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British man fined $750,000 for cocaine hidden in slippersNicolas Jackson has gone viral online as footage of his actions following Enzo Fernandez's goal during Chelsea vs Tottenham Hotspur surfaced on social media. Enzo Maresca's men came back from two goals down to beat their London rivals 4-3 on Sunday evening at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The victory saw them leapfrog Arsenal into second in the table and only four points behind league leaders Liverpool. Jadon Sancho initially pulled one back for the Blues in the first half, before a Cole Palmer penalty levelled things up after the restart. Fernandez then gave his team the lead with a well-struck effort before Palmer rounded things off with another spot-kick. It was Jackson's actions following the Argentine's strike, though, that has fans talking online. Chelsea came from two goals down to secure a big win over London rivals Tottenham. Nicolas Jackson Saved Fernandez From a Yellow Card Eagle-eyed viewers will have noticed that once Fernandez hit the back of the net and ran away in celebration, he begun taking his shirt off in jubilation. The next time the camera cut to him, though, he was still wearing his jersey and now footage has surfaced, explaining why. As Fernandez went to pull his shirt off, Jackson popped up and prevented him from doing so, essentially saving him from picking up a needless yellow card in what was an electric affair between Chelsea and Spurs . Being on a booking could have impacted how the goalscorer played the rest of the game. He may have been a little cautious when challenging for the ball and it may have even come back to haunt his team in the end. As a result, Jackson's actions were genius and showed his incredible understanding for the game. Chelsea went on to win the game, taking all three points and closing the gap on Liverpool at the top of the Premier League. Things could have been different if Jackson hadn't stepped in.
Bitget, a global crypto exchange and Web3 firm, is in the process of securing registrations and approvals from the Indian government and aims to open its India office by New Year, COO Vugar Usi Zade told ET . The executive, who was in India last week, mentioned that Bitget has been actively engaging with regulators over the past few months to obtain the necessary approvals for its local operations. In a conversation with ET’s Vinod Mahanta, Zade discusses Bitget’s plans for India, the impact of the Trump presidency on cryptocurrencies, the ongoing bull run, and the evolving role of crypto in a post-AI world. Edited excerpts: Q) Do you think that crypto has a future in countries like India where regulators are not in favour of digital currencies? As a company, we firmly believe that having regulations is far better than having none at all. Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to engage with some regulators in India, as compliance is a key priority for us. Binance has recently secured registration to operate in India and we are looking forward to getting ours from authorities. India, in fact, stands ahead of many other major economies like the US or China, where either crypto is outright banned or faces significant restrictions. While Bitget is still a small player in the Indian market, we are committed to growing responsibly by working closely with regulators to ensure full compliance. The safety and security of customer assets, along with preventing fraud and money laundering, are top priorities for both regulators and companies like ours. We believe that with open dialogue and collaboration, it’s possible to build a regulatory framework that not only ensures safety but also fosters innovation in the crypto space. 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Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories Q. What are Bitget’s plans in India? India is a key market for us, both in terms of talent and operations. We are actively setting up a local office and hiring the necessary team members, including legal and operational staff, to ensure compliance and efficient operations. Our goal is to establish a strong local presence, moving beyond a globally managed front-facing approach to a more localised operation. India, with its vast population of 1.4 billion people, presents a massive opportunity. Currently, we serve 45 million users globally, so there’s significant potential for growth here. This means not only expanding our services but also investing in more manpower and infrastructure to cater to the Indian market effectively. Initially, we plan to leverage builders and interns to establish our presence in various markets. Over time, as we grow and understand the market better, we’ll expand to a full-time team to manage operations locally. However, our hiring and investment trajectory will depend heavily on how the market evolves. All large players are registered themselves in India and competition will be fierce. Crypto markets are inherently cyclical, and factors like the duration of the current bullish cycle or the onset of another crypto winter could significantly influence our growth plans. That said, with rising competition among global players aiming for a foothold in India, we are committed to making a strong entry and adapting to the dynamics of this promising market. Q. How many users do you currently