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jili777 me Overhauls of 'heritage brands' raise the question: How important are our products to our identities?

When Katja Vogt considers a Jaguar, she pictures a British-made car purring confidently along the Italian coastline — a vision of familiarity that conveys "that dreaming, longing feeling we all love." She's not sure what to think about Jaguar now after the 89-year-old company announced a radical rebranding that featured loud colors and androgynous people — but no cars. Jaguar, the company says, will now be JaGUar. It will produce only electric vehicles beginning in 2026. Bad attention is good attention, Jaguar execs would appear to believe. The car brand has prompted mockery online for posting a glitzy ad without a single car in it. Say goodbye to British racing green, Cotswold Blue and black. Its colors are henceforth electric pink, red and yellow, according to a video that sparked backlash online. Its mission statement: "Create exuberance. Live vivid. Delete ordinary. Break moulds." "Intrigued?" @Jaguar posted on social media. "Weird and unsettled" is more like it, Vogt wrote on Instagram. "Especially now, with the world feeling so dystopian," the Cyprus-based brand designer wrote, "a heritage brand like Jaguar should be conveying feelings of safety, stability, and maybe a hint of rebellion — the kind that shakes things up in a good way, not in a way that unsettles." Jaguar was one of several iconic companies that announced significant rebrandings in recent weeks, upending a series of commercial — and cultural — landmarks by which many modern human beings sort one another, carve out identities and recognize the world around them. Campbell's, the 155-year-old American icon that artist Andy Warhol immortalized in pop culture decades ago, is ready for a new, soupless name. Comcast's corporate reorganization means there will soon be two television networks with "NBC" in their name — CNBC and MSNBC — that will no longer have any corporate connection to NBC News, a U.S. legacy news outlet. CNBC One could even argue the United States itself is rebranding with the election of former President Donald Trump and Republican majorities in the House and Senate. Unlike Trump's first election in 2016, he won the popular vote in what many called a national referendum on American identity. Are we, then, the sum total of our consumer decisions — what we buy, where we travel and whom we elect? Certainly, it's a question for those privileged enough to be able to afford such choices. Volumes of research in the art and science of branding — from "brandr," an old Norse word for burning symbols into the hides of livestock — say those factors do contribute to the modern sense of identity. So rebranding, especially of heritage names, can be a deeply felt affront to consumers. "It can feel like the brand is turning its back on everything that it stood for — and therefore it feels like it's turning its back on us, the people who subscribe to that idea or ideology," said Ali Marmaduke, strategy director with the Amsterdam-based Brand Potential. He said cultural tension — polarization — is surging over politics, wars in Russia and the Mideast, the environment, public health and more, creating what Marmaduke said is known as a "polycrisis": the idea that there are several massive crises converging that feel scary and complex. Campbell's soups "People are understandably freaked out by that," he said. "So we are looking for something that will help us navigate this changing, threatening world that we face." Trump's "Make America Great Again" qualifies. So did President Joe Biden's "Build Back Better" slogan. Campbell's soup itself — "Mmm Mmm Good" — isn't going anywhere, CEO Mark Clouse said. The company's new name, Campbell's Co., will reflect "the full breadth of our portfolio," which includes brands like Prego pasta sauce and Goldfish crackers. None of the recent activity around heritage brands sparked a backlash as ferocious as Jaguar's. The company stood as a pillar of tradition-loving British identity since World War II. The famous "leaper" cat Jaguar logo is pictured in 2019 at the Auto show in Paris, France. Jaguar said its approach to the rebrand was rooted in the philosophy of its founder, Sir William Lyons, to "copy nothing." What it's calling "the new Jaguar" will overhaul everything from the font of its name to the positioning of it's famous "leaper" cat. "Exuberant modernism" will "define all aspects of the new Jaguar world," according to the news release. The approach is thought to be aimed at selling fewer cars at a six-figure price point to a more diverse customer base. The reaction ranged from bewilderment to hostility. Memes sprouted up likening the video to the Teletubbies, a Benetton ad and — perhaps predictably — a bow to "woke" culture as the blowback intersected with politics. Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly.OpenAI and military defense technology company Anduril Industries said Wednesday that they would work together to use artificial intelligence for "national security missions." The ChatGPT-maker and Anduril will focus on improving defenses against drone attacks, the companies said in a joint release. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.

