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Review: All creatures great and small in ‘Guardians 3’

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:05:58 GMT

When Peter “Star-Lord” Quill, while inspecting a murky extraterrestrial region, pressed play on Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love” in the first “Guardians of the Galaxy,” it would have been hard to imagine that James Gunn’s space opera would ultimately lead to something as sincere, poignant and kinda cornball as the trilogy-ending “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.” But as Gunn has showed over over the course of these increasingly soupy sci-fi spectacles, the genetically spliced DNA of his chaotic, cartoonish cosmic vision is a double helix of opposites. Breezy ‘70s rock papers over extreme violence. Cynical exteriors cloak sentimental emotions. A ragtag group of outcasts, more so than even the cast of “Fast and the Furious,” talk a lot about “family” and “friends.” Against the odds, “Come and get your love” has turned out to be a legit invitation.“Vol. 3” is a messy, overstuffed finale. But you rarely question whether Gunn’s heart is in it. Sometimes it spoils...

London’s upper crust is so over the royals

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:05:58 GMT

LONDON — As King Charles III arrived in Westminster Abbey for his coronation on Saturday, a 40-something woman in a red skirt stood up across town and raised her champagne flûte in a desperate attempt to generate a bit of enthusiasm.“Chin-chin!” she shouted.“God save the King,” the party surrounding her muttered with subdued enthusiasm.We were in western London in one of the city’s most exclusive private clubs, a 40-acre oasis of manicured tennis lawns, croquet and rugby pitches. I wangled my way into the club’s Polo Bar, hoping to get a feel for how the U.K.’s privileged feel about their new monarch and the state of the institution writ large.The bar, decorated with fading sporting prints, engraved silver trophies and a bronze bust of a polo player mid-swing, looked more like the living room on a country estate than a watering hole. The room, with sweeping views of the surrounding lawns, was packed for the coronation, which played out on two large television screens.The demographic...

Prosecutors recommend 5+ years for ex-State Police Association of Massachusetts president, union lobbyist

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:05:58 GMT

Attorneys have filed warring ideas of what penalty is appropriate for the fraud-filled mess the former leader of the State Police union and its chief lobbyist made.Former State Police Association of Massachusetts President Dana Pullman, 60, of Worcester, and lobbyist Anne Lynch, 72, of Hull, were convicted in federal court in November of one count each of racketeering conspiracy, honest services wire fraud, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and three counts of wire fraud.“Pullman and Lynch ran SPAM as a racketeering organization for their own financial benefit for six years, depriving the union and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts of their right to Pullman’s honest services; defrauding vendors looking to do business with the Massahcusetts State Police; and attempting to obstruct the federal investigation into their crimes,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo filed on Wednesday.The case played out through a steady stream of financial ...

Trudeau says King Charles is ‘deeply aligned’ with Canadian priorities

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:05:58 GMT

LONDON — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says King Charles is deeply aligned with the fundamental priorities of Canadians on reconciliation and the environment. Trudeau made the comments while speaking with reporters in London, a day after the King’s coronation.  Trudeau says he has known Charles for decades as an environmentalist and someone committed to preserving nature. He says the King has also shown that he understands the problems created by Britain’s colonial history in Canada. “The work that he has done in reaching out to Indigenous leaders of the past number of years, including again this week, I think shows that he is deeply aligned with some of the really fundamental priorities of Canadians,” Trudeau said.Trudeau notes that Canadians had an extraordinary affection for Charles’s mother, Queen Elizabeth.He says that leaves a challenge for anyone who steps into the role as Canada’s head of state.  “Obviously, we will have many, many y...

Arab League poised to vote on restoring Syria membership

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:05:58 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Foreign ministers from Arab League member states in Cairo were poised to vote Sunday on restoring Syria’s membership to the organization after it was suspended over a decade ago.The meeting in the Egyptian capital took place ahead of the Arab League Summit in Saudi Arabia on May 19, where many have expected to see a partial or full return of Syria following a rapid rapprochement with regional governments since February.It also took place days after regional top diplomats met in Jordan to discuss a roadmap to return Syria to the Arab fold as the conflict continues to deescalate.Syria’s membership in the Arab League was suspended 12 years ago early in the uprising-turned-conflict, which has killed nearly a half million people since March 2011 and displaced half of the country’s pre-war population of 23 million.The body usually attempts to make decisions by consensus, but decisions otherwise could pass with a simple majority vote.The Arab League has not issued a statement ...