have in India? At the moment, we have around 65,000 users in India. This number has remained relatively modest because we have not actively operated in the market until recently. Additionally, due to the licensing process, we temporarily paused onboarding Indian users. However, once we secure the necessary approvals and ensure compliance, we are prepared to begin onboarding Indian users again. Our timeline for fully operationalising in India depends on the compliance green light, but we are making significant progress in our discussions. Ideally, we aim to start operations before the end of the year, and we are already in the process of setting up a local office, which should be functional before the new year. By the first quarter of next year, we expect to be in a strong position to expand our presence and serve Indian users more effectively. Q. Rules for crypto assets remain inconsistent across the world. French lawmakers are debating a tax on unrealised capital gains for cryptocurrencies. What are your thoughts on this? The approach of taxing unrealised gains is definitely controversial and, in my opinion, flawed. It reminds me of how regulators handled data privacy after the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal. Before that, there were no significant regulations around user data, but post-scandal, Europe introduced GDPR. While well-intentioned, it ended up being more about creating layers of compliance than truly solving the root issues of data misuse. Similarly, I fear that crypto regulations could become more about revenue generation or control than serving the best interests of end-users or fostering innovation. In Europe, unfortunately, crypto holders and companies are increasingly seen as cash cows. We've seen examples like the UK introducing a 36% capital gains tax, and now discussions about taxing unrealised gains in France. This approach feels inconsistent with broader financial practices. For instance, in the stock market, you wouldn't tax Elon Musk or other major investors for their unrealised gains—taxation applies only when gains are realised. It should be no different for crypto assets. Additionally, taxing during a bull run without considering the cyclical nature of the market is short-sighted. Crypto markets are notoriously volatile; if governments want to tax gains during a rally, will they also refund or compensate investors for losses during a downturn? Such policies lack balance and could discourage participation in the crypto ecosystem. That said, regulators are not entirely unaware—they understand that crypto markets are cyclical and see the bull runs as opportunities to generate revenue quickly. But for a sustainable crypto economy, we need balanced and fair regulations that promote growth and innovation while protecting stakeholders, not just opportunistic tax policies. Q. Do you think the election of President Trump could be a turning point for crypto? I hope it is, he is a business and he can smell money. The election of President Trump could indeed mark a significant moment for the crypto industry, potentially signalling a shift in how the United States approaches this space. While his recent comments on BRICS and their plans for a new currency highlight his concerns over the US dollar's dominance, this very anxiety could push him to view cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin as strategic assets to reinforce the United States' position on the global financial stage. Trump, being a businessman, may recognise the opportunity that cryptocurrencies offer. For instance, the US government could theoretically use its ability to print dollars to acquire Bitcoin or other assets, reinforcing its stake in the crypto ecosystem. This would not only elevate the market but also re-establish the US as a leader in the space, which has seen a significant exodus of crypto companies over the past few years due to regulatory challenges. The US's strict regulatory environment has driven major crypto players to relocate to regions like the Middle East and Asia. Events like Consensus, once a cornerstone of the crypto industry, have shifted to Hong Kong, underscoring how the US is losing its foothold in the global crypto landscape. A Trump administration might reverse this trend by adopting a more business-friendly and strategic stance. That said, while Trump might create opportunities for the crypto industry, he is also likely to see cryptocurrencies as a potential revenue stream for the government. Increased taxes on crypto gains could be a part of his approach to demonstrate economic benefits for the American people. Overall, Trump’s presidency could bring both opportunities and challenges, but it has the potential to realign the US's position in the global crypto market. Q. Why are Dubai and UAE becoming crypto hubs? Dubai has become a significant hub for the crypto industry, and several factors contribute to this shift. First, Dubai’s zero-tax policy, especially on personal gains, is a major attraction for entrepreneurs and investors. For many, it offers a more favourable environment compared to the heavy taxation in regions like Europe, the UK, or India. This financial advantage is a key driver for businesses and individuals relocating there. Second, Dubai has positioned itself as an entrepreneurial hub, with a strong influx of venture capital and investment opportunities. While