Tuesday, July 6, 2021

The Black Lives Matter movement has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize

The Black Lives Matter movement has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize

The Black Lives Matter movement has been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.

Norwegian MP Petter Eide nominated the global movement “for their struggle against racism and racially motivated violence,” he wrote in his official nomination papers, which were obtained by CNN.
“BLM’s call for systemic change have spread around the world, forcing other countries to grapple with racism within their own societies,” he said.
The Black Lives Matter protest movement, rekindled in the days after an unarmed George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis last May, continues to shine a light on what it calls systemic racism and police brutality from America’s small towns to its urban centers.
    The group, which started with a hashtag in 2012 after the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Florida, has grown into a social juggernaut. It has changed the way people talk about police brutality and inequality.
    While there is no way to know exactly how large the movement has become, the organization has branched out with chapters all over the world and held rallies, boycotts and other actions across the United States.
    Online, it’s what many have used to spread the message against police brutality. And globally, it’s being used by many to show solidarity with Black people.

    A global effort to fight inequality

    Eide, who has represented the Socialist Left party in parliament since 2017, told CNN he saw in Black Lives Matter a “legacy from both the civil rights movement in America and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.”
    “The Norwegian Nobel Committee has always recognized a strong connection between racial justice and peace,” Eide said
    In 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded the prize for “his non-violent struggle for civil rights for the Afro-American population,” according to the Nobel Prize website.
    Other Nobel peace prizes were associated with the South African anti-apartheid movement from the ’60s to the ’90s, including those of Nelson Mandela and Frederik Willem de Klerk, awarded jointly in 1993 for transitioning the nation from a system of racial segregation.
    Eide, who held the position of secretary general of Amnesty International Norway in the 2000s, said he received multiple emails and messages following his announcement of the nomination.
    “People message me to say that BLM is a violent organization,” he said. “I condemn all kinds of violence. However, these arguments were the same when Martin Luther King received the prize in 1964, or when Mandela received it in 1993.”
    “It is not a strong argument,” he added. “If some elements of the movement may have been violent, that is not a reason to blame the whole movement.”
    A 2020 report from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project showed that about 93% of racial justice protests in the US since the death of George Floyd have been peaceful and non-destructive.
    “We hold the largest social movement in global history. Today, we have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. People are waking up to our global call: for racial justice and an end to economic injustice, environmental racism, and white supremacy,” the Black Lives Matter movement tweeted on Friday. “We’re only getting started.”
      Any politician serving at a national level can submit nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize. They are allowed just 2,000 words to state their case.
      The deadline for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize’s submission is February 1. The winner will be chosen in October, with the award ceremony scheduled for December 10.

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      One of Hungary’s last independent radio stations ordered off the air

      One of Hungary's last independent radio stations ordered off the air

      One of Hungary’s last independent radio stations, Klubrádió, will be removed from the airwaves after a Budapest court upheld a decision not to renew its license — a ruling widely seen as a blow against media freedom in the country.

      Klubrádió, which often featured voices from Hungary’s opposition, had appealed to the court after its license was revoked last year by the country’s Media Council for allegedly violating rules on advertising among other things.
      Members of the Media Council are elected by the Hungarian National Assembly, in which Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party has a majority.
      In response to Judge Regina Antal’s ruling on Tuesday, the Media Council said in an online statement, “The verdict stated that since Klubrádió had not appealed against its repeated violations, which caused the legal exclusion, they had become final, so that there was no choice but to refuse to renew them.”
        Mihaly Hardy, News Director of Klubrádió said, “There is a huge propaganda balloon built up by the government and Klubrádió was a little hole, a little piece of truth where the air could escape, so they had to close this little hole in the balloon and so they can construct their own propaganda world which does not reflect the realities of Hungary.”
        Klubrádió’s license will expire on February 14. It will still be able to broadcast via the internet. The station can request an appeal against the ruling in a counter appeal, Judge Regina Antal said.
        Dunja Mitajovic, the Human Rights Commissioner for the Council of Europe, tweeted that the ruling meant “another silenced voice in Hungary” and “another sad day for #MediaFreedom.”
        The International Press Institute has also condemned the ruling. Director Scott Griffen said the verdict “will force Hungary’s last major independent radio broadcaster off the air. It is devastating to what remains of media pluralism in Hungary and will have far reaching implications inside and outside the country’s borders.
          “Make no mistake, this is the outcome of a deliberate, decade-long effort by political forces in Hungary to eradicate Klubrádió from the airwaves. The court has merely delivered the final blow,” he said.
          “Over the last few years, the Fidesz-controlled Media Council and the government have one by one blocked off every remaining avenue for Klubrádió to remain on air when its renewal was rejected for politically motivated decisions. The result was that, when the time finally came for Klubrádió’s license to be renewed, its fate was all but sealed.”

