fortune gems legit Fox News senior national correspondent Aishah Hasnie and senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram join 'Special Report with Bret Baier' to preview President-elect Trump's second term and uncertainty around House speaker fate. Opinion columnists for The Hill called on Congress to invoke the 14th Amendment disqualification to block President-elect Donald Trump from taking office next month. In a column published Thursday , Evan A. Davis and David M. Schulte argued that the 14th amendment enables Congress to object to the electoral votes since they consider Trump, in their words, "an oath-breaking insurrectionist." TRUMP RETURN: WASHINGTON PREPARES FOR A SECOND TERM Article 3 of the 14th Amendment bars former officeholders who "engaged in insurrection" or has "given aid or comfort to the enemies" from holding public office again. The restriction can be removed by a two-thirds vote in each House. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump looks on during Turning Point USA's AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center on December 22, 2024, in Phoenix, Arizona. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images) Citing this disqualification, Davis, a former editor-in-chief of the Columbia Law Review and Schulte, former editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal, claimed that Trump is ineligible to be president. The pair called on Congress to take action when they meet in a joint session to formally count the electoral votes next week. "Disqualification is based on insurrection against the Constitution and not the government. The evidence of Donald Trump’s engaging in such insurrection is overwhelming," they argued. "The matter has been decided in three separate forums, two of which were fully contested with the active participation of Trump’s counsel." The authors cited Trump's second impeachment trial, the Jan. 6 Capitol attack probe by Congress and the Colorado Supreme Court's ruling to disqualify the former and incoming president from appearing on the state's ballots in 2024 as reasons for his ineligibility. "On Jan. 13, 2021, then-President Trump was impeached for ‘incitement of insurrection’...inciting insurrection encompasses ‘engaging in insurrection’ against the Constitution ‘or giving aid and comfort to the enemies thereof,’ the grounds for disqualification specified in Section 3," they claimed. "The inescapable conclusion of this evidence is that Trump engaged in insurrection against the Constitution." The Colorado state ruling to kick Trump off the ballot on the basis of the 14th amendment disqualification, which was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, found that there was "clear and convincing evidence that President Trump engaged in insurrection as those terms are used in Section Three," Davis and Schulte wrote. President-elect Trump at AmericaFest in Arizona. (Rick Scuteri) But the decision was appealed and the Supreme Court ruled in Trump's favor , concluding that "states have no power under the Constitution to enforce Section 3 with respect to federal offices, especially the Presidency." Still, Davis and Schulte griped that the "court did not address the finding that Trump had engaged in insurrection," insisting that the Supreme Court's decision in this case does not preclude Congress from rejecting electoral votes when they convene on January 6. ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTE MOVES TRUMP ANOTHER STEP TOWARDS OFFICIALLY BECOMING PRESIDENT "Counting the Electoral College votes is a matter uniquely assigned to Congress by the Constitution. Under well-settled law this fact deprives the Supreme Court of a voice in the matter, because the rejection of the vote on constitutionally specified grounds is a nonreviewable political question," they claimed. The columnists urged Congress to reject the electoral vote using the Electoral Count Act, which allows for an objection only if "the electors from a state were not lawfully certified or if the vote of one or more electors was not 'regularly given.'" "A vote for a candidate disqualified by the Constitution is plainly in accordance with the normal use of words ‘not regularly given,'" they claimed. "Disqualification for engaging in insurrection is no different from disqualification based on other constitutional requirements such as age, citizenship from birth and 14 years’ residency in the United States." An objection under the Count Act requires a petition signed by 20 percent of the members of each House. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The dome of the U.S. Capitol building is seen from a perch in Washington, D.C. (Fox News Digital) "If the objection is sustained by majority vote in each house, the vote is not counted and the number of votes required to be elected is reduced by the number of disqualified votes. If all votes for Trump were not counted, Kamala Harris would be elected president," they wrote. "The unlikelihood of congressional Republicans doing anything that might elect Harris as president is obvious," they concluded. "But Democrats need to take a stand against Electoral College votes for a person disqualified by the Constitution from holding office unless and until this disability is removed. No less is required by their oath to support and defend the Constitution." The column garnered swift and fierce backlash online, with critics accusing the authors of "endorsing insurrection." "Oh, look. Democrats want to steal the election and invalidate the will of the American people.Threat to Democracy," Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung wrote on X. "You people are sick," Eric Trump replied. " Sounds like @thehill is endorsing insurrection. Yes, try blocking the inauguration of a President who won the popular vote and the electoral college. Let’s see how that goes for y’all," anti-woke activist Robby Starbuck said. This article constitutes a conspiracy to overturn the 2024 election," Senior Counsel at the Article III Project, Will Chamberlain, posted. Political comedian Tim Young weighed in, "@thehill In fantasy land, democrats at The Hill think they can stop Trump from taking office." Kevin and Keith Hodge, known as the Hodgetwins, responded, "This is a real insurrection against the will of the people." "This sounds very insurrection-y," journalist Ian Miles Cheong agreed. "Warrants were served on people who said far less than this about Biden in 2021," conservative commentator John Cardillo posted . "This is the kind of nonsense Democrats must reject Trump won in a fair democratic process," former presidential candidate John Delaney wrote . "Democrats should be either working with him when it is in the best interest of the nation or their constituents or standing firm when it's not. Americans don't want pure obstructionists." Yael Halon is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to yael.halon@fox.com .

