Breaking
Wealth World News
Archive

2024

Browsing
Politics

Ozempic, Wegovy covered by Medicare and Medicaid under Biden admin proposal for anti-obesity GLP-1 drugs

The Biden administration is expanding coverage of anti-obesity drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy for people with Medicare and Medicaid through a new proposal from the Department of Health and Human Services, a White House official says. 

Medicare currently only covers these drugs for people who are diagnosed with diabetes or cardiovascular disease with obesity, or for people who are overweight, according to the official, who added that while some state Medicaid programs cover the GLP-1 medications for obesity, many do not. 

The new HHS proposal, they said, would require both Medicare and Medicaid to cover the drugs for people with obesity as a treatment for the condition.

‘Today’s new proposal would expand access to these innovative medications for obesity, which is widely recognized as a disease and help an estimated 3.4 million Americans with Medicare. Medicare coverage would reduce out-of-pocket costs for these prescription drugs by as much as 95 percent for some enrollees,’ the White House said in a statement Tuesday. 

‘Approximately 4 million adult Medicaid enrollees would also gain new access to these medications. This proposal would allow Americans and their doctors to determine the best path forward so they can lead healthier lives, without worrying about their ability to cover these drugs out-of-pocket, and ultimately reduce health care costs to our nation,’ the statement added. 

The White House says that ‘for too many Americans, these critical treatments are too expensive and therefore out of reach,’ and, ‘without insurance coverage, these drugs can cost someone as much as $1,000 a month.’

GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide) receptor agonists are commonly prescribed to patients with type 2 diabetes (to stabilize blood glucose levels) or obesity (to assist with weight loss). 

‘These medications slow down digestion, which means food stays in the stomach longer,’ said Dr. Alfred Bonati, the founder of the Bonati Spine Institute in Florida, previously told Fox News Digital. 

The White House says an estimated 42 million Americans today have obesity, ‘with increased risk of all-cause mortality and multiple related comorbidities such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, some cancers, and more.’ 

‘Over the past few years, there have been major scientific advancements in the treatment of obesity, with the introduction of new life-saving drugs. These anti-obesity medications can help prevent the development of Type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, these drugs reduce deaths and sickness from heart attack and other cardiovascular outcomes by up to 20%,’ the White House added. 

Fox News’ Melissa Rudy contributed to this report. 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
Keep Reading
By
Politics

Putin’s ‘Fog of War’ missile confuses experts, but that’s his plan

The ‘Fog of War’ is the strategic message that Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed to signal last week to President Biden, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Pentagon and military and political leaders across the U.S. and NATO.

This iconic metaphor, coined by the renowned Prussian military strategist Karl Von Clausewitz in his seminal work ‘On War,’ connotes the inherent uncertainty that military commanders face when making life and death decisions in wartime. It is because the commander never actually has a clear and full picture of what is taking place on the battlefield. Clausewitz explained that ‘three quarters of the factors on which action in war is based are wrapped in a fog of greater or lesser uncertainty,’ comparing such conditions with the lack of clarity during twilight. 

This is exactly the type of confusion and psychological impact that Putin sought to create and has likely achieved when Russia fired an experimental hypersonic ballistic missile, striking a weapons production plant in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. This was in retaliation against Ukrainian strikes on a Russian military facility in Bryansk with U.S. made long-range missiles called ATACMS, after President Biden had given Zelenskyy permission to do so.

Russia’s striking Ukraine with a weapon that has never been used in a war before caused temporary confusion in Washington and Kyiv as to the nature of the missile.

The media reported, based on official statements from Kyiv, that the missile in question was an intercontinental ballistic missile or ICBM. ICBMs are designed to wage a nuclear war. It was not until the Pentagon’s deputy press secretary, Sabrina Singh, confirmed that the missile was an ‘intermediate-range ballistic missile,’ or IRBM, that the fears of a major escalation of the war that crossed the 1,000-day milestone had subsided. At least for now. Singh also revealed that ‘the United States was pre-notified, briefly, before the launch, through nuclear risk reduction channels.’ 

Putin’s choice of this particular weapon, called the Oreshnik, is not accidental. The Oreshnik is an ICBM disguised as an IRBM. Characterizing it as the former or the latter is semantics. It walks, talks, smells and feels like an ICBM. It can do some jobs of an ICBM. Based on the design of the RS-26 Rubezh, an ICBM, the Oreshnik is packed with ICBM technology. It is a MIRV, or multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV), another signature of an ICBM. The missile fired at Ukraine on Thursday carried six such warheads. 

The guts of this missile, i.e. its instrumentation (sensors, electronics, data acquisition capabilities installed on the missile) are those of the Rubezh. With its flight capability of between 500 km and 5000 km – just 500 km (310 miles) below the standard low limit of an ICBM – the Oreshnik can target most of Europe and the West Coast of the United States. After a launch, such a missile could probably hit Britain in 20 minutes and Poland in 12 minutes.

The Oreshnik can be outfitted with a non-nuclear or nuclear warhead. And it is nearly impossible to intercept by existing missile defense systems because it is designed to fly at hypersonic speed of Mach 11.

Oreshnik-type missiles are also extremely difficult to properly characterize and discriminate whether they carry a conventional or nuclear payload. Our early warning systems, operated by the U.S. Space Force, look for signatures that are like human fingerprints unique to a specific missile (shape, size, speed, heat/temperature, emissivity, plume, etc.). Then a team of scientists at the Defense Intelligence Agency, where I served as a senior Russia/Putin specialist, conducts a measurement and signature intelligence analysis, making an assessment of the type of missile fired. Since Oreshnik’s instrumentation is that of an ICBM, the technical means could interpret it as an ICBM.

That is exactly why Moscow alerted Washington as to what was about to happen before the launch. It’s not in Putin’s interest to provoke President Biden’s response to what could be a nuclear strike. Kyiv did not get such notification since Ukraine doesn’t have nuclear arms to retaliate.

Putin signaled that today it is conventional, tomorrow it could be nuclear. In peacetime, warring parties follow the arms control notification protocols; in wartime, no such warning is expected. The temporary confusion meant to be achieved by such deception tactics is used to gain the so-called ‘strategic initiative,’ in Russian doctrinal parlance.

The idea is that the fighter who throws the first punch is in a better position to win the fight.

‘Fifty years ago, the streets of Leningrad taught me one thing: If a fight’s unavoidable, you must strike first,’ Putin once said. The Russian General Staff a few years ago made a long-term intelligence assessment that a kinetic war between Russia and the United States was inevitable, given the decades-long confrontation between Moscow and Washington over geopolitical control over former Soviet states.

