All 36 states have submitted their positions on State Police, with a majority agreeing on the need for state-controlled policing. The Governor of Kaduna State, Uba Sani, revealed this to State House Correspondents after the 147th meeting of the National Economic Council at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, on Thursday. He said, “Today, one of the discussions we had at the NEC meeting was the update on the creation of state police. As you are aware, there was a submission by states toward the establishment of state police. “36 states have submitted, minus FCT. FCT is not a state. They explained why they had not submitted it. But 36 states have all submitted their own position on state police. “From what is available, virtually most of the states are in agreement with the establishment of state police in Nigeria. I want to say here clearly that most of us are in agreement with the establishment of State Police.” The Kaduna State Governor explained that the consensus stemmed from various security challenges across states. He highlighted the central issue of ungoverned spaces in Nigeria and the acute shortage of security personnel, including the police, army, and other relevant agencies, which are unable to cover all areas adequately. “That is why most of us agreed that the establishment of state police in Nigeria is the way forward toward addressing the problem of insecurity in our own country,” he stated. However, the Council deferred final discussions until January, when a detailed report from the NEC secretariat will be presented for deliberation. “But today, the Council decided to step down the discussion until the next council meeting because we need to come up with a report from the secretariat. After the report, there will be deliberation at the next NEC meeting, which will likely take place in January. “Not only that. There was also a resolution in the last NEC meeting, which today the secretariat agreed on, stating that there will be further stakeholder engagement after the panel and deliberation by the members of the NEC.” At its 146th meeting on November 21, the Council gave Adamawa, Kebbi, and Kwara States and the FCT one week (November 28) to submit their positions on the proposed creation of state police. “The Council mandated these remaining states and FCT to make their submissions within the next one week,” the Bayelsa State Governor, Mr Duoye Diri, told State House Correspondents. Diri said the three states and the nation’s capital are the only entities yet to submit reports out of the 36 states. On February 15, 2024, the Federal Government, alongside the 36 states, began talks expected to culminate in the creation of state police. Related News NEC to review state police reports today Serial grid collapse: NEC panel to boost power generation in states FG, govs decide on state police next week This formed part of agreements reached at an emergency meeting between President Bola Tinubu and state governors at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja. It followed the pockets of insecurity recorded nationwide, hikes in food price,s, and economic hardship. Addressing State House Correspondents afterward, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, explained that the process was still in its infancy and would only take shape after more deliberations between stakeholders. “The Federal Government and the state governments are mulling the possibility of setting up state police,” said Idris, adding that “this is still going to be further discussed.” He explained, “A lot of work must be done in that direction. But if our government and the state governments agree to the necessity of having state police, this is a significant shift.” Two days earlier, the House of Representatives said it was considering a legislative bill titled, ‘A bill for an Act to alter the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to provide for the establishment of State Police and related matters.’ Following this agreement, the National Economic Council requested each state to submit detailed reports outlining their positions and plans for implementing state police. By March 2024, 16 states had submitted their reports, with the remaining 20 expected to do so by May. In April 2024, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum announced that the decisions of the remaining 20 governors were ready for submission to the NEC, indicating a unified commitment among the states to establish state police forces. Despite these, as of the last NEC meeting, the implementation of state police remains only in the planning stages as the FG and state authorities continue to haggle on the constitutional amendments required to empower states to establish and manage their police forces. Asked why the process has been slow-paced in the past nine months, the Bayelsa Governor argued that the Council is determined to hasten the process