the UAE may not rank among the top 10 or 20 economies for retail crypto adoption or payment use, its entrepreneurial ecosystem makes it a "hot heart" for innovation. For example, we’re seeing oil companies in the region start leveraging crypto, particularly USDT transfers, for fast, cost-effective transactions that bypass the traditional banking system. Another significant factor is the UAE government's progressive stance on crypto. They’ve been open to embracing it as a legitimate form of payment, including legalising salary payments in crypto. This openness, combined with the ease of setting up a business in Dubai, where licensing and compliance take as little as four to six months, makes it a highly attractive destination for crypto ventures. In contrast, other regions like Europe, the US, or even India have more complex regulatory frameworks, making it harder to set up and operate a compliant crypto business. Dubai's straightforward and proactive approach to regulation has given it a significant competitive edge. Finally, there’s an underlying concern among Indian crypto users about the safety of their investments, given the uncertainty in regulatory policies. This has driven many Indian crypto players to consider Dubai as a safer and more stable alternative for operations and investments. Q. After the WazirX hack, Indian investors have been increasingly doubtful about the safety of their money in Indian exchanges. What safety measures does your exchange have in place? Operating at a global level allows us to implement diverse safety protocols and maintain broader liquidity pools, making it much harder for a single breach to compromise the system. Additionally, we’ve established one of the largest Protection Funds in the crypto industry, valued at approximately $600 million. This fund, primarily held in Bitcoin, is stored in publicly accessible wallets, ensuring complete transparency. Users can verify the fund’s existence and availability at any time. The Protection Fund acts as a safety net for our customers. In the rare event of technical issues or if funds are lost due to an exchange error, we use this fund to compensate users. This level of assurance is something most local exchanges cannot offer, as maintaining such substantial reserves requires significant resources and operational scale. Another layer of safety comes from reduced market volatility. Global exchanges like ours benefit from larger liquidity pools and advanced market-making capabilities, ensuring more stable prices and minimising risks like arbitrage or price swings, which are common on smaller, localised platforms. Q. Bitcoin touched $100,000 recently. How long do you think this bull run will last? Ideally, I hope this bull run lasts longer than we anticipate. Based on my personal predictions, we have seen Bitcoin hit $100,000. It could potentially pull back to around $70,000, and then make another surge to $150,000 before the cycle ends. However, several factors will influence the duration and strength of this bull run. A significant driver will be what happens after President Trump’s inauguration in January and how the US government manages its monetary policy. If there’s an increase in liquidity, with more dollars entering the system, we could see greater investments in Bitcoin, especially from institutional players. Additionally, the performance of the US economy and unemployment rates could push ETF holders like BlackRock and others to channel more funds into Bitcoin-focused ETFs, adding further momentum. Outside of the US, global developments are also playing a crucial role. In Russia, for example, recent legislation recognises crypto as property and allows payments in crypto. Such regulatory shifts could drive more capital into the market. Similarly, Apple’s recent collaboration with Ripple to enable crypto payments through Apple Pay could be a game changer. If Apple leads the way, other major mobile players are likely to follow, bringing more retail users into the crypto ecosystem. If these developments unfold back-to-back in the first half of the next year, we could see the bull run extend, potentially onboarding the next billion users into crypto. However, this optimism is tempered by the unpredictability of global events. Factors like Trump’s age and health, or geopolitical uncertainties such as wars, could disrupt the momentum. Ultimately, this bull run represents an exciting time for the mainstream adoption of crypto, but its length and impact will depend on how these factors align in the coming months. Q.: A lot of Indian crypto investors have lost money after investing in dubious tokens. How do crypto invest safely in alt coins? I want to be very frank—it's not just altcoins and meme coins; schemes like MLM structures, lotteries, and fortune games are extremely popular in India. It’s no secret why: there’s a high concentration of people looking to get rich quickly, and these promises appeal to that mindset. The narrative of someone putting $100 into something and becoming a millionaire overnight is incredibly alluring. But honestly, it’s not a trading strategy or an investment strategy. It’s about chasing a fortune, often driven by hope. Many times, these individuals are putting in their last $20 or $30, and it creates a chain reaction. It’s often friends or family who start with $100, double it to $200, then decide to