WASHINGTON (AP) — As a former and potentially future president, Donald Trump hailed what would become Project 2025 as a road map for “exactly what our movement will do” with another crack at the White House. As the blueprint for a hard-right turn in America became a liability during the 2024 campaign, Trump pulled an about-face . He denied knowing anything about the “ridiculous and abysmal” plans written in part by his first-term aides and allies. Now, after being elected the 47th president on Nov. 5, Trump is stocking his second administration with key players in the detailed effort he temporarily shunned. Most notably, Trump has tapped Russell Vought for an encore as director of the Office of Management and Budget; Tom Homan, his former immigration chief, as “border czar;” and immigration hardliner Stephen Miller as deputy chief of policy . Those moves have accelerated criticisms from Democrats who warn that Trump's election hands government reins to movement conservatives who spent years envisioning how to concentrate power in the West Wing and impose a starkly rightward shift across the U.S. government and society. Trump and his aides maintain that he won a mandate to overhaul Washington. But they maintain the specifics are his alone. “President Trump never had anything to do with Project 2025,” said Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt in a statement. “All of President Trumps' Cabinet nominees and appointments are whole-heartedly committed to President Trump's agenda, not the agenda of outside groups.” Here is a look at what some of Trump's choices portend for his second presidency. The Office of Management and Budget director, a role Vought held under Trump previously and requires Senate confirmation, prepares a president's proposed budget and is generally responsible for implementing the administration's agenda across agencies. The job is influential but Vought made clear as author of a Project 2025 chapter on presidential authority that he wants the post to wield more direct power. “The Director must view his job as the best, most comprehensive approximation of the President’s mind,” Vought wrote. The OMB, he wrote, “is a President’s air-traffic control system” and should be “involved in all aspects of the White House policy process,” becoming “powerful enough to override implementing agencies’ bureaucracies.” Trump did not go into such details when naming Vought but implicitly endorsed aggressive action. Vought, the president-elect said, “knows exactly how to dismantle the Deep State” — Trump’s catch-all for federal bureaucracy — and would help “restore fiscal sanity.” In June, speaking on former Trump aide Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, Vought relished the potential tension: “We’re not going to save our country without a little confrontation.” The strategy of further concentrating federal authority in the presidency permeates Project 2025's and Trump's campaign proposals. Vought's vision is especially striking when paired with Trump's proposals to dramatically expand the president's control over federal workers and government purse strings — ideas intertwined with the president-elect tapping mega-billionaire Elon Musk and venture capitalist Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a “Department of Government Efficiency.” Trump in his first term sought to remake the federal civil service by reclassifying tens of thousands of federal civil service workers — who have job protection through changes in administration — as political appointees, making them easier to fire and replace with loyalists. Currently, only about 4,000 of the federal government's roughly 2 million workers are political appointees. President Joe Biden rescinded Trump's changes. Trump can now reinstate them. Meanwhile, Musk's and Ramaswamy's sweeping “efficiency” mandates from Trump could turn on an old, defunct constitutional theory that the president — not Congress — is the real gatekeeper of federal spending. In his “Agenda 47,” Trump endorsed so-called “impoundment,” which holds that when lawmakers pass appropriations bills, they simply set a spending ceiling, but not a floor. The president, the theory holds, can simply decide not to spend money on anything he deems unnecessary. Vought did not venture into impoundment in his Project 2025 chapter. But, he wrote, “The President should use every possible tool to propose and impose fiscal discipline on the federal government. Anything short of that would constitute abject failure.” Trump's choice immediately sparked backlash. “Russ Vought is a far-right ideologue who has tried to break the law to give President Trump unilateral authority he does not possess to override the spending decisions of Congress (and) who has and will again fight to give Trump the ability to summarily fire tens of thousands of civil servants,” said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, a Democrat and outgoing Senate Appropriations chairwoman. Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico, leading Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, said Vought wants to “dismantle the expert federal workforce” to the detriment of Americans who depend on everything from veterans' health care to Social Security benefits. “Pain itself is the agenda,” they said. Trump’s protests about Project 2025 always glossed over overlaps in the two agendas . Both want to reimpose Trump-era immigration limits. Project 2025 includes a litany of detailed proposals for various U.S. immigration statutes, executive branch rules and agreements with other countries — reducing the number of refugees, work visa recipients and asylum seekers, for example. Miller is one of Trump's longest-serving advisers and architect of his immigration ideas, including his promise of the largest deportation force in U.S. history. As deputy policy chief, which is not subject to Senate confirmation, Miller would remain in Trump's West Wing inner circle. “America is for Americans and Americans only,” Miller said at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Oct. 27. “America First Legal,” Miller’s organization founded as an ideological counter to the American Civil Liberties Union, was listed as an advisory group to Project 2025 until Miller asked that the name be removed because of negative attention. Homan, a Project 2025 named contributor, was an acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director during Trump’s first presidency, playing a key role in what became known as Trump's “family separation policy.” Previewing Trump 2.0 earlier this year, Homan said: “No one’s off the table. If you’re here illegally, you better be looking over your shoulder.” John Ratcliffe, Trump's pick to lead the CIA , was previously one of Trump's directors of national intelligence. He is a Project 2025 contributor. The document's chapter on U.S. intelligence was written by Dustin Carmack, Ratcliffe's chief of staff in the first Trump administration. Reflecting Ratcliffe's and Trump's approach, Carmack declared the intelligence establishment too cautious. Ratcliffe, like the chapter attributed to Carmack, is hawkish toward China. Throughout the Project 2025 document, Beijing is framed as a U.S. adversary that cannot be trusted. Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, wrote Project 2025's FCC chapter and is now Trump's pick to chair the panel. Carr wrote that the FCC chairman “is empowered with significant authority that is not shared” with other FCC members. He called for the FCC to address “threats to individual liberty posed by corporations that are abusing dominant positions in the market,” specifically “Big Tech and its attempts to drive diverse political viewpoints from the digital town square.” He called for more stringent transparency rules for social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube and “empower consumers to choose their own content filters and fact checkers, if any.” Carr and Ratcliffe would require Senate confirmation for their posts.