‘I think it is sufficiently clear and understandable,’ said Putin said in his televised address after the Oreshnik launch. ‘The tests were successful, the goal of the launch was achieved,’ he emphasized, almost certainly directing his message at President Biden. 

Putin’s ally, former president and deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitriy Medvedev, explained the meaning of Putin’s warning, ‘The West should take seriously the tests of the new Russian missile system, assess the possible consequences and stop supporting Kyiv.’

He added, ‘Europe now has to guess what damage the system can cause if the warheads are nuclear, whether these missiles can still be shot down and how quickly the missiles will reach the capitals of the Old World. Answer: The damage is unacceptable, it is impossible to shoot down with modern means, and we are talking about minutes. Bomb shelters will not help, so the only hope is that good Russia will warn about launches in advance. Therefore, it is better to stop supporting the war.’ 

Unquestionably, the White House and NATO allies got the message, having called for an emergency meeting taking place today (Tuesday) in Brussels.

The statement made on Friday by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said it all about the peril that Putin and President Biden have placed America, Europe, Ukraine, Russia and the rest of the world in. He noted that the Russia-Ukraine war is ‘entering a decisive phase’ and ‘taking on very dramatic dimensions.’

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
Keep Reading
By
Sports

Chargers RB J.K. Dobbins ruled out vs. Ravens due to knee injury

J.K. Dobbins was enjoying a strong start to the Los Angeles Chargers’ ‘Monday Night Football’ game against his former team, the Baltimore Ravens.

The Ravens weren’t the only familiar thing about the contest, however. Unfortunately, Dobbins suffered a knee injury in the first half and was eventually ruled out for the game, the team announced.

Here’s what to know about Dobbins’ latest injury.

J.K. Dobbins injury update

Dobbins was ruled out of the Chargers’ Monday night matchup with the Ravens because of a knee injury, the team announced.

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

Coach Jim Harbaugh said he did not have an update on Dobbins’ status during his postgame news conference.

Originally, Dobbins was deemed ‘questionable’ to return to Monday’s game. However, he was not seen on the sideline to start the second half; ESPN’s Laura Rutledge reports that Dobbins came out at halftime wearing a brace on his injured knee before returning to the locker room.

It isn’t entirely clear when Dobbins suffered the injury, but he went into the locker room early and wasn’t on the field for Los Angeles’ final drive of the first half.

Dobbins was seen on the sideline having his knee taped up, per Rutledge. He tried to loosen up and run before heading to the locker room to be further evaluated by Los Angeles’ medical staff.

Chargers depth chart: Who is J.K. Dobbins’ backup?

The Chargers also use third-string running back Hassan Haskins on occasion, especially near the goal line. He may see an increase in usage.

Rookie Kimani Vidal is the only other running back on the Chargers’ 53-man roster. He was not active for Monday’s game but could be part of the rotation if Dobbins’ injury is of the multi-week variety.

J.K. Dobbins stats

Dobbins recorded 40 yards on six carries and caught three passes for 19 yards before exiting the game on Monday night.

Dobbins entered the contest with 726 yards and eight touchdowns on 152 carries. He was on pace for his first 1,000-yard rushing season at the NFL level.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
Keep Reading
By
Sports

Opinion: Judge reveals the farce of transgender hysteria in sports

At least one judge has seen the transphobic hysteria for what it is.

In denying a request to upend this week’s Mountain West volleyball tournament and/or force San Jose State to leave one of its players home, a federal judge called out the disingenuousness of the lawsuit. And in doing so, revealed the farce behind this sudden groundswell of opposition to transgender women athletes.

“The Court finds their delay in filing this action and seeking emergency relief related to the MWC Tournament weakens their arguments,’ U.S. District Judge S. Kato Crews wrote in his ruling issued Monday.

“The movants could have sought injunctive relief much earlier if the exigencies of the circumstances required mandatory court intervention.”

For three years now, San Jose State’s volleyball team has included a transgender woman. (Neither the young woman nor San Jose State has confirmed it but, as Crews pointed out, no one has denied it, either.) The Mountain West Conference created a participation policy for transgender athletes back in 2022, which included forfeit as punishment for refusing to play a team with a transgender athlete, and athletic directors at every school in the conference agreed to it.

Yet not until this season, after the player had been outed by a right-wing website and then thrown under the bus by one of her own teammates, did the howling and forfeits begin. This is an important point, so I’m going to repeat it:

For two years, the San Jose State player was on the volleyball team and the world continued to spin. No one was injured, no one was assaulted in a locker room, no legion of transgender women showed up in formation behind her to take over women’s sports. The San Jose State player practiced and played and no one, not her teammates and not her opponents, took issue with it. Whether that’s because no one realized she’s transgender or it was deemed inconsequential are two sides of the same coin.

So what changed? Other than teammate Brooke Slusser and the other grifters deciding that demonizing a young woman would get them a spot on Fox News?

If the San Jose State player was such a threat, if the Mountain West’s transgender participation policy was so onerous, surely the athletes and the schools who filed the lawsuit would have done so immediately.

Unless, of course, this was all for show. In which case, waiting until the 11th hour would add fuel to their faux outrage.

“At the earliest, Moving Plaintiffs or their institutions began to learn that one of SJSU’s teammates was an alleged trans woman with an article published in the spring of 2024. And they certainly had knowledge of this alleged player when the string of member institutions started forfeiting matches against SJSU in September 2024,” Crews wrote.

Predictably, Slusser and three other athletes filed a notice of appeal. But the likelihood of it succeeding would seem to be slim, as well, given Crews’ painstaking detailing of precedent.

The anti-trans ilk likes to claim that allowing transgender women to play sports is a violation of Title IX. But Crews says it’s actually the opposite, taking five pages of his 28-page ruling to cite previous Supreme Court and Tenth Circuit cases that found discriminating against someone for being transgender is sex discrimination. Which is prohibited by Title IX.

“The (plaintiffs’) Title IX theory raised in this case directly conflicts with Title IX’s prohibition on discrimination against trans individuals,” Crews wrote.

San Jose State is the No. 2 seed in the Mountain West Conference tournament, which begins Wednesday. The Spartans have a bye in the first round and will play either Boise State or Utah State on Friday. Those are two of the schools that forfeited games during the regular season, which means we’re about to find out how committed to the bigotry those teams are.

For all the shrieking there is about transgender women athletes, it’s the cisgender women pushing the forfeits who cost their fellow athletes opportunities to play and saddled their teams with losses. It’s those women, not the San Jose State player, who are the real threat.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
Keep Reading
By
Sports

Why Alabama remains a playoff contender with three losses (Yes, really.)

