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Red Sox notebook: Sox have been picture of mediocrity through season’s first half

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:53:05 GMT

It seems like every time the Red Sox have turned a corner, they’ve found a way to stumble back to square one.When they won eight straight to move a season-high seven games over .500, they then lost six of their next seven, including a three-game sweep at the hands of the last-place St. Louis Cardinals at Fenway Park.When they bounced back with four straight wins and a pair of series victories over Seattle and San Diego, they face-planted again and went 5-12 over the next two-plus weeks.Now, since winning six straight to move back into the playoff picture, the Red Sox have dropped four of five to a pair of unremarkable AL Central clubs, including this weekend’s series against a bad Chicago White Sox team that seems destined to sell off its entire starting rotation ahead of the trade deadline.As a result, the Red Sox come into the week 40-39, last in the AL East and three games back of the last Wild Card spot with three teams to jump.They haven’t been bad, per se. Th...

Robbins: GOP censure of Schiff perfect

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:53:05 GMT

In his 2021 book “Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy And Still Could,” Congressman Adam Schiff recounts Donald Trump’s attempts to sell out American interests for his own personal benefit while president, supported at every turn by a Republican Party too corrupt and too terrified to stand up to an obvious crook.“There is now a dangerous vein of autocratic thought running through one of America’s great parties, and it poses an existential danger to our country,” Schiff writes. “The experience of the last four years will require constant vigilance on our part so that it does not gain another foothold in the highest office in our land.”As Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Schiff oversaw the inquiry into Trump’s gambit to extort a contrived announcement of a phony investigation into political rival Joe Biden in exchange for the release of desperately needed assistance that Congress had authorized for Ukraine’s self-defense against Russia. Tr...

The FBI and Homeland Security had ‘a massive amount’ of warnings about Jan. 6, a Senate report finds

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:53:05 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security downplayed or ignored “a massive amount of intelligence information” ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S Capitol, according to the chairman of a Senate panel that on Tuesday is releasing a new report on the intelligence failures ahead of the insurrection. The report details how the agencies failed to recognize and warn of the potential for violence as some of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters openly planned the siege in messages and forums online.Among the multitude of intelligence that was overlooked was a December 2020 tip to the FBI that members of the far-right extremist group Proud Boys planned to be in Washington, D.C., for the certification of Joe Biden’s victory and their “plan is to literally kill people,” the report said. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said the agencies were also aware of many social media posts that foreshadowed violence, some cal...

North Macedonia prosecutor says inmates, psychiatric patients subjected to degrading treatment

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:53:05 GMT

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — A report by the ombudsman in North Macedonia says inmates in the country’s overcrowded prisons and patients at poorly staffed psychiatric hospitals are frequently subjected to inhumane and degrading conditions.The country’s ombudsman, appointed by the parliament, is an independent public prosecutor with the power to investigate public complaints, including alleged human rights violations by state-run institutions.In the document investigating human rights conditions in 2022, Ombudsman Naser Ziberi reported that indications of severe mistreatment and neglect were found at two of the country’s main psychiatric institutions.There was no immediate reaction from government officials Tuesday after the report was published late Monday. “Leather straps for tying up patients, a metal chain with a padlock and a one-meter-long cable” were found at one psychiatric facility, the report said. At a second facility in the capital Skopje, it cited poor hygiene an...

Thousands of unauthorized vapes are pouring into the US despite the FDA crackdown on fruity flavors

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:53:05 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of different electronic cigarette devices sold in the U.S. has nearly tripled to over 9,000 since 2020, driven almost entirely by a wave of unauthorized disposable vapes from China, according to tightly controlled sales data obtained by The Associated Press.The surge stands in stark contrast to regulators’ own figures, which tout the rejection of some 99% of company requests to sell new e-cigarettes while authorizing only a few meant for adult smokers. The numbers demonstrate the Food and Drug Administration’s inability to control the tumultuous vaping market more than three years after declaring a crackdown on kid-friendly flavors. Most of the disposable e-cigarettes, which are thrown away after they’re used up, come in sweet and fruity flavors like pink lemonade, gummy bear and watermelon that have made them the favorite tobacco product among teenagers.They are all technically illegal, but their influx has turned FDA’s regulatory model on its head. Ins...