Nick Kern came off the bench for 20 points and 13 rebounds as Penn State remained unbeaten with an 85-66 thumping of Fordham in a semifinal of the Sunshine Slam on Monday in Daytona Beach, Fla. The Nittany Lions (6-0), who will play either San Francisco or Clemson for the tournament title on Tuesday, put four other players in double figures. Zach Hicks scored 16 points, while Puff Johnson added 15. Ace Baldwin and Yanic Konan Niederhauser each chipped in 12 points. Penn State sank nearly 53 percent of its field goal attempts and earned a 38-30 advantage on the boards, more than enough to offset missing 12 of its 32 foul shots. Four players reached double figures for the Rams (3-4), led by 15 points apiece from Jackie Johnson III and reserve Joshua Rivera. Romad Dean and Jahmere Tripp each added 13. Fordham was as close as 56-49 after Tripp made a layup with 14:25 left in the game. But the Nittany Lions responded with a 16-1 run, capped with a layup by Kern for a 22-point lead at the 9:33 mark, and they never looked back. The main storyline prior to tipoff was whether Penn State could continue its torrid early start that saw it come into the day leading Division I in steals and ranked second in scoring at 98.2 points per game. The Nittany Lions certainly played to their billing for most of the first half, establishing a 21-8 lead at the 10:08 mark via Hicks' three-point play. Fordham predictably struggled early with the pressure defense, committing four turnovers in the first four minutes. But the Rams got their bearings over the last 10 minutes and made some shots. They got as close as four on two occasions late in the half before Penn State pushed the lead to 42-34 at the half. The officials were busy in the half, calling 23 fouls and administering 27 free throws. --Field Level MediaNVIDIA Rockets Ahead! The Future of Gaming Changes Forever
It was a huge year for the business of sport, with Caitlin Clark and the WNBA leading the charge in a game-changing year for women’s basketball. She’s not alone but she is clearly the poster child for the new economic reality for women’s team sports. Clark is making everyone around her wealthier. Explosive growth in media rights fees and overall revenues reaching the stage where several North American pro sports teams posted more than 30 per cent increases in franchise valuation, year-over-year. The television juggernaut that is the National Football League — which we’ve dubbed the new social network — closes out 2024 with an average franchise value of US$5.7 billion according to Forbes magazine. When your weakest links are still worth $4 billion and have grown by about 70 per cent since the pandemic, there’s no one to feel sorry for. That’s especially true when recent streaming deals will only drive more NFL revenue and audience in the years to come. Amazon Prime paid $100 million for the Black Friday stream last month while Netflix offered up $150 million for the NFL Christmas Day doubleheader that averaged 24 million, peaked at 27 million for a Beyonce half-time show and rallied more than 65 million unique viewers for at least part of the two games played on Wednesday of this week. Also having bullish years in 2024: Alternate telecasts, stadium design, podcasts and collectibles. More to come on those fronts in 2025. It was already an historically bad year for the Chicago White Sox, the Major League Baseball franchise that set an all-time mark for futility despite having the advantages of operating in the third largest market in the U.S. Yet leave it to the Chicago Bears of the NFL to give them a run for the money as one of the biggest losers in the business of sport this year. The Bears (6-3 losers to the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday Night Football this week) have now lost a record 10 straight games after starting the season at 4-2. Outside of deep playoff runs by the New York Yankees, New York Mets and New York Red Bulls, the Big Apple has been largely rotten in 2024. The biggest media market in North America has not one but two also-rans in the NFL (the 2-13 Giants in the NFC and the 4-11 Jets in the AFC), not to mention the New York Rangers, who are an absolute mess at the Christmas break despite being the second-richest franchise in the NHL according to both Forbes and Sportico. Meanwhile, the Oakland Athletics are no more after one of the messiest and protracted break ups in North American team sport. After more than two decades of on-again, off-again talks about a new stadium in Oakland finally collapsed, the Athletics will play in Sacramento for three seasons while they work with Las Vegas stakeholders to fund and construct a new ballpark at the site of the Tropicana Hotel. Once one of the most storied blue collar sport markets in North America, Oakland is now a shell of its former self, with the Golden State Warriors of the NBA now playing at the Chase Center in San Francisco, the Oakland Raiders in Las Vegas and the old California Seals long ago morphed into the Cleveland Barons, merged with the Minnesota North Stars and ultimately relocated to Dallas in 1993. Tom Mayenknecht is the host of The Sport Market on Sportsnet 650 on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Vancouver-based sport business commentator and principal in Emblematica Brand Builders provides a behind-the-scenes look at the sport business stories that matter most to fans. Follow Mayenknecht at: x.com/TheSportMarket .Live updates: Northwestern Lehigh vs. Scranton Prep in PIAA 3A football playoffs