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          Mayim Bialik’s ‘Jeopardy!’ guest hosting debut gets rave reviews from viewers, herself

          Mayim Bialik's 'Jeopardy!' guest hosting debut gets rave reviews from viewers, herself

          The former “Big Bang Theory” star is the latest in a long list of celebrity guest hosts on the latest season of the popular game show following the death of longtime host Alex Trebek, who died in November of 2020 following a lengthy battle with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. On Memorial Day, Bialik became the second woman to host the show following a stint by Katie Couric earlier this year. The actress and neuroscientist called the opportunity an “immense honor” for an academic like herself in the lead-up to her debut Monday, a sentiment she doubled down on during her first night. 

          “It is an incredible honor to guest host Jeopardy!,” Bialik said at the top of the show (via Yahoo Entertainment). “I was raised in a very creative and academic family, but it wasn’t until high school that I fell in love with science, and that love led me to a Ph.D. in neuroscience. I so appreciate that ‘Jeopardy!’ is a show that tests all aspects of intellect and allows the brightest minds to shine.”

          It didn’t take long before viewers took to Twitter to praise her on her first night behind the infamous podium. 

          MAYIM BIALIK TALKS GUEST-HOSTING ‘JEOPARDY!’: ‘THERE’S A LOT OF ICONIC PRESSURE’

          “Oh, I definitely like Mayim Bialik as a Jeopardy host,” one user wrote

          ALEX TREBEK’S LEGACY REMEMBERED BY ‘JEOPARDY!’ GUEST HOST MAYIM BIALIK: ‘A HUGE LOSS’

          “Mayim Bialik being great as a Jeopardy! host should surprise pretty much no one,” another added.

          “Mayim Bialik is doing great! Smart, controlled and confident. One of the best cohosts by far. #Jeopardy,” a third wrote.

          “Awww! I love Mayim Bialik as the host of #Jeopardy. Of course she’d be great. She’s sweet, personable & very smart,” another added.

          Bialik, who rarely watches her own performances, took to Twitter herself following the episode to share her thoughts on the experience. 

          “I watched myself and had all sorts of criticisms,” she joked. “My kids were like ‘what’s with your voice?’ and, first of all, that was me trying to put on my best ‘Jeopardy!’ voice. I was trying to sound friendly and cerebral.”

          Mayim Bialik began her guest-hosting gig on ‘Jeopardy!’ this week.

          Mayim Bialik began her guest-hosting gig on ‘Jeopardy!’ this week. (Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

          She went on to note that she filmed her “Jeopardy!” episodes right after wrapping her sitcom “Call Me Kat” and jokingly apologized to her doctor for exacerbating her “vocal burnout.” 

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          “Anyway, my kids didn’t tease me too badly. I liked my blazer, I wish my waist was smaller, but I was pretty happy,” she concluded. “It was so surreal, it was very surreal to see myself there and I don’t know if I’ll get to watch every night, but I’d say it’s the only thing I’ve ever enjoyed watching myself in, mostly because I’m barely on camera.”

          Bialik will continue as guest host of “Jeopardy!” for the next two weeks, wrapping up on June 11. Yahoo Entertainment reports that the show will match the contestant’s daily winning with a donation to The National Alliance for Mental Illness, a charity that Bialik herself chose.


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          Congressman-elect Luke Letlow dies after battling Covid-19

          Congressman-elect Luke Letlow dies after battling Covid-19

          Congressman-elect Luke Letlow, a Republican, has died after being diagnosed with Covid-19, CNN confirmed Tuesday night.

