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Kevin McCarthy out as US speaker

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:59 GMT

For the first time in history, the House has deposed its speaker.Democrats joined with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and his small group of conservative allies to vote to strip Kevin McCarthy of his gavel Tuesday. It’s unclear who would succeed McCarthy long term, though his allies expect he will try to run for speaker again and members pledged to continue supporting him.“We’re perfectly happy to drag this out as long as it takes,” said Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.), a McCarthy ally. “We’re all going to be there for the speaker as long as he wants us to be.”“I’ll continue to support Kevin McCarthy as long as he’s running,” echoed Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.)The House clerk announced Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) would act as a temporary speaker immediately after the vote concluded. McHenry was selected from a secret list of McCarthy’s hand-picked successors. The Californian’s ally will have all the authority of a regularly el...

Director keeps spirit of original in ‘Exorcist Believer’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:59 GMT

After a successful franchise reboot with the “Halloween” trilogy, David Gordon Green now attempts to do the same with the far more complex horror classic “The Exorcist.”Green’s “The Exorcist: Believer,” opening nationwide Friday, eliminates every one of the less than stellar “Exorcist” spawns of the last half century to begin with a direct sequel to director William Friedkin’s Oscar-winning original, which was adapted from William Peter Blatty’s bestselling novel about a young girl’s terrifying possession by a demon.“Like so many filmmakers, I was incredibly inspired by the film that Friedkin made in 1973. What it did as a touchstone before was so brilliant and timeless” Green, 48, said last week in a Zoom interview.“It didn’t fall into the traps and tropes of horror movies. It played — as he referred to it — as ‘a theological thriller.’ And I think that’s the right attitude that you have to take when you’re making something that deals with the sensitiv...

Klietmann: Medicare drug price controls Rx for confusion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:59 GMT

Medicare just named the first 10 medicines subject to government price controls under the Inflation Reduction Act. Healthcare experts thought we had a good idea of which drugs would be on the list — largely based on Medicare statements about how it was going to choose.Instead, much of the list was a surprise, creating deep uncertainty in the life-sciences industry. As the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services implements the new rules, it must do so with more transparency. Otherwise, it will jeopardize drug development for years to come at the expense of patients.Passed last year, the IRA empowers Medicare to set prices for prescription medicines. CMS, which oversees Medicare, first published guidance on how it would implement the new system in March. The agency says it recognizes the “complexity” of drug pricing. Yet it gave the public just 30 days to respond.Experts and patient advocates scrambled to submit more than 7,500 comments before the deadline. Many...

Green chili with salsa verde chases away fall chill

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:59 GMT

Now that it’s officially fall, and the weather is getting cooler, many of us are turning to foods that are a little heartier.A rich and warming pot of chili is a good dish to make the transition from summer to autumn in part because it’s a perfect football food — it feeds a crowd and it’s so easy to eat on the couch in front of the TV. Chili is also versatile, and can satisfy a vegetarian as well as a carnivore, depending on the mix of ingredients.It’s also equal opportunity when it comes to spice. If you love a dish that makes your lips and taste buds burn, throw a few more chili peppers or tablespoons of chili powder into the pot. If you’re more reserved, use less or choose a milder chili pepper, such as poblano.This green chili combines chunks of pork tenderloin with white onion, garlic and salsa verde. Cannellini beans, a type of white kidney bean, add protein and fiber without overpowering the other flavors. I also add fresh jalapeno pepper for a g...

Olson: More Dems take dim view of right to free speech

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:59 GMT

Once a solid pillar of American society, free speech seems to be cracking. It used to be an American principle that the everyday American citizen could agree on, a universal given. But recent surveys reveal that this fundamental value is increasingly up for debate, and the speed of this change is alarming.In a new RealClear Opinion Research poll, nearly half of Democrats are comfortable openly admitting to a stranger over the phone that they support limiting what people can say. A startling 47% said that speech should be legal “only under certain circumstances,” and 52% of Democrats approved of government censoring social media posts for “national security.” Even more shocking, a third of Democrats believe Americans have “too much freedom.”By contrast, 74% of registered Republicans and 61% of independents say speech should be legal “under any circumstances.”As a pollster, I find these numbers unnerving. People are generally reluctant to share unpopular beliefs with interviewers. Tha...

