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PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) — When the referee whistled for the free kick just outside the area, Atletico Madrid forward Julián Álvarez quickly picked up the ball and moved in position to take the shot. “When I saw the free kick, I told Rodri (Rodrigo De Paul) that I felt confident with the shot,” Álvarez said. “And it was a great goal.” Álvarez, Atletico's main signing in the offseason , has not been lacking confidence lately. The Argentina forward curled in the free kick shot in the 15th minute for the first of his two goals in the team’s 6-0 rout of Brest in the Champions League on Tuesday — the team’s biggest ever away win in European competitions. “We'll keep rotating who takes the free kicks,” said Álvarez, who also found the net in the 59th. It was Álvarez’s seventh goal in the last 10 matches, and third in his last three games across all competitions. The 24-year-old had a slow start to his first season with Atletico, scoring twice in 10 matches. “It was a matter of time before we started connecting well with each other,” said Álvarez, who joined Atletico after two seasons at Manchester City. “We have to stay on this path to keep improving.” Ángel Correa also scored two goals for Atletico, with Marcos Llorente and Antoine Griezmann adding one each. “We know that in this format of the competition we need to keep adding the three points and scoring goals," Álvarez said. "It's important to get the points and the goals.” Atletico was sitting in 13th place in the 36-team league standings. AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
BY MELISSA GOLDIN Social media users are misrepresenting a report released Thursday by the Justice Department inspector general’s office, falsely claiming that it’s proof the FBI orchestrated the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Related Articles National News | OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment National News | Judge rejects an attempt by Trump campaign lawyer to invalidate guilty plea in Georgia election case National News | Texas’ abortion pill lawsuit against New York doctor marks new challenge to interstate telemedicine National News | US military flies American released from Syrian prison to Jordan, officials say National News | Nearly half of US teens are online ‘constantly,’ Pew report finds The watchdog report examined a number of areas, including whether major intelligence failures preceded the riot and whether the FBI in some way provoked the violence. Claims spreading online focus on the report’s finding that 26 FBI informants were in Washington for election-related protests on Jan. 6, including three who had been tasked with traveling to the city to report on others who were potentially planning to attend the events. Although 17 of those informants either entered the Capitol or a restricted area around the building during the riot, none of the 26 total informants were authorized to do so by the bureau, according to the report. Nor were they authorized to otherwise break the law or encourage others to do so. Here’s a closer look at the facts. CLAIM: A December 2024 report released by the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General is proof that the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was a setup by the FBI. THE FACTS: That’s false. The report found that no undercover FBI employees were at the riot on Jan. 6 and that none of the bureau’s informants were authorized to participate. Informants, also known as confidential human sources, work with the FBI to provide information, but are not on the bureau’s payroll. Undercover agents are employed by the FBI. According to the report, 26 informants were in Washington on Jan. 6 in connection with the day’s events. FBI field offices only informed the Washington Field Office or FBI headquarters of five informants that were to be in the field on Jan. 6. Of the total 26 informants, four entered the Capitol during the riot and an additional 13 entered a restricted area around the Capitol. But none were authorized to do so by the FBI, nor were they given permission to break other laws or encourage others to do the same. The remaining nine informants did not engage in any illegal activities. None of the 17 informants who entered the Capitol or surrounding restricted area have been prosecuted, the report says. A footnote states that after reviewing a draft of the report, the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington said that it “generally has not charged those individuals whose only crime on January 6, 2021 was to enter restricted grounds surrounding the Capitol, which has resulted in the Office declining to charge hundreds of individuals; and we have treated the CHSs consistent with this approach.” The assistant special agent in charge of the Washington Field Office’s counterterrorism division told the inspector general’s office that he “denied a request from an FBI office to have an undercover employee engage in investigative activity on January 6.” He, along with then-Washington Field Office Assistant Director in Charge Steven D’Antuono, said that FBI policy prohibits undercover employees at First Amendment-protected events without investigative authority. Many social media users drew false conclusions from the report’s findings. “JANUARY 6th WAS A SETUP!” reads one X post that had received more than 11,400 likes and shares as of Friday. “New inspector general report shows that 26 FBI/DOJ confidential sources were in the crowd on January 6th, and some of them went into the Capitol and restricted areas. Is it a coincidence that Wray put in his resignation notice yesterday? TREASON!” The mention of Wray’s resignation refers to FBI Director Christopher Wray’s announcement Wednesday that he plans to resign at the end of President Joe Biden’s term in January. Other users highlighted the fact that there were 26 FBI informants in Washington on Jan. 6, but omitted key information about the findings of the report. These claims echo a fringe conspiracy theory advanced by some Republicans in Congress that the FBI played a role in instigating the events of Jan. 6, 2021, when rioters determined to overturn Republican Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden stormed the Capitol in a violent clash with police. The report knocks that theory down. Wray called such theories “ludicrous” at a congressional hearing last year. Asked for comment on the false claims spreading online, Stephanie Logan, a spokesperson for the inspector general’s office, pointed The Associated Press to a press release about the report. In addition to its findings about the the FBI’s involvement on Jan. 6, the report said that the FBI, in an action its now-deputy director described as a “basic step that was missed,” failed to canvass informants across all 56 of its field offices for any relevant intelligence ahead of time. That was a step, the report concluded, “that could have helped the FBI and its law enforcement partners with their preparations in advance of January 6.” However, it did credit the bureau for preparing for the possibility of violence and for trying to identify known “domestic terrorism subjects” who planned to come to Washington that day. The FBI said in a letter responding to the report that it accepts the inspection general’s recommendation “regarding potential process improvements for future events.”
By Katheryn Houghton and Arielle Zionts, KFF Health News (TNS) Tescha Hawley learned that hospital bills from her son’s birth had been sent to debt collectors only when she checked her credit score while attending a home-buying class. The new mom’s plans to buy a house stalled. Hawley said she didn’t owe those thousands of dollars in debts. The federal government did. Hawley, a citizen of the Gros Ventre Tribe, lives on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Montana. The Indian Health Service is a federal agency that provides free health care to Native Americans, but its services are limited by a chronic shortage of funding and staff. Hawley’s local Indian Health Service hospital wasn’t equipped to deliver babies. But she said staff there agreed that the agency would pay for her care at a privately owned hospital more than an hour away. That arrangement came through the Purchased/Referred Care program, which pays for services Native Americans can’t get through an agency-funded clinic or hospital. Federal law stresses that patients approved for the program aren’t responsible for any of the costs. But tribal leaders, health officials, and a new federal report say patients are routinely billed anyway as a result of backlogs or mistakes from the Indian Health Service, financial middlemen, hospitals, and clinics. The financial consequences for patients can last years. Those sent to collections can face damaged credit scores, which can prevent them from securing loans or require them to pay higher interest rates. The December report , by the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, found these long-standing problems contribute to people in Native American-majority communities being nearly twice as likely to have medical debt in collections compared with the national average. And their amount of medical debt is significantly higher. The report found the program is often late to pay bills. In some cases, hospitals or collection agencies hound tribal citizens for more money after bills are paid. Hawley’s son was born in 2003. She had to wait another year to buy a home, as she struggled to pay off the debt. It took seven years for it to drop from her credit report. “I don’t think a person ever recovers from debt,” Hawley said. Hawley, a cancer survivor, still must navigate the referral program. In 2024 alone, she received two notices from clinics about overdue bills. Frank White Clay, chairman of the Crow Tribe in Montana, testified about the impact of wrongful billing during a U.S. House committee hearing in April. He shared stories of veterans rejected for home loans, elders whose Social Security benefits were reduced, and students denied college loans and federal aid. “Some of the most vulnerable people are being harassed daily by debt collectors,” White Clay said. No one is immune from the risk. A high-ranking Indian Health Service official learned during her job’s background check that her credit report contained referred-care debt, the federal report found. Native Americans face disproportionately high rates of poverty and disease , which researchers link to limited access to health care and the ongoing impact of racist federal policies . White Clay is among many who say problems with the referred-care program are an example of the U.S. government violating treaties that promised to provide for the health and welfare of tribes in return for their land. The chairman’s testimony came during a hearing on the Purchased and Referred Care Improvement Act, which would require the Indian Health Service to create a reimbursement process for patients who were wrongfully billed. Committee members approved the bill in November and sent it for consideration by the full House. A second federal bill, the Protecting Native Americans’ Credit Act , would prevent debt like Hawley’s from affecting patients’ credit scores. The bipartisan bill hadn’t had a hearing by mid-December. The exact number of people wrongfully billed isn’t clear, but the Indian Health Service has acknowledged it has work to do. The agency is developing a dashboard to help workers track referrals and to speed up bill processing, spokesperson Brendan White said. It’s also trying to hire more referred-care staff, to address vacancy rates of more than 30%. Officials say problems with the program also stem from outside health providers that don’t follow the rules. Melanie Egorin, an assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said at the hearing that the proposed legislation doesn’t include consequences for “bad actors” — health facilities that repeatedly bill patients when they shouldn’t. “The lack of enforcement is definitely a challenge,” she said. But tribal leaders warned that penalties could backfire. Related Articles Health | How America lost control of the bird flu, setting the stage for another pandemic Health | How to kick back, relax and embrace a less-than-perfect holiday Health | Boston to distribute Narcan via vending machines, kiosks to prevent opioid overdoses Health | More teens turning down pot, booze not nicotine pouches Health | New childhood leukemia protocol is ‘tremendous win’ White Clay told lawmakers that some clinics already refuse to see patients if the Indian Health Service hasn’t paid for their previous appointments. He’s worried the threat of penalties would lead to more refusals. If that happens, White Clay said, Crow tribal members who already travel hours to access specialty treatment would have to go even farther. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report found clinics are already refusing to see any referred-care patients due to the program’s payment problems. The bureau and the Indian Health Service also recently published a letter urging health care providers and debt collectors not to hold patients accountable for program-approved care. White, the Indian Health Service spokesperson, said the agency recently updated the referred-care forms sent to outside hospitals and clinics to include billing instructions and to stress that patients aren’t liable for any out-of-pocket costs. And he said the staff can help patients get reimbursed if they have already paid for services that were supposed to be covered. Joe Bryant, an Indian Health Service official who oversees efforts to improve the referral program, said patients can ask credit bureaus to remove debt from their reports if the agency should have covered their bills. Leaders with the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington state helped shape the proposed legislation after their citizens were repeatedly harmed by wrongful billing. Tribal Chairman Jarred-Michael Erickson said problems began in 2017, when a regional Indian Health Service office took over the referred-care program from local staff. It “created a domino effect of negative outcomes,” Erickson wrote in a letter to Congress. He said some tribal members whose finances were damaged stopped using the Indian Health Service. Others avoided health care altogether. Responsibility for the Colville Reservation program transferred back to local staff in 2022. Staffers found the billing process hadn’t been completed for thousands of cases, worth an estimated $24 million in medical care, Erickson told lawmakers . Workers are making progress on the backlog and they have explained the rules to outside hospitals and clinics, Erickson said. But he said there are still cases of wrongful billing, such as a tribal member who was sent to collections after receiving a $17,000 bill for chemotherapy that the agency was supposed to pay for. Erickson said the tribe is in the process of taking over its health care facilities instead of having the Indian Health Service run them. He and others who work in Native American health said tribally managed units — which are still funded by the federal agency — tend to have fewer problems with their referred-care programs. For example, they have more oversight over staff and flexibility to create their own payment tracking systems. But some Native Americans oppose tribal management because they feel it releases the federal government from its obligations. Beyond wrongful billing, access to the referred-care program is limited because of underfunding from Congress. The $1 billion budget this year is $9 billion short of the need, according to a committee report by tribal health and government leaders. Donald Warne, a physician and member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, called the proposed legislation a “band-aid.” He said the ultimate solution is for Congress to fully fund the Indian Health Service, which would reduce the need for the referred-care program. Back in Montana, Hawley said she braces for a fight each time she gets a bill that the referral program was supposed to cover. “I’ve learned not to trust the process,” Hawley said. ©2024 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.CLEVELAND, Ohio — It’s time for the Thanksgiving week episode of the Terry’s Talkin’ podcast, featuring cleveland.com columnist Terry Pluto and host David Campbell. On this week’s pod, we discuss how we’d rank the top five players on the Cavs right now, and how the Cavs are faring in the 3-point-happy NBA. Also we weigh in on the 3-8 Browns , what