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Semien has another 2-HR, 4-hit game as Rangers beat A’s 9-4 for 1st consecutive wins this month

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:53:24 GMT

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Marcus Semien knows the Rangers need to focus on what is ahead and not dwell on what dropped them out of the AL West lead and left Texas chasing a playoff spot.Their leadoff hitter is doing his part to set the tone. Semien homered twice among his four hits for the second time in four games, Corey Seager went deep for the 30th time this season and the Rangers won consecutive games for the first time in September, beating the young last-place Oakland Athletics 9-4 on Sunday.“Each game is its individual game. We want to focus on that no matter who we’re playing,” Semien said. “Standings are the standings. But if we focus on the task at hand and see where we’re at at the end, I think that’s a better plan.”For the Rangers (76-64), with 20 games remaining over the next three weeks, they got only their second series victory in their last seven. They won for only the sixth time in their last 22 games, a span when they have gone from a 3 1/2-game lead in the AL West t...

Sharp’s late goal helps Galaxy rally for 2-2 draw with St Louis City

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:53:24 GMT

CARSON CITY, Calif. (AP) — Billy Sharp scored in the 82nd minute and the Los Angeles Galaxy rallied from a two-goal deficit to earn a 2-2 draw with St. Louis City on Sunday night.St. Louis City (15-10-3) jumped in front early when Samuel Adeniran took a pass from Jared Stroud in the 4th minute and scored his seventh goal of the season.João Klauss found the net for a sixth time this season, using an assist from Aziel Jackson in the 28th minute to push the lead to 2-0 at halftime.The Galaxy (7-10-9) got on the scoreboard in the 53rd minute on a penalty-kick goal by Riqui Puig. Puig’s sixth goal of the season came after a handball foul on Adeniran. Adeniran was hit with a second yellow card in the 60th minute, forcing St. Louis City to play a man down through 10 minutes of stoppage time.Sharp used an assist from Uri Rosell to notch his second netter of the campaign.Jonathan Bond finished with one save for the Galaxy. Roman Bürki stopped six shots for St. Louis City.The Galaxy imp...

The Chargers’ defense got historically shredded by Tua and Tyreek in a season-opening loss

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:53:24 GMT

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — The Chargers entered the season cautiously confident they had a defense that could win a Super Bowl. With defensive guru Brandon Staley designing schemes for a star-laden unit including a healthy Joey Bosa and J.C. Jackson, Los Angeles thought this group was sturdy and solid.And then Tua Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill ran over, around and through that defense in a historically ominous start to the Bolts’ season.Los Angeles yielded a franchise-record 466 yards passing in its 36-34 loss to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, and that massive number was just the beginning of the Chargers’ woes.“It’s definitely a humbling loss defensively, knowing that we didn’t help the offense at all,” edge rusher Khalil Mack said. “We’ve just got to get it corrected and be ready for next week.”The Chargers gave up 536 total yards, the most they’ve allowed in an opener. Los Angeles couldn’t cover Hill (11 catches for 215 yards) and couldn’t counter Tagovail...

Messi is a doubtful starter for Argentina’s World Cup qualifying game in Bolivia

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:53:24 GMT

SAO PAULO (AP) — Excited Bolivian fans gathered at the La Paz international airport to welcome Lionel Messi ahead of Argentina’s World Cup qualifying game against the home team on Tuesday. The 36-year-old Messi traveled with the defending World Cup champions but is not a certain starter at the game because of fatigue.Meanwhile Brazil, coached for the first time by Fernando Diniz in a 5-1 win over Bolivia last Friday, is preparing to face Peru with the same squad.Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Colombia won their opening games in continental qualifying last week. All 10 South American teams will play their second games on Tuesday.The 2026 edition of the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada is expanding to a 48-team format. The top six teams in South America will secure a direct spot. The seventh-place team will contest an intercontinental playoff for a berth.BOLIVIA vs. ARGENTINAArgentina coach Lionel Scaloni told a news conference he will have against Bolivia a ver...

The populist right wants you to make more babies. The question is how.

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:53:24 GMT

Can a baby-making conference in Budapest help Europe avoid demographic collapse? The populist right certainly hope so. For decades, Europe’s birth rates have been below the replacement level of 2.1 — the average number of births per woman needed to keep the population stable without immigration. But recently the threat of global demographic collapse has also become a cause célèbre in Silicon Valley. Elon Musk, who has 9 children, has called demographic decline “a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming.”In Europe, the political push to drive up birth rates has been led by Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. And this week his populist government is hosting a grab bag of rightwing crowd-pleasers at the 5th Budapest Demographic Summit. Starting Thursday, political leaders, religious evangelists and high-profile academics — including conservative Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić...

