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Peacock’s ‘Hysteria!’ set in Michigan during 1980s satanic panicjili 777 login 。

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For “Hysteria!” actresses Anna Camp and Julie Bowen, horror is harder than comedy. “Horror is really hard actually because there is a fine line you have to walk; you have to make it feel grounded and you’re put in these extreme circumstances: You’re being possessed or pulled through the air, there’s nothing you can do to relate to that,” explained Camp of “Pitch Perfect” fame. “With comedy, you can have a relatable situation and go, ‘I’ve been in situations like that.’ There’s nothing you can compare (horror) to, so you have to use your imagination. I find it harder. Your imagination goes home with you at the end of the day. You’re still thinking crazy thoughts.” Bowen, best known for playing Claire Dunphy on “Modern Family,” agreed. “Comedy’s pretty binary because it’s like either you can make people laugh or you don’t. I can’t watch horror. I’m terrified, terrified! I am the easiest scare in the world, so as far as doing (horror), I want to make it as real as possible. It was hard because I had to be really, really crazy. There were times when I’d get back to my hotel room at 3 a.m., I didn’t want to be alone in my head,” said Bowen, laughing. Camp, Bowen, Royal Oak native Bruce Campbell (“Evil Dead”), showrunner David A. Goodman (“Futurama”), and Ypsilanti native/creator Matthew Scott Kane (“American Horror Story”) were promoting “Hysteria!” at the New York Comic Con in October. The horror series is streaming on Peacock. Set in the fictional Michigan town of Happy Hollow, the first episode of “Hysteria” begins with a popular quarterback’s disappearance and a pentagram is discovered on a garage door. As a result, rumors of the occult and satanic influence run rampant through the town. A trio of outcasts in a heavy metal band called Dethkrunch exploit this by rebranding themselves as a satanic metal band, which leads to them becoming the targets of the town’s witch hunt. “Something on my mind a lot in 2019 was we’re living in this post-factual age with social media. It seemed like decades and decades ago, you could trust the news. Now everything is in question. When lies end up getting disseminated as truth, that starts to warp people’s version of reality. Suddenly, they’re living in a world other people are not. That was going on in the world I was living in and I very quickly connected it to the 1980s satanic panic. It’s not really that different because people were saying Ozzy Osbourne, Jason Voorhees (of ‘Friday the 13th’), and the Smurfs were going to turn your kids into satanists and kill you in your sleep. That didn’t happen. It wasn’t true, but so many people got worked up into such a fervor over it, bad things happened. ... It was smoke without fire,” Kane said. “Disinformation is not new,” Campbell said. “Disinformation will tear a town apart.” Campbell portrays Happy Hollow Police Chief Ben Dandridge. “This guy’s a reasonable cop; he’s a rational person who doesn’t treat the teenagers like they’re idiots. It’s all very refreshing,” he said. “I want to play that guy again. I want cops to be that guy. I’m playing the cop (that) cops need to be. That’s my whole motivation for playing this guy: How would you like cops to be, especially the guy in charge, the chief of police? They’re lucky to have Chief Dandridge.” “It was truly an exciting moment when Bruce signed on,” Goodman said. By the end of the first episode, a supernatural phenomenon happens to Linda Campbell, played by Bowen. “Linda seems like one thing, then you realize she’s bananas. She’s either bananas or she’s possessed. Either way, it’s a complicated thing to play,” Bowen said. “With Julie, you can have your cake and eat it too,” Kane said. “She’s this fun, quirky mom. ... As the episode goes on, she’s pulled deeper into this thing and crazy stuff starts happening. That final act of the first episode was my favorite moment with her because this announced that this is not Claire Dunphy. We’re not doing that again; we’re pushing her as a performer. “Julie was so excited about doing stunts. She told us on many occasions she’s very sturdy and can take it. The same goes for Bruce and for Anna. We didn’t ask anyone to give us a flavor of the thing they did before. We cast people we loved so much (in their famous projects) that we wanted to give them the opportunity to do the exact opposite.” Added Bowen: “I got this script and was like, ‘Oh great. She’s a mom. How fun.’ I love moms. I’m a mom, but I felt this was not worth flying out of town to Georgia and being away from my kids. Then I got to the end of the pilot and was like, ‘She’s crazy!’ Is she possessed? There’s a lot more questions. It’s fun to just stretch again and do things I haven’t done in a while, which I found really exciting.” Kane said he felt lucky Bowen signed on at the beginning. “She was the first adult actor to sign on. That gave us such credibility to have a two-time Emmy-winning actor leading this show. Suddenly, it goes from this script from a relatively unknown writer into the new Julie Bowen show,” he said. It was the quality of the writing that attracted Camp, Bowen and Campbell to “Hysteria!” “I loved the script; it was incredibly well-written. It was immersed in the time period. It was such a good coming-of-age story, too — the feeling of being in high school again, being in the 1980s,” Camp said. “I talked to Matt who said my character (Tracy) was incredibly pivotal to the series and we’ll learn about why she is the way she is. So I was like, ‘I’d love to do this!’” For Campbell, the writing is everything. “A lot of times, I’ll get a script that could make the words interchangeable with every other character because the writing is very bland and just doesn’t have the detail you need. This was different. Every character was pretty distinct and pretty well-drawn,” he said. “It’s quality. It’s not a (expletive) show. It’s a real show that’s playing around with interesting themes. A lot of it is still relevant to this day.” “Hysteria!” has other Michigan connections, including University of Michigan alumnus Jonathan Goldstein (“Spider-Man: Homecoming”) and Dondero High School alumnus Jordan Vogt-Roberts (“Kong: Skull Island”), who both serve as executive producers. Kane explained why he set “Hysteria!” in Michigan. “You write what you know. I grew up in Ypsilanti, so that had a lot to do with it. More importantly, when you’re in a small town in the Midwest — somewhere like Michigan — these things don’t ever happen and word spreads fast and paranoia spreads quickly and (everything’s) blown out of proportion and takes up a lot of people’s minds,” he said. “Whether or not something is real doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if there are people willing to believe it does and willing it into the world. What does it matter if it’s objectively real or living rent-free in someone’s head?”

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Outgoing senators’ phones are busy as seatless politicians check the lie of the land and look to the success of a number of former TDs turned senators who are now back in the lower chamber. They include Fianna Fáil ’s Malcolm Byrne and Timmy Dooley and Fine Gael ’s Jerry Buttimer . Outgoing senators making their first appearance in the Dáil include Fianna Fáil’s Catherine Ardagh and Erin McGreehan, Michael Carrigy, John Cummins, Emer Currie and Barry Ward, as well as Labour ’s Mark Wall. Most former TDs and unsuccessful senators contacted about their intentions declined to comment. Fine Gael’s Alan Farrell said his seat loss was a “huge shock and disappointment. I have not decided on my future but will make my position known sooner rather than later.” Green Party senator Róisín Garvey, who was unsuccessful in her election bid in Clare, said she had not yet thought about it but would start to consider when she was back in Dublin. The party could win a couple of Seanad seats as part of efforts to rebuild, following its election decimation. Politicians looking to get an “inside panel” or Oireachtas nomination – they have to have the support of four Oireachtas members among incoming TDs and outgoing senators – have already been contacting their parties who make the decisions about who to put forward. Parties have been reluctant to comment but Fianna Fáil sources confirmed inside panel requests are already coming in. There have been no discussions yet until Dáil numbers are finalised. Decisions are, however, likely to be made over the next week or so. Just 940 voters in total elect 43 senators through a complicated panel system. They include the outgoing senators, incoming TDs and all local councillors, so success will depend on the number of councillors parties have. Nominations close on December 31st for those seeking nominations from their Oireachtas colleagues. Those seeking nominations from “outside panels”, professional bodies who nominate candidates, have a December 18th deadline. The nomination deadline for candidates to the university panels, who are elected by NUI and Trinity College graduates is December 6th. Ballot papers for the postal vote are issued on January 15th to be returned by 11am on January 30th when counting will begin for the vocational panels. The universities panel poll closes at 11am on January 29th when counting will being for those six seats. Meanwhile, Gráinne Seoige said she wanted to take a break before deciding if she is to remain in politics after a bruising maiden voyage in Galway West where she failed to make an impact despite backing from Fianna Fáil headquarters. The 51-year old rejected suggestions she was parachuted in as a celebrity candidate. “I reject completely that supposition because it’s just not true,” she said at the Galway West count centre. “There’s no parachute. And the celebrity thing is a tag and it’s not a nice one because it makes somebody out to be without substance. And I have plenty of substance and the Tánaiste himself said I was a substantive candidate,” she said. “I was nominated by the grassroots. I went around for a month and met delegates in their homes. I went to convention. I was chosen by the card-carrying members of Fianna Fáil to stand in this constituency,” she added. She admitted disappointment at a poor showing where she picked up less than 5 per cent of the first-preference vote in Galway West where 17 candidates battled it out for five seats. She polled 2,929 first-preferences despite being teed up by Fianna Fáil headquarters to target the seat being vacated by long-serving Éamon Ó Cuív. Her party colleague John Connolly, who polled 7,192 first preferences, took that seat when the city councillor was elected for the first time. “I’m disappointed it didn’t work out, but I’m very proud