Israel-Gaza Conflict Escalates with No Clear Path to PeaceA judge on Monday granted a request by prosecutors to dismiss the election subversion case against Donald Trump because of a Justice Department policy of not prosecuting a sitting president. Judge Tanya Chutkan agreed to the request by Special Counsel Jack Smith to dismiss the case against the president-elect "without prejudice," meaning it could potentially be revived after Trump leaves the White House four years from now. "Dismissal without prejudice is appropriate here," Chutkan said, adding in the ruling that "the immunity afforded to a sitting President is temporary, expiring when they leave office." Trump, 78, was accused of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden and removing large quantities of top secret documents after leaving the White House, but the cases never came to trial. Smith also moved on Monday to drop his appeal of the dismissal of the documents case filed against the former president in Florida. That case was tossed out earlier this year by a Trump-appointed judge on the grounds that Smith was unlawfully appointed. The special counsel paused the election interference case and the documents case this month after Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the November 5 presidential election. Smith cited the long-standing Justice Department policy of not indicting or prosecuting a sitting president in his motions to have the cases dismissed. "The Government's position on the merits of the defendant's prosecution has not changed," Smith said in the filing with Chutkan. "But the circumstances have." "It has long been the position of the Department of Justice that the United States Constitution forbids the federal indictment and subsequent criminal prosecution of a sitting President," Smith said. "As a result this prosecution must be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated." In a separate filing, Smith said he was withdrawing his appeal of the dismissal of the classified documents case against Trump but pursuing the case against his two co-defendants, Trump valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira. Trump, in a post on Truth Social, said the cases were "empty and lawless, and should never have been brought." "Over $100 Million Dollars of Taxpayer Dollars has been wasted in the Democrat Party's fight against their Political Opponent, ME," he said. "Nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before." Trump was accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding -- the session of Congress called to certify Biden's win, which was violently attacked on January 6, 2021 by a mob of the then-president's supporters. Trump was also accused of seeking to disenfranchise US voters with his false claims that he won the 2020 election. The former and incoming president also faces two state cases -- in New York and Georgia. He was convicted in New York in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election to stop her from revealing an alleged 2006 sexual encounter. However, Judge Juan Merchan has postponed sentencing while he considers a request from Trump's lawyers that the conviction be thrown out in light of the Supreme Court ruling in July that an ex-president has broad immunity from prosecution. In Georgia, Trump faces racketeering charges over his efforts to subvert the 2020 election results in the southern state, but that case will likely be frozen while he is in office. cl/sms
NoneShatel: Nebraska is going to a bowl game again — and here are some dream matchups
NoneAccording to Kevin Seifert , Vikings WR Jordan Addison pleaded not guilty in court on Tuesday to two misdemeanor charges in California back in July. They stem from a July 12 arrest where Addison was booked on suspicion of a DUI after being found asleep at the wheel of his car blocking part of a freeway near the airport in Los Angeles. Addison was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and driving over the legal blood alcohol limit. The maximum penalty for the charges is up to six months in jail, fines of $2,000 or losing his driver’s license. Seifert notes Addison now has a pre-trial conference scheduled for January 9, 2025. Addison, 22, was selected by the Vikings with the No. 23 overall pick in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft. He’s currently in the second year of his four-year, $14,992,104 contract that included a $7,903,349 signing bonus. In 2024, Addison has appeared in 10 games for the Vikings and recorded 36 receptions for 575 yards (16.0 YPC) and four touchdowns. This article first appeared on NFLTradeRumors.co and was syndicated with permission.