Germany saw at least 2,480 antisemitic incidents in 2022, monitoring group says

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:53:05 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A group tracking antisemitism in Germany said Tuesday that it documented 2,480 incidents in the country last year — just under seven incidents per day on average.In its annual report, the Department for Research and Information on Anti-Semitism, or RIAS, said that while it registered a slight decrease in antisemitic incidents in 2022, compared to the year before, there were nine incidents of extreme violence — the highest number of such cases since nationwide record keeping began in 2017.Those extremely violent crimes include a shooting at a former rabbi’s house next to an old synagogue in the western city of Essen last November. Germany’s federal prosecutor is now investigating the case along with two other violent antisemitic crimes on suspicion that they may have been carried out in cooperation with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.More often, however, “it is everyday situations in which Jews are confronted with antisemitism,” Benjamin Steinitz, t...

Czech police break up an international ring smuggling at least 1,000 migrants to western Europe

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:53:05 GMT

PRAGUE (AP) — Czech police said Tuesday that they have broken up an international ring suspected of smuggling migrants from Turkey to western Europe.A total of 14 suspects — 13 foreigners whose countries of origin were not specified and a Czech citizens — have been arrested in raids across the country in recent days, police said. The suspects allegedly organized a transport of at least 1,000 illegal migrants since 2021, earning at least 1 million euros ($1.1 million).The smugglers face up to 16 years in prison if tried and convicted.The migrants have been using the Czech Republic as a transit route on their way to the West, officials said, and mostly do not apply for asylum in Czechia, as the country is also known. In February, the Czech government lifted controls, which were renewed at the country’s border with Slovakia in September amid a new wave of migration, mostly from Syria.___Follow all AP stories on global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migrationThe Associated Press

‘Movement’ detected at South African mine where dozens suspected dead, but no search operation yet

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:53:05 GMT

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South African authorities have detected “movement” underground at a shuttered gold mine where they believe at least 31 illegal miners died in a suspected gas explosion last month, raising the very slim possibility that there may be survivors, officials said.Officials also said it’s likely that there were more illegal miners underground than initially thought and the death count will be higher than 31.But a search operation at the disused Virginia gold mine in the central city of Welkom has not yet been launched because of the dangerously high levels of methane gas still present in the mine, which means there could be more explosions.“As it stands now it’s rather difficult,” Department of Mineral Resources and Energy spokesperson Nathi Shabangu told The Associated Press on Tuesday.Shabangu said the government department was working with a team of inspectors from the company that previously operated the mine as well as mine rescue services to deter...

Meta launches more parental supervision tools for Instagram. Is it enough?

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:53:05 GMT

Instagram and Facebook’s parent company Meta is adding some new parental supervision tools and privacy features to its platforms as social media companies face increasing scrutiny over their effects on teen mental health. But many of the features require minors — and their parents — to opt in, raising questions about how effective the measures are. Instagram, for instance, will now send a notice to teens after they have blocked someone, encouraging them to let their parents “supervise” their account. The idea is to grab kids’ attention when they might be more open to parental guidance. If a teen opts in, the system will let parents set time limits, see who their kid follows or is followed by, and allows them to track how much time the minor spends on Instagram. It does not let parents see message content.Instagram launched parental supervision tools last year to help families navigate the platform and find resources and guidance. A sticking point in the process is that k...

Senior Spotlight: Niskayuna's Greyson Vorgang

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:53:05 GMT

NISKAYUNA, NY (NEWS10) -- Niskayuna lacrosse is in Greyson Vorgang's blood. Now, he looks to carry what he learned there to one of the premier programs in Division-I lacrosse. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! Vorgang grew up in the Niskayuna boys lax program. "How to be a player, how to be a man," said Vorgang. "This program has taught me basically everything I know."Starting when he was just a little kid, Greyson has been at nearly every practice and every game with his father, head coach Mike Vorgang. "All I know is practice after school until six o'clock," said Greyson Vorgang. "I feel like just knowing all of the alumni, personally having relationships with them, I like to go out there and put myself out on the field for them and my dad." Mike Vorgang has led the Silver Warriors to 19 section titles. Greyson has been a part of three of those, including this past season. Niskayuna took down Ballston Spa to win the Class B...