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Lowry: Joe Biden is Donald Trump’s best friend

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:51 GMT

Donald Trump doesn’t look, at the moment, like he needs any help winning the Republican nomination, but he’s getting an assist from President Joe Biden.The incumbent president — rather than being the indispensable political antidote to Trump that Democrat imagine him as — may well prove the key to his predecessor’s return to the White House.Biden is an asset to Trump’s primary campaign and could, through his weakness and ineptitude, end up electing him in 2024.Biden is indicting Trump; he’s making Republicans pine for the days when Trump was president; and he’s lackluster in prospective head-to-head polling matchups.All of which is boosting his adversary’s prospects. The indictments, of course, create a rally-around-the flag effect among Republicans. It was the shoddy indictment from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg that launched Trump onto a new, higher trajectory in the primary race. But the federal indictments from Spec...

Moore: Will the Biden administration ban cigars?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:51 GMT

What is it with the Left that they want to ban nearly everything that is fun or convenient? Gas stoves, dishwashers, plastic straws, gas cars, snowmobiles and diving boards. And now the health busybodies want to ban certain cigars.Recently, a gang of senators led by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) wrote a letter to Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf urging the agency to ban (or heavily regulate) flavored cigar sales. Under pressure from the health lobby, the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products said it’s primed to take action in the weeks ahead. They say underage teenagers are smoking these cigars and are at risk of becoming addicted.This makes as much sense as banning scotch because kids might smuggle a bottle from Dad’s liquor cabinet, or outlawing R-rated movies because 14-year-olds occasionally sneak into the theater.In 2009, Congress and President Barack Obama enacted the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act to give the federal govern...

Dear Abby: Man humiliates wife by sharing photos

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:51 GMT

Dear Abby: I’m an older woman. My husband and I have been married eight years but were together 15 years prior to our marriage. He is a wonderful, caring man in most ways. But from time to time, he snaps extremely unflattering photos of me, sends them to everyone we know and even orders enlargements made for me.I have a mouth condition that makes smiling painful, so unless I know a picture is being taken, I look really old and grumpy. I have asked him PLEASE not to do this because it’s humiliating when he sends them out to friends and family members. I think it’s unkind and disrespectful and have told him so, yet he persists.I’m to the point that this has become a deal-breaker in our marriage, and he knows it. He claims he loves me and is proud of me. And yes, we have been to counseling about our relationship in general because of the many times he has humiliated me in public. But he won’t stop. How can I handle this going forward? — Humiliated an...

San Diego City Council approves Smart Streetlights technology

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:51 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- It was a contentious debate Tuesday with a split in the San Diego City Council over the future of 500 Smart Streetlights used as a surveillance tool for police officers to investigate violent crimes. In the end, the vote came down 6-3 as the city council approved the traffic program to move forward. San Diego’s newly appointed privacy board voted unanimously against moving forward with the Smart Streetlights in their current form. Council President Sean Elo-Rivera, along with councilmembers Vivian Moreno and Monica Montgomery Steppe, were against the new cameras. Body found in search for missing hiker on El Cajon Mountain San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria released the following statement: “It’s the responsibility of local government to keep its residents safe. Smart Streetlights and Automated License Plate Readers will help the San Diego Police Department identify and apprehend suspects in deadly crimes and bring them to justice, making our communities safer. I thank the ...

Mega Millions jackpot climbs to $1.25 billion after no one hits the top prize

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:51 GMT

The Mega Millions jackpot increased to an estimated $1.25 billion after no one beat the odds Tuesday night and won the massive lottery prize.The winning numbers drawn were: 8, 24, 30, 45 ,61, and the yellow ball: 12. No one has won the Mega Millions jackpot since April 18, allowing it to grow larger and larger. The $1.25 billion prize is now one of the largest in U.S. history. Tuesday night’s drawing for $1.1 billion was the 30th straight without a winner.The lottery drought is due to a combination of poor luck and terrible odds, as the chance of winning the Mega Millions jackpot is 1 in 302.6 million. The odds of winning smaller prizes, ranging from $2 to $1 million, are significantly better.The new $1.25 billion jackpot is for a sole winner who chooses to collect through an annuity, with annual payments over 30 years. A sole winner who opts for a lump sum payment would receive an estimated $625.3 million.Winners also would be subject to federal taxes, and many states also tax lott...