It’s Thursday, December 26, and bragging rights in Florida are on the line as the Miami Heat (14-13) and Orlando Magic (19-12) get set to square off from Kia Center in Orlando. The Heat are currently 4-8 on the road with a point differential of 3, while the Magic have an 8-2 record in their last ten games at home. We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch tipoff, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts. Listen to the Rotoworld Basketball Show for the latest fantasy player news, waiver claims, roster advice and more from our experts all season long. Click here or download it wherever you get your podcasts. Game details & how to watch Heat vs. Magic live today Date: Thursday, December 26, 2024 Time: 7 pm EST Site: Kia Center City: Orlando, FL Never miss a second of the action and stay up to date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day NBA schedule page , along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game. Game odds for Heat vs. Magic The latest odds as of Thursday: Odds: Heat (+102), Magic (-122) Spread: Magic -1.5 Over/Under: 208.5 points That gives the Heat an implied team point total of 103.88, and the Magic 104.66. Want to know which sportsbook is offering the best lines for every game on the NBA calendar? Check out the NBC Sports’ Live Odds tool to get all the latest updated info from DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM & more! Expert picks & predictions for Thursday Heat vs. Magic game NBC Sports Bet Best Bet Vaughn Dalzell expects a slow start to this game: 1Q Under 53.5 (-115) “These two just played on Saturday and the result was a 121-114 win for the Magic. Miami led the 1Q 40-28 and the first meeting featured a 32-32 1Q. Yet, the 1Q total is set at 53.5 for the third matchup. I think that is telling, especially after Christmas. I will bet on a sluggish start and these teams to lock in on one another in the third meeting of the season and second in the last week.” Please bet responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline at 1-800-522-4700. Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the NBA calendar based on data points like recent performance, head-to-head player matchups, trends information and projected game totals. Once the model is finished running, we put its projections next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager. Here are the best bets our model is projecting for today’s Heat & Magic game: Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is staying away from a play on the Moneyline. Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Orlando Magic at -1.5. Total: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play on the OVER on the Game Total of 208.5. Want even more NBA best bets and predictions from our expert staff & tools? Check out the Expert NBA Predictions page from NBC Sports for money line, spread and over/under picks for every game on today’s calendar! Important stats, trends & insights to know ahead of Heat vs. Magic on Thursday The Heat have lost 4 straight road games The Magic’s last 3 games versus the Heat have gone OVER the Total If you’re looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline, and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our NBA Top Trends tool on NBC Sports! Bet the Edge is your source for all things sports betting. Get all of Jay Croucher and Drew Dinsick’s insight weekdays at 6AM ET right here or wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Follow our experts on socials to keep up with all the latest content from the staff: - Jay Croucher (@croucherJD) - Drew Dinsick (@whale_capper) - Vaughn Dalzell (@VmoneySports) - Brad Thomas (@MrBradThomas)

Joe Burrow's home broken into during Monday Night Football in latest pro-athlete home invasion

In the late 90s and 2000s was the best-selling phone brand with over 40 percent market share. That dominance however faded away as Samsung, Apple, and other aggressive Chinese OEMs took away the market share. The Finnish brand has made steady strides after being acquired by HMD Global, focusing on value, durability, and software experience. To remember the glory years of Nokia, Helsinki-based Aalto University (a renowned research school) has launched the Nokia Design Archive to maintain a repository of 20,000 items from the brand during the period of the mid-90s to 2017. This includes secret Nokia concepts and materials maintained in a digital format. Users will also be able to get access to the ideation, sketches, and designer interviews starting January 15 next year. Designer: According to Kaisu Savola, Aalto University post-doctoral researcher, “Technology doesn’t just shape us; we shape technology. When we started the project, the focus was on objects. As we began going through the material, we soon realized that it was about people.” The highlight of the archive will be the Nokia 3310 brick phone, the Nokia 8810 banana phone used by Keanu Reaves in The 1999 The Matrix movie, and the Nokia 7280 lipstick phone that was a bold choice for millennials. The motive of this research initially was on objects but transitioning through the material made the team realize it was more about people. During the first phase, the online portal will have a fraction of the stories, images, prototypes licensed by Microsoft Mobile, and later on more Nokia stories will be added. The digital files will amount to 959GB of valuable repository that’ll take loyal fans back in time. We at Yanko Design just can’t wait to go through the preserved material of the Nokia N83, more commonly known as the multimedia computer of the Symbian Series 60. Similarly, the Nokia 3210 released in 1999 ushered in an era of phone customization and had an interesting piece of history associated with it. Another unforgettable piece of Nokia’s legacy is the factory ringtone. the 1902 Gran Vals by Francisco Tárrega that was heard approximately 1.8 bn times a day around the globe. Also, the sneak peek at the wildest concept ideas like virtual reality glasses from the Finnish brand’s glory years is going to be a nostalgic ride down memory lane!Skimmers targeting EBT food assist cards

