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‘Shit happens’: Margrethe Vestager responds to French fuss over her US hire

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:07 GMT

BRUSSELS — The European Union’s antitrust chief was trying to do the right thing in picking a renowned U.S. professor as a top EU competition economist.“I just wanted to find the right person and do it in the right fashion and then, shit happens,” Margrethe Vestager told a POLITICO reporter on Friday at the Unamido Japanese ramen restaurant near Flagey square in Brussels. The Danish commissioner, who has faced off against at least one shouting Big Tech executive and U.S. presidential venom, endured a potentially damaging setback last week over her choice of Fiona Scott Morton, who has been described as one of the “best economists in the world” in her field, for the influential EU chief competition advisory role.The shit, or rather la merde, came pretty much from one direction — when French President Emmanuel Macron joined other French politicians in criticizing the European Commission for choosing an American for the senior EU post. Macron said neither the U.S. nor ...

Thomas Haden Church game for ‘Twisted Metal’ mayhem

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:07 GMT

“Twisted Metal” is a brand new, half-hour post-apocalyptic action comedy series, based on Sony’s vehicular combat video game franchise of the same name.Naturally, Thomas Haden Church’s aptly named Agent Stone is the “cold and unyielding post-apocalyptic highway patrolman who rules the roads.” While Anthony Mackie’s John Doe must bypass Stone to deliver a package in a distant wasteland.Church, an Oscar nominee for “Sideway” and a Marvel villain as Sandman in “Spiderman 3,” was instantly keen on the “Twisted”  twisted humor.“The first three scripts I read were a lot of fun. And the comedy is so absurd. Laugh out loud hilarious,” Church, 63, explained in a Zoom interview done prior to the current actors’ strike.“This whole world is defined by mayhem and chaos and Agent Stone, by the sheer force of who he is and who follows him, in his own warped sense of justice, is going to make it all just and peaceful. He’s going to pull society back together.”Before he said yes to a videogame...

Editorial: RFK Jr. has nothing on Trump when it comes to media attacks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:07 GMT

Note to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.: You are no Donald Trump.According to the Democratic presidential candidate, the media is ganging up on him, and he’s been slammed “even more than President Trump was slammed” by mainstream media outlets.“I’ve been really, you know, slammed in a way that I think is unprecedented,” Kennedy said during an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”No, you haven’t.The anti-Trump media feeding frenzy began even before the 45th president took office.“A Trump White House could mean gaudy gold decor and tacky touches,” read a New York Daily News headline. That came out on Nov. 8, 2016, election day.Media outlets turned to psychoanalysts to do armchair diagnoses of Trump. They were never favorable.Trump was criticized for his food choices (he apparently favors a well-done steak, which was deemed a sacrilege. Worse as he prefers it with ketchup.)When former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski wrote “Let Trump Be Trump,” t...

Orioles edge Phillies, 3-2, behind Jordan Westburg’s first career homer, Colton Cowser’s ninth-inning double

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:07 GMT

In the city that popularized “The Process” in the NBA, the Orioles displayed Monday night the continued success of their rebuild.Dean Kremer, acquired in the 2018 trade that sent Manny Machado to the Los Angeles Dodgers, pitched brilliantly. Jordan Westburg, drafted in the first round of the 2020 MLB draft, hit his first career home run. And, most pivotally, Colton Cowser — picked in the first round of the 2021 draft — hit a ninth-inning double to score 2019 second-round selection Gunnar Henderson.The Orioles beat the Phillies, 3-2, improving to an American League-best 62-38 and moving 2.5 games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East.The Philadelphia 76ers became synonymous with a rebuild when the pro basketball team suffered through several losing seasons in the 2010s, but collected draft picks and have now put together six straight playoff appearances — although they’ve yet to reach the conference finals in that span.The Orioles similarly en...

Anuzis: Proposed ‘conservation’ rule would limit U.S. energy supply

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:07 GMT

Regulatory overreach by federal agencies has become a common theme recently, from the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed climate disclosure rule to the recently proposed “Strengthening the Stewardship of America’s Public Lands” rule by the Bureau of Land Management. And now, it looks like there is no end in sight to this unprecedented overreach.The proposed rule is intended to escalate public land “conservation” to a “use” within the Federal Land Planning and Management Act and “facilitate restoration work on public lands in cooperation with community partners.”However, the actual meaning of this statement has a plethora of interpretations. What is the definition of “restoration”? And what does it mean for our nation’s federal lands that are used to provide energy for American consumers?The Bureau of Land Management has attempted to convince the nation that this rule would still allow for federal activity and production, but the proposed rule is accompanied by a whole hos...