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Power planners have found nuclear energy does not stack up for Australia even after considering new parameters, with large-scale solar and big batteries still the lowest-cost option. or signup to continue reading In the draft generation cost update released on Monday, scientists and energy officials warn taxpayers will need deep pockets and a lead time of at least 15 years to develop nuclear energy generation. For the seventh straight year, renewables were the lowest-cost of any new-build electricity-generating technology. After a global energy crisis and equipment supply crunch several years ago, large-scale solar and lithium battery storage have weathered the inflationary period the best of all technologies. The cost of batteries recorded the largest annual reduction, with capital costs down by one-fifth. Rooftop solar costs are also coming down. The draft GenCost 2024-25 Report comes as the coalition pushes for an end to Australia's nuclear ban and promises to have reactors online in as soon as 10 years if elected in 2025. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, eyeing sites in seven regional centres, has pledged to release the coalition's nuclear costings "this week". But nuclear energy generation would be 1.5 to two times more expensive than large-scale solar, according to the analysis released by the national science agency CSIRO and the Australian Energy Market Operator. A one-gigawatt nuclear plant has a price tag of roughly $9 billion, but the bill would double to $18 billion as the first of its kind. Operators would also need to establish new connection points to safely supply the national electricity grid, experts warn. Advocates have demanded greater recognition of the potential cost advantages of nuclear's long operating life compared to solar panels and wind turbines, but CSIRO chief energy economist and GenCost lead author Paul Graham said he found none. "Similar cost savings can be achieved with shorter-lived technologies including renewables, even when accounting for the need to build them twice," Mr Graham said. Nuclear's capacity factor - referring to how much of a year a reactor could operate at full tilt - remains unaltered at 53-89 per cent based on verifiable data and consideration of Australia's unique electricity generation needs. Nor would the often-touted United Arab Emirates example of a relatively quick 12-year nuclear construction time-frame be achievable here, the report found, because Australians require consultation. An increase in gas generation costs in the update included a premium for hydrogen readiness that was not included in previous data. All new gas turbine projects, including Kurri Kurri in NSW, are expected to include the capability for hydrogen blending and eventual conversion to hydrogen firing when supply becomes more readily available. The draft report is open for feedback until February 11, with a final version due in the second quarter of 2025. Advertisement Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date. We care about the protection of your data. Read our . AdvertisementCowboys Get Good News Before Thanksgiving Game - Heavy.com

“If gold rust, what then will iron do? For if a priest be foul in whom we trust, no wonder that a common man should rust.” – Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. On Sunday, 24 November 2024, I read a Ghana Web reportage carried under the banner headline: “2024 Elections: If your mother is at the funeral, you cannot be denied Tuo Zaafi – Bawumia to Walewale residents.” After reading the news report I became convinced instantly that Mahamudu Bawumia lacked the honesty, high moral character and proven integrity demanded of the high office of the President of Ghana under the 1992 Constitution. My memory sent me to a document I had been privy to as the Special Prosecutor in which the first of Nana Akufo-Addo’s guiding principles which he told to a friend who restated them in a handwritten recollection was as follows: “Ohene sƐ wo foro akoŋwa yi na sƐ wo aŋya sika a, wↄ bƐka sƐ wo yƐ okwasanpa ni”, however, that does NOT mean that ONLY ... [name] and ... [name] alone should make ALL the money ...the money must spread.” I have tried to type out the twi words in twi characters as written in hand using a computer as accurately as I can, which translated in my understanding means that: “ A chief who ascends a stool and does not get rich, would be said to be a foolish old man.” I shall explain how I came by Nana Akufo Addo’s guiding principles in due course. But I was flabbergasted, as I least expected that Dr. Mahamudu Bawunia, the son of my late friend, Alhaji Mumuni Bawumia, a two-time Chairperson of the Council of State under the 1992 Constitution, an honest and leading northern politician who fought tirelessly for the development of the British Protectorate of Northern Territories of the Gold Coast Colony and Ashanti (NT) until the North became part of a unitary Republic of Ghana would be so unlike his father and exhibit the highest degree of moral turpitude and selfishness in public office as a Vice-President wishing to become the next President of Ghana. I was puzzled at how this could happen to Alhaji Mumuni Bawumia’s son years after his demise and burial when the John Agyekum Kufuor government ignored the sad event without any state participation in the burial and funeral rites of such an honourable and distinguished Northerner of impeccable character and integrity. As I