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Editorial: The bad news just keeps coming for the FBI

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:28:56 GMT

Politicians and activists reacted with dismay this month upon the news that the FBI illegally tapped into foreign intelligence data looking for dirt on U.S. citizens. But given this news emerged just days after the release of the Durham report, which fingered the FBI as knee-deep in the bogus Russian collusion narrative that dominated Beltway politics during the Trump years, the outrage and surprise seem underwhelming.On May 19, the secret FISA court publicly released an opinion which found that the agency had no factual basis to comb through reports compiled under a law intended to combat foreign espionage in search of dirt on Jan. 6 protesters and those who took to the streets after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020.“The revelations were contained in a heavily redacted opinion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which said the violations were significant,” The Wall Street Journal reported. The agency claimed to be operating under the authority of Section...

Michel: China gets help from its friends – on the Supreme Court

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:28:56 GMT

China is overtaking America in a variety of high-tech industries — thanks to some inadvertent help from the U.S. Supreme Court.According to a brand-new report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, the communist nation has outstripped America in 37 out of 44 key technologies, including advanced aircraft engines and hypersonics, 5G and 6G, and quantum communications.This Chinese high-tech renaissance is no accident. It springs from the regime’s deliberate policy of incentivizing research and development, both through subsidies as well as extremely strong patent protections. In recent years, the Chinese government has greatly strengthened IP laws and established new IP courts and tribunals across major cities. Authorities tasked with patent-related disputes completed nearly 50,000 cases in 2021, up almost 20% from the year before.With this robust patent system, China has seen an explosion of innovation. In 2021, Chinese researchers filed 1.59 million patent reques...

Dear Abby: Lewd comment to woman roils pool hall

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:28:56 GMT

Dear Abby: My wife and I play on a pool team. About a year ago, the team captain looked at my wife and said, “So, can I play with your lower private area?” (He didn’t use those words.) My wife, who is very shy, was shocked.He has made dumb comments before, and I’ve warned him several times. This time when I told him, he was dumb enough to invite me outside. I slapped him around a bit. We are both big guys. I’m 6-foot-4, 300 pounds. He’s as tall, maybe a few pounds lighter.Now the members of the league here have shunned my wife and me. Was I wrong? Should I have let that guy talk to my wife like that? — Second-Guessing in the SouthDear Second-Guessing: Violence is never the answer. You and your wife should have left as soon as those words were uttered. As for the rest of the league shunning you, I think it’s time you found another league to play pool with — one with nice people to compete with, rather than animals.Dear Abby: A fri...

Memorial Day: Where to honor the fallen around San Diego

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:28:56 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Memorial Day is Monday, May 29, and there's no shortage of events around San Diego County to honor the fallen.At Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, the 123rd Memorial Service and Day of Remembrance starts at 10 a.m. View the schedule here.In Coronado, a Memorial Day service is planned for 10 a.m. at Star Park, with Rear Admiral Keith B. Davids as the guest speaker. After the event, the public is invited to head to VFW Post 2422 on Orange Avenue for refreshments. Veterans share what Memorial Day means to them At 11 a.m. at Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial, a ceremony will include speakers, musical performances, a wreath laying and a missing-man flyby. Learn more here.The USS Midway Museum is hosting several events during its Legacy Week. A wreath ceremony will take place at 9 a.m., during which a memorial wreath will be tossed over the side of the ship. The event will include guest speakers and a flyover. If you can't make it in person, you can livestream the cere...

Le Mans 24-hour race to include hydrogen-powered vehicles starting in 2026

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:28:56 GMT

OYAMA, Japan (AP) — The 24 Hours of Le Mans, the world’s most famous endurance race, will be open to hydrogen-powered cars starting in 2026, Pierre Fillon, the president of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, said Saturday.Fillon spoke at Japan’s Fuji Speedway, which is holding a 24-hour race that includes hydrogen power.The vehicles for Le Mans will include both fuel cells and hydrogen combustion engines, Fillon said. The Automobile Club de l’Ouest organizes the race in Le Mans.“The 24 hours of Le Mans regulations have always advocated for freedom and variety,” Fillon said. “As such I can officially announce today that both technologies will be accepted and authorized for manufactures which seek to enter the 24 hours of Le Mans in the hydrogen class.” Toyota Motor Corporation President Koji Sato said he hoped to make an announcement “in the near future” about Toyota’s participation in Le Mans.___AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and ...

