The Westfield gymnastics team was at the top of their game all season long, cruising through the regular season, finishing runners-up at the Western Massachusetts gymnastics championships at Roots Athletic Center and producing an All-Around champion, junior gymnast Annika Van Oostveen.
ATLANTA — A month after the November election, a series of major developments has shaken up Georgia’s political landscape as Donald Trump prepares his return to the White House. The president-elect’s announcement Wednesday that he will nominate former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler to his Cabinet was his second appointment that will have broad implications for Georgia’s 2026 races. Attorney General Chris Carr wasted no time in formally launching his campaign to succeed a term-limited Gov. Brian Kemp, with a mid-November rollout that marked one of the earliest kickoffs of a gubernatorial bid in modern Georgia history. Kemp was elected the next chair of the Republican Governors Association days after Trump’s win, assuring that his influence in GOP politics grows as he enters his final years in Georgia’s top job and weighs a bid for U.S. Senate. And Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff began preparing for a tough reelection bid by leading a behind-the-scenes press to oust U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams as chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia as he navigates pushback from his votes to limit arms sales to Israel. That’s all before Trump takes office in January, Kemp unveils his agenda for the end of his second term and lawmakers revive a yearslong fight over transgender sports and a decades-long effort to curb costly lawsuits . The back-to-back Trump appointments of Loeffler and former U.S. Rep. Doug Collins — rivals in the 2020 special election for an open Senate seat — will give each a role in Trump’s inner circle if confirmed by the Senate. Collins is set to oversee the Veterans Affairs department while Loeffler is poised to lead the Small Business Administration , providing each with broader national platforms and seats at the table in Trump’s Cabinet. It also means the two Georgians are unlikely to compete for state or federal office during midterm elections, when Kemp’s job will be up for grabs and Ossoff could be the top Republican target in the U.S. Senate. That clarifies — a bit — a race for governor that is already well underway two years before the vote. By entering the race this early, Carr hopes to lock up support from activists and build a bank account to compete against wealthier rivals. Chief among those potential rivals is Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who is expected to run for governor but told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he won’t announce his plans until after the legislative session ends early next year. The scion of a sprawling petroleum and insurance conglomerate, Jones can tap his family wealth to self-finance his campaign — and his close ties to Trump to woo conservative primary voters. Carr, a former economic development commissioner and protege of the late U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, is pushing to make the most of his jump on the race . Neil Bitting, Carr’s campaign manager, said the mission is to build on the Republican’s network and “organize and capitalize” across Georgia. “Chris is aggressively reaching out to friends and future friends all over Georgia to organize the grassroots and raise the seed capital necessary to share his vision for creating jobs, fighting crime and defending Georgia values,” he said. While potential Democratic contenders for governor have so far refrained from telegraphing their next steps, Ossoff has stepped up his preparations for an all-out fight to keep his U.S. Senate seat. Ossoff told the AJC his campaign is working to build “the most effective, the most massive and the best-resourced effort” to mobilize the Black, suburban and independent voters that sealed his 2021 runoff victory. “This will be the biggest and most effective turnout effort in the history of Georgia politics,” he said. In a glimpse of the headwinds ahead, the Democrat’s votes supporting a pair of failed resolutions to limit sales of lethal artillery shells and tank ammunition to Israel divided key Democrats — and led the Republican Jewish Coalition to declare him its top target in 2026. He has also taken swift action to exert more control over the Democratic Party in Georgia, since he’s the only statewide incumbent for his party on the ballot in two years. He helped orchestrate a push to oust Williams as party chair amid growing concerns from donors, activists and officials that she can’t effectively carry out that role while simultaneously representing an Atlanta-based district in the U.S. House. While that internal fight has ruffled feathers within the party, some former Williams allies have also urged her to resign — and key activists are working to change the bylaws to smooth a path for her to step down. DeKalb County Commissioner Ted Terry, who once served as the party’s first vice chair under Williams, said many insiders envision a “full-time chair who is in essence the leader of the party” as spokesperson, campaign manager and fundraiser. “It takes time to do that work, and running a two-year, year-round campaign is a lot of time.” Leaders of both parties are also grappling with the unpredictability of the incoming Trump administration and taking far different lessons from the former president’s triumph in Georgia. Senior Republican lawmakers say the victory — along with an enduring GOP majority in the House and a new majority in the Senate — gives them a mandate to cut taxes, limit spending and seek other methods to provide economic relief to struggling Georgians. “Republicans have listened to our voters and our constituents,” Senate GOP Leader Steve Gooch said. “And what’s most important to them right now is inflation, jobs and the cost of groceries.” Gooch and other Republican leaders have made clear, too, they see a measure restricting transgender girls from competing in women’s school sports as part of that message from voters — something House Speaker Jon Burns this week pledged to prioritize next year. Jason Carter, the Democratic nominee for governor in 2014, said November was a sobering reminder of the fragility of his party’s coalition. But he noted that two years ago, voters rendered a split verdict by electing Kemp and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat. Like other Democrats, he anticipates voters could be exhausted by Trump-driven drama by 2026, which will mark the president-elect’s 10th year at the pinnacle of GOP politics. But he cautioned that Trump alone won’t help Democrats build a winning electoral alliance. “Democrats need to start listening better,” he said. “For the last 15 years, if you ask the power structure of the Democratic Party, I don’t think they wanted to earn the votes of rural white voters. And you’ve got to say, we’re not giving up on them.” ©2024 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Visit at ajc.