and get its members to submit their reports by November 28. “On the issue of state police today, when the decision was taken, even before it was, the three states in question, one of them [Adamawa] was represented by the Deputy Governor, had earlier made submissions that they presented their report. “So that was why NEC could not come out immediately to say ‘A or B,’ but rather give a timeline. And that timeline, as you can see, was very short: one week for them to go and do whatever they are doing so that decisions will be made by the next NEC meeting. And, from how they reacted, I’m sure that maybe we have some bureaucracy regarding the submission.” The debate for creating state police in Nigeria primarily stems from the centralised nature of the Nigerian Police Force, which many security pundits perceive as inadequate for addressing the unique security challenges across the country’s diverse regions. Proponents argue that the outfit would bring law enforcement closer to the communities they serve, enhance the effectiveness of policing, and allow for more localised control over security matters. However, opponents fear that state police could lead to the abuse of power, particularly in states with firm political control, potentially exacerbating regional tensions and undermining national unity.OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Investor Warren Buffett renewed his Thanksgiving tradition of giving by handing out more than $1.1 billion of Berkshire Hathaway stock to four of his family's foundations Monday, and he offered new details about who will be handing out the rest of his fortune after his death. Buffett has said previously that his three kids will distribute his remaining $147.4 billion fortune in the 10 years after his death, but now he has also designated successors for them because it's possible that Buffett's children could die before giving it all away. He didn't identify the successors, but said his kids all know them and agree they would be good choices. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings. Get any of our free email newsletters — news headlines, obituaries, sports, and more.Alcoa stock soars to 52-week high, hits $46.57 amid market rally
Jonah Goldberg: What if most Americans aren't bitterly divided?Buchanan scores 28 off the bench, Boise State downs South Dakota State 83-82OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Investor Warren Buffett renewed his Thanksgiving tradition of giving by handing out more than $1.1 billion of Berkshire Hathaway stock to four of his family's foundations Monday, and he offered new details about who will be handing out the rest of his fortune after his death. Buffett has said previously that his three kids will distribute his remaining $147.4 billion fortune in the 10 years after his death, but now he has also designated successors for them because it's possible that Buffett's children could die before giving it all away. He didn't identify the successors, but said his kids all know them and agree they would be good choices. “Father time always wins. But he can be fickle – indeed unfair and even cruel – sometimes ending life at birth or soon thereafter while, at other times, waiting a century or so before paying a visit,” the 94-year-old Buffett said in a letter to his fellow shareholders Monday. “To date, I’ve been very lucky, but, before long, he will get around to me. There is, however, a downside to my good fortune in avoiding his notice. The expected life span of my children has materially diminished since the 2006 pledge. They are now 71, 69 and 66.” Buffett said he still has no interest in creating dynastic wealth in his family — a view shared by his first and current wives. He acknowledged giving Howard, Peter and Susie millions over the years, but he has long said he believes “hugely wealthy parents should leave their children enough so they can do anything but not enough that they can do nothing.” The secret to building up such massive wealth over time has been the power of compounding interest and the steady growth of the Berkshire conglomerate Buffett leads through acquisitions and smart investments like buying billions of dollars of Apple shares as iPhone sales continued to drive growth in that company. Buffett never sold any of his Berkshire stock over the years and also resisted the trappings of wealth and never indulged in much — preferring instead to continue living in the same Omaha home he'd bought decades earlier and drive sensible luxury sedans about 20 blocks to work each day. “As a family, we have had everything we needed or simply liked, but we have not sought enjoyment from the fact that others craved what we had,” he said. If Buffett and his first wife had never given away any of their Berkshire shares, the family's fortune would be worth nearly $364 billion — easily making him the world's richest man — but Buffett said he had no