          In a statement released on Twitter, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards wrote, “It is with heavy hearts that @FirstLadyOfLA and I offer our condolences to Congressman-elect Luke Letlow’s family on his passing after a battle with COVID-19.”
          Two Republican sources also confirmed Letlow’s passing to CNN.
            Letlow, 41, had announced his diagnosis on his Facebook page on December 18, writing that he was “at home resting, following all CDC guidelines, quarantine protocols, and the recommendations of my doctors.”
            Days later, Letlow posted that he was undergoing treatment at St. Francis Hospital in Monroe before a statement from his office on December 23 said he had been transferred to Ochsner LSU Heath Shreveport Academic Medical Center.
              Dr. G.E. Ghali, the chancellor of LSU Health Shreveport, said in a statement at the time that Letlow was in “stable condition in the Intensive Care Unit” and was receiving the drug Remdesivir and steroids as part of his treatment.
              This is a breaking story and will be updated.

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              House Democrats elect Sean Patrick Maloney as DCCC chairman

              House Democrats elect Sean Patrick Maloney as DCCC chairman

              House Democrats elected Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York to serve as the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, giving him the difficult task of protecting their slim majority in 2022, when the President’s party typically loses dozens of seats.

              Maloney defeated California Rep. Tony Cárdenas, pledging that he could replicate his own success in a Trump-won district in the lower Hudson Valley across the country.
              Maloney, who was first elected to Congress in 2012, married his longtime partner in 2014 and has three kids. He recently told CNN that his life “depends on the success of our progressive values,” and that he lives the “tension” between standing for them and winning races.
              “We need to do both,” he said.
                In the 2020 elections, Republicans wiped out more than half of the Democrats’ 35-seat majority in the House. Maloney said the party’s “biggest challenge” is to build relationships with “the people we don’t already agree with, while not selling out the core principles we stand for.”
                When asked if he was encouraged by the 2020 results, Maloney said, “I’m encouraged that as a gay guy with an interracial family, I won a Trump district five times.”
                Democrats took back the House in 2018 by charging into red districts. But many Republican candidates in 2020 clearly benefited from President Donald Trump’s presence on the ballot.
                Their worse than expected results led to rounds of recriminations within the Democratic Party. Democrats blamed pollsters for inaccurate data, activists for promoting unpopular proposals like defunding the police, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for not taking enough responsibility and their own supporters for funneling money to candidates rather than organizations on the ground.
                Two young members from opposite ends of the ideological spectrum within the party — New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the liberal firebrand, and Pennsylvania Rep. Conor Lamb, a moderate from a district Trump won in 2016, fought in The New York Times over messaging and campaign tactics. And Illinois Rep. Cheri Bustos stepped down from her position as DCCC chair.
                Part of Maloney’s pitch was his experience running the DCCC’s “Deep Dive” after the 2016 election, which helped put the organization on its path to gain dozens of seats in 2018.
                When asked whether Democrats’ political tactics need to change in 2022, Maloney said he would conduct a “similar process” to his comprehensive review, bringing “all voices to the table” to look at the data.
                “I think there’s a lot of people with opinions and nobody really knows,” said Maloney. “I like to say, if you’re not God, bring data.”
                Last election cycle, the DCCC put in place a policy to blacklist campaign consultants who worked for challenger candidates, which upset some members on the Left. Maloney said it had “unintended consequences” but that the DCCC’s job is to protect incumbents.
                “I think we need to reexamine everything we’re doing, and we shouldn’t be afraid to,” Maloney said.
                When asked whether proposals from the Left — like defunding the police and banning fracking — hurt Democratic candidates, Maloney told CNN that the House “didn’t pass a single piece of legislation that had anything to do with defunding the police” and “never pushed socialism.”
                “Those are caricatures that our opponents used often with great dishonesty,” Maloney told CNN. “I don’t plan to enhance the attack by echoing it. There are tough messages being thrown at you in every challenging election cycle. My job is not to whine about it. My job is to win.”
                  Cárdenas campaigned on his work as chairman of the Hispanic Caucus’ BOLD PAC, but the group’s process to endorse California Secretary of State Alex Padilla for Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ Senate seat rubbed some members the wrong way. California Rep. Linda Sánchez, and another Hispanic Caucus member, Texas Rep. Veronica Escobar, were among those whipping Democrats to support Maloney.
                  “I’m supporting Sean Patrick Maloney because he has the depth of experience to remake the DCCC, and he’s personally committed to me that he will make the Latino vote a priority,” Sánchez told CNN.

