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Top 25 College Hoops Picks Against the Spread – Sunday, November 24
Every December, as it has since 1927 with Charles Lindbergh, Time magazine selects and features the most consequential Person of the Year (13 United States presidents, other world leaders, popes). Sometimes it has not been a person, as such, but a tectonic societal shift (the personal computer, the #MeToo movement). Donald Trump, just named Time’s 2024 Person of the Year , was first elevated to that title after his 2016 election victory. He is consequential because he has returned to power even after attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, even after supporting the insurrection on January 6, 2021, and notwithstanding being twice impeached and convicted of a felony. President-elect Donald Trump speaks during Time magazine’s Person of the Year announcement at the New York Stock Exchange. Credit: AP This year, no one else was on so many people’s minds as Trump. In Time’s judgment , Trump was “the person who had the greatest influence, for better or worse, on the events of the year”. Time might have conferred the accolade jointly on Trump and Elon Musk, given Musk’s astonishing fusion of more than $US250 million in campaign contributions with his dominance over his X platform to help make Trump president. If influence is power, Musk has it. With ceaseless hours at Trump’s side to help shape his presidency, and his establishment and funding of a Musk think tank that will generate edicts for Trump to impose to re-sculpt the government, Musk has effectively supplanted JD Vance to become Trump’s vice president. Musk’s power is second only to Trump’s. For the next two years, Trump will be at his zenith. He will never have to face the voters again, which means he can act with impunity as he makes decisions to advance Trumpism and all that he wants to accomplish. Trump’s Republican Party, which he now owns, controls both houses of Congress, so there will be no more impeachments. His attorney-general and chief of the FBI will go after his political enemies . His secretary of defence will ensure that his generals follow his orders – overseas and in the streets of America’s cities. Public servants will take loyalty oaths or be purged. Trump will take money appropriated by the Congress away from programs he does not like and divert it to his priorities. On the world stage, Trump will present more like Putin, Xi and Orban than Starmer, Macron and Albanese. Trump has already broken the norm of the US having “one president at a time” with his pre-inaugural threats to Mexico, Canada and China on trade and his forays into concluding the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East on his terms. His first inaugural address eight years ago featured the dystopian theme of “American carnage”. We will see how deep he wallows in that dark pool on January 20, 2025. Immediately after his address, when he arrives in the Oval Office, Trump’s march through the first 100 days will formally begin. Political newsletter Axios reports that “Trump advisers are running out of words to describe what’s coming in January”. “They say he feels empowered and emboldened, vindicated and validated, and eager to stretch the boundaries of power.” Trump will sign dozens of executive orders repealing everything he can that Biden did with his executive démarches four years ago, such as on climate, abortion rights, immigration, gun control and student loans. Trump’s nominees will face confirmation hearings and votes in the Senate. There will be firestorms around Kash Patel to head the FBI, who wants to close the FBI’s building, expel its agents around the country and prosecute Trump’s enemies; Robert Kennedy Jr as secretary of health and human services, who wants to take a baseball bat to how Anthony Fauci practises medicine, but is opposed by 75 Nobel laureates ; Pete Hegseth at Defence, under fire for sexual misconduct, alcohol abuse and financial mismanagement; and Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence, who many see as an asset to Putin. Any who are knocked back will be replaced by other loyal Trumpists with the same mandates. They will do all that Trump wants. Trump will move to pardon and release from jail hundreds of his foot soldiers who stormed the Capitol on January 6. After Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter, Trump will not even be singed by the critics. Trump will begin the detention and process of deporting hundreds of thousands of immigrants across the country. He will unveil legislation to get his budget, close the borders, cut taxes and fight over the public debt limit to avoid a default of the United States. Trump will begin to implement his campaign promises – over and above the threats against Mexico, Canada and China – to impose across-the-board tariffs of up to 20 per cent on all goods coming into the US and up to 60 per cent for imports from China. Will Australia be in these crosshairs? There is absolutely no basis on which Trump’s tariffs on Australia can be justified. Trump loves a trade surplus. Australia has a structural trade deficit with the US. Australia has a free trade agreement with the US. New higher tariffs are incompatible with the letter and spirit of that trade pact. But there is a real threat here. Trump has just ripped up the trade agreement he negotiated in his first term with Canada and Mexico. If Trump can do that to those allies he can do it to Australia. This could be the first hard test in the Australia-US, Albanese-Trump relationship. Trump – let’s call him Person of the Century, so far – is on a high. The year ahead will be savage. The waves of Trump’s first 100 days will hit Australia’s shores too. Bruce Wolpe is a senior fellow at the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre. He has served on the Democratic staff in the US Congress and as chief of staff to former prime minister Julia Gillard.First Instrumental Performance Inside Christ Church Cathedral Since Earthquakes
