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

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:01:44 GMT

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

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

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:01:44 GMT

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

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

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:01:44 GMT

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

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

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:01:44 GMT

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

Three teens face charges in fight involving bus driver

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:01:44 GMT

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

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

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:01:44 GMT

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

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

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:01:44 GMT

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

Mexico is likely to have its first female president after top parties choose 2 women as candidates

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:01:44 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — With the selection of former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum as the candidate of the country’s ruling party in next June’s election, Mexico will for the first time have time two women from its main political movements competing for the presidency.Sheinbaum, as well as the opposition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez, have insisted that Mexico is ready to be led by a woman, but it will not be an easy path.On Wednesday night, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Morena party announced that Sheinbaum had defeated five internal party rivals – all men. López Obrador has put women in important positions in his Cabinet and been a mentor for Sheinbaum, even while being accused at times of male chauvinism.Mexico still has famously intense “machismo” or male chauvinism, expressed in its most extreme form in a high rate of femicides, but also daily in hundreds of more subtle ways.Mexico has a strong “macho vote,” said Gloria Alcocer Olmos, director of the electoral magazine “V...

‘That ’70s Show’ actor Danny Masterson could get decades in prison at sentencing for 2 rapes

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:01:44 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “That ’70s Show” star Danny Masterson could get as much as 30 years to life in prison at his sentencing Thursday for the rapes of two women two decades ago. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo is set to sentence the 47-year-old actor after ruling on a defense motion for a new trial that she’s very likely to reject, and after hearing impact statements from the victims.A jury of seven women and five men found Masterson guilty of two counts on May 31 after seven days of deliberations. Both attacks took place in Masterson’s Hollywood-area home in 2003, when he was at the height of his fame on the Fox network sitcom “That ’70s Show.”The jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on a third count, an allegation that Masterson also raped a longtime girlfriend.The verdict came in a second trial after a jury failed to reach verdicts on three counts of forcible rape in December and a mistrial was declared.Prosecutors alleged that Masterson used his prominence...

What are biofuels and why is it so confusing whether they are a source of clean energy or not?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:01:44 GMT

BENGALURU, India (AP) — India, the current president of the Group of 20 industrialized and developing nations, has proposed a global biofuel alliance that seeks to accelerate the development of sustainable biofuels to support the global energy transition.The alliance is likely to get an official announcement at the G-20 summit that opens this week in New Delhi, and it’s expected that more than 15 countries will sign up to be part of the alliance.The United States, Canada and Brazil are among a few of the countries expected to join India in such an alliance.WHAT ARE BIOFUELS? Any fuel produced from agricultural produce or organic waste is a biofuel.Humans have used biofuels since time immemorial — for example, burning wood and manure for cooking, heating and light.They’ve gained popularity in recent decades for their potential to deliver cleaner energy than some other sources.Biofuels are categorized based on their source, with each category known as a “generation.” First...