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                  North Korean defector says he’ll risk jail to defy South Korea’s propaganda leaflet ban

                  North Korean defector says he'll risk jail to defy South Korea's propaganda leaflet ban

                  A prominent North Korean defector has vowed to continue sending messages to his homeland — at the risk of going to prison — after South Korea banned the launching of propaganda leaflets into North Korea.

                  The ban, passed by the South Korean parliament on Monday, drew criticism from rights activists. For decades, defectors and other campaigners in South Korea have sent anti-North Korean leaflets over the tightly guarded border, usually by balloon or in bottles on border rivers. They also send food, medicine, money, mini radios and USB sticks containing South Korean news and dramas.
                  Park Sang-hak, a defector who has already been stripped of a license for his leaflet-launching group and faces a prosecution investigation, said he would not give up his 15-year campaign.
                  “I’ll keep sending leaflets to tell the truth because North Koreans have the right to know,” he told Reuters. “I’m not afraid of being jailed.”
                    Isolated North Korea has long denounced the practice and recently stepped up its condemnation of it, to the alarm of a South Korean government intent on improving ties on the divided peninsula.
                    The South Korean parliament voted on Monday to amend the Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act to bar any scattering of printed materials, goods, money and other items of value across the heavily fortified frontier.
                    It also restricts loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts, which the South’s military once championed as part of psychological warfare against the North until it withdrew the equipment following a 2018 summit between the two Koreas.
                    The ban will take effect in three months and violators face up to three years in prison or 30 million won ($ 27,400) in fines.
                    The change was approved despite efforts by opposition lawmakers to block the super-majority of the ruling party of President Moon Jae-in, who is keen to improve cross-border ties.
                    The bill was introduced in June after Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said South Korea should ban the leaflets or face the “worst phase” of relations.
                    “They’re trying to put Kim Yo Jong’s order into law at her single word,” Thae Yong-ho, an opposition lawmaker and former North Korean diplomat, said in a 10-hour filibuster speech, adding the bill would only help Kim’s government continue “enslaving” its people.
                    Park and some other 20 rights groups in South Korea vowed to challenge the law’s constitutionality, while Human Rights Watch called the ban a “misguided strategy” by South Korea to win Kim’s favor.
                    “It criminalizes sending remittances to families in North Korea and denies their rights to outside information,” said Shin Hee-seok of the Transitional Justice Working Group.
                    “Such appeasement efforts only risk inviting further North Korean provocations and demands.”
                      Chris Smith, a US Republican congressman co-chairing a bipartisan human rights commission, issued a statement criticizing the amendment as “ill-conceived, frightening” for facilitating the imprisonment of people for simply sharing information.
                      When asked about Smith’s statement, South Korean’s Unification Ministry, which handles ties with North Korea, said the bill was a “minimal effort to protect the lives and safety of residents in border regions.”

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                      US is on track to fall short of Biden’s July 4 vaccine goal

                      US is on track to fall short of Biden's July 4 vaccine goal

                      The United States is in danger of not meeting President Joe Biden’s July 4 vaccination goal. Biden wants at least 70% of all adults (i.e. those aged 18 and above) to receive at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine by that date.