Long-suffering fans of the Dallas Cowboys could be forgiven for thinking that their season from hell couldn't possibly get any worse. Unfortunately, however, there is every chance that the iconic NFL franchise is still making its way to rock-bottom as they prepare to face the in-form Washington Commanders on Sunday. Record defeats, a miserable home losing streak and a season-ending injury to star quarterback Dak Prescott would have been bad enough. But on Monday, just to add to the impression of an organization engulfed by chaos, sections of metal sheeting from the roof of the AT&T Stadium plunged to the field before the team slumped to an abject 34-10 defeat to Houston. The jokes about the sky falling in on Dallas wrote themselves. Not for the first time, the franchise that likes to think of itself as "America's Team" had instead become America's punchline. But after the Cowboys latest loss, which virtually extinguished any chance of a ticket to the post-season, even the team's harshest critics began to take pity. ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith, who regularly delights in trolling the Cowboys, insisted that the club's crisis was no laughing matter. "This is a horror show," Smith said solemnly on ESPN's 'First Take' program this week. "I like getting on the Cowboys fans, and I enjoy their misery. But they've stripped the fun out of this because of how god-awful they have been. I can't believe how bad they are." The Cowboys' fall from grace has been decades in the making. The team which dominated the NFL in the early part of the 1990s -- winning three Super Bowls in four seasons between 1993 and 1996 -- has not been back to the championship game since that golden era. Head coaches and quarterbacks have come and gone, and none have come close to returning the Cowboys to the pinnacle of the NFL, despite the team being ranked as the most valuable sports franchise in the world according to Forbes, with a valuation of $11 billion. The one constant during those decades of disappointment has been owner Jerry Jones, the Texas billionaire who bought the team in 1989. Jones, one of the NFL's most colorful and polarizing personalities, was at a loss to explain the team's current problems. "I don't know that there's anything beyond the obvious -- and that is we just aren't playing very well," Jones told reporters after Monday's home defeat to Houston. The Cowboys stat-line this season makes for grim reading. After opening the campaign with a 33-17 defeat of Cleveland, the wheels came off in a 44-19 home loss to the New Orleans Saints where Dallas' vaunted defense leaked a whopping six touchdowns. To date, the Saints have scored more touchdowns at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington this season than the Cowboys. Other brutal losses have followed, notably a 47-9 home shellacking by the Detroit Lions, and a 34-6 trouncing by the Philadelphia Eagles. The Cowboys, who are 3-7 in the NFC East, are the only team in North American professional sport who have not managed to win a game at home in 2024. There is every chance that Washington, led by their talented rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels and expertly coached by former Dallas defensive guru Dan Quinn, will add to the Cowboys' woe when they host the Texas club on Sunday. It has left Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy, who is in the final year of his contract, facing a bleak future. McCarthy put a defiant face on his team's problems as they attempt to somehow stop the bleeding. "We got seven losses. We've got to go. Backs against the wall. We got to fight, scratch, claw," McCarthy said. "We've got to do everything we can to go win the next game. That's where my mind's at." Jones, meanwhile, attempted to put a brave face on the team's season of woe, insisting he has seen worse. "You stay in this league long enough, you'll have times like this," the 82-year-old tycoon said. rcw/jsTop 10 leading startup cities in India 2024 including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Gurugram and more
Trump taps Rollins as agriculture chief, completing proposed slate of Cabinet secretaries
NoneLet's be honest...we've all dreamed of having our own movie-worthy meet-cute! Maybe you've locked eyes with someone at a party or sat next to someone in a class and wondered, "What if?" Blame it on the prevalence of rom-coms while our brains were developing or the human desire to find "The One," but there's something about meet-cutes that we can't get enough of — especially when they happen IRL... So, when Redditor Dense_Reflection_791 recently asked the r/AskWomen community, " How did you find your partner? " I knew I had to share some of the most heart-meltingly wholesome responses. From standing outside during a thunderstorm to playing Dungeons and Dragons, here are 17 of the most adorable ways women met their significant others: 1. "It was weird. I was done with dating and trying to meet someone, so I began researching sperm banks to start my journey as a single mother by choice. And then Covid hit..." "During the middle of the pandemic, he was working from home. One day, he clocked out early and decided to go for a walk and sit on a bench. My job was closed down, so I decided to go for a walk. I don’t like most people, but for some reason, I decided to sit down on the bench he was already sitting on. I took out my phone to play a game, and somehow, we started talking. Before I realized it, we had been talking for over an hour. I eventually had to leave, but before I could go, he asked for my number. I had so much fun in our conversation that I gave it to him. He called me a few hours later to ask me out on a date for the next day. He said he didn’t want to give me a chance to change