regrets about his giving over the years. The family's giving began in earnest with the distribution of Susan Buffett's $3 billion estate after her death in 2004, but really took off when Warren Buffett announced plans in 2006 to make annual gifts to the foundations run by his kids along with the one he and his wife started, as well as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Warren Buffett's giving to date has favored the Gates Foundation with $55 billion in stock because his friend Bill Gates already had his foundation set up and could handle huge gifts when Buffett started giving away his fortune. But Buffett has said his kids now have enough experience in philanthropy to handle the task and he plans to cut off his Gates Foundation donations after his death. Buffett always makes his main annual gifts to all five foundations every summer, but for several years now he has been giving additional Berkshire shares to his family's foundations at Thanksgiving. Buffett reiterated Monday his advice to every parent to allow their families to read their will while they are still alive — like he has done — to make sure they have a chance to explain their decisions about how to distribute their belongings and answer their children's questions. Buffett said he and his longtime investing partner Charlie Munger, who died a year ago, “saw many families driven apart after the posthumous dictates of the will left beneficiaries confused and sometimes angry.” Today, Buffett continues to lead Berkshire Hathaway as chairman and CEO and has no plans to retire although he has handed over most of the day-to-day managing duties for the conglomerates dozens of companies to others. That allows him to focus on his favorite activity of deciding where to invest Berkshire's billions . One of Buffett's deputies who oversees all the noninsurance companies now, Greg Abel, is set to take over as CEO after Buffett's death. Even after converting 1,600 Class A shares into 2.4 million Class B Berkshire shares and giving them away, Buffett still owns 206,363 Class A shares and controls more than 30% of the vote.
AP Business SummaryBrief at 3:14 p.m. ESTHere’s how much Taylor Swift’s Toronto concerts cost police for security, planning and to escort her motorcadeAMERICAN FALLS – What started out with a broken chainsaw has since become a forty-year endeavor to deliver technical expertise and friendly small-town customer service to the community of East Idaho. When Jerry Mauch, who owns C & J Power Equipment with his wife Christine, received a Husqvarna chainsaw back in the early eighties, he eventually ran into some trouble. He couldn’t get it to run right and couldn’t find anyone to fix it for him. Rather than throw it in the shed and forget about it, he decided to purchase a paper instruction manual and get to tinkering. “He figured out how to fix it himself,” explained Christine, who bought the chainsaw for him as a birthday gift. “But then as he talked about (how he fixed it), pretty soon every morning there’d be a chainsaw on the back doorstep, and then another chainsaw.” The Mauchs saw it as an opportunity. At the time Jerry had been working at a tractor shop doing diesel and gasoline work, as well as fixing up a few lawnmowers for customers. But they decided to open up a business of their own—which first began in the garage behind their house. “Shortly after that, I realized I wasn't going to make a living just doing chainsaws,” Jerry said. “So I expanded into lawn and garden and lots of irrigation motors at that time. Lots and lots, because there were more wheel lines at that time than pivots. And so we really expanded into the farm community doing irrigation motors (and) pump motors.” Around a decade later they converted an old gas station at 503 Fort Hall Avenue into their current business location, and since then have evolved over the years as a retailer for brands that ranged from Kohler, Honda, Briggs and Stratton, and Husqvarna. Some brands have come and gone as equipment became more costly, or as certain brands transitioned towards more battery-operated equipment. As of today, the brand the Mauchs mostly deal with is STIHL, which they offer full service and repairs on should things need a technical touch-up. Whether it is trimmers farmers use to cut weeds around a mainline, handheld or backpack blowers to clean out hard-to-reach areas in combines, or sprayers used to apply chemicals, their equipment offers farmers and other customers gear made to make their jobs and lives easier. Among other equipment they sell are pressure washers, handheld vacuums, and chainsaws, and they service many items such as lawnmowers, welders, and snowblowers. Jerry’s mechanical skills and know-how also gives farmers a lift when equipment starts breaking. “Jerry has unique skills because he’s been in the industry so long,” said Christine. “He’s seen so many different things along the way. So