Is ‘Glicked’ the new ‘Barbenheimer’? ‘Wicked’ and ‘Gladiator II’ collide in theatersMs Cheryl Sim with her husband Tommy Liu and daughter Elora Liu at their home. SINGAPORE - Ms Cheryl Sim felt she had been thrown into the deep end taking care of her baby after she gave birth in October 2022. She barely saw her husband, who works two jobs to support the family, and had no one to see her through her postpartum depression, which was triggered when the infant, her first child, cried. The 38-year-old had the help of her mother-in-law during that first stressful month, but it had been years since the older woman had handled a newborn baby and she sometimes did not know what to do. Stressed over her low milk supply and sleep-deprived from having to pump breast milk every three hours, Ms Sim’s mental health spiralled. At baby Elora’s one-month check-up, the doctor was concerned enough to refer Ms Sim to a social worker, who introduced her to KidStart. The eight-year-old programme supports the development of children in lower-income homes in areas like nutrition and parenting strategies. “The assurance really helped me in just not letting me feel like I’m helpless and alone in this journey,” Ms Sim said. “I know I have ready support behind me, I can just text and ask, I don’t need to be left hanging.” A five-year study evaluating families on the programme from 2017 to 2022, with the aim of assessing its effectiveness and potential for wider adoption, found KidStart to be helpful for both parents and children. The programme will have nationwide reach in 2025 when the last three towns – Queenstown, Clementi and Jurong East – come on board. Ms Sim’s KidStart practitioner came to her home every month to check in with her and address her questions, from the appropriate water temperature for bathing her daughter to what to do when the baby refused to take the bottle. KidStart practitioners are trained professionals who are qualified or experienced in early childhood, social work, counselling, psychology or social services. The programme’s curriculum consists of six core modules spanning child development, child safety, health and nutrition, quality parent-child interaction and family well-being. Close to 10,000 children have participated in KidStart since 2016. A recent study by the Centre for Evidence and Implementation (CEI) on a sample of 264 families found that KidStart home visits led to improved parenting, social support and child outcomes. At 12 months, KidStart parents were less stressed, perceived themselves to be more competent than before, and had better social support and more positive interactions with their child. By the age of three, KidStart children also showed improved socio-emotional and daily living skills, and were better able to adapt and socialise than children who were not on the programme. The 133 families enrolled in KidStart were compared with a control group of 131 families not on the programme. The research team took 10-minute videos of parent-child interactions to assess the levels of affection, responsiveness, encouragement, and teaching in the parents’ behaviour. Ms Sim recounted how when Elora threw a tantrum, she would sometimes shout back, unable to control her emotions. “I have friends who share with me they will feel ‘heart pain’ for their kids when they see them crying – they actually sympathise with their baby. But for me, it was anxiety triggering.” Through her KidStart practitioner, she learnt to reframe her thought process when she was agitated by Elora’s tantrums and to take deep breaths to regulate her emotions before she spoke. “I told myself that I need to calm down because I want to be a role model for Elora.” Now, when Elora refuses to put away her toys, Ms Sim sits beside her and waits till both of them are calm before asking the child to put away the toys together with her. The practitioner also explained to her that babies cry and fuss because they do not know how else to express their needs. Over time, Ms Sim got better at reading Elora’s cues and will now prompt her if she feels hungry, tired, or wants something else. Her KidStart practitioners assured her Elora was hitting her developmental milestones in speech and walking, and her pre-school teachers said she did not throw tantrums in school. The practitioner also reminded Ms Sim not to neglect herself, and to continue to do things she liked, such as watching dramas or listening to music, on top of caring for her daughter. Ms Cheryl Sim with her husband Tommy Liu, daughter Elora Liu, and KidStart practitioner Pek Gui Ting at her home. PHOTO: KIDSTART The CEI study also found that first-time parents showed more positive parenting behaviour and improved parenting competence after joining the programme