Alyssa Nakken, first full-time female coach in MLB history, leaving Giants to join Guardians

Dexter: Original Sin will take audiences back in time to find out how the man became the monster — er, the monster-slayer — in the Showtime thriller. The prequel series, which premieres on Paramount+ with Showtime on Friday, December 13, takes place 15 years before we first met Dexter (then played by Michael C. Hall , who still narrates the new series) in the original Dexter . Taking over the title role in this iteration is Patrick Gibson , who has the character’s steely-eyed stares and smug sauntering style down to a science. With new characters being introduced in some familiar settings, the new series will bring some new details about Dexter’s past to light, but it will also inevitably retread some familiar territory from the first show, which had ample flashbacks. Here’s what to remember about Dexter ‘s past before Dexter: Original Sin . Dexter didn’t find out until he was a fully grown serial murderer that he had a big brother who was also running around slaughtering people. The Ice Truck Killer who stalked Dexter was actually Brian Moser, his slightly older brother who was not adopted (or even mentioned) by Harry. Dexter only found out about Brian because the Ice Truck Killer left clues that were tailored to catch his attention — reminding him of scenes from his past as part of the Morgan family. Laura Moser was the single mother to Brian and Dexter and worked as a confidential informant for Harry and the Miami-Metro Police Department against the Colombian cartel. She was brutally dismembered right in front of Brian and Dexter, who were left wading in her blood inside a shipping container. Harry adopted Dexter as his own upon finding him in the container, but Brian was sent into the foster system. In flashbacks in Dexter , it became clear that he was not a normal teenager with typical feelings or tendencies. In fact, he had an innate bloodlust that his father recognized and tried to quell with hunting trips, to the exclusion of his daughter Debra. Harry wanted to protect Dexter from himself — particularly his self-destructive impulses. Though Harry tried to find other ways for Dexter to quench his thirst for blood, so to speak, he soon gave in and encouraged him to kill someone when he discovered Nurse Mary was poisoning Harry and other patients in the hospital after his heart attack. Once Dexter began to kill, Harry worked hard to create a framework for his adoptive son to work within that, if he followed it to the letter, would keep his morality and freedom intact. The rules included being certain that the mark was worthy of being murdered and leaving no trace of evidence behind. Even after Harry’s death, Dexter worked to strictly adhere to this code in every kill. Randy Tepper/Showtime Dexter repeatedly revealed that he felt empty on the inside, and it was Harry who taught him to feign normal human feelings and social interactions around others — even if it meant faking a smile in his own family photos. Little by little throughout Dexter , we learn that Harry Morgan had several affairs while married to Doris, including with Laura Morgan and another confidential informant. Though Harry is definitely the most common star of Dexter’s flashback memories, his adoptive mother Doris is also a fixture of his past. She died when Deb was 16 and didn’t know about Dexter’s violent tendencies, even if she didn’t totally understand him at times. Dexter: Original Sin , Series Premiere, Streaming, Friday, December 13, Paramount+ with Showtime, Sunday, December 15, 10/9c, Paramount+ with Showtime More Headlines:Joe Burrow's home broken into during Monday Night Football in latest pro-athlete home invasion

What New Year’s resolutions can not-Black folks make for 2025 to fight back against the incoming racist regime? Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver-Velez 2025 is right around the corner. I realize that for many of us, the “New Year” signals hardships ahead under the ascension of a racist, sexist, supremacist incompetent convicted felon to the highest seat of power here in the States. The vast majority of Black folks did their Black job in voting against what has come to pass. Many of us are unsurprisingly very disheartened (I’m being nice — pissed off is more like it) about how certain demographic clusters of not-Black folks have once again failed to live up to “promises.” I’m not talking about MAGAS. We know who they are and what they support. We bin known about who our allies have been, and not been for over 400 years. Today many of us are side-eying people who wound up not giving a flying f**k about what happens to us Black folks in the upcoming reign of insane. Many of y’all are gonna be okay (you think) and it’s possible that’s true for some of you. Others of you may just find out what it’s like to have been Black in America all these generations. I’ve heard grumblings from quite a few not-Black people about the attitudes being expressed by Black folks on social media who are in FAFO mode. For those of you not familiar with the term it is an acronym for “Fuck Around and Find Out.” For those of you who are still suffering from and proud of being “more progressive than thou” by not voting or choosing Jill Stein, the moment of truth awaits. I sit here and wonder if it will ever dawn on you that not-Blackness ain’t gonna save you. We know we are an easy target. Bin’ known. Melanin tells on us. We know we are only 13% of the population. Our existence depends on building bridges and allyship, even when uncomfortable. Always has. We live in two worlds. A Black world created by centuries of segregation, race creation and hate, and a white world we observe, work in, and sometimes even marry with. Read Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man” if you never have. Listen to James Baldwin debate William Buckley. None of this is a secret. We’ve crawled forward over time — from Dred Scott— to the Civil Rights Act, and once again we are shoved backwards. Some of you excuse yourselves from association with those who opted to vote to take us backward by pronouncing that you voted for Obama, or Kamala. Now that she has lost, I’m reading comments made by far too many of you making it her fault. Or Obama’s fault — anything that lifts the onus off of you and yours — your co-workers, family members, neighbors. I’ve been writing commentaries for Black Kos for many years now. Thank you David ( dopper0189 ) for creating this oasis for those of us who are unabashedly Black, and for the few white/notBlack folks who “get it” and are not uncomfortable with it. I’ll emphasize “few” because in this huge DKos space we actually have very few regular reader/commenters. We even get visitors here who waltz into the comments and call some of our members “racist.” I remember someone objecting to our name, and wanting to know why was there no “White Kos” SMDH. FYI: Because we are being our very own Black selves doesn’t mean we necessarily agree with each other all of the time. There is diversity in Blackness. We are not a monolith. However — it is still Blackness no matter what. (Even right wing Black folks are at risk for stop and frisk, shoot first and ask no questions after death squads) Bleaching cream won’t cut it. We get visitors here who have no clue that most of the membership of Black Kos is white — white readers, commenters and an Editor. Our knowledgeable membership is comfortable with it and they don’t try to tell us who are Black that we have to make them comfortable by stifling how we feel about things, or a need to edit, self-censor the words we use. Okay, now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, I have a few questions for you, if you are not-Black and still reading. Do you have any very close Black friends? (not talking about acquaintances) Do you have any Black family members? Have you ever had, or do you have a Black boss/supervisor? What organization that has Black leadership have you ever joined, have been or are a member of? Do you have any Black neighbors? Is where you live segregated (most of the U.S. still is)? If so — why are you there, and what have you done to change that? If most of your answers to these questions is “no” (or yes to the last one) what can you resolve to do in 2025 to help change things? I know how some of my closest not-Black friends grew up to be the human beings they are. Some commenters/community members here in Black Kos have also shared their own experiences/and exposures. I’m interested in hearing from readers, who are willing to make resolutions and hoping that we can work together towards forging a more equitable path forward. In case you’re wondering why I use “Not-Black” as an identifier term, I have real problems with the use of the term “non-white” since it centers whiteness, which I’ve written about in the past in “ I am not 'non-white' ” The renowned poet Nikki Giovanni has died. Giovanni died on Monday, Dec. 9, following her third cancer diagnosis, according to a statement from friend and author Renée Watson. She was 81. "We will forever be grateful for the unconditional time she gave to us, to all her literary children across the writerly world," said poet Kwame Alexander in the statement. Giovanni published her first poetry collection, Black Feeling Black Talk , in 1968. It established her as an emerging figure out of the Black Arts Movement. In it, Giovanni writes about the intersections of love, politics, loneliness and race. Her language is sometimes spare and longing, other times dense and righteous. The final lines in "Word Poem" read, "let's build / what we become /when we dream." She was born Yolanda Cornelia Giovanni, Jr., on June 7, 1943, in Knoxville, Tenn. Though she grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and its surrounding suburbs, she returned to Nashville to attend Fisk University for college. There, she met other