he brings to his work his knowledge from the past and brings it to the future. And he has...quite an engineering mind.” This ability to troubleshoot allows him to fix up equipment in a world where it has become more and more commonplace to discard things and buy new ones if there’s a small hiccup in its functionality. And even when some farmers have mechanics who are able to fix equipment on the farm when they can’t do it, they come to him, Jerry explained. While they have adjusted to some technological advances in some items, he said he’s not keen on transitioning much to battery-operated and computerized equipment and instead prefers to stick to gasoline power for most. They recently celebrated the business’s fortieth anniversary in October, and while retirement is potentially in the cards several years down the road, their vision, for now, is to provide excellent service to many of their loyal customers—some of whom are great-grandchildren of farming customers from decades ago. “We’re just trying to stay ahead of the computer world,” Jerry explained. “In Power County and Bingham (County), I’ve got a dozen really good farmers (as customers)...So I'm gonna try to stay focused on the farmers that have stayed focused on me.” As for now, if you visit their street on the corner of Fort Hall Avenue and Pocatello Avenue, you can see the bright orange and gray of STIHL chainsaws hanging in the windows. “I told (Christine) we started with chainsaws,” Jerry said. “We might just as well retire with chainsaws.” For those interested in visiting C&J Power Equipment, it is open 9 am to 5 pm on weekdays and Saturdays on call for emergencies. For more information, call 208-226-5411.
Rupert Murdoch has been dealt a setback in his bid to steer control of his empire to his son Lachlan after the media mogul dies. Murdoch, 93, had sought to change the terms of his irrevocable family trust to ensure his older son, Lachlan, would have sole control over his media companies News Corp. and Fox Corp. News Corp. owns influential publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, Investor’s Business Daily and Dow Jones. Fox Corp. is the parent company of Fox News and the Fox broadcast network. But a Nevada probate commissioner rejected the request to amend the trust that had been opposed by Murdoch’s other children named in the trust — Prudence, James and Elisabeth. In the current version of the trust, the four eldest siblings, including Lachlan, were set to jointly inherit control of the businesses. That commissioner, Edmund J. Gorman Jr., said in a ruling over the weekend that the elder Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch had acted in “bad faith” in their attempt to rewrite the trust, according to a sealed court filing obtained by the New York Times . “The effort was an attempt to stack the deck in Lachlan Murdoch’s favor after Rupert Murdoch’s passing so that his succession would be immutable,” Gorman wrote in the filing. “The play might have worked; but an evidentiary hearing, like a showdown in a game of poker, is where gamesmanship collides with the facts and at its conclusion, all the bluffs are called and the cards lie face up.” While the Nevada proceedings were behind closed doors, the outcome had enormous implications because Murdoch controls the world’s most influential conservative-leaning media empire. The trust was established following Murdoch’s divorce from his second wife, Anna Torv Murdoch Mann, the mother of Elisabeth, Lachlan and James. As part of that 1998 divorce settlement, Murdoch agreed to set up the trust that would give control of his empire to his then-four adult children after the mogul’s passing. The trust gave Anna’s children and Murdoch’s eldest daughter from his first marriage, Prudence, equal voting shares — in a bid to establish a power-sharing arrangement to oversee his corporate empire. Murdoch’s two daughters from his marriage to Wendi Deng were given economic stakes in the trust, but not voting shares. A lawyer for Rupert Murdoch did not respond immediately to a request for comment, nor did News Corp. Fox Corp. referred comment to Murdoch’s lawyer. Prudence, James and Elisabeth Murdoch said in a statement that “We welcome Commissioner Gorman’s decision and hope that we can move beyond this litigation to focus on strengthening and rebuilding relationships among all family members.” The elder Murdoch had claimed changing the trust was necessary to preserve the conservative bent of his media properties, which would maintain shareholder value for all the heirs. Lachlan is known for sharing his father’s political views, and since last year has served as sole chairman of News Corp. and executive chairman of Fox. The three other siblings are more politically moderate.None