pondered upon how this could happen, my bank of knowledge brought to the fore the fact that the trait exhibited by Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia was an adulthood acquisition attributable to socialization through association with persons of a culture that endorses the new philosophy he propounded at the Walewale rally. The answer to the puzzle surfaced when my bank of knowledge rebooted to an incident which occurred in 2018 when I was the Special Prosecutor at the Office of the Special Prosecutor. One morning I was presented, without my asking, through an anti-corruption activist friend of mine with a document with the subject matter: “GUIDING PRINCIPLES???” which was a memorandum addressed in hand to President Nana Akufo Addo recounting a conversation between President Nana Akufo-Addo and a friend of his when he was the Foreign Minister then residing at his East Legon residence on the Ambassadorial Road just next to my late friend, DCOP Mr. J. A . Adams’ residence. I was so alarmed by the content of the document that instead of destroying it after reading it as I was instructed by the sender, I rather sent the document by special delivery to the United Kingdom for safekeeping in case anything untoward befell me as the Special Prosecutor. I had to refresh my memory with the exact words used in stating Nana Akufo-Addo’s guiding principles that rhymed with Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s pronounced “guiding principle” should he become President of Ghana. The reader who has been following my discourse on the 2024 elections and the competence of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as the anointed successor of President Akufo-Addo to be the sixth President of Ghana will recollect that I have been doubtful whether the Vice-President and flagbearer of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) was going to be any different from the governance style and principles of his mentor and promoter the President. Bawumia’s declaration of principle of one’s mother being at the funeral ensuring that one cannot be denied Tuo Zaafi, rhymes with Nana Akufo-Addo’s guiding principles before he became President as contained in the document I received when I was the Special Prosecutor in 2018. I, therefore, propose to set forth what Dr. Bawumia was quoted as having said to the residents of Walewale in his native West Mamprusi Municipal Assembly area alongside the message that was delivered to me in 2018 to put this matter into proper perspective. Ghana Web with source as 3news.com quoted the NPP flagbearer and incumbent Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia as stating that: “We have just two weeks to elect a president for Ghana. Imagine the feeling when they say the President of Ghana is from your home. God has given us a great chance, and that power can be beneficial because, per our constitution, whatever the President says is final. Just imagine that the power is in your own house.” The news report paraphrased Dr. Bawumia as: “Citing a local proverb which means that if one has their own in the right places, what they deserve will not be denied them, the NPP flagbearer urged them to vote for none other than him,” and quoted him in the following words: “That is why we say, if your mother is at the funeral, you cannot be denied TZ (Tuo Zaafi). You will just be enjoying TZ with good soup every day. ... Therefore, we must not joke with this opportunity. God has given us a great gift. God has given us a penalty and chosen a goalkeeper for us to score. John Mahama has been President before, and he can only do four years, but I can do eight years by the grace of God,” President Nana Akufo-Addo’s “GUIDING PRINCIPLES???” I received which was dated 18 April 2018 contained three (3) distinct guiding principles , the first two of which the written recollection of the conversation listed as follows: (i) “.... that on the aircraft from Mali/Niger? to Accra, you told K4 that,..”Sir, wo ayƐ mistake” ...you should NOT have bought the Hotel on your name and should have used a TRUST to acquire it...and the answer was very simple; that K4 did NOT trust anybody (to do just that). ...” (ii) ...” “Ohene sƐ wo foro akoŋwa yi na sƐ wo aŋya sika a, wↄ bƐka sƐ wo yƐ okwasanpa ni”, however, that does NOT mean that ONLY ... [name] and ... [name] alone should make ALL the money ...the money must spread.” I have left out the names of the two persons named as not being the ONLY people alone to “make ALL the money...the money must spread.” I have also left out the third listed principle out of discretion and caution. My intention is not to vilify everybody in the government. I am just stating why in my considered view the electorate should not vote for Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia to replace Nana Akufo-Addo as President of Ghana on 7 December 2024. When one puts Nana Akufo-Addo’s suggested “GUIDING PRINCIPLES???” alongside his anointed successor, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s guiding principles one cannot escape the conclusion that Dr. Bawumia has internalized a new cultural, economic, political and social process of socialization that forms his present character through association with the President from 2008 when he chose him as his running mate to date. After refreshing my memory with what I read as Nana Akufo-Addo’s guiding principles I could not resist the fact that his government of family, friends and cronies from 7 January 2017 has reflected the principles