that I took the opportunity and made the journey,” said Ms Seoige. “Nobody achieves anything in this life unless they leave their comfort zone, and I did that.” “What’s next on the cards is a couple of days’ break ... I’m tired. And I want to take a break,” she added. Marie O'Halloran is Parliamentary Correspondent of The Irish TimesDr. Shaibu Hussieni, the Executive Director of the National Film and Video Censors Board, praised the Nollywood Creative Minds Forum (NCMF) for its role in fostering collaboration and strengthening networks within the Nollywood community. In his keynote address at the 6th Annual Gathering of NCMF, themed “In Pursuit of Better,” held in Lekki, Lagos, Shaibu highlighted the critical need for a focus on quality storytelling. He emphasized the importance of crafting authentic and engaging narratives that genuinely reflect African experiences while adhering to industry standards and ethical guidelines. He also encouraged the NCMF to embrace innovative technologies, techniques, and ideas as essential components for achieving excellence in filmmaking. To support this vision, Shaibu assured the Forum of the NFVCB’s commitment to providing valuable resources for filmmakers. This includes capacity-building programs, workshops, as well as plans to establish a Producers, Exhibitors, and Distribution Lab. He also mentioned initiatives to enhance access to funding, investment opportunities, and promote international collaborations. “I commend the leadership of the forum and encourage them to continue facilitating meaningful discussions on industry trends, challenges, and opportunities, all focused on shaping a bright future for Nollywood,” he stated.Patrick Healy, the deputy Opinion editor, hosted an online conversation with New York Times Opinion columnists Ross Douthat and David French about President Joe Biden’s decision to issue a broad pardon to his son Hunter Biden. Patrick Healy: Ross and David, you both have written extensively about the rule of law and presidential power. You both have a good sense of what American voters care about. And you both are fathers. So I’m curious what struck you most about Biden’s statement that he was pardoning his son Hunter Biden. David French: As a father, I think it would be very, very hard to watch your son go to prison — especially if you have the power to set him free. I can’t imagine the pain of watching Hunter’s long battle with substance abuse and then watching his conviction in court. But in his role as president, Biden’s primary responsibility is to the country and the Constitution, not his family. As president, this pardon represents a profound failure. Biden was dishonest — he told us that he wouldn’t pardon Hunter — and this use of the pardon power reeks of the kind of royal privilege that is antithetical to America’s republican values. Healy: Biden’s decision to rule out the pardon while running for reelection was an enormous misjudgment. At the same time, David — Hunter Biden didn’t harm anyone, and pardons go to people with connections all the time now. I want to understand your umbrage on behalf of “the country and the Constitution” a bit better. French: When Biden issued the pardon, my first thought was “here we go again.” It’s exactly this kind of self-dealing and favoritism that has created such cynicism in this country, and the fact that pardon abuse is almost routine at this point isn’t a defense of Biden. It’s an indictment of a political class that helped lay the groundwork for Donald Trump — a much worse figure, by the way, but one that did not arise in an otherwise-healthy moment in American democracy. Ross Douthat: I think it’s important to stress that Biden always kept Hunter close, within the larger aura of his own power, in ways that likely helped his son trade on his dad’s name even as his own life was completely out of control. This pardon is a continuation or completion of that closeness: It’s a moral failure, as David says, a dereliction, but one that’s of a piece with the president’s larger inability to create a sustained separation between his own position and his troubled son’s lifestyle and business dealings and place in the family’s inner circle. A clearer separation would have been better not just for the president and the country, but also for Hunter himself — even if he’s benefiting from it now, at the last. Healy: Ross, Hunter Biden should absolutely be held accountable for his actions — that’s something that 12-step programs make clear to addicts, in fact: Their addiction is no excuse for breaking the law, for instance. But it seems like you are conflating Biden’s legitimate powers as president with how you think he should have regarded his son in office. Douthat: I’m not saying that Biden’s pardon of Hunter is categorically worse than prior presidents’ use of the power to help out cronies and donors and the like. But most people regarded, say, Bill Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich as scandalous even though it fell within the ambit of legitimate presidential powers, and this case is scandalous as well. Whether it’s more corrupt to help a relative than a party donor or donor’s spouse is an interesting subject for debate about the nature of political ethics, but I don’t think we need to resolve that question. We can just say that (1) past presidents have used the pardon power in legal but disreputable ways and (2) pardoning your son is also quite