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.LOS ANGELES — The locker room after the Rams’ 37-20 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles was as quiet as any this season. Players shouldered blame in quiet, shorts responses to reporters’ questions before filing out and into the night. As they dissected what had just happened, the Rams (5-6) also looked ahead and stated they could not afford for this game to spiral into the next game, which is Sunday’s matchup with the New Orleans Saints (4-7). “Just make sure you turn the page. Obviously, there are things that we want to correct from the game and find ways to be better moving forward, but make sure that we come out with great energy today. It starts today,” Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford said before Wednesday’s practice. “There are going to be things we want to clean up from practice, make sure we do that and move on day-to-day with the right attitude and the right spirit.” As the Rams have gone about making those corrections, a consistent word has come to mind: Consistency. Asked what he’s looking for from the defense Sunday after its worst performance since the early weeks of the season, head coach Sean McVay used that word. He spoke about playing as a unit, sticking to assignments, coverage and pass rush complementing each other. Then he added with a smile, “Same things I’m looking for on the defense would be exactly how I would answer your offensive question as well.” Even 11 games into the season, we still haven’t seen the Rams offense perform with the type of consistency you would expect from a group with this much talent. Against the Eagles, the Rams moved the ball well in the first quarter, reaching the red zone twice without needing a third down. But any momentum was quickly lost with a 10-play second quarter that resulted in a loss of six yards. It was the same story a week before, with the offense blazing in the second and third quarters against the Patriots while going nowhere in the first and fourth quarters. “It’s kind of the word ‘consistency’ right now,” Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur said. “There are times where it feels like we go right down the field and put it in, and there are other times where it just feels a little bit harder than it should. I think that’s the biggest key right now.” The defense is facing a similar obstacle. The Rams are among the best in the NFL at holding teams without a touchdown in the red zone, limiting opponents to a 48.8% success rate. That ranks eighth in the league, but the flip side is that the Rams allow teams 3.7 trips into the red zone per game, which is tied for 28th. Defensive tackle and captain Kobie Turner raised the issue of allowing too many long drives following the Eagles loss, and defensive coordinator Chris Shula agreed with the assessment. “Some of that, especially the other night, they were in third downs a decent amount of time and it was a third and favorable,” Shula said. “Then, finding a way to get stops, finding a way to play, get them off track, get them into 2nd-and-longs where you get those 3rd-longs, and you can earn the right to rush the passer.” Entering Week 13, it’s not encouraging that the Rams are still struggling to find consistency in their execution. But to this point, it hasn’t upended their season. The wild card might be out of reach, but the NFC West title is still up for grabs. But that starts with a road win against a Saints team playing with nothing to lose. “We know that it’s going to be a great challenge, especially at their place. It’ll be rocking atmosphere and environment with the holidays and the momentum they have,” McVay said. “We’ve a lot of guys that are experiencing things for the first time. I have seen the resolve of this group show itself. Now, we’ve to do it.” RAMS (5-6) at NEW ORLEANS SAINTS (4-7) When: 1:05 p.m. Sunday Where: Superdome, New Orleans TV/radio: FOX (Ch. 11)/710 AM; 93.1 FM; 1330 AM (Spanish); Sirius 382, 226None
Even with October struggles, AL MVP Aaron Judge just put up one of the greatest seasons we’ve ever seen
I’m back in the saddle to test-drive four non-invasive skin treatments. First, and least ouchy, is Emface, which is a muscle workout for the face which also uses radiofrequency to stimulate the production of collagen and elastin fibres. The Emface applicators are placed on the cheeks and the forehead, and the energy emitted stimulates the muscles to contract. At first, the sensation feels quite sharp but after a couple of pulses it becomes relaxing. The sessions last 20 minutes and four are recommended at a total cost of around $4000. The results? A more defined jawline, slimmer face, lifted brows, reduced wrinkles and improved skin texture. Try it in Melbourne at ODE and in Sydney at Platinum Dermatology . From least invasive to most, the skincare treatments that could be an alternative to botox. Credit: iStock Next, the NeoGen treatment is also radiofrequency-based and requires between one and six treatments, starting from $425 per session. It smooths fine lines, helps reduce pigmentation and stimulates collagen production. According to the MZ website, NeoGen “uses ultra-high radiofrequency to ionise medical-grade nitrogen gas from a pressurised cylinder, creating nitrogen plasma in the nozzle which delivers a controlled pulse of thermal energy” to the skin. You can dial this treatment up or down depending on your pain threshold as the level of energy delivered to the skin determines the depth of penetration and associated levels of tightening and resurfacing. Results improve over several months. Try it at MZ in Sydney and in Melbourne at Aesthet Studio . Sofwave is a one-shot wonder as it lifts brows and loose neck skin as well as improving facial lines and skin texture. First up is the application of a topical numbing cream for half an hour. The fractional heating stimulates the production of new collagen and elastin, which leads to a reduction in fine lines and wrinkles. A full-face treatment takes 45 minutes, costs about $4000 and is long-lasting, with results continuing to improve over the following 12 weeks. Try it at All Saint Skin in Sydney and at Skinline in Melbourne. Finally, we have the Alma Hybrid Laser for skin tightening and resurfacing using fractional plasma and radiofrequency technology to target wrinkles, fine lines, scars and uneven skin tone. It costs about $799 for face and $660 for neck and improves skin elasticity and stimulates collagen production, making it perfect for my tired neck. The treatment creates micro-injuries to the skin, initiating the body’s natural healing response and stimulating collagen and elastin production. Numbing cream is essential as this does hurt, especially over the bony bits of the face. It takes roughly an hour, and skin can be a little red post treatment, with some flaking. Results take a couple of months to come to fruition, but then it lasts and lasts. Try it at The Clinic in Sydney and in Melbourne at the Dermatology Institute of Victoria . ASK STEPH How do I tame flyaway hair during the hot, humid summer months? For hair that is parched and riddled with frizz, the secret to smoothness is to add moisture. Key ingredients to combat flyaways are hyaluronic acid, argan oil, jojoba oil and shea butter. Try Briogeo Don’t Despair, Repair Strengthening Treatment Oil ($50) and watch it work its magic on dry, damaged and colour-treated hair. Send questions via Instagram, @mrssdarling. Get the best of Sunday Life magazine delivered to your inbox every Sunday morning. Sign up here for our free newsletter .Jimmy Carter, the 39th US president, has died at 100
Bitcoin has surpassed the $100,000 mark as the post-election rally continues. What's next?