If the College Football Playoff committee is left needing a three loss team for the bracket, perk up Alabama. Looking at you.
Ole Miss failed because, for all of its talent, Lane Kiffin’s Rebels lacked killer instinct.
Looking for a national championship contender? Start with Ohio State, Georgia, Oregon or Texas.

Alabama and Mississippi refused to let Indiana claim the gold medal for Saturday’s biggest failure.

Losing by 23 points at Ohio State? Yeah, that’s bad, Hoosiers.

Losing by 21 points at Oklahoma, which hadn’t beaten a Bowl Subdivision opponent in nearly two months? Yeah, that’s even worse, Crimson Tide.

Losing to the opponent that once saw you as its savior? Yeah, that’s ghastly, Lane Kiffin, but it’s fitting for a season in which up is down and parity rules.

As the College Football Playoff race enters its final turn, and the SEC considers how to apply lipstick to a pig, here’s what’s left on my mind after Week 13:

Does Alabama remain in College Football Playoff hunt?

I can’t believe I’m writing this, because the Crimson Tide just got blown out by a bad opponent, but, yes, Alabama retains a flutter of a playoff pulse.

That’s no testament to Alabama, by the way.

Alabama’s inconsistent performance left it no room to grumble if it’s left out of the field, but, the playoff contains 12 spots, and the bracket doesn’t shrink just because this season served an abundance of upsets and fewer superpowers.

Alabama (8-3) faced one of the nation’s toughest schedules. Wins against Georgia, at South Carolina and at LSU prop up the résumé, even as losses to Vanderbilt and Oklahoma drag it down.

The Tide are ranked No. 13 in the latest US LBM coaches poll. The College Football Playoff rankings will be updated Tuesday night.

If the committee needs a three-loss team to round out its field, Alabama will be at the top of the heap.  

Alabama must win the Iron Bowl and likely needs to receive some help to make the CFP. The best path? South Carolina beats Clemson, Syracuse beats Miami and SMU wins the ACC championship.

That would leave the ACC with just one team, SMU, with fewer than three losses, threatening to turn that conference back into a one-bid league.

Other avenues exist, too, to save Alabama.

How about if Georgia loses to Georgia Tech, then loses again in the SEC championship game? Georgia out, Alabama in?

Regardless, Alabama fans won’t remember this season as a successful debut for Kalen DeBoer. Needing help from Georgia Tech or Syracuse to make the playoff is not meeting Alabama’s standard. That doesn’t mean DeBoer’s tenure is doomed, but his debut went bust.

BOWL PROJECTIONS: Tennessee, ACC get major playoff boost

CALM DOWN: The five biggest overreactions from Week 13

What happened to Ole Miss?

Good teams find ways to win their clunkers.

Talented teams that lack mental fortitude are left saying shoulda, woulda, coulda.

Ole Miss goes down as a talented team that flopped, because the Rebels couldn’t handle pressure situations.

The Rebels persistently tightened up in crunch time and failed to make enough big plays with games on the line. Ole Miss surrendered a fourth-down miracle in an inexplicable loss to Kentucky, then missed a field goal that would have forced overtime.

The Rebels failed to protect a second-half lead against LSU, unable to deliver a critical fourth-quarter stop, and gave away a game Ole Miss had no business losing.

Against Florida, the Rebels scored zero points on three red-zone trips.

The lasting image of this Ole Miss season will be Lane Kiffin’s stupefied look in the closing seconds of the loss at Florida, as the realization sunk in that he’d been outdueled by Billy Napier – the coach whom many Florida fans wanted Kiffin to replace just last month.

Kiffin managed to do more with less, early in his tenure. He usually beat the teams he was supposed to beat. The script flipped this year. With his best Ole Miss roster ever, Kiffin did less with more. With a schedule tailormade for playoff qualification, he lost to one mediocre opponent after another – Kentucky, then LSU, then Florida.

After Ole Miss smashed Georgia, we stumbled over ourselves crediting Kiffin for rectifying the program’s line-of-scrimmage weaknesses with transfers.

But, even a robust NIL collective can’t purchase a killer instint.

Ole Miss’ total lack of calm, cool, composed killer instinct, from the sideline through to its quarterback, caught up with the Rebels in what must go down as one of the most disappointing seasons of Kiffin’s career.

Is 12-team CFP bracket here to stay?

I suspect more change awaits. Fan reaction seems overwhelmingly positive to this format, and the system is working exactly how it’s designed. This big, beautiful mess gave us one of the most dramatic seasons I can recall.

The playoff’s structure meant Indiana-Ohio State, Ole Miss-Florida and Alabama-Oklahoma were critical games. Expand the playoff to 16 or even 14, and those results become less consequential.

So, does the playoff need to change? No.

But, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey swings a big stick. How do you think Sankey feels about his conference now being positioned to qualify fewer teams than the Big Ten, while the ACC snags two and maybe even three spots?

I don’t expect that will sit well with the SEC. Enjoy this playoff format this year and next year, because I suspect modifications might be coming in 2026 that stack the deck further toward the supposed ‘Super Two’ conferences.

Who is winning the national championship?

Good question. This is not one of those years when a superpower or two pulls away from the pack. Even undefeated Oregon shows some vulnerability.

If you allow me to draft four teams that I think could win the national championship, and you get everyone else, I would take, in order:

1. Ohio State, 2. Georgia, 3. Oregon, 4. Texas.

And, I’d feel good about my chances, although not nearly as good as if I could have 2019 LSU or 2020 Alabama.

So long, superpowers. You had a good run.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer. Subscribe to read all of his columns.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
Keep Reading
By
Sports

Memphis stuns No. 2 Connecticut in overtime at Maui Invitational

After a stellar start last season, Penny Hardaway and Memphis faltered in the later half of the schedule and missed the NCAA men’s tournament. Nearly all of the roster departed, and Hardaway had to go into the portal with the pressure only intensifying.

The Tigers took the first step toward a turnaround season, taking down defending back-to-back national champion Connecticut 99-97 in an overtime thriller in the first round of the Maui Invitational.

The Huskies didn’t enter the season the same dominant team that cruised towards last season’s national title, but with Dan Hurley still at the helm along with some returners and new additions, remained one of the favorites to be the final team standing in April. One of the most prominent early season tournaments in college basketball, this season’s Maui Invitational again brought a stacked field with four teams in the top 13 of USA TODAY Sports coaches poll.

But not many expected to see Memphis play a complete game against the Huskies and cause more than the usual frustrations for Hurley’s sideline antics. Memphis’ win ended UConn’s 17-game win streak dating back to last season.