“Gladiator II” asks the question: Are you not moderately entertained for roughly 60% of this sequel? Truly, this is a movie dependent on managed expectations and a forgiving attitude toward its tendency to overserve. More of a thrash-and-burn schlock epic than the comparatively restrained 2000 “Gladiator,” also directed by Ridley Scott, the new one recycles a fair bit of the old one’s narrative cries for freedom while tossing in some digital sharks for the flooded Colosseum and a bout of deadly sea-battle theatrics. They really did flood the Colosseum in those days, though no historical evidence suggests shark deployment, real or digital. On the other hand (checks notes), “Gladiator II” is fiction. Screenwriter David Scarpa picks things up 16 years after “Gladiator,” which gave us the noble death of the noble warrior Maximus, shortly after slaying the ignoble emperor and returning Rome to the control of the Senate. Our new hero, Lucius (Paul Mescal), has fled Rome for Numidia, on the North African coast. The time is 200 A.D., and for the corrupt, party-time twins running the empire (Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger), that means invasion time. Pedro Pascal takes the role of Acacius, the deeply conflicted general, sick of war and tired of taking orders from a pair of depraved ferrets. The new film winds around the old one this way: Acacius is married to Lucilla (Connie Nielsen, in a welcome return), daughter of the now-deceased emperor Aurelius and the love of the late Maximus’s life. Enslaved and dragged to Rome to gladiate, the widower Lucius vows revenge on the general whose armies killed his wife. But there are things this angry young phenom must learn, about his ancestry and his destiny. It’s the movie’s worst-kept secret, but there’s a reason he keeps seeing footage of Russell Crowe from the first movie in his fever dreams. Battle follows battle, on the field, in the arena, in the nearest river, wherever, and usually with endless splurches of computer-generated blood. “Gladiator II” essentially bumper-cars its way through the mayhem, pausing for long periods of expository scheming about overthrowing the current regime. The prince of all fixers, a wily operative with interests in both managing gladiators and stocking munitions, goes by the name Macrinus. He’s played by Denzel Washington, who at one point makes a full meal out of pronouncing the word “politics” like it’s a poisoned fig. Also, if you want a masterclass in letting your robes do a lot of your acting for you, watch what Washington does here. He’s more fun than the movie but you can’t have everything. The movie tries everything, all right, and twice. Ridley Scott marshals the chaotic action sequences well enough, though he’s undercut by frenetic cutting rhythms, with that now-familiar, slightly sped-up visual acceleration in frequent use. (Claire Simpson and Sam Restivo are the editors.) Mescal acquits himself well in his first big-budget commercial walloper of an assignment, confined though he is to a narrower range of seething resentments than Crowe’s in the first film. I left thinking about two things: the word “politics” as savored/spit out by Washington, and the innate paradox of how Scott, whose best work over the decades has been wonderful, delivers spectacle. The director and his lavishly talented design team built all the rough-hewn sets with actual tangible materials the massive budget allowed. They took care to find the right locations in Morocco and Malta. Yet when combined in post-production with scads of medium-grade digital effects work in crowd scenes and the like, never mind the sharks, the movie’s a somewhat frustrating amalgam. With an uneven script on top of it, the visual texture of “Gladiator II” grows increasingly less enveloping and atmospherically persuasive, not more. But I hung there, for some of the acting, for some of the callbacks, and for the many individual moments, or single shots, that could only have come from Ridley Scott. And in the end, yes, you too may be moderately entertained. “Gladiator II” — 2.5 stars (out of 4) MPA rating: R (for strong bloody violence) Running time: 2:28 How to watch: Premieres in theaters Nov. 21. Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.Arkansas visits skidding Miami in battle of veteran coaches
DEAR RUSTY: My wife will reach her full Social Security benefit at 66.5 years of age which is just under 2 years away for her now. If she were to begin to get her monthly check now (i.e. early), would that prevent her from being eligible for the spousal benefit to receive half of what I am currently drawing? — Curious Husband DEAR CURIOUS: If your wife claims her own SS retirement benefit now (e.g., at 64.5 years), and you are already collecting your own SS benefit, then she will be automatically deemed to be filing for her spousal benefit immediately when she claims her own benefit (she does not have the option to defer claiming her spousal benefit until later). This is a change made by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, which requires all those first claiming SS to file for ALL benefits they are eligible for when they claim. What that would mean is that your wife’s benefit now, including her spousal boost from you, would be actuarially reduced by the number of months early she claimed. Her own SS retirement benefit would be permanently reduced by about 15%, and her “spousal boost” (the additional amount she would get as your spouse) would be reduced by about 19%, yielding a combined benefit which is roughly 42% of your full retirement age (FRA) SS benefit. The only way your wife can get half (50%) of your FRA benefit entitlement is by waiting until her own full retirement age (66 years and 10 months) to claim. Note, too, that your wife’s spousal benefit will be based on your FRA entitlement, so if you claimed earlier or later than your own full retirement age, her spousal benefit will still be based on your FRA entitlement. Also, your wife should be aware that anyone who claims early is subject to Social Security’s “earnings test,” which limits how much can be earned while collecting early benefits. Thus, if your wife is working, she will be restricted on how much she can earn before Social Security takes away some of her benefits. FYI, the earnings limit changes annually, but for 2025 it is $23,420 and, if that is exceeded, SS will take away $1 in benefits for every $2 over the limit. And, the earnings limit goes up a lot during the year FRA is attained, and the earnings test no longer applies once full retirement age is reached. I hope this answers your question, but if you have need additional information, please feel free to contact us directly at SSAdvisor@amacfoundation.org , or call us at (888) 750-2622. (Russell Gloor is the national Social Security advisor at the AMAC Foundation, the non-profit arm of the Association of Mature American Citizens.)
Mark Almond: Will the Little Rocket Man now seize the chance to cause havoc?