A lead organization monitoring for food crises around the world withdrew a new report this week warning of imminent famine in north Gaza under what it called Israel's “near-total blockade,” after the U.S. asked for its retraction, U.S. officials told The Associated Press. The move follows public criticism of the report from the U.S. ambassador to Israel. The rare public challenge from the Biden administration of the work of the U.S.-funded Famine Early Warning System, which is meant to reflect the data-driven analysis of unbiased experts, drew accusations from aid and human-rights figures of possible U.S. political interference. A finding of famine would be a public rebuke of Israel, which has insisted that its 15-month war in Gaza is aimed against the Hamas militant group and not against its civilian population. > Watch NBC Bay Area News 📺 Streaming free 24/7 U.S. ambassador to Israel Jacob Lew earlier this week called the warning by the internationally recognized group inaccurate and “irresponsible." Lew and the U.S. Agency for International Development, which funds the monitoring group, both said the findings failed to properly account for rapidly changing circumstances in north Gaza. Humanitarian and human rights officials expressed fear of U.S. political interference in the world's monitoring system for famines. The U.S. Embassy in Israel and the State Department declined comment. FEWS officials did not respond to questions. “We work day and night with the U.N. and our Israeli partners to meet humanitarian needs — which are great — and relying on inaccurate data is irresponsible,” Lew said Tuesday. USAID confirmed to the AP that it had asked the famine-monitoring organization to withdraw its stepped-up warning issued in a report dated Monday. The report did not appear among the top updates on the group's website Thursday, but the link to it remained active. The dispute points in part to the difficulty of assessing the extent of starvation in largely isolated northern Gaza. Thousands in recent weeks have fled an intensified Israeli military crackdown that aid groups say has allowed delivery of only a dozen trucks of food and water since roughly October. FEWS Net said in its withdrawn report that unless Israel changes its policy, it expects the number of people dying of starvation and related ailments in north Gaza to reach between two and 15 per day sometime between January and March. The internationally recognized mortality threshold for famine is two or more deaths a day per 10,000 people. FEWS was created by the U.S. development agency in the 1980s and is still funded by it. But it is intended to provide independent, neutral and data-driven assessments of hunger crises, including in war zones. Its findings help guide decisions on aid by the U.S. and other governments and agencies around the world. A spokesman for Israel's foreign ministry, Oren Marmorstein, welcomed the U.S. ambassador's public challenge of the famine warning. “FEWS NET - Stop spreading these lies!” Marmorstein said on X. In challenging the findings publicly, the U.S. ambassador "leveraged his political power to undermine the work of this expert agency,” said Scott Paul, a senior manager at the Oxfam America humanitarian nonprofit. Paul stressed that he was not weighing in on the accuracy of the data or methodology of the report. “The whole point of creating FEWS is to have a group of experts make assessments about imminent famine that are untainted by political considerations,” said Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch and now a visiting professor in international affairs at Princeton University. “It sure looks like USAID is allowing political considerations -- the Biden administration’s worry about funding Israel’s starvation strategy -- to interfere." Israel says it has been operating in recent months against Hamas militants still active in northern Gaza. It says the vast majority of the area’s residents have fled and relocated to Gaza City, where most aid destined for the north is delivered. But some critics, including a former defense minister, have accused Israel of carrying out ethnic cleansing in Gaza’s far north, near the Israeli border. North Gaza has been one of the areas hardest-hit by fighting and Israel’s restrictions on aid throughout its war with Hamas militants. Global famine monitors and U.N. and U.S. officials have warned repeatedly of the imminent risk of malnutrition and deaths from starvation hitting famine levels. International officials say Israel last summer increased the amount of aid it was admitting there, under U.S. pressure. The U.S. and U.N. have said Gaza’s people as a whole need between 350 and 500 trucks a day of food and other vital needs. But the U.N. and aid groups say Israel recently has again blocked almost all aid to that part of Gaza. Cindy McCain, the American head of the U.N. World Food Program, called earlier this month for political pressure to get food flowing to Palestinians there. Israel says it places no restrictions on aid entering Gaza and that hundreds