Cardona: 9/11 inspired military service, time to give back

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:53:24 GMT

I was nine years old when we were attacked. Watching the Twin Towers fall, a plane hit the Pentagon, and hearing the harrowing stories of Flight 93 had a profound impact on me. But what impacted me more was how our country rose together in unity. We were proud of our nation, we reveled in our freedoms, and we took care of each other. This profound sense of patriotism was at an all-time high. In a single year following the 9/11 attacks, 181,510 Americans enlisted in the active duty ranks and 72,908 joined the enlisted reserves. That’s more in a 12-month period than any of the 22 years since.As an impressionable kid, Sept. 11 and the months that followed inspired me to apply to the U.S. Naval Academy. Today, after graduating and now serving in the Naval Reserves, what inspires me most are the people. The United States Armed Forces are second to none because of the people who choose to serve. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the all-volunteer force, an incredible milestone for o...

Antoni: Why jobless rate is higher than it seems

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:53:24 GMT

The labor market is nowhere near as strong as it appears. If that sounds surprising, it’s because the Biden administration is playing a shell game with unemployment numbers.With millions of Americans missing from the workforce, the unemployment rate is being artificially depressed. Accounting for this sleight of hand reveals an unemployment rate of over 6%, not the official 3.8%.President Joe Biden inherited an economy that was growing at a $1.5 trillion annualized rate and was adding an average of 1.4 million jobs per month after the government-imposed shutdowns. At the same time, inflation was only 1.4%, which is even below the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. But Biden’s anti-growth, big-government agenda slammed the brakes on the economy and the labor market.After just 18 months of the Biden administration, inflation soared to 40-year highs, and the economy contracted for two consecutive quarters. Average monthly job growth has slowed 70%, and America remains 4.6 million jobs below ...

Michael Jai White saddles up for ‘Outlaw Johnny Black’

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:53:24 GMT

As the writer, director and star of “Outlaw Johnny Black,” Michael Jai White revives the Hollywood Western of the 1970s Blaxploitation era.As a cowboy who pretends to be a preacher in order to avenge his father’s death and deal justice to a greedy land baron, White, 55, specifically nods to the light-hearted Sidney Poitier-Harry Belafonte ‘70s Western “Buck and the Preacher Man.”But isn’t White, who had a hit with “Black Dynamite,” another Blaxploitation riff, gambling with a Western?“I love Westerns. I think when they’re done right, people respond,” White, who has an exemption during the actors’ strike to promote his independent movie, said in a Zoom interview. “One of my favorites is ‘Unforgiven’ but I always intended on doing a Western in the Blaxploitation era, kind of harken back to that.“Just like with ‘Black Dynamite,’ this is a look back at movies set up to be circa 1972-73, that kind of thing. I guess if you look at the Duffer Brothers, they brought back the ‘80s with...

New hire eager for a promotion before Day 1 on job

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:53:24 GMT

Q. I’m extending an offer to a candidate soon. They’re a perfect fit for the job, but I know a promotion is on her mind. And she hasn’t even started yet. How can I manage her expectations that she needs to learn this job first before advancing?A. It’s a Catch-22 — terrific that you have an ambitious new hire who’s a perfect fit as you say and you don’t want to diminish her motivation and ambition. I’d meet with her in the beginning to set goals for the year and outline the path to promotion and what type of skills need to be developed and metrics/goals that need to be met for that to potentially happen. This way, she has a clearly defined road map, but is also aware of what needs to be accomplished.You may or may not want to include a timeline. She may be on the fast track so a promotion two years from now may occur sooner than that; or there may be budgetary constraints so you may say one year but a year from now, it may not be possib...

Editorial: JP Progressives are wearing blinders

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:53:24 GMT

The truth is endangered, especially on the Boston City Council.That’s why we must address the Jamaica Plain Progressives’ flawed support Sunday of District 6 Councilor Kendra Lara on the eve of Tuesday’s preliminary election.It’s a fact that members of the JPP went rogue and helped fund Lara’s independent crash analysis, as first reported in the Herald. It’s also true they did so without informing group leadership as Lara’s endorsement was being considered.It’s clear Lara is desperately trying to control the narrative so she can keep her job that will pay $115,000 next year. Her case remains in a court of law, but she doesn’t have time for courts. She wants her accident adjudicated in the court of public opinion.That cannot go unchallenged.Lara is accused of speeding on June 30. The officer who wrote the report said Lara had been traveling at least 53.41 mph, and as fast as 59.29 mph, at the point of impact.She is accused of cras...