                      An examination of the latest stats and polling reveals that if we continue on the current trajectory, we will not reach Biden’s goal.
                      The latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data reveals that the vaccination rate is really slowing down. As of the CDC’s June 3 report, 63% of adults had received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. That was up slightly from 62% from the report a week prior (May 27).
                        An additional 1% of adults a week completing their first dose is the lowest since the CDC started tracking this statistic in mid-February.
                          On May 27 and before, the 7-day rolling average for new adults getting a first shot never dropped below 1.5%.
                            The slippage in new adults getting the vaccine isn’t shocking, but it is a bit surprising. While fewer new people were getting vaccinated after hitting a vaccination rate peak in mid-April, the slide seemed to come to an end in mid-May.
                            The 7-day rolling average of new adults getting vaccinated stayed pretty consistent in the 13 days between May 14 and May 27. This was right around the time that the CDC announced that vaccinated people didn’t need to wear masks in most situations. That announcement led to a spike in interest for people searching for where to get a vaccine and apparently in getting a dose of the vaccine itself.
                              The problem is that the uptick looks to have been temporary, and it has occurred when we’re well short of Biden’s 70% target.
                              Simply put, the current weekly rate of vaccination will not get us to 70% by July 4. With just a month to go until July 4, the current vaccination rate will put the US at somewhere between 67% and 68% of the adult population with at least one dose by Independence Day.
                              To reach 70% by July 4, we’ll need a reversal of the current downward trend. We need to be averaging around 1.6% of the population getting their first dose each week from now until July 4. This is significantly higher than the vaccination rate this week.
                              Such a swing up is not impossible. Having 1.6% taking their first dose a week is actually pretty much what we had from May 14 to May 27. This is less than an additional 0.1 points more of the population needing to get a first dose a day than the rate that occurred during the week ending with the June 3 report.
                              The issue is that we really haven’t seen the vaccination rate pick up since they become readily available in April. We’ve only seen declines pause.
                              The fact is, we’re running out of people who have indicated that they want the vaccine as soon as possible. The latest Kaiser Family Foundation poll from late May found that 66% of Americans either had received a first Covid-19 vaccine dose or wanted one as soon as possible. This 66% is near the same percentage as where the current vaccination rate trendline indicates we’ll end up by July 4.
                              The percentage of people who have either gotten their first dose or would get one as soon as possible in Kaiser’s late April to late May poll barely jumped from 64% to 66%. It turns out that the latest campaigns to get people vaccinated (e.g. relaxing mask mandates for those vaccinated) don’t seem to have had much of an effect in the long run. Mainly, they got people who were going to get vaccinations to get them sooner.
                                To reach Biden’s 70% goal, it’s clear that some people will have to be convinced to get the vaccine in the next month. There is 4% (enough to just get the US 70% when added to the previously mentioned 66%) who either have a vaccine appointment scheduled or plan to get their first dose in the next three months.
                                The key over the next month will be for these unvaccinated people to have a sense of urgency to receive their first dose.

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                                Kylie Jenner confesses insecurity about ‘small lips’ while dating led to lip kit empire: ‘I felt unkissable’

                                Kylie Jenner confesses insecurity about 'small lips' while dating led to lip kit empire: 'I felt unkissable'

                                The Kylie Cosmetics founder discussed the “insecurity” she had about her lips when she was young on part one of the “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” reunion that aired on Thursday night.

                                The 23-year-old confirmed to host Andy Cohen that her lack of confidence in dating, particularly when kissing boys for the first time, spurred her “obsession” with makeup.

                                “I think my love for makeup started with my insecurity with my lips. I had really small lips and I didn’t ever think about it until I had one of my first kisses and a guy said to me, ‘Oh my god, you’re such a good kisser but you have such small lips’ or something like that,” Jenner revealed, which came as a surprise to her mom, Kris Jenner, and her older sisters Kendall Jenner, Kourtney, Kim and Khloe Kardashian.

                                KYLIE JENNER AND TRAVIS SCOTT APPEAR TO BE BACK TOGETHER DURING NIGHT OUT IN NYC

                                “From then on I felt unkissable,” Jenner admitted. “I had an insecurity because this guy said something to me one time. I got an obsession with makeup because I would overline my lips and it would just make me feel confident.”

                                TV personality Kylie Jenner arrives at the world premiere of "Justin Bieber's Believe" at Regal Cinemas L.A. Live on December 18, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. 

                                TV personality Kylie Jenner arrives at the world premiere of “Justin Bieber’s Believe” at Regal Cinemas L.A. Live on December 18, 2013 in Los Angeles, California.  (Gregg DeGuire/WireImage)

                                Jenner did not detail her decision to get lip fillers during the reunion but has previously admitted to getting “temporary” lip injections to plump her pout. 

                                She’s now known as the youngest self-made billionaire, a title she received from Forbes two years in a row. Jenner was just 22 when Kylie Cosmetics was valued at $ 1.2 billion. The “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” star sold 51% of Kylie Cosmetics to beauty company Coty Inc. for $ 600 million.

                                Asked how she feels about the title, Jenner humbly said it’s not something she pays much mind to.

                                “I don’t wake up in the morning and look at myself in the mirror, like, ‘Good morning, self-made billionaire.’ But I mean, yeah, it’s amazing,” she said.