At West Point, Vice President Harris to make history as first woman to deliver commencement speech

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:28:56 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday will become the first woman to deliver a commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy, an institution that has made slow progress diversifying its ranks in the four decades since the first class of female cadets graduated.This year some 950 men and women are expected to take part in the graduation ceremony in West Point, New York.While Harris visits West Point, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) north of Manhattan, President Joe Biden heads to Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Thursday to address graduates at the U.S. Air Force Academy.Vice presidents typically travel to one of the federal service academies to address graduating classes. Harris’ visit will be her first to the U.S. Army academy.Today, about one quarter of the student body are women. Only a few dozen graduates each year are Black women, like Harris, though the number has ticked up in recent years. The academy didn’t admit women until 1976 and had its f...

Ahead of ‘Succession’ finale, uncertainty about outcomes for its sparring siblings

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:28:56 GMT

There’s no Iron Throne, but the stakes feel just as high.“Succession,” the critically acclaimed drama chronicling a Murdoch-esque feuding billionaire family, wraps its four-season run on Sunday with a highly anticipated 88-minute finale.And just like another tentpole HBO show, “Game of Thrones,” there’s no shortage of theories over how the series will end and who will prevail. But instead of a throne, the Roy siblings are battling over the sprawling Waystar Royco media empire.The Shakespearean-level intrigue has prompted speculation among fans looking for clues in past episodes, characters’ names and elsewhere. Even the final episode’s title, “With Open Eyes,” has critics poring through the John Berryman poem that has been used for each season finale’s title.Here are some of the questions that remain as the finale nears.WHERE DO THINGS STAND WITH THE ROY FAMILY?“Succession” has been about who will ultimately run the media conglomerate founded by Logan R...

Teen workers are in high demand for summer and commanding better pay

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:28:56 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Teens have long been vital to filling out the summertime staffs of restaurants, ice cream stands, amusement parks and camps.Now, thanks to one of the tightest labor markets in decades, they have even more sway, with an array of jobs to choose from at ever higher wages.To ease the labor crunch, some states are moving to roll back restrictions to let teens work more hours and, in some cases, more hazardous jobs — much to the chagrin of labor rights groups, who see it as a troubling trend. Economists say there are other ways to expand the workforce without putting more of a burden on kids, including by allowing more legal immigration.SEEKING TEEN WORKERSAt Funtown Splashtown USA, an amusement park in southern Maine, teens play a critical role in keeping the attractions open, which isn’t as easy as it used to be.General Manager Cory Hutchinson anticipates hiring about 350 workers this summer, including many local high schoolers, compared with more than 500 in past su...

Biden says debt deal ‘very close’ even as two sides far apart on work requirements

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:28:56 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Work requirements for federal food aid recipients have emerged as a final sticking point in negotiations over the looming debt crisis, even as President Joe Biden said Friday that a deal is “very close.”Biden’s optimism came as the deadline for a potentially catastrophic default was pushed back to June 5 and seemed likely to drag negotiations between the White House and Republicans over raising the debt ceiling into another frustrating week. Both sides have suggested one of the main holdups is a GOP effort to boost work requirements for recipients of food stamps and other federal aid programs, a longtime Republican goal Democrats have strenuously opposed.Even as they came closer to a framework on spending, each side seemed dug in on the work requirements. White House spokesman Andrew Bates called the GOP proposals “cruel and senseless” and said Biden and Democrats would stand against them.Louisiana Rep. Garret Graves, one of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s negotiato...

Cannes closes Saturday with presentation of the Palme d’Or

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:28:56 GMT

After 21 world premieres, nearly two weeks of red-carpet parades and hundreds of thousands of camera flashes, the 76th Cannes Film Festival concludes Saturday with the presentation of its top prize, the Palme d’Or. One of cinema’s most sought-after awards will be decided by this year’s jury, presided over by two-time Palme winner Ruben Östlund, the Swedish director. The brief ceremony will precede the festival’s closing night film, the Pixar animation “Elemental.” Any of the 21 films that played in Cannes’ main competition lineup can win the Palme. Among the critical favorites of this year’s festival are Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest,” a chilling Martin Amis adaptation about a German family living next door to Auschwitz; “Fallen Leaves,” Finish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki’s deadpan romance; and “Anatomy of a Fall,” Justine Triet’s twisty French Alps courtroom drama. Two of those — “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone of Inter...