Thursday’s win over the Steelers means, and what the Cleveland 2025 quarterback room might look like, including one draftable player to keep an eye on. What was your favorite Cleveland sports moment of 2024? And what are your Cleveland sports predictions for 2025? Send them in via email to us at sports@cleveland.com and put “Terry’s Talkin’” in the subject line, and we’ll feature the best responses in an upcoming podcast. Highlights: We invite listeners to email us with their favorite Cleveland sports moment of 2024, and their Cleveland sports predictions for 2025. Send them to our usual address, sports@cleveland.com , and put “Terry’s Talkin’” in the subject line. We rank the five best Cavs players right now; Why the Cavs keep winning; Is the 3-point crazy NBA good for the NBA? Terry’s thoughts on some changes he’d like to see; A look at whether the Cavs’ franchise record for wins in a season could be in jeopardy; What we learned about the Browns in the snowy Thursday night win over Pittsburgh; Will Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Berry retain their jobs after this season? What the Browns’ 2025 quarterback room might look like, and whether Jameis Winston should be in it; The Browns need to draft a developmental QB with high potential. Here’s one name that could the bill; A reader emails: How does Shane Bieber’s rehab work? Daniyal Robinson has a new contract as Cleveland State’s men’s basketball coach. What the numbers say, both on and off the court; What we’re thankful for this Thanksgiving week. Here’s the podcast for this week: If the player above doesn’t work, you can listen to this week’s podcast here . If you have a question or a topic you’d like to see included on the podcast, email it to sports@cleveland.com , and put “Terry’s Talkin’” in the subject line. You can find previous podcasts below. The transcript below was generated by a computer, and so it contains many spelling and grammar errors. Stories by Terry Pluto What is coach Daniyal Robinson’s new contract with Cleveland State basketball? – Terry Pluto Special Streakin’ Cavs Edition: Lots of thoughts, scribbles and fun – Terry Pluto Why Browns need the heart, soul & yes, the arm of Jameis Winston – Terry Pluto Check out Terry's new weekly newsletter that he's writing exclusively for subscribers. Learn more and sign up here. David Campbell (00:44.398) Hey, welcome to the Thanksgiving week edition of the Terry’s talking podcast featuring Mr. Terry Pluto. I’m your host David Campbell. It’s Tuesday afternoon on Thanksgiving week. How’s it going, Terry? Hey, I was just looking at our calendar for it’s almost December already, man. it looks like we’re going to have podcasts the next few weeks. I was thinking we would take off on Christmasy, but I had an idea since we’re going to be putting a podcast up like around or maybe right before new year’s Eve. Terry (01:01.173) I’m doing well. David Campbell (01:17.742) What would you think of having listeners send in their 2025 Cleveland sports predictions? Things that people see happening with the Browns, Cavs, Guardians, about players, what the teams are going to do, anything that’s on your mind you think would make a good prediction. What do you think? Terry (01:31.809) Well, why not? I make predictions that look stupid. They could do it. I don’t mean that, but mean that’s what you’re always sure. David Campbell (01:34.766) I’ve made more than my share as well. Yeah, so do this if you want to send one in and we’ll take them for the next few weeks You can just send those all to sports at cleveland.com our usual email address Terry (01:45.473) And how about also your favorite sports moment in 24? David Campbell (01:51.146) I like that. OK, so send in either and or either one or both your favorite 2024 sports moment and your prediction or predictions for 2025. Send those to sports at cleveland.com . Email us. Put Terry’s talking in the subject line and we’ll have some really good things to get into here as we get closer to the end of the year. So all right, Terry, real quick. You do have an appearance coming up on December 3rd, which is next week already, man. It’s next Tuesday. Terry (02:17.793) Mm-hmm, yep. David Campbell (02:18.7) that is going to be at the Willoughby Hills Library, right? Terry (02:21.505) Yes, it’s at 630. Yep. And it’s, it’s filling up pretty good. So that I was glad to see that. And, you know, just come on out. Oftentimes when you go to register on the library thing and it says it’s full, but you know, it’s like most things where 20 % don’t show up and then others get in. But I hope that I know it’s a pretty big room. So I hope that people will come. And besides that, that double your money back guarantee still holds. David Campbell (02:23.167) It is at 630. David Campbell (02:50.99) That’s right. And if you wanted to learn more about the event, it’s at we247.org It’s we247.org . You can sign up and learn more. all right So we got to start with the Cavaliers today, Terry Are you at all blown away? I mean, you’ve been following this team and covering them for a long time Do you ever just kind of stop and say? What is going on here? This is this is amazing. I mean, does it hit you what they’re doing yet? Or is it just kind of? Terry (03:04.0) Yes. David Campbell (03:19.106) You thought they might have a chance to do this with the talent they had. Terry (03:21.139) No, I mean who has a chance to win was it is a 17 out of 18 now? Yeah At any point in the season to win 17 out of 18 is remarkable much less to start it and also start it because that was the thing that it really didn’t strike me until Atkinson said it twice when they were 16 and 1 they played 17 games in 29 days, know, that’s usually a midseason schedule rather than early David Campbell (03:23.982) 17 to 1, yeah. Terry (03:51.195) And to watch them go through that and not have a couple nights where they just looked like they weren’t all together. Cause they are good enough that even when they say they have a night where they don’t defend very well or something, seem to still have enough, not seem to, they do, they have enough to overcome it. Whether it’s Ty Jerome gets hot or they’ve had big games with Caris Levert along with the stars stepping up when they should. So it’s remarkable. It’s fun to watch the chemistry is there of course when you’re winning you have chemistry, but One of the things if you’ve watched this team really from the start when JB got them going the first year They made the play on tournament all the way through they’ve never really turned on each other or any of that stuff David Campbell (04:58.062) So Terry, the Cavs are winning at a 94 % clip, which is insane to think about. And they’re on pace to go like 77 and five right now, which isn’t going to happen. Like you were just talking about this and NBA season is a long grind. There’s going to be injuries. The guys get sick every once in a while. Like it’s just crazy to even think about that, but it’s feasible that the Cavs franchise record for. Terry (05:04.609) Okay. Terry (05:14.934) Mm-hmm. David Campbell (05:25.006) wins in a season could be in jeopardy, right? think it was the 2008, 2009 team that went 66 and 16 and that’s doable, I think, right? Terry (05:35.404) Boy, I forgot all about that team and that was, they had like Ben Wallace on that team, know, LeBron naturally was on it. I think Sasha Pavlovich, it’s hard to remember who was even on that group. It was not a tremendous collection of talent. And I don’t remember that they were going for this. I think they finished wrong to get there. I think they got knocked out in the second round or something like that in the playoffs. David Campbell (06:08.45) I’ll check that. Yeah, they lost in the Eastern Conference finals, I think, to Orlando that season. Is that right? Does that sound right to you? Yeah, they beat Detroit in the playoffs in four games. Then they beat Atlanta in the playoffs in four games. And then they lost to Orlando in six. Yeah. Terry (06:17.101) Yeah. That’s right. They slept through the internal Lando. That’s correct. And Orlando now it’s coming back to me. Orlando had a tough seven game series that they won the seventh game. Then right away they faced Cleveland and they came into Cleveland and knocked them off in the first game. It just seemed like the cows were chasing him the rest of the time all the way through. And that was when, Dwight Howard, I believe was playing for Orlando then. And the cats had trouble defending the post. Which then led the following year for them to go and bring in Shaquille O’Neal. You know, I’m here to bring a ring for the king. I remember that. You know, he was totally out of shape. He played, don’t know, 50 or 60 games and that great matchup that they’re trying to do to take out Orlando Dwight Howard. They didn’t even get that far. yeah, I forgot that team won 66 games though. goodness. And they blew through the first two rounds. David Campbell (07:14.86) Yeah, it’s crazy to think about some of the, some of the other guys on that, some of the guys in that Orlando team, Terry, Richard Lewis, Dwight Howard, as you mentioned, Jamir Nelson, Keith Bogans, Taran Lu and JJ Reddick. There’s some names for you. Terry (07:18.402) Yeah. Terry (07:28.578) Yeah. Terry (07:32.97) Yeah, they did. what was the cast team? Who was playing on that team? David Campbell (07:38.092) Yeah, let me get the full roster up here. can see who was what, but I think you named some of the key players. Daniel Gibson, JJ Hickson, Zydrunas Olgouskas. Yeah. You mentioned Sasha Pavlovich. Joe Smith, Wally Serbiak, Anderson Verizov, Ben Wallace, Delante West. Terry (07:40.162) Yeah. Terry (07:48.696) JJ Hickson, boy, I forgot about him. Forward, Yeah, Z was on the team. Sasha. VZerbyak David Campbell (08:05.179) Mo Williams and Lorenzen Wright. some of the names on that team. Terry (08:07.64) Not a bad team, but not a team to expect to go 66 and 16. Mo Williams, picked up, he might’ve made the All-Star team that year. Delante West, poor Delante’s battled a lot of mental illness and problems in his career. He was pretty good that year. And I remember it was a smaller back court they had with him and Mo Williams, Zerbiak I think came off the bench some. It was a nice team. They played together, they really defended. But 66 and 16, my goodness. David Campbell (08:40.747) Yeah, that was Mo Williams’ All-Star year and actually LeBron won MVP and he was also second and defensive player of the year voting that year, which is interesting. Well, anyway, do you think this record is in jeopardy? Terry, 66 and 16. Terry (08:47.097) yeah, he was great, so... Terry (08:55.008) I’m say no, that’s a lot of games to win and has no disrespect to these guys, but you have to, know, first of all, they shouldn’t be chasing 66 wins or 70 wins. They should be doing it what they’ve been doing so far, which is they’ve been using their bench, watching the minutes on the key guys and having your eye really on being ready for the middle of April when the whole playoff thing starts. So if they do that, I know the year that in 2016, that was the year that Golden State started 24 and 0. I think that’s one of those, I believe Steve Kerr has said that in retrospect, he began to push it to keep the streak going and wishes he hadn’t. He thought it took a little too much out of his guys. So, who else to the calves? Yep. David Campbell (09:48.398) that was when they lost to the Cavs in 2016. All right. So Terry, you kind of shot me an email this morning about some things you were thinking about. this is a really interesting one. You said you wanted to rate the best five Cavs players in order. How they’re playing right now. I struggled with this. Terry (09:59.874) Mm-hmm. Terry (10:03.65) how they’re playing right now. This season, not overall. Yeah, I did too. David Campbell (10:10.552) So I’m gonna throw out who I had number one, which is Donovan Mitchell. Do you have him number one on your list? Okay. Terry (10:16.882) Yeah, yeah, because you could tell what he wants to be number one. just is. Okay. David Campbell (10:20.802) Yes. All right, who do you have number two? Terry (10:24.63) Granted it’s I’m biased in that direction. So who do you think it would be? Who do I love Jared Allen? David Campbell (10:30.446) Jared Allen? I had him number two also. Very interesting, yes. And I was interested in, I was looking up stats per 100 possessions, all right? And I found this really interesting. Jared Allen has the highest offensive rating on the team per 100 possessions, 143, which is, think the next highest is Isaac Okorah at 140. Terry (10:34.338) Did you really? Okay. Terry (10:44.555) Okay. Terry (10:52.536) Wow Terry (10:58.648) Yeah. David Campbell (10:58.702) Jared Allen also has the best defensive rating on the team for the guys who play at 107 and per per 100 possessions. And that’s a pretty stark discrepancy, 143 offense, 107 defense. So I put them at number two and you had them there too. Very interesting. Terry (11:02.296) in here. Better than mobile then, huh? Terry (11:13.238) Yeah. Yeah, I just have, I like his game and just to see, I mean, he made a play the other night. He blocked a shot and then ran all the way down and got the outlet pass and dunked it. And just that’s vintage Jared and Aladdin is best. okay. Who’d you have third? I struggled. I did too, but I almost put Garland there though, because I mean, Garland was playing great. David Campbell (11:33.792) I have Evan, I have Evan Mobley number three. Really? Okay. Terry (11:43.044) And they go, yeah, the game they lost, shot three for 20. Okay, fine. Mobley, his stats actually are not that much better than they were the year before. But it seems like he’s playing better. David Campbell (12:03.342) I have, yeah, give me a second here. I have him number three. And so this kind of pairs with what I was going to say at number four. Who do you have at number four? You said, okay, you just said Garland. I have Ty Jerome number four. And I’m going to tell you why it’s, it’s just something interesting that I found. So I was looking at the best lineups in the NBA. And I know you talk about this pretty frequently, Terry, but the Cavs have the number five. Terry (12:03.416) Can you check those? Terry (12:11.062) Yeah. Well, I got Garland. Terry (12:16.811) Okay. Terry (12:23.904) Okay. Mm-hmm. David Campbell (12:29.312) most effective lineup, the number eight effective lineup and the number 15 most effective lineup in terms of plus minus. And again, it’s not a lot of minutes because we’re still fairly early in the season, but the number five lineup, the number eight lineup and the number 15 lineup have two guys in common. And the two guys are Evan Mobley and Jerome. They’re in all three of those units. They’re the only two guys. Terry (12:35.073) Okay. Terry (12:38.967) Yeah. Terry (12:53.889) Really? David Campbell (12:58.754) that are in all three of those units. And it goes back to what you’ve been writing, Terry, about Ty Jerome doing, and it’s what our Cavs reporter, Chris Feet on Ethan’s stand has been writing too. Like he comes in and he looks and sees like, what do we need? And he does different things every night, but he’s leading the NBA in three point shooting for crying out loud, Like over, what is it, 55 %? 54%, 54%. Terry (13:07.063) Yes. Terry (13:11.884) Mm-hmm. Terry (13:18.539) Yeah. Terry (13:21.912) I mean, a guy’s 38 % for a career. Just, yeah, that’s crazy. David Campbell (13:27.758) I had a hard time to choose between Ty Jerome at number four and Darius Garland at number five. The Boston game kind of did make me put him at number five, but I thought this was an interesting stat that Kenny Atkinson pointed out the other day that I think Darius Garland has run the 10th most mileage in the entire NBA this season. Yeah. Terry (13:31.724) Mm-hmm. Terry (13:43.584) Yeah, I try to find that somewhere. I could not find that online. I mean, I’m sure there are people with spat stat cast or whatever they do measures. Everything has that, but, David Campbell (13:56.504) So you have Garland at number four, and who’s your number five? OK, so we have them switched. Interesting. All right. Terry (13:58.41) Yeah, tie. Yeah. Yeah, we did the same five because really the fifth spot they’ve been alternating between because you don’t have screws. They’ve been alternating between O’Coro and Laverte. Laverte was playing really well until recently. the nice thing is we could look at these guys and it isn’t like you go, boy, one guy’s just been carrying this team. They have one guy that can carry the team when needed, which is Mitchell, but he hasn’t had to carry the team. David Campbell (14:34.572) Which goes back to what you’re talking about, about not wearing your guys out in the regular season. Terry (14:37.618) Right. And then when he rolled back to that 66 and 16 team, mean, that was, I mean, really it was LeBron James and guys, nice role players, you know, starters, but Mo Williams made the team primarily that your All-Star team because he was playing with LeBron. And where this group, you’re back to like four of those guys can make an All-Star team. know, Garland continues to play well. My guess is Allen and Mobley probably won’t, probably one of them will. And were you able to check on where Mobley’s stats were compared to? David Campbell (15:18.638) Yeah, I didn’t check on compared to last year, but I have this year’s he’s averaging in 17 games. He’s 17.6 points per game, points per game, 56.3 % from the field, 35.5 % from three. And he is averaging 8.