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In an old cabinet, stashed away at the back of my closet, there are not one, not two, but three drawers full of old cables and devices. Every generation of USB is represented as is every major brand of gadget. I know that I won’t use these cables again, but I also know they don’t belong in the trash. I have no excuse for not recycling them.I’m not the only one. Globally, a paltry 12 percent of small electronics get recycled, according to a 2024 UN report. The numbers don’t get much better for larger electronics. That means billions of pounds of equipment, from old iPods to broken TVs, gets thrown away. Those discarded electronics, commonly known as e-waste, are filled with valuable metals that end up in landfills along with dangerous chemicals that can leach into the soil and groundwater. Beyond that, there’s a veritable treasure trove of critical materials that gets lost when these devices aren’t recycled. “One of the things that I think that consumers don’t know, and they should, is that it’s way easier to recycle electronics than you might think,” said Callie Babbitt, a professor in the Rochester Institute of Technology’s sustainability department.“By recycling a product, you’re able to offset the energy and the materials that it would take to manufacture a new one,” Babbitt added. “And that means we don’t have to mine as many materials from sometimes vulnerable and ecologically sensitive parts of the world.”Recycling e-waste is not as straightforward as recycling aluminum cans. It’s not exactly rocket science, either. Many big-box stores will recycle your old electronics for you, as will a growing list of recycling centers. But that fact won’t solve the global e-waste crisis. Humans created 137 billion pounds of e-waste in 2022, which makes e-waste one of the fastest growing solid waste streams in the world. Finding a place to put all that trash isn’t the only problem. It’s extremely energy intensive to mine for the critical metals needed to manufacture electronics, so reusing those components is essential in the fight against climate change. And we can all do our part to help address it.It might sound like an exaggeration to say that Americans have billions of dollars worth of world-saving materials in their junk drawers. But it’s not. It’s actually more like $60 billion worth of stuff. Now that the holiday season is fully upon us, consider giving those materials back to the world. If you just bought a new phone, for instance, don’t throw the old one in the trash. Definitely don’t put it in that drawer in the back of your closet. Someone will probably pay good money to take it off your hands.The surprisingly complex e-waste crisisThe term e-waste might make you think of boxes full of old circuit boards, and that’s partially correct. Old circuit boards, cables, and screens all contain small amounts of valuable elements like copper, gold, and silver that can be extracted and reused. However, as microchips have found their way into more and more products, the definition of e-waste has expanded to include everything from light-up kids’ toys to toasters. The world’s e-waste problem is getting bigger, in part because we’re just making and consuming more electronics, including products that can’t be repaired or were designed to have short lifecycles. (Looking at you, Apple AirPods.) That 137 million pounds of e-waste created by humans in 2022 breaks down to 17 pounds of e-waste per person. Only about 22 percent of it was formally collected and recycled. Compare that to the more than 50 percent of aluminum cans that get recycled and it’s easy to see we have some work to do.Ramping up e-waste recycling would make us less reliant on the destructive and energy-intensive mining operations around the world. In addition to their significant greenhouse gas emissions, mining for the types of metals we need to build electronics also damages local ecosystems and hurts biodiversity. Many of the critical minerals needed for things like smartphones and clean energy tech, including solar panels and EVs, also come from countries with records of abusive working conditions in mines. Those metals, which include indium (used in touchscreens), tantalum (for capacitors that store energy), and germanium (for semiconductors like microchips), typically aren’t found in the US, so recycled electronics are a key way to build up a domestic supply chain for these elements.“There is a global effort right now — almost a race, if you want to say it that way — for countries to have access to rare earth elements,” said Nena Shaw, director of the Resource Conservation and Sustainability Division at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “And so the US wants to keep what we have.”We’ll need a lot more of those critical materials in the years to come, too. Demand for cobalt, which is essential for EV batteries, will grow fivefold by 2050, according to the International Energy Association. Demand for lithium, also a key battery ingredient, could grow tenfold by 2050.You probably have some lithium in a drawer somewhere, maybe inside an old phone’s battery. Throwing that phone in the trash is a bad idea, if only because lithium-ion batteries have an unfortunate tendency to catch on fire and then set entire landfills on fire. Recycling is a better idea but only if done right. The scramble to recapture an estimated $62 billion worth of unclaimed materials has created an informal e-waste recycling market with harmful consequences. That includes the rise of urban mining, where electronics are recycled and refined on the streets of low-income countries. This leads to toxic fumes harming local workers and residents and corrosive chemicals being dumped in rivers. The UN estimates that about half the world’s recycled e-waste goes through informal channels.So how can you make sure that phone ends up in the right place? The short answer is to go through a big-box retailer, like Best Buy. The longer answer is to seek out certified e-waste recyclers in your area, which requires a tiny bit of knowledge about how the industry works.How to recycle anything with a power switchThe world of formal e-waste collection and recycling is booming. After all, the stuff being recycled is literally full of gold and other very valuable minerals. E-waste recyclers face two big challenges, however. One, recycling old electronics is notoriously complex. Two, not enough people recycle old electronics.Let’s start with the complex bit. In order to get at the reusable parts of an old phone or TV, recyclers have to tear the thing down to its most basic components. That means ripping off the plastic shell, tearing out the circuit board, and so forth. Recovering the valuable material from those components is more difficult, as it usually involves either melting down the components or bathing them in acid. This process could work better, and plenty of people are trying to figure out how. One of them is Terence Musho, an associate professor of engineering at the West Virginia University. Musho led a DARPA-funded project to develop a modular e-waste recycling system.