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                                Jenner, who is mom to daughter Stormi, 3, also addressed a fan’s question about why Travis Scott rarely appeared on the family’s E! reality series. 

                                “I don’t know. I guess he just sometimes he didn’t want to be filmed. I never pressured him to be on the show,” she said.

                                Travis Scott and Kylie Jenner stepped out in New York City together on Monday night with their daughter, Stormi, 3.

                                Travis Scott and Kylie Jenner stepped out in New York City together on Monday night with their daughter, Stormi, 3. (Craig Barritt/Getty Images)

                                On Monday, Jenner and the rapper fueled speculation that they’ve rekindled their former relationship as the duo and their daughter attended the annual Parsons Benefit hosted by The New School in New York, where Scott was honored with an award.

                                A source told People that Stormi’s parents were “holding hands and seemed fully back on.”

                                Scott even showed Jenner some love when he got to the podium to accept his Parsons Table Award, saying, “Wifey, I love you so much,” according to the insider.

                                But marriage isn’t exactly on Jenner’s mind at the moment, she revealed to Cohen during Thursday’s reunion.


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                                Monday, July 5, 2021

                                Steelers’ JuJu Smith-Schuster on adding Najee Harris to offense: ‘He’s going to be our premier running back’

                                Steelers' JuJu Smith-Schuster on adding Najee Harris to offense: 'He’s going to be our premier running back'

                                CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE .

                                A few days after the draft, Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster said that he reached out to Harris to welcome him to the team.

                                “I let him enjoy his time with his friends and family, but for the most part, I hit him up and said, ‘Hey man, let’s get to work. I can’t wait to win a Super Bowl.’ And that’s pretty much it,” Smith-Schuster told Fox News Monday on behalf of Charmin’s BRB Bot. “I just said this is my number, if you need anything let me know. As a rookie, they have so much going on with rookie meetings, and this and that. I don’t want to bother them too much, but that’s what I said to him.”

                                ALABAMA LEADS NFL DRAFT WITH SIX PLAYERS SELECTED IN FIRST 32 PICKS

                                As the featured back for the Crimson Tide last year, Harris piled up 1,466 rushing yards with 26 touchdowns, and he added 43 receptions for 425 yards and four more scores in a season that ended with a national championship. Smith-Schuster believes Harris will immediately step into a starting role and have “a huge impact” on the Steelers’ offense.

                                “You talk about a guy who has been on a high-caliber team his whole career. He’s dominated the game for a while now. And I can see him coming in and doing what he’s been doing,” Smith-Schuster added. “He’s going to start early, he’s going to play early, and he’s going to be our premier running back. That’s why we drafted him in the first round. I don’t see him not coming in and not being ready. For us to draft guys on the offensive side early in the first and second round, it just shows that our coaches are very serious about what we are doing and giving more weapons for Ben [Roethlisberger].”

                                The Steelers, winners of the AFC North in 2020, finished with a 12-4 regular-season record. In the wild-card round of the playoffs, the Cleveland Browns pulled out a 48-37 victory putting an end to their season.


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                                Bassitt shines, A’s hit 3 homers in 6-2 win over Angels

                                Bassitt shines, A's hit 3 homers in 6-2 win over Angels

                                He also says anybody can be a better pitcher against the Los Angeles Angels when Mike Trout and Albert Pujols aren’t in their lineup.

                                Bassitt pitched five-hit ball into the eighth inning and Seth Brown hit a two-run homer in Oakland’s 6-2 victory over the Angels on Saturday night.

                                CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE .

                                Pitching efficiently and aggressively at the Big A, Bassitt (4-2) gave up only a leadoff walk and David Fletcher’s slow-rolling single during the first seven innings. He struck out eight and got within four outs of his first career complete game, plowing through the Angels’ lineup until the eighth.

                                The Angels are 1-5 since Trout went down with a strained calf last Monday, and they’re 6-11 since dropping Pujols on May 6.

                                Facing the Halos without those two bats is “a lot easier,” according to Bassitt, who moved up to fourth in the AL with 65 strikeouts.

                                “Not to be rude to that lineup,” he added. “I know they’ve still got great guys in that lineup, but you take away Trout, who’s in my opinion the greatest player to play this game, and then Pujols, who’s a veteran guy who knows what he’s doing … you take out those two bats, we’re happy about that.”

