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Bret Stephens: The Palestinian Republic of fear and misinformation — the nature of tyrannical regimes

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:01:47 GMT

JERUSALEM — Many years ago, when I first started covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I got to know a gifted Palestinian journalist who, for reasons that will become apparent in a moment, I’ll refer to only by his first name, Said.As with many other Palestinian journalists, Said’s primary source of income was working with foreign reporters as a “fixer,” someone who could arrange difficult meetings, translate from Arabic, show you around. Said had an independent streak, and he was no fan of Yasser Arafat, which made him particularly helpful in cutting through the Palestinian Authority’s propagandistic bombast.With Said, I interviewed senior Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip; and in the West Bank, officials in Ramallah, retired terrorists in Nablus, political dissidents in Jenin and construction workers in Hebron. We developed a friendship. Then, shortly after 9/11, he called me in a panic because something I had written in The Wall Street Journal had met with the displeasure of o...

Jamelle Bouie: Millennials and Gen Z are tilting left and staying there

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:01:47 GMT

As the saying goes, if you’re not a liberal when you’re young, then you have no heart, and if you’re not a conservative when you’re old, you have no brain.The idea, of course, is that liberalism is a game for the youth and that age brings security, stability and a natural resistance to change. The upshot, in American politics, is that while most voters might start on the center-left, with Democrats, they’ll end their political journey on the center-right, with Republicans. One party represents disruption and change; the other party represents a steady hand and the status quo.Or at least that’s the story. The reality is a little more complicated. Not only does our narrative of political change over time exaggerate the degree of rightward drift among different people as they age, but there’s good evidence that for the youngest generations of Americans, it is hardly happening at all.The evidence comes from a new Wall Street Journal analysis of the latest data from the General Social Su...

Wisconsin DNR approves new wolf management plan with no population goal

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:01:47 GMT

Wisconsin wildlife officials unanimously approved a contentious new wolf management plan Wednesday that doesn’t include a specific population goal despite demands from hunters and farmers to cap the number of wolves roaming the state.In backing the plan, Department of Natural Resources policy board members praised it as a scientifically sound compromise that could give federal officials confidence that Wisconsin would manage its wolf population responsibly if the federal government removes protections for the species.“Impressive work,” board member Todd Ambs told DNR large carnivore specialist Larry Johnson, who spent months developing and revising the plan in an attempt to please hunters, farmers and conservationists. “Amazing what you’ve been going through. … Congratulations on still being upright when you got here.”Wolf management has become one of the fiercest policy debates in Wisconsin hunting circles as the population has grown over the last three decades.Fa...

Twins’ Alex Kirilloff undergoes shoulder surgery

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:01:47 GMT

Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said earlier this month that the Twins were expecting Alex Kirilloff to need a labrum repair when he underwent surgery on Tuesday with Dr. Neal ElAttrache.They got some good news.After imaging and evaluation, the surgeon did not need to repair the labrum or rotator cuff in his right shoulder. Instead, Kirilloff underwent a bursectomy, a procedure to clean up the bursal sac in his shoulder, on Tuesday.The left-handed Kirilloff first hurt his non-throwing shoulder during the middle of the season and wound up missing more than a month with the injury. He returned in September, though manager Rocco Baldelli later said though they had gotten him “to a reasonably good spot,” he was never back to 100 percent.After playing through shoulder pain, Kirilloff eventually was placed on the injured list before what would become the final game of the American League Division Series as the issue had gotten progressively worse to the point where he ...

Suspect charged in fatal barbershop shooting

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:01:47 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – Albany Police have made an arrest and have charged a suspect in the fatal barbershop shooting from Mother's Day weekend. NEWS10 has learned more about that suspect and those charges.Tyrone Staley was a 47-year-old barber when he was gunned down on May 13. He worked at the Village Barber Shop & Beauty. Bishop Avery Comithier got a haircut from Staley just before the shooting occurred. He said on that day Tyrone was asking a lot of questions.  Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! “God…If this was real, or…Conversations like at a barbershop. Barbershop conversations,” said Comithier.Barbershop owner Reginald Graham had been friends with Tyrone since 1992. He said the family is devastated by the loss.“Having a suspect in custody, I believe, is going to help the process of healing, and bringing some closure. But on the other hand, it’s just bringing up those feelings again too,” said Graham.Police arreste...