It was a close contest the entire first half, with the Tigers playing such a good first 20 minutes it would take another near-perfect effort in the second half to end the day with a win. It’s nearly what happened out of halftime.

Tyrese Hunter, a transfer from Texas, led the way on the offensive end with jumper after jumper going in and the Tigers having a 13-point lead with under five minutes to go. He finished the game with a game-high 26 points with seven 3-pointers.

However, UConn didn’t go easily. In the final three minutes, the Huskies starting making threes and forced Memphis into making mistakes to finish regulation on a 13-3 run, capped off with Solo Ball drilling a 3-pointer in the final second to send the game to overtime.

It appeared the Huskies carry the momentum early overtime and took a four-point lead after regulation. But Memphis didn’t falter. When UConn made a bucket, Memphis came right back.

The score was tied in the final minute when Hurley got in his own way. He objected to a foul call against Huskies forward Liam McNeeley and was called for a technical foul. Memphis guard PJ Carter sank the ensuing four free throws to give the Tigers a lead.

But they didn’t secure the win until a miss by Hassan Diara at the buzzer.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
Keep Reading
By
Sports

Ravens vs. Chargers highlights: John Harbaugh now 3-0 vs. brother Jim

John Harbaugh has once again emerged as the victor of the ‘Harbaugh Bowl’ against his brother Jim.

John’s Baltimore Ravens beat Jim’s Los Angeles Chargers 30-23 on ‘Monday Night Football’ in the third meeting between the two brothers. John now leads the all-time series 3-0, with his most notable win coming in Super Bowl 47.

The Ravens got off to a slow start on Monday night. The Chargers jumped out to 10-0 lead in the first half while Lamar Jackson struggled to get going. The two-time MVP jump-started the team’s offense with a 40-yard deep shot touchdown to Rashod Bateman before the half, and from there, the Ravens offense clicked.

Jackson was efficient after his inaccurate start, completing 16-of-22 passes for 177 yards and two touchdowns. He also added 15 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

Meanwhile, Derrick Henry logged his sixth 100-yard rushing game of the year with 140 yards on 24 carries. He converted a couple of key fourth-and-1s for the Ravens as well, which allowed them to pull away from the Chargers and wear out Los Angeles’ defense in the second half.

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

The Ravens now have a solid lead in the AFC wild-card standings and are just a half game back of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who they lost to in Week 11. Baltimore has one remaining game against its rival, so that Week 16 clash could end up determining a lot about the AFC playoff picture.

Ravens vs. Chargers highlights

Final: Ravens 30, Chargers 23

Ravens recover onside kick to seal win

Cameron Dicker attempted an onside kick but couldn’t quite get it the necessary 10 yards to give his teammates a chance to recover it. Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely pounced on it and Lamar Jackson took a couple of knees to end the game.

Ravens 30, Chargers 23: Gus Edwards scores 1-yard touchdown

The Chargers have scored one of the two touchdowns needed to get back into the game against the Ravens. Former Baltimore running back Gus Edwards plunged in on a 1-yard run with 46 seconds left to cut the Ravens’ lead to 30-23.

Los Angeles benefitted from two pass interference calls against the Ravens on its scoring driving, including one that put the ball on the 1-yard line. The Chargers are out of timeouts and will need to convert an onside kick to have a chance of winning.

Ravens punt ball back to Chargers after holding penalty

The Ravens were able to run about four minutes off the clock by running Derrick Henry against the Chargers, but a holding penalty allowed Los Angeles to get a needed stop. Jim Harbaugh’s squad gets the ball back with 3:08 left on the clock, trailing by 14. They have just one timeout remaining.

Officials pick up flag on potential pass interference call, forcing Chargers to punt

The Chargers crossed midfield as they tried to cut into the Ravens’ lead, but they failed to get into scoring range. Justin Herbert was sacked by Kyle Van Noy — Herbert was thankfully OK after his head hit the ground hard — before he attempted a deep pass on third-and-18.

Initially, the officials called Ravens defensive back Brandon Stephens for pass interference. However, they picked up the flag, forcing the Chargers to punt rather than giving them a first-and-goal opportunity.

Ravens 30, Chargers 16: Justice Hill extends Baltimore lead with 51-yard run

The Ravens ran a sweep play outside with Hill, their backup running back, while resting Derrick Henry. Hill took the ball around the left side of the line and turned on the jets to outrun the defense and get a score.

The run was a career-long for Hill, and Justin Tucker made the extra point to give the Ravens a 30-16 lead with 7:24 left to play.

Quentin Johnston drop forces Chargers to punt

Justin Herbert saw Johnston breaking wide open on a short crossing route and tossed a perfect pass to the second-year wideout. He failed to reel it in for what could have been a big gain, as the right sideline was fairly open.

The Chargers punted the ball to the Ravens’ 29-yard line. Baltimore will look to extend its lead to two possessions with 10:45 left in regulation.

Ravens 23, Chargers 16: Lamar Jackson hits Mark Andrews for TD

The Ravens extended their lead to a touchdown after Jackson fired a laser to Andrews. Though the nearest official initially ruled the pass incomplete, the veteran tight end clearly tapped both of his feet on the ground before going out of bounds. The call was quickly changed to touchdown after a referees conference and gave Baltimore a 23-16 lead.

The Ravens then went for two hoping to extend their lead to two possessions, but Jackson couldn’t connect with Zay Flowers after extending the play. Baltimore’s lead will remain stuck at 7.

Ravens take 17-16 lead into fourth quarter

The Ravens are continuing to drive after Derrick Henry’s 27-yard run and will face another key fourth-and-short decision on the first play of the fourth quarter.

The third quarter saw both teams trade field goals as both defenses continue to hold up well after slower starts. Henry is 1 yard away from a 100-yard game while the Chargers have had to rely on their passing game with leading rushing J.K. Dobbins still questionable to return with a knee injury.

The teams have combined to go 3-for-3 on fourth-down conversions so far. This tightly contested battle of brothers could come down to the first team that can stop the other in these key scenarios.

John Harbaugh goes for another fourth down; Ravens convert

The elder Harbaugh brother is continuing to be aggressive on fourth-and-short plays. This time, he dialed up a fourth-and-1 run to Derrick Henry. The NFL’s second-leading rusher burst through the line and gained 27 yards, putting the Ravens in range for a Justin Tucker field goal.

Ravens 17, Chargers 16: Cameron Dicker makes another 52-yard field goal

Dicker is having a monster game, as he has now made three field goals from 40-plus yards, including back-to-back from 52 yards. That cuts Baltimore’s lead to 17-16 with 4:08 left in the third quarter.

