White House releases national strategy to combat Islamophobia
Former US president Jimmy Carter dies aged 100NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s recent dinner with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his visit to Paris for the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral were not just exercises in policy and diplomacy. They were also prime trolling opportunities for Trump. Throughout his first term in the White House and during his campaign to return, Trump has spun out countless provocative, antagonizing and mocking statements. There were his belittling nicknames for political opponents, his impressions of other political figures and the plentiful memes he shared on social media. Now that's he's preparing to return to the Oval Office, Trump is back at it, and his trolling is attracting more attention — and eyerolls. On Sunday, Trump turned a photo of himself seated near a smiling first lady Jill Biden at the Notre Dame ceremony into a social media promo for his new perfume and cologne line, with the tag line, “A fragrance your enemies can’t resist!” The first lady’s office declined to comment. When Trudeau hastily flew to Florida to meet with Trump last month over the president-elect's threat to impose a 25% tax on all Canadian products entering the U.S., the Republican tossed out the idea that Canada become the 51st U.S. state. The Canadians passed off the comment as a joke, but Trump has continued to play up the dig, including in a post Tuesday morning on his social media network referring to the prime minister as “Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada.” After decades as an entertainer and tabloid fixture, Trump has a flair for the provocative that is aimed at attracting attention and, in his most recent incarnation as a politician, mobilizing fans. He has long relished poking at his opponents, both to demean and minimize them and to delight supporters who share his irreverent comments and posts widely online and cheer for them in person. Trump, to the joy of his fans, first publicly needled Canada on his social media network a week ago when he posted an AI-generated image that showed him standing on a mountain with a Canadian flag next to him and the caption “Oh Canada!” After his latest post, Canadian Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Tuesday: “It sounds like we’re living in a episode of South Park." Trudeau said earlier this week that when it comes to Trump, “his approach will often be to challenge people, to destabilize a negotiating partner, to offer uncertainty and even sometimes a bit of chaos into the well established hallways of democracies and institutions and one of the most important things for us to do is not to freak out, not to panic.” Even Thanksgiving dinner isn't a trolling-free zone for Trump's adversaries. On Thanksgiving Day, Trump posted a movie clip from “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” with President Joe Biden and other Democrats’ faces superimposed on the characters in a spoof of the turkey-carving scene. The video shows Trump appearing to explode out of the turkey in a swirl of purple sparks, with the former president stiffly dancing to one of his favorite songs, Village People’s “Y.M.C.A." In his most recent presidential campaign, Trump mocked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, refusing to call his GOP primary opponent by his real name and instead dubbing him “Ron DeSanctimonious.” He added, for good measure, in a post on his Truth Social network: “I will never call Ron DeSanctimonious ‘Meatball’ Ron, as the Fake News is insisting I will.” As he campaigned against Biden, Trump taunted him in online posts and with comments and impressions at his rallies, deriding the president over his intellect, his walk, his golf game and even his beach body. After Vice President Kamala Harris took over Biden's spot as the Democratic nominee, Trump repeatedly suggested she never worked at McDonalds while in college. Trump, true to form, turned his mocking into a spectacle by appearing at a Pennsylvania McDonalds in October, when he manned the fries station and held an impromptu news conference from the restaurant drive-thru. Trump’s team thinks people should get a sense of humor. “President Trump is a master at messaging and he’s always relatable to the average person, whereas many media members take themselves too seriously and have no concept of anything else other than suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome,” said Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director. “President Trump will Make America Great Again and we are getting back to a sense of optimism after a tumultuous four years.” Though both the Biden and Harris campaigns created and shared memes and launched other stunts to respond to Trump's taunts, so far America’s neighbors to the north are not taking the bait. “I don’t think we should necessarily look on Truth Social for public policy,” Miller said. Gerald Butts, a former top adviser to Trudeau and a close friend, said Trump brought up the 51st state line to Trudeau repeatedly during Trump’s first term in office. “Oh God,” Butts said Tuesday, “At least a half dozen times.” “This is who he is and what he does. He’s trying to destabilize everybody and make people anxious,” Butts said. “He’s trying to get people on the defensive and anxious and therefore willing to do things they wouldn’t otherwise entertain if they had their wits about them. I don’t know why anybody is surprised by it.” Gillies reported from Toronto. Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.