Battenfeld: Michelle Wu testing boundaries of her power with endorsements, City Council challenges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:07 GMT

Mayor Michelle Wu is testing the boundaries of Boston’s strong mayor model – overruling the City Council, quashing an outside rebellion and using her clout to endorse candidates.Wu is making it clear she’s in charge for now – and any dissent won’t be tolerated, even last year putting her critics on a controversial list she provided to police.She waded into the at-large council race last week, supporting candidate Henry Santana in a risky move that could backfire or increase her powers. Santana is a former Wu aide who could be a key ally for the mayor on the bickering council, but Santana’s admission to the Herald that he has never voted could hurt his candidacy and embarrass Wu.The mayor had to pull her endorsement of Councilor Ricardo Arroyo in the race for Suffolk County District Attorney amid reports that Arroyo had faced investigations of sexual assault as a teenager. Arroyo ended up losing the race.Wu has also endorsed a candidate, Sharon Durkan, in this week’s spec...

Dear Abby: Teen son feels rejected by absent dad

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:07 GMT

Dear Abby: My teenage son has a difficult relationship with his dad. They talk roughly once a week, but his dad hasn’t exercised visitation rights in nearly four years. He’s retired, very well off and has the time and resources to utilize spending time with our son; he simply chooses not to.My son has some very understandable negative feelings about this. He’s in counseling and is now recognizing he has the power and responsibility to set boundaries for his own well-being. However, he struggles with deep insecurities. Despite having other male role models (grandpa, coaches, neighbors) who model positive behavior, share time, give advice and support him, he struggles to trust that he is deserving of it.I regularly point out the wonderful male influences in his life and provide resources for him to spend enjoying activities with them. This helps, but it doesn’t seem to overcome my son’s deep sense of rejection and insecurities in peer-to-peer male relatio...

Japan police arrest woman, parents in beheading of man at hotel in Hokkaido entertainment district

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:07 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese police said they have arrested a woman and her parents in a bizarre beheading case in a popular night entertainment district in Japan’s northern city of Sapporo, where a headless man was found in a hotel room three weeks ago.Hokkaido police on Japan’s northern main island said Tuesday they arrested Runa Tamura, 29, and her father Osamu Tamura, a 59-year-old psychiatrist, the day before on suspicion of conspiring in beheading the victim at a hotel room and relocating his severed head in the middle of the night between July 1 and July 2.The head of the victim, Hitoshi Ura, 62, has been missing since then.Police raided the suspects’ home Tuesday and arrested the prime suspect’s mother Hiroko Tamura, a 60-year-old parttime worker, on suspicion of conspiring with her family in transporting and keeping the head at home. Police did not say exactly how the daughter and the father collaborated. Police are still investigating the motive and refused to s...

Stock market today: Asian markets follow Wall St up after Chinese promise to support economy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:07 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets followed Wall Street higher on Tuesday after China’s ruling Communist Party promised to shore up its sagging economy ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting traders hope will announce this interest rate cycle’s final increase.Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul and Sydney advanced. Tokyo declined. Oil prices rose.The Chinese ruling party on Monday promised measures to boost sluggish economic growth by supporting real estate sales and other struggling sectors but gave no details and didn’t mention possible stimulus spending.Any stimulus is “unlikely to be significant” while Beijing takes a “gradual and targeted approach,” Andrew McCaffery of Fidelity International said in a reportThe Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.7% to 3,217.75 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong surged 3.4% to 19,298.31. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo shed 0.3% to 32,605.97 while the Kospi in Seoul advanced less than 0.1% to 2,630.70.Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 gained 0.4% to 7,336.20...

California aims to tap beavers, once viewed as a nuisance, to help with water issues and wildfires

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:07 GMT

For years, beavers have been treated as an annoyance for chewing down trees and shrubs and blocking up streams, leading to flooding in neighborhoods and farms. But the animal is increasingly being seen as nature’s helper in the midst of climate change.California recently changed its tune and is embracing the animals that can create lush habitats that lure species back into now-urban areas, enhance groundwater supplies and buffer against the threat of wildfires.A new policy that went into effect last month encourages landowners and agencies dealing with beaver damage to seek solutions such as putting flow devices in streams or protective wrap on trees before seeking permission from the state to kill the animals. The state is also running pilot projects to relocate beavers to places where they can be more beneficial. The aim is to preserve more beavers, along with their nature-friendly behaviors.“There’s been this major paradigm shift throughout the West where people have ...