Justin Herbert had a solid drive to put the Chargers in scoring range. He did well to find his favorite receiver, Ladd McConkey, on a third-and-11 to get near Dicker’s field goal range.

Ravens 17, Chargers 13: Justin Tucker field goal extends Baltimore’s lead

Baltimore’s first drive after halftime wasn’t the prettiest in the world, but it did net some points after Justin Tucker knocked through a 45-yard field goal. The Ravens converted two third-and-longs on the drive, the highlight being Lamar Jackson’s 25-yard rollout strike to Zay Flowers.

J.K. Dobbins injury update

Dobbins has been deemed ‘questionable’ to return to Monday’s game as he deals with a knee injury. It isn’t entirely clear when Dobbins suffered the injury, but he went into the locker room early and wasn’t on the field for Los Angeles’ final drive of the first half.

Dobbins was seen on the sideline having his knee taped up, per ESPN’s Laura Rutledge. He tried to loosen up and run before heading to the locker room to be further evaluated by Los Angeles’ medical staff.

Halftime: Ravens 14, Chargers 13

The Chargers played the last 24 seconds of the first half perfectly. A Justin Herbert scramble and then two strikes to Jalen Reagor and Joshua Palmer helped the Chargers go 36 yards to set up kicker Cameron Dicker for a 52-yard field goal at the gun. He drilled it.

It was an impressive response from L.A. after the Ravens took the lead in stunning fashion, with a daring gamble and then a deep ball from Lamar Jackson.

Baltimore is set to receive the ball after halftime.

Ravens 14, Chargers 10: Lamar Jackson hooks up with Rashod Bateman for deep TD

The Ravens’ decision to go for it on fourth down pays off. Baltimore moved the ball downfield quickly, thanks to a 22-yard completion to Zay Flowers and a pass interference call on another attempted pass to Bateman.

Then, Jackson hit Bateman downfield on a perfectly-placed, 40-yard touchdown. The Ravens now have a 14-10 lead.

Chargers stuff Derrick Henry on third-and-1, but Ravens go for it deep in own territory

The Ravens ran the ball three consecutive times with Derrick Henry after being pinned deep. He picked up 9 yards on the first two carries but was stopped for no gain on third-and-1.

Baltimore lined up and pretended it was going to go for it on fourth down before the 2-minute warning, but the Ravens didn’t snap the ball. They actually did after the 2-minute warning, with Mark Andrews sneaking it forward and getting just enough for the first down.

Chargers pin Ravens inside 10-yard line after drive stalls

The Chargers were forced to punt for the second time on their fourth drive of the day after a holding penalty on Tucker Fisk put them behind the sticks. JK Scott uncorked a good one and the Chargers downed it inside the Ravens’ 10-yard line.

Lamar Jackson and Co. will have a long field as they look to tie the game or take the lead before halftime.

Chargers 10, Ravens 7: Lamar Jackson gets Ravens on the board

The Ravens answered the Chargers with 7:48 left in the second quarter of their ‘MNF’ matchup. Lamar Jackson took a read-option carry 10 yards, dodging a couple of Chargers defenders en route to his third rushing touchdown of the season.

Derrick Henry played a massive role on Baltimore’s touchdown drive, racking up 44 yards on three carries. He also had a 5-yard touchdown run of his own called back by an illegal formation penalty.

Eli Apple injury update

Chargers cornerback Eli Apple is questionable to return to the ‘Monday Night Football’ game with a hamstring injury, the team announced. Apple, a veteran cornerback, was signed to Los Angeles’ roster before Monday’s game.

Chargers lead 10-0 after Cameron Dicker field goal

The Chargers nearly got to the red-zone, but they stalled out, allowing Dicker to attempt and make a 42-yard kick. He split the uprights to extend Los Angeles’ lead to 10-0.

Gus Edwards had a nice fourth-and-1 conversion on the drive to allow the Chargers to make Dicker’s field goal attempt shorter.

Chargers lead 7-0 after first quarter

Jim Harbaugh is currently getting the better of brother John in the ‘Monday Night Football’ Harbaugh bowl. The Chargers are leading and are nearing Cameron Dicker’s field goal range on their third drive of the day.

Justin Herbert has made good decisions so far, racking up 65 passing yards and rushing for a touchdown in the first quarter. J.K. Dobbins has also looked good, running for 40 yards on six carries against his former team.

The Chargers are impressively outgaining the Ravens 123-20 after one quarter and have limited Lamar Jackson to just 7 total yards after 15 minutes.

Ravens go three-and-out

Lamar Jackson had Zay Flowers open on a short second-down throw but overthrew him. He also missed a third-down attempt to Diontae Johnson, who fell down as he got tangled up with cornerback Tarheeb Still.

Jordan Stout unleashed another good punt, but Chargers return man Derius Davis brought it back 19 yards on the return.

Lamar Jackson stats today

Jackson is off to a slow start against the Chargers. He has gone just 1-of-4 passing for 2 yards across the Ravens’ first two drives while adding 5 yards on the ground.

Comparatively, Justin Herbert went 4-of-6 for 62 yards and added 9 rushing yards and a score on his first two drives.

Who is Chargers’ offensive coordinator?

Greg Roman is in his first season as the Chargers’ offensive coordinator. Roman, 52, has often worked with Jim Harbaugh during his career — at Stanford and with the San Francisco 49ers before they split upon Harbaugh’s return to the college ranks.

Roman has also worked with John Harbaugh, as he spent the 2017-2022 seasons on the Ravens’ staff. He was the team’s offensive coordinator from 2019-22 before he resigned following the 2022 season. He was replaced by Todd Monken and spent 2023 out of coaching before teaming up again with Jim Harbaugh in Los Angeles.

Chargers punt after Ravens rookie breaks up pass

The Ravens spent a first-round pick on Nate Wiggins in the 2024 NFL draft, and he showed why on a play in the first quarter. He broke up a pass from Justin Herbert to Jalen Reagor at the first-down marker by delivering a blow to Reagor just as the ball arrived.

However, Wiggins followed that up by committing a personal foul on the punt, which will back the Ravens up inside their own 20-yard line.

Leg whip penalty derails Ravens’ first drive

Baltimore quickly got a first down after back-to-back runs of 5-plus yards by Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry, but the drive stalled out after fullback Patrick Ricard was called for a leg whip on a first-and-10 completion to Nelson Agholor.

The Chargers will get the ball back inside their own 15-yard line.

Chargers open scoring with Justin Herbert touchdown run

The Chargers didn’t waste any time getting going against the Ravens. Herbert marched them 70 yards on the opening drive and finished it with a 5-yard scramble up the middle.

