boat fishing
St. Louis County Clerk faces forgery, misdemeanor charges
Biden will decide on US Steel acquisition after influential panel fails to reach consensusAuthored by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness, Donald Trump will not be president for almost another two months... Yet Democrat politicians, both federal and local, vie to be the most strident in denouncing his plans to begin deporting millions of foreign nationals who, over the last four years, have entered the U.S. illegally. Trump pledges to focus initially only on the 400,000 to 500,000 current felons and some 1.4 million additional aliens who have ignored legal summons for their deportation. Weekly we read of thousands of illegal immigrants arriving from areas controlled by violent Mexican cartel gangs or failed, strife-torn South American countries that have emptied their jails to send their felons northwards. Hundreds of thousands of them have been committing violent crimes while demanding still more free housing and support from strapped American taxpayers. Big-city left-wing mayors and city councils boast that they will do all their best to nullify federal immigration laws, even as their cities face near insolvency housing, feeding, and monitoring the influx. More specifically, they brag they will continue to order local and state authorities to resist all efforts of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. They scream about possible “massive deportations” to come under Trump, callously ignoring that their own advocacy has fueled rising crime waves of unaudited illegal aliens. And they appear absolutely indifferent to the social costs imposed by illegal immigration upon their own poor and middle-class constituents. Virtue-signaling Democratic governors and mayors have so far not dared to utter a word of criticism about what has been the Biden administration’s truly historic “massive importation” of illegal aliens into the U.S. over the last four years. Why? Largely because these political grandees and media demagogues have the money, connections, zip codes, and influence to be immune from the fallout of their own performance-art advocacy of illegal immigration. They take for granted that the baleful consequences of open borders always falls upon the distant and vulnerable Other. Again, consider the left-wing logic: it is deemed moral to dismantle the border, disrupt the social fabric of the country, and destroy federal immigration laws. But: it is immoral to restore U.S. sovereignty, secure the border, stop the flux of lethal cartel-supplied fentanyl and child sex trafficking, and follow the law? In this regard, the party that prides itself as progressive is regressively adopting the states’ rights arguments of 19th-century southern states that boasted they would resist all federal enforcement of tariffs. By the late 1850s, these future Confederates were asserting that the national government had no jurisdiction in their state domains. Such brazen nullification would lead to the Civil War. Note the left assumes that conservatives will not emulate their tactics and thus declare swaths of federal firearms or environmental laws null and void within their red state and county jurisdictions. They know that doing so would start a cycle of lawlessness that would eventually result in either civil war, total anarchy, or both. The open-borders-left’s more immediate spiritual predecessors are states’-rights-resisters like former segregationist Governor George Wallace. He boasted that federal civil rights legislation had no sway over his own state’s laws. Wallace, remember, in a historic moment, was removed from blocking the entry of black students to the University of Alabama by federal troops. Given that nullification now has been turned upside down, will California Governor Gavin Newsom or New York Governor Kathy Hochul block the entrance to their state jails to prevent federal agents from sending home murderers and rapists who arrived in the U.S. illegally? The left has learned nothing and forgotten nothing from the recent election and decisive Trump victory. The defeat of left-wing candidates was a result most prominently of the Biden administration’s deliberate destruction of the southern border and the illegal welcoming of some 12 million foreigners without legal sanction or health and criminal background audits. This lawlessness ensured that Kamala Harris, who had sanctioned it, was going to lose the election. The daily sight of thousands swarming the border with impunity, coupled with Orwellian assertions of President Biden, “Border Czar” Vice President Harris, and Homeland Security Director Alejandro Mayorkas that the border was absolutely “secure,” doomed the Biden and then Harris campaigns. Violating U.S. sovereignty and laws while sending millions into already frayed health, food, housing, medical, legal, and education social services designed to help American citizens was never a winning campaign strategy. Yet almost nothing could deter the Biden-Harris administration from their fixation with undermining the border and federal immigration law while seeking to change the very demography of the American southwest. The resulting influx of illegal aliens within just three years proved comparable in size to the creation of some 12 American cities, all the size of San Francisco. The mass crossings resulted from an effort by Joe Biden to utterly disregard his oath to faithfully execute the laws of his country. He was also helped in his lawlessness by some 600 state and local “sanctuary city” jurisdictions that subverted federal law by using their own offices to thwart immigration enforcement. Indeed, left-wing state and local officials pledged their own greater fealty to the welfare of the illegal millions who ignored the law and swamped the border than to their own overtaxed and underserved American citizen constituents. Finally, on November 5, the people said no more. In historic fashion, traditional Democratic constituencies of the working class and minorities turned on their own left-wing politicians who had first turned on them. Yet the cynicism of the left had known no bounds. As the presidential campaign had heated up, and the polls, first for Biden and then for his surrogate Harris, began to erode, both began to lie that their vanished border was in