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.5 blocks. Terry (15:21.506) Yeah. Terry (15:38.72) That’s about that’s very that’s very similar to a year ago shooting percentage is a little higher So you roll all that together the great thing is what the team keeps shooting 42 % Excuse me 52 % from the field and 42 on threes I wrote a long if you didn’t read it. I wrote a long story for the weekend kind of a All calves thing rarely do I take for example page two? Other what if you ever to see the print edition? And dedicated all to one team, but I started doing all this calf stuff and I just kept going and going. So, after 1800 words, I just told them, we’ll just slap this all and make it page two. Cause it was everything from, Jalen Tyson coming off the bench to looking well to Garland running 10 miles, whatever that means. just, and the big thing was the 17 games in 29 days, winning 16 of those without. beating your guys up in terms of minutes. that is a thing that we should be really impressed with and also impressed with how Kenny Atkinson continues to stay pretty true to his promise of playing 10 guys most nights. And you could look at this and Sam Merrill is not shooting as well as I think he would hope he would. Coral has been in and out of the lineup. Well, Coral’s making quite a few shots. The challenge for a Coral, if you look last year, I think he shot about 38 % on threes, was in the playoffs he struggled. So that will be his next mountain to climb. David Campbell (17:20.814) Yeah, I just looking up his three point shooting percentage. 47.4 this season. Terry (17:30.498) Mm-hmm. David Campbell (17:34.478) So how are they doing this, Because they, well, they didn’t make any big moves, right? And they pretty much invested in what they had going and the new coach kind of elevating the whole operation. And things could not be going any better, but NBA fans love the off season because they like to pick and pick pieces and see how they would plug in. The Cavs didn’t really add much of anything except for having a healthy Ty Jerome and just changing the way they play, right? Terry (17:37.472) What do you say? Terry (17:41.069) Mm-hmm. Terry (18:03.008) Exactly. And also it’s kind of like a guard. They’re at the sort of the guardian stage. I mean, we all know here comes the winner. It’s going to be boring for the guardians. They might make a couple of moves as, as, Kobe Alton talked about maybe making moves on the margin. He didn’t even do that. and. But the way Jerome has played, which he’s never played with before, this would be like getting a premium six man. I’m for example, I got it. Levert got a contract for I believe a 17.5 million. Let’s round it off to 18 million That is a two-year 36 million. I remember what he signed out a good friend of mine is an agent a top agent and he said to me he said Levert he goes actually I could have gotten Levert He wasn’t trying to steal and he goes I could have gotten him probably 50 to 60 million over three He says he really did the cast a favor. He must really have wanted to play there, which is what he said He said, because a guy that caliber coming off the bench who can start some, you know, he’s a 15 to $20 million player. And he said on a team like Cleveland, you could push it up to 20. Ty Jerome. If he goes this whole year like this, Mr. Jerome’s going to be doing very well. And the other thing that you noticed about Jerome, because he played it Virginia under Tony Bennett, it was a very defensive minded share the ball, just a tough coach there. you see that in, the game of tie Jerome, Hunter who plays for Atlanta. think he’s still with them. He was a player I like. He was a Virginia player too. sometimes they say. Terry (19:44.588) The Virginia players got to watch draft and I’m high because they play so well together as a unit. They don’t, kind of hide each other’s flaws and, and don’t play quite as well in the NBA, but this is the year of Tyrone tied Jerome. What do you think? David Campbell (19:59.63) Let’s call it that. That’s great. It makes a good t-shirt. Terry (20:01.142) Just let’s go what it is. Let’s just say it. Ty Jerome owns the NBA. All right. I’m even going a little farther. I am old enough to see Jerry West flight. I’m not comparing in the Jerry West. All right. But the way he kind of cocks his wrist and shoots the ball like that, almost a little flat footed more than a jumper. That’s the logo. That’s how Jerry West shot the ball. And this year he’s shooting it like Jerry West shot the ball. Now. David Campbell (20:06.574) you Terry (20:31.16) Had Jerry West played in the era of the three point line or whatever would be fascinating. Look at his stats sometime and stats in the finals. remember I interviewed Jerry West for my book, Tall Tales. And we talked for quite a while on different things that, you know, he grew up in Cabin Creek, West Virginia, which is just down the road from Charleston. And he said to me, you know, if I grew up saying a more affluent area or whatever, he goes, I would have been a golfer. And I’m like. David Campbell (20:34.736) man. Terry (21:01.596) Well, why Jerry? said, I was, I’m a, he goes, that could be a real solitary person. And he used to, there was apparently just some gravel area where he just went out and it was a basket, but it w you know, you used to imagine it. looked like West Virginia, you know, just this type of thing. This, bent rim against a wooden backboard and he’s on the gravel and he’s just shooting with, with no net or a stringy net. And he just did hour after hour after hour. And that’s how he, you know, became a great shooter. but he just mentioned that he, as he got older, he loved to play golf too. by the way, for a while, I don’t know if he still did, he had a condo right around the Greenbrier. Yeah. He also plays in LA, but, and, and then also he just. David Campbell (21:47.566) really? Terry (21:53.016) talked about how he was just so tormented by losing to the Celtics all the time. I forgot how many times they lost in the finals, six or seven or something like that. Fascinating guy. And I remember he talked to some of the writers one of the years when LeBron was in the playoffs, but like maybe go into the finals with the Cavs. He hadn’t won a title yet, whenever that was. So it must’ve been maybe around... that San Antonio series when he was here the first time saying that he understood how LeBron felt frustrated in this and the over emphasis on did you win a title to be a great player? David Campbell (22:34.028) Yeah, it’s not fair sometimes and. Terry (22:35.36) Yep. Cause he kept going, this young man is carrying that team. So I’m pretty sure it was the whole Sasha Pavel that’s group, you know, that went in, seven and, that, so he was a fascinating guy. And just remember when you’re seeing Tyrone, Ty Jerome shoot just the form now, nothing else. Well, of course it’s going in like Jerry West shot it too. That’s Jerry West, how he shot the ball. David Campbell (23:01.228) I Jerry West just passed away a few months ago, right? Yeah, yeah. And when you were talking about Jerry West, I was thinking about that All-Star game here a couple years ago, the 75th and the 75 all-time greatest players like that. When you lose people like Jerry West as time goes on, like those nights and the fact that that was in Cleveland, it’s something that was so special. And I think NBA fans who were watching and were there that night really just appreciate all the greatness that was in. Terry (23:03.094) Yes, he did. Terry (23:21.612) Yeah. David Campbell (23:30.092) field house that night and how cool that was. Terry (23:30.456) Here’s a strange thing happening as you know as I’ve gotten older and that where I would have people to call and say, know, is my memory right about Jerry West and how he shot the ball or whatever? But most of them I know are not with us anymore. So I’m relying on my memory and it’s possible it’s wrong from when I was a kid and you would just see these games in on the weekends and black and white TV and that kind of stuff. So. David Campbell (24:02.254) So imagining Jerry West shooting with the modern NBA three pointer would have been crazy, Terry, but the game has changed so much and there’s more three pointers being taken than ever. And for a basketball purist like you, wanted to, do you like the way the game is going right now with the Celtics shooting, you know, it’s all threes and dunks and do you like what you’re seeing? What would you like to change? Terry (24:06.2) huh. Yeah. Terry (24:11.746) Mm-hmm. Terry (24:18.36) Ugh. Terry (24:26.644) No, no, I, I liked the three point shot. was always a big advocate. My goodness. wrote a book on the ABA. I love the three point shot. Yes. Yeah. Certainly online still sells this one since came out in 1989, but the, I was talking with Wayne Emory about this about a year ago and he was saying, could now he’s a big man. You know, they’d say they’re forgetting the big man or whatever. tend to agree, but this whole thing that David Campbell (24:35.596) Loose Balls, available at all your finer bookstores. Terry (24:55.714) drives you nuts, see a guy go right down the lane, he’s got to wide up a layup and throws it to the guy at the corner for a corner three. It just, I suppose maybe the analytics show that. The one thing the analytics don’t tell you, at least the ones that we find is what percentage of missed three pointers then become fast breaks down the other end of the court because they bang off the rim, those long rebounds, and you go down and take them and score. But last year, the South East led the NBA by taking 42 three-pointers a game. This year, they’re up over 50. And just, ugh. David Campbell (25:31.96) So I have the list here, Terry, because I was interested in what it is. The Celtics are over 50. They’re 50.6 three-point attempts per game, which is nuts to think about. Charlotte’s number two, 44. The Bulls are three. Golden State’s number four. Minnesota’s five. We don’t need to the whole list. The Cavs are 13th. Terry (25:33.932) Go ahead. Terry (25:39.242) Okay. Okay. Yeah. Terry (25:49.644) How many are over 40? David Campbell (25:53.454) There are one, two, three, four, five, seven teams over 40. The number seven team is the Phoenix Suns at 40.8. So I thought the Cavs might be more dramatic than this. was looking it up. Last year they shot 36.8 per game and now they’re up to 37.1. So that’s not that much different. Terry (25:56.83) Ugh. Okay. Yeah. Terry (26:09.016) It’s about what they’re shooting now, isn’t it? Yeah, because actually that was one of the things I looked up but I didn’t use in that long never ending story for the weekend because it has different things in there. All right, here’s what I would do to try and make it more interesting. I would take away the corner three. In other words, I’d have the arc go around but it would go, it could still be the same distance from, you know, straight in, straight out. But instead it would go. kind of all the way over to the baseline when it starts to go straight down the lane it would just the three point quarter three or whatever would cease to exist. David Campbell (26:52.662) be more like a true half circle than where they straighten it out along the side there for the short corner three. Okay. Terry (26:56.296) Yeah. Mm hmm. By the way, you know what else that corner in the obsession with the corners released to guys catching the ball step back and they step out of bounds. That happens about four times a game back in a hundred years ago when I was covering the NBA and this was at the old Coliseum and you’ll never see this because it was a we actually sat right next to the Cavs bench, the three beat guys, Burt Gray, the point Dior, I was at the Beacon Journal and Joe Menzer from the New Herald. And I had the seat right next to basically where Lenny Wilkins stood, because they were really there, and the trainer, Gary Briggs. Briggs, whenever a guy would step on the, know, take that and step on the line, Briggs would always look over to say, you got to understand, they just painted those lines on the court there yesterday, those guys don’t know where it is. We drove them nuts. Yeah, just drove them nuts. How could you not wear the lines in the corner? But then it was just the three point shot had been in for about, I think, five or six years by then. But they were just starting to get into a little bit of, let’s take a bunch of these. now I know they won’t do it because I think the NBA ratings are high and everything else. But the corner three is a shot. It’s about an 18 foot shot. David Campbell (27:55.406) We’re not used to it yet. Terry (28:25.044) So that’s what you get all that. And I still think that it’s fun to watch some of the big men try to operate underneath. It’s not like the 60s where you dribble it up, you throw out the chamber on the low post or whoever it is and everybody stands there. mean, not that kind of thing, but we’ve lost low post play and the ability to pass the ball to a in a low post is a lost art also. David Campbell (28:49.614) Yeah, and real quick before we move on, the Cavs have the number one, number 10, and number 16 players in the NBA this season in three-point percentage. Ty Jerome, number one at 544, number 10. You probably know who. Isaac O’Coro, 474. And then 16 is Karis Laverde at 458 is his three-point percentage. Terry (29:06.348) Yeah, it’s hard to say that, yeah. And then... Caris was having a great year before this knee acted up. Kenny said some really interesting stuff about Laverte, because remember he had Laverte as a young player. And at that point, Laverte was just trying to, dun dun, who was Laverte’s college coach? John B wine. That’s why I should have said that. Yeah, it was. he said, you know, in the past, Keris was so focused on kind of finding his way in the league that he would take the ball and just figure, I got to come off the bench and score no matter what. And while he had the ability to, help on the boards and rebound that and, and, and as it turned out, a very hidden away passing ability. He was so fixated on scoring that, we never saw the full Keris Levert. It started to come out last season. Remember that where he was almost handling the point guard or point forward sometimes. And now he says Keris is just, he’s like a total player and Kenny, that means a lot to him because he was there with Keris in the beginning. Now Keris Levert and, and, and Jared Allen also played for Kenny in the Brooklyn days. and they gave him a rousing endorsement. know that when Kobe was checking around. So there you go. David Campbell (30:33.832) Alright, well speaking of Karis Lavert, we’ll see when he’s going be back, but the Cavs have Wednesday, Friday, Sunday games coming up. They’ve got Atlanta Wednesday, Friday, and then Sunday they get the Celtics at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, which should be another fun one. We’ll see how they match up. Terry (30:49.272) I think before that game they should take away the three pointer from the corner so the Celtics can’t take a step out of bounds so they can’t just take all those shots. David Campbell (30:53.89) Yeah, or maybe take the pain off the lines. They can make them step out. Yeah. All right. Anything else on the Cavs, All right. Hey, let’s take a break right here. When we come back, I want to talk to you about how you see the 2025 Browns looking both at head coach, front office, and quarterback. We can start projecting that. Terry (31:04.022) That’ll do it on my end. David Campbell (31:19.126) and we’ll talk about what the win over Pittsburgh meant the other night. We’ll get into that and more when we return on Terry’s Talking. David Campbell (32:25.666) Hey, we’re back on Terry’s Talking. Don’t forget about Terry’s newsletter. You can sign up for it. It comes out every