disreputable even if it is constitutional as well. Healy: Trump has indicated he would pardon Jan. 6 insurrectionists, whose actions I’d argue were more disreputable and dangerous to the Republic than what Hunter Biden did. So I’m curious how you see pardons in light of the rule of law in this country. Does Biden’s pardon conflict with or undermine the rule of law? French: While the pardon is legal and a president’s pardon power is quite broad, the rule of law isn’t maintained by merely keeping to the letter of the law. The founders didn’t give presidents the pardon power to be deployed as a favor to friends and family. In fact, during the constitutional ratification debate in Virginia, James Madison said, “If the president be connected, in any suspicious manner, with any person, and there be grounds to believe he will shelter him, the House of Representatives can impeach him; they can remove him if found guilty.” So, yes, abuse of the pardon power is serious. Biden’s inability to separate his personal feelings as a father from his moral and constitutional obligations as a president might be understandable on a human basis, but it’s indefensible as a moral and political matter. The fact that Trump has pledged to do worse is not a defense of Biden. Douthat: The other issue is that the scope of the pardon extends well beyond the specific gun and tax charges, immunizing the junior Biden from potential charges dating all the way back to just before he joined the board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma. The sympathetic take is that this was necessary to protect Hunter from frivolous prosecutions by the Trump Department of Justice. The more skeptical take is that the president is casting a blanket of protection over potential sordid dealings we may not even know about, in which members of the wider family as well as Hunter might be implicated. At the very least, it creates an appearance of more potential corruption than just helping his son avoid jail time for charges unrelated to his business dealings. Healy: To your point, Ross, Hunter Biden wanted sweeping immunity from prosecution when he was trying to get a plea deal. He didn’t get it from the Justice Department — but he just got it from his father. That’s pretty ugly politics by the Bidens. Ross, is Biden’s pardon more stupid politically than it is wrong? Douthat: The pardon power has certainly been used by presidents of both parties for seamy or self-dealing or disreputable-seeming purposes before. So in that sense, you could argue that this case stands out more for the political message it sends — undermining the Democratic Party’s claims to represent the rule of law as against an incoming president who regards himself as a victim of legal persecution and has promised to persecute his enemies right back. And further undermining, one might add, the reputation of a president whose competence to execute the larger responsibilities of his office has been for many months very much in doubt. French: The pardon is far more wrong than it is politically stupid. Give Trump five minutes, and he’ll say or do something that knocks this pardon off the front page. People will forget the pardon soon enough. But the nation needs integrity, and Biden’s dishonesty contributes to the sense that there isn’t really that much difference between Trump and his opponents. When you talk to Trump voters, they’ll often share the conviction that Trump isn’t really all that different from other politicians. He’s just more blunt and direct about his goals and objectives, while his opponents act the same way Trump acts, but they conceal their corruption in high-minded rhetoric. This pardon fits that narrative perfectly. Douthat: What one might say in Biden’s quasi-defense is that while his pardon confirms a general mood of cynicism, that mood is so deeply entrenched that it’s not likely to be deepened that much further by one more act of self-dealing by an already-unpopular president. But maybe the more sophisticated reading is the one offered by writer Noah Millman, who argues that the pardon reflects Biden’s own deep cynicism about the condition of America, and his own participation in the country’s larger disillusioned mood. The president has talked a good game about his deep belief in the resilience of American democracy, but maybe he really thinks that a country that would reelect Donald Trump is actually too far gone to be much helped, and so he might as well choose familism over patriotism and do his best to just look out for his own. He’s like Benicio Del Toro’s character in the movie “Sicario,” telling a more upright and innocent FBI agent, “This is the land of wolves now” — except his audience is all the voters who were naive enough to believe him when he promised not to issue this pardon. French: As Ross said, there is a long history of pardon abuse in the United States, and very few voters give it a moment’s thought. To amplify Ross’s point above about cynicism, to the extent that voters pay attention, it merely confirms their priors. They expect politicians to act like this. But it’s the decisions that leaders make when voters aren’t focused on the issue that define their integrity. We’re learning how much America has run on an honor system — that, as John Adams argued, our human vices can “break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net.” When presidents choose self-interest over the public interest, the