Herbert completed 2-of-2 passes for 35 yards and added 9 yards on two runs. Cameron Dicker makes the extra point and Los Angeles has an early 7-0 lead.

Jim Harbaugh sets tone for Harbaugh Bowl

ESPN’s Laura Rutledge interviewed Jim Harbaugh before his matchup against his brother, John Harbaugh, on Monday night. Jim had a unique way of describing his thoughts about the game.

‘I’d lay down my life for my brother, but I wouldn’t let him win a football game.’

Where are Jack and Jackie Harbaugh?

The Harbaugh parents are not attending the matchup between their two sons. Instead, they are celebrating their anniversary and Thanksgiving in Florida with their daughter Joani, son-in-law (and former Indiana men’s basketball coach) Tom Crean and their grandchildren.

‘We are choosing to go down there and celebrate Thanksgiving with them and be able to watch the game with them,’ Jack said on ‘The Lounge,’ per the Ravens’ official website. ‘And we’ll have a lot of fun and enjoyment doing that.’

Jim Harbaugh record vs. John Harbaugh 

Jim Harbaugh is 0-2 vs. his brother John in the NFL. His 49ers team lost to the Ravens in Super Bowl 47 (34-31), as well as on Thanksgiving in 2011 (16-6).

Who’s older, John or Jim Harbaugh?

John Harbaugh is the older of the Harbaugh brothers. He was born on Sept. 23, 1962, making his 62 years old. Jim, 60, was born just over a year later on Dec. 23, 1963.

Chargers vs. Ravens start time

Start time: 8:15 p.m. ET (5:15 p.m. PT)
Location: SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California.

The Chargers and Ravens will kick off at 8:15 p.m. ET.

Chargers vs. Ravens TV channel

TV channel: ABC | ESPN | ESPN2

ESPN again is the broadcast home of ‘Monday Night Football.’ The longtime team of Joe Buck (play-by-play) and Troy Aikman (color) will be on the call, with Lisa Salters adding reports from the sideline.

Viewers can also tune in to ESPN2 for the ‘ManningCast’ featuring Peyton and Eli Manning.

Chargers vs. Ravens picks, predictions

Here’s how the USA TODAY Sports staff feels tonight’s Chargers-Ravens ‘MNF’ matchup will tilt:

Lorenzo Reyes: Chargers 24, Ravens 23
Tyler Dragon: Ravens 25, Chargers 23
Richard Morin: Ravens 28, Chargers 27
Jordan Mendoza: Ravens 31, Chargers 30

Chargers vs. Ravens odds, moneyline, over/under 

The Ravens are favorites to defeat the Chargers, according to the BetMGM NFL odds. Not interested in this game? Check out expert picks and best bets for every NFL game this week. 

Spread: Ravens (-3) 

Moneyline: Ravens (-155); Chargers (+130) 

Over/under: 51 

Chargers inactives vs. Ravens 

QB Easton Stick (emergency 3rd QB) 

LB Denzel Perryman 

WR DJ Chark 

CB Cam Hart 

RB Kimani Vidal 

OL Brenden Jaimes 

OL Jordan McFadden 

Ravens inactives vs. Chargers 

ILB Roquan Smith 

CB Arthur Maulet 

RB Rasheen Ali 

SS Sanoussi Kane 

C Nick Samac 

OLB David Ojabo 

Is Ladd McConkey playing vs. the Ravens?

McConkey was listed as “questionable” ahead of Monday night’s game vs. Baltimore but was not on the inactives list; that indicates he will be in the lineup.

Chargers vs. Ravens live stream 

Live stream: Fubo TV | ESPN+ 

Cord-cutters looking for a live stream for the matchup can turn to Fubo TV. Fubo TV carries NBC, as well as CBS, FOX, NFL Network and the ESPN family of networks, meaning you can catch NFL action through the remainder of the season. 

ESPN+, the proprietary streaming service of ESPN, will also carry the game. 

Why Harbaugh Bowl 3 is a special one for Jim, John and family 

This “Harbaugh Bowl” will also feature some interesting subplots. It will be a reunion of sorts for several members of the Chargers organization. L.A. general manager Joe Hortiz served 26 seasons in Baltimore’s front office and five Chargers coaches spent time on the Ravens staff during their coaching careers. 

But there’s even more to the matchup, writes USA TODAY Sports’ Tyler Dragon. 

Monday Night Football preview 

The Ravens are a tough test for the Chargers’ top-ranked scoring defense. Los Angeles allows a league-low 14.5 points per game, but Baltimore is scoring 30.4 points per game, which is good for second-most in the NFL. The Chargers had trouble slowing Joe Burrow down in the second half last week and allowed a season-high 27 points to the Bengals. Lamar Jackson should be expected to post similarly strong numbers and make this a high-scoring contest. 

Of course, Justin Herbert has been playing at a top-tier level for the Chargers recently, so he could turn this game into an offensive showdown. The Ravens have the NFL’s worst passing defense, so Herbert should be able to get Ladd McConkey and Quentin Johnston open for deep plays.

The Ravens have played in higher-scoring games than the Chargers this season, so one would presume that type of contest would benefit Baltimore. Still, Jim Harbaugh will be motivated to exact revenge upon his brother for his loss in Super Bowl 47. The younger Harbaugh has never beaten his older brother, so that will give the Chargers extra motivation throughout this game. 

Former Ravens RB J.K. Dobbins guiding seismic shift with Chargers 

Dobbins’ injury history led him to a one-year, prove-it deal with the Chargers in April. 

Thus far, Dobbins is demonstrating that he’s one of the better running backs in the NFL. He’s not only a focal point in the Chargers’ offense, his 726 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns both rank in the top 10 in the league. 

Here’s how he keeps his attitude positive and is charging up L.A.’s culture change. 

Chargers vs. Ravens weather updates 

The Chargers vs. Ravens game is being played under SoFi Stadium’s roof but because the sides of the stadium are open, the weather could have a small impact on the contest. 

Temperatures are expected to be around 53 degrees during Monday night’s game, per Weather.com. There will only be 3 mph of wind, so with the partially closed nature of SoFi Stadium, the weather conditions figure to have minimal impact on the game’s result. 

Where is Chargers vs. Ravens? 

Venue: SoFi Stadium 

Location: Inglewood, California 

The Ravens travel west to take on the Chargers in their building on Monday night.  

Do the Chargers and Rams share a stadium?

Yes, the Chargers and Rams both call SoFi Stadium home. Rams owner Stan Kroenke built the stadium as part of the Rams’ move to Los Angeles in 2016 and has rented it to the Chargers since it opened in 2020.