Wednesday. There’s some great stuff in there, behind the scenes things, topics that Terry’s thinking about, stories, things you won’t find on the website. Go to cleveland.com slash Pluto. There’s a two week free trial. Just go to the blue bar at the top of cleveland.com slash Pluto. You can sign up right there on the blue bar and you will enjoy it. So, all right, Terry, we are going to get into the Browns here. Terry (32:51.947) Mm-hmm. David Campbell (32:53.676) What did you think of that game Thursday night against Pittsburgh and the snow and Terry (32:59.448) Well, number one, well, great theater it just was for that. But I was so glad the Browns won because they showed up, they played well, know, those fans were into it. I didn’t, I was expecting the Steeler fans to take over the stadium. They didn’t. The Browns fans were there and till the end. And also you look at the fact that it was one of those same old Browns games, only it wasn’t. David Campbell (33:18.286) Till the end. Terry (33:28.6) What’s like was going to be, know, Jamis had the, the brain fart there and through that past that wrong, wrong way got picked off. And then the other time, he just, I don’t know, what did you make on the thing where he got blindsided? I was sort of hard for me to blame him on that one. Remember he went back to throw and just got belted. David Campbell (33:47.096) Yeah, was a man. was such a weird night. If you’ve never played in the snow, too, it’s a completely different animal. I don’t put a lot of stock in a lot of the stats from that game and some of the plays that happened because in the snow, things change. You can’t grip the ball right. The guys are slipping. But I thought Jameis Winston played just a really good, solid game. Terry (33:54.295) Yeah. Terry (34:00.96) No. David Campbell (34:14.766) Browns fans have to just be thinking like, geez, what if we had reasonable to good quarterback play from the beginning of the season? Would the Browns be around 500 instead of being three and eight? Terry (34:26.008) Yes is the answer to that. It’s yes. They are 500 with Jamis Winston and he’s played Baltimore, he’s played Pittsburgh, he’s played the Chargers and he’s actually played the Saints who are kind of going in the right direction but the other three are all winning teams. It’s not to make him Bernie Kozar or something but the answer is yes and that is the disturbing part. Jameis can’t help himself who still throws 200 yards for 200 yards. Well, there’s good or bad. The other guy, Watson couldn’t throw 200 yards no matter what they did. And I’m not saying that’s the ultimate stat, but it’s meaningful because at least it shows you can get it downfield. So the answer is yes, they would have. Meantime, now the question is, well, first of all, David, what do you make it when you hear a couple of these national media people going, David Campbell (35:00.974) Regardless of the weather. Terry (35:24.857) Barry and Stefanski, they’re definitely coming back and there’s never been any doubt or... David Campbell (35:31.598) Well, I, we haven’t seen any substantive reporting that they’re definitely back or any, anything else. And so I’m trying to think about what the Haslams have on their minds these days watching this. And I think last Thursday made a good case to bring everybody back. So there’s a couple of reasons, right? They just signed the guys to an extension this summer and they’re only going to be one year into it. The second thing is, is you’ve talked about this, Terry, and you’ve written about it. The Haslams have made their millions and billions by Terry (35:35.736) Yeah. Terry (35:51.224) Mm-hmm. David Campbell (36:01.41) making bold moves. And I think they’re going to respect the Watson situation as failed as it is, as a bold move that this franchise tried. these, if you’re in business, you know, you, you, you try something bold and sometimes it works brilliantly and sometimes you fall on your face. And I think they’re going to understand that this was a bold move that has been a huge failure and like, let’s just move on and start fresh. And I, that’s why I think Stefanski and Andrew Berry and everybody will be back. I don’t think the coaches are going to stay the same. think that some of the assistants are going to change definitely. Cause I think we’ve seen some drop off and some of the position groups this year. So anyway, that’s where I’m at with Stefanski and Andrew Berry and the Haslums. don’t know. What do you think of all that? Terry (36:51.16) Well, I’ll tell you this much, if I’m Kevin Stefanski, I’m certainly playing James several more games. It’s here’s what I want to show. My problem with Watson, without saying a word, we’re stuck with this. We’ve been trying for three years to make that thing work. It’s not, he’s hurt. As you mentioned, adequate quarterback play gives us a real chance to win. And the easiest way to make that case is to show it and show it in some tough games coming up at Pittsburgh, at Denver. They still have to go to Cincinnati. They still have to go to Baltimore. I forgot who else they have on the schedule, but it’s not an easy schedule. David Campbell (37:39.47) Kansas City. Terry (37:40.44) Kansas City, correct. I think Miami is at home too. Miami is not terrible either, but just saying that they’ve got a rough schedule, but if you win a few more of those games, and it shows that Jameis was able to help them do that. To me, a case closed. Now meantime, there are people saying lose them all and get the higher draft pick. David Campbell (38:07.852) I don’t even know what that means when fans say that, Terry, because we’ve seen this for a long time, right? The GM’s job is to structure the roster the way he sees fit, bringing in players, making trades. We’ve already seen the Braids, the Browns make some trades this year to move guys off that are not in their long-term plans. But when it comes to game day, the coaches and the coaching staff and the players are locked in on, we are going out there to win the game. We’re going to play as hard as we can. We’re going to prepare the best we can. Terry (38:09.837) Yeah. David Campbell (38:37.294) There’s like a line, there’s a line between roster building to tank or get a better draft pick. And like we’re going out to play on Sunday at one o’clock or Monday night in the Browns case this week, the players and the coaches are paid to go out and win. Like that’s their job. And there’s a huge line in between. So when fans say, the Browns are trying to lose, like, yes, the GM can do things to make winning less probable to help long-term planning, but the players and coaches do not go out and tank. just. I don’t see that in the NFL. Terry (39:08.948) And also, James coming in being one the most unique personalities we’ve ever seen here and is never ending enthusiasm for everything. It is infectious and it does. David Campbell (39:24.418) Did you see the video from the other day of him being mic’d up, Terry? Terry (39:27.138) For 13 minutes of just, I don’t, I was exhausted by the time just watching him encouraging people and all this. And the other thing, if you look online, see if you could find this, it was the 13 minutes of Janus Winston. You also hear the thought when he gets hit on some of these balls. mean, it really, mean, my back was hurting just listening to it. David Campbell (39:48.45) Yeah. David Campbell (39:52.354) Our colleague, Irie Harris, did put a post up on cleveland.com yesterday, here, James Winston. But he’s running out of a tunnel and he’s like, we’re here playing football on a Thursday night. Like everything excites the guy. Terry (39:57.56) Ugh. Terry (40:01.624) It’s a snow. Right. It’s like, and he’s up to every single lineman, you know, you’re holding up. You can do this, you know, all this stuff. And Betonio talked about that in his press conference the other day that the enthusiasm and it’s exactly what they need. Cause there was something about Watson and maybe just because of all he’s been through and his physical stuff. To me, he like a guy going to work, David. Just going to work. David Campbell (40:31.224) Yeah. Okay. So we’ve kind of talked about the coach, the GM, the front office. You see, you see these guys coming back to right? Stefanski and Barry running back. Yes. Things change. Terry (40:41.652) as of now, but I will say this, if they lose, you got six games to go, what if they lose them all? David Campbell (40:52.44) then the discussion changes and how they lose them. Terry (40:54.872) Exactly. That’s why I’m always reluctant in these situations with this ownership group to make any predictions on this stuff. Because you know, just because they gave an extension, that doesn’t mean anything. And I’m pretty sure John Dorsey had received some kind of extension reward after the 2018 season and then turned, because he was hired late in 2017. There’s like five games to go. Sasha Brown was fired. Dorsey came in. Then he, he ran the draft and, 18 and that was a year they were two, six and one, and they fired, Jackson and, Todd Haley promoted kitchenist, offensive coordinator, Greg Williams took over and they finished five and three with those guys. And so then, the following year, that’s where I think Dorsey, I think got a raise or something. Then they went down to Freddy Kitchens Road, that whole thing fell apart. And then I remember the Kitchens got fired. And then like a or two later, Dorsey was fired. That surprised me. So that’s why you can’t just assume, because you did well the year before, and they even liked some of the players you picked or moves you made, that you’re safe. So my suggestion is to Kevin Stefanski, go win about three of these games. David Campbell (42:19.662) And beyond that, Terry, like we know when things, when coaches are holding back a team. mean, if you watch the Chicago Bears every week, and I haven’t seen them every single week, but there are plays where you’re like, what are they doing? The other day, they couldn’t decide between kicking a field goal and going for it. And they completely botched a fourth down play and that was coaching, right? So we’ll see over these last several games, if there’s coaching stuff that kind of starts raising alarm bells about whether they’re going to retain Kevin Stravinsky or not. Terry (42:24.31) Yeah. Terry (42:31.394) Mm-hmm. Ugh. Terry (42:38.68) Mm-hmm. Terry (42:45.654) I I’m just, you know, I mean, your honor, evidence of pre Watson, post Watson, put it on a board, you know, point to one point to the other. guy can throw for 200 yards. This guy can’t help but throw over 200 yards. That guy really, he just had trouble finishing off and he drives and that stuff. This guy, he go, he’ll, he’ll have both teams driving down the field, but it’s going to be. I mean, there is an entertaining element to it, but also who is lifting up those around, know, people, remember originally they were kind of deriding his line, I’m a man of increase, which is, I go to primarily an inner city church and that’s a line that’s used there a lot. You want to be a man of increase. In other words, you increase people around you with your personality, with how you are. And he’s a man of increase. It’s funny, I had somebody send me a text and said, you know, hearken back to all his problems in Tampa Bay. And there were some ugly stuff there. And, you know, he got suspended and they go, you know, the guy’s just, he’s an awful person, this and that. And so I looked up and said, why is it then that New Orleans signed him to three different contracts? The first one was a million one, cause he was coming off the Tampa Bay stuff and really just, you know, hanging by a thread. Then they signed him to a $5 million one-year contract. Then they signed him to a two-year $28 million contract with 20 million guaranteed. In the meantime, while he was there in New Orleans, he was voted by his teammates the Ed Block Courage Award, which has to do with your personality, being a great teammate, and so on. And now he’s here. The tough thing that happened with James twice, he was posed to start long-term for them. The first time, I think they were foreign one or something like that and he suffered an ACL and finished the year and then another year he opened as a quarterback suffered a significant back injury and then I think he ended up losing the job to I forgot some veteran but it doesn’t matter but he I believe right now since he’s left the Tampa Bay I believe his record is something like Terry (45:11.988) Nine and six as a starter. David Campbell (45:15.64) Well, yeah, and his interception to TD ratio, think I had that a couple of weeks ago. It’s like 30 to 16 since he’s left Tampa Bay. Yeah. All right. So, all right. So here’s what I, this is how I think the Browns could set up their quarterback room next year. So, James Winston’s contract is up after this season. I think they need to bring him back. I think he’s projected to make about 2.2 as a unrestricted free agent. I would pay him more. I think he’s someone you want to keep around. Terry (45:18.602) Yeah, yeah, it’s, he’s better. Yeah. And so let’s see him. We’ll see some more of it. Okay. And go ahead. Terry (45:31.637) Okay. Terry (45:43.19) You can’t do it Joe Flacco again. You can’t let the guy that was I know Flacco, you know, maybe you he got exposed by playing too much with the Colts or whatever. Fine. But you know one thing, if you need a good month from Joe Flacco, they could pull him off the bench now and he would give him a good two or three games. Don’t do this. David Campbell (45:45.335) Yeah. David Campbell (46:01.88) Jamis Winston is experienced, durable, good guy to have in the locker room for all the reasons you just explained. anyway, bring him back. So they’re going to do what they’re going to do with Tashaun Watson. I think it’s reasonable for them to expect them to keep him on the roster in some capacity. But here’s what I’m talking about layering quarterbacks. I think I mentioned this last week of the week before. Here’s who I think, here’s a guy I think they should look at for drafting. right. Drew Aller, the quarterback at Penn State. Medina high school standout, one of the top quarterbacks in the country coming out of high school and five star recruit goes to Penn state where offensive football players go to have their careers die. Right. They have no receivers. They, nobody gets open and drew Aller fits this profile that I think Andrew Berry looks for of former five star recruits who had something like go awry, like an injury or a bad coaching situation. Terry (46:45.1) Yeah, yeah. David Campbell (47:01.26) And the productivity maybe wasn’t there that you would see from a lot of other top draft picks, but the talent is there. just think Drew Aller, he’s finishing his third year. He’s going to be eligible for the draft. And the other thing is they, they could get him. I’ve seen everything from him going in the first round of the third round. So I don’t know how that’s going to play out, but I think he’s a guy who might be undervalued because his production has been so sporadic. And I think the Brown should find him or somebody like him. He’s he just the five star thing. Terry (47:23.0) Mm-hmm. David Campbell (47:30.58) He gets what the Browns are. think he’s got a cannon for an arm. He’s better than he’s showing at Penn State because of the people around him. And I think the Browns could get him at a reasonable place. Terry (47:38.296) I’ve not I’ve not seen enough to have an opinion to have an opinion. I like the idea though the general concept of you know, make a value pick Why not I Mean we’ll talk a lot more about Watson as it gets closer But I have real strong feelings about this there are times when you just say it didn’t work and and leaving it at that so what Yeah, yeah, that’s why I need to really get somebody to to David Campbell (47:48.75) Because they have other needs. They have other needs. David Campbell (48:02.456) Well, there might be financial reasons why they would need to keep him on the roster or whatever. Terry (48:07.448) who knows, I know some people that really do the cap well and I need them to really guide me through all the different alternatives. What have you thought in general about say just taking the last four games together? David Campbell (48:22.676) of Jameis Winston? Terry (48:23.96) Where does the team? David Campbell (48:26.03) I’m, you know, I, I like to put myself in a, in a Browns fan’s shoes. And after Thursday night, was like a joyous night. And how many times have we seen the Browns come out on a Thursday night at home? We saw it last year when Flacco was here and they play one of their best games of the season. You know, they’re