of truckloads of goods are piled up at Gaza’s crossings and accused international aid agencies of failing to deliver the supplies. The U.N. and other aid groups say Israeli restrictions, ongoing combat, looting and insufficient security by Israeli troops make it impossible to deliver aid effectively. Lew, the U.S. ambassador, said the famine warning was based on “outdated and inaccurate” data. He pointed to uncertainty over how many of the 65,000-75,000 people remaining in northern Gaza had fled in recent weeks, saying that skewed the findings. FEWS said in its report that its famine assessment holds even if as few as 10,000 people remain. USAID in its statement to AP said it had reviewed the report before it became public, and noted “discrepancies” in population estimates and some other data. The U.S. agency had asked the famine warning group to address those uncertainties and be clear in its final report to reflect how those uncertainties affected its predictions of famine, it said. “This was relayed before Ambassador Lew’s statement,” USAID said in a statement. “FEWS NET did not resolve any of these concerns and published in spite of these technical comments and a request for substantive engagement before publication. As such, USAID asked to retract the report.” Roth criticized the U.S. challenge of the report in light of the gravity of the crisis there. “This quibbling over the number of people desperate for food seems a politicized diversion from the fact that the Israeli government is blocking virtually all food from getting in,” he said, adding that “the Biden administration seems to be closing its eyes to that reality, but putting its head in the sand won’t feed anyone.” The U.S., Israel’s main backer, provided a record amount of military support in the first year of the war. At the same time, the Biden administration repeatedly urged Israel to allow more access to aid deliveries in Gaza overall, and warned that failing to do so could trigger U.S. restrictions on military support. The administration recently said Israel was making improvements and declined to carry out its threat of restrictions. Military support for Israel’s war in Gaza is politically charged in the U.S., with Republicans and some Democrats staunchly opposed any effort to limit U.S. support over the suffering of Palestinian civilians trapped in the conflict. The Biden administration’s reluctance to do more to press Israel for improved treatment of civilians undercut support for Democrats in last month’s elections. ___ Sam Mednick and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.For the last several years, Jrue Holiday has been the guy who you trade for to win a championship. He has been a winner throughout his entire career, and now, the Spurs might have a player just like him on their roster. The best part is the Spurs drafted Stephon Castle in the 2024 draft, and he is proving his value in his rookie season. Crucially, they now have him for a cheap price for the foreseeable future. Fans around the league might not have heard of him, but his name will become popular sooner rather than later. The Spurs Have Found Their Jrue Holiday: Stephon Castle On the last episode of the Hoop Collective, the hosts talked about how the Spurs have been much better this season. Some of the reasons are they got veterans like Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes , but they also struck gold with their latest draft pick. ESPN reporter Tim MacMahon is among the latest people to praise Stephon. He said, “We’re going to learn how to say this guy’s name because he’s a really, really good player and you can’t necessarily always see it looking at the box score. He has had some good shooting nights lately, but his shooting numbers overall are not good. He is a winner, a national champion at UConn, and a hell of a defensive player. We’ll see how good of a scorer he becomes, but he impacts winning as a defender. He reminds me a lot of Jrue Holiday when you talk about all those things that Jrue does that impact winning. He’s got a chance to be a pretty dynamite two-way player.” Later on, MacMahon talked about how Spurs coaches value Castle and praise him. He mentioned an interview with Spurs coach Mitch Johnson, in which Johnson praised Castle’s demeanor and spectacular defensive plays. MacMahon said, “He’s stone-faced also like Jrue Holiday and when something goes wrong, he doesn’t get rattled and he is a really impressive rookie.” Castle and Wemby – Defensive Duo of the Future Stephon is playing another impactful player on the defensive end, Victor Wembanyama . Last year, the Spurs were 21st in defensive rating. This year, as of November 26th, they are 9th in defensive rating . They allow 110.6 points per 100 possessions. Of course, Stephon is not the only one responsible for such a jump, but he and Victor have a chance to be a special defensive duo. Impressively, Wemby and