fact “secure.” In other words, they knew they had permanently alienated the American public , knew that it would cost them the election, and so then frantically first tried to deny the truth they had welcomed in millions of illegal aliens. Then they pivoted and sought belatedly to stop the public relations disaster at the border for a few weeks before the election, vainly hiding the sheer cynicism of such an insincere effort. Earlier, they had tried blaming border hawk Republicans for not signing onto a false border “bipartisan,” red-herring bill. The left introduced it in Congress solely to allow blanket amnesties for millions of illegal aliens while still allowing 4,000 illegal aliens daily to enter the U.S. The great majority of sane senators who did not sign the Trojan Horse bill were then immediately demonized for the mess by Biden and Harris themselves, who deliberately created the catastrophe. Now that the election is over, an enfeebled Joe Biden has two months left on his presidency and no longer worries about reelection. So, in its final gasp, the left is again trying to invite in more illegal aliens. Apparently one final huge caravan is forming south of the border and plans to make its way northward just days before Trump takes office and begins to fulfill his promises to the majority of voters to close the border. Finally, why did illegal immigration explode to levels never seen before? One, the left saw millions of desperately poor foreign nationals as a natural long-term constituency for their big-government, anti-poverty programs. They felt that some 20-30 million illegal aliens over the last 50 years, along with their children, had flipped California, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado—and soon Arizona—from blue to red as planned. Of course, should the sudden Hispanic backlash against the immigration insanity of bicoastal elites persist, then the left might turn on their Hispanic voters as illiberal or brainwashed by the right—and ironically move to close the border to preclude more MAGA boosters. Two, Mexico and Latin America received some 120 billion dollars per year in remittances, mostly sent by their own citizens residing illegally in the U.S. and reliant on American government services that free them up to send billions into the coffers of our own increasingly hostile neighbors. Mexico further sees its 20 million expatriate illegal aliens as a strong lobby group to promote Mexico City’s agendas. The more Mexico exports its impoverished citizens, the more it saves on social services for them, while cynically noting that the more distant and longer their citizens reside away from Mexico, the more they romanticize it, safely from afar. Three, corporate employers like cheap labor from Latin America, especially when the U.S. government subsidizes such workers with massive housing, food, transportation, and health social services. On the other side of the ledger, the left cares little that an open border is destroying support for legal immigration and de facto punishes immigrants who wish to follow our laws. A cynic might argue that the left also may fear legal immigrants applying under meritocratic standards, as too independent, self-supporting, educated, skilled, and law-abiding to become its predictably loyal constituents at the polls. So, what might change to close the border and stop the massive influx? Donald Trump won the electoral college and the popular vote with a mandate to restore border security and immigration sanity. He received a near-record number of minority voters for a Republican candidate, given they believed that most often must deal with the realities of what elites have unleashed. In other words, the proverbial people are on to the no-borders elites. They suffer firsthand from their utopian bromides and are tired of being smeared as racists and xenophobes for simply wishing the United States to follow the law, restore secure borders, and end illegal immigration. And now they have the power and mandate to do all of that.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Drew Lock is likely going to start at quarterback for the New York Giants against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday when they try to end a franchise-record 10-game losing streak. Lock started against Atlanta last weekend and his status became an issue after the 34-7 loss when coach Brian Daboll said the 28-year-old was having an issue with his right shoulder. An MRI was done Monday and Daboll announced Tuesday that Lock would be his starter if he stayed healthy. “It came back good so rocking and rolling,” Lock said, noting he was hurt on a third down pass to Daniel Bellinger in the first quarter when Falcons linebacker Matthew Judon pulled his arm on the play. He finished the game. There were questions whether Daboll would switch back to Tommy DeVito after Lock threw two pick-6s and lost a fumble on a strip-sack against the Falcons. Lock has had three interceptions returned for scores in three starts this season, including two on tipped passes. Daboll said it was important to give Lock a couple of starts in which he was able to get all the reps in practice. “Knowing what we did the week before, take the things we need to get better at into this week and actually be able to go out there and do it is something I’m looking forward to,” Lock said. “Similar cadences with the guys, being in the huddle together. I think it can only be a positive for such a roller coaster out of that spot.” The one thing that might change this week is the Giants center. John Michael Schmitz has an ankle injury and he did not practice Tuesday. He left the locker room with a boot on his right foot. New York has moved veteran guard Greg Van Roten to center when Schmitz was hurt and Lock also worked with guard Austin Schlottmann as his center while playing in Denver. “I’m pretty familiar with all the guys that are rotating in there,” Lock said. The Giants have the NFL’s worst scoring offense, averaging 14.3 points. They benched Daniel Jones coming out of their bye week and days later released him after he requested it. DeVito has started two games and Lock three since Jones was released. New York has scored 59 points in those games, with 20 coming against Dallas in a seven-point loss on Thanksgiving. Running back Tyrone Tracy (ankle), wide receiver Malik Nabers (knee-foot), cornerback Greg Stroman (shoulder-shin), defensive tackle Cory Durden (shoulder), inside linebacker Micah McFadden (neck) and cornerback Dru Phillips (shoulder) also did not practice on Tuesday, which is usually a day off. The team will have off on Christmas Day and return to practice on Thursday. The Giants opened practice on Tuesday with the song “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” blaring on the loudspeakers in their indoor practice facility. Jones, who is on the Minnesota Vikings practice squad, sent the Giants offensive linemen Christmas gifts. “DJ comes in, saves me and Tommy once again, and then takes care of the guys,” Lock said. “I expected nothing less from the guy. That’s just who he is, and cares about these guys still.” ___ AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