writers who'd become leading Black literary figures – Dudley Randall, Margaret Walker, Amiri Baraka and more. While at Fisk, she also re-established the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. As her writing career took off, Giovanni became a regular guest on Soul! , a Black arts and culture talk show on WNET. Her conversation with the acclaimed writer James Baldwin came on the heels of being named "Woman of the Year" by both Ebony magazine and Mademoiselle . x YouTube Video . Despite the political climate, 2024 has been the Year of the Woman in sports. Recently, interest in women’s sports peaked as the industry saw record viewership, attendance, sponsorships, and revenue across sports categories. So much so that stars like Whoopi Goldberg launched the All Women’s Sports Network (AWSN) , the first global women’s sports channel, and WNBA stars launched the Unrivaled Women’s Basketball League. Though most athletes care more about their craft than their coins, tracking female athletes, especially Black female athletes’ earnings, is particularly important as athletes in these demographics have historically been underpaid in comparison to their white and male counterparts. Last week, Sportico released its list of the highest-paid female athletes of 2024, in which Black female athletes showed some of the highest earnings. According to this year’s list, Coco Gauff took the number one spot for the second year in a row, earning approximately $30 million in endorsements and salary/prize money. Fellow tennis star Naomi Osaka, who came in sixth on the list, earned nearly $15 million this year. The list also included Olympic gymnast and gold medalist Simone Biles, who reportedly earned $11.1 million. While these women reached incredible financial heights, their recorded earnings do not even reflect half of what the highest-paid Black male athletes reportedly made. Forbes’ annual highest-paid athlete list reported that LeBron James earned $128.2 million, followed by other Black athletes like Giannis Antetokounmpo with $111 million, Kylian Mbappé with $110 million, and Stephen Curry with $102 million. About 200 people were killed in violence in Haiti’s capital over the weekend, many in a massacre in which a gang boss reportedly targeted Voodoo practitioners. The killings of at least 110 people were overseen by a “powerful gang leader” convinced that his son’s illness was caused by followers of the religion, according to the civil organisation the Committee for Peace and Development (CPD). “He decided to cruelly punish all elderly people and Voodoo practitioners who, in his imagination, would be capable of sending a bad spell on his son,” a statement from the Haiti-based group said. “The gang’s soldiers were responsible for identifying victims in their homes to take them to the chief’s stronghold to be executed.” The UN rights commissioner, Volker Turk, said at least 184 people had died over the weekend. “These latest killings bring the death toll just this year in Haiti to a staggering 5,000 people,” he told reporters in Geneva. Both the CPD and UN said that the massacre took place in the capital’s western coastal neighbourhood of Cité Soleil. Chaotic scenes have broken out in the Bahamas parliament after the indictment of senior police officers on drug trafficking charges sparked a heated debate over corruption, in which the deputy opposition leader tossed a ceremonial mace out a window. During the incident, Shanendon Cartwright of the opposition Free National Movement approached the speaker, Patricia Deveaux, after she did not allow him to speak, grabbed the parliamentary mace, and tossed it out of a nearby window. The turmoil came as the country’s top police official, commissioner Clayton Fernander, resigned following the indictment of three police officers in what the US Department of Justice described as a “massive cocaine importation conspiracy enabled by corrupt Bahamian government officials, including high-ranking members of the Royal Bahamas police force”. US prosecutors said that since May 2021, drug traffickers had smuggled tons of cocaine through the Bahamas with the help of corrupt local officials who controlled airports and disclosed information about US Coast Guard movements. According to the indictment, the bribes that officials were promised or given ranged from $10,000 to $2m to facilitate trafficking, including the movement of 1,320lbs (600kg) of cocaine through the Bahamas’ main international airport. As the school year approaches its final stretch in 2025, high school seniors are starting to make their final preparations for life after graduation. For many of those students, that means choosing to continue their education in college. In the case of Black students, many of them might choose to look at attending one of the more than 100 Historically Black Colleges and Universities ( HBCUs ) across the United States as a viable choice. Not only do HBCUs present an opportunity to connect with like-minded students and embrace the Black experience, but tuition and admission fees for many HBCUs are also below the national average costs for higher education. MORE: A Wake-Up Call for HBCUs: The Trump Administration’s Impact On Funding And Legacy According to the Education Data Initiative, the average cost of college in the United States has more than doubled in the 21st century. According to the latest statistics released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) , the U.S. spends more per student on colleges and universities than every other country in the developed world. