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Lucas: TikTok … China must have the dirt on Biden clan

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:03:14 GMT

Forget the FBI.If the Republicans in Congress really want to get the goods on Joe Biden, they ought to contact the Ministry of State Security.It knows more about Joe Biden and the Biden family’s business dealing with the Communists in Beijing than the FBI, CIA and the IRS will ever know — or ever tell you.The MSS is the chief intelligence agency of the People’s Republic of China.It is the Chinese Communist Party’s version of the FBI, CIA and IRS combined into one vast investigative bureaucracy that includes counterintelligence, foreign intelligence, and political security.Their Chinese file on Joe Biden and his family — and the payments they received from the Chinese Communists — must be thicker than an old Beijing phone book, if such a phone book ever existed — and deeper than anything compiled on TikTok.This is not to say that the Chinese would cooperate with such a Hail Mary request to turn over information dealing with the Bidens’ questionable fiscal dealings with Ch...

Could a Floating Hospital treat Mass and Cass addicts?

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:03:14 GMT

A South Boston Democrat wants to put money behind a study that could lead to a medical ship in the Harbor to primarily serve Mass and Cass homeless dealing with mental health issues or substance abuse.A floating hospital designed to serve people living in tents addresses what state Sen. Nick Collins calls a medical facilities shortage in the city. A medical ship could provide patients with a higher level of acute care in a setting completely focused on mental health and substance use, Collins said.“We need an interim solution to a facilities problem that doesn’t allow for us right now to intervene on demand,” Collins told the Herald. “What do you do? You need to provide the resources that don’t take over hospitals and communities.”Senators this week approved Collins’ idea as an amendment to their fiscal 2024 budget.Collins wants to give the Department of Mental Health $50,000 to study the feasibility of converting a decommissioned ship or another ...

Battenfeld: Floating hospital idea to solve Mass and Cass crisis should be sunk

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:03:14 GMT

Spending taxpayer money to study converting an old cruise ship into a recovery treatment hospital smacks of a political stunt that probably will just be sunk by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.Victims of the opioid crisis should be in a state of the art treatment center on land – not on display on a decommissioned docked ship to be gawked at by tourists and residents.Yes, the city is desperate to solve the Mass and Cass/Methadone Mile crisis, but this idea should be shelved by the state Legislature – like most of their bad ideas.The state Senate approved legislation this week to have the Naval Construction and Marine engineering program at MIT study the “feasibility” of converting a cruise ship into a floating hospital for mental health, substance abuse and recovery services somewhere on the Boston waterfront.“For years now, the situation at Mass & Cass and throughout our city and Commonwealth have worsened without suitable state intervention,” said state Sen. Nick Collins, who is spea...

Through the lens: A do-or-die performance lifts the Garden

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:03:14 GMT

The Garden was literally shaking.As I sat in the corner of the parquet, two cameras in my lap, cross-legged in front of the who’s who of Boston in the front rows, I had an amazing view of the Celtics do-or-die Game 5 juggernaut.And the fans almost lifted the roof off the place.Charlie Baker, sitting directly behind me with his wife, fist-bumped me as the three-pointers rained down. To my right was former Celtic great Paul Pierce laughing and enjoying the accolades from the fans around him as he siped a cocktail from a straw.To my left is David Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports sitting stoically with his model-like girlfriend at his side.Robert Williams III #44 of the Boston Celtics screams out in celebration after dunking during the second quarter of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat at the TD Garden on Thursday in Boston, MA. (Matt Stone/Boston Herald) May 25, 2023Marcus Smart #36 of the Boston Celtics rebounds away from Bam Adebayo #13 and Jimmy Butler #2...

Serbian border troops to maintain highest state of alert after ethnic clashes inside Kosovo

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:03:14 GMT

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia on Saturday condemned NATO-led peacekeepers stationed in neighboring Kosovo for their alleged failure to stop “brutal actions” by Kosovo police against ethnic Serbs, and said that its armed forces stationed near the border will remain on the highest state of alert until further notice.Serbia’s top political and security leadership, led by President Aleksandar Vucic, met in Belgrade on Saturday following violent clashes a day earlier between Kosovo police and ethnic Serbs that injured more than a dozen people.In response to the clashes, Vucic on Friday ordered troops closer to the border with Kosovo. “Due to the brutal use of force by (Kosovo Prime Minister) Albin Kurti and his forces against the Serbian people in Kosovo … the armed forces of the Republic of Serbia will remain at the highest level of combat readiness,” said a statement after the meeting of the top Serbian leadership on Saturday.The statement also said that an international civilian miss...

