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Zito: Dems ditch blue collar workers for social justice warriors

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:50 GMT

CHESWICK, Pennsylvania — Up until two years ago, it would only take 12 hours for coal mined deep in a labyrinth operation 60 miles from here to go from that underground mine, through a high-tech cleaning procedure, and be loaded on a barge or rail car and brought to the Cheswick Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant, to light communities along the Allegheny River for generations.That efficient process came to an end in September 2021 when owner GenOn Holdings announced the then-51-year-old facility, one that environmental groups had in their sights for years, decided to retire the plant. The company cited “unfavorable economic conditions, higher costs including those associated with environmental compliance, an inability to compete with other generation types, and evolving market rules that promote subsidized resources.”In short, the company was driven out of business in part by the “climate justice” movement within the federal and state governme...

This Father’s Day playlist turns up volume on memories

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:50 GMT

Mother’s Day playlists are always easy (and we’ve done a few over the years), because there are so many good pop songs about Mom. In this case, Dad tends to get left out just a bit- – but we’ve combed our collections and come up with a playlist of mostly affectionate songs to play for Dad at a Father’s Day brunch.  As usual we’ve mixed a few obvious choices in with a good handful of deeper cuts.We’ll warn you in advance: This playlist is pretty heavy on our favorite older-guy rockers — because hey, it’s their day too.Bruce Springsteen, “Adam Raised a Cain”The Boss has written plenty of more somber songs about fathers and sons (the mournful “My Father’s House” for starters), but we went with this loud, defiant rocker about inheriting your dad’s fire and fury– and hopefully the keys to his Cadillac too. In the old days, after doing the sexy “Fire’ for the girls, Bruce would play this one for the boys.Beyonce, “Daddy”Beyonce is many things, including one of the ...

Editorial: Poll finds younger Americans OK with in-home gov’t surveillance

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:50 GMT

The Fourth Amendment protects Americans from “unreasonable searches and seizures” by the government, acknowledging the “right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects.” It is a bedrock principle of the Bill of Rights.But a survey released this month reveals that an astonishing number of Americans, particularly younger Americans, would be comfortable throwing this fundamental protection on the ash heap of history.The Cato Institute recently conducted a poll of 2,000 adults and included the question: “Would you favor or oppose the government installing surveillance cameras in every household to reduce domestic violence, abuse and other illegal activity?”Seventy-five percent of respondents were against such an outrageous intrusion. But 14% approved and 10% “didn’t know.”Holy, George Orwell. But it gets worse.Breaking down the responses, Cato discovered that a whopping 29% of those between the ages of 18 and 29, and 20% of those aged 30 to 44, gave a thumb...

Graham: How will Biden handle N.H. with RFK Jr. at his heels?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:50 GMT

An incumbent Democratic president with a successful legislative record but lagging in the polls. He’s forced to run as a write-in candidate in the New Hampshire primary, a state he hadn’t planned to campaign in. He’s facing a Democrat who’s embraced populist themes like opposing America’s role in a bloody, foreign war.President Lyndon Johnson in 1968? Or President Joe Biden six months from now?It’s true: LBJ was so confident he would be re-nominated in 1968 that he never bothered to qualify for ballot access in the New Hampshire primary, the “first in the nation.” When Minnesota Sen. Eugene “Clean Gene” McCarthy’s campaign, focused on opposition to America’s involvement in the Vietnam War, began to take off, the White House political team had to scramble to get voters to write in the president’s name.Did it work? LBJ won a plurality of the vote, 48% to 42%. But such a poor performance by an incumbent president inspired Robert F. Kennedy to enter the primary, and Johnson soon headed ...

Dear Abby: Husband ignores wife when mom’s in picture

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:50 GMT

Dear Abby: My husband is in another state with his elderly (but still active) mother. He went to help her get her house ready for sale so she can move near us. Before he left, he was having severe panic attacks. He kept telling me he is scared of losing me (he’s been out of work for months) and that he was going to need me while he was with her.Since he has been gone, he has barely called, rarely texts and even suggested taking a break from me. This was after finding out I had to go to the ER and had been diagnosed with a debilitating autoimmune disorder. He’s blaming me for having to ask his mother for money to cover our bills.This woman has been single for 30 years, worked full time and has essentially no real expenses. She spoils the heck out of him — her only child. She treats him like her partner or a 12-year-old boy. She dislikes that I’m at home taking care of my 1-year-old grandchild and not working. I have always contributed, but this is the choice m...