contained in the document I received as the Special Prosecutor in 2018. Nana Akufo-Addo’s right hand man in actualizing the create, loot and share philosophy he espoused while he was John Agyekum Kufour’s Foreign Minister and throughout his contest to be President and assuming the Presidency has been none other than Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia. Nana Akufo-Addo actualized his guiding principles during his eight-year tenure of office with Bawumia and still wants more of those governing principles to continue by choosing to anoint his Vice-President and poodle as successor through their long game of election rigging for the succession. My responsibility as a constitutional activist is to inform the electorate of the facts to enable them to make an informed choice of the next President of Ghana. When Mahamudu Bawumia as Vice-President saw the opportunity to locate a STEM Senior High School in the northern sector of Ghana he sent it to his late mother’s home village in Kpasenkpe, in his native West Mamprusi Municipal Assembly Area. When there was an opportunity for a public/private partnership to develop the watermelon industry in the northern sector of Ghana, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia ensured that the factory was sited at Logri within the environs of Walewale in his native West Mamprusi Municipal Assembly Area. The citizens of Ghana living in the North East Region where Dr. Bawumia hails from have had occasion to complain bitterly of discrimination in the distribution of development in that region. In an article headlined “One-Sided Distribution Of Development In the North East Region” published on Modern Ghana one author lamented as follows: “The North East has experienced some massive development over the last 7 years in the sector of Education, Health, Roads, Sports etc. The question is how are these developmental projects fairly distributed among the various vulnerable and deprived Districts?” The author answers the question as follows: Obviously No, because, some districts have been denied and neglect their share of the Regional Developmental Agenda base on some political merits while others had their shares. All the developmental projects have been shifted to one of the Region, some Districts have had tremendous growth and development while others still remains deprived and neglected. This (sic) simply the division of the Region into two, the Mamprugu areas and non Mamprugu areas.” The author then highlighted the inequality in distribution of development projects in the region by writing that: “West Mamprusi Municipal, East Mamprusi Municipal and Mamprugu Moaduri have gained some massive development in all sectors compare to Chereponi, Yunyoo-Nasua and Bunkpurugu-Nakpanduri. Several people have been asking why the three Mamprugu Districts gained much development than the others. The question remain unanswered....” The foregoing rhymes with the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia principles as stated by Bawumia at his hometown of Walewale in the West Mamprusi Municipality: “That is why we say, if your mother is at the funeral, you cannot be denied TZ (Tuo Zaafi). You will just be enjoying TZ with good soup every day.” As acting President of Ghana Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has shown zero competence for the protection of the citizens’ human security as evidenced by his inability to manage on-going conflicts in the country in the absence of the President from Ghana. This contrast very sharply with the character, honour, integrity and selflessness of his late distinguished father. Alhaji Mumuni Bawumia, the father of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, worked with the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) government from 1988 to 7 January 1993 as Ghana’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. The NDC Government of Jerry John Rawlings appointed him as the first and second Chairperson of the Council of State under the Fourth Republic during the two tenures of that government. I was present as Deputy Attorney General representing the Attorney-General at a Council of State requested meeting to discuss matters affecting the development of Ghana which was convened at the Castle Gardens. Alhaji Mumuni Bawumia took everybody by surprise when, out of the blue, he raised the question of why the former NT which became part of independent Ghana in 1957 still could not boast of one single justice in the Supreme Court of Ghana responsible for adjudicating on cases for the whole country when the 1992 Constitution had enshrined regional balance in appointments to public office. Alhaji Mumuni Bawumia demanded to know whether the government was telling the public that there were no competent lawyers from Northern Ghana qualified to be appointed to the Supreme Court all those years since independence. President Jerry John Rawlings told the assembled gathering that Alhaji Mumuni Bawumia, had made a valid point but he would have wished that the issue had been raised privately and not to the glare of the media with GBC-TV and other TV houses capturing what he had said. Jerry John Rawlings undertook to handle the aberration in the appointments to the Supreme Court which was not representative of the whole country at the time. The first supreme Court justice from Northern Ghana was nominated, opposed by the Ghana Bar Association and the NPP, and appointed to the Court in 1995. Alhaji Mumuni Bawumia after performing his duty to the North as he had done during the colonial era and since independence, never got himself involved in who was nominated from the North to the Supreme Court. I was most humbled by Alhaji Mumuni Bawumia’s integrity and selflessness for equality in Mother Ghana’s non-discriminatory power distribution in appointments to public office as mandated by the 1992 Constitution. I have tried to follow in the footsteps of the honesty, integrity, selflessness and service of our forebearers from the NT which later became Northern Ghana after independence. This contributed to my shock and trauma when I read Dr. Bawumia’s guiding principles. Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and his siblings during the lifetime of their father were known NDC sympathizers with Dr. Bawumia’s mother being the women’s organizer for the West Mamprusi Constituency of the NDC. Young Mahamudu after his father had arranged with President Rawlings for him to return home and to be employed at the Bank of Ghana in 2000 became restless in 2004 when the NDC at its delegates congress in Kumasi decided that the next NDC running mate should be a northerner and a Muslim. Mahamudu Bawumia lobbied behind the scenes with Jerry John Rawlings to be nominated, as I was informed by the late President, whilst at the Bank of Ghana but lost out. The choice was for Professor Mills to make and not former President Rawlings. Nana Akufo-Addo had identified and groomed the restless and ambitious Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia whilst he was at the Bank of Ghana and lobbying to become the next Vice Presidential candidate to the NDC and the NPP simultaneously. The established loyalists of the NPP tradition objected to Nana Akufo-Addo’s proposal to make Dr. Bawumia his running mate for the 2008 elections but lost the contest once Nana Akufo-Addo won the presidential primaries to represent the NPP in those elections. The process of grooming, cloning, and the socialization of Dr. Bawumia as Nana Akufo-Addo’s poodle began leading to the sharing of the similar governance principles Bawumia espoused at the Walewale rally. Nana Akufo-Addo has so succeeded in grooming Dr. Bawumia in his own character and image that he can rest assured that when Dr. Bawumia succeeds him as President the fruits of “Ohene sƐ wo foro akoŋwa yi na sƐ wo aŋya sika a, wↄ bƐka sƐ wo yƐ okwasanpa ni”, however, that does NOT mean that ONLY ... [name] and ... [name] alone should make ALL the money ...the money must spread” will be protected from auditing for his family, friends and cronies under his regime to sleep in peace. The choice that faces the electorate on 7 December 2024 is, therefore, to vote Mahamudu Bawumia as Nana Akufo-Addo’s anointed successor and continue suffering under the create loot and share principle they both hold in common or vote for change to enable probity and accountability as demanded by the Constitution to prevail. I cannot as a person born in the then NT recommend Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as a person with the trait of honesty, integrity and selfless service exhibited by our forebearers from the NT to the Republic of Ghana to be elected on 7 December 2024 as President symbolizing a representation of northerners on an NPP ticket for Ghana. Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia is not only an opportunist and pretender, he has lost track of the high moral character associated with his own biological family and the forebearers of Northern Ghana. The Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia principle of “That is why we say, if your mother is at the funeral, you cannot be denied TZ (Tuo Zaafi). You will just be enjoying TZ with good soup every day” is inconsistent with and contravenes the Presidential Oath which Mahamudu Bawumia took as Vice-President which from his own Walewale confession he will abuse again should the electorate vote for him on 7 December 2024. Ghana needs a President from one of the two dominant political parties who can audit the economic mess the Nana Akufo-Addo/Bawumia inept government is going to leave behind. I have demonstrated hereinbefore that Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia is a clone and poodle of the incumbent President and is incapable of doing such an audit. With Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, it is the same old wine in a new bottle! We may as well put lipstick on a pig, as the saying goes. John Dramani Mahama is not a saint, but he is nobody’s poodle. He has the experience as a former President to audit the mess the Nana Akufo-Addo/ Bawumia government will leave behind. I have had problems with John Dramani Mahama in the past which are documented on my website. The constitutional situation on our hands, however, demands pragmatism to ensure probity and accountability after an eight year tenure of government. We need a candidate who can command a sizeable parliamentary representation to actualize an audit of the previous government. John Dramani Mahama whose audit Nana Akufo-Addo fears ought to be the best bet for the integrity of the 1992 Constitution in our present circumstances. The 1992 Constitution does not enshrine dynasty or inheritance by cronyism, that is why the electorate should aim for a change in government on 7 December 2024 to defend and preserve the Constitution of our Fourth Republic. Ghana must always come first! Martin A. B. K. Amidu 3 December 2024The holiday gift puzzle: Who should get a gift, and what should it be?