my mind about him. So I agreed. We just celebrated another anniversary and have started trying for a family." — u/noonecaresat805 2. "I was living in a student accommodation in my first year of college. It was 2 a.m., and there was a huge thunderstorm. While watching from my balcony, I noticed other people in the courtyard watching." "I convinced myself to join them and socialize, so I went down in my pajamas and bed hair. Started talking to one of the guys in the group, and we didn’t stop talking until 10 a.m. I think we were official within a week. We just reached our 10-year-anniversary a few days ago and live with two adorable cats. We’re discussing having kids and buying a house. We’ve got a group of beautiful friends and a lot of good stories together. It’s been a great life so far. It sounds corny, but be brave and socialize with others, even if you’re anxious. It might change your life completely." — u/PatGarrettsMoustache 3. "We met at a hostel. We were sleeping in the same bunk beds. He saw me for one or two days before he spoke to me because I was already asleep every time he came to the room!" "The first night we talked, we spoke about the meaning of truth and asked each other ' 36 questions to fall in love .' We spent a week together, and then he continued his trip (traveling around Europe). I found a place to rent as I had just moved there and was looking for a place to stay. I thought I was never going to see him again. When he returned to the country six months later, he texted me (it was his home country). We have been together for almost six years and married for a few months." — u/soyundinosaurioverde 4. "He was the Dungeon master for our old friend group in college. I wanted to learn how to play Dungeons and Dragons, so some of our peers connected us so he could teach me and a few others." "I was dating someone else at the time (it was a toxic relationship), but I could not help but notice how handsome he was. He lived in my mind rent-free, and once I started mentally checking out of my toxic relationship, he lingered around a lot more. I already knew I was going to date him next. About a month after I finally left the toxic relationship, I made my interest in my current boyfriend clear. One day, just the two of us played Terraria together, which led to the beginning of our beautiful romantic relationship. And here we are over two years later...Even more in love than we were in the beginning. Aside from getting my degree (debt-free!), meeting my partner was the best thing that ever happened to me in college (and in general, to be honest)." — u/Glamrock-Gal 5. "He was trying to be a wingman for his buddy at an Oktoberfest a couple hours away from where I lived and asked if I would dance with his friend." "But...his friend got shy and didn't want to dance anymore, so he danced with me instead. We hit it off and talked the whole time. Later that night, he asked for my number. We discovered that we only lived 15 minutes away from each other. The rest is history. We dated for four years and have been married for another four and a half." — u/jaelythe4781 6. "We met at an art fair. He owned a small furniture and design shop and was one of the exhibitors. His booth was at the front door, so when I walked in, he was sitting in a chair facing me." "We both stared at each other. Not in a flirty or sexy way, more like 'deer in headlights.' After walking around the whole fair, I returned to talk to him. He showed me a really wild helmet he had made that looked like a melon. I tried it on, and he took a picture of me and then asked for my number to text the pic to me. He still thinks he was sooo smooth for that, haha." — u/rat_cheese_token 7. "I was the designated driver for my (ex) best friend's 21st birthday! My now-partner didn’t have a ride that night, so I, my ex-BFF, and one other person drove over and picked him up at his place." "My ex-BFF told me that my now-partner liked to 'smoke' before parties, so I was also under the impression he was blasted when we picked him up (he was totally sober, though.) I put on a few songs on the way to the party. Before he got out of the car, I played 'Downfall of Us All' by A Day to Remember. He exclaimed that he loved that song! While walking into the house, we immediately launched into a deep conversation about our favorite bands. That is when we both found out that we LOVED the band Beartooth and talked about how amazing it is to find another person in the wild who knew and loved them. While everyone else at the party got wasted, we talked and bounced balloons back and forth through the night. So the next week, his best friend had a birthday party at a mutual friend's place, and he, his best friend, and my ex-BFF all came back to our place after partying it up! At the end of the night, he and I were lying on top of each other on the couch while I probed him with some important questions (feminism, what he thought about kids, etc.) while very drunk. The next day, I asked him out to a Beartooth concert. He jokes now that he 'passed the test,' and we’ve been together since!" — u/OnyxManor 8. "We met in the middle of nowhere. I flew across the country for a seasonal job in a remote location. He was also there from a country on the other side of the world. We didn't start hanging out until the last few weeks of the season, but we hooked up the last night we were there." "The season was over, so it was time to leave. We were on a bus together, holding hands and feeling sad. He was going to the airport, and I was going somewhere else; we both had jobs lined up. When we reached my stop, he asked if he could come with me, and I