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Silverglate: In battle of democracy v. autocracy, liberty will win

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:58:15 GMT

The war between Ukraine and Russia demonstrates a principle that the history of the 20th and 21st centuries teaches us: In the long run, the battle between democracy and autocracy is invariably won by the former despite an often-huge price paid by the winner and, of course, by the loser as well. The cost of liberty is high, but the prospect of losing is infinitely worse. But as Winston Churchill reminded the United States Congress in his memorable speech of May 19, 1943: “Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”When Russian President Vladimir Putin attacked Ukraine, the odds seemed heavily stacked against Ukraine, which had about 27.5% of the population of the aggressor at the beginning of the invasion and a gross domestic product 12% the size. Predictions in the media were that Russia would crush Ukraine in a matter of weeks. The New York Times was ominously forecasting that the...

‘Desperate Souls’ takes deep dive into making of ‘Midnight Cowboy’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:58:15 GMT

Inspired by Glenn Frankel’s acclaimed 2021 book “Shooting ‘Midnight Cowboy’: Art, Sex, Loneliness, Liberation and the Making of a Dark Classic,” director Nancy Buirski (“By Sidney Lumet”) gives us ”Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy,” an illuminating examination of the only X-rated film to win an Academy award for Best Picture.“Midnight Cowboy,” which was released in 1969 and broke records at Manhattan’s Coronet Theater, tells the shocking story of a young Texan who takes the name Joe Buck (Jon Voight) and comes to New York City to “make it” as a “hustler” (Yes, real midnight cowboys could be found on 42nd St. at the time). In this modern-day picaresque tale, Buck meets the thief, outcast and street person Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), who becomes his confidant, pimp and friend. Based on a 1965 novel by James Leo Herlihy, “Midnight Cowboy” crossed several boundaries, the most outrageous being the graphically suggestive depiction of a...

Dear Abby: With intimacy gone, marriage is crumbling

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:58:15 GMT

Dear Abby: I’m 55 and have been married to my husband for 22 years. He was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease 12 years ago. He’s mobile but on oxygen and has lost most of his stamina. At this point, everything in our life (friends, family and social life) revolves around his disease. He responds to any invitation we receive with, “We will see” which turns into a “no” or “I’d rather not,” on the day of the event. I am free to attend on my own. Many of my friends have never met my husband, and some joke that I’m not really married.I can live with this situation except for the lack of intimacy and sex. Sex was never a central part of our relationship, but the nearly complete lack of intimacy over the last 10 years has been frustrating. If I try to discuss “my needs,” he gets defensive and says, “File for divorce then!”Since the last blow-up a couple months ago, I have tried to ignore my needs, but tha...

For the third time this week, Earth sets a heat record

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:58:15 GMT

Earth’s average temperature set a new unofficial record high on Thursday, the third such milestone in a week that already rated as the hottest on record.The planetary average hit 63 degrees Fahrenheit, 17.23 degrees Celsius, surpassing the 62.9 and 17.18-degree marks set Tuesday and equaled Wednesday, according to data from the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer, a tool that uses satellite data and computer simulations to measure the world’s condition. That average includes places that are sweltering under dangerous heat — like Jingxing, China, which checked in almost 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 degrees Celsius) — and the merely unusually warm, like Antarctica, where temperatures across much of the continent were as much as 8 degrees Fahrenheit (4.5 degrees Celsius) above normal this week.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Thursday issued a note of caution about the Maine tool’s findings, saying it could not confirm data that results in part fr...

White gunman to be sentenced for killing 23 people in a racist Walmart attack in a Texas border city

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:58:15 GMT

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — The white Texas gunman who killed 23 people in a racist attack at a Walmart in 2019 is expected to learn his punishment Friday, after victims’ relatives berated him for days over the shooting that targeted Hispanic shoppers on the U.S.-Mexico border.Patrick Crusius, 24, will likely be sentenced to multiple life terms in federal prison for committing one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. However, he could still face the death penalty in a separate case in a Texas state court that has yet to go to trial. Crusius, who pleaded guilty in February to nearly 50 federal hate crime charges after federal prosecutors took the death penalty off the table, is not expected to make a statement before he is formally sentenced by U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama. The sentencing phase was taking place not far from the El Paso Walmart where Crusius opened fire with an AK-style semiautomatic rifle. The attack came after Crusius ranted online, warning of a ...