put in $400 to make it $800—and so on. This pattern is common in almost all developing economies, especially where a significant portion of the population lives around the poverty line. That’s what makes these schemes thrive. It’s interesting how these schemes manage to attract people to come and play around. Unfortunately, this often turns into more of a gambling mindset—throwing money into something without any understanding or proper research. It’s one of the most unfortunate aspects of this space. We’ve seen this happen with cases like OneCoin and other big MLM-style structures. Most of these schemes don’t even have anything to do with the actual crypto industry or blockchain technology. They simply ride on the narrative that everyone hears in the media about Bitcoin and crypto. Then, someone comes up with a "new crypto" that promises to make people rich overnight, and individuals end up investing whatever little they have, driven by hope for a better future. It’s a cycle of misplaced trust and a lack of awareness. Q. Critics of crypto argue that it lacks practical use cases and real utility, dismissing it as mere speculative asset. What’s your perspective on this? I think most projects, especially these meme tokens, have zero utility—and they don’t even claim to have any. They aim to be more of a cultural moment, and honestly, I agree that it’s a very Gen Z phenomenon. Whether we like it or not, most jobs and wealth in the world are still held by Boomers. Lifespans are getting longer, these people aren’t retiring, and that leaves fewer opportunities for Gen Z. Buying a home, for example, is nearly impossible for anyone starting out today on an entry-level salary. So, it makes sense that everyone’s looking for a way to make money. For Gen Z, meme tokens often feel like the only shot at becoming a millionaire. For many young people, achieving that kind of wealth through a corporate job is practically impossible, so I understand why they’re drawn to these tokens. That said, as someone who’s been in the tech industry for seven or eight years, I strongly believe that having real utility is crucial. But if we’re being honest, even Bitcoin has limited utility when you look closely. Bitcoin transactions are so expensive now that they’re impractical for everyday use—like buying coffee—unless you use sidechains. In that sense, Bitcoin itself doesn’t have much utility either, except as a store of value. Its value today comes largely from institutional adoption and ETFs, which have cemented its role as a medium of exchange. But we can say the same about global fiat currencies. They’re issued by central banks, and we trust them because of consensus. Yet they’re far from infallible—currencies get devalued all the time, governments wipe zeros off the end, and inflation erodes their worth. At the end of the day, it all runs on a consensus mechanism. So, if there’s a larger consensus around something—whether it’s Bitcoin, a meme token, or even fiat currency—then why not? That’s just how value works in any system. Q: What will be the role of crypto in post-AI world? I think there are two key aspects to consider. First, blockchain as a technology has immense potential for AI. One of AI’s biggest challenges today is the need to distinguish between human-created data and AI-generated data. This often leads to messy and blurred distinctions. In the future, I believe blockchain can play a crucial role by ensuring that any information created by humans is stored on-chain to verify its authenticity. Similarly, putting AI-generated data on-chain will help machines differentiate between human-created and AI-created content, maintaining clarity about what constitutes original data. This makes blockchain an essential infrastructure for the AI industry. On the other hand, if we consider the current hype around crypto and AI, it’s clear that AI has gained significant traction. For instance, OpenAI recently raised $6.6 billion—one of the largest fundraises we’ve ever seen. By comparison, the blockchain industry hasn’t seen anything on that scale. AI’s widespread applications in daily life are largely uncontroversial, as it helps large corporations and enhances efficiency without challenging the status quo. In contrast, crypto has always been positioned as a disruptor, particularly in traditional financial systems, which is why it has faced more resistance and regulatory hurdles. Looking ahead, I believe AI and crypto can coexist without conflicting. We’re already seeing more companies treat crypto as just another payment option, similar to Apple Pay or Samsung Pay. Visa, Mastercard, and bank transfers coexist with crypto-backed solutions like Bitget Cards, which I’m particularly proud of. These cards are crypto-backed but work seamlessly on Visa’s processing network, showing how crypto can integrate with existing systems instead of trying to replace them entirely. Sometimes, building on what already exists is a better approach than attempting to destroy and rebuild everything from scratch. This way, we can innovate while keeping the system familiar and functional for everyone.