on national TV. Everybody’s it’s the only game in town. They really care about that. And if I’m a Browns fan, I’m like, where is this in New Orleans and where is this when they’re on the road playing? Terry (48:33.474) Mm-hmm. Terry (48:39.266) Yeah. Terry (48:51.627) I know. David Campbell (48:54.978) you know, a not very good team on a Sunday at one, like if they could capture that intensity and that sense of purpose every week, or at least get close, who knows, right? Like that’s what I thought about. That’s what I thought about the last four games is what if they bring this prime time intensity every single time? like Miles Garrett went from having no stats one week against New Orleans to having one of his best games of the season. on Thursday night against the Steelers. So it was just kind of indicative of kind of if I’m a Browns fan, I’m thinking about this team right now. How are you feeling? Terry (49:32.664) What do you think about Chop? David Campbell (49:36.386) I think he’s going to be good to keep on the roster maybe for another year, but they need, they need to get younger at the position and a little bit more explosive, but I like Nick job. What do you think? Terry (49:46.008) yeah, we do. Well, first of all, I just think it’s a miracle he’s playing. really do. I mean, two ACL, MCL, two operations within three months. It’s just, it’s incredible. He’s on the field and he’s still, he doesn’t have the same cut or speed, but he’ll blow people up physically. You know, and you see once a... Yeah, that’s right. David Campbell (49:51.115) for sure. David Campbell (50:08.908) Yeah, and it’s another thing, he’s getting better every week, think, Terry, and let’s see at the end of the season how we feel about him. Terry (50:15.524) You’re correct. They have to look in the running back room because Ford has not been healthy and he hasn’t just been so so when he has played and so that’s that’s it for me on the Browns. David Campbell (50:28.11) All right. I do want to get to a quick email here from Mark in Florida. says, Hey, Terry Baker Mayfield should be returning to the playoffs in consecutive years with the same team after signing a big contract. Yes. The what abouts as to why Baker isn’t here and why our Legion not the smoothest of relationships to be certain. Despite that the draft evaluators who saw upside and Baker were correct. There was no one in Berea who accurately assessed how to get Baker to the playoff level that would make his fourth trip to the playoffs. since he’s been drafted. How many in his Browns draft class can say that? It’s true. Terry (51:02.006) Yeah, it’s absolutely true. And he will have done it. I would say without being on great teams, the 2020 Browns are not a great team and the Tampa Bay. This got some nice players and everything, but you know, you don’t jump up and down about those guys. It’s not like he walked into the chiefs and took over. David Campbell (51:29.592) We’re seeing what we saw here except just a more mature version. He’s still got a little edge to him and likes to rile up the fans and it’s just he’s not calling out the coaches Tampa Bay the way he did here. Yeah. Terry (51:32.61) Yeah. Terry (51:40.926) Yeah, he learned that. And that, that was one of the things that Todd Monk said he always appreciated about Jamis Winston even because he was with Monk, offensive coordinator for Baltimore. And, he mentioned in one of his interviews right before they played the Browns, cause he was with, he was with Jamis at Tampa Bay that he said, I love Jamis. He’s all about football. He never threw the coaches under the bus. That was his exact quote. And he was happy to see Jamis getting, at that point, just getting a shot. Of course, then he turns around and Jamis just beats his Baltimore Ravens. This way it’s fun. I want to see them play these. They’ve got what? All three division opponents on the road. Correct? I want to see that. It’ll help me gauge the team more, but I know there’s folks out there saying lose them all drafted high and hang them high. Which could happen if they lose them all they may be hanging some others high the way it operates in the NFL. David Campbell (52:44.088) All right, there’s the old Western movie portion of podcast. All right, let’s move to the Guardians real quick, Terry. did have Jack and Erie as a long time listener of the podcast. Jack writes in, he says, first of all, Terry, I want to thank you for your empty chair piece, which was your faith in UConn over the weekend. was just really some great material to think about around the holidays and what an empty chair can mean to us. So anyway, Jack continues, I also wanted to thank you for taking listener questions. Terry (52:47.052) Uh-huh. Terry (52:59.266) Thank you. Yeah. David Campbell (53:12.962) Many, if not most podcasts don’t do that. Happy Thanksgiving. I was thinking about Shane Bieber and that stream of consciousness extended into this. What happens to players who get injured while under contract and their contract expires? Does the union then pay for their rehab? Do they have to go to different physicians? And does it differ between leagues? Be well, Jack. So I don’t know the answer to this question, but I have an idea of how I suspect it works. right. There’s like a league year, just like there is in the NFL and, and Shane Beaver was hurt on the job. And so as long as he’s under contract with the guardians, I think they partner with him on rehab and doctors and trainers and all that. Terry (53:42.348) Mm-hmm. Terry (53:51.573) The question is what happens now though? He’s not under contract because he’s going to be a free agent now the guy that actually would know the answer to that is Matthew Boyd because remember he had been hurt he had the surgery was with Detroit then became a free agent and he remained a free agent until The Guardian signed him in July and so he was working out himself now my guess is These guys also have all these high powered agents. And if the union doesn’t have policies for them while they’re recovering, I’m sure the agents can get that or get the medical care taken care of in one way or another. But that’s a good question. I don’t know. David Campbell (54:37.132) But he’s been, you know, he had his surgery months ago. He’s rehabbing. I don’t think he’s having to pay for an operation out of his pocket or anything. I think at this point there’s doctors and trainers that he wants to work with. they’re with the guardians and his contract is up, I suspect he would just pay for those or maybe the guardians would because again, it was a work-related injury. Terry (54:40.408) Mm-hmm. Terry (54:45.448) No, no Terry (54:56.248) And also all these agencies that represent a lot of players, they have a bunch of medical people that they turn to to help their players conditioning all that stuff in the off season. So the problem is if you’re some poor guy in AA and gets hurt and get cut, maybe you have a good agent, maybe you don’t, but that’s, that’s the difficult part there. But Shane Beaver or like last year, Matthew Boyd. There’s plenty of people there to take care of them. The question is, does Bieber come back? David Campbell (55:32.866) Yeah, one of the big questions of the off season. All right, let’s hear it. It’s an early prediction to get us going. Here we go. Terry (55:37.534) I will make a prediction. think he’s going to it. Shane Bieber, that’s right. Will get a contract of at least two years. 30 million plus. David Campbell (55:51.02) Really? David Campbell (55:54.67) Okay, marking that down is the first prediction. Terry (55:56.148) Okay, yeah, let’s see, because he had, let me see, he had the surgery in April, right? Yeah, I’ll go with that. Because somebody will say, he’s a great guy, he’s in tremendous shape, even if he goes back to throwing 91, remember that, he won 15 games in the ERA around three doing that, and I’ll take a chance on him. And especially if you’re a big market team, why not? David Campbell (56:25.132) And we’ve seen the last few years, Terry, the free agent market drags on and on and on into spring training now. somebody could wait, take a look at them and get close to the season, then sign them. Yeah. Terry (56:30.674) yeah. Terry (56:34.732) them I mean that might be that were the guardians rather than jump out in front of this wait to see because I’m not giving him 30 million for two but I believe a team will David Campbell (56:45.974) All right, I’m marking that one down. So all right, Terry, you have a long history and interest writing about Northeast Ohio College sports. I did want to mention John Carroll and Mount Union are playing in the Division three football playoffs on Saturday, which should be a really good game. And also you had a column this week about Daniel Robinson, the men’s basketball coach at Cleveland State signing a new contract. Some. Terry (56:48.001) Okay. Terry (56:57.526) Yes! David Campbell (57:10.538) impressive numbers he’s been putting up not just in the win-loss column either and it’s good that he’s got a new deal and is going to be staying with the Vikings. Terry (57:17.228) Yeah, he had two years left to go on his contract. So they gave him two more. Basically about the same amount of money he was making before. but you know, he’s average get one 20, exactly 21 gains each of the last two years. And he, and he took over for Dennis Gates. And when Gates left and went to Missouri, he took two of his best players with them, the boy Hodge and Trey go million. And actually that helped his first year. Missouri, I believe they won 25 games and went to NCAA tournament. This past year, I think he was something like 10 and 24 and he went winless in the SEC. actually Gates could be a bit on the hot seat at Missouri. Meantime, Daniel Robinson came in. He had been an assistant at Kansas, Iowa State, excuse me, Iowa State. And then he, what helped him his first two years, he, a player from Iowa State who was a marginal starter. and was actually even told by the head coach there that he probably wouldn’t start, in the future. Tristan in Aruna, he came with Danielle to Cleveland state and turned in one of the best players in the Horizon league. so that helped. And then he also found a guy in the junior college ranks named Tay Williams who came in and Tay Williams and Aruna are both in the G league and they both played two years and they help them win those 21 games. He doesn’t have anybody quite like that. But, I think he’ll win, you know, probably more than he loses. Not easy at Cleveland state. was down at the building the other day when they, when they beat, Eastern Michigan. And I mean, I’ll tell you the woods, he said, or it’s just this big monster down there and it’s kind of falling apart. It’s grim. It’s a grim, grim deal. but on top of that, and this is something that Dennis Gates started, cause when Gates came in, the team GPA was barely above a 2.0 and Gates got the well up over three, about a 3.2. Then it fell under three and Dan Robinson acted like they had a 10 game losing streak. mean, he just really went after these guys and they’re back to three point over the last four semesters are at 3.18. He’s had nine seniors. They’ve all graduated. And so in other words, and the same thing that Gates did, they’re winning with Terry (59:43.704) And we just say kind of blue collar players or guys that you find at basketball rummage sales, know, Juco kids, but these are not attitude headcases and anything of that sort. So, congratulations to Danielle. Granted, I went to Cleveland State, so I pay a little extra attention to them. And to me, they’re the vintage underdog. David Campbell (01:00:04.046) Yeah. And the, know, in this era of NIL Terry where players are, you know, college quarterbacks who are coming in or getting offered millions of dollars to play. I was looking at that you had, I think you have this in your column. His incentives are not just for making the NCAA tournament. mean, if a player, yeah, if a player makes the all horizon academic team, gets a 10, the coach gets a 10,000 bonus, $10,000 bonus. And which I think is the same he gets Robinson gets if they make the NCAA tournament, which. Terry (01:00:07.298) Yeah. Terry (01:00:12.216) Yeah, isn’t that something? Terry (01:00:19.903) A of them for it, yeah. Terry (01:00:29.034) If they make the NCAA tournament. Yeah. David Campbell (01:00:33.74) Yes, Cleveland State has a couple of guys who’ve gone through and gone to the G league and making the NBA from any Horizon league team is a long shot. So I think it’s really important and cool that the incentives are grade related and academic performance. Cause some of these players might go on to be coaches or lawyers or whatever down the road. And I think that the academic part of it, I watched some of these college football teams with the schedules and the expanded playoffs. Like when did they even go to class? Like it’s crazy to think about. So. Terry (01:00:59.212) I know. Yeah. And also there’s a thing called APR, Academic Progress Report. And they’re supposed to be having, Quezon State is a 1000, which is a perfect rating. In other words, they value not just what the GPA is, but are these guys on course to graduate on time? And so that’s another good thing too with them. And I know some of the other programs are doing a good job too. I’m not saying they’re not, but. That has been one of the great things that I think the NCAA did was put in things like the academic progress report and some others put some pressure on these coaches and that to make sure that these kids do not just graduate, but hopefully graduate some with some decent courses and things that they can use later on. David Campbell (01:01:51.502) All right, and CSU is playing some games in Woodling Gym as part of their throwback games. So that seems like it’d be a great venue to see game. So head on down and see the Vikings. All right. I think we’re good, Terry. Anything else you want to mention? Terry (01:01:56.022) Mm-hmm. Terry (01:02:06.636) That’s it for me. David Campbell (01:02:08.146) All right, have a great Thanksgiving everybody. Terry, you are writing this week about how thankful you are for the readers. I don’t know if you want to talk about that for a second and what this week means to you and your faith column, which is coming out later this week. Terry (01:02:21.624) Well, I also just want to say without you, there’s no us, you being the readers, there’s no Dave Campbell or Terry or the rest of us would be doing something else. And there’s so many places now to go get material and you can, have plenty of choices and thank you for choosing us. Now it’s our job to give you reasons to continue to choose us, to give you the best coverage of Cleveland sports possible. and to do it in a way that I think isn’t always just playing to say something as they say, have a hot take, get a reaction. I think we’re pretty good at avoiding that. And we have different opinions, but not just saying stuff to sound stupid and have people react. If we sound stupid, like, it’s an honest stupid. I guess that would be the way for that. And I am very, very grateful. I’ve been doing that in this market since 1980. full-time and I just cannot be more blessed to be able to continue to do it. And also, mean, David, you’ve been a big help to me. Roberta’s been at my side for 50 years. She’s been reading my junk. How about that? Of she just turned 31 years old, so that’s how you do it, guys. She started really young. I mean, she started typing. She really did start sometimes typing final copies of things on my typewriter, whether it was papers at Cleveland State or stories that I was submitting when I was still in college at different places. So, very, very grateful. David Campbell (01:03:41.996) Right. She started very young. David Campbell (01:04:00.248) Well, I’m thankful for you, Terry, and thankful that we’re able to do this once a week. And I really want to thank you, say thank you to the listeners. as Jack and Erie said earlier, this is the, we do the podcast, but it’s, the listeners podcast, like as much as it is something that we do. And we love to hear from you, sending your emails. We want to have you represented on here as often as we can. So, and we thank you for listening. Cause, there’s a lot of stuff going on every day. And the fact that you make time to listen to us a little bit every week really means a lot to us. So thank you. So. All right, I think that’ll do it. Everybody, that’s the official closing. Have a great, wonderful Thanksgiving, everybody. We will talk to you next week. Check out Terry’s newsletter and we’ll see you next week on Terry’s Talkin’. Terry (01:04:32.28) That’s the official closing.
