece model is part of Lego’s Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series. It’s one of the most eye-catching and realistic Lego sets that recreates an iconic vehicle from the movies. Amazon was matching this deal but sold out fast, so you be speedy if you want the Landspeeder. Star Wars Lego Deals at Amazon Amazon has a wide variety of Star Wars sets on ***** for great prices right now. Some of the highlights include Ahsoka’s Ghost & Phantom II Starships set for $138 (click the coupon box) and the Emperor’s Throne Room from Return of the Jedi for $80. For the ambitious and dedicated Star Wars fan, The Ultimate Collector Series Mandalorian set featuring a 6,187-piece model of The Razor Crest is $88 off. If you’re looking for a gift for a young Star Wars fan this holiday, Walmart has restocked its exclusive Lego Star Wars 3-in-1 Gift Set. This unique package comes with three popular playsets that are normally sold separately for only $50 total, which saves you $35 overall. $50 Here’s what you get with this Walmart-exclusive Lego Star Wars gift set: The Clone Wars: Yoda’s Jedi Starfighter (253 pieces) — $35 value Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Jedi Starfighter (282 pieces) — $30 value 501st Clone Troopers Battle Pack (119 pieces) — $20 value All told, the gift set includes two buildable starships, an AV-7 anti-vehicle cannon, seven minifigures , and two droids. Source link #Chewbacca #2319Piece #Star #Wars #Lego #Set #Discount #Amazon #****** #Friday Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump sent two stimulus checks in his first term. Here’s what experts say about another payment. Trump sent two stimulus checks in his first term. Here’s what experts say about another payment. President-elect Donald Trump in his first term as president sent out two stimulus checks to millions of Americans during the pandemic, part of the federal government’s goal of keeping consumers financially afloat during the crisis. Now, some social media posts are claiming that Trump, once he takes office next year, may issue another check — a likelihood that experts say is extremely slim. Posts on TikTok are suggesting Trump might issue another round of checks, while on X, some users are questioning if they’re in line for a payment. When the COVID-19 health emergency shuttered the economy in 2020, millions of Americans lost their jobs, sending the jobless rate to almost 15% and causing financial hardship for many. As a result, Trump signed two bills that sent stimulus checks to eligible households, while President Biden authorized a third. Even though many Americans feel the economy is faring badly, with some pointing to the impact of the pandemic’s high inflation, the U.S. isn’t anywhere close to the situation of the early 2020s, economists say. “Stimulus checks typically only happen when the economy is in really bad shape and consumers need a push to start spending money again,” LendingTree senior economist Jacob Channel told CBS MoneyWatch. “That’s not really the case in the present.” Is the economy bad enough for a new stimulus check? While a majority of Americans give the economy poor ratings, economists say that it’s in good shape overall, with solid GDP growth, inflation that is inching closer to the Federal Reserve’s 2% annual goal and a jobless rate of 4.1% — which is near a 50-year low. “Despite some pain points and general ‘bad vibes’ expressed by some people, the economy is currently in remarkably good shape and consumer spending is relatively strong,” Channel said. Even so, many inflation-weary consumers say they haven’t yet seen the benefit of that growth. The November 5 presidential election was viewed as a mandate from voters for a new economic direction. Could Trump issue a stimulus check? While some consumers might believe that Trump or Biden alone was responsible for sending out stimulus checks — perhaps because Trump put his name on the memo line of the first check — the payments were part of three bills passed by Congress, which were then sent to the sitting president for his signature. “A president can’t unilaterally issue stimulus checks, and the ones sent out during his last administration were largely the result of a push from Democrats in the House and Senate,” Channel noted. “Though Trump ultimately did sign the bill that sent stimulus checks to Americans, he isn’t solely responsible for them.” In other words, there would first need to be legislation passed by Congress to authorize another stimulus check, something that currently isn’t on the horizon. Would a stimulus check impact inflation? With the Federal Reserve still aiming to pare inflation to a 2% annual rate — it stood at 2.6% last month — policymakers are likely to be cautious about any actions that could reignite inflation. Some economists have pointed to the surge in federal spending during the pandemic as helping to create the conditions that led to the hottest inflation in 40 years. “Because inflation is still such a big concern at the moment, the last thing a reasonable government would want to do is further stimulate consumer demand with stimulus checks because doing so would unnecessarily risk causing a resurgence in inflation,” Channel noted. That being said, Trump’s economic policies, including adding tariffs to imports and deporting millions of undocumented immigrants, could cause an inflation bump of as much of 1 percentage point, economists have said. That would push inflation to a range of about 3.6%, which Wall Street cautions could cause the Fed to hold off on further rate cuts. Could the IRS issue stimulus checks in 2024? The IRS sent the three rounds of pandemic stimulus checks after they were authorized by Congress and signed into law by Trump and Biden. In other words, without Congress’ approval, the IRS won’t be sending any stimulus checks