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Parker: Politicized universities part of larger problem

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:00:17 GMT

A free country will always have debate and differences of opinion. But that debate becomes dangerous and destructive when the differences strike at the core premises that define the very existence of the nation. When we can no longer agree about who we are, what we stand for and why we exist, our very existence comes into question.The country is divided today by those who see injustice as a problem to be defined and solved by politics and those who continue to see injustice as evil defined by Scripture and dealt with through repentance and self-correction.When the issue of slavery tore apart our nation, most Americans were church-going citizens. The dividing line then was between those who saw slavery as a sin and those who did not.As Abraham Lincoln said in his second inaugural address, delivered as the Civil War raged, “Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God and each invokes His aid against the other.”But today the division is between those for whom religion...

Editorial: It’s still the inflation, Mr. President

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:00:17 GMT

Our economy is in great shape, according to President Biden. It’s the media that has it wrong.As The Hill reported, Biden expressed confidence in the economy and ripped reporters for the way it has been portrayed before boarding the presidential helicopter Saturday.“All good. Take a look. Start reporting it the right way,” Biden said when asked about his economic outlook for 2024, according to a transcript released Sunday by the White House.True, the economy has bounced back from the pandemic, thanks in part to Biden’s spending trillions of dollars of economic relief and investments.And the unemployment rate was just 3.7% in November — barely above the pre-pandemic level of 3.5%, which was a five-decade low. Annual inflation has also fallen from a peak of 9.1% in June 2022 to 3.1%  in November.So why are his poll numbers in the basement?Is it because of reporting, or reality?What Biden and other Capitol Hill elites ignore at their peril is that when inflation hit America...

Dear Abby: Adult son blames mom for everything

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:00:17 GMT

Dear Abby: I have two sons in their 50s. My older son is kind, attentive and loving. The younger one, “Scott,” is problematic. Both my boys were raised the same, although when they were in their early teens, I divorced their alcoholic father. At that point, I had to work three jobs to keep them fed and sheltered.Scott constantly returns to the past and accuses me of never having time for him. He no longer speaks to me, which happens often and can last for long periods. His wrath is directed solely at me, and he accuses me of turning the rest of the family against him. He’s negative and controlling, and the truth is, no one wants to be around him. In addition to posting hurtful things on social media, he now refers to me as the “ice maiden.”A close family member advised me to look up the definition of narcissism, and I was shocked to see the description of this disorder fits Scott perfectly. What I have read and researched about narcissism says “st...

Inside Ukraine’s covert Center 73, where clandestine missions shape the war behind the frontline

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:00:17 GMT

KHERSON, Ukraine (AP) — Their first battle plan was outdated the moment the dam crumbled. So the Ukrainian special forces officers spent six months adapting their fight to secure a crossing to the other side of the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine.But it wasn’t enough just to cross the river. They needed backup to hold it. And for that, they needed proof that it could be done. For one of the officers, nicknamed Skif, that meant a Ukrainian flag — and a photo op.Skif, Ukrainian shorthand for the nomadic Scythian people who founded an empire on what is now Crimea, moves like the camouflaged amphibian that he is: Calculating, deliberate, until the time to strike.He is a Center 73 officer, one of Ukraine’s most elite units of special forces — water operations specialists, frontline scouts, drone operators, underwater saboteurs. They are part of the Special Operations Forces that run partisans in occupied territories, sneak into Russian barracks to plant bombs and prepare the ground for ...

The right to protest is under threat in Britain, undermining a pillar of democracy

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:00:17 GMT

LONDON (AP) — For holding a sign outside a courthouse reminding jurors of their right to acquit defendants, a retiree faces up to two years in prison. For hanging a banner reading Just Stop Oil off a bridge, an engineer got a three-year sentence. Just for walking slowly down the street, scores of people have been arrested.They are among hundreds of environmental activists arrested for peaceful demonstrations in the U.K., where tough new laws restrict the right to protest.The Conservative government says the laws prevent extremist activists from hurting the economy and disrupting daily life. Critics say the arrests mark a worrying departure.“The government has made its intent very clear, which is basically to suppress what is legitimate, lawful protest,” said Jonathon Porritt, an ecologist and former director of Friends of the Earth.A PATCHWORK DEMOCRACYBritain is one of the world’s oldest democracies, home of the Magna Carta, a centuries-old Parliament and an independent judic...