“The holy grail of e-waste recycling is if you could shred your whole iPhone, run it through some process, and get out select metals,” Musho told me. “We’re not quite there yet.”One thing that would help: More people need to recycle e-waste. Figuring out exactly where to go can be a challenge. All you really need to know is how to find certified e-waste recyclers. Just look for one of these two main certification programs out there: R2 and e-Stewards. (Click through those links to find recyclers near you.) Certified R2 and e-Steward recyclers will know how to handle your e-waste in a safe, environmentally friendly way, and they’ll also be mindful of your data security, since you don’t want a scavenger discovering an old hard drive with your banking info on it.You don’t have to hunt down an e-waste specialist to recycle your old gadgets, though. You can actually drop off most old electronics at big-box stores, including Best Buy and Staples. You can take batteries, fluorescent light bulbs, and plastic bags to Home Depot. Everything else can go to certain Goodwill locations that have a partnership with Dell to recycle e-waste. If you’re still at a loss for drop-off sites, Earth911 and Call2Recycle have handy hyperlocal guides.There are also plenty of ways to get rid of your old electronics and get something back. Big-box retailers, including Best Buy and Amazon, have trade-in programs for certain devices, as does the popular refurbished electronics marketplace Back Market. There are also smaller sites like Decluttr and Swappa that accept old gadgets and give you credit on refurbished ones, kind of like a used book store would for your old books.If all else fails, there’s bound to be an e-waste recycling event in your town or county at some point in time. The New York City Department of Sanitation, for instance, had one at my local library last month. I regret missing it. After all, those drawers full of cords and old gadgets aren’t going to recycle themselves.A version of this story was also published in the Vox Technology newsletter. Sign up here so you don’t miss the next one!

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Sir Keir Starmer has led a host of tributes to former US president Jimmy Carter, saying he “redefined the post-presidency with a remarkable commitment to social justice and human rights at home and abroad”. The Prime Minister said Mr Carter, who died aged 100, will be remembered for the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, as well as his “decades of selfless public service”. He added that it was the Democrat’s “lifelong dedication to peace” that led to him receiving the Nobel Peace prize in 2002. Very sorry to hear of President Carter’s passing. I pay tribute to his decades of selfless public service. My thoughts are with his family and friends at this time. pic.twitter.com/IaKmZcteb1 — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) December 29, 2024 Sir Keir was joined in paying tribute to the 39th president by other leaders including the King, current President Joe Biden, Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey and former PM Tony Blair. The King remembered former US president Jimmy Carter’s 1977 visit to the UK with “great fondness” and praised his “dedication and humility”. In a message to Mr Biden and the American people, Charles said: “It was with great sadness that I learned of the death of President Carter. “He was a committed public servant, and devoted his life to promoting peace and human rights. “His dedication and humility served as an inspiration to many, and I remember with great fondness his visit to the United Kingdom in 1977. “My thoughts and prayers are with President Carter’s family and the American people at this time.” Mr Biden said that Mr Carter was an “extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian”. He said his fellow Democrat was a “dear friend”, as he announced that he will order a state funeral to be held for him in Washington DC. “Today, America and the world lost an extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian,” he said. “Over six decades, we had the honour of calling Jimmy Carter a dear friend. But, what’s extraordinary about Jimmy Carter though is that millions of people throughout America and the world who never met him thought of him as a dear friend as well. “With his compassion and moral clarity, he worked to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil rights and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless, and always advocate for the least among us. He saved, lifted and changed the lives of people all across the globe. “He was a man of great character and courage, hope and optimism.” Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said Mr Carter “will be remembered for generations”. “Jimmy Carter was an inspiration,” Mr Davey wrote on X. “He led a truly remarkable life dedicated to public service with a genuine care for people. “My thoughts are with his family, friends and all those who loved him. He will be remembered for generations.” Mr Blair said: “Jimmy Carter’s life was a testament to public service; from his time in office, and the Camp David Accords, to his remarkable commitment to the cause of people and peace round the world over the past 40 years,” he said. “I always had the greatest respect for him, his spirit and his dedication. He fundamentally cared and consistently toiled to help those in need.”