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The weekend is officially here, and we've rounded up the best deals you can find! Discover the best deals for Sunday, December 8, below: Sackboy: A Big Adventure for $12.59 Sackboy: A Big Adventure first made its debut alongside PlayStation 5, eventually jumping over to PC in Fall 2022. For a limited time, you can score a Steam key of the game on Amazon for just $12.59, which is easily the lowest we've seen Sackboy on PC. This 3D platformer has so much to offer, and it's even great to play with friends! Stellar Blade for $49.99 You can grab Stellar Blade for just $50 this weekend. This action game from Shift Up has been one of the most popular games of the year. Just a few weeks ago, new Nier: Automata DLC was released, which included new outfits inspired by A2, 2B, and Emil. In our 7/10 review , we stated "Stellar Blade stands out as a gorgeous and well-crafted action game with very impressive strengths and very clear weaknesses." Metaphor: ReFantazio for $49.99 Metaphor: ReFantazio is the latest game from Persona 3, 4, and 5 Director Katsura Hashino and the team at Atlus' Studio Zero. For the first time since launch, you can score the game at a discount , saving $20 post Black Friday. In our 9/10 review , we stated, "Refining the Atlus RPG formula of weaving tough turn-based combat into compelling social sim mechanics, Metaphor: ReFantazio doesn’t just send a powerful message across its political drama, it becomes a beautiful expression of the real impact storytelling can have on all of us." Final Fantasy I-VI Pixel Remaster Collection Woot has the Final Fantasy I-VI Pixel Remaster Collection on sale for $44.99, making each game only $7.50! The first six Final Fantasy titles paved the way for the series as we see it today. Many fans still regard both Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy VI as some of the best that Final Fantasy has to offer, with gripping narratives and engaging gameplay. This package includes all six Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters , which feature updated graphics, soundtracks, font, and more. Bose Soundlink Micro Wireless Bluetooth Speaker for $49 This Bose Soundlink Micro Bluetooth Speaker is just $49 today at Walmart. If you're someone who likes to bring a speaker with you to places like the lake or the beach, this is an excellent option. The Soundlink Micro has excellent sound quality with a waterproof design that allows you to bring it anywhere you'd like. You won't have to worry about keeping this speaker dry and out of harm's way. Astro Bot for $49.99 Astro Bot is on sale for the first time since launch, and there has never been a better time to pick up one of the PlayStation 5's best games . Building off Astro's Playroom, Astro Bot features many new abilities and bosses to fight, with over 300 bots to rescue across the galaxy. You'll find planets modeled after beloved PlayStation games like Ape Escape and Uncharted, and even surprise third-party bots like Leon S. Kennedy from Resident Evil 2 . Persona 3 Reload for $24.97 Persona 3 Reload is one of the best RPGs of the year. This remake recreates one of the most praised Atlus titles ever, with loads of new quality-of-life and gameplay features. An all-new voice cast debuted with this release, and each cutscene was remade with new assets for higher quality. If you've never jumped into the world of Persona before, this is a great place to start, especially at this price. Sonic X Shadow Generations for $29.99 Sonic X Shadow Generations just released a month ago, and you can already save $20 off a PlayStation 5 copy at Amazon. This package includes a remastered version of Sonic Generations and a brand-new campaign focused on Shadow. Both 2D and 3D levels are included, making for the ultimate package for any Sonic fan. Splatoon 3 for $39.88 Splatoon 3 is available right now for just $39.88! If you have yet to pick up a Splatoon game, Splatoon 3 is a perfect starting point. This is one of the best multiplayer titles on Nintendo Switch, and you can easily spend dozens of hours exploring the different multiplayer offerings. You can also play through the Side Order DLC, a fun additional single-player campaign!(The Center Square) – The latest federal numbers show the U.S. deficit is soaring as President Joe Biden heads out of office. The U.S. Congressional Budget Office released its monthly budget review on Monday, which showed that in the first two months of this fiscal year, the federal government has run up a deficit of $622 billion. “That amount is $242 billion more than the deficit recorded during the same period last fiscal year,” CBO said in its report . That figure means the deficit is nearly 40% higher than this time last year. “The most alarming turkey in November was the federal government’s inability to live within its means,” Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said in a statement. “We are only two months into the fiscal year, and we have already borrowed a staggering $622 billion, with $365 billion in the month of November alone." Deficits never surpassed one trillion dollars before the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, they remain well above one trillion and for this next fiscal year are well beyond the pace to surpass $1 trillion. The deficit last fiscal year was about $1.8 trillion. Billionaire Elon Musk, now an advisor to President-elect Donald Trump, lamented the debt, which is about $36 trillion, on X Monday. “If we don’t fix the deficit, everything will suffer, including essential spending like DoD, Medicare & Social Security,” Musk said. “It’s not optional.” CBO did explain