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NoneIt’s been a few weeks, but we finally have the best version of the new Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11′′ back in stock over at Lenovo. The version on sale at Best Buy is still a great one to snag when on sale, but the fully-kitted Duet 11′′ is the one we reviewed and the one I still recommend anyone buy when it comes available. Granted, for now at least, it still isn’t on sale. $399 makes this conversation a bit different, but I still stand by my thoughts on getting the upgraded 8GB of RAM to go along with the 128GB of storage and the MediaTek Kompanio 838. Additionally, this version also gets the Lenovo USI 2.0 pen right in the box, and it really does help to round out the overall package on offer. X remove ads Sure, this model did drop to a staggering $275 back in November, but that was smack dab in the middle of the holiday shopping season, so who knows when it will return to that sort of price. With Lenovo being sold out of this model for weeks, I have to believe they are moving quite well, so the motivation to drop the price down on a regular basis might be limited for a bit. Buy the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11′′ (8GB w/Pen) at Lenovo Still, at $399, you’re getting a fantastic overall package, and it’s one I think any of you considering this Chromebook tablet should think about. That extra 4GB of RAM will come in handy in a few years (mark my words), and with this device still having a solid 9+ years of updates, you may have it around for a while. The included pen also increases the overall value, and if you are looking for the best experience with the new Duet 11′′ Chromebook tablet, I’d either snag one now (before they sell out again) or at least keep an eye on it to see if it dips down in price again. You won’t regret it! Join Chrome Unboxed Plus Introducing Chrome Unboxed Plus – our revamped membership community. Join today at just $2 / month to get access to our private Discord, exclusive giveaways, AMAs, an ad-free website, ad-free podcast experience and more. advertisement Plus Monthly $2/mo. after 7-day free trial Pay monthly to support our independent coverage and get access to exclusive benefits. X remove ads Start free trial Plus Annual $20/yr. after 7-day free trial Pay yearly to support our independent coverage and get access to exclusive benefits. Start free trial Our newsletters are also a great way to get connected. Subscribe here! Click here to learn more and for membership FAQ X remove ads
PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) — When the referee whistled for the free kick just outside the area, Atletico Madrid forward Julián Álvarez quickly picked up the ball and moved in position to take the shot. “When I saw the free kick, I told Rodri (Rodrigo De Paul) that I felt confident with the shot,” Álvarez said. “And it was a great goal.” Álvarez, Atletico's main signing in the offseason , has not been lacking confidence lately. The Argentina forward curled in the free kick shot in the 15th minute for the first of his two goals in the team’s 6-0 rout of Brest in the Champions League on Tuesday — the team’s biggest ever away win in European competitions. “We'll keep rotating who takes the free kicks,” said Álvarez, who also found the net in the 59th. It was Álvarez’s seventh goal in the last 10 matches, and third in his last three games across all competitions. The 24-year-old had a slow start to his first season with Atletico, scoring twice in 10 matches. “It was a matter of time before we started connecting well with each other,” said Álvarez, who joined Atletico after two seasons at Manchester City. “We have to stay on this path to keep improving.” Ángel Correa also scored two goals for Atletico, with Marcos Llorente and Antoine Griezmann adding one each. “We know that in this format of the competition we need to keep adding the three points and scoring goals," Álvarez said. "It's important to get the points and the goals.” Atletico was sitting in 13th place in the 36-team league standings. AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccerScottish international Adams scores long-range stunner in Serie A win for Torino
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump offered a public show of support Friday for Pete Hegseth, his choice to lead the Defense Department, whose confirmation by the Senate is in doubt as he faces questions over allegations of excessive drinking, sexual assault and his views on women in combat roles. Hegseth, a former Fox News host, Army National Guard major and combat veteran, spent much of the week on Capitol Hill trying to salvage his Cabinet nomination and privately reassure Republican senators that he is fit to lead Trump's Pentagon. "Pete Hegseth is doing very well," Trump posted on his social media site. "He will be a fantastic, high energy, Secretary of Defense." The president added that "Pete is a WINNER, and there is nothing that can be done to change that!!!" The nomination battle is emerging not only as a debate about the best person to lead the Pentagon, but an inflection point for a MAGA movement that appears to be relishing a public fight over its hard-line push for a more masculine military and an end to the "woke-ism" of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be defense secretary, responds to reporters during a meeting with Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Military leaders are rattled by a list of “woke” senior officers that a conservative group urged Pete Hegseth to dismiss for promoting diversity in the ranks if he is confirmed to lead the Pentagon. The list compiled by the American Accountability Foundation includes 20 general officers or senior admirals and a disproportionate number of female officers. It has had a chilling effect on the Pentagon’s often frank discussions as leaders try to figure out how to address the potential firings and diversity issues under Trump. Those on the list in many cases seem to be targeted for public comments they made either in interviews or at events on diversity, and in some cases for retweeting posts that promote diversity. Tom Jones, a former aide to Republican senators who leads the foundation, said Friday those on the list are “pretty egregious” advocates for diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, policies, which he called problematic. “The nominee has been pretty clear that that has no place in the military,” Jones said of Hegseth. Hegseth embraced Trump’s effort to end programs that promote diversity in the ranks and fire those who reflect those values. Other Trump picks, like Kash Patel for FBI director, have suggested targeting those in government who are not aligned with Trump. Trump's allies forcefully rallied around Hegseth — the Heritage Foundation's political arm promised to spend $1 million to shore up his nomination — as he vows to stay in the fight, as long as the president-elect wants him to. Vice President-elect JD Vance offers a public show of support for Pete Hegseth, the embattled choice to lead the Defense Department. "We're not abandoning this nomination," Vance told reporters during a tour of western North Carolina. "We're not abandoning this nomination," Vice-President-elect JD Vance said as he toured post-hurricane North Carolina. He said he spoke with GOP senators and believes Hegseth will be confirmed. The effort became a test of Trump's clout and of how far loyalty for the president-elect goes with Republican senators who have concerns about his nominees. Two of Trump's other choices stepped aside as they faced intense scrutiny: former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., his first choice for attorney general, and Chad Chronister, a Florida sheriff who was Trump's first choice to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration. Thanking the president-elect for the support, Hegseth posted on social media, "Like you, we will never back down." Hegseth faces resistance from senators as reports emerged about his past, including the revelation that he made a settlement payment after being accused of a sexual assault that he denies. He promised not to drink on the job and told lawmakers he never engaged in sexual misconduct, even as his professional views on female troops came under intensifying scrutiny. He said as recently as last month that women "straight up" should not serve in combat. He picked up one important endorsement from Republican Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama, whose support was seen as a potentially powerful counterweight to the cooler reception Hegseth received from Sen. Joni Ernst, a former Army National Guard lieutenant colonel. Ernst, who is also a sexual assault survivor, stopped short of an endorsement after meeting with Hegseth this week. On Friday, Ernst posted on X that she would meet with him again next week. “At a minimum, we agree that he deserves the opportunity to lay out his vision for our warfighters at a fair hearing,” she wrote. On Friday, Trump put out the statement in response to coverage saying he lost faith in Hegseth, according to a person familiar with his thinking who was not authorized to discuss it publicly. The president-elect and his team were pleased to see Hegseth putting up a fight and his performance this week reiterates why he was chosen, the person said. They believe he can still be confirmed. Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be defense secretary, left, joined by his wife Jennifer Rauchet, attends a meeting with Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) If Hegseth goes down, Trump's team believes the defeat would empower others to spread what they cast as "vicious lies" against every candidate Trump chooses. Still, Trump's transition team is looking at potential replacements, including former presidential rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. DeSantis plans to attend the Dec. 14 Army-Navy football game with Trump, according to a person familiar with the Florida governor's plans who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. DeSantis and Trump spoke about the defense secretary post Tuesday at a memorial service for sheriff deputies in West Palm Beach, Fla., according to people familiar with the matter who said Trump was interested in DeSantis for the post, and the governor was receptive. DeSantis is poised to select a replacement for the expected Senate vacancy to be created by Marco Rubio becoming secretary of state, and Trump's daughter-in-law Lara Trump is seen as the preferred choice by those in Trump's orbit. Among President-elect Donald Trump's picks are Susie Wiles for chief of staff, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for secretary of state, former Democratic House member Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence and Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general. Susie Wiles, 67, was a senior adviser to Trump's 2024 presidential campaign and its de facto manager. Trump named Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to be secretary of state, making a former sharp critic his choice to be the new administration's top diplomat. Rubio, 53, is a noted hawk on China, Cuba and Iran, and was a finalist to be Trump's running mate on the Republican ticket last summer. Rubio is the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “He will be a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries,” Trump said of Rubio in a statement. The announcement punctuates the hard pivot Rubio has made with Trump, whom the senator called a “con man" during his unsuccessful campaign for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. Their relationship improved dramatically while Trump was in the White House. And as Trump campaigned for the presidency a third time, Rubio cheered his proposals. For instance, Rubio, who more than a decade ago helped craft immigration legislation that included a path to citizenship for people in the U.S. illegally, now supports Trump's plan to use the U.S. military for mass deportations. Pete Hegseth, 44, is a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend” and has been a contributor with the network since 2014, where he developed a friendship with Trump, who made regular appearances on the show. Hegseth lacks senior military or national security experience. If confirmed by the Senate, he would inherit the top job during a series of global crises — ranging from Russia’s war in Ukraine and the ongoing attacks in the Middle East by Iranian proxies to the push for a cease-fire between Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah and escalating worries about the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea. Hegseth is also the author of “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free,” published earlier this year. Trump tapped Pam Bondi, 59, to be attorney general after U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration. She was Florida's first female attorney general, serving between 2011 and 2019. She also was on Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment trial in 2020. Considered a loyalist, she served as part of a Trump-allied outside group that helped lay the groundwork for his future administration called the America First Policy Institute. Bondi was among a group of Republicans who showed up to support Trump at his hush money criminal trial in New York that ended in May with a conviction on 34 felony counts. A fierce defender of Trump, she also frequently appears on Fox News and has been a critic of the criminal cases against him. Trump picked South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a well-known conservative who faced sharp criticism for telling a story in her memoir about shooting a rambunctious dog, to lead an agency crucial to the president-elect’s hardline immigration agenda. Noem used her two terms leading a tiny state to vault to a prominent position in Republican politics. South Dakota is usually a political afterthought. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, Noem did not order restrictions that other states had issued and instead declared her state “open for business.” Trump held a fireworks rally at Mount Rushmore in July 2020 in one of the first large gatherings of the pandemic. She takes over a department with a sprawling mission. In addition to key immigration agencies, the Department of Homeland Security oversees natural disaster response, the U.S. Secret Service, and Transportation Security Administration agents who work at airports. The governor of North Dakota, who was once little-known outside his state, Burgum is a former Republican presidential primary contender who endorsed Trump, and spent months traveling to drum up support for him, after dropping out of the race. Burgum was a serious contender to be Trump’s vice presidential choice this summer. The two-term governor was seen as a possible pick because of his executive experience and business savvy. Burgum also has close ties to deep-pocketed energy industry CEOs. Trump made the announcement about Burgum joining his incoming administration while addressing a gala at his Mar-a-Lago club, and said a formal statement would be coming the following day. In comments to reporters before Trump took the stage, Burgum said that, in recent years, the power grid is deteriorating in many parts of the country, which he said could raise national security concerns but also drive up prices enough to increase inflation. “There's just a sense of urgency, and a sense of understanding in the Trump administration,” Burgum said. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ran for president as a Democrat, than as an independent, and then endorsed Trump . He's the son of Democratic icon Robert Kennedy, who was assassinated during his own presidential campaign. The nomination of Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services alarmed people who are concerned about his record of spreading unfounded fears about vaccines . For example, he has long advanced the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism. Scott Bessent, 62, is a former George Soros money manager and an advocate for deficit reduction. He's the founder of hedge fund Key Square Capital Management, after having worked on-and-off for Soros Fund Management since 1991. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be the nation’s first openly gay treasury secretary. He told Bloomberg in August that he decided to join Trump’s campaign in part to attack the mounting U.S. national debt. That would include slashing government programs and other spending. “This election cycle is the last chance for the U.S. to grow our way out of this mountain of debt without becoming a sort of European-style socialist democracy,” he said then. Oregon Republican U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer narrowly lost her reelection bid this month, but received strong backing from union members in her district. As a potential labor secretary, she would oversee the Labor Department’s workforce, its budget and put forth priorities that impact workers’ wages, health and safety, ability to unionize, and employer’s rights to fire employers, among other responsibilities. Chavez-DeRemer is one of few House Republicans to endorse the “Protecting the Right to Organize” or PRO Act would allow more workers to conduct organizing campaigns and would add penalties for companies that violate workers’ rights. The act would also weaken “right-to-work” laws that allow employees in more than half the states to avoid participating in or paying dues to unions that represent workers at their places of employment. Scott Turner is a former NFL player and White House aide. He ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term in office. Trump, in a statement, credited Turner, the highest-ranking Black person he’s yet selected for his administration, with “helping to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities.” Sean Duffy is a former House member from Wisconsin who was one of Trump's most visible defenders on cable news. Duffy served in the House for nearly nine years, sitting on the Financial Services Committee and chairing the subcommittee on insurance and housing. He left Congress in 2019 for a TV career and has been the host of “The Bottom Line” on Fox Business. Before entering politics, Duffy was a reality TV star on MTV, where he met his wife, “Fox and Friends Weekend” co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy. They have nine children. A campaign donor and CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, Write is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking — a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market. Wright also has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change. He said the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight.” The Energy Department is responsible for advancing energy, environmental and nuclear security of the United States. Wright also won support from influential conservatives, including oil and gas tycoon Harold Hamm. Hamm, executive chairman of Oklahoma-based Continental Resources, a major shale oil company, is a longtime Trump supporter and adviser who played a key role on energy issues in Trump’s first term. President-elect Donald Trump tapped billionaire professional wrestling mogul Linda McMahon to be secretary of the Education Department, tasked with overseeing an agency Trump promised to dismantle. McMahon led the Small Business Administration during Trump’s initial term from 2017 to 2019 and twice ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut. She’s seen as a relative unknown in education circles, though she expressed support for charter schools and school choice. She served on the Connecticut Board of Education for a year starting in 2009 and has spent years on the board of trustees for Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. Brooke Rollins, who graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in agricultural