Lose a limb or risk death? Growing numbers among Gaza’s thousands of war-wounded face hard decisions

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:00:17 GMT

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The doctors gave Shaimaa Nabahin an impossible choice: lose your left leg or risk death. The 22-year-old had been hospitalized in Gaza for around a week, after her ankle was partially severed in an Israeli airstrike, when doctors told her she was suffering from blood poisoning. Nabahin chose to maximize her chances of survival, and agreed to have her leg amputated 15 centimeters (6 inches) below the knee.The decision upended life for the ambitious university student, as it has for untold others among the more than 54,500 war-wounded who faced similar gut-wrenching choices. “My whole life has changed,” said Nabahin, speaking from her bed at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah. “If I want to take a step or go anywhere, I need help.”The World Health Organization and the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza say amputations have become commonplace during the Israel-Hamas war, now in its 12th week, but could not offer precise fig...

Their lives were torn apart by war in Africa. A family hopes a new US program will help them reunite

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:00:17 GMT

HASLET, Texas (AP) — Worried about his mother’s health, Jacob Mabil tried for months to persuade her to let him start the process that would take her from a sprawling refugee camp where she had spent almost a decade after fleeing violence in South Sudan.He wanted her to come live with him and his young family in the U.S. But before she would agree, she asked for a promise: that he would one day also bring the granddaughters she had raised since they were babies.Mabil, now 44, said he would do everything he could. But it turned out that he was allowed to petition only for immediate family members. Though his mom joined him in suburban Fort Worth, Texas, in 2020, his nieces remained in Africa.“That always killed me,” said Mabil, whose own childhood was ripped apart by civil war in Sudan.As the U.S. government transforms the way refugees are being resettled, Mabil and his family now have hope that they will be reunited with two of his nieces, who soon turn 18 and 19. The Biden ad...

AP News in Brief at 12:09 a.m. EST

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:00:17 GMT

Egypt floats plan to end Israel-Hamas war. The proposal gets a cool receptionCAIRO (AP) — Israel and Hamas on Monday gave cool public receptions to an Egyptian proposal to end their bitter war. But the longstanding enemies stopped short of rejecting the plan altogether, raising the possibility of a new round of diplomacy to halt a devastating Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.The Egyptian plan calls for a phased hostage release and the formation of a Palestinian government of experts to administer the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank, according to a senior Egyptian official and a European diplomat familiar with the proposal.The Egyptian official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the proposal, said the details were worked out with the Gulf nation of Qatar and presented to Israel, Hamas, the United States and European governments. Egypt and Qatar both mediate between Israel and Hamas, while the U.S. is Israel’s closest ally and a key power in the region.Israeli Prime M...

AP sports photos of the year capture unforgettable snippets in time from the games we love

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:00:17 GMT

They are snippets in time, unforgettable snapshots that gloriously capture the soaring euphoria and gut-wrenching agony of the games we love, not to mention the randomness of a moment that might’ve gone unnoticed otherwise.There are the Kansas City Chiefs, dunking head coach Andy Reid with a jug-full of frigid drink after their stirring Super Bowl triumph over the Philadelphia Eagles, fulfilling what has become a rite of passage in all gridiron celebrations.And the Vegas Golden Knights, gathered in a giant group hug behind the net after capturing the NHL’s Stanley Cup championship, the glittering ice beneath their skates littered with discarded gloves.Then there’s Femke Bol, a track athlete from the Netherlands, tumbling toward the track with a gasp of disbelief across her face, the baton slipping from her grasp as she falls near the finish line of a relay race at the world championships.And Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, smashing a golf club across his leg...

Modest temp pullback follows the Chicago’s second warmest Christmas of the past 153 years

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:00:17 GMT

Clouds with slow moving upper low to come and go into ThursdayWGN WEATHER HEADLINESA strong “El Niño” pattern superimposed on a warming climate are producing a very different Christmas this year than last in terms of ChicagoWe logged a record “warm” low temp this Christmas morning of 50 degrees in Chicago — exceeding the old record “warm” low of 46 recorded 87 years ago in 1936.It's the 2nd warmest Christmas on the books here over 153 years of official weather records dating back to 1871 — and the the warmest Chicago christmas in the 41 years since our warmest Christmas on the books — the 65-degree reading recorded on this date in 1982!A high temp of 59 is already on the books (as of this 12 noon 12/25/2023 post) at O’Hare and 60 at Midway. On only one other Christmas (1982) has a December 25th been warmer. It hit 65 that day! And, like this year, it was another strong El Niño Christmas.A SNOW COVER-LESS CHRISTMAS DAY IN CHICAGOThere’s no snow on the ground today in Chicago, but 9 o...