Court challenge over vote to extend post-Brexit trading arrangements dismissedFans will be able to check back into “ White Lotus ” in February, according to Warner Bros. Discovery global streaming chief JB Perrette. The exec revealed the news Tuesday during a tech and media conference hosted by Wells Fargo, along with HBO ‘s planned spring 2025 premiere for “The Last of Us” Season 2, a late 2025 launch for “Game of Thrones” prequel “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” and an anticipated 2026 debut for “ Euphoria ” Season 3. (While Perrette said “Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” would be coming in the summer, Variety has learned it’s more likely going to be a fourth-quarter title.) Additionally, Perrette indicated that HBO’s upcoming “Harry Potter” TV series, which was previously targeting a 2026 launch and is currently in the casting stage for its new Harry, Ron and Hermione, will instead come in 2027: “As you look at ’26 and into ’27, you begin a 10-year journey on the ‘Harry Potter’ series, which we’re super excited about. And I’d argue, may be the biggest event by the time we get to that series.” Perrette, the president and CEO of global streaming and games at Warner Bros. Discovery, said that Max will begin cracking down on password sharing in earnest this month with “some very early, gentle messaging.” “This is an art and a science of trying to figure out who is actually sharing versus who may be actually at their vacation home or on a business trip, and so it’s an art and a science,” Perrette said. “We will offer a way to essentially add a member, starting in the first quarter. We will then start gradually as we get the data and start figuring out, with some explicit and implicit signals, how good we are at detecting. And then as we go through ’25, you’re going to see the filters get tighter and tighter.” Max is currently priced at $16.99 for its ad-free tier ($9.99 with ads, and $20.99 for the “ultimate” ad-free version), which Perrette says will increase in the future, though he did not give a timeline for the next bump or how much it would be: “Obviously, we continue to be a driver of price. Naturally, with Max and with HBO as a content category and a brand, we want to be at the premium end of the pricing. And so we want to continue to push price as we go as well.”

Windbiel nets first OHL win while Costanzo post third shutout to lead Spitifres-- Shares Facebook Twitter Reddit Email In response to the news on Monday that police in Pennsylvania apprehended 26-year-old Luigi Mangione , the prime suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson , Sen. Ted Cruz , R-Texas, is using him as an example of "leftist" views being a mental illness. In a post to X made shortly after Mangione was identified, Cruz shared an article by the New York Post and wrote, "Leftism is a mental disease. The suspected murderer, an Ivy League graduate, 'subscribed to anti-capitalist and climate-change causes, according to law enforcement.' And the murderer has been widely celebrated by leftists online. Tragic & sick." Related Murdering health insurance CEOs will get us nowhere In the wake of Mangione's arrest in Altoona, Pa., a rush of information on the suspect's background has been circulating online, with The New York Times reporting that he attended high school at the Gilman School in Baltimore, where he was an athlete and the valedictorian of his graduating class in 2016, delivering a speech describing his class as “coming up with new ideas and challenging the world around it.” With the only prior criminal activity linked to Mangione being a citation for trespassing in Hawaii, the suspect's online presence shows a split in his path, with a Goodreads review he left on Ted Kaczynski's manifesto referring to the Unabomber as an "extreme political revolutionary," and friends and loved ones expressing concern for him on social media a month prior to the shooting of Thompson, according to The Daily Beast . None of this, however, backs up Cruz's statement. "Person of Interest in the UHC CEO killing Luigi Mangione is being painted as left-wing by the New York Post but his X account shows someone whose thinking is shaped by the Online Right," writes journalist Ari Drennen in a post to X. Read more about this topic "Frankly offensive": UnitedHealth CEO responds to "aggressive" media interest in Thompson murder “We’re still gonna say no”: UnitedHealthcare’s effort to deny coverage to chronically ill patient Only the wealthy have the right to longevity. Medicare for All can fix that MORE FROM Kelly McClure Advertisement:

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SWAMPSCOTT — Swampscott Recreation is partnering with the North East chapter of Robothink to teach students everything from robotics and engineering, to what it’s like to roam on Mars using high-tech rovers. According to its website, Robothink is a leading provider of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) programs to children across 23 countries. The program runs for six weeks, on Saturdays between Jan. 4 to Feb. 8 from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at the Swampscott Highschool Cafeteria. Cost of entry is $250. “Swampscott recreation is thrilled to welcome back Robothink for another session of its STEM programming this winter,” the Facebook post said. This year’s theme of the winter session will be a “Mars expedition”. Students who participate will get a hands-on experience, learning about what it’s like to engineer and operate the state-of-the-art rovers NASA uses to explore the alien terrain of Mars. With an array of tools and hardware provided by Robothink, students will get to work with gears, motors, axles and everything in between. Students will also have the opportunity to craft their own spaceship.Bank of America signs again with FIFA for US-hosted Club World Cup that still has no TV deals