                                Matt Olson and Aramís García hit solo homers, while Mark Canha tripled, doubled and scored two runs as the first-place A’s took the first two games and claimed the series victory over their last-place downstate rivals.

                                Bassitt gave up three hits and both runs in the eighth, getting chased by Shohei Ohtani’s RBI triple to center.

                                “He’s come a long way,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said after Bassitt’s longest start since May 2019. “Used to be that he threw a ton of pitches, worked more effectively wild at times. Now, not only does he know where it’s going, but he’s working efficiently, and he’s added some pitches to the mix that make it more unpredictable.”

                                Ohtani also doubled off Bassitt — giving him a major league-leading 28 extra-base hits — and drove in his team-leading 34th run of the season for Los Angeles. Ohtani also leads the majors with 104 total bases.

                                “He’s a world-class hitter,” Bassitt said of Ohtani. “He’s one of the very, very, very few guys in the league that is able to get completely fooled, yet beat you at the same time, which you saw the last at-bat (with the triple). It’s beyond impressive at this point, what he’s done and what he’s doing.”

                                The Angels have lost nine of 12, and they dropped to 19-27 with Trout’s return still weeks away — possibly after the still-distant All Star break.

                                “I can’t fault their work and their energy,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said. “I see it. … Our margins for error are really minimal. The games that we’re in position to win, we’ve got to win, and the bullpen, we’ve got to continue to firm that up. It’s frustrating, no question it is.”

                                Patrick Sandoval (0-1) yielded four hits, two walks and two runs over five innings in another solid start for the Halos, but the A’s battered Los Angeles’ beleaguered bullpen.

                                Olson led off the sixth with his 11th homer, connecting off Alex Claudio. García homered leading off the seventh off Hunter Strickland, and Brown hit his seventh of the season off Junior Guerra in the eighth.

                                “Obviously losing is never fun, and we’re trying as hard as we can to manufacture a win however we can,” Sandoval said. “It will come together soon.”

                                DEVILISH DEFENSE

                                The Angels’ season-long defensive woes hurt them again. They’ve committed a major league-worst 38 errors.

                                Outfielders Jose Rojas and Juan Lagares both misplayed Canha’s game-opening triple, which should have been just a double, a single or an out.

                                Iglesias then booted a routine grounder to short in the second inning for his 10th error, the second-most in the majors and one shy of his career high from the 2015 season in Detroit.

                                In the third, Rojas misplayed Canha’s easily catchable line drive to right, but wasn’t charged with an error even though the ball hit his glove.

                                OHTANI’S NEXT START

                                Ohtani is likely to make his next mound start Friday in Oakland, Maddon said. The Angels aren’t concerned about Ohtani’s velocity, which was down in his last start last Wednesday. Ohtani is “feeling great,” Maddon said.

                                TRAINER’S ROOM

                                Angels: C Max Stassi has rejoined baseball activities. He has been out since May 4 with a concussion. … Guerra was reinstated from the injured list. He had been out since May 10 with a groin injury.

                                UP NEXT

                                Dylan Bundy (0-5, 6.02 ERA) makes the ninth start of his dismaying season for Los Angeles in the series finale against Oakland’s Sean Manaea (3-2, 4.41), who is winless in four starts since April.


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                                Facebook suspends Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu-linked chatbot for breaking its privacy rules

                                Facebook suspends Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu-linked chatbot for breaking its privacy rules

                                Jerusalem Facebook has deleted a post by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and suspended a chatbot linked to his account for violating the company’s privacy policy.

                                Visitors to the Prime Minister’s Facebook page, who clicked on a link about the coronavirus, received an automatic message, purporting to come from Netanyahu.
                                “If you have friends or family members aged 60 or over who have not yet been vaccinated, you can write a response here with their name and phone number, and I may call to convince them!” the message read.
                                Taking action and removing the items, Facebook said, via a spokesperson, that “under our privacy policy we do not allow content that shares or asks for people’s medical information.”
                                  The spokesperson added that Facebook had “removed the offending post and temporarily suspended the Messenger bot, which shared this content, for breaking these rules.”
                                  Netanyahu’s Likud party issued a statement in response, saying the aim “was to encourage Israelis over the age of 60 to get vaccinated to save their lives, after Prime Minister Netanyahu brought vaccines to every Israeli citizen.”
                                    The party said they are calling “on everyone to get vaccinated so that we can open up the economy and be the first in the world to emerge from the coronavirus.”
                                    Netanyahu, who faces a fourth election in two years in March, has made Israel’s world-leading vaccination program the central message of his re-election campaign.