Among the most prevalent mental health conditions currently are anxiety disorders, affecting millions around the globe. Starting from mild unease to dreadful fear, anxiety manifests itself in different forms and penetrates into the personal, social, and professional spheres of an individual's life. While sometimes experiencing anxiety is a natural reaction to pressure, chronic anxiety calls for attention and care. Identifying Anxiety Symptoms Anxiety is usually associated with excessive worry, restlessness, fatigue, and troubles concentrating or irritability. Other physical symptoms include a rapid heart rate, sweating, shaking, gastrointestinal problems, among many others. Prolonged existence of these symptoms that interfere with daily functioning can be a sign of an anxiety disorder. Triggers and Causes It is multifactorial and hence might be caused due to some combination of factors: genetic, environmental, and psychological. Anxiety can sometimes result from stressful life events or trauma, even a family history of anxiety. Sometimes, factors such as a lack of sleep, poor diet, too much screen time, may worsen it. Controlling Anxiety: Easy Tips Deep breathing exercises calm the nervous system and thus reduces one's anxiety. Try practicing the 4-7-8 method: breathe in for four counts and hold for seven and exhale for eight seconds. Regular Physical Activity: Vigorous activities release endorphins, which are the natural "feel-good" mood elevators. Exercise for at least 30 minutes per day, such as by walking, doing yoga, or swimming. Healthy Sleep Patterns: Follow a routine and provide your body and mind with good rest. Mindfulness and Meditation: Practice mindfulness in helping you live in the moment, cut down on excessive thinking and worrying. Limit Stimulants: Caffeine and alcohol can all actually make the anxiety worse. Seeking Professional Help If the self-help techniques employed are inappropriate then, proper psychiatric help should be taken. There are, of course, therapies such as cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) that in actual fact work well for anxiety disorders. Medication shall only be used in the most extreme of cases and absolutely never on its own with therapy. Breaking the Stigma Open discussions of mental health will remove the stigma attached to anxiety. Experience and treatment of it must be ordinary to encourage most people in taking care of their psychological condition. With the right tools and support, anxiety can be something lived with; the earlier treatment begins, the sooner, letting people fulfilling lives. Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from Mental Health, Health and around the world.
Middle East latest: An Israeli strike on a Gaza hospital kills a teen in a wheelchairRussell Vought, one of the chief architects of Project 2025 — a conservative blueprint for the next presidency — is no fan of the federal government that President-elect Donald Trump will soon lead. He believes "woke" civil servants and "so-called expert authorities" wield illegitimate power to block conservative White House directives from deep within federal agencies, and wants Trump to "bend or break" that bureaucracy to his will, he wrote in the second chapter of the Project 2025 playbook. Vought is a vocal proponent of a plan known as Schedule F, under which Trump would fire thousands of career civil servants with extensive experience in their fields and replace them with his own political loyalists, and of Christian nationalism, which would see American governance aligned with Christian teachings. Both are core tenets of Project 2025. Throughout his campaign, Trump adamantly disavowed Project 2025, even though its policies overlapped with his and some of its authors worked in his first administration. He castigated anyone who suggested the blueprint, which polls showed was deeply unpopular among voters, represented his aims for the presidency. But last week, the president-elect nominated Vought to lead the Office of Management and Budget, which oversees the White House budget and its policy agenda across the federal government. Trump called Vought, who held the same role during his first term, an "aggressive cost cutter and deregulator" who "knows exactly how to dismantle the Deep State and end Weaponized Government." The nomination was one of several Trump has made since his election that have called into question his claims on the campaign trail that Project 2025 was not his playbook and held no sway over him or his plans for a second term. He selected Tom Homan, a Project 2025 contributor and former visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, the conservative organization behind the blueprint, as his "border czar." Trump named Stephen Miller, an immigration hard-liner also linked to Project 2025, as his deputy chief of staff for policy. Both also served in the first Trump administration. He also named Brendan Carr to serve on the Federal Communications Commission. Carr wrote a chapter of Project 2025 on the FCC, which regulates U.S. internet access and TV and radio networks, and has echoed Trump's claims that news broadcasters have engaged in political bias against Trump. Trump named John Ratcliffe as his pick for CIA director and Pete Hoekstra as ambassador to Canada. Both are Project 2025 contributors. It has also been reported that the Trump transition team is filling lower-level government spots using a Project 2025 database of conservative candidates. During the campaign Trump said that he knew "nothing about" Project 2025 and that he found some of its ideas "absolutely ridiculous and abysmal." In response to news in July that Project 2025's director, Paul Dans, was leaving his post, Trump campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles — whom the president-elect has since named his chief of staff — issued a statement saying that "reports of Project 2025's demise would be greatly welcomed." Asked about Trump's selection of several people with Project 2025 connections to serve in his administration, Trump transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt responded with a statement, saying Trump "never had anything to do with Project 2025." "This has always been a lie pushed by the Democrats and the legacy media, but clearly the American people did not buy it because they overwhelmingly voted for President Trump to implement the promises that he made on the campaign trail," Leavitt wrote. "All of President Trump's cabinet nominees and appointments are whole-heartedly committed to President Trump's agenda, not the agenda of outside groups." Leavitt too has ties to Project 2025, having appeared in a training video for it. In addition to calling for much greater power in the hands of the president, Project 2025 calls for less federal intervention in certain areas — including through the