than parents joining the programme who had other children. This suggests the importance of reaching families early, from their first-born, said the report. Where the programme was less effective, however, was with families with moderate to high levels of need. There, caregivers continued to have more symptoms of stress and depression and less positive parenting behaviour. Their children also tended to have poorer behaviour, motor skills, and social-emotional development. About half of KidStart families have moderate to high needs for support in child development and other family functions, said KidStart chief executive Rahayu Buang. They include teenage mothers, single mothers, or families with many children and no social support, said Dr Cheryl Seah, director of CEI. Some parents could also be incarcerated or have health issues, she added. Higher-risk families may require more support such as financial assistance, employment opportunities and stable housing, problems that family coaches under ComLink+ – a government initiative to support lower-income families – or family service centres can help with, said Madam Rahayu. The Government will expand KidStart home visits to support these children from the mother’s pregnancy till the child turns six. “Our aim is to support 80 per cent of children zero to six years old who are eligible for KidStart,” said Madam Rahayu. Eligible families have a monthly per capita income of $650 or less. Ms Sim and her family will be on the programme till Elora is six. She encouraged more families to be open to joining KidStart, especially first-time parents and those who have no family support. “Everybody will say ‘why don’t you have another kid?’ They think it’s easy to take care of a child. Nobody really emphasises the tough journey, the downsides,” she said. “KidStart really helps me recognise that it is a very tough thing that is mentally exhausting on parents, and besides focusing on the child’s development, they really do it as a holistic thing for the whole family.” Get the ST Smart Parenting newsletter for expert advice. Visit the microsite for more. Read 3 articles and stand to win rewards Spin the wheel now
Sample ballots for the 2024 primary in Hudson County show an office-block layout for the Democratic race (top) and New Jersey's unique county-line ballot for the GOP primary. A special legislative committee focused on ballot design held what may be its last hearing Thursday before the panel votes to advance a bill codifying new ballot rules Monday, with much focus left to bracketing and a controversial provision that lawmakers said would not make it into the final version of the legislation. As written, the bill would bar candidates from using the names of major political parties in their slogans without the consent of county party organizations in their county. Advocates chaffed at that proposed restriction, calling it an effort to revive the controversial county-line system in all but name. Kate Delaney, president of South Jersey Progressive Democrats, noted the provision would bar candidates backed by her group from using its name as their slogan. “This would, in essence, do what the line has done all these years: Set up one side of Democrats as the real Democrats and the others, in some way, as a cheap knockoff version,” Delaney said. Assemblyman Al Barlas (R-Essex), the panel’s Republican co-chair, said that language was meant to preserve the slogans of existing groups — political parties and others — and would see changes before the bill came up for a vote on Monday. “The intent here is to preserve those who maintain certain names ... and also to ensure that folks that may be nefarious in intent don’t try to portray themselves as something that they are not,” Barlas said. The committee is tasked with exploring options for updated ballot designs after a federal judge ruled New Jersey’s system of county lines, which group candidates backed by party organizations on primary ballots, is likely unconstitutional and ordered the use of office-block ballots, which group candidates by the office they are seeking instead. Most witnesses who spoke Thursday urged the committee to rewrite provisions in the bill that would allow candidates in races with multiple seats — for Assembly, county commission, and certain local offices, among others — to be placed on the ballot as a group rather than individually. Henal Patel, law and policy director for the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, noted that experts in cases challenging county-line ballots presented significant evidence about the negative impact that grouping candidates has on voter choice. “Any new ballot design should not allow for any grouping or association on the ballot,” Patel said. “New Jersey’s new primary ballot design should aim to be neutral.” Patel and others said ballot draws should be conducted randomly for each candidate and election clerks should shift candidates’ ballot position in each voting precinct to ensure none enjoy a benefit from being placed at the top of their office block. The state should move to modernize its ballot draw process and replace hand draws used to determine ballot positions under current law, said Peter Chen, a senior policy analyst at New Jersey Policy Perspective. “Whether or not that randomization, rotation goes to a precinct level, I think we can say holding the box over your