Germany says Russia set to expel German diplomats, teachers, cultural staff

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:03:14 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Russia will start expelling German diplomats, teachers and employees of German cultural institutions next month, the German Foreign Office said Saturday — a move that will further enhance tensions between the two countries that have already had very fraught ties since Russia invaded Ukraine early last year.The German foreign ministry sharply criticized Russia’s move, calling the upcoming expulsions a “unilateral, unjustified and incomprehensible decision.”The expulsion will affect several hundred German state employees, including teachers and staff of the Goethe Institute, which promotes German culture and language abroad, daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported.The expulsion comes in response to the reduction of the presence of Russian intelligence services in Germany earlier this year.“The Russian Foreign Ministry had made public in April its decision to introduce a cap on the number of staff at our missions abroad and at German intermediary organizations in Russia...

Advocacy group says Iran, Taliban fight on border with Afghanistan as sound of gunfire heard

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:03:14 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Taliban and Iran reportedly exchanged gunfire Saturday on the Islamic Republic’s border with Afghanistan, an advocacy group said, as tensions rise over water rights between the two nations. Neither Iranian state media nor Taliban-controlled media in Afghanistan acknowledged the fighting on the border of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province and the Afghan province of Nimroz. The advocacy group HalVash, which reports on issues in the predominately Sunni province of Sistan and Baluchestan, quoted residents in the area describing the fighting as starting Saturday morning. The group put the fighting near the Kang district of Nimroz, saying some people in the area had been evacuated. Videos posted online, purportedly from the area, included the crackle of machine gun fire in the distance. The apparent clash comes as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi earlier this month warned the Taliban not to violate Iran’s water rights to the Helm...

Andreas Kluth: A pattern in Putin’s list: domestic foes of a previous U.S. president

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:03:14 GMT

The bizarre and unsavory strongman bromance between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump continues. If you’re a MAGA Republican and not having second thoughts by now, something’s wrong with you.The latest head-scratcher and jaw-dropper is a new list of sanctions slapped on American individuals by the Russian president. That’s already weird. Aren’t we in the West the ones imposing sanctions on him for waging a genocidal war of conquest against Ukraine?But there it is. Putin, as ever, peddles his own narratives that wantonly invert reality. So in the Kremlin’s book, it’s Russia that must punish the West for its aggression.The creepier part is Putin’s pick of the 500 Americans on that list. Quite a few of them have nothing whatsoever to do with Russia or American policy toward the Kremlin. They instead share a different distinction: They’re domestic foes of the former U.S. president.There’s Letitia James, for example, the attorney genera...

From Mexico to Norway and Poland to Senegal, international horror films deliver

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:03:14 GMT

If you enjoyed “Stranger Things” and want a Spanish-language take on similar themes, look no further. An homage to “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” set in modern-day Australia? It’s in here. A West African soldier-of-fortune caper with shades of Quentin Tarantino and “The Walking Dead”? You’re in tons of luck. A somber Norwegian whodunnit that brings together death metal rockers and upper crust religious zealots? Ja, you’ve come to the right place!The past five years have delivered horror fans a tasty smörgåsbord of scary movies from around the world, instantly available on streaming services such as Shudder, Amazon Prime, HBO Max and Netflix. Here are 15 reasons why international horror represents much of the best of the genre, and those tired of brain eaters can relax — only one of these could even partially qualify as a zombie flick.“Bring Back Alice” (Poland, 2023)“Bring Back Alice” is a Max series about a weal...

Years before the Doughertys bought a vintage lake resort, it belonged to another family

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:03:14 GMT

Editor’s note: One of Minnesota’s oldest fishing camps is open again as Wambolts Cabins, a seasonal lake resort, thanks to Anne and James Dougherty of St. Paul.But the Doughertys are not the first family to have operated the business on Upper Bottle Lake in Hubbard County.Karen Mauer, 60, of Atlantic, Iowa, shared her family’s story with the Pioneer Press in a series of emails, which have been lightly edited:The cabins of what was then called Wambolts Resort, back when the Mauer family owned it. (Courtesy photo)My parents, Dareld and Rosemary Mauer, purchased Wambolt’s Camp in 1969 from Louise (Wambolt) and Leo Arnold.Louise was the daughter of Bud Wambolt, who built the resort.  A few years later, we changed the name to Wambolts Resort, as Mom felt the Camp part made it sound like a campground instead of a resort.We spent our summer at Wambolts and our winters in Atlantic, Iowa. My parents both had full-time jobs during these months. They were lucky to have employ...