elimination of the Department of Education. It calls for much stricter immigration enforcement and mass deportations — a policy priority of Trump's as well — and rails against environmental protections, calling for the demolition of key environmental agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service. It calls for tougher restrictions on abortion and for the federal government to collect data on women who seek an abortion, and backs a slew of measures that would strip rights from LGBTQ+ people. For Trump's critics, his selections make it clear that his disavowal of the conservative playbook was nothing more than a campaign ploy to pacify voters who viewed the plan as too far to the right. It's an argument many were making before the election as well. "There are many of us who tried to sound the alarm bell before the election," when voters still had the power to keep such a plan from coming to fruition, said Ben Olinsky, senior vice president of structural reform and governance at the liberal Center for American Progress. Now, he said, he expects many of the more "draconian pieces" of Project 2025 to start being implemented given the nominees Trump has put forward. That includes Vought's plan to eviscerate the career civil service, the core of American government, by doing away with merit-based staffing in favor of loyalty-based appointments, Olinsky said. "We know what happened before there was a merit-based civil service. There was cronyism in American government, and we can look back through history and see that kind of graft and cronyism," Olinsky said. Filling the government with Trump loyalists will clear the way for more policies of Project 2025 to be implemented without resistance, Olinsky said. Olinsky said the Supreme Court and the Republican-controlled House have already proved they are not willing to stand up to Trump. There are "still some institutionalists" in the Senate — soon to be controlled by Republicans, as well — who could leverage their power to push back, he said, but it is not clear that they will. Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has signaled that he may be willing to do so: According to reports from his home state, he said at a local Chamber of Commerce event Tuesday that all presidents try to push policy through executive action, and that Congress "sometimes will have to put the brakes on." In the end, Olinsky said, real resistance might come only once Americans start realizing that Trump's new government, stripped of all of its experts, is failing them in serious ways. "They do care about their Social Security checks being delivered. They do care about the nation being defended properly. They care that, when they turn on the faucet, they will drink water that won't sicken them and their kids," Olinsky said. "And that's what requires expertise." ©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.Ambitions, bills and grudges: Reasons DeSantis for defense secretary may never happen
ATLANTA — Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who tried to restore virtue to the White House after the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, then rebounded from a landslide defeat to become a global advocate of human rights and democracy, has died. He was 100 years old . The Carter Center said the 39th president died Sunday afternoon, more than a year after entering hospice care , at his home in Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife, Rosalynn, who died in November 2023, lived most of their lives. The center said he died peacefully, surrounded by his family. As reaction poured in from around the world, President Joe Biden mourned Carter’s death, saying the world lost an “extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian” and he lost a dear friend. Biden cited Carter’s compassion and moral clarity, his work to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless and advocacy for the disadvantaged as an example for others. “To all of the young people in this nation and for anyone in search of what it means to live a life of purpose and meaning – the good life – study Jimmy Carter, a man of principle, faith, and humility,” Biden said in a statement. “He showed that we are a great nation because we are a good people – decent and honorable, courageous and compassionate, humble and strong.” Biden said he is ordering a state funeral for Carter in Washington. A moderate Democrat, Carter ran for president in 1976 as a little-known Georgia governor with a broad grin, effusive Baptist faith and technocratic plans for efficient government. His promise to never deceive the American people resonated after Richard Nixon’s disgrace and U.S. defeat in southeast Asia. “If I ever lie to you, if I ever make a misleading statement, don’t vote for me. I would not deserve to be your president,” Carter said. Carter’s victory over Republican Gerald Ford, whose fortunes fell after pardoning Nixon, came amid Cold War pressures, turbulent oil markets and social upheaval over race, women’s rights and America’s role in the world. His achievements included brokering Mideast peace by keeping Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at Camp David for 13 days in 1978. But his coalition splintered under double-digit inflation and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. His negotiations ultimately brought all the hostages home alive, but in a final insult, Iran didn’t release them until the inauguration of Ronald Reagan, who had trounced him in the 1980 election. Humbled and back home in Georgia, Carter said his faith demanded that he keep doing whatever he could, for as long as he could, to try to make a difference. He and Rosalynn co-founded The Carter Center in 1982 and spent the next 40 years traveling the world as peacemakers, human rights advocates and champions of democracy and public health. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, Carter helped ease nuclear tensions in North and South Korea, avert a U.S. invasion of Haiti and negotiate cease-fires in Bosnia and Sudan. By 2022, the center had monitored at least 113 elections around the world. Carter was determined to eradicate guinea worm infections as one of many health initiatives. Swinging hammers into their 90s, the Carters built homes with Habitat for Humanity. The common observation that he was better as an ex-president rankled Carter. His allies were pleased that he lived long enough to see biographers and historians revisit his presidency and declare it more impactful than many understood at the time. Propelled in 1976 by voters in Iowa and then across the South, Carter ran a no-frills campaign. Americans were captivated by the earnest engineer, and while an election-year Playboy interview drew snickers when he said he “had looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times,” voters tired of political cynicism found it endearing. The first family set an informal tone in the White House, carrying their own luggage, trying to silence the Marine Band’s traditional “Hail to the Chief" and enrolling daughter, Amy, in public schools. Carter was lampooned for wearing a cardigan and urging Americans to turn down their thermostats. But Carter set the stage for an economic revival and sharply reduced America's dependence on foreign oil by deregulating the energy industry along with airlines, trains and trucking. He established the departments of Energy and Education, appointed record numbers of women and nonwhites to federal posts, preserved millions of acres of Alaskan wilderness and pardoned most Vietnam draft evaders. Emphasizing human rights , he ended most support for military dictators and took on bribery by multinational corporations by signing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He persuaded the Senate to ratify the Panama Canal treaties and normalized relations with China, an outgrowth of Nixon’s outreach to Beijing. But crippling turns in foreign affairs took their toll. When OPEC hiked crude prices, making drivers line up for gasoline as inflation spiked to 11%, Carter tried to encourage Americans to overcome “a crisis of confidence.” Many voters lost confidence in Carter instead after the infamous address that media dubbed his “malaise" speech, even though he never used that word. After Carter reluctantly agreed to admit the exiled Shah of Iran to the U.S. for medical treatment, the American Embassy in Tehran was overrun in 1979. Negotiations to quickly free the hostages broke down, and then eight Americans died when a top-secret military rescue attempt failed. Carter also had to reverse course on the SALT II nuclear arms treaty after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979. Though historians would later credit Carter's diplomatic efforts for hastening the end of the Cold war, Republicans labeled his soft power weak. Reagan’s “make America great again” appeals resonated, and he beat Carter in all but six states. Born Oct. 1, 1924, James Earl Carter Jr. married fellow Plains native Rosalynn Smith in 1946, the year he graduated from the Naval Academy. He brought his young family back to Plains after his father died, abandoning his Navy career, and they soon turned their ambitions to politics . Carter reached the state Senate in 1962. After rural white and Black voters elected him governor in 1970, he drew national attention by declaring that “the time for racial discrimination is over.” Carter published more than 30 books and remained influential as his center turned its democracy advocacy onto U.S. politics, monitoring an audit of Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results. After a 2015 cancer diagnosis, Carter said he felt “perfectly at ease with whatever comes.”Hill Street Studios/DigitalVision via Getty Images When I wrote my first article for Seeking Alpha, an article about DreamWorks Animation that was published in August 2014, I had no idea that, just over 10 years later, I would hit the milestone of 5,000 articles. But sure enough, on Dec. 3, exactly 10 years and Crude Value Insights offers you an investing service and community focused on oil and natural gas. We focus on cash flow and the companies that generate it, leading to value and growth prospects with real potential. Subscribers get to use a 50+ stock model account, in-depth cash flow analyses of E&P firms, and live chat discussion of the sector. Sign up today for your two-week free tria l and get a new lease on oil & gas! Daniel is an avid and active professional investor. Crude Value Insights Learn more Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of T, DIS, ET, UNIT either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.Sir Keir Starmer has led a host of tributes to former US president Jimmy Carter, saying he “redefined the post-presidency with a remarkable commitment to social justice and human rights at home and abroad”. The Prime Minister said Mr Carter, who died aged 100, will be remembered for the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, as well as his “decades of selfless public service”. He added that it was the Democrat’s “lifelong dedication to peace” that led to him receiving the Nobel Peace prize in 2002. Very sorry to hear of President Carter’s passing. I pay tribute to his decades of selfless public service. My thoughts are with his family and friends at this time. pic.twitter.com/IaKmZcteb1 — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) December 29, 2024 Sir Keir was joined in paying tribute to the 39th president by other leaders including the King, current President Joe Biden, Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey and former PM Tony Blair. The King remembered former US president Jimmy Carter’s 1977 visit to the UK with “great fondness” and praised his “dedication and humility”. In a message to Mr Biden and the American people, Charles said: “It was with great sadness that I learned of the death of President Carter. “He was a committed public servant, and devoted his life to promoting peace and human rights. “His dedication and humility served as an inspiration to many, and I remember with great fondness his visit to the United Kingdom in 1977. “My thoughts and prayers are with President Carter’s family and the American people at this time.” Mr Biden said that Mr Carter was an “extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian”. He said his fellow Democrat was a “dear friend”, as he announced that he will order a state funeral to be held for him in Washington DC. “Today, America and the world lost an extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian,” he said. “Over six decades, we had the honour of calling Jimmy Carter a dear friend. But, what’s extraordinary about Jimmy Carter though is that millions of people throughout America and the world who never met him thought of him as a dear friend as well. “With his compassion and moral clarity, he worked to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil rights and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless, and always advocate for the least among us. He saved, lifted and changed the lives of people all across the globe. “He was a man of great character and courage, hope and optimism.” Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said Mr Carter “will be remembered for generations”. “Jimmy Carter was an inspiration,” Mr Davey wrote on X. “He led a truly remarkable life dedicated to public service with a genuine care for people. “My thoughts are with his family, friends and all those who loved him. He will be remembered for generations.” Mr Blair said: “Jimmy Carter’s life was a testament to public service; from his time in office, and the Camp David Accords, to his remarkable commitment to the cause of people and peace round the world over the past 40 years,” he said. “I always had the greatest respect for him, his spirit and his dedication. He fundamentally cared and consistently toiled to help those in need.” We do not moderate comments, but we expect readers to adhere to certain rules in the interests of open and accountable debate.It was around 1am when I discovered my impostor was watching me. I was sitting up in bed, scrolling on my phone through the list of people who had viewed my Instagram story. The audience was the same as it always was: friends, family and a smattering of followers I had picked up over the years. But a tug from my subconscious told me, this time, something was wrong. I scrolled back up and there it was: an account I had never seen before. Their profile photo was a selfie I had taken in a bookshop basement years ago. Have you ever walked by an unexpected mirror and jumped at your own reflection? That’s how it felt as I stared back at myself, unnerved by my sudden appearance. I brought the screen close to my face. The photo was old, from 2016, but it was a day I remembered well. I had just handed in my university dissertation and I was enjoying my newfound freedom. I had been ambling through Cardiff and had taken a snapshot in a mirror to mark the moment. My gold iPhone 5 looked tiny in my hand and I was wearing my favourite flannel shirt. These were familiar fragments of my life back then. Now, someone had seemingly come along and picked them up out of the bin. Was it just a glitch? A strange Meta mess-up that would reset if I clicked on their account? I would feel silly but relieved, then settle into bed with the world returned to how it was. But when I visited their page the image remained. According to Instagram, it now belonged to someone named Paweł Sibilski. Paweł had 691 followers and he was following more than 2,600 people. I couldn’t see who they were, or the four posts he had shared, because his profile was private. In his bio, written in Polish, he described himself as a developer and investor. There was a Facebook link beneath it. I tapped it with a curiosity that swelled into horror. Paweł’s Facebook was like a shrine devoted to my face. His profile photo was a selfie I had taken outside a pub in 2018. His cover photo, directly above it, was a shot of me wearing a hoodie on a frosty day in 2016. There was another photo where I was mid-expression, my hair blown sideways; I couldn’t even remember when that was taken. It was like watching footage of myself sleepwalking; there I was, all over his account, with no memory of how I got there. Panic set in. The account was mostly private, but I pieced together what I could. Every photo (besides a stock image of an empty bar) was a different closeup of me. Paweł had been uploading them since 2020, but they spanned almost a decade of my life. Hundreds of people had liked and commented on them, and Paweł had humbly thanked them. He was incredibly popular, with 4,600 Facebook friends (about six times more than I have on my own account) – and he had spent the last four years convincing them that he was really me. I thought of the hapless hero in Dostoevsky’s novel The Double, when Golyadkin encounters his beguiling doppelganger. The duplicate charms his way into Golyadkin’s life, wins over his colleagues and friends, and eventually replaces him. Golyadkin later loses grip of his identity and has a severe mental breakdown. I know this story because it was the subject of my dissertation, the same one I had handed in before taking that bookshop selfie. Did my impostor somehow know this? Had he read the book as well? What else were we sharing that I had once thought belonged only to me? Paweł’s Facebook account had a longer bio, again written in Polish. I used Google to translate the top line. “Bądź Zawsze Sobą,” it read. “Always be yourself.” I couldn’t decide if it was comical or violating. I was concerned, but also weirdly flattered. I couldn’t help feeling slightly buoyed up by the fact that I had been selected; that my photos were considered worth stealing. But who was Paweł, why had he chosen me and what had he done with my identity? * * * My impostor was more protective of my personal details than I had been in my online life. In order to see what else he had hijacked, I had to become his Facebook friend. A fresh wave of paranoia made me wonder if we were already connected. I rushed back to my private account and scanned my friends list. How well did I really know these people? In recent months I had tightened my social media security, but in the past I had recklessly accepted all requests. I’d had the same Facebook account for over 15 years, and Paweł had clearly been watching me for about half a decade. I tried to view my profile as one of my current 800 “friends” would see it. They would know the names of my family and pets, where I studied, where I worked, where my parents were buried, what my childhood looked like, where I lived, the places I had been and the places I was likely to visit again. It was a fraudster’s cheat sheet, a stalker’s dream. Paweł was accepting compliments about my face beneath my reproduced photos and passing them off as his own. He was clearly a crafty catfish, an online con artist who takes someone else’s images and pretends to be them to deceive others. I decided to give him the same treatment; I would make a fake account and try to catfish my own impostor. Creating an alias was harder than I expected. I didn’t want to use a name that might belong to a real person, but the pseudonyms I came up with sounded ridiculous, like badly written 1950s detectives: would accept a friend request from Eric Pistachio or Dirk Avalanche? I ended up using my middle name followed by the first syllable of my mother’s maiden name. I typed “cartoon character” into Google and used a popular result as my profile photo: an image of the anime ninja Naruto. For a cover photo I went with a generic woodland. It was as easy as that: a fake name and a fake face, made real by the internet. Facebook suggested some strangers I should add, so I sent them all requests to make me look more legitimate. I was surprised when dozens immediately accepted. How easily they had just let a catfish into their lives. I clicked on some of their profiles: family photos, career updates and tagged locations – I had access to the lot. ‘Most girls wanted to have sex with you,’ he told me. ‘I got some nude photos and videos, it was so nice’ I sent Paweł a friend request. It felt sticky and horrible, as if I was betraying myself and playing into his game. Here I was, dressed as a cartoon character while I asked a stranger for permission to look at myself. Everything was out of sync. I closed my laptop, laid down in bed and tried not to think about Golyadkin. The next morning I had 89 new friends, but