Man suspected of shooting SDPD officer arraigned

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:50 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- JC Blake Sartor, 30, appeared in court Friday through a video arraignment. The judge ordered the media to not show Sartor’s face.Sartor pleaded not guilty to five charges, which are attempted pre-meditated murder on a peace officer, assault on peace officer with a firearm, shooting at an inhabited dwelling, vehicle theft and felony possession of a firearm.“There is no place for this type of senseless violence in this community, and anytime someone tries to kill a cop, that person will be found, they'll be charged and they'll be prosecuted according to the law,” Deputy District Attorney Clay Biddle said. Last week on Thursday, a San Diego police officer attempted to pull over a driver in a stolen truck in the Chollas Creek area.Police say the driver jumped out and ran off into an apartment complex. The officer chased after the man who pulled a gun and fired multiple times, hitting the officer in the arm. Suspect surrenders after SWAT standoff at Hillcrest donut shop Pr...

House fire displaces family, dog in North County

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:50 GMT

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- A fire damaged a home Friday in the Carlsbad area, authorities said.The blaze occurred at 6:41 p.m. in the 3000 block of Jefferson Street, according to Carlsbad police. Firefighters were able to contain the blaze with no injuries reported. However, the fire displaced a family of four and dog, per first responders. Suspect surrenders after SWAT standoff at Hillcrest donut shop Authorities advise the public to avoid the 3000 block of Jefferson Street due to the fire investigation.The cause of the fire is not yet known at this time.Carlsbad Village Drive was closed but has since reopened, police said.

US imposes visa restrictions for some Ugandans following adoption of anti-gay law

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:50 GMT

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Washington on Friday announced it is imposing visa restrictions for Ugandans accused of “undermining the democratic process” in Uganda after the enactment of an anti-gay law in the East African country.A statement from the State Department did not name any targeted individuals.It said the U.S. will consider other possible actions “to promote accountability for Ugandan officials and other individuals responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the democratic process in Uganda, abusing human rights, including those of LGBTQI+ persons, or engaging in corrupt practices.” Uganda’s new law adopted last month punishes homosexuality, including with the death penalty in some cases. The legislation has been widely condemned by rights activists and others abroad, but it has wide support in Uganda, including among religious leaders and lawmakers. LGBTQ rights campaigners note homosexuality already was illegal in Uganda under a colonial-era law criminalizing ...

Trump’s legal travails anger some GOP voters, but that doesn’t guarantee that they’ll vote for him

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:50 GMT

PELLA, Iowa (AP) — Kathleen Evenhouse took a break from her work in the corner of a small-town Iowa coffee shop to slam the federal criminal indictment of Donald Trump as patently political, the work of a U.S. Justice Department she says is awash in hypocrisy. “I think we’re playing a game as a country,” the 72-year-old author from Pella, Iowa, said in an interview, expressing a sentiment widely shared among conservatives since the former president was charged. “I think that damages any sense of justice or any sense of — should I even bother to vote? Why should I listen to the news? Or why should I care?”Evenhouse does plan to vote in Iowa’s first-in-the-nation Republican presidential caucuses next year. And yet, despite her anger on Trump’s behalf, he will not win her support. As Trump mounts a full-throated political defense to the legal challenges he faces, many voters in early states who will play an outsize role in deciding his electoral fate agree that ...

Supermajorities in state capitols push controversial policies to the edge

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:50 GMT

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Lawmakers in state capitols this year have been flexing their superpowers.In North Carolina, a new supermajority of Republicans enacted abortion restrictions. In Vermont, a new supermajority of Democrats imposed a climate-sensitive home heating law. And in Montana, a GOP supermajority booted a transgender lawmaker from the House floor. In each case, the views of their political opponents ultimately were irrelevant.By at least one measure, political power is at its highest mark in decades. That’s because Republicans or Democrats hold majorities so large in 28 states that they could override gubernatorial vetoes without any help from the minority party. “Supermajorities give one party a lot of power to do what they want to do,” said Steven Rogers, a political scientist at Saint Louis University who focuses on elections and state legislatures. There is no single standard for a supermajority, though the term generally is equated with whatever threshold i...