AFC North standings 

Steelers (8-3) 

Ravens (7-4) 

Bengals (4-7) 

Browns (3-8) 

AFC West standings 

Chiefs (10-1) 

Chargers (7-3) 

Broncos (7-5) 

Raiders (2-9) 

4th & Monday: Our NFL newsletter always brings the blitz   

Do you like football? Then you’ll enjoy getting our NFL newsletter delivered to your inbox.   

Get the latest news, expert analysis, game insights and the must-see moments from the NFL conveniently delivered to your email inbox. Sign up now!  

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
Keep Reading
By
Politics

Trump, Congress looking to put suffocating sanctions on ‘kangaroo’ ICC over Netanyahu arrest warrant

JERUSALEM — The scandal-plagued International Criminal Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Jewish state’s former defense minister has brought the court into the crosshairs of a potent American sanctions regime.

The ICC last week slapped arrest warrants on Netanyahu and ex-Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for their war plans involved in rooting out Hamas terrorism in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas slaughtered nearly 1,200 people on Oct. 7, 2023, in southern Israel, including over 40 Americans. 

Israeli news outlet Kan said President-elect Trump’s administration plans to initiate sanctions against the ICC judges who issued the warrants, including the court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan.

The British chief prosecutor, Khan, is currently the subject of a probe based on allegations that he committed sexual misconduct, something that he has vigorously denied, noting that there was ‘no truth to suggestions’ of such behavior, according to reports.

Avi Bell, a professor of law at the University of San Diego and Bar Ilan University in Israel and founding dean of the Israel Law and Liberty Forum’s annual program on law and democracy, told Fox News Digital, ‘Several years ago, the ICC threatened to charge American soldiers for alleged crimes in Afghanistan. The fact that the ICC lacked jurisdiction did not cause the ICC to pause even for a second. It was only President Trump’s sanctions against the ICC (during his first term) that forced the ICC to obey the law and drop its threat to prosecute Americans. Sanctions against the ICC will work; persuasion will not.’

Trump’s nominee for national security adviser, Mike Waltz, announced on X, ‘You can expect a strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC and U.N. come January.’  

One of Trump’s key Senate partners, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., upped the ante in a recent Fox News interview, saying, ‘To any ally, Canada, Britain, Germany, France, if you try to help the ICC, we’re going to sanction you.’

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean for the L.A.-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, warned democratic states that they could face persecution from the judicial activism of the world’s top war crimes court based in The Hague, Netherlands.

He told Fox News Digital, ‘The warrant from a kangaroo court makes a mockery of justice and is a victory for Iran and its terrorist lackeys. Israeli leaders are guilty of defending their citizens from genocidal terrorists. France and the Netherlands were the first to confirm they would arrest PM Netanyahu and the list could reach 124 nations. Democracies beware you could be next.’

Both the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations branded the ICC a defective judicial system for Americans and rejected joining the international body.

‘The arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant are legally a joke, but they constitute a very serious development,’ Bell said. ‘Under Karim Khan’s predecessors as ICC prosecutor, the ICC was merely ineffective. Khan has ushered in an era of political buffoonery in which the court devotes the bulk of its resources to political grandstanding. With the new indictments, the court is grandstanding on behalf of terrorists and some of the world’s worst criminals.’

When approached for a comment about Bell’s criticism, ICC spokesperson Fadi El Abdallah told Fox News Digital, ‘We don’t comment on such declarations.’

The legal scholar urged countries to walk away from the ICC, saying, ‘The ICC will only desist from its course if it is forced to pay a heavy price. Countries should withdraw from the Rome Statute and cease paying dues. They should impose sanctions on the ICC and forbid cooperation with the ICC. And so long as the ICC persists in issuing warrants for persons over whom it has no jurisdiction on trumped-up charges, ICC personnel should face criminal sanctions for attempted kidnapping and support for terrorism.’

The ICC, which commenced operations in 2002, bases its authority on the signatories of the Rome Statute, which outlines four core international crimes that the court will prosecute: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression, all of which are ‘not subject to any statute of limitations’ but limited to only crimes that occurred after the statute came into force.

When asked if anti-Jewish sentiments animated the ICC warrants, Bell said, ‘I do not get the impression that the warrants are due to the ICC judges’ personal antisemitism. The ICC has always preyed on the politically weak: formerly African countries and now the Jewish state. It is widespread antisemitism in the West, especially among progressives, that makes Israel politically weak and vulnerable. The ICC may be bigoted, but the ICC’s attempt to prosecute Israelis despite their legal innocence is really a sign of a much greater institutional moral depravity than mere bigotry.’

Gabriel Noronha, a former U.S. Department State adviser on Iran who is now a fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, told Fox News Digital the ICC has known that it could face penalties for its legal action against the Mideast’s only democracy, Israel, but the ICC ‘decided to ignore diplomacy and face the repercussions of the United States.’ 

He added that U.S. sanctions would mean that affected ICC personnel will not be able to secure visas to enter the U.S. and their property and bank accounts will be frozen in America. 

‘The sanctions could be pretty broad and include family members,’ Noronha noted.

Noronha echoed Graham’s remarks. A second Trump administration, he said, could implement a ‘Diplomatic strategy to impose penalties on countries that cooperate with these particular ICC warrants.’

Some European countries have already slammed the ICC decision. Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg wrote on X, ‘The ICC decision to issue arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant is utterly incomprehensible. International Law is non-negotiable and applies everywhere, at all times. But this decision is a disservice to the Court‘s credibility.’

He continued, ‘It is absurd to create an equivalence between members of a democratically elected government and the leader of a terrorist organization.’

The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for the already dead Hamas terror leader Muhammad Deif.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala flatly dismissed the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants against Israeli leaders.

‘The ICC’s unfortunate ruling undermines authority in other cases by equating the elected representatives of a democratic state with the leaders of an Islamist terrorist organization,’ he wrote on X.

Conservative Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán accused the ICC of ‘interfering in an ongoing conflict for political purposes,’ saying the decision to issue the warrant for Netanyahu over his conduct of the war in Gaza undermined international law and escalated tensions.

The U.S. and the European Union have classified Hamas as a foreign terrorist organization.

The Associated Press and Fox News’ Peter Aitken contributed to this article.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
Keep Reading
By
Politics

Trump dropped Matt Gaetz after complaining about high political cost of defending him

Donald Trump was in the room with JD Vance, Stephen Miller and other top advisers after calling senators to try to salvage the sinking nomination of Matt Gaetz.

He wasn’t having any luck.