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                                    The Supreme Court, the election and coronavirus are on Americans’ minds heading into Tuesday’s debate

                                    The Supreme Court, the election and coronavirus are on Americans' minds heading into Tuesday's debate

                                    Two developments in the presidential race in the past week have grabbed Americans’ attention: the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to sit on the Supreme Court and President Donald Trump‘s refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power.

                                    Alongside these two stories, coronavirus remained a frequently-mentioned topic for both Democratic nominee Joe Biden and Trump, and for Biden, news about the upcoming presidential debate began to register.
                                    Nearly all of the top 20 words mentioned when Americans are asked what they heard, read or saw about each of the two candidates related to one of those matters.
                                    These findings come from The Breakthrough, a project from CNN, SSRS and researchers from Georgetown University and the University of Michigan tracking Americans’ recall of news about each of the presidential candidates.
                                      The survey was almost entirely completed before the release of a New York Times story Sunday night reporting that Trump had not paid federal taxes in 10 out of 15 years beginning in 2000, and had paid just $ 750 in federal taxes in 2016 and 2017.
                                      For Trump, the court was a clear dominant story this week, rating as his top topic and making up three of his top five words for the week. Coronavirus followed “Supreme” and “Court” as the third most frequently mentioned word, and the overall topic landed in second place this week. Just behind that were responses related to Trump’s comments on the legitimacy of the upcoming election. “Election” was the fourth most frequently mentioned word for Trump this week, “power” landed in the top 10. After court-related combinations such as “Supreme Court” and “court nominee,” “transition of power” and “peaceful transition” were near the top of a list of frequently used phrases.

                                      Trump’s recent claims about mail-in ballots and questions about the legitimacy of the election have been a part of what Americans have recalled about the President throughout the campaign, but have spiked in mentions this week.
                                      For Biden, “coronavirus” and “debate” are the only two substantive words to land in his top five, with “Supreme” and “Court” just outside of the top five. As has been the case in several recent weeks where the news has not centered on Biden or his campaign, recollections about his regular campaigning, media appearances and general positive mentions outweigh most issues. Coronavirus, however, is his second most frequently mentioned topic, and the Supreme Court lands as fifth. Just behind that are debate mentions.

                                      Further down in Biden’s list of most frequently mentioned words are two notable ones: The 13th most mentioned word for Biden this week is “ad,” and slightly behind that is “health care.” Mentions of Biden’s ads have landed in his top 20 for each of the last three weeks, while it has never reached that level for Trump. For Trump this week, “ad” is his 73rd most mentioned word. In recent weeks, the Biden campaign’s ad spending has outpaced the Trump campaign’s spending. The prominence of the word ad in Biden’s mentions suggests they are being seen.
                                      Biden’s campaign and Senate Democrats have sought to turn the focus of Barrett’s nomination to the future of the Affordable Care Act, and health care’s rise within Biden’s mentions suggest the effort could have some traction. The phrase narrowly cracked the top 20 last week and gained some this week.
                                      The share of Americans saying they had seen, read or heard something about each of the candidates rose in the last week. Recall of news about Trump remains a bit higher than about Biden (83% had heard something about Trump, 80% about Biden).
                                      As attention on the campaign has grown, a clear pattern has emerged in how Americans are processing and recalling news about each of the two men vying for the presidency. Recollections about Biden are steady and consistently positive. The word “good” lands near the top of the list just about every week (it is his top word this week), alongside general notes that he is running for president or has appeared in the media. Issues do crop up occasionally, most notably around the summer’s renewed Black Lives Matter protests and now, with health care.
                                        On Trump’s side of the results, however, there is abundant volatility in the words Americans use in their recall of news about Trump. Even as certain topics remain near the top — coronavirus, most notably — responses describing what people have heard about the President regularly contain more notable new words each week than do those about his Democratic challenger.
                                        And the tone of responses about Biden is more often positive than negative, while sentiment in the words used about Trump remains more negative than positive.

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