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J&K gets Rs 117.58 cr landmark agriculture projects: Javed DarPhiladelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts has been officially ruled out for their Week 17 game against the Dallas Cowboys. Naturally, the news sparked disappointment among the Philly faithful. Hurts' status had been in question all week after suffering a concussion in Week 16 against the Washington Commanders. The Eagles QB wasn't able to practice due to that, on Friday that "he’s still in the protocol" and that "it’s going to be tough for him to make it this week." Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Thanks for the feedback.

Injured Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts won't play Sunday against DallasSeveral members of Donald Trump's incoming US administration have received threats including bomb alerts, the FBI said Wednesday, with one nominee reporting a pipe-bomb scare sent with a pro-Palestinian message. The President-elect's picks for UN ambassador and head of the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as his former choice to be US attorney general, said they were among those who had received the threats. "The FBI is aware of numerous bomb threats and swatting incidents targeting incoming administration nominees and appointees, and we are working with our law enforcement partners," the agency said in a statement. Swatting refers to a practice in which police are summoned urgently to someone's house under false pretenses. Such hoax calls are common in the United States and have seen numerous senior political figures targeted in recent years. Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump's transition team, said that several appointees and nominees "were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them." Outgoing President Joe Biden "has been briefed" on the threats, the White House said. "The White House is in touch with federal law enforcement and the President-elect’s team, and continues to monitor the situation closely," a spokesperson said in a statement. "The president and the administration unequivocally condemn threats of political violence." Biden has vowed a smooth and peaceful presidential transition -- in contrast to when Trump riled a mob that attacked the US Capitol in January 2021 with false claims of election fraud. Elise Stefanik, a Trump loyalist congresswoman tapped to be UN ambassador, said her residence in New York was targeted in a bomb threat. She said in a statement that she, her husband, and small son were driving home from Washington for the Thanksgiving holiday when they learned of the threat. Lee Zeldin, Trump's pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, said his home was targeted with a pipe bomb threat sent with a "pro-Palestinian themed message." The former congressman from New York said he and his family were not home at the time. Matt Gaetz, who dropped out as Trump's pick to be attorney general after facing opposition over sexual misconduct allegations, reposted Zeldin's message on X and said: "Same." Scott Turner, the nomine for Housing Secretary and a retired NFL player, and Trump's pick for Labor Secretary, meanwhile also said they had also received bomb threats at their homes. Fox News Digital quoted unidentified sources saying that John Ratcliffe, Trump's nominee to head the CIA, and Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary pick, were additionally targeted. Ahead of his return to the White House in January, Trump has already swiftly assembled a cabinet of loyalists, including several criticized for a severe lack of experience. The Republican, who appears set to avoid trial on criminal prosecutions related to attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss, was wounded in the ear in July in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally. The shooter was killed in counter-fire. In September, authorities arrested another man accused of planning to shoot at Trump while he played golf at his course in West Palm Beach, Florida. Leavitt appeared to reference the previous incidents, saying that "with President Trump as our example, dangerous acts of intimidation and violence will not deter us." bur-dk/sms

Daily Deals: Metaphor: ReFantazio, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, PlayStation 5 Consoles, and MoreWASHINGTON (AP) — After several weeks working mostly behind closed doors, Vice President-elect JD Vance returned to Capitol Hill this week in a new, more visible role: Helping Donald Trump try to get his most contentious Cabinet picks to confirmation in the Senate, where Vance has served for the last two years. Vance arrived at the Capitol on Wednesday with former Rep. Matt Gaetz and spent the morning sitting in on meetings between Trump’s choice for attorney general and key Republicans, including members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The effort was for naught: Gaetz announced a day later that he was withdrawing his name amid scrutiny over sex trafficking allegations and the reality that he was unlikely to be confirmed. Thursday morning Vance was back, this time accompanying Pete Hegseth, the “Fox & Friends Weekend” host whom Trump has tapped to be the next secretary of defense. Hegseth also has faced allegations of sexual assault that he denies. Vance is expected to accompany other nominees for meetings in coming weeks as he tries to leverage the two years he has spent in the Senate to help push through Trump's picks. The role of introducing nominees around Capitol Hill is an unusual one for a vice president-elect. Usually the job goes to a former senator who has close relationships on the Hill, or a more junior aide. But this time the role fits Vance, said Marc Short, who served as Trump’s first director of legislative affairs as well as chief of staff to Trump’s first vice president, Mike Pence, who spent more than a decade in Congress and led the former president’s transition ahead of his first term. ”JD probably has a lot of current