‘I’m using a lot of my political capital,’ the president-elect told his inner circle. He could only spend so much of it, he explained.

Trump had picked up the phrase from a lawmaker who bluntly told him there was a cost to any continued effort to push the ex-congressman for attorney general, amid allegations of sexual assault and misconduct. 

‘Sir, we’re going to vote for you’ on Gaetz, ‘but you’re using a lot of political capital.’ 

Once Trump told Gaetz that he didn’t have the votes, prompting him to withdraw, he quickly settled on Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general and career prosecutor who had precisely the experience that the embattled Gaetz lacked – and without the personal baggage. Gaetz, who is accused of sleeping with a 17-year-old girl, continues to deny any wrongdoing.

He formally withdrew 45 minutes after CNN told him it would report that he’d had a threesome – specifically, that there had been another alleged incident with Jane Doe, the woman who says she had sex with Gaetz at 17, and an adult woman.

Bondi has a history of partisan loyalty to Trump, such as defending him at his first impeachment trial, and this year, headed the legal arm of a pro-Trump firm and became a registered lobbyist. 

But here’s the difference, according to insiders: She won’t go in and blow up the Justice Department, as Gaetz wanted to do. She respects the rule of law, say Florida colleagues. She even hired the Democrat who ran against her for AG, who is praising her. Yes, Bondi has talked about prosecuting ‘bad’ prosecutors, but who can object to that?

With Gaetz out, more scrutiny has shifted to Pete Hegseth’s nomination to run the Pentagon’s global bureaucracy.

The view from Trump World is that Hegseth, as a decorated Army combat veteran, probably gets confirmed, though there is annoyance that he didn’t come clean with the transition team about having paid off a woman who accused him of sexual assault, and had her sign an NDA, in what he calls a consensual encounter in California in 2017.

The transition team’s view is that Hegseth did nothing illegal, that he made a deal with the accuser who lied to save her marriage – and didn’t go to the hospital for four days – and he didn’t want this public because he feared losing his job at Fox. 

I agree he’ll probably be confirmed, and the transition gang is more worried about Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr. As a practical matter, I think the GOP-controlled Senate can reject only one other nominee.

The concern about Gabbard for director of national intelligence is that she has no experience in that sensitive area, that the former Democratic congressional representative met with Syrian strongman Bashar Assad despite his murder of hundreds of thousands of people, and often seems to echo the Putin line. The question is whether she is even qualified.

There is even more concern about Kennedy’s bid to become HHS secretary. He has some good ideas, but even putting aside his history of infidelity, he embraces one conspiracy theory after another: Vaccines cause autism, WiFi causes cancer, water systems should stop using fluoride.

The worst, by far, is what he said in 2020, embracing the idea that the federal government deliberately created the pandemic – what he called the ‘plandemic’ – that killed 1.2 million Americans. This is the equivalent of 9/11 truthers.

The key here is that the criticism is coming from the left. Liberals in the media and on the Hill don’t like RFK because he’s pro-choice and is seen as a rogue Democrat who has said a lot of crazy things over the years, and that could be enough to sink his nomination.

Trump World doesn’t care about the other nominations on the theory that the average voter has never heard of most of Trump’s picks for Energy or HUD. 

There’s some Republican resentment at his selection of pro-union Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer for Labor, but that’s among the insiders.

What’s striking is that this is the most ideologically diverse Cabinet of the modern era.

As Axios was the first to point out, the lineup ranges from Marco Rubio as secretary of State to a slew of current and former members of Congress to such controversial picks as Hegseth, Gabbard and RFK, to Dr. Oz, to run the Medicare and Medicaid programs, to frequent Fox medical commentators Marty Makary to manage the FDA and Janette Nesheiwat as surgeon general; both are medical doctors. And he chose former congressman Dave Weldon to take over the CDC.

In a CBS poll, 59% approve of the way Trump is handling the transition.

The internal jockeying also led to leaks like this, to the Washington Post:

‘Donald Trump’s attorney and adviser Boris Epshteyn arrived recently for a meeting about Cabinet picks in the Tea Room at Mar-a-Lago only to find his way blocked.

Transition co-chair Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, told Epshteyn in front of others that this was not a meeting for him. ‘We’re not talking legal nominees today,’ Lutnick said, according to one person familiar with the exchange.

‘Epshteyn refused to budge. Using his forearm, he pushed Lutnick out of the way, according to two people familiar with the incident, which Lutnick later recounted to others. ‘I’m coming in,’ Epshteyn retorted, according to one of the people.

‘A third person described the incident more as Epshteyn simply brushing past Lutnick on his way into the meeting.’

This flood-the-zone approach diverted attention from the Gaetz fiasco and raised questions about incoming White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and how much input she has. And unlike the traditional one-nominee-per-day approach, it blurs the focus on nominees who otherwise might draw media criticism, such as Dr. Oz, who was often accused of peddling ineffective remedies on his TV show, because you’d need a scorecard to keep track of the blizzard of Trump picks.    

So why did Trump pick Matt Gaetz in the first place?

It may have been an impulsive move while Trump was on the plane with him, along with Wiles. But the president-elect is savvy enough to know it would trigger a media firestorm, and insiders call it a screw-you decision to the establishment.

Or Trump may have figured that Gaetz was unlikely to make it, but it would be difficult to reject the backup nomination, especially one as qualified as Pam Bondi.

Whatever your view, there’s no question that Trump has managed the transition quite well and, with some exceptions, is off to a good start.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
Keep Reading
By
Sports

Tennessee leads new-look top 10 in men’s college basketball poll

The new USA TODAY Sports men’s basketball coaches poll has no changes at the top of the poll. That will likely not be the case next week after the feast of holiday tournaments is concluded, but for now the top five is the same as last week.

Kansas remains No. 1, picking up 25 of 31 first-place votes this week. Connecticut is at No. 2 with a pair of firsts, and Auburn is again No. 3 overall with three No. 1 selections. No. 4 Gonzaga once again claims the final first-place vote, and Iowa State rounds out the top five that stay the same from the previous poll.

The shuffling begins at No. 6, where Tennessee moves up three positions after an impressive showing in the Bahamas that included defeats of Virginia and Baylor. Houston moves up a spot to No. 7, followed by No. 8 Kentucky up three places. Alabama checks in at No. 9, and Duke holds on at No. 10 just ahead of surging Marquette, which defeated Purdue and sent the Boilermakers down six spots to No. 12.

No. 22 Xavier heads a trio of newcomers to the poll. No. 24 Mississippi and No. 25 Pittsburgh also join. Illinois, St. John’s and Texas Tech slide out.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
Keep Reading
By