President-elect Donald Trump’s lawyers urge judge to toss his hush money convictionExtended Reality (XR) Market to Grow by USD 1.04 Trillion (2024-2028), Driven by Advances in Sensor Technology, with AI Impacting Market Trends - TechnavioWhy the Vikings gave head coach Kevin O’Connell a game ball
Goold's chat: If Cardinals trade closer Ryan Helsley, when's best time to maximize offer?A judge on Monday granted a request by prosecutors to dismiss the election subversion case against Donald Trump because of a Justice Department policy of not prosecuting a sitting president. Judge Tanya Chutkan agreed to the request by Special Counsel Jack Smith to dismiss the case against the president-elect "without prejudice," meaning it could potentially be revived after Trump leaves the White House four years from now. "Dismissal without prejudice is appropriate here," Chutkan said, adding in the ruling that "the immunity afforded to a sitting President is temporary, expiring when they leave office." Trump, 78, was accused of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden and removing large quantities of top secret documents after leaving the White House, but the cases never came to trial. Smith also moved on Monday to drop his appeal of the dismissal of the documents case filed against the former president in Florida. That case was tossed out earlier this year by a Trump-appointed judge on the grounds that Smith was unlawfully appointed. The special counsel paused the election interference case and the documents case this month after Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the November 5 presidential election. Smith cited the long-standing Justice Department policy of not indicting or prosecuting a sitting president in his motions to have the cases dismissed. "The Government's position on the merits of the defendant's prosecution has not changed," Smith said in the filing with Chutkan. "But the circumstances have." "It has long been the position of the Department of Justice that the United States Constitution forbids the federal indictment and subsequent criminal prosecution of a sitting President," Smith said. "As a result this prosecution must be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated." In a separate filing, Smith said he was withdrawing his appeal of the dismissal of the classified documents case against Trump but pursuing the case against his two co-defendants, Trump valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira. Sign up to get our free daily email of the biggest stories! Trump, in a post on Truth Social, said the cases were "empty and lawless, and should never have been brought." "Over $100 Million Dollars of Taxpayer Dollars has been wasted in the Democrat Party's fight against their Political Opponent, ME," he said. "Nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before." Trump was accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding -- the session of Congress called to certify Biden's win, which was violently attacked on January 6, 2021 by a mob of the then-president's supporters. Trump was also accused of seeking to disenfranchise US voters with his false claims that he won the 2020 election. The former and incoming president also faces two state cases -- in New York and Georgia. He was convicted in New York in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election to stop her from revealing an alleged 2006 sexual encounter. However, Judge Juan Merchan has postponed sentencing while he considers a request from Trump's lawyers that the conviction be thrown out in light of the Supreme Court ruling in July that an ex-president has broad immunity from prosecution. In Georgia, Trump faces racketeering charges over his efforts to subvert the 2020 election results in the southern state, but that case will likely be frozen while he is in office. cl/sms
Israeli troops forcibly remove staff and patients from northern Gaza hospital, officials sayLINCOLN — Another Blackshirt is headed into the transfer with Nebraska linebacker Stefon Thompson joining the growing list of Huskers to seek playing opportunities elsewhere, according to multiple reports Thompson, a junior who began his career at Syracuse, played one season for the Huskers, playing in 11 games and making one start against Northern Iowa. He finished with 27 tackles, one fumble recovery and two pass deflections this season. Thompson is the fifth Husker player expected to be in the transfer portal when it opens on Dec. 9, joining defensive linemen Jamari Butler and Vincent Jackson, running back Gabe Ervin Jr. and wideout Malachi Coleman. Nebraska has also seen the departure of defensive coordinator Tony White, who signed a three-year contract on Monday to take the same position at Florida State. Nebraska, who finished its regular season with a 13-10 loss at Iowa on Friday, is awaiting its bowl game assignment, its first postseason game in eight seasons, which will be revealed on Dec. 8 following this weekend’s conference championship games.
MT lawmakers vote down bathroom rule change aimed at trans legislatorsPRAGUE, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Thirteen Chinese universities showcased their diverse programs and policies at the "Study in China" education exhibition held in Prague on Monday, underscoring the deepening educational and cultural ties between China and the Czech Republic. Speaking at the event's opening, Chinese Ambassador to the Czech Republic Feng Biao highlighted the role of education as a bridge for cultural understanding and a vital element of bilateral relations. Feng expressed hope that Czech students would explore the high-quality educational opportunities offered by Chinese universities, fostering deeper understanding and collaboration between academic institutions of both nations. He also encouraged Czech universities to collaborate with their Chinese counterparts, aiming to bring innovation and vitality to bilateral educational partnerships. This year marks the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and the Czech Republic. Feng described the expo as a platform to strengthen academic exchanges, providing Czech students with new avenues to pursue studies in China. Xia Jianhui, deputy director general of the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange, noted that this is the first time the "Study in China" exhibition has been held in the Czech Republic. He expressed optimism that the event would enhance mutual student exchange and open doors for academic collaboration. Bohuslava Senkyrova, Rector of the University of Finance and Administration in Prague, praised the exhibition as a valuable opportunity for Czech students to learn about studying in China. She noted its importance in building understanding between Chinese and Czech academic institutions. Featuring universities specializing in disciplines such as education, medicine, business, economics, technology, and fine arts, the exhibition drew significant interest. Anna Roubalova, a student from Hradec Kralove, expressed her interest in studying clinical medicine at Zhejiang University. "They have a good program, and I can study in either English or Chinese," she said, adding that she was impressed by the university's campus.