allies in the Senate and so it makes sense to have him utilized in that capacity,” Short said. Unlike the first Trump transition, which played out before cameras at Trump Tower in New York and at the president-elect's golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, this one has largely happened behind closed doors in Palm Beach, Florida. There, a small group of officials and aides meet daily at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort to run through possible contenders and interview job candidates. The group includes Elon Musk, the billionaire who has spent so much time at the club that Trump has joked he can’t get rid of him. Vance has been a constant presence, even as he’s kept a lower profile. The Ohio senator has spent much of the last two weeks in Palm Beach, according to people familiar with his plans, playing an active role in the transition, on which he serves as honorary chair. Vance has been staying at a cottage on the property of the gilded club, where rooms are adorned with cherubs, oriental rugs and intricate golden inlays. It's a world away from the famously hardscrabble upbringing that Vance documented in the memoir that made him famous, “Hillbilly Elegy.” His young children have also joined him at Mar-a-Lago, at times. Vance was photographed in shorts and a polo shirt playing with his kids on the seawall of the property with a large palm frond, a U.S. Secret Service robotic security dog in the distance. On the rare days when he is not in Palm Beach, Vance has been joining the sessions remotely via Zoom. Though he has taken a break from TV interviews after months of constant appearances, Vance has been active in the meetings, which began immediately after the election and include interviews and as well as presentations on candidates’ pluses and minuses. Among those interviewed: Contenders to replace FBI Director Christopher Wray , as Vance wrote in a since-deleted social media post. Defending himself from criticism that he’d missed a Senate vote in which one of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees was confirmed, Vance wrote that he was meeting at the time "with President Trump to interview multiple positions for our government, including for FBI Director.” “I tend to think it’s more important to get an FBI director who will dismantle the deep state than it is for Republicans to lose a vote 49-46 rather than 49-45,” Vance added on X. “But that’s just me.” While Vance did not come in to the transition with a list of people he wanted to see in specific roles, he and his friend, Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who is also a member of the transition team, were eager to see former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. find roles in the administration. Trump ended up selecting Gabbard as the next director of national intelligence , a powerful position that sits atop the nation’s spy agencies and acts as the president’s top intelligence adviser. And he chose Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services , a massive agency that oversees everything from drug and food safety to Medicare and Medicaid. Vance was also a big booster of Tom Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who will serve as Trump's “border czar.” In another sign of Vance's influence, James Braid, a top aide to the senator, is expected to serve as Trump’s legislative affairs director. Allies say it’s too early to discuss what portfolio Vance might take on in the White House. While he gravitates to issues like trade, immigration and tech policy, Vance sees his role as doing whatever Trump needs. Vance was spotted days after the election giving his son’s Boy Scout troop a tour of the Capitol and was there the day of leadership elections. He returned in earnest this week, first with Gaetz — arguably Trump’s most divisive pick — and then Hegseth, who has was been accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2017, according to an investigative report made public this week. Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter had been consensual and denied any wrongdoing. Vance hosted Hegseth in his Senate office as GOP senators, including those who sit on the Senate Armed Services Committee, filtered in to meet with the nominee for defense secretary. While a president’s nominees usually visit individual senators’ offices, meeting them on their own turf, the freshman senator — who is accompanied everywhere by a large Secret Service detail that makes moving around more unwieldy — instead brought Gaetz to a room in the Capitol on Wednesday and Hegseth to his office on Thursday. Senators came to them. Vance made it to votes Wednesday and Thursday, but missed others on Thursday afternoon. Vance is expected to continue to leverage his relationships in the Senate after Trump takes office. But many Republicans there have longer relationships with Trump himself. Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, said that Trump was often the first person to call him back when he was trying to reach high-level White House officials during Trump's first term. “He has the most active Rolodex of just about anybody I’ve ever known,” Cramer said, adding that Vance would make a good addition. “They’ll divide names up by who has the most persuasion here,” Cramer said, but added, “Whoever his liaison is will not work as hard at it as he will.” Cramer was complimentary of the Ohio senator, saying he was “pleasant” and ” interesting” to be around. ′′He doesn’t have the long relationships," he said. "But we all like people that have done what we’ve done. I mean, that’s sort of a natural kinship, just probably not as personally tied.” Under the Constitution, Vance will also have a role presiding over the Senate and breaking tie votes. But he's not likely to be needed for that as often as was Kamala Harris, who broke a record number of ties for Democrats as vice president, since Republicans will have a bigger cushion in the chamber next year. Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.