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “... we will call this woeman and her/ name will be sapphire and she will divide into four parts/ that simone may sing a song... “/ -- Nikki Giovanni "Poem For A Lady Whose Voice I Like" by Justice Putnam, Black Kos Editor I come from a strong Matriarchy, so strong in fact, one might say I come from a feminist extended-family. There was no division of labor by gender when doing chores, growing up, all of us mowed the lawn, washed dishes, cooked, cleaned. When we lived on the farm outside of Corvallis, all of us learned to sew and sow. The great Matriarch of the Family, our Great Aunt Mabel, lived to be 102. Shortly after marriage in the late 1880's, she and her new husband provisioned a covered wagon and trekked across the plains on their way to California. Along the way, as she put it, "he wasn't up to snuff, so I had to kick him out." She took up with another fellow during the almost year long voyage and he was "worse than the first", so he was sent packing as well. It took a special man to be with this special woman, as it has been, as it is and as it will be with all the women in my family. I've heard the accusation, on more than one occasion, that the women in the family are "full of themselves." "Yes," is their unabashed reply, resonating across the generations, "yes we are!" I met Nikki Giovanni at a few readings back in the day when I was full of myself and thought my work was not self-serving. But I was willing to listen, I was willing to learn. It might have taken some time for me to learn to shut up, but she was always so gracious. I will miss her greatly. so he said: you ain’t got no talent if you didn’t have a face you wouldn’t be nobody and she said: god created heaven and earth and all that’s Black within them so he said: you ain’t really no hot shit they tell me plenty sisters take care better business than you and she said: on the third day he made chitterlings and all good things to eat and said: “that’s good” so he said: if the white folks hadn’t been under yo skirt and been giving you the big play you’d a had to come on uptown like everybody else and she replied: then he took a big Black greasy rib from adam and said we will call this woeman and her name will be sapphire and she will divide into four parts that simone may sing a song and he said: you pretty full of yourself ain’t chu so she replied: show me someone not full of herself and i’ll show you a hungry person -- Nikki Giovanni "Poem For A Lady Whose Voice I Like" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Nina Simone "Four Women" x x YouTube Video ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~US President-elect Donald Trump says on his first day in office he will pardon rioters involved in the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack, further building expectations for a broad granting of clemency. or signup to continue reading "I'm going to be acting very quickly, first day," Trump said on NBC News' Meet the Press with Kristen Welker on Sunday when asked when he planned to pardon his supporters who were charged in the attack aimed at overturning his 2020 election defeat. Trump told Welker there could be "some exceptions" to his pardons if the individuals had acted "radical" or "crazy" during the assault, which left more than 140 police officers injured and led to several deaths. But Trump described the prosecutions of his supporters as inherently corrupt and did not rule out pardoning the more than 900 defendants who had already pleaded guilty, including those accused of acting violently in the attack. "I'm going to look at everything. We're going to look at individual cases," Trump said. The comments - Trump's most detailed on the issue of pardons since he defeated Vice President Kamala Harris - will likely add to already high expectations for broad action once Trump is sworn in to office on January 20. "He continues to put out the public message closer and closer to what the J6 community is asking for, which is clemency for all of the January 6ers," Suzzanne Monk, a longtime advocate for defendants charged in the riot, told Reuters. Hopes among January 6 defendants and their supporters for broad-based clemency have been growing over the past week after President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter, marking a reversal from his pledge not to interfere with his son's criminal cases. Biden said Hunter deserved a pardon because he was the victim of political persecution, an argument Trump will likely use to justify mass pardons. Some Biden critics said his decision would lessen the political cost for Trump. In what has been billed as America's largest-ever criminal investigation, at least 1572 defendants have been charged in the January 6 attack, with crimes ranging from unlawfully entering restricted grounds to seditious conspiracy and violent assault. More than 1251 have been convicted or pleaded guilty and 645 have been sentenced to prison, with punishments ranging from a few days to 22 years, according to the latest data from the Justice Department. DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team. WEEKDAYS Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation. WEEKLY