Tom Brady is nearing the end of his first year of his first post-NFL career with another set of problems for the former quarterback. Tom Brady and Daniel Jones both shared the NFL for a spell. As the successor to Tom Brady’s biggest rival , one could make an educated guess that Brady has kept an extra close eye on Daniel Jones through conscious or unconscious effort. Either way, the former Patriots quarterback commented on Daniel Jones’ exit from the Giants while commentating the Cowboys-Giants game on Thanksgiving. Here’s what he said, per Sports Illustrated : “I don’t know how that whole situation went down but to think you would ask for a release from a team that committed a lot to you is maybe different than I would have handled that. “There’s just some different things that happen in the NFL and everyone makes individual choices. I think we all at points in our career face different challenges. “I faced some in college and some things didn’t go the way I wanted. The people that mattered the most to me were the guys in the locker room. I showed up every day. I don’t care if they asked me to be scout team safety or be scout team quarterback. I was going to do whatever I could to help the team win. Tiki Barber on Tom Brady The former quarterback of the New England Patriots , however, never was put in a position like that once he became the starting quarterback at the dawn of the 2000s. One of Brady’s former rivals responded to Brady’s comments. Former New York Giants wide receiver Tiki Barber questioned whether Tom Brady’s lack of interactions with the team pushed him into saying something he otherwise would not have. “Do you think he’s having that conversation because he doesn’t do production meetings? “If you have any kind of conversation with anybody on the Giants you’re not saying that. I honestly don’t think you’re saying it that way.” Brady is stuck in a spider’s web of red tape due to his decisions since signing on the dotted line to join FOX to cover games for the network. What are Tom Brady’s special rules? The former Patriots and Buccaneers quarterback is a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders. As such, the quarterback’s choice to do so has resulted in additional handcuffs on what the commentator can and cannot do. One of the stipulations is very limited interactions with the teams leading up to the game. Put simply, there is a question of a conflict of interest with Brady owning stock in a team competing with other teams he has been covering. Per Front Office Sports, Brady cannot call out teams or referees, enter team facilities, attend practice or join virtual or in-person meetings with players or personnel. Brady has inched close to that line, but has managed to avoid blatantly violating the rules thus far, but this appeared to be a close call. This article first appeared on NFL Analysis Network and was syndicated with permission.

PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Newly married and sworn as a Naval officer, Jimmy Carter left his tiny hometown in 1946 hoping to climb the ranks and see the world. Less than a decade later, the death of his father and namesake, a merchant farmer and local politician who went by “Mr. Earl,” prompted the submariner and his wife, Rosalynn, to return to the rural life of Plains, Georgia, they thought they’d escaped. The lieutenant never would be an admiral. Instead, he became commander in chief. Years after his presidency ended in humbling defeat, he would add a Nobel Peace Prize, awarded not for his White House accomplishments but “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” The life of James Earl Carter Jr., the 39th and longest-lived U.S. president, ended Sunday at the age of 100 where it began: Plains, the town of 600 that fueled his political rise, welcomed him after his fall and sustained him during 40 years of service that redefined what it means to be a former president. With the stubborn confidence of an engineer and an optimism rooted in his Baptist faith, Carter described his motivations in politics and beyond in the same way: an almost missionary zeal to solve problems and improve lives. Carter was raised amid racism, abject poverty and hard rural living — realities that shaped both his deliberate politics and emphasis on human rights. “He always felt a responsibility to help people,” said Jill Stuckey, a longtime friend of Carter's in Plains. “And when he couldn’t make change wherever he was, he decided he had to go higher.” Carter's path, a mix of happenstance and calculation , pitted moral imperatives against political pragmatism; and it defied typical labels of American politics, especially caricatures of one-term presidents as failures. “We shouldn’t judge presidents by how popular they are in their day. That's a very narrow way of assessing them," Carter biographer Jonathan Alter told the Associated Press. “We should judge them by how they changed the country and the world for the better. On that score, Jimmy Carter is not in the first rank of American presidents, but he stands up quite well.” Later in life, Carter conceded that many Americans, even those too young to remember his tenure, judged him ineffective for failing to contain inflation or interest rates, end the energy crisis or quickly bring