Northern Highlands is skating in unfamiliar territory. Defending a state title isn’t anything new, as it’s the third time the program is doing so since 2019. The manner in which it is doing so this winter is different. After the 2018 and 2022 championships, Northern Highlands had a heavy core of upperclassmen leading the charge. This time around a lot of weight is being put on the shoulders of underclassmen. Just six juniors and seniors occupy roster spots this season and the team has yet to play a game with a full healthy roster. “The freshmen and sophomores especially, it’s been a learning process,” said Northern Highlands head coach Jason Beswick. “Highlands believes extremely strongly in defense. These kids are not taught that in youth hockey right now, so they’re starting to come around.” 12/29 - 1:30 PM Boys Ice Hockey Final Northern Highlands 5 Randolph 0 Despite that, the team has stayed afloat and will enter 2025 on a hot streak. In the final test of 2024, Northern Highlands, No. 15 in the NJ.com Top 20, matched up with No. 10 Randolph in a rematch of last year’s North Jersey, Public final. Brent Beswick, one of the few seniors and the reigning Player of the Year, had a big performance at Mennen Arena that night with three goals and three assists and was at it again on Sunday. Brent scored twice and added two assists to make program history and support a 38-save shutout from Quinn DeBruyn in a 5-0 win over Randolph in the Ice Vault Classic at the Ice Vault in Wayne. The four-point afternoon helped Brent eclipse 200 for his career, becoming the first player in Northern Highlands history to do so. In the process, he also passed Patrick Erstling’s mark of 197 career points in 2010 to become the program’s all-time leading point scorer. Beswick stands alone at Northern Highlands Brent Beswick has been at the centerpiece of Northern Highlands’ recent historical success. The historic accomplishments on the horizon became a footnote in his mind given the stretch his team was going through. “My biggest focus was getting the team back on track,” Brent said. “We got off to a rough start. Just wanted to make sure the team’s getting back to the win column, and I’ve been focusing a lot on playing really good defense, so the points are just an extra bonus.” Northern Highlands won its first three games but dropped three of the next four. The final loss, which came against St. Joseph’s Collegiate (NY) gave the team a spark. It rebounded the next day with a 3-2 win over Darien (CT) and built on that with Sunday’s win over Randolph. In the last four games, Sunday included, those underclassmen have combined for five goals and 12 assists. Davin Friedman and Laken Rohdiek combined for two goals and six assists against Randolph. “Those freshman, sophomores have stepped up huge,” Jason said. “I always say be prepared to block a shot with your throat, and they’re prepared to do that. They’re doing it and right now we’re in a good place.” It was also a great cap on 2024 for DeBruyn, who didn’t play for the team last year after appearing in six games as a sophomore during the 2022-23 season. It’s a hard task taking over after the last two starting goalies, Daniel Moor and Reade Adams, both led the team to state titles. The shutout jumps his save percentage on the season to .934 and .960 in his last three starts. Sure there have been some hiccups, injuries and a learning curve but Northern Highlands is putting itself in a great position to defend its title as the top Public team in the state. “The last two games we’re missing three of our top six forwards, and guys just stepped up,” Brent said. “I think our defensive play led. We have high-end guys that can score big goals. With a stud goalie in net, I think we’re a pretty good team.” Brian Bobal may be reached at bbobal@njadvancemedia.com . Follow him on X at @BrianBobal. The N.J. High School Sports newsletter now appears in mailboxes 5 days a week. Sign up now! Follow us on social: Facebook | Instagram | X (formerly Twitter)Mega Millions jackpot hits $619M: Can you buy your tickets online?
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