that some of the increase is from accounting changes. From CBO: The change in the deficit was influenced by the timing of outlays and revenues alike. Outlays in October 2023 were reduced by shifts in the timing of certain federal payments that otherwise would have been due on October 1, 2023, which fell on a Sunday. (Those payments were made in September 2023.) Outlays in November 2024 were boosted by the shift to that month of payments due December 1, 2024, a Saturday. If not for those shifts, the deficit thus far in fiscal year 2025 would have been $541 billion, or $88 billion more than the shortfall at this point last year, and outlays would have been $38 billion more.”It took about three nanoseconds after the College Football Playoff bracket was announced for ESPN’s production truck to throw it over to Nick Saban so that the former Alabama coach could spill some sour grapes all over the selection committee’s decision to pick SMU over the Crimson Tide for the last spot in the field. “If we don’t take strength of schedule into consideration, is there any benefit to scheduling really good teams in the future?” he said. “Here at Alabama, we’re supposed to play Notre Dame, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Florida State in the future outside the league. Those are great games for fans to see, and that’s what I think we should be doing in college football is creating more good inventory for great games that people are interested in. "But do you enhance people wanting to do that – what’s the athletic director going to do? He may go cancel all those games now, knowing the SEC is tough enough.” Get ready, because this is the talking point that will reverberate inside the SEC as it comes to terms with getting only three bids in the inaugural 12-team CFP. This is the justification commissioner Greg Sankey will use to pull all kinds of power plays on his fellow commissioners as he tries to strong-arm changes to the format that will benefit the SEC. This is the excuse athletics directors and coaches will use for the simple fact that they lost games they should have won. But there’s one massive problem with Saban’s screed: It’s completely illogical. Alabama didn’t miss the CFP because its schedule was too hard. If anything, Alabama missed the CFP because its schedule was too easy . Easier than SMU’s? No, of course not. If you believe that Alabama’s 9-3 record was more deserving of the last CFP bid than SMU’s 11-2, that’s fine. Reasonable minds can disagree on that particular judgment, but the committee’s decision was not unusual or surprising given that the Mustangs lost the ACC championship game on a last-second, 56-yard field goal while Alabama sat at home Saturday and risked nothing. BOWL SCHEDULE: College football bowl games: Entire postseason lineup through playoff CFP WINNERS, LOSERS: Alabama, ACC headline winners and losers These are conundrums the committee will face every single year in a 12- or 14-team format. When you get that far down in the rankings, there will be difficult choices between flawed teams without clear differences between them. But instead of thinking about what kind of treatment SMU deserved, let’s consider what Alabama could have done to make a better argument over SMU. Well for one thing, it could have simply beaten either Vanderbilt or Oklahoma. A 10-2 Alabama with only one bad loss almost certainly gets in. But beyond that, the only other thing Alabama could have done was to go outside the conference and beat a good team. Instead, its non-conference wins over Western Kentucky, South Florida, Wisconsin and Mercer did not boost either Alabama’s or the SEC’s image enough to erase two losses that playoff-worthy teams should not have on their resume. The idea that Saban and other SEC-affiliated propagandists are trying to peddle is that the way to offset or compete against teams like SMU, Notre Dame and Indiana cruising into the Playoff this year is to make their own schedules easier. Though that sounds good, it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Because at the end of the day, Alabama’s fate – and Ole Miss ’ for that matter as another three-loss team that believes it got short-shrift – had nothing to do with non-conference games. It had everything to do with losing to mediocre SEC teams. And guess what? There are going to be mediocre SEC teams on their schedule in 2025, 2026, 2027 and however many years the conference exists. If the argument is that SEC teams have it so much tougher than everyone else and should be afforded grace for bad losses, the question should be: How many losses are acceptable to make the playoff? Three? Four? And if what you want out of this system is total impunity to lose 24-3 to the worst Oklahoma team of the 21 st century or, in Ole Miss’ case, to be the only SEC win all year for a bottom-feeder like Kentucky, there is only one way you can convince the public to buy it. You have no choice but to go beat the hell out of other power conferences and earn that benefit of the doubt. The frustration is understandable. People who support Alabama, Ole Miss, South Carolina, etc., believe their team is better than several teams that got into the playoff. And they’re livid that Indiana, which didn’t have a top-25 win and got hammered by Ohio State, didn’t really face much scrutiny for its bid. Maybe that’s true. But where is the actual evidence? The