law doesn’t always provide an answer. Perhaps it should, however. We’ve seen enough pardon abuse that it’s past time to revoke this particular presidential privilege. I’d love to see a constitutional amendment that further strips presidents of any vestiges of royal prerogatives. That means limiting the scope of the pardon power, and it means limiting presidential immunity from prosecution. Healy: Listening to Biden over the years, you get the sense he thinks he knows Trump better than most, that he knows how Trump uses power. So on that level, doesn’t the pardon make sense — that Biden knows Trump and the Republicans would likely keep targeting the Biden family and in particular Hunter Biden for disparate treatment in the years ahead, and the pardon power was the only available means of justice, as it were, against Trumpist attacks on Hunter Biden? Douthat: Well, here the president himself can expect a certain degree of protection from the recent Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity, which I suspect was written as much with an eye to protecting Biden from Trump-directed prosecutions (or protecting the presidency itself from an endless cycle of prosecutions) as with the goal of protecting Trump against the charges he has faced and may face in the future. Obviously that protection doesn’t extend to Hunter, and yes, I think the fear of a widened investigation into Hunter’s past and the Biden family business dealings was part of the thinking, part of the self-justification involved. Though I have my doubts as to whether Hunter would have actually been a special target for even a revenge-seeking Trump, since the president-elect seems much more focused on his avenging (or at least avoiding a reprise of) his own first-term experience with the Department of Justice and the FBI than with going after his vanquished Democratic opponents. French: There was a way for Biden to protect Hunter from politically targeted prosecutions. He could have protected Hunter from prosecution for any other crimes, while leaving the gun and tax convictions intact. In both those cases, there is no credible argument that either of those prosecutions was substantively or procedurally flawed. Even a selective, prospective pardon could be problematic, but it’s far more defensible than pardoning him for crimes that he’s already been convicted of. Healy: As we discussed at the start, you are both fathers. To borrow an earlier point of Ross’, I wonder if we are at such a wolves-are-at-the-door moment in politics that Biden’s decision, as a father protecting his son, is a logical one, as well as one that a lot of people would understand. Now, that may not make it right. But would you pardon your child if you had that power and he or she was being targeted for partisan political attack that might go beyond the bounds of traditional fair treatment under the law? Was this a father’s justifiable recourse? French: I completely understand the fear of political prosecution in a second Trump term. He’s vowed vengeance, after all, and he’s long been obsessed with Hunter’s business dealings overseas. But I just don’t see the evidence that Hunter’s prosecutions went beyond the bounds of traditional fair treatment. It is true that some of these charges are rarely prosecuted, but it’s also true that Hunter threw down the gauntlet to law enforcement by essentially confessing to a federal crime in his memoir. He’s the one who effectively told the public he committed a crime. In fact, prosecutors played excerpts from his memoir to the jury. He wrote about his life for profit, and he has no cause to complain when it is used against him in court. Douthat: I agree with David, you can extend Biden a certain sympathy — as a father, of course you tend to give your son the benefit of the doubt — while still recognizing that objectively he’s pardoning a guilty man, and for all we know enabling further issues or disasters for Hunter down the line. Though I also suspect that for Biden it’s not just the sense of paternal obligation at work here. It’s also the sense of betrayal he doubtless still feels at being denied a chance to run for a second term by his own party, and then watching that same party stumble to defeat. In other words, it’s not just Trump’s Department of Justice that he’s thinking about while issuing this pardon; it’s also a Democratic Party that in his view knifed him politically, and to no purpose in the end. And when a man feels betrayed by his allies (not just threatened by his rivals), it’s especially unsurprising that he would revert to the most basic human code: Look out for your own. — Ross Douthat and David French are columnists with The New York Times.DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones' 21 points helped UC San Diego defeat James Madison 73-67 on Friday night. Tait-Jones also contributed six rebounds for the Tritons (4-2). Hayden Gray scored 16 points and added four steals. Nordin Kapic went 5 of 8 from the field (1 for 4 from 3-point range) to finish with 12 points. Bryce Lindsay led the way for the Dukes (3-3) with 17 points. James Madison also got 13 points and four assists from Xavier Brown. UCSD went into halftime ahead of James Madison 34-28. Tait-Jones scored 14 points in the half. UCSD took the lead for good with 5:46 left in the second half on a free throw from Tait-Jones to make it a 58-57 game. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .

FBI director says he intends to resign at end of Joe Biden’s termAfter an abysmal first month, the Minnesota Timberwolves seem to have new life after a huge win over the Los Angeles Lakers. In fact, the locker room seems quite positive despite all the trade rumors surrounding them. “We have great competitors in this locker room, so when you lose, obviously you get frustrated. But it’s true that you always gotta have perspective and never lose that perspective that it’s basketball. We dedicate our lives to it, but it’s still basketball. We have to have fun when we get on the court," center Rudy Gobert said. We're just over a month into the season and there is already tons of trade chatter. Also, there's resentment for the big trade just before the season that brought in forward Julius Randle and guard Donte DiVincenzo for All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns. With the power of social media, the players hear everything. Even if they don't see it for themselves. Reporters ask about it. Trade rumors have been circulating around DiVincenzo, Randle, Gobert, and others due to the team's chemistry woes. While we continue to speculate on the outside, the team seems aware of the chatter but remains locked in as a unit despite their frustration. Most of the trade talk has surrounded DiVincenzo. His numbers have declined since joining the Wolves. He hasn't looked as comfortable in his new role in Minnesota, but he finally addressed all of the incessant talk about the team and the rumors. “I said this at practice other day, we’re not worried about what other people are saying," DiVincenzo shared. "We leave everything up to all you guys to decide about what works, what doesn’t work. We’re focused on ourselves and staying together. Stack a few wins, and everybody’s energy changes. So we just got to stay with it. When rough patches hit, and we hit a big rough patch early, and we’re just staying together." Hopefully, the Lakers win can spark some life into the Wolves. It's still early in the season and they're still a .500 team. It's refreshing to see they're not as concerned as the rest of the basketball seems to be. With a great stretch in December, the team can quickly turn things around by the All-Star break. MORE WOLVES NEWS: Timberwolves' $117 million forward already predicted to hit the trade blockVir Biotechnology EVP vanina de Verneuil sells $624 in stockAU President Jonathan Alger and Mr. Astin will celebrate the Class of 2024 on Dec. 15 WASHINGTON , Dec. 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- American University is proud to present Sean Astin --fondly known to many as Mikey Walsh in The Goonies, Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Rudy Ruettiger in the sports classic Rudy, and Bob Newby in the Netflix's hit series Stranger Things--as the keynote speaker for fall commencement. Astin is also a recent graduate of the School of Public Affairs, earning his master's degree in public administration and policy. During the ceremonies, Astin will be awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters. Though many are familiar with his onscreen work, Astin is also known for his stewardship and leadership with his union, SAG-AFTRA. Serving on the National and Los Angeles Local Boards as well as on many committees, such as the Executive, Strike Preparedness, Government Affairs and Public Policy, and Government Rules. Astin served on the 2023 TV/Theatrical Negotiating Committee, which oversaw the historic 118-day summer strike, —one of the longest labor outages in Hollywood history, which resulted in $1 billion in gains for SAG-AFTRA and new protections around AI technology. The native Angeleno also served under six cabinet secretaries in two presidential administrations as a civilian aide to the Secretary of the Army. Astin was appointed to serve as a nonpartisan on the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation. "Through his longtime career as an actor, his civic engagement, and his work as a mental health advocate, Sean Astin exemplifies what it means to be a lifelong learner and community-builder, which are both important parts of what we do and who we are at American University ," said AU President Jonathan Alger . "And, as an Eagle himself, Sean will inspire our graduates with his journey and his continued quest to build change in our world." Astin regularly speaks to universities, corporations, and nonprofit organizations on various subjects, including leadership, acting, and with a special emphasis on mental health. His dedication to advancing the conversation around mental health continues the legacy of the late Patty Duke , who was a champion for those who are impacted. "I have always had a passion for public policy and administration. Completing my degree at American University this year is the realization of a lifelong dream. At this moment in the history of our country, nothing is more important than affirming the value of the skill, talent, and dedication of our civil servants," Astin said. "Starting during COVID, the American University online program was an incredible guide. From the curriculum to my cohort, my academic journey was rigorous and fulfilling. I am thrilled at the opportunity to be delivering this year's commencement address. I believe that my mission is to offer praise and appreciation for everyone's accomplishments and to share some thoughts on our path forward." Sean Astin and President