head and shaking it is not the most efficient way to do this,” Chen said. Jill LaZare, a former State Senate and Assembly candidate, argued against rotating ballot positions, charging it would make it more difficult for candidates to inform voters how they can find them when voting. Though lawmakers did not indicate whether they would move away from allowing bracketing, Barlas said because of procurement rules, computerized ballot draws and rotating ballot positions would not be feasible for the state’s 2025 primaries. Next year, the governor’s race and all 80 Assembly seats will be on the ballot. Advocates praised other provisions in the bill, lauding lawmakers for provisions barring incongruous ballot positions for candidates seeking the same office — a practice called ballot Siberia under the county-line system — and barring markers denoting a candidate’s incumbency. “I appreciate the effort here to do the work to get this right. There are some things that are right, and there are still some things we think should be improved on. And we appreciate the opportunity that this is for discussion so that those things can happen.,” said Maura Collinsgru, director of policy and advocacy for New Jersey Citizen Action. The Senate has not held hearings on ballot design, and party leaders in that chamber have largely remained silent on the work being done in the lower chamber. Wimberly signaled the Senate has not stayed uninvolved in the process. “I think the Senate has listened in carefully. I think they will address it,” he said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Central Hall to host special event to mark Constitution Day on Nov 262024 FCS football playoff bracket: Predictions, picks for every FCS playoff game and round - NCAA.comWomen are more likely to need walking sticks, wheelchairs and other mobility aids compared to men, but they are less likely to use them, according to a study. And single people are more likely to use mobility tools compared to those who are married, according to researchers from University College London (UCL) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). Researchers looked at information from a group of more than 12,000 adults in England aged 50 to 89 who were tracked over a 13-year period. At the start of the study, 8,225 adults had no mobility difficulty and did not use mobility assistive products (MAPs). Some 2,480 were deemed to have “unmet need” and 1,375 were using mobility aids. During the follow-up period, there were 2,313 “transitions” where people went from having no mobility issues to needing some help with getting around. And 1,274 people started to use mobility aids. Compared with men, women were 49% more likely to transition from not needing mobility aids to needing to use them, according to the study which has been published in The Lancet Public Health. But were 21% less likely to go on to use mobility aids when they needed them. The authors said their study showed “barriers to access” for women. For both men and women, with every year that passed during the study period the need for mobility aids increased. People who were older, less educated, less wealthy or reported being disabled were more likely to “transition from no need to unmet need, and from unmet need to use”, the authors said, with this indicating a “higher prevalence of mobility limitations and MAP need overall among these groups”. They added: “Finally, marital or partnership status was not associated with transitioning to unmet need; however, single people were more likely to transition from unmet need to use compared with married or partnered people.” Jamie Danemayer, first author of the study from UCL Computer Science and UCL’s Global Disability Innovation Hub, said: “Our analysis suggests that there is a clear gender gap in access to mobility aids. “Though our data didn’t ascertain the reason why participants weren’t using mobility aids, other research tells us that women are often more likely than men to face obstacles such as cost barriers as a result of well-documented income disparities between genders. “Many mobility aids are designed for men rather than women, which we think may be a factor. “Using mobility aids can also make a disability visible, which can impact the safety and stigma experienced by women, in particular. “There’s a critical need for further research to identify and break down the barriers preventing women from accessing mobility aids that would improve their quality of life.” Professor Cathy Holloway, also from UCL, added: “Not having access to mobility aids when a person needs one can have a big impact on their independence, well-being and quality of life. “Our analysis suggests that women, in particular, regardless of other factors such as education and employment status, are not getting the support that they need.” Professor Shereen Hussein, senior author of the study and lead of the social care group at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: “The research provides compelling evidence of gender disparities in accessing assistive technology, suggesting that cost, design bias, and social stigma are likely to disproportionally affect women. “This underscores the need for inclusive, gender-sensitive approaches in the design, production and inclusivity of assistive technologies.”Tulane QB Mensah transfers to Duke
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