only team among those three who actually had a real argument was South Carolina, which just last week went to Clemson and beat the ACC champions. But South Carolina’s problem was that it lost head-to-head to both Ole Miss and Alabama, and you couldn’t have reasonably expected them to jump the Gamecocks over the other two. What, was the committee supposed to take all three? No chance. Not when Ole Miss and Alabama had records littered with questionable losses and both blew clear opportunities late in the season to secure their place in the field. Part of having a 12-team playoff is accepting that margins are going to be thin and circumstances will change every year. This time, the cards didn’t fall the right way for the SEC because of just a couple of easily reversible results. Next time, it might work in their favor. But if the SEC tries to game the system by dumbing down non-conference schedules, it will fail. If you believe the SEC is so tough that you’re going to lose a couple of games no matter what, the only answer is to beat up on other power conferences and earn that benefit of the doubt. The SEC had remarkably few quality non-conference wins this year, and two of them were Georgia beating Georgia Tech and Clemson. Had the Bulldogs lost the SEC championship to Texas on Saturday, those games would have undeniably helped them stay in the field and probably with a pretty good seed. That’s the formula for SEC teams to convince the committee that their 9-3 is better than someone else’s 10-2. But if they want to take their ball and go home, they’ll deserve whatever happens to them.The mellowing of electric-vehicle adoption hasn’t prevented General Motors from introducing several such models, specifically for the Chevrolet and Cadillac brands. In particular, Chevrolet has three available, including the Blazer EV. A fourth – the Corvette EV – is expected sometime in 2025, with others reportedly in the development stage. The scalable platform, which is used for all GM EVs, large and small, can handle front, rear or front and rear electric motors. For the midsize five-passenger Blazer EV, the prominent nose does have a type of grille, but it’s mostly for aesthetics. The rest of the bodywork shares nothing – as in zero – with the gasoline Blazer, which remains in production. Both are same length, but the EV has about a 23-centimetre advantage in distance between the front and rear wheels. That means easier rear-seat access through the generously sized doors, plus plenty of legroom. Despite the EV’s lower roofline, cargo volume is greater than the gasoline Blazer’s, with the seat upright or folded flat. There’s no storage beneath the hood – commonly called a front trunk or a frunk – for smaller items, which is frequently found in other EVs, such as the Ford Mustang Mach-E. The interior has a 17.7-inch infotainment screen and a fashionably large 11.1-inch driver-information display. Instead of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, the Blazer EV gets Google software. Oversized air vents are positioned on either side of the dashboard and directly above the floor console. The base 300-horsepower LT lists for $57,900, including destination charges. It’s available in front- or all-wheel-drive ($61,400), has a range of 453 and 538 kms, respectively. Equipment includes the usual power features as well as heated front seats, dual-zone automatic climate control, 19-inch wheels and standard active-safety technology such as front and rear emergency braking, active cruise control and blind-spot warning. The 365-horsepower rear-wheel-drive RS ($68,400) can also go up to 538 kms on a charge, but AWD claws that back to 453. The performance-oriented AWD Blazer SS ($73,400) makes 595 horsepower and 645 pound-feet. According to Chevrolet, it can hit 60 mph (96-km/h) from rest in less than four seconds. The range is advertised as 470 kms. For every 10 minutes the Blazer EV is plugged in to a Level 3 DC fast charger, 125 kms of range will be added. With a 240-volt home charger, expect a full top-up overnight. Note that the dual-level charge cord needed for Level 2 and Level 3 use is optional. The RS and SS come with heated and ventilated front seats, heated flat-bottom steering wheel and a hands-free power liftgate. They both have exterior lighting between the grille and the hood that illuminates when the driver approaches. Exclusive to the SS is a head-up driver’s info display (projects information such as speed onto the windshield), a rear-view camera/mirror, Brembo-brand front brakes, premium-grade interior trim and unique 22-inch wheels (21-inch versions are fitted to the RS). Standard with the SS is the latest version of General Motors’ Super Cruise system that allows hands-free driving on more than 640,000 kms of roads in the United States and Canada. GM says that Super Cruise allows the Blazer to safely overtake slower-moving traffic and return to the original lane, all without driver involvement. Chevrolet also says it is creating a Police Pursuit Vehicle model based on the SS, which, given its power output, likely makes the most sense. Given its size, styling, output and variety of trim levels, the Chevrolet Blazer EV has plenty going for it. It also happens to be competitively priced, further enhanced by government rebates. These factors are helping to create increased buyer interest and acceptance in electric vehicles.