Alger will celebrate approximately 1,475 graduates, who will receive their degrees from all eight of AU's schools during ceremonies at 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. in Bender Arena on the AU campus. Students will also hear from fellow graduates at each of the ceremonies: Oreoluwa Erinfolami, is receiving her Master's of Science from the College of Arts and Sciences. Erinfolami's passion for biotechnology led them to focus on regenerative medicine, stem cell research, and cell culture techniques. Ethan Cesar , who will be awarded his Bachelor of Arts from the School of Public Affairs and School of Communication, immersed himself in politics during his time at AU. Cesar interned for two U.S. representatives and one U.S senator. Mina Lili Kassim, will receive her Bachelor of Science from the School of International Service. Kassim hopes to pursue a career in the law field, while continuing to work with her organization Youth for Yemen , which focuses on uniting youth to address the Yemeni humanitarian crisis. Peyton Upchurch , who will be awarded her Master's of Education from the School of Education, is currently the assistant director of Alumni Communications at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro . Upchurch is excited to put the skills she built at AU to work in the world of education policy. This is American University's 148 th commencement. Sean Astin joins other notable American University fall commencement speakers such as Abby Phillip , CNN senior political correspondent and anchor of NewsNight , Andrea Mitchell , host of MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports , and recently Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy . ABOUT AMERICAN UNIVERSITY : American University leverages the power and purpose of scholarship, learning, and community to impact our changing world. AU's faculty, students, staff, and alumni are changemakers who shape the future from sustainability to social justice to the sciences. Building on our 130-year history of education and research in the public interest, we say "Challenge Accepted " to addressing the world's pressing issues. Our Change Can't Wait comprehensive campaign creates transformative educational opportunities, advances research with impact, and builds stronger communities. 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34 donor kidneys given a second chance WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. , Dec. 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- 34 Lives, a Public Benefit Company which aims to rescue donated kidneys that may otherwise go unused, announces a significant milestone: the 34th successful rescue and transplant of a kidney on November 23, 2024 . 34 Lives was founded in 2022 with a mission to decrease the number of kidneys in the US that are recovered with the intent to transplant but subsequently not used. In 2023, that number exceeded 8,000 unused kidneys, despite the fact that approximately 100,000 people are awaiting a kidney transplant. According to Co-CEO Kathleen St. Jean , "The number 34 is especially meaningful to our team: Every day in this country, approximately 34 patients are removed from the transplant waiting list, either because they die or because they become too sick to stay on the list. Knowing that we have helped to save 34 lives gives us a renewed sense of urgency and commitment. Our goal has never changed and it never will. We strive to ensure that every kidney that comes to us is given the opportunity to be donated to a recipient who can once again live a normal life." LifeGift, the Organ Procurement Organization covering Houston and Ft. Worth, Texas , provided the kidney for the 34 th transplant. The organ transplant team at Duke University Hospital, Durham, NC , performed the transplant. "With mission-oriented, dedicated partners like Duke and LifeGift, we are confident that our work will continue to bring innovation and real progress in the field of kidney transplantation," said Chris Jaynes , Co-CEO, 34 Lives. In October, 34 Lives received an ARPA-H Award in the amount of $44M over 5 years. The funds will enable the "No Kidney Left Behind" project through which 34 Lives will create processes utilizing new technologies with the aim to rehabilitate approximately 50% of the otherwise discarded donor kidneys, returning them to transplant centers for implantation into waiting recipients. The team will leverage Normothermic Machine Perfusion (NMP) to enable real-time recovery of organ viability and function, as well as other novel work rehabilitating kidneys that are discarded, diseased, or ischemically injured. If successful, the resulting biomarker assessments, artificial intelligence prediction tools, and warm perfusion technology may be able to be extended to other transplantable organs, including lungs and livers. The No Kidney Left Behind project will take place in Indiana at a core preservation hub operating as CLIA- certified clinical laboratory in association with designated Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs). To Learn More To learn more about the work of 34 Lives, visit the website at https://34lives.com/ About 34 Lives View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/34-lives-rescues-34-kidneys-302320034.html SOURCE 34 Lives, PBCAI can’t do your Christmas shopping just yet – but next year might be different

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