Castle post a 104.8 defensive rating when they are on the court together. At just 20 years of age, Castle is playing defensive chess with opponents, asserting himself as the best perimeter defender of his rookie class. Wemby is the backline guy, and Castle is the point-of-attack guy. Teams around the league will have to get used to that. The interesting part is that the Spurs can improve their defense even more. For example, they are allowing 15.4 second-chance points , which puts them at 25th spot in the league. With Victor in the paint, that shouldn’t be the case. They are also 20th in allowed fast break points, another area they can improve thanks to Castle. What About his Scoring? For the season, Castle has been averaging 10.9 points on 39.4% shooting from the floor. But his slow scoring start is a reason for that when he averaged only 5.2 points on 28.9% shooting over the first six games. Over the last nine games, however, he is averaging 15.3 points and 5.0 assists on 44% shooting from the floor. Rookies often have up-and-down periods when it comes to shooting, but Stephon can hang his hat on defense. Is the Jrue Holiday Comparison Real? When Jrue came into the league in 2009, teams were not shooting as many threes as they are today. Even then, Holiday was an amazing defender for his position, and similar to Castle, not a great scorer. During his rookie season, Jrue averaged only 8 points on 44% shooting. Yet, he also averaged 1.1 steals and 2.6 rebounds and was a pesky defender. Stephon might not end up being Jrue Holiday, but the Spurs are known for finding and developing these pesky and gritty players. After all, they had Bruce Bowen and Stephen Jackson on their roster. This article first appeared on Last Word On Sports and was syndicated with permission.
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Jonah Goldberg Among elites across the ideological spectrum, there's one point of unifying agreement: Americans are bitterly divided. What if that's wrong? What if elites are the ones who are bitterly divided while most Americans are fairly unified? History rarely lines up perfectly with the calendar (the "sixties" didn't really start until the decade was almost over). But politically, the 21st century neatly began in 2000, when the election ended in a tie and the color coding of electoral maps became enshrined as a kind of permanent tribal color war of "red vs. blue." Elite understanding of politics has been stuck in this framework ever since. Politicians and voters have leaned into this alleged political reality, making it seem all the more real in the process. I loathe the phrase "perception is reality," but in politics it has the reifying power of self-fulfilling prophecy. People are also reading... Margaret Atwood OSU event altered over threats The real reason Corvallis' Pastega Lights moved to Linn County Tree farm fiasco has Corvallis homelessness under microscope Commentary: Gulbranson shows he should be starter in thrilling win over Cougars Head-on crash on Highway 228 kills 1, injures 2 Philomath woman suspected in Eugene Airport bomb scare Strike over: Benton County, union reach tentative deal American flag thrown by driver fleeing Benton County deputies Sweet Home man sentenced for crash that injured his daughter In trying to flee, suspect accused of driving over Albany police officer How is the OSU grad strike impacting students? Corvallis man gets prison for armed robbery case Corvallis homes in on layout options for a new government center UPDATED: Feds halt drawdown at Green Peter Reservoir after local cities complain OSU women's basketball: Ferreira brings versatility to the Beavers' lineup Like rival noble families in medieval Europe, elites have been vying for power and dominance on the arrogant assumption that their subjects share their concern for who rules rather than what the rulers can deliver. Gobble up these 14 political cartoons about Thanksgiving Political cartoonists from across country draw up something special for the holiday In 2018, the group More in Common published a massive report on the "hidden tribes" of American politics. The wealthiest and whitest groups were "devoted conservatives" (6%) and "progressive activists" (8%). These tribes dominate the media, the parties and higher education, and they dictate the competing narratives of red vs. blue, particularly on cable news and social media. Meanwhile, the overwhelming majority of Americans resided in, or were adjacent to, the "exhausted majority." These people, however, "have no narrative," as David Brooks wrote at the time. "They have no coherent philosophic worldview to organize their thinking and compel action." Lacking a narrative might seem like a very postmodern problem, but in a postmodern elite culture, postmodern problems are real problems. It's worth noting that red vs. blue America didn't emerge ex nihilo. The 1990s were a time when the economy