in 2024. Currently there is no legislation in the works for stimulus spending, and such legislation is also considered extremely unlikely to occur in 2025. Instead, Trump and *********** lawmakers are likely to focus on tax legislation to extend the tax cuts in his 2017 Tax Cuts & Jobs Act, as well as tackling other spending issues, experts say. Aimee Picchi Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports. Source link #Trump #stimulus #checks #term #Heres #experts #payment Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Congolese false alarm after mausoleum vandalised Congolese false alarm after mausoleum vandalised AFP The gold tooth was placed in this mausoleum after its return to DR Congo in 2022 The gold-capped tooth of Patrice Lumumba, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s independence hero, is safe and has not been stolen, his daughter has told the BBC. The news comes as a relief to a nation gripped by ***** that the only ******** of the country’s revered first prime minister had been swiped after his mausoleum in the capital, Kinshasa, was vandalised on Monday night. But Juliana Lumumba said previous concerns about the security of the site had prompted the family to move the tooth to a more secure location. The tooth was only returned to the Lumumba family by former colonial power Belgium two years ago – and had been placed in the special memorial building. Lumumba was much loved not just by many at home but across ******* for his outspoken criticism of colonialism – and he became an icon of pan-Africanism. He was seen as a symbol of change and hope after the harrowing years under Belgian rule, during which millions of Congolese people ***** or were brutalised. But within months of the country’s independence from Belgium in 1960 he was toppled as prime minister. At the age of 35 he was shot by a ******* squad in January 1961, with the tacit backing of Belgium. His body was then dissolved in acid, but Belgian police officer Gerard Soete, who oversaw the destruction, took the tooth as a macabre memento. The return of Lumumba’s gold tooth in June 2022 was a cause for celebration in DR Congo – and it was taken on a tour of the vast country so people could pay their respects. The vandalism of the mausoleum has caused outrage – and when Culture Minister Yolande Elebe Mandembo announced on Tuesday that an investigation had been launched, many feared the worst. Footage circulated showing that a glass door had been smashed to get access to the chamber where a coffin could be seen. But Ms Lumumba sought to reassure people on Wednesday – saying her father’s tooth had not been there at the time of the break-in. Nonetheless she told the BBC she felt “anger and sadness” that her father’s grave had been disrespected. Jelle Vermeersch The gold tooth of Patrice Lumumba – pictured here in 2016 – had been preserved in a padded box by Belgian police officer Gerard Soete Now 69, she spent years lobbying Belgium for the return of the tooth. “Patrice Lumumba sacrificed himself for the sovereignty and independence of his country and the Congolese,” she said. “This is so unrepresentative of our culture, which respects the graves of our dearly departed.” Local authorities say four suspects have been arrested over the desecration, but their identities have not been made public. Ms Lumumba said the Lumumba Foundation wanted to take over management of the mausoleum because of security worries and had been lobbying the government to do so. You may also be interested in:Getty Images/BBC Source link #Congolese #false #alarm #mausoleum #vandalised Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

STALKER 2 Developers Address Early Issues With The Game STALKER 2 Developers Address Early Issues With The Game After first being announced in 2010, STALKER 2 is out now for Xbox Series and PC. And despite more positive reception than negative, there are still technical issues with STALKER 2 that have caused some problems for players. In a statement on social media, the game’s developers at GSC Game World expressed their joy of the game finally being available to players. That said, they did acknowledge that the game has some “rough edges” that will be worked on as they monitor the feedback of players. “We understand that in such a game, there may still be rough edges: we literally haven’t released anything of this scale before,” they said. “We’re absolutely committed to being here, monitoring your feedback, and quickly fixing any issues that need our attention.” GUIDES: Improve Your STALKER 2 Experience They continued to say that over the next few days, they will be working on various hotfixes for the game and will release them “as precisely as possible” while still being as frequent as they can. After those are out, the focus will move to larger updates for the game. “There will also be free in-game content — we’ll share its roadmap later in December,” they said. “We have big plans for the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. universe. In a way, today is both a return and the beginning of a grand new journey.” Insider Gaming’s Grant Taylor-Hill reviewed the game, and says that despite any technical hiccups early on, STALKER 2 is “the cream of the crop, and it’s a bar to which every developer in the genre should aspire to reach.” Have you had any major issues with STALKER 2 in your early play? Let us know down below, and join the discussion in the official Insider Gaming forums. For more Insider Gaming, check out our exclusive on what EA is doing to prevent another disastrous launch for the next Battlefield game. And don’t forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest news and exclusive leaks every week! No Spam. Source link #STALKER #Developers #Address #Early #Issues #Game Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]