The latest news, results & expert analysis. WEEKDAYS Catch up on the news of the day and unwind with great reading for your evening. WEEKLY Get the editor's insights: what's happening & why it matters. WEEKLY Love footy? We've got all the action covered. WEEKLY Every Saturday and Tuesday, explore destinations deals, tips & travel writing to transport you around the globe. WEEKLY Going out or staying in? Find out what's on. WEEKDAYS Sharp. Close to the ground. Digging deep. Your weekday morning newsletter on national affairs, politics and more. TWICE WEEKLY Your essential national news digest: all the big issues on Wednesday and great reading every Saturday. WEEKLY Get news, reviews and expert insights every Thursday from CarExpert, ACM's exclusive motoring partner. TWICE WEEKLY Get real, Australia! Let the ACM network's editors and journalists bring you news and views from all over. 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Dexter: Original Sin will take audiences back in time to find out how the man became the monster — er, the monster-slayer — in the Showtime thriller. The prequel series, which premieres on Paramount+ with Showtime on Friday, December 13, takes place 15 years before we first met Dexter (then played by Michael C. Hall , who still narrates the new series) in the original Dexter . Taking over the title role in this iteration is Patrick Gibson , who has the character’s steely-eyed stares and smug sauntering style down to a science. With new characters being introduced in some familiar settings, the new series will bring some new details about Dexter’s past to light, but it will also inevitably retread some familiar territory from the first show, which had ample flashbacks. Here’s what to remember about Dexter ‘s past before Dexter: Original Sin . Dexter didn’t find out until he was a fully grown serial murderer that he had a big brother who was also running around slaughtering people. The Ice Truck Killer who stalked Dexter was actually Brian Moser, his slightly older brother who was not adopted (or even mentioned) by Harry. Dexter only found out about Brian because the Ice Truck Killer left clues that were tailored to catch his attention — reminding him of scenes from his past as part of the Morgan family. Laura Moser was the single mother to Brian and Dexter and worked as a confidential informant for Harry and the Miami-Metro Police Department against the Colombian cartel. She was brutally dismembered right in front of Brian and Dexter, who were left wading in her blood inside a shipping container. Harry adopted Dexter as his own upon finding him in the container, but Brian was sent into the foster system. In flashbacks in Dexter , it became clear that he was not a normal teenager with typical feelings or tendencies. In fact, he had an innate bloodlust that his father recognized and tried to quell with hunting trips, to the exclusion of his daughter Debra. Harry wanted to protect Dexter from himself — particularly his self-destructive impulses. Though Harry tried to find other ways for Dexter to quench his thirst for blood, so to speak, he soon gave in and encouraged him to kill someone when he discovered Nurse Mary was poisoning Harry and other patients in the hospital after his heart attack. Once Dexter began to kill, Harry worked hard to create a framework for his adoptive son to work within that, if he followed it to the letter, would keep his morality and freedom intact. The rules included being certain that the mark was worthy of being murdered and leaving no trace of evidence behind. Even after Harry’s death, Dexter worked to strictly adhere to this code in every kill. Randy Tepper/Showtime Dexter repeatedly revealed that he felt empty on the inside, and it was Harry who taught him to feign normal human feelings and social interactions around others — even if it meant faking a smile in his own family photos. Little by little throughout Dexter , we learn that Harry Morgan had several affairs while married to Doris, including with Laura Morgan and another confidential informant. Though Harry is definitely the most common star of Dexter’s flashback memories, his adoptive mother Doris is also a fixture of his past. She died when Deb was 16 and didn’t know about Dexter’s violent tendencies, even if she didn’t totally understand him at times. Dexter: Original Sin , Series Premiere, Streaming, Friday, December 13, Paramount+ with Showtime, Sunday, December 15, 10/9c, Paramount+ with Showtime More Headlines:Trump is making an 11th-hour bid to toss his hush-money case before Inauguration Day. Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg has now filed an 82-page motion opposing Trump's dismissal efforts. Trump's "history of malicious conduct" is too serious to toss the case, Bragg wrote. In an 82-page court filing made public Tuesday, Manhattan prosecutors say Donald Trump's "history of malicious conduct" is too serious for his hush-money case to be dismissed . Advertisement The filing, signed by DA Alvin Bragg, also fights Trump's claim that he enjoys something called presidential-elect immunity — above and beyond the presidential immunity bestowed on him by the US Supreme Court in June. "There are no grounds for such relief now, prior to inauguration," Bragg wrote in opposing Trump's 11th-hour motion to dismiss, "because President-elect immunity does not exist ." Advertisement With just six weeks left before his January 20 inauguration — and six months after a Manhattan jury convicted him — Trump is again demanding that New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan immediately dismiss his hush-money case. It's his third time trying to void his indictment or his conviction. If successful, Trump would escape altogether his already thrice-delayed sentencing . The president elect faces as little as no jail time and a potential maximum of four years prison for falsifying 34 business records throughout his first year of office to retroactively hide a hush-money payment to adult actress Stormy Daniels. (Legal experts have said that it's unlikely Trump would be sentenced to jail time as a 78-year-old first-time offender convicted of low-level felonies, and any jail sentence would be stayed as he appeals.) Trump paid for Daniels' silence just eleven days before 2016 election, and jurors unanimously found that he thereby conspired to promote his own election by unlawful means, Bragg wrote. Advertisement The evidence presented against Trump was "overwhelming," reads the filing, which is also signed by a lead prosecutor on the case, Christopher Conroy. "The crimes that the jury convicted defendant of committing are serious offenses that caused extensive harm to the sanctity of the electoral process and to the integrity of New York's financial marketplace," which relies on honest record-keeping, Bragg wrote. Trump's conduct during his hush-money prosecution also weighs heavily against dismissal, as does his "long history of threatening, abusing, and attacking participants in other legal proceedings in which he is involved," Bragg wrote. Advertisement Trump's "contemptuous" conduct began even before his hush-money indictment was voted, the prosecutor wrote. "He threatened 'death and destruction' if he was indicted and posted a photo of himself wielding a baseball bat at the back of the District Attorney's head," Bragg wrote of Trump's actions while the grand jury was still hearing evidence in early 2023. Later, Trump launched online attacks on Merchan and members of his family . Advertisement Trump was found guilty of criminal contempt ten times for his "extrajudicial speech" — including social media attacks on witnesses — during his trial this spring, Bragg wrote. Trump also repeatedly attacked the law clerk and was accused of lying under oath by the judge during last year's civil fraud trial, in which he's been ordered to pay a $454 million judgment. That judgment remains on hold pending appeal . Advertisement Trump's history of abusing the legal process extends to his other cases, Bragg wrote, including his continued defamations of writer E. Jean Carroll , who last year won more than $80 million in damages after the president-elect repeatedly mocked her and called her a liar. Bragg's filling asked Merchan to either sentence Trump before the inauguration, or put the case on hold until after he serves out his second term.

This is what Ben Affleck gifted Jennifer Lopez on Christmas amid divorce and it is so sweet

TACOMA, Wash., Dec. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GROUPIRA®, INC. (GROUPIRA®), a leader in financial technology innovation, proudly announces the launch of GROUPIRA® 5.0, a groundbreaking platform designed to revolutionize individual retirement account (IRA) rollovers for its channel partners. By leveraging advanced technologies such as Microsoft Azure, FIS Relius, LexisNexis, Plaid, DocuSign, and Veratad, GROUPIRA® 5.0 enhances efficiency, accuracy, and automation in the rollover process. In addition to this milestone, GROUPIRA® is developing a customized online account origination solution tailored for external retirement plan advisers. This new solution will streamline the onboarding process, enabling advisers to seamlessly integrate their unique point-of-sale documentation and account management forms for Member Clients. Yannis Koumantaros, Co-Founder and President of GROUPIRA®, highlighted the evolution of the platform: “From streamlining rollover claims with GROUPIRA® 3.0 to simplifying automatic enrollments with GROUPIRA® 4.0, each iteration of our platform has been about innovation and efficiency. With GROUPIRA® 5.0, we’re giving valuable time back to our channel partners by automating data transfers using advanced tools with Microsoft Azure leveraging APIs and Secure File Transfer Protocols (SFTPs). These technologies work together to move data securely and seamlessly.” Petros Koumantaros, Co-Founder and Chairperson of GROUPIRA®, expressed pride in the team's accomplishments: “Our dedicated engineering team continues to deliver on schedule, achieving major development milestones. Looking ahead, GROUPIRA® 6.0 will further enhance automation by merging PDFs for channel partners, allowing us to manage millions of accounts while expanding access to retirement plan solutions nationwide.” About GROUPIRA®, INC. GROUPIRA®, Inc. is a pioneering financial technology company committed to bringing the benefits of 401(k) plans to IRA investors. To discover more about GROUPIRA® and its innovative solutions, visit www.groupira.com . Media Contact: Yannis Koumantaros, yannis@groupira.com , 253-592-6687

MIND TECHNOLOGY, INC. REPORTS FISCAL 2025 THIRD QUARTER RESULTS