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Lowry: U.S. has issues, but it’s not the Roman Empire

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:53 GMT

An op-ed in The New York Times warns, as the headline puts it, “America is an empire in decline” and finds a precedent in imperial Rome.The piece, written by the co-author of a new book, “Why Empires Fall: Rome, America, and the Future of the West,” shows that the cottage industry in comparisons between the United States and Rome is as robust as ever.Both conservatives and progressives are prone to their own versions of this narrative, tending to emphasize either moral decline or imperial overstretch respectively.But the most important thing to know about us and our supposed imperial forebear is that we aren’t Rome and aren’t experiencing any of the most direct, spectacular causes of its fall.It is true that Rome’s fall — a long, messy process — didn’t unfold with the pleasing cinematic simplicity the popular imagination might believe; the extent of the barbarian population transfers have been exaggerated; and the eastern half of the empire lived on for another 1,000 years.Still, th...

Tee Thursday: The different types of playing partner

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:53 GMT

As I dive deeper into golf life, I’ve come to realize that there’s a component to the sport that may very well be as important to the success of your game as your clubs.Your playing partners can not only make or break a round, they can positively – or negatively – impact your entire view of the game. I’m realizing, as I play more places and with more folks, there are all kinds of players out there; most worth finding a way to play with no matter what, and a few here and there that you may *clears throat* be super busy any time they ask you to play.Here’s my take, so far, on playing partners, their point of view and how they impact my play.The Experienced Player S/O: One of the reasons I was happy to finally embrace golf in my life is that my husband of 40 years (my significant other) has long loved the sport. We play together often, and (thanks much to our experience as mixed doubles tennis partners) usually meld quite well out there.But there are things spouses should, for th...

Get your skin ready for fall & winter

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:53 GMT

With summer popping up in our rear-view, it’s time to face the fall transition — quite literally. After the past few months of beach days, weeks when we tend to get a little lax with our skincare regimens, and vacations around the pool, it’s time to get our faces back on track. The way to do it:  — key grooming behaviors like regular exfoliation, making sure we’re properly hydrated after all that sun, and on a more cosmetic level, adjusting our skin tone accordingly.Make like a tree and exfoliateIt isn’t just forests that need to shed their excess and dying outer layers; we do too. Our skin naturally does so constantly, but fall is a great time to gently help it along, since starting in a month or so we’ll be inside a lot more. Exfoliating is crucial for radiant and healthy skin, and scrubs are one of the easiest ways to get a good effect. Using one like— just spread an even layer over clean, dry skin, leave on for 10 minutes, then massage into skin and rinse—is a great way to slowl...

Who is ‘The Fraud’ in Zadie Smith’s comic novel?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:53 GMT

Set mostly in 19th-century England, “The Fraud” marks Zadie Smith’s shift from transcultural concerns. Her more contemporary “Swing Time,” narrated in first person, followed the entangled lives of two biracial dancers across three continents. In her bestselling debut, “White Teeth,” and subsequent novels like “On Beauty,” she explored — pointedly and personally — similar themes.“The Fraud,” written in the third person and heavily researched, is undeniably British, its focus more insular. Some of Smith’s signature moves are still present in the sparkly prose, though, including short chapters that suit our distracted age. Here, too, Smith employs a nonlinear narrative that requires attention as we follow the divergent strands of the reedy story line.When we first meet Eliza Touchet, the Scottish protagonist, she already has (mostly) arrived at her station in life. She is the “canny and hard” housekeepe...

Lucas: National Guard should be working the border, not Mass.

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:53 GMT

People should not be surprised that Gov. Maura Healey called out the National Guard to deal with the state’s illegal immigrant crisis.Yes, she might say, the state is burdened, but that’s how cities grow.No, the surprise would have been if she sent the 250 troopers to El Paso to deal with the nation’s illegal immigration crisis at the border.A bigger surprise would be if she sent the illegal immigrants back to where they came from.But that was never in the cards, nor will it ever be.Joe Biden, bent on wrecking the country, opened the gates and there is no one around to close them.Now millions of illegal immigrants from across the world, mostly poor and unskilled, have inundated the country and nobody knows who they are.And if you criticize it, you are labeled anti-immigrant even though you support legal immigration and not the behind the back, deceitful and secret immigration policies of the Biden administration.Instead of defending the country and the state from foreign threat or i...