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Explore the World Expo: Significance of the Event / Osaka Expo Venue to Showcase Japan’s Recycling Society; CO2-Absorbing Bacteria to Be IntroducedPlayers have mixed feelings about being on the road on Christmas as NFL adds more holiday games
Support Independent Arts Journalism As an independent publication, we rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. If you value our coverage and want to support more of it, consider becoming a member today . Already a member? Sign in here. Support Hyperallergic’s independent arts journalism for as little as $8 per month. Become a Member “I grew up in a house full of paintings and books,” Jonathan Lethem writes in his introduction to Cellophane Bricks: A Life in Visual Culture (2024). “My father made the paintings and my mother handed me the books.” From that artistic-literary background, Lethem went on to become an acclaimed novelist, essayist, and short story writer — and, as the texts in this book demonstrate, an out-of-the-ordinary aficionado of art. The “Fictions of Art” section of the book, the first of five, features examples of Lethem writing parallel to, rather than directly about, an artist’s work. “I couldn’t do art writing, or perhaps I wanted to invent another version of what art writing would be,” he explains, “so, I wrote what I always wrote: scenes and situations and voices, characters and set pieces, sprung from my response to the art.” The resulting text is not ekphrastic writing, nor is it the kind of straightforward fiction of the kind Ann Patchett, Louise Erdrich, Richard Russo, and company penned in response to Linden Frederick’s dark paintings of Maine . Lethem’s piece on Fred Tomaselli, for example, takes the form of a letter to a friend describing a visit to the artist’s studio in Brooklyn. In the course of relating their interactions, he does offer some critical reading. “His work is celebratory,” Lethem states, “and I find it explosively happy even when the drugs or some of the other imagery takes on a somewhat ominous overtone.” But the rest of the piece is more entertaining than incisive, an account of their day in Williamsburg that includes lunch at Peter Luger’s. Lethem’s texts are often wonderfully absurdist, echoing his fiction, such as his surreal detective story, Gun, With Occasional Music (1994). In an homage to Perry Hoberman , a new media artist who often incorporates machines in his installations, he offers a series of droll vignettes. Here’s one: “You call Missing Persons, and get your own answering machine. You wait to leave a message, but the beep never comes. The beep never comes. The beep never comes. Beep.” This amusing bit of farce aligns with Hoberman’s focus on people and technology. Get the latest art news, reviews and opinions from Hyperallergic. Daily Weekly Opportunities Part of the pleasure of this collection is the diversity of art practices Lethem covers. In one section he pays tribute to graffiti, which, he writes, “inserts itself like the blade of a knife between creation and destruction, between publicity and furtiveness, between word and image, cartoon, icon and hieroglyph” — an eloquent way to describe this fugitive art form. He also highlights his love of comics and cartoons, “objectified books,” and the Italian verbo-visual artist Mirella Bentivoglio’s stone typewriter, among many other subjects. The collection ends with two essays related to the author’s father. In the first, “My Father Has Started a Painting” (which also serves as the foreword to a new book of Richard Brown Lethem’s poems, Roots, Stones & Baggage (2023)), he shares memories of how the aforementioned childhood household with its studio and library shaped his worldview. Lethem admits up front to suffering some artist envy. “I’m sure I’m not the first writer,” he muses, “to yearn for the seemingly more grounded and absolute situation of the painter or sculptor, who dwells in what looks to be an enviable realm of craft, routine, and expertise.” As a once-upon-a-time painter himself, in identifying with visual artists, Lethem is “searching for a lost self,” as he puts it. With this collection of sundry tributes to painters, sculptors, and the like, he is well on his way to finding it. Cellophane Bricks: A Life in Visual Culture (2024) by Jonathan Lethem, published by ZE Books , is available for purchase online and in bookstores. We hope you enjoyed this article! Before you keep reading, please consider supporting Hyperallergic ’s journalism during a time when independent, critical reporting is increasingly scarce. Unlike many in the art world, we are not beholden to large corporations or billionaires. Our journalism is funded by readers like you , ensuring integrity and independence in our coverage. We strive to offer trustworthy perspectives on everything from art history to contemporary art. We spotlight artist-led social movements, uncover overlooked stories, and challenge established norms to make art more inclusive and accessible. With your support, we can continue to provide global coverage without the elitism often found in art journalism. If you can, please join us as a member today . Millions rely on Hyperallergic for free, reliable information. By becoming a member, you help keep our journalism free, independent, and accessible to all. Thank you for reading. Share Copied to clipboard Mail Bluesky Threads LinkedIn Facebook
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