Pumpkin spice gets an upgrade in Tres Leches Cake

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:59 GMT

This being fall, pumpkin spice is everywhere. It’s also Hispanic Heritage Month through Oct. 15.How to celebrate the two?Enter the Pumpkin Spice Tres Leches Cake.Instagram’s Domestic Rebel, Hayley Parker just featured the recipe, featuring a tantalizing photo of a squishy-wet square of autumnal color with literal cream on top.I knew I had to make it. And I did. But first, a little about this cake that’s popular in myriad nations from Nicaragua to Puerto Rico, Cuba to the Canary Islands. The Caribbean is no stranger to soaked cakes, the rum cake being the most obvious. Nor is the American South where poke cake, which is literally poked full of holes into which sweet, syrupy and even gelatinous things can be poured, is a varied and popular dessert optionTres leches translates to “three milks.” In the case of this recipe, that’s evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk and heavy whipping cream. The loveliness of this sweet concoction cannot be underestimated, and when it s...

Pozniak: Lessons learned from working for Jimmy Carter

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:59 GMT

As President Jimmy Carter celebrated his 99th birthday recently, I went to my study and looked at a framed letter, signed by Vice President Walter Mondale, expressing his and President Carter’s appreciation for my presidential advance work.The opportunity of working for President Carter was a high honor. During the early days of the Carter administration, I attended a political seminar at Harvard’s Institute of Politics featuring the legendary Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Thomas “Tip” O’Neill.Speaker O’Neill, from Cambridge, regaled a small group of seminar attendees with stories about the ups and downs of Washington politics. He also spoke very candidly about his disappointment with President Carter, explaining that Carter and his advisers arrived in Washington with a chip on their shoulder, believing that Washington was highly dysfunctional and, as outsiders, they were going to clean it up and bring dramatic change to its politica...

Editorial: If City Council is serious about crime, it must fund BRIC

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:59 GMT

A Boston City Council vote today will show the city which side it’s on – gangs or the residents they prey on.It should be a no-brainer, but this being Boston, the choice is clouded by a progressive agenda.As it stands, the council is split on releasing $3.4 million in grant funding to the investigative arm of the city’s police department. The same council that decries violence on our streets and rails against guns getting into the wrong hands can’t get on the same page when it comes to tackling the gangs that roam the city.As the Herald reported, six of 13 councilors indicated they would vote in favor of funding the Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC), but the same number cited concerns with its gang database, which the state’s attorney general is investigating for possible racial bias.If only they took the same hard stand against the gangs for targeting communities of color.“Public safety is paramount for our city,” said Councilor Michael Flaherty. “I know ...

Kids can help make Japanese Chicken Meatball Skewers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:59 GMT

One way to get kids to try new things at mealtime while also teaching them about nutrition is to hand them a spoon (or bowl or knife, if they’re old enough) and get them involved in making dinner.Sons and daughters are more apt to eat things they’ve had a hand in preparing and, by teaching them to cook, even just a little, you’re fostering life skills that will come in handy once they’re off on their own at college or jobs or wherever life takes them.Iron Chef and cookbook author Alex Guarnaschelli, alongside her teenage daughter, Ava, show exactly how fun and inspirational cooking together can be in their new cookbook, “Cook it Up.”In it, they share more than 70 recipes that define their modern family meals together. Ava tends to find inspiration on TikTok, while Alex draws on her classic French culinary training, decades of repetitive cooking in restaurants and cooking on TV.“We just want kids and adults to cook together and share their id...

Dear Abby: Keeping spark alive long distance

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:59 GMT

Dear Abby: My fiance and I are engaged to be married soon, but we live (and will continue to live) in separate cities. We are in our mid-50s with children, and it’s the second marriage for each of us.My fiance isn’t very verbal about his desires, but we talk with each other every day and we live together about half the time. I want to make sure he isn’t lonely and isn’t wanting more when we’re apart, but I’m not an openly sexual person, and I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable engaging in video chat intimacy with him. I have raised the topic with him. He suggested I write to you and see what you suggest. — Long-Distance Wife-to-BeDear Wife-to-Be: If you both agree, I’m suggesting you and your fiance give it a try. If you do, it may not only enhance your married life but also teach you both how to discuss what you need from each other, which could only bring you closer.Dear Abby: My husband of six years has left me for my siste...