Paweł wasn’t among them. He had either rejected or ignored my request. Had he somehow seen right through it? In a normal state I would have waited but I was too agitated for patience. I started drafting a message under my pseudonym. It was confrontational, so I dialled it back. I wanted answers, not to scare him off. I told him my name was Andrew, and that I knew he was using my photos, but I said I was more curious than annoyed and simply had some questions. I took a breath and clicked send. “This account can’t receive your message because they don’t allow new message requests from everyone.” I had stooped to the level of a catfish for nothing. In frustration I copied and pasted my message beneath one of his (my) photos. I took screenshots of his accounts and posted them to my Instagram story, to warn my friends and family. Then I took a selfie and pointed accusingly at the camera. My finger loomed large, close to the lens; on the tip I wrote, “Get your own face, Paweł.” My followers reacted just like I had, with a mix of shock and laughter. It was surreal but funny, wasn’t it? A troubling sort of compliment. I had so many messages that I almost missed one. It was sent in such a frantic state it was missing proper punctuation. “Hey do we know each other? Where do you know me from?” it read. It was Paweł. The fake innocence riled me up, along with the subtle accusation that was somehow bothering . He had a new profile photo now, a stock image of a silhouetted concert crowd. I told him who I was and that I wanted answers. He read this straight away and then the chat went dead for 12 minutes. “I think it’s only fair, don’t you?” I followed up. “You have been using my photos for many years without my knowledge and befriending lots of people posing as me. All I’m asking for is an explanation.” He started to type. He typed for a long time. The three dots promised some sort of closure, but his response when it came was disjointed and confusing – eight lines long without any full stops. Paweł later revealed he was translating everything I’d said into his native Polish, and I sensed he was also panicking. So I slowed down and asked him very basic questions. “Would you be happy to share your real name, or your age or general location?” “I’m a bit ashamed,” he replied, and seemed to mean it. He typed like an embarrassed child who had been caught stealing sweets. “How old are you?” I tried again. “I’m assuming you’re a man?” “Yes, that’s right, I’m a man. I gave my age as 25 – I’m generally a bit older.” “How much older than 25?” He was being coy, but I felt as if I was getting somewhere. The chat went silent again for a few minutes. “I live in Warsaw. I’m 42 years old, I have a wife, two children and, as you can see, a double personality.” I reeled back. I had assumed he was a young loner, not a family man. I imagined him now, messaging me while his kids played nearby. It creeped me out again. I tried to keep my questions straightforward and calm, so I didn’t scare him into silence, and slowly he began to reveal what he had done with my identity. Paweł said he initially created the account because he wanted to make money. He had some sort of scheme I didn’t understand, but it involved selling products. He needed a photo of someone “handsome” to lure customers in. He had found me by chance as a Google result because of an old article I had written; then he had tracked down my social media. He had used my face because he thought no one would recognise it. “Pretty boy not very popular,” he wrote. “You are not a celebrity, you are not famous.” I was now being by my impostor. Paweł failed to make money from the account, but somewhere along the line he started to enjoy logging in as me. “I could be free. I wasn’t afraid of anyone,” he wrote. I almost felt sorry for him as he explained how he would come home from a tough, physical job, start drinking alcohol and slip into his online identity. “Then I opened up – I was you,” he wrote. “I could feel like someone else for a moment and express my opinion without fear of persecution.” This made me incredibly nervous. “What sort of opinions did you express using my profile photo?” “Generally you got nice opinions,” he said, as if he was unable to separate the two of us in his mind. The exception, he said, would be in talking to “someone, mainly a woman, who overdid it with plastic surgery. Then I wrote honestly that she was ruining her appearance, and because you are so handsome, they wondered if they were doing the right thing.” I have done nothing wrong to anyone. No one has reported me or anything, Can I still have your account for a while? I felt a pang of helpless shock. Paweł was dressing up as me and haranguing women. I had viewed him as a low-risk fantasist, but he clearly had a cruel streak. Over the following days we continued to message, and Paweł’s revelations became more sinister. “Most girls wanted to have sex with you,” he wrote. “I also got some nude photos and videos, it was so nice.” He said he had used the account to start simultaneous romantic relationships with women who all thought they were talking to me. These lasted for up to six months at a time and ended only because Paweł refused to meet them in person. He said he still had their videos saved in a personal archive. “Did you feel bad that the people sending you nude images thought they were sending them to someone else?” I asked in disbelief, trying not to let my anger show. “Honestly I didn’t think about it, I was amused by the fact that they were so naive,” he wrote. “Maybe something is wrong with my psyche?” I had thought I was the main casualty of Paweł’s deception, but now it was clear that the real victims were the women he had tricked. I felt sickened that he had involved me in this. I asked if his wife knew. He said she almost caught him on the fake account once, but he convinced her it belonged to a friend. She had no idea about his second life and the string of women he had manipulated. “I feel guilty,” Paweł wrote. “It’s good you caught me because I wanted to end it for a long time, thank you.” “Were you worried about being found out?” I asked. “I have done nothing wrong to anyone. On the contrary, [as] you see for yourself, so many years and no one has reported me or anything,” he wrote, having recovered from his short-lived shame. “Can I still have your account for a while as you?” He claimed he was using the catfish account for “good” and acting as a “psychologist” for the people he had tricked, because he talked them through their problems. This just made them sound all the more vulnerable, and his actions all the more despicable. “I would like you to tell anyone you are still speaking to that you are not really me, and to close the account,” I wrote back. “OK, I will do that,” he replied finally. * * * Paweł later told me he had deleted the profile, but I