said yes. We canceled our plans and stayed at a hostel for about three weeks while we found jobs and a place to live. Six months later, his visa ended, so I followed him to his home country. We've been together for 11 years." — u/Missteeze 9. "This was in the pre-app, pre-smartphone era and my best friend met a guy at work and brought him over to a punk show we were throwing at our friend's warehouse." "My best friend confessed that he thought this guy was the right man for me, which was odd because he never liked any of my partners in our 10 years of friendship before he introduced me to my husband. I didn’t know he was bringing this new dude over, intending to be a 'matchmaker,' so it was a super chill, no-pressure group hang. I was actually hooking up with three other dudes during that time (ah, youth!), but my now-husband was persistent and won me over. I stopped seeing all other hopefuls within a week of meeting him. We’ve been blissfully in love for almost 20 years, and we still go to punk shows regularly! So, my best friend hand-picked him for me, and it worked amazingly. I got lucky!" — u/Les_Les_Les_Les 10. "It was my third day at a new gym, and I saw this guy who was so hot, tatted up, and stylish. I thought to myself, 'Damn, that's the type of man I should go for when I glow up...I'll ask him out in a few months.'" "Five minutes later, he walks over to me while he's in the middle of his workout, compliments me, and asks me for my IG handle. The rest is history." — u/No_Education3537 11. "Six months after graduation, I moved to Germany with my then-boyfriend for a job. That first day, I had lunch in the company kitchen, and one of the trainers introduced me to his friend. The friend was a quiet, eccentric man I didn't really think anything of." "A couple of weeks later, I was invited to a party late one evening, and I really, really didn't want to go — I'd had all my wisdom teeth removed the previous day and felt like crap. I forced myself to go for at least an hour because I knew the host had made a big effort and only a few people would attend. When I got there, I saw the 'eccentric friend from the kitchen.' We started talking, hit it off immediately, went for a walk, and suddenly, it was daylight. We both felt a connection like nothing before (or since). "I went home, mulled over it for a few days, then broke up with my boyfriend. I felt terrible about that, even though the relationship wasn't going well already, and my boyfriend was not good for me (our friends actually celebrated the break-up). I felt I was abandoning him on a romantic comedy-like whim, but I knew I had to do it." "It's been 12.5 years since I met my current partner, and 'the night of the party' is part of our lore. Funnily enough, in a very 'sliding doors' way, my then-boyfriend had also been invited to the party, but he never wanted to do anything together and couldn't be bothered with going. He stayed home and changed our lives." — u/missseldon 12. "We grew up in a relatively big city, but somehow, our families always lived in the same neighborhood." "When we were 12, we would hang out at the local park. Then, we ran into each other a lot at high school and college parties. For example, his house burnt down when we were in ninth grade, but my family had moved about 25 minutes away that year. I saw him at a party, and it turned out his family was renting a house in our new neighborhood while they rebuilt their burnt house, so he drove me home from that party after years of not seeing each other. After that, we lost touch again for a few years, then saw each other at a party during our first year of college. Nothing romantic happened then, as we were in long-term relationships with other people. Then, five years ago, our friend group was at a cabin for a weekend and he and I reconnected only as friends. Friends turned to lovers, and here we are with a house, a cat, and an insanely deep connection. He’s still my very best friend." — u/cescyc 13. "We met in history class. Our teacher sat us next to each other. We were polar opposites. I was very shy and didn’t talk much, and he was outgoing and loved to talk to people." "He randomly started talking to me one day; he told me his cousin slapped a wax strip on his leg and pulled the hair off...then asked if I wanted to feel it, lol. After that, I would share my homework with him; since it was a retake class for me, and he was a year younger, I knew most of the stuff anyway and would do my homework in class. He missed school often; his uncle would take him to work on houses and businesses or work at the farm. I realized I liked him when I’d look to see if he was coming through the door for class. When he wouldn’t come in, I’d miss him. So, one day, I messaged him on Facebook and asked if he wanted to hang out. We went on a date, and we’ve been together ever since. It'll be 14 years in May. We’ve been married for seven of those years and have three kids. He’s the love of my life and the smartest, kindest, and most loving man I’ve ever met." — u/imthrownaway93 14. "We met at a swing dancing class. He had been going to that studio for several months, and I had just started." "What's nuts is that the studio was picked out by a guy friend of mine with whom I had agreed to take lessons. We lived far from each other, and the studio was between us, so I would not have met my husband if my buddy hadn't chosen that location. Unfortunately, the friend was interested in being more than that, despite me telling him I wasn't. We are no longer friends, but my husband and I owe our 23 years together to him." — u/cheesymoonshadow 15. "In college, I worked as a