Progress made against massive California-Nevada wildfire but flames may burn iconic Joshua trees

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:51 GMT

MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters aided by afternoon rain fought to contain a massive blaze that swept through the California desert into Nevada and could threaten the region’s famous spiky Joshua trees.The York Fire that erupted last Friday was California’s largest wildfire this year. As of Tuesday night it had burned through more than 125 square miles (323.7 square kilometers) of land but showed little growth during the day and was 23% contained, fire officials said.Humid monsoonal weather conditions brought brief but heavy rain, especially on the south end of the fire, and kept its spread to a minimum, fire officials said.However, the 400 or so firefighters battling the blaze had to balance their efforts with concerns about disrupting the fragile ecosystem in California’s Mojave National Preserve, Crews used a “light hand on the land,” clearing and carving fire lines without the use of bulldozers in order to reduce the impact in the ecological...

North Korea calls US human rights envoy a ‘political housemaid’ in protest of criticisms

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:51 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea hurled misogynistic insults Wednesday at a newly confirmed United States special envoy to monitor the country’s human rights issues and warned of unspecified security consequences if Washington continues to criticize its human rights conditions.The statement published by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency described Julie Turner as a “wicked woman” who was picked by the Biden administration as a “political housemaid” to launch groundless attacks on the country’s human rights record.The U.S. Senate confirmed Turner’s appointment July 27. She previously served as the director of East Asia and the Pacific at the State Department.The statement said the Biden administration’s public criticism of North Korea’s human rights situation highlighted its hostility toward Pyongyang in the face of an intensifying nuclear standoff between the countries. KCNA described Turner’s past criticisms of North Korea’s human rights record as absurd, and sa...

Some of Niger’s neighbors defend the coup there, even hinting at war. It’s a warning for Africa

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:51 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Not everyone is hostile to the coups in Niger and other African nations in the past few years that have worried the West. In the “family photo” for last week’s Russia-Africa Summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin stood next to Ibrahim Traore, the young military officer who seized power in Burkina Faso in September.It was an uncomfortable moment for many leaders elsewhere in Africa. “The normalization and dignifying of military takeovers must trouble our great continent,” Kenya’s cabinet secretary for foreign affairs wrote while sharing the photo this week.Now Burkina Faso and another military junta-led country friendly with Russia, Mali, have taken the unusual step of declaring that foreign military intervention in neighboring Niger after last week’s coup would be considered a declaration of war against them, too.They are defying the West African regional body known as ECOWAS, which said on Sunday it could use force if Niger’s coup leaders don’t reinsta...

Striking writers, studios to meet this week to discuss restarting negotiations

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:51 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Union leaders told striking Hollywood writers Tuesday night that they plan to meet with representatives for studios to discuss restarting negotiations after the first official communication between the two sides since the strike began three months ago. The Writers Guild of America sent an email to members saying that the head of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents major studios, streaming services and production companies in negotiations, requested a meeting on Friday to discuss the resumption of contract talks. “We’ll be back in communication with you sometime after the meeting with further information,” the email read. “As we’ve said before, be wary of rumors. Whenever there is important news to share, you will hear it directly from us.”It was not immediately known whether a similar overture was made to union leaders for Hollywood actors, who have been on strike since July 14.Asked about the prospect of talks with either gui...

29 inches of rain from Saturday to Wednesday was Beijing’s heaviest rainfall in 140 years

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:51 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China’s capital has recorded its heaviest rainfall in 140 years over the past few days.The city recorded 744.8 millimeters (29.3 inches) of rain between Saturday and Wednesday morning, the Beijing Meteorological Bureau said on Wednesday. Chinese authorities on Tuesday said the torrential rains around Beijing had destroyed roads, knocked out power and caused at least 20 deaths with 27 people missing. Thousands of people were evacuated to shelters in schools and other public buildings in suburban Beijing and in nearby cities.The severity of the flooding took the Chinese capital by surprise. Beijing usually has dry summers but had a stretch of record-breaking heat this year.The Associated Press