could see it was still intact. He had simply removed my images, leaving empty templates ready to be filled again. At one point Paweł unashamedly liked all of my recent Instagram photos. Part of me feared he had saved them for future use, then I remembered something he had said about AI being so convincing these days that you could use that to make a fake account instead. This was hardly reassuring. I asked Paweł if he would put me in touch with the women he had tricked. I didn’t know what I would say to them even if he agreed; I suppose I just wanted to check they were OK. He ignored this request, then eventually said he didn’t want them to know the truth. Without his help it was impossible to track them down; his friends and followers lists were still private. Even if I somehow gained access, he had amassed thousands of connections; I had no idea which of them, or how many, he had manipulated. I tried to shut Paweł’s account down by reporting it to Meta. I received an automatic response in seconds that said his profile didn’t go against their community standards so they wouldn’t remove it. I emailed Facebook support and tried Meta’s press office, asking about their stance on catfishing and what it would take to remove a fake account, but I received no response. I emailed the Metropolitan police, who advised me to report what had happened, but they told me they weren’t sure where it would sit as a criminal case because the impostor seemingly lived in Poland. It felt as if there was nothing I could do to stop him. I asked Paweł if he had a final comment about his actions. “That’s how it is in life – we don’t always do everything as it should be, it’s important to admit the mistake and change for the better,” he wrote. “I’m busy with work now and I got bored of pretending to be someone else.” Who knows if this, or anything he told me, was true. His Facebook account is still online. For years Paweł secretly followed me; now our roles have been reversed. I find myself occasionally searching his name and keeping tabs on his page, making sure those images are still empty and not filled in with updated photos of my face, or that of someone else completely oblivious to his deception.
Harris: Fine Gael ‘will gain seats’ amid further fragmentation of Irish politics
WSP Global (OTCMKTS:WSPOF) Shares Up 2.2% – Should You Buy?OTTAWA—Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown said he received pushback from Indian government officials for his use of the term “Sikh nation” during the 2022 Conservative leadership campaign, but generally believes that foreign interference did not alter the outcome of the race. Brown was called to testify before the House of Commons public safety committee on Thursday evening. The committee is studying the Indian government’s involvement in political interference and violence in Canada. Brown initially declined an invitation to appear, but was formally summoned. He said he didn’t want to be part of any political wrangling. “I don’t have an interest in revisiting partisan debates.” A Radio-Canada story earlier this week reported that insiders on Brown’s Conservative leadership campaign felt the Indian government was interfering, trying to undermine his campaign. This included disinviting him from events in the community and encouraging volunteers not to support him. The story also alleged that Calgary MP Michelle Rempel Garner was encouraged by Indian consular officials to drop her support for Brown. Brown said on a campaign call he was told the Indian government rejected the term “Sikh nation,” which he had used in public remarks. “The concern that was raised was that I had used the term, on a number of occasions, Sikh nation, and the consul general had expressed directly to MP Rempel Garner that was something that obviously they didn’t agree with,” he said. Some members of the Sikh community in Canada favour the creation of a separate state in India called Khalistan that would be a homeland for their community, but the Indian government firmly rejects that idea. Brown said he used a different term than “Sikh nation” after the Indian government complained, and downplayed the importance of the wording change, but Liberal MP Jennifer O’Connell said she saw it as a clear example of interference. “I think that constitutes foreign interference, pretty clearly. With foreign interference it doesn’t matter the outcome. It’s the intention to have the foreign government influence the actions in Canadian elections.” Brown also said, in contrast to the Radio-Canada reporting, Rempel-Garner never indicated she was leaving because of any foreign pressure. “At no point when we talked about her departing the campaign did she say it was because of pressure from the consul general,” he said. At the end of the meeting, O’Connell moved to have Rempel Garner and several members of the Brown campaign called to testify. O’Connell’s motion will be voted on at a later meeting. Brown said when he was a provincial party leader he supported motions recognizing a 1984 attack on Sikh communities as a genocide and spoke out about some of the actions of the Indian government. He said Indian diplomats aren’t quiet about their opinions. “I think it’s fair to say that the government of India states their opinions and I think there’s a number of issues that I took a position on that certainly the Government of India wasn’t a fan of,” he said. Brown was disqualified from the Conservative leadership over allegations he had breached the party’s campaign finance rules. Brown said he had no direct knowledge of foreign interference in his campaign. He said he was aware of one community event where he was disinvited, but said he has no doubt the outcome of the race would have been the same. “I believe that Pierre Poilievre was successful in that race because he signed 300,000 plus memberships. And, I don’t believe acts of foreign intervention affected that result.” Brown’s community has a significant Sikh population and he said there is a lot of ongoing concern about India and other countries interfering in Canada. The committee has also heard testimony from the RCMP and other security agencies about the Indian government’s involvement in a campaign of violence in Canada. This has included the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C., which Brown said is a major concern for the community. He said he believes — to start with — the federal government needs to clearly outline the rules to foreign diplomats who are crossing the lines. “A starting point is a clear education on those who are serving as diplomatic representatives in Canada of what is appropriate behaviour and behaviour that is inappropriate with the laws we have in Canada, clearly there are diplomats that need that education,” he said.Introducing RoadBlock Solutions: A Merger of Five Road Safety Industry Leaders