US set to destroy its last chemical weapons, closing a deadly chapter dating to World War I

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:58:15 GMT

RICHMOND, Ky. (AP) — At a sprawling military installation in the middle of the rolling green hills of eastern Kentucky, a milestone is about to be reached in the history of warfare dating back to World War I.Workers at the Blue Grass Army Depot are close to destroying rockets filled with GB nerve agent that are the last of the United States’ declared chemical weapons and completing a decadeslong campaign to eliminate a stockpile that by the end of the Cold War totaled more than 30,000 tons.The weapons’ destruction is a major watershed for Richmond, Kentucky and Pueblo, Colorado, where an Army depot destroyed the last of its chemical agents last month. It’s also a defining moment for arms control efforts worldwide.The U.S. faces a Sept. 30 deadline to eliminate its remaining chemical weapons under the international Chemical Weapons Convention, which took effect in 1997 and was joined by 193 countries. The munitions being destroyed in Kentucky are the last of 51,000 ...

US Forest Service and historically Black colleges unite to boost diversity in wildland firefighting

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:58:15 GMT

HAZEL GREEN, Ala. (AP) — Before starting college, Taylor Mohead had never been outside her hometown of Houston, Texas. Now, the recent Tuskegee University graduate is trekking around trees in Hazel Green, Alabama, in fire gear and sweltering heat. The U.S. Forest Service intern is among 20 students from historically Black colleges or universities who are participating in a prescribed burn demonstration under instructors’ supervision. They clear paths, light fires and make sure the embers are out when they’re done. It’s part of an apprenticeship program that will give them the credentials to hit the ground running toward a fire line. It’s a grueling way to spend summer break, but Mohead is relishing it. She never pictured herself fighting forest fires.“Look at me. I’m really small. I’m really short. And then being a woman of color, that’s something, too. I feel like that’s more inspiring,” Mohead said, grinning. “I got goosebumps right now.”The on-site fire academy ...

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter mark 77th wedding anniversary at home in Plains, Georgia

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:58:15 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are marking their 77th wedding anniversary with a quiet Friday at their south Georgia home, extending their record as the longest-married first couple ever as both nonagenarians face significant health challenges.The 39th president is 98 and has been in home hospice care since February. The former first lady is 95 and has dementia. The Carter family has not offered details of either Jimmy or Rosalynn Carter’s condition but has said they both have enjoyed time with each other and a stream of family members, along with occasional visits from close friends, in recent months.“As we have looked back at their legacy, it has been really wonderful to see the outpouring of support and respect and love,” grandson Jason Carter said recently. “That word love is really the one that defines certainly their personal relationship, but also the way they approach this world.”Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter have been on the American and international stage together f...

At Iowa event, Trump plans to go after DeSantis over ethanol

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:58:15 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Former President Donald Trump plans Friday to headline his largest Iowa campaign event in nearly four months with a speech to thousands at an arena in the western part of the state. Trump will use his appearance in Council Bluffs on Friday afternoon to attack his top GOP rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, for opposing the federal mandate for ethanol, a renewable fuel additive that Iowa leads the nation in producing.“DeSantis has problematic policy positions that hurt farmers and demonize ethanol,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung told The Associated Press ahead of Trump’s visit. “President Trump plans to highlight that.”The large Republican presidential field has spent a lot of time over the last few months in Iowa, the leadoff GOP caucus state. In June, more than a half dozen candidates, including DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, attended Sen. Joni Ernst’s...

First GOP debate next month faces threats of boycott as lower-polling candidates scramble to qualify

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:58:15 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Seven weeks before the premiere debate of the 2024 GOP primary, anxiety is building that the event could prove messy and divisive for the party.Some candidates, like former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, are struggling to meet fundraising and polling requirements to make it on stage. He and others are pushing back on a loyalty pledge the Republican Party is insisting candidates sign to participate. And the race’s frontrunner, former President Donald Trump, is considering boycotting and holding a competing event instead.That’s turning what is typically the highly anticipated opener of the election season into a source of uncertainty for the candidates and broader party. The frustration is particularly acute for candidates who hoped to use the forum as a powerful opportunity to confront Trump and try to blunt his momentum. “If the outcome of all of these machinations is a very limited field and no Trump in the first debate, it’s hard to see how that ca...