student secretary for a coffee shop. My eventual boyfriend (now husband) worked as an intern manager, but neither of us reported to each other." "The 'office' we shared with the other coffee shop managers was actually a tiny converted janitor's closet. The more time I spent at work alongside him in this little closet, the more I realized how much I liked him. He was (and still is) incredibly kind to me and was the sweetest person I had met there. I took a chance on Valentine's Day and asked him on a date. We went out the next day and have been inseparable since. I have zero regrets and feel so fortunate to have met the love of my life within only six months of being at school." — u/lw262111 16. "His dad was a pastor, and he was hosting an activity for the church’s kids. My middle school best friend went to that church and convinced me to go with her. One of the activities was hide-and-seek. I hid behind bushes in their backyard, and he found me." "Over the next 10 years, we were frenemies, sometimes friends — I would go visit him at the library he volunteered at, we would play tag, and he’d get in trouble with the older women who worked there. Sometimes, he’d come over to my house, and we’d play in my mom's garden and accidentally trample her flowers. She says she knew we were meant to be the first time he came over to ask if I could come out and play. Then we would fight over something silly and not talk for months. We had a big argument when we were 19 and lost contact. Then, after college, he joined the military." "One day, when we were 22, he reached out, and it was just as it had always been; we could talk about anything and everything. I was still living in our hometown, and he would drive the seven hours it took to visit his family and me; I would convince him to try new foods, and he would show me new music. We would sit in his car and just talk for hours." "Months later, he was set to deploy overseas for the first time, and one night, he called me and told me he had to tell me something. I couldn’t hear him because he was in a room full of people and had awful cellphone service, so I kept saying, 'What? What?' And finally, the third time, I heard it: 'I am trying to tell you that I think I’m in love with you!' We kept in contact while he was deployed. I would send him care packages, and he’d set an alarm for the middle of the night once every few days so the WIFI bandwidth wasn’t throttled and he could FaceTime me. Then he came home and he officially asked me to be his girlfriend. Fast forward to now, and we are in our fifth year of marriage." — u/Fivethreesixthree 17. "We met in high school. When we started dating, I was 15, and he was 17." "Now I’m 50, and we’ve been around the world and back again. We've had high and low ups and downs that were comparable to mountains and undersea trenches. We’ve been dirt poor and lived high on the hog. I would go back and do it all over again in a heartbeat, and the only thing I’d change is that I would worry less because I know it all works out. I’ve sometimes wished my life was an actual novel so I could have peeked at the later chapters to reassure myself that the couple was still together and happy at that point. Hopefully, we’ve still got decades of adventures ahead. I want to die holding his hand." — u/GrumpyBitchInBoots Which one of these "meet-cutes" was your favorite? How did you meet your partner? Let us know in the comments! (Or if you would prefer to remain anonymous, you can answer using this Google Form ). Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.None
Singer-keyboardist Edgar Winter is 78. TV personality Gayle King (“CBS This Morning”) is 70. Actor Denzel Washington is 70. Drummer Mike McGuire of Shenandoah is 66. Country singer-guitarist Marty Roe of Diamond Rio is 64. Actor Malcolm Gets (“Caroline in the City”) is 61. Political commentator Ana Navarro (“The View”) is 53. Comedian Seth Meyers (“Late Night With Seth Meyers”) is 51. Actor Brendan Hines (“Suits”) is 48. Actor Joe Manganiello (“True Blood”) is 48. Actor Vanessa Ferlito (“NCIS: New Orleans”) is 47. Singer John Legend is 46. Actor Andre Holland (“Moonlight”) is 45. Actor Sienna Miller is 43. Actor Miles Brown (“black-ish”) is 20. — Associated Press
Just In: Okpebholo, APC Jittery Over Exposure Of Systemic Rigging In Edo, Lies To Cover Fraud – ObasekiLAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Nov, 2024) Board of Investment and Trade (PBIT) is introducing well-prepared and tangible projects to attract investors. PBIT Chairman Muntaha Ashraf stated this in a meeting with community here at Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( ) on Saturday. President Mian Abuzar Shad, Senior Vice President Engineer Khalid Usman and Vice President Shahid Nazir Chaudhry also spoke on the occasion while Executive Committee Members Shouban Akhter, Ahad Amin Malik, Irfan Ahmad Qureshi and former Vice President Mian Zahid Javed were also present. PBIT Chairman Muntaha Ashraf stressed that instead of mere documentation, the is committed to develop solid, investment-ready projects to facilitate potential investors. He mentioned that PBIT has identified 10 sectors with high investment potential, particularly shrimp farming, which offers significant export prospects. He said that a new data repository is being developed to provide crucial information and streamline the investment process, asserting that Facilitation Center is providing the services of 35 and provincial departments to support businesses more effectively. The Chairman said that the board is actively pursuing the relocation of industries to and plans to collaborate with in this