home American hostages in Iran. He gained admirers instead for his work at The Carter Center — advocating globally for public health, human rights and democracy since 1982 — and the decades he and Rosalynn wore hardhats and swung hammers with Habitat for Humanity. Yet the common view that he was better after the Oval Office than in it annoyed Carter, and his allies relished him living long enough to see historians reassess his presidency. “He doesn’t quite fit in today’s terms” of a left-right, red-blue scoreboard, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who visited the former president multiple times during his own White House bid. At various points in his political career, Carter labeled himself “progressive” or “conservative” — sometimes both at once. His most ambitious health care bill failed — perhaps one of his biggest legislative disappointments — because it didn’t go far enough to suit liberals. Republicans, especially after his 1980 defeat, cast him as a left-wing cartoon. It would be easiest to classify Carter as a centrist, Buttigieg said, “but there’s also something radical about the depth of his commitment to looking after those who are left out of society and out of the economy.” Indeed, Carter’s legacy is stitched with complexities, contradictions and evolutions — personal and political. The self-styled peacemaker was a war-trained Naval Academy graduate who promised Democratic challenger Ted Kennedy that he’d “kick his ass.” But he campaigned with a call to treat everyone with “respect and compassion and with love.” Carter vowed to restore America’s virtue after the shame of Vietnam and Watergate, and his technocratic, good-government approach didn't suit Republicans who tagged government itself as the problem. It also sometimes put Carter at odds with fellow Democrats. The result still was a notable legislative record, with wins on the environment, education, and mental health care. He dramatically expanded federally protected lands, began deregulating air travel, railroads and trucking, and he put human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy. As a fiscal hawk, Carter added a relative pittance to the national debt, unlike successors from both parties. Carter nonetheless struggled to make his achievements resonate with the electorate he charmed in 1976. Quoting Bob Dylan and grinning enthusiastically, he had promised voters he would “never tell a lie.” Once in Washington, though, he led like a joyless engineer, insisting his ideas would become reality and he'd be rewarded politically if only he could convince enough people with facts and logic. This served him well at Camp David, where he brokered peace between Israel’s Menachem Begin and Epypt’s Anwar Sadat, an experience that later sparked the idea of The Carter Center in Atlanta. Carter's tenacity helped the center grow to a global force that monitored elections across five continents, enabled his freelance diplomacy and sent public health experts across the developing world. The center’s wins were personal for Carter, who hoped to outlive the last Guinea worm parasite, and nearly did. As president, though, the approach fell short when he urged consumers beleaguered by energy costs to turn down their thermostats. Or when he tried to be the nation’s cheerleader, beseeching Americans to overcome a collective “crisis of confidence.” Republican Ronald Reagan exploited Carter's lecturing tone with a belittling quip in their lone 1980 debate. “There you go again,” the former Hollywood actor said in response to a wonky answer from the sitting president. “The Great Communicator” outpaced Carter in all but six states. Carter later suggested he “tried to do too much, too soon” and mused that he was incompatible with Washington culture: media figures, lobbyists and Georgetown social elites who looked down on the Georgians and their inner circle as “country come to town.” Carter carefully navigated divides on race and class on his way to the Oval Office. Born Oct. 1, 1924 , Carter was raised in the mostly Black community of Archery, just outside Plains, by a progressive mother and white supremacist father. Their home had no running water or electricity but the future president still grew up with the relative advantages of a locally prominent, land-owning family in a system of Jim Crow segregation. He wrote of President Franklin Roosevelt’s towering presence and his family’s Democratic Party roots, but his father soured on FDR, and Jimmy Carter never campaigned or governed as a New Deal liberal. He offered himself as a small-town peanut farmer with an understated style, carrying his own luggage, bunking with supporters during his first presidential campaign and always using his nickname. And he began his political career in a whites-only Democratic Party. As private citizens, he and Rosalynn supported integration as early as the 1950s and believed it inevitable. Carter refused to join the White Citizens Council in Plains and spoke out in his Baptist church against denying Black people access to worship services. “This is not my house; this is not your house,” he said in a churchwide meeting, reminding fellow parishioners their sanctuary belonged to God. Yet as the appointed chairman of Sumter County schools he never pushed to desegregate, thinking it impractical after the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board decision. And while presidential candidate Carter would hail the 1965 Voting Rights Act, signed by fellow Democrat Lyndon Johnson when Carter was a state senator, there is no record of Carter publicly supporting