Derry: The ‘right’ way for GOP candidates to address crime

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:53 GMT

Violent crime and public safety will be a campaign issue as presidential candidates crisscross the nation. While conservatives support “law and order” and the “rule of law,” recent polling shows Republican voter views on crime and the criminal justice system are much more complex.Republican attitudes are rooted in public safety systems that maintain peace and order, a belief in the power of redemption, and the recognition that rehabilitated men and women who paid their debts to society need education, training and post-release support to become productive members of their communities.Several candidates at August’s GOP debate captured America’s concern over the violent crime destroying lives and ripping apart communities. Former vice president Mike Pence said calls to defund the police are abhorrent and reckless. Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie pivoted to rogue prosecutors who refuse to do their jobs. And Florida governor Ron DeSantis took Christie’s point even further, say...

Dear Abby: Daughter’s one-sided relationship irks parents

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:53 GMT

Dear Abby: My daughter is a professional woman in her mid-20s. She works in a demanding field with a lot of overtime. She lives an hour away from us and is financially independent but depends on us often for favors.She has been dating a man for a year and a half who doesn’t even call her his “girlfriend.” We have never met him. He sees her when it’s convenient for him, sometimes for an hour at 11 on a Sunday night after he’s spent the weekend with his friends. (We both know what to call that.) She has never asked him to feed or baby-sit her cat, help her move furniture, pick up an item from a store or anything. She asks us.We are in our 60s. We feel it’s time for her to find a loving, considerate life partner, but she’s content with her present “relationship.” She has had relationships before with thoughtful, helpful guys, so I’m not sure why she is rationalizing this man’s self-centered behavior.He is now moving 600 ...

Three teens face charges in fight involving bus driver

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:53 GMT

ESCONDIDO, Calif. — Three San Pasqual High School students face charges in connection to a fight involving a North County Transit District (NCTD) Breeze bus driver.The incident occurred on Tuesday, Aug. 29 when an altercation broke out at the bus stop near the school.Video released by NCTD shows the moments leading up to and after the fight.According to the Escondido Police Department, one of the teens in this case was arrested and taken into custody on charges of assault likely to produce great bodily injury. The two other teens will be charged with conspiracy and released to their parents pending the court’s recommendations, police said.The bus driver, who NCTD says was placed on leave pending an investigation into this matter, is not being charged at this time, according to EPD.“The safety of our passengers and bus operators is our top priority. NCTD’s investigation is ongoing. The details of what took place are being thoroughly reviewed from all aspects," NCT...

Mexico ends federal ban on abortion, but patchwork of state restrictions remains

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:53 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican Supreme Court ruling that invalidated all federal criminal penalties for abortion continued a regional trend of widening access to the procedure, but left in place a patchwork of varying state restrictions.The high court ordered Wednesday that abortion be removed from the federal penal code, and will require the federal public health service and all federal health institutions to offer abortion to anyone who requests it.That will mean access for millions of Mexicans. The social security service and other federal institutions provide health care to most people who work in the formal economy. “No woman or pregnant person, nor any health worker, will be able to be punished for abortion,” the Information Group for Chosen Reproduction, known by its Spanish initials GIRE, said in a statement.Abortions are not widely prosecuted as a crime, but many doctors refuse to provide them, citing the law.Some 20 Mexican states, however, still criminalize abortion. Those ...

China exports decline slower than expected in August as weak demand keeps economy under pressure

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:53 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — China’s exports declined at a slower pace in August, even as the world’s second-biggest economy remains under pressure from weaker demand both domestically and abroad.Exports for August slumped 8.8% from the same time last year, totaling $284.87 billion, and were slower than the 14.5% last month, according to customs data Thursday.Imports slid 7.3% from a year ago to $216.51 billion, but beat consensus estimates of a 9% decline.China’s trade surplus contracted 13.2% to $68.36 billion, lower than the $80.6 billion in July.Chinese leaders have in recent months rolled out several policy measures to shore up the economy after a post-COVID rebound fizzled earlier than expected.China’s central banks have eased borrowing rules, relaxing borrowing rules and lowering mortgage rates for first-time home buyers as well as implementing some tax relief measures for small businesses.However, authorities have yet to announce large-scale stimulus spending or tax cuts.Demand for Chin...