regard. LCCI President Mian Abuzar Shad highlighted PBIT’s critical role in ’s economic development. He said that accounts for 55 percent of ’s GDP and provides to 38 people. However, he expressed concern over the country’s low foreign direct investment (FDI), which is currently at 2.3 . He called for efforts to unlock potential in sectors like engineering, pharmaceuticals, , and information . Senior Vice President Engineer Khalid Usman emphasized the need for eco-friendly, cost-effective technologies, particularly for SMEs. He also advocated for expanding certification labs. Vice President Shahid Nazir suggested organizing international conferences and roadshows to enhance investor engagement. President Abuzar Shad further highlighted the importance of addressing challenges like scarcity, shrinking agricultural land, and revenue shortfalls. He also proposed the inclusion of representatives in boards and revealed plans for to launch a dedicated airline to support the community.
WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) — Nolan Hodge scored 21 points as UNC Wilmington beat UNC Asheville 85-74 on Saturday. Hodge shot 6 for 9 (1 for 3 from 3-point range) and 8 of 8 from the free-throw line for the Seahawks (9-3). Donovan Newby scored 20 points while shooting 6 for 10 (3 for 5 from 3-point range) and 5 of 6 from the free-throw line. Josh Corbin shot 4 for 11, including 3 for 8 from beyond the arc to finish with 11 points. The Bulldogs (8-5) were led by Jordan Marsh, who posted 23 points and seven assists. UNC Asheville also got 18 points from Kameron Taylor. Josh Banks finished with 13 points. The Bulldogs ended a five-game winning streak with the loss. UNC Wilmington took the lead with 19:05 to go in the first half and did not relinquish it. The score was 44-30 at halftime, with Hodge racking up 12 points. Newby's 20-point second half helped UNC Wilmington finish off the 11-point victory. UNC Wilmington next plays Saturday against Spartanburg Methodist at home, and UNC Asheville will host Columbia International on Monday. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .Published 14:31 IST, November 30th 2024 Gains in Dalal Street were led by Bharti Airtel which recorded its 18-month best intraday rally on Friday, surging as much as 6% and ending 4.30% higher. Stock Market Outlook: The stock market regained its momentum in the last trading session of the week, closing notably higher after a drastic collapse on Thursday despite continued foreign investors selling woes. The BSE Sensex gained 760 points 0.96 per cent on November 29 to end above the mark of 79,800, in contrast to its Asian peers which ended lower except China. The Chinese financial markets inched higher on the hopes that US trade tariffs on the world’s biggest manufacturer would be lower than the markets previously anticipated. Gains in Dalal Street were led by Bharti Airtel which recorded its 18-month best intraday rally on Friday, surging as much as 6 per cent and ending 4.30 per cent higher at Rs 1,627.45. Following the Teleco major, Sun Pharma, Mahindra & Mahindra, Adani Ports, and Reliance were among the top gainers yesterday. FPI Selling Continues The Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI) sold more Indian equities worth Rs 19,169.90 crore on Friday with a net value of a total of Rs 4,383.55 crore in FPI selling. Domestic investors which also includes cash-heavy mutual funds in the country, continued the buying spree with Rs 5,723.34 crore worth of net buying in the markets on the last trading session of the week. Top Stocks To Remain Under Watch Here are the top stocks which are likely to remain under focus in the upcoming week. BEML: After securing a Rs 3,658 crore order from Chennai Metro, the brokerage firms have upped the target price of BEML and the stock of the company is likely to remain in focus. Ambuja Cement: Motilal Oswal sees a 38 per cent upside in Ambuja Cements as the potential to deliver strong growth and attractive valuation. The stocks which currently trade at Rs 534 per equity share is likely to remain in focus in December’s first week Mahindra & Mahindra: The domestic brokerage firm Nirmal Bang has given a buy rating to Friday’s top gainer with a 17 per cent upside. With best-in-class EV features and aggressive pricing, Nirmal Bang believes that stock can hit the target price of Rs 3,004 per equity share. Updated 14:31 IST, November 30th 2024Marjorie Ellen Young
SKUAST-J to host national symposium on climate changeHow major US stock indexes fared Friday, 12/27/2024
By MICHELLE L. PRICE WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An online spat between factions of Donald Trump’s supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in his political movement into public display, previewing the fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare the tensions between the newest flank of Trump’s movement — wealthy members of the tech world including billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and their call for more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump’s Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. The debate touched off this week when Laura Loomer , a right-wing provocateur with a history of racist and conspiratorial comments, criticized Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the U.S. Loomer declared the stance to be “not America First policy” and said the tech executives who have aligned themselves with Trump were doing so to enrich themselves. Much of the debate played out on the social media network X, which Musk owns. Loomer’s comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks , whom Trump has tapped to be the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar.” Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump has tasked with finding ways to cut the federal government , weighed in, defending the tech industry’s need to bring in foreign workers. It bloomed into a larger debate with more figures from the hard-right weighing in about the need to hire U.S. workers, whether values in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump’s world and what his political movement stands for. Trump has not yet weighed in on the rift, and his presidential transition team did not respond to a message seeking comment. Musk, the world’s richest man who has grown remarkably close to the president-elect , was a central figure in the debate, not only for his stature in Trump’s movement but his stance on the tech industry’s hiring of foreign workers. Technology companies say H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill positions. But critics have said they undercut U.S. citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated, not expanded. Born in South Africa, Musk was once on an a H-1B visa himself and defended the industry’s need to bring in foreign workers. “There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent,” he said in a post. “It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” Related Articles National Politics | Should the U.S. increase immigration levels for highly skilled workers? National Politics | Trump threat to immigrant health care tempered by economic hopes National Politics | In states that ban abortion, social safety net programs often fail families National Politics | Court rules Georgia lawmakers can subpoena Fani Willis for information related to her Trump case National Politics | New 2025 laws hit hot topics from AI in movies to rapid-fire guns Trump’s own positions over the years have reflected the divide in his movement. His tough immigration policies, including his pledge for a mass deportation, were central to his winning presidential campaign. He has focused on immigrants who come into the U.S. illegally but he has also sought curbs on legal immigration , including family-based visas. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers. After he became president, Trump in 2017 issued a “Buy American and Hire American” executive order , which directed Cabinet members to suggest changes to ensure H-1B visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants to protect American workers. Trump’s businesses, however, have hired foreign workers, including waiters and cooks at his Mar-a-Lago club , and his social media company behind his Truth Social app has used the the H-1B program for highly skilled workers. During his 2024 campaign for president, as he made immigration his signature issue, Trump said immigrants in the country illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country” and promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. But in a sharp departure from his usual alarmist message around immigration generally, Trump told a podcast this year that he wants to give automatic green cards to foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges. “I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country,” he told the “All-In” podcast with people from the venture capital and technology world. Those comments came on the cusp of Trump’s budding alliance with tech industry figures, but he did not make the idea a regular part of his campaign message or detail any plans to pursue such changes.A top Democratic representative is turning up pressure on the House Ethics Committee to release a report on allegations of sex trafficking and other crimes leveled at former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz. Undeterred by Gaetz’s recent withdrawal from both Congress and the running to be Donald Trump’s Attorney General, Sean Casten (D-Ill.) spoke with MSNBC to reiterate his support for the results of the committee’s findings to be released. “None of us would want to work in an environment where you can commit the crimes that Matt Gaetz is alleged to have committed, including–let’s not sugarcoat this–allegations of having sex with a child,” Casten told the network’s hosts on Saturday. “We have to remind the American people that in the House we care about ethics,” he went on, “that we are the country that is not always perfect, but at least aspires to that vision that our founders laid out where no one is above the law.” He added, “To do that, we need to release this report.” With Republican House Speaker Mike Mike Johnson having repeatedly said he would oppose publishing the committee’s findings, Casten and fellow Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) have both issued motions in an attempt to force a vote on resolutions applying further pressure on the ethics panel. Casten underlined during his Saturday appearance on MSNBC that the Republican Party holds only a slim majority, making them vulnerable should even just a handful of representatives cross the aisle. “Given how tight the balance of the House is and, quite candidly, how many members of the Republican caucus there are who, while they might turn a blind eye to sexual assault, genuinely do not like Matt Gaetz, there is the very real possibility of that being forced to be released through a House vote,” he said.
Toronto Sceptres open PWHL season with 3-1 comeback win over Boston FleetUConn 47, Umass 42An online debate over foreign workers in tech shows tensions in Trump’s political coalition
Trump taps Rollins as agriculture chief, completing proposed slate of Cabinet secretaries