development, is a longtime Trump associate who served as White House domestic policy chief during his first presidency. The 52-year-old is president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a group helping to lay the groundwork for a second Trump administration. She previously served as an aide to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and ran a think tank, the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Trump chose Howard Lutnick, head of brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and a cryptocurrency enthusiast, as his nominee for commerce secretary, a position in which he'd have a key role in carrying out Trump's plans to raise and enforce tariffs. Trump made the announcement Tuesday on his social media platform, Truth Social. Lutnick is a co-chair of Trump’s transition team, along with Linda McMahon, the former wrestling executive who previously led Trump’s Small Business Administration. Both are tasked with putting forward candidates for key roles in the next administration. The nomination would put Lutnick in charge of a sprawling Cabinet agency that is involved in funding new computer chip factories, imposing trade restrictions, releasing economic data and monitoring the weather. It is also a position in which connections to CEOs and the wider business community are crucial. Doug Collins is a former Republican congressman from Georgia who gained recognition for defending Trump during his first impeachment trial, which centered on U.S. assistance for Ukraine. Trump was impeached for urging Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden in 2019 during the Democratic presidential nomination, but he was acquitted by the Senate. Collins has also served in the armed forces himself and is currently a chaplain in the United States Air Force Reserve Command. "We must take care of our brave men and women in uniform, and Doug will be a great advocate for our Active Duty Servicemembers, Veterans, and Military Families to ensure they have the support they need," Trump said in a statement about nominating Collins to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs. Karoline Leavitt, 27, was Trump's campaign press secretary and currently a spokesperson for his transition. She would be the youngest White House press secretary in history. The White House press secretary typically serves as the public face of the administration and historically has held daily briefings for the press corps. Leavitt, a New Hampshire native, was a spokesperson for MAGA Inc., a super PAC supporting Trump, before joining his 2024 campaign. In 2022, she ran for Congress in New Hampshire, winning a 10-way Republican primary before losing to Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas. Leavitt worked in the White House press office during Trump's first term before she became communications director for New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, Trump's choice for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has been tapped by Trump to be director of national intelligence, keeping with the trend to stock his Cabinet with loyal personalities rather than veteran professionals in their requisite fields. Gabbard, 43, was a Democratic House member who unsuccessfully sought the party's 2020 presidential nomination before leaving the party in 2022. She endorsed Trump in August and campaigned often with him this fall. “I know Tulsi will bring the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our Intelligence Community,” Trump said in a statement. Gabbard, who has served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades, deploying to Iraq and Kuwait, would come to the role as somewhat of an outsider compared to her predecessor. The current director, Avril Haines, was confirmed by the Senate in 2021 following several years in a number of top national security and intelligence positions. Trump has picked John Ratcliffe, a former Texas congressman who served as director of national intelligence during his first administration, to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency in his next. Ratcliffe was director of national intelligence during the final year and a half of Trump's first term, leading the U.S. government's spy agencies during the coronavirus pandemic. “I look forward to John being the first person ever to serve in both of our Nation's highest Intelligence positions,” Trump said in a statement, calling him a “fearless fighter for the Constitutional Rights of all Americans” who would ensure “the Highest Levels of National Security, and PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH.” Kash Patel spent several years as a Justice Department prosecutor before catching the Trump administration’s attention as a staffer on Capitol Hill who helped investigate the Russia probe. Patel called for dramatically reducing the agency’s footprint, a perspective that sets him apart from earlier directors who sought additional resources for the bureau. Though the Justice Department in 2021 halted the practice of secretly seizing reporters’ phone records during leak investigations, Patel said he intends to aggressively hunt down government officials who leak information to reporters. Trump has chosen former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin to serve as his pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency . Zeldin does not appear to have any experience in environmental issues, but is a longtime supporter of the former president. The 44-year-old former U.S. House member from New York wrote on X , “We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI.” “We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water,” he added. During his campaign, Trump often attacked the Biden administration's promotion of electric vehicles, and incorrectly referring to a tax credit for EV purchases as a government mandate. Trump also often told his audiences during the campaign his administration would “Drill, baby, drill,” referring to his support for expanded petroleum exploration. In a statement, Trump said Zeldin “will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet.” Trump has named Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, as the new chairman of the agency tasked with regulating broadcasting, telecommunications and broadband. Carr is a longtime member of the commission and served previously as the FCC’s general counsel. He has been unanimously confirmed by the Senate three times and was nominated by both Trump and President Joe Biden to the commission. Carr made past appearances on “Fox News Channel," including when he decried Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris' pre-Election Day appearance on “Saturday Night Live.” He wrote an op-ed last month defending a satellite company owned by Trump supporter Elon Musk. Trump said Atkins, the CEO of Patomak Partners and a former SEC commissioner, was a “proven leader for common sense regulations.” In the years since leaving the SEC, Atkins has made the case against too much market regulation. “He believes in the promise of robust, innovative capital markets that are responsive to the needs of Investors, & that provide capital to make our Economy the best in the World. He also recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. The commission oversees U.S. securities markets and investments and is currently led by Gary Gensler, who has been leading the U.S. government’s crackdown on the crypto industry. Gensler, who was nominated by President Joe Biden, announced last month that he would be stepping down from his post on the day that Trump is inaugurated — Jan. 20, 2025. Atkins began his career as a lawyer and has a long history working in the financial markets sector, both in government and private practice. In the 1990s, he worked on the staffs of two former SEC chairmen, Richard C. Breeden and Arthur Levitt. Jared Isaacman, 41, is a tech billionaire who bought a series of spaceflights from Elon Musk’s SpaceX and conducted the first private spacewalk . He is the founder and CEO of a card-processing company and has collaborated closely with Musk ever since buying his first chartered SpaceX flight. He took contest winners on that 2021 trip and followed it in September with a mission where he briefly popped out the hatch to test SpaceX’s new spacewalking suits. Rep. Elise Stefanik is a representative from New York and one of Trump's staunchest defenders going back to his first impeachment. Elected to the House in 2014, Stefanik was selected by her GOP House colleagues as House Republican Conference chair in 2021, when former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney was removed from the post after publicly criticizing Trump for falsely claiming he won the 2020 election. Stefanik, 40, has served in that role ever since as the third-ranking member of House leadership. Stefanik’s questioning of university presidents over antisemitism on their campuses helped lead to two of those presidents resigning, further raising her national profile. If confirmed, she would represent American interests at the U.N. as Trump vows to end the war waged by Russia against Ukraine begun in 2022. He has also called for peace as Israel continues its offensive against Hamas in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon to target Hezbollah. President-elect Donald Trump says he's chosen former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker to serve as U.S. ambassador to NATO. Trump has expressed skepticism about the Western military alliance for years. Trump said in a statement Wednesday that Whitaker is “a strong warrior and loyal Patriot” who “will ensure the United States’ interests are advanced and defended” and “strengthen relationships with our NATO Allies, and stand firm in the face of threats to Peace and Stability.” The choice of Whitaker as the nation’s representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an unusual one, given his background is as a lawyer and not in foreign policy. President-elect Donald Trump tapped former Sen. David Perdue of Georgia to be ambassador to China, saying in a social media post that the former CEO “brings valuable expertise to help build our relationship with China.” Perdue lost his Senate seat to Democrat Jon Ossoff four years ago and ran unsuccessfully in a primary against Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. Perdue pushed Trump's debunked lies about electoral fraud during his failed bid for governor. A Republican congressman from Michigan who served from 1993 to 2011, Hoekstra was ambassador to the Netherlands during Trump's first term. “In my Second Term, Pete will help me once again put AMERICA FIRST,” Trump said in a statement announcing his choice. “He did an outstanding job as United States Ambassador to the Netherlands during our first four years, and I am confident that he will continue to represent our Country well in this new role.” Trump will nominate former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to be ambassador to Israel. Huckabee is a staunch defender of Israel and his intended nomination comes as Trump has promised to align U.S. foreign policy more closely with Israel's interests as it wages wars against the Iran-backed Hamas and Hezbollah. “He loves Israel, and likewise the people of Israel love him,” Trump said in a statement. “Mike will work tirelessly to bring about peace in the Middle East.” Huckabee, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2016, has been a popular figure among evangelical Christian conservatives, many of whom support Israel due to Old Testament writings that Jews are God’s chosen people and that Israel is their rightful homeland. Trump has been praised by some in this important Republican voting bloc for moving the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Trump on Tuesday named real estate investor Steven Witkoff to be special envoy to the Middle East. The 67-year-old Witkoff is the president-elect's golf partner and was golfing with him at Trump's club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 15, when the former president was the target of a second attempted assassination. Witkoff “is a Highly Respected Leader in Business and Philanthropy,” Trump said of Witkoff in a statement. “Steve will be an unrelenting Voice for PEACE, and make us all proud." Trump also named Witkoff co-chair, with former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, of his inaugural committee. Trump said Wednesday that he will nominate Gen. Keith Kellogg to serve as assistant to the president and special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. Kellogg, a retired Army lieutenant general who has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues, served as National Security Advisor to Trump's former Vice President Mike Pence. For the America First Policy Institute, one of several groups formed after Trump left office to help lay the groundwork for the next Republican administration, Kellogg in April wrote that “bringing the Russia-Ukraine war to a close will require strong, America First leadership to deliver a peace deal and immediately end the hostilities between the two warring parties.” (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib) Trump asked Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., a retired Army National Guard officer and war veteran, to be his national security adviser, Trump announced in a statement Tuesday. The move puts Waltz in the middle of national security crises, ranging from efforts to provide weapons to Ukraine and worries about the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea to the persistent attacks in the Middle East by Iran proxies and the push for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah. “Mike has been a strong champion of my America First Foreign Policy agenda,” Trump's statement said, "and will be a tremendous champion of our pursuit of Peace through Strength!” Waltz is a three-term GOP congressman from east-central Florida. He served multiple tours in Afghanistan and also worked in the Pentagon as a policy adviser when Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates were defense chiefs. He is considered hawkish on China, and called for a U.S. boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to its involvement in the origin of COVID-19 and its mistreatment of the minority Muslim Uighur population. Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner , was a vocal spokesperson during the presidential campaign for Trump's priority of mass deportations. The 39-year-old was a senior adviser during Trump's first administration. Miller has been a central figure in some of Trump's policy decisions, notably his move to separate thousands of immigrant families. Trump argued throughout the campaign that the nation's economic, national security and social priorities could be met by deporting people who are in the United States illegally. Since Trump left office in 2021, Miller has served as the president of America First Legal, an organization made up of former Trump advisers aimed at challenging the Biden administration, media companies, universities and others over issues such as free speech and national security. Thomas Homan, 62, has been tasked with Trump’s top priority of carrying out the largest deportation operation in the nation’s history. Homan, who served under Trump in his first administration leading U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was widely expected to be offered a position related to the border, an issue Trump made central to his campaign. Though Homan has insisted such a massive undertaking would be humane, he has long been a loyal supporter of Trump's policy proposals, suggesting at a July conference in Washington that he would be willing to "run the biggest deportation operation this country’s ever seen.” Democrats have criticized Homan for his defending Trump's “zero tolerance” policy on border crossings during his first administration, which led to the separation of thousands of parents and children seeking asylum at the border. Former Rep. Billy Long represented Missouri in the U.S. House from 2011 to 2023. Since leaving Congress, Trump said, Long “has worked as a Business and Tax advisor, helping Small Businesses navigate the complexities of complying with the IRS Rules and Regulations.” Former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler was appointed in January 2020 by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and then lost a runoff election a year later. She started a conservative voter registration organization and dived into GOP fundraising, becoming one of the top individual donors and bundlers to Trump’s 2024 comeback campaign. Even before nominating her for agriculture secretary, the president-elect already had tapped Loeffler as co-chair of his inaugural committee. Dr. Mehmet Oz, 64, is a former heart surgeon who hosted “The Dr. Oz Show,” a long-running daytime television talk show. He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate as the Republican nominee in 2022 and is an outspoken supporter of Trump, who endorsed Oz's bid for elected office. Elon Musk, left, and Vivek Ramaswamy speak before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at an Oct. 27 campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York. Trump on Tuesday said Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Ramaswamy will lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency" — which is not, despite the name, a government agency. The acronym “DOGE” is a nod to Musk's favorite cryptocurrency, dogecoin. Trump said Musk and Ramaswamy will work from outside the government to offer the White House “advice and guidance” and will partner with the Office of Management and Budget to “drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before.” He added the move would shock government systems. It's not clear how the organization will operate. Musk, owner of X and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has been a constant presence at Mar-a-Lago since Trump won the presidential election. Ramaswamy suspended his campaign in January and threw his support behind Trump. Trump said the two will “pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.” Russell Vought held the position during Trump’s first presidency. After Trump’s initial term ended, Vought founded the Center for Renewing America, a think tank that describes its mission as “renew a consensus of America as a nation under God.” Vought was closely involved with Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for Trump’s second term that he tried to distance himself from during the campaign. Vought has also previously worked as the executive and budget director for the Republican Study Committee, a caucus for conservative House Republicans. He also worked at Heritage Action, the political group tied to The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Dan Scavino, deputy chief of staff Scavino, whom Trump's transition referred to in a statement as one of “Trump's longest serving and most trusted aides,” was a senior adviser to Trump's 2024 campaign, as well as his 2016 and 2020 campaigns. He will be deputy chief of staff and assistant to the president. Scavino had run Trump's social media profile in the White House during his first administration. He was also held in contempt of Congress in 2022 after a month-long refusal to comply with a subpoena from the House committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. James Blair, deputy chief of staff Blair was political director for Trump's 2024 campaign and for the Republican National Committee. He will be deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs and assistant to the president. Blair was key to Trump's economic messaging during his winning White House comeback campaign this year, a driving force behind the candidate's “Trump can fix it” slogan and his query to audiences this fall if they were better off than four years ago. Taylor Budowich, deputy chief of staff Budowich is a veteran Trump campaign aide who launched and directed Make America Great Again, Inc., a super PAC that supported Trump's 2024 campaign. He will be deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel and assistant to the president. Budowich also had served as a spokesman for Trump after his presidency. Jay Bhattacharya, National Institutes of Health Trump has chosen Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to lead the National Institutes of Health. Bhattacharya is a physician and professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, and is a critic of pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates. He promoted the idea of herd immunity during the pandemic, arguing that people at low risk should live normally while building up immunity to COVID-19 through infection. The National Institutes of Health funds medical research through competitive grants to researchers at institutions throughout the nation. NIH also conducts its own research with thousands of scientists working at its labs in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Marty Makary, Food and Drug Administration Makary is a Johns Hopkins surgeon and author who argued against pandemic lockdowns. He routinely appeared on Fox News during the COVID-19 pandemic and wrote opinion articles questioning masks for children. He cast doubt on vaccine mandates but supported vaccines generally. Makary also cast doubt on whether booster shots worked, which was against federal recommendations on the vaccine. Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, Surgeon General Nesheiwat is a general practitioner who serves as medical director for CityMD, a network of urgent care centers in New York and New Jersey. She has been a contributor to Fox News. Dr. Dave Weldon, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Weldon is a former Florida congressman who recently ran for a Florida state legislative seat and lost; Trump backed Weldon’s opponent. In Congress, Weldon weighed in on one of the nation’s most heated debates of the 1990s over quality of life and a right-to-die and whether Terri Schiavo, who was in a persistent vegetative state after cardiac arrest, should have been allowed to have her feeding tube removed. He sided with the parents who did not want it removed. Jamieson Greer, U.S. trade representative Kevin Hassett, Director of the White House National Economic Council Trump is turning to two officials with experience navigating not only Washington but the key issues of income taxes and tariffs as he fills out his economic team. He announced he has chosen international trade attorney Jamieson Greer to be his U.S. trade representative and Kevin Hassett as director of the White House National Economic Council. While Trump has in several cases nominated outsiders to key posts, these picks reflect a recognition that his reputation will likely hinge on restoring the public’s confidence in the economy. Trump said in a statement that Greer was instrumental in his first term in imposing tariffs on China and others and replacing the trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, “therefore making it much better for American Workers.” Hassett, 62, served in the first Trump term as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. He has a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania and worked at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute before joining the Trump White House in 2017. Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.Living with AIDS: Diana Yañez Rodríguez de Madero, Daughter-in-law of Gustavo Madero Muñoz
An increase in usage of e-scooters has led to an increase in road collisions involving e-scooters ... [+] riders and other road users, like pedestrians. Speed, age of rider, and acceleration are among the issues addressed in a new report that calls for the development of a single set of mandatory technical requirements for all e-scooters sold in the European Union “to replace the current patchwork of national requirements, and voluntary standards.” The report, “ Improving the Road Safety of E-scooters ,” was released earlier this month by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), a Brussels-based independent non-profit organization, to promote common standards for e-scooter users that can be applied across the European Union. “E-scooters are now an established and popular way of getting around in urban areas in the EU,” Jenny Carson, co-author of the report, said in a statement. “However, they also come with a degree of risk that needs addressing more effectively than today.” The report was essential due to the increase in usage of e-scooters, which has led to an increase in road collisions involving e-scooters riders and other road users, like pedestrians, researchers said. Standards should be established soon, they added, as it takes years for new safety technologies and measures to be widely implemented. The safety standards recommended in the report include: a top speed limit of 20 km/h (12-13 mph), set at the factory; requirements for stability; minimum braking and maximum acceleration; front and rear brakes; an audible warning device (like a bell); front and rear lights; a minimum age of 16 for e-scooter riders; mandatory helmets; and a ban on riding after consuming alcohol or drugs. Elon Musk Apparently Just Became The No. 1 ‘Diablo 4’ Player In The World Stop Using Your Passwords—1Password And Google Warn Samsung’s Android 15 Decision—Bad News For Millions Of Galaxy S24, S23, S22 Owners While the European Union has some existing product regulations that apply to e-scooters, like rules covering machinery and batteries, there is no mandatory single standard for e-scooters covering factors like stability, maximum speed and braking performance, according to the report. However, several EU member states, including Germany and Spain, have developed their own national standards, and 11 European countries already require a 20 km/h maximum speed for e-scooters within their countries. Standards are important, the safety group said, as the EU currently has mandatory safety standards for new cars, vans and trucks, which include the fitting of automated emergency braking systems that can help prevent crashes with pedestrians and cyclists, but similar systems are not currently required to recognize e-scooter riders. Data is limited, but reported e-scooter-related deaths often involve alcohol, researchers said, noting that between half and two-thirds of those killed had consumed alcohol before riding. As a result, measures to address drunk-riding should include legal limits and appropriate levels of enforcement, they said. In Finland and Norway, for example, shared e-scooter providers are required to limit speed at night, or ban shared e-scooters during night hours, which resulted in a reduction in injuries. Safety issues surrounding e-scooter riders who take passengers and ride on pavement were also addressed in the report. In addition, lowering speed limits in urban areas is one of the main tools cities can use to reduce the risks for e-scooter users, and have been effective, researchers said. Drivers of cars, vans and trucks traveling at lower speeds are much less likely to kill e-scooter riders, pedestrians and cyclists. A new report, “Improving the Road Safety of E-scooters,” was released by the European Transport ... [+] Safety Council (ETSC) to promote common standards for e-scooter users that can be applied across the European Union. But in order to better understand and reduce the risk of death and serious injury, more crash data on e-scooter usage is needed, researchers said. For example, in some cases, police may not be called to the scene of a collision, so it may not be reported in national data. “With the right combination of a safer urban traffic environment, safer vehicles and safer rider behaviour, we can ensure that the roads are safer for e-scooter riders as well as cyclists and pedestrians,” Carson added. For more information, click here and here .Letter: Trump administration should not have carte blanche
DALLAS and VANCOUVER, British Columbia and ROME, Dec. 13, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AleAnna, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, “AleAnna” or the “Company”), an emerging leader in Italy’s energy landscape, announced the completion of the previously announced business combination (the “Business Combination”) between Swiftmerge Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: IVCP) (“Swiftmerge”), a special purpose acquisition company, and AleAnna Energy, LLC (“AleAnna Energy”). Concurrent with the completion of the Business Combination, Swiftmerge has changed its name to AleAnna, Inc. Commencing at the open of trading on December 16, 2024, the Class A shares of common stock and warrants of AleAnna are expected to begin trading on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the ticker symbols “ANNA” and “ANNAW”, respectively. The transaction was unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of Swiftmerge and was approved at an extraordinary general meeting (the “Shareholders Meeting”) of Swiftmerge’s shareholders on December 12, 2024. Former equity holders of AleAnna Energy rolled 100% of their equity interests into the combined company. Prior to the execution of the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated June 6, 2024, AleAnna Energy's equity holders contributed over $60 million in cash, bringing the company's total cumulative investment to nearly $175 million. This infusion of capital enabled the completion of the Longanesi Field tie-in and the acquisition of initial renewable natural gas (“RNG”) assets, both finalized in Q3 2024. Additionally, the investment covered expenses related to the business combination and provided funding for general corporate liquidity. As of the transaction close, AleAnna had approximately $28 million in cash and cash equivalents on its balance sheet and no debt. This disciplined approach to financial management has empowered AleAnna to allocate significant capital to innovative exploration and development projects while preserving financial flexibility. Long History In Developing Resources in Italy AleAnna has a distinguished history in Italy, having been a leader in energy exploration and development for over a decade. Since its founding in 2007, the company has been dedicated to unlocking the significant potential of Italy’s natural gas reserves through the application of cutting-edge seismic imaging and environmentally responsible practices. AleAnna holds one of the largest portfolios of exploration permits and production concessions in Italy, spanning over 2.3 million acres. By combining advanced technology with a deep respect for Italy’s cultural and environmental heritage, AleAnna is expected to play a pivotal role in bolstering the nation’s energy independence and economic growth, earning its reputation as a trusted partner in Italy’s energy future. Positioning itself as a leader in both onshore conventional natural gas and renewable natural gas (RNG) production, AleAnna is at the forefront of building a secure and reliable domestic energy supply for Italy and the broader European market. The company stands on the cusp of a major milestone, with the first phase of natural gas production from the Longanesi Field projected to commence in Q1 2025. Alongside this, additional gas discoveries at Gradizza and Trava, 13 development prospects in various permitting stages, and leases covering approximately 2.3 million net acres underscore AleAnna’s commitment to future exploration and development. AleAnna is also helping drive the European Union's clean energy transition through its innovative approach to RNG. Leveraging the strategic overlap between its conventional and renewable assets in the Po Valley, AleAnna is transforming agricultural waste into renewable energy. With three RNG facilities operational and over 100 additional opportunities identified, AleAnna is poised for significant expansion in this sector. Guided by a commitment to corporate responsibility and a vision for a sustainable future, AleAnna integrates conventional and renewable energy solutions to reduce Europe’s carbon footprint and advance its clean energy objectives. By delivering innovative energy solutions, AleAnna continues to shape Italy’s energy landscape and support the EU’s transition toward a greener future. Experienced Management And Board Of Directors The combined company will be led by William Dirks as Executive Director and Marco Brun as Chief Executive Officer, supported by a seasoned and highly skilled executive team. AleAnna’s leadership team brings extensive expertise gained from top-tier energy companies, including Shell, Eni, and Exxon. This seasoned group combines in-depth knowledge of energy technology, operations, and business development with well-established regulatory and industry networks in Italy. Their collective experience equips AleAnna to effectively navigate the dynamic and rapidly evolving energy landscape. The Board of Directors, which will include Graham van’t Hoff, William Dirks, Marco Brun, Duncan Palmer, and Curtis Hébert, collectively brings a wealth of experience spanning global energy markets, technical and operational expertise, European energy development, financial management, governance, and regulatory policy. This diverse set of skills and perspectives ensures comprehensive strategic oversight and positions AleAnna for sustained growth and success. With over 15 years of investment and operational experience in Italy, AleAnna has a competitive advantage in securing critical permits and approvals, positioning it ahead of its peers. The company’s approach integrates cutting-edge technologies and industry-leading practices with strategic capital allocation to maximize the value of its conventional and renewable natural gas (RNG) assets. AleAnna is dedicated to sustainable, low-cost growth while maintaining strict capital discipline. By prioritizing innovation, efficiency, and long-term shareholder value, AleAnna is well-positioned to lead the next phase of Italy’s energy transformation. Management Commentary Bill Dirks, Executive Director of AleAnna, commented, “Our investment in state-of-the-art subsurface technology has been a game-changer for AleAnna. By leveraging advanced seismic imaging and cutting-edge data analysis, we have achieved unparalleled accuracy in identifying and developing Italy’s natural gas resources. This technology not only enhances our operational efficiency but also ensures that our exploration and development activities are conducted in an environmentally responsible manner, aligning with our commitment to sustainability and innovation in the energy sector.” Marco Brun, AleAnna’s Chief Executive Officer, added, “We stand at a pivotal moment in AleAnna's journey. As we gear up for production at Longanesi and scale our renewable natural gas (RNG) operations, we are proud to be at the forefront of driving a sustainable energy future. This strategy not only delivers value to AleAnna shareholders but also plays a key role in reshaping the energy landscape for generations to come.” About AleAnna, Inc. AleAnna is an innovative energy company dedicated to unlocking Italy's extensive natural gas reserves and advancing renewable energy solutions to address the country's energy needs and support Europe's sustainability and energy security goals. With a vast portfolio encompassing over 2.3 million acres of potential resources and state-of-the-art technologies, AleAnna is poised to lead Italy's energy transition. Guided by a commitment to environmental responsibility and operational excellence, AleAnna is shaping a sustainable and secure energy future. The company operates regional headquarters in Dallas, TX, and Rome, Italy, serving as strategic hubs for its global and local initiatives. Forward-Looking Statements The information included herein contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Certain statements, other than statements of present or historical fact included herein, regarding the Business Combination, the anticipated benefits of the Business Combination, AleAnna’s future financial performance following the Business Combination, as well as AleAnna’s strategy, future operations, financial position, estimated revenues and losses, projected costs, prospects, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements. When used herein, including any statements made in connection herewith, the words “could,” “should,” “will,” “may,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “estimate,” “expect,” “project,” the negative of such terms and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. However, not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words. These forward-looking statements are based on AleAnna management’s current expectations and assumptions about future events. They are based on current information about the outcome and timing of future events. You should not place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Except as otherwise required by applicable law, AleAnna disclaims any duty to update any forward-looking statements, all expressly qualified by the statements in this section, to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof. AleAnna cautions you that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the control of AleAnna. These risks include, but are not limited to, general economic, financial, legal, political and business conditions and changes in domestic and foreign markets; the ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the Business Combination and any transactions contemplated thereby, which may be affected by, among other things, competition, the ability of AleAnna to grow and manage growth profitably and retain its management and key employees; AleAnna’s need for additional capital to execute its business plan and support its anticipated growth; costs related to the Business Combination; the risks associated with the growth of AleAnna’s business and the timing of expected business milestones; AleAnna’s ability to identify, develop and operate new projects; the reduction or elimination of government economic incentives to the natural gas market; delays in acquisition, financing, construction and development of new projects; decline in public acceptance and support of renewable energy development and projects; the ability to obtain necessary regulatory and governmental permits and approvals; uncertainty regarding the EU’s clean energy transition, including existing regulations and changes to regulations and policies that affect AleAnna’s operations; the ability to maintain the listing of AleAnna’s securities on a national securities exchange; and the effects of competition on AleAnna’s future business. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, and should one or more of the risks or uncertainties described herein and in any statements made in connection in addition to these occur, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results and plans could differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. There may be additional risks that AleAnna does not know or that AleAnna currently believes are immaterial that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Additional information concerning these and other factors that may impact AleAnna’s expectations and projections can be found in filings it makes with the SEC, including the definitive proxy statement/prospectus filed by Swiftmerge and AleAnna Energy with the SEC on November 21, 2024, including those under “Risk Factors” therein, and other documents filed or to be filed with the SEC by AleAnna. SEC filings are available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov . Investor Relations Contact For AleAnna, Inc.: Bill Dirks wkdirks@aleannagroup.com
DMV recalls ‘unacceptable and disturbing’ license plate mocking Oct. 7 attack on IsraelNeedham & Company LLC Reaffirms “Hold” Rating for Elastic (NYSE:ESTC)None
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