it at the time. Carter overcame a ballot-stuffing opponent to win his legislative seat, then lost the 1966 governor's race to an arch-segregationist. He won four years later by avoiding explicit mentions of race and campaigning to the right of his rival, who he mocked as “Cufflinks Carl” — the insult of an ascendant politician who never saw himself as part the establishment. Carter’s rural and small-town coalition in 1970 would match any victorious Republican electoral map in 2024. Once elected, though, Carter shocked his white conservative supporters — and landed on the cover of Time magazine — by declaring that “the time for racial discrimination is over.” Before making the jump to Washington, Carter befriended the family of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., whom he’d never sought out as he eyed the governor’s office. Carter lamented his foot-dragging on school integration as a “mistake.” But he also met, conspicuously, with Alabama's segregationist Gov. George Wallace to accept his primary rival's endorsement ahead of the 1976 Democratic convention. “He very shrewdly took advantage of his own Southerness,” said Amber Roessner, a University of Tennessee professor and expert on Carter’s campaigns. A coalition of Black voters and white moderate Democrats ultimately made Carter the last Democratic presidential nominee to sweep the Deep South. Then, just as he did in Georgia, he used his power in office to appoint more non-whites than all his predecessors had, combined. He once acknowledged “the secret shame” of white Americans who didn’t fight segregation. But he also told Alter that doing more would have sacrificed his political viability – and thus everything he accomplished in office and after. King's daughter, Bernice King, described Carter as wisely “strategic” in winning higher offices to enact change. “He was a leader of conscience,” she said in an interview. Rosalynn Carter, who died on Nov. 19 at the age of 96, was identified by both husband and wife as the “more political” of the pair; she sat in on Cabinet meetings and urged him to postpone certain priorities, like pressing the Senate to relinquish control of the Panama Canal. “Let that go until the second term,” she would sometimes say. The president, recalled her former aide Kathy Cade, retorted that he was “going to do what’s right” even if “it might cut short the time I have.” Rosalynn held firm, Cade said: “She’d remind him you have to win to govern.” Carter also was the first president to appoint multiple women as Cabinet officers. Yet by his own telling, his career sprouted from chauvinism in the Carters' early marriage: He did not consult Rosalynn when deciding to move back to Plains in 1953 or before launching his state Senate bid a decade later. Many years later, he called it “inconceivable” that he didn’t confer with the woman he described as his “full partner,” at home, in government and at The Carter Center. “We developed a partnership when we were working in the farm supply business, and it continued when Jimmy got involved in politics,” Rosalynn Carter told AP in 2021. So deep was their trust that when Carter remained tethered to the White House in 1980 as 52 Americans were held hostage in Tehran, it was Rosalynn who campaigned on her husband’s behalf. “I just loved it,” she said, despite the bitterness of defeat. Fair or not, the label of a disastrous presidency had leading Democrats keep their distance, at least publicly, for many years, but Carter managed to remain relevant, writing books and weighing in on societal challenges. He lamented widening wealth gaps and the influence of money in politics. He voted for democratic socialist Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in 2016, and later declared that America had devolved from fully functioning democracy to “oligarchy.” Yet looking ahead to 2020, with Sanders running again, Carter warned Democrats not to “move to a very liberal program,” lest they help re-elect President Donald Trump. Carter scolded the Republican for his serial lies and threats to democracy, and chided the U.S. establishment for misunderstanding Trump’s populist appeal. He delighted in yearly convocations with Emory University freshmen, often asking them to guess how much he’d raised in his two general election campaigns. “Zero,” he’d gesture with a smile, explaining the public financing system candidates now avoid so they can raise billions. Carter still remained quite practical in partnering with wealthy corporations and foundations to advance Carter Center programs. Carter recognized that economic woes and the Iran crisis doomed his presidency, but offered no apologies for appointing Paul Volcker as the Federal Reserve chairman whose interest rate hikes would not curb inflation until Reagan's presidency. He was proud of getting all the hostages home without starting a shooting war, even though Tehran would not free them until Reagan's Inauguration Day. “Carter didn’t look at it” as a failure, Alter emphasized. “He said, ‘They came home safely.’ And that’s what he wanted.” Well into their 90s, the Carters greeted visitors at Plains’ Maranatha Baptist Church, where he taught Sunday School and where he will have his last funeral before being buried on family property alongside Rosalynn . Carter, who made the congregation’s collection plates in his woodworking shop, still garnered headlines there, calling for women’s rights within religious institutions, many of which, he said, “subjugate” women in church and society. Carter was not one to dwell on regrets. “I am at peace with the accomplishments, regret the unrealized goals and utilize my former political position to enhance everything we do,” he wrote around his 90th birthday. The politician who had supposedly hated Washington politics also enjoyed hosting Democratic presidential contenders as public pilgrimages to Plains became advantageous again. Carter sat with Buttigieg for the final time March 1, 2020, hours before the Indiana mayor ended his campaign and endorsed eventual winner Joe Biden. “He asked me how I thought the campaign was going,” Buttigieg said, recalling that Carter flashed his signature grin and nodded along as the young candidate, born a year after Carter left office, “put the best face” on the walloping he endured the day before in South Carolina. Never breaking his smile, the 95-year-old host fired back, “I think you ought to drop out.” “So matter of fact,” Buttigieg said with a laugh. “It was somehow encouraging.” Carter had lived enough, won plenty and lost enough to take the long view. “He talked a lot about coming from nowhere,” Buttigieg said, not just to attain the presidency but to leverage “all of the instruments you have in life” and “make the world more peaceful.” In his farewell address as president, Carter said as much to the country that had embraced and rejected him. “The struggle for human rights overrides all differences of color, nation or language,” he declared. “Those who hunger for freedom, who thirst for human dignity and who suffer for the sake of justice — they are the patriots of this cause.” Carter pledged to remain engaged with and for them as he returned “home to the South where I was born and raised,” home to Plains, where that young lieutenant had indeed become “a fellow citizen of the world.” —- Bill Barrow, based in Atlanta, has covered national politics including multiple presidential campaigns for the AP since 2012.None

“The tragic news of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO has opened a lot of discussion about the very nasty subject of health care costs and quality of service,” Mark Malek, chief investment officer at Siebert Financial, said in a note emailed to The Epoch Times. The Federal Reserve has attributed elevated price pressures to services inflation, particularly in the housing sector, which accounts for a significant portion of the CPI report. “Do you know what other services inflation consistently runs hot, well above the 2% guideline? Health care,” Siebert said. The report forecasts that medical costs will increase by 8 percent from last year for the group market and 7.5 percent for the individual market. If accurate, health care cost growth will be the highest in 13 years. The research shows that private health insurance premiums have risen cumulatively by 15 percent since 2022, and they are becoming more expensive in 42 states. “In the health care sector, both rising employment levels and wage increases fueled by economy-wide inflation during the past few years are pushing health care costs higher,” Debbie Ashford, North America chief actuary for Health Solutions at Aon, said in a statement. “To keep pace with these pressures, the health care industry negotiates higher prices, which in turn emerge as higher medical trends.” National health care spending has garnered attention recently, with billionaire Elon Musk shining a spotlight on the exorbitant costs amid the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative. Musk reposted a Peter G. Peterson Foundation chart shared by the popular social media X account “The Rabbit Hole.” The data highlighted administrative costs per capita of $1,055, the highest among OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries. The fiscal think tank estimated that U.S. health care spending reached $4.5 trillion in 2022, averaging $13,493 per person and accounting for 17 percent of GDP. Experts say the triple-digit percentage increase in health care costs is due to a combination of hospital consolidations, growing prescription drug prices, and an aging population. “When the population is aging and getting sicker, it adds more strain to the health care system and just an overall shortage of healthcare workers,” Divya Sangameshwar, an insurance expert and spokesperson at LendingTree, told The Epoch Times. “And this isn’t a new problem. Health care costs have been rising since the year 2000, and these costs are just ultimately getting caught down to policyholders in the form of higher premiums.” As a result of an increasing number of seniors, Medicare enrollment is expected to surge in the coming years, adding to the ballooning costs of the federal program. This past spring, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected that Medicare spending would play a sizable role in the significant increase in federal spending over the next 30 years. Medicare spending, the report concluded, will double over the next 30 years and reach 5.5 percent of GDP. While this is not a new trend, it has accelerated in recent years, with nearly 1,900 hospital mergers between 1998 and 2021, according to the American Hospital Association. Various assessments suggest this has adversely affected the health care system, including the number of hospitals, experts say. “There are also indications that consolidation will reduce access to health care for the most vulnerable populations through hospital closures and higher prices in highly consolidated markets. “Adding to that is the fact that private equity has entered the market amid predictions that the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic will accelerate the pace of