and government seemed to be working, at home and abroad. As a result, elites leaned into the narcissism of small differences to gain political and cultural advantage. They remain obsessed with competing, often apocalyptic, narratives. That leaves out most Americans. The gladiatorial combatants of cable news, editorial pages and academia, and their superfan spectators, can afford these fights. Members of the exhausted majority are more interested in mere competence. I think that's the hidden unity elites are missing. This is why we keep throwing incumbent parties out of power: They get elected promising competence but get derailed -- or seduced -- by fan service to, or trolling of, the elites who dominate the national conversation. There's a difference between competence and expertise. One of the most profound political changes in recent years has been the separation of notions of credentialed expertise from real-world competence. This isn't a new theme in American life, but the pandemic and the lurch toward identity politics amplified distrust of experts in unprecedented ways. This is a particular problem for the left because it is far more invested in credentialism than the right. Indeed, some progressives are suddenly realizing they invested too much in the authority of experts and too little in the ability of experts to provide what people want from government, such as affordable housing, decent education and low crime. The New York Times' Ezra Klein says he's tired of defending the authority of government institutions. Rather, "I want them to work." One of the reasons progressives find Trump so offensive is his absolute inability to speak the language of expertise -- which is full of coded elite shibboleths. But Trump veritably shouts the language of competence. I don't mean he is actually competent at governing. But he is effectively blunt about calling leaders, experts and elites -- of both parties -- stupid, ineffective, weak and incompetent. He lost in 2020 because voters didn't believe he was actually good at governing. He won in 2024 because the exhausted majority concluded the Biden administration was bad at it. Nostalgia for the low-inflation pre-pandemic economy was enough to convince voters that Trumpian drama is the tolerable price to pay for a good economy. About 3 out of 4 Americans who experienced "severe hardship" because of inflation voted for Trump. The genius of Trump's most effective ad -- "Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you" -- was that it was simultaneously culture-war red meat and an argument that Harris was more concerned about boutique elite concerns than everyday ones. If Trump can actually deliver competent government, he could make the Republican Party the majority party for a generation. For myriad reasons, that's an if so big it's visible from space. But the opportunity is there -- and has been there all along. Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch: thedispatch.com . Get opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly!
Lost in the frenzy of the Washington Commanders' chaotic finish on Sunday was that the 34-26 defeat to the Dallas Cowboys may have had more ramifications than just a tally in the loss column. Washington's top two running backs, Brian Robinson, Jr. and Austin Ekeler, both left the game with injuries. Robinson, who has already missed three contests this season, suffered an ankle injury early in the going. He briefly returned to the action but aggravated the issue during the second half. Ekeler, meanwhile, is in concussion protocol after a scare during one of the game's final plays. That's also not the first such setback he's had this season, as he missed the Week 4 game at Arizona with a concussion. Both of them seem like they will have a questionable status for next Sunday's game against the Tennessee Titans. That means it could be time for Jeremy McNichols to step up, and Washington could look to sign a free agent for extra reinforcement. Some of the top available RB options currently include Latavius Murray and Jerick McKinnon. There's also Chris Rodriguez, Jr., who Washington released days ago after splitting time between the active roster and practice squad this season. The most likely move, should the Commanders make one, seems like it would be re-signing Rodriguez. In the best-case scenario, at least one of Robinson or Ekeler will be available to suit up for Week 13. However, if one or both require an absence, Washington will need to prepare accordingly.da-kuk/E+ via Getty Images Alphabet Inc. ( NASDAQ: GOOG ) ( NASDAQ: GOOGL ) is under increasing pressure to split off its Search business which has been the target of an antitrust investigation by the Department of Justice. The legal confrontation between Google Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of GOOG, AMZN, AAPL, META either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.