Police: Recovered stolen SUV used for overnight break-ins

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:01:47 GMT

ST. LOUIS – Investigators with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department believe multiple overnight break-ins at south city businesses are connected. Police are searching for suspects and business owners are left cleaning up a mess and documenting stolen merchandise.At least eight south St. Louis businesses were hit, according to police—six on South Broadway and two on Gravois Avenue.The thieves moved fast, hitting the businesses within an hour.The first call came in around 2 a.m. Wednesday, when detectives say the thieves hit Family Dollar in the 4600 block of Gravois Avenue and Royals Liquor in the 6400 block of Gravois.The break-ins continued on South Broadway at the O'Reilly Auto Parts store, the South Broadway Mart, Circle K, and the Village Too. The thieves then targeted Hollywood Beauty.“It's very frustrating. We have to deal with this over the years,” said Kit Lee, who owns two of the stores targeted. “They just broke into one of the beauty supplies right here last year; ...

Marc Johnson retiring as Cherry Creek baseball coach at end of 2024 season

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:01:47 GMT

Colorado’s winningest baseball coach is calling it a career.Cherry Creek head coach Marc Johnson announced to his team Wednesday that 2024 will be his last season on the bench.Johnson, 78, has been the Bruins’ head coach since 1973. In that span, he built Cherry Creek into the state’s preeminent big-school baseball power, with eight state titles, six runner-ups, 32 Centennial League championships and a record 846 wins.The Bruins first won their first title in 1983, a Class 3A crown, and added a Class 4A title in 1992, then five-peated as Class 5A champions from 1995 to ’99 before adding another title in 2012.Johnson broke the all-time wins record in 2021 via a dramatic extra-innings win over Grandview, giving the coach win No. 808 and surpassing Eaton’s Jim Danley.Before Cherry Creek, Johnson’s first coaching job came as a 22-year-old in 1969, when he managed the 2nd Armored Division for two years on a base in Fort Hood, Texas. The Norfolk, Neb., native was a...

Ken Buck backs new House speaker despite election denialism — the reason he opposed others’ bids

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:01:47 GMT

Colorado Congressman Ken Buck drew a line in the sand last week, refusing to support one U.S. House speaker candidate — fellow Republican Jim Jordan of Ohio — over his 2020 election denialism.But on Wednesday, Buck joined with all other Republicans present to elect another speaker candidate who also had worked to overturn the 2020 presidential election and prevent the certification of Democrat Joe Biden as the winner over Donald Trump.Buck told CNN Tuesday night that now-Speaker Mike Johnson, a fourth-term congressman from Louisiana, wasn’t perfect. But he drew a distinction with Jordan, arguing that Johnson did not engage in efforts to overturn the election at the same level that Jordan did.“Jim Jordan was involved in all of the — not all of (it), but most of the post-election activity. Mike Johnson was not,” Buck said. Buck previously had opposed Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s speaker bid because Scalise wouldn’t say if the 2020 ele...

Accessible trail around popular Rocky Mountain National Park lake has been updated

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:01:47 GMT

One of Rocky Mountain National Park’s wheelchair- and stroller-friendly trails has been updated to improve accessibility for visitors.The Sprague Lake Boardwalk Replacement Project was officially completed on Oct. 20 and was funded mostly through recreation fee dollars, plus additional funds from the Rocky Mountain Conservancy.The flat Sprague Lake Loop is about 0.7 miles and takes visitors around one of the most popular lakes in the park for hiking, fishing and seeing wildlife, all while under views of the Continental Divide. Its parking lot area has a picnic area and vault toilets, as well as an accessible backcountry campsite.During the 2023 summer season, National Park Service staff and partners worked to replace a 230-foot section of the trail, which included a boardwalk built in 200 that brought visitors over riparian habitat along the southwest shore. That boardwalk had “outlived its lifespan,” the NPS said, and the project to replace it would not only addre...

Avs star Nathan MacKinnon wants to play with Sidney Crosby at 2026 Olympics: “That would be awesome”

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:01:47 GMT

PITTSBURGH — Nathan MacKinnon and Sidney Crosby, the co-prides of Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, have arguably the most famous friendship in the NHL.Every time they face each other in a league game, MacKinnon’s reverence for Crosby as a kid and their long-standing close friendship that grew as he became a star with the Colorado Avalanche is a popular storyline. MacKinnon mentioned multiple times Wednesday after practice ahead of the latest showdown that his resume doesn’t quite stack up to Crosby’s.One part of MacKinnon’s hockey CV that can’t compare to Crosby’s is not his fault. MacKinnon has never played for Canada in a senior best-on-best tournament, in part because the NHL decided against sending its players to the 2018 Winter Olympics, the COVID-19 pandemic caused the league to pull out in 2022, and there hasn’t been a World Cup of Hockey since 2016.That is something that MacKinnon wants to change, and he’d very much like the op...