David Brooks: What our toxic culture does to the young

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:05:58 GMT

In the early 1960s, typical Americans were eager to get on with adult life. As soon as they could, they married, launched careers and started popping out kids. In those days, half of all women married before their 20th birthday.Then the boomers came of age. Typical members of that generation wanted to enjoy their freedom, so many put off marriage and parenting until their late 20s or their 30s. They adopted what some researchers call the “slow life strategy,” postponing the common milestones of adulthood until later in life.As psychologist (and Minnesota native) Jean Twenge shows in her lavishly informative new book, “Generations,” the members of Gen Z are now practicing the slow life strategy with a vengeance.They have already transformed adolescence. Members of Gen Z are, for example, content to get their driver’s licenses later than earlier generations. As high school seniors, they are less likely to do the things associated with adulthood and independence, like drinking alcohol,...

Bridge: May 7, 2023

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:05:58 GMT

Today’s South stood accused of making an unsound overcall. He pled not guilty — and retained the best counsel available, the noted attorney Perry Mason.The court heard evidence. In a penny game, East opened one spade in second seat, and South overcalled two clubs. A double by West would have been “negative.” He could have tried 2NT or 3NT, but at the vulnerability, he passed and passed again when East reopened with a double.West led a spade. East won with the jack and led the jack of hearts, and the defense took three hearts. Next, East cashed the K-Q of diamonds and the ace of spades and led a third spade. South ruffed low, and West overruffed. West then led the 13th heart, and East ruffed with his ten of trumps. South had to overruff with an honor, and West got another trump trick. Down four!“My client was unlucky,” Mason argued. “His overcall was routine. Switch the West and North hands, and North-South make a game.”“To overca...

Schools Are Pouring Millions Into AI-Powered Weapons Detection Systems. Do They Work?

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:05:58 GMT

On Halloween day last year, a 17-year-old-student walked straight through an artificial intelligence weapons detection system at Proctor High School in Utica, New York. No alert went off.The 17-year-old then approached a fellow student, pulled a hunting-style knife out of his backpack, and repeatedly stabbed the other student in the hands and back.The Utica City School District had installed the $4 million weapons detection system across 13 of its schools earlier that summer, mostly with public funds. The scanners, from Massachusetts-based Evolv Technology, look like metal detectors but scan for “signatures” for “all the guns, all the bombs, and all the large tactical knives” in the world, Evolv’s CEO Peter George has repeatedly claimed.In Utica, the 17-year-old’s weapon wasn’t the first knife, or gun, to bypass the system. Earlier that month, at a parents’ night, a law enforcement officer had walked through the system twice with his service revolver and was puzzled to find it...

Maryland state trooper arrested, charged with assault, sex offense

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:05:58 GMT

A Maryland State Police trooper was arrested by Anne Arundel County police Saturday morning for multiple charges, including sexual offense and assault.Trooper 1st Class Ryan Bandy was charged with false imprisonment, second-degree assault and fourth-degree sex offense.In a statement, Maryland State Police said that the trooper “appeared before a district court commissioner and subsequently released on his own recognizance.”Bandy has been suspended with pay, state police said.Anne Arundel County police plan to lead the criminal investigation; Maryland State Police’s Internal Affairs Division handles the administrative investigation.Bandy has been working with Maryland State Police for nearly a decade and was recently assigned to the Westminster Barrack, police said.Source

Polls closed for College Park’s special election following former mayor’s arrest

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:05:58 GMT

Polls closed in the special election to replace Patrick Wojahn as mayor of College Park, Maryland, Saturday afternoon.According to the city’s charter, the special election had to take place within 65 days.Voting ended at 6 p.m. at city hall, 7401 Baltimore Ave.The candidates are Bryan Haddad, S.M. Fazlul Kabir, Catherine Hope Kennedy and Denise C. Mitchell. Three of the four have experience on the College Park City Council.The election came after Wojahn resigned as mayor in March. He was arrested and charged with dozens of counts of possession and distribution of child pornography. He had been the city’s mayor since 2015.Wojahn is married to an employee of Hubbard Radio Washington, D.C., which owns WTOP.Source