consolidation.” The newest trend is that corporate giants such as Amazon, CVS, UnitedHealth, and private equity companies are acquiring many physician practices. The U.S. government is beginning to take notice. “Hospital consolidations often lead to worse outcomes for nurses and doctors, result in higher prices, and can have life and death consequences for patients,” said Henry Liu, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, adding that this deal could lead to higher out-of-pocket costs for essential health care services. Though the numbers vary, data show that administrative costs represent a sizable share of total expenses incurred in delivering healthcare to patients. Vivek Ramaswamy, the co-head of DOGE, blames regulations and bureaucracy for high administrative costs. “Most regulations ultimately hurt the very people they are supposed to ‘help,’” Ramaswamy wrote on X on Dec. 6. “Many hospitals and health systems are forced to dedicate staff and clinical resources to appeal and overturn inappropriate denials, which alone can cost billions of dollars every year,” the report reads. John Bright, the founder and CEO of Med Claims Compliance Corporation, says costs associated with administrative errors can also add to the final tally. Medicare maintains an improper payment rate—or claims overpaid in errors—that costs as much as $32 billion per year. According to Bright, this could be due to administrators not knowing the proper billing codes. The elevated improper payment rate, says Bright, can also be attributed to theft, fraud, waste, and abuse. “Health and Human Services has to factor in the improper payment rate,” Bright told The Epoch Times. “It’s kind of like if you own a grocery store, and you have to allocate the cost of what’s called shrinkage theft. You have to factor it into your cost of operation.” The incoming administration, particularly Robert F. Kennedy Jr., wants to work with the American Medical Association to remedy this situation. The organization devises the billing codes and generates millions of revenues from royalties. RFK Jr. aims to update the system to bolster primary care and enhance health outcomes.

Intuit Inc. ( NASDAQ: INTU ) UBS Global Technology and AI Conference Call December 3, 2024 12:55 PM ET Company Participants Sandeep Aujla - Chief Financial Officer Conference Call Participants Taylor McGinnis - UBS Taylor McGinnis Hello, everyone, and welcome to UBS' Tech and AI Conference. My name is Taylor McGinnis and I head up the SMID cap application and SaaS coverage here at UBS. And with me, I have the CFO of Intuit, Sandeep. So, Sandeep, thanks so much for coming to our conference. Sandeep Aujla Well, Taylor, thank you for the invite. Pleasure to be here. Taylor McGinnis Awesome. Perfect. And before I start, I just want to let everyone know if you have a question, there is a QR code right in front of you that will give you access to send the question to me, and if there is time at the end, I'll make sure to get some of those addressed. So, with that, let's dive right in. Sandeep Aujla Let's do it. Question-and-Answer Session Q - Taylor McGinnis Perfect. So, I think a good place to start would be just in terms of what you guys are seeing in the demand environment, right? So, across some of the SMB-exposed software names, I think there was some signs of green shoots or maybe things getting a little bit better. Maybe outside of your Mailchimp business, pretty much across the board, growth was solid. So, could you comment on what you guys are seeing in the environment? How much of the outperformance was really driven by your own execution, right, versus maybe some unlocking? And then, also too, not to throw too many questions to you, but when you think about the sensitivity of your business to a recovery, what should be things that we should be looking out for?

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There Are Certain Words That Will Break ChatGPT. I Tried Them — Here's What Happened.Berlin: Tech billionaire Elon Musk caused uproar after backing Germany’s far-right party in a major newspaper ahead of key parliamentary elections in the Western European country, leading to the resignation of Welt am Sonntag’ s opinion editor in protest. Germany is to vote in an early election on February 23 after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party governing coalition collapsed last month in a dispute over how to revitalise the country’s stagnant economy. Elon Musk has involved himself deeply in US politics - now he’s turned his attention to Germany. Credit: AP Musk’s guest opinion piece for Welt am Sonntag — a sister publication of POLITICO owned by the Axel Springer Group — published in German over the weekend, was the second time this month he supported the Alternative for Germany, or AfD . “The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the last spark of hope for this country,” Musk wrote in his translated commentary. He went on to say the far-right party “can lead the country into a future where economic prosperity, cultural integrity and technological innovation are not just wishes, but reality”. Loading The Tesla Motors chief executive also wrote that his investment in Germany gave him the right to comment on the country’s condition. The AfD is polling strongly, but its candidate for the top job, Alice Weidel, has no realistic chance of becoming chancellor because other parties refuse to work with the far-right party. An ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, the technology billionaire challenged in his opinion piece the party’s public image.