Month: December 2024

The Alabama Crimson Tide put together yet another top-three recruiting class in the 2025 cycle as a part of head coach Kalen DeBoer’s first true recruiting class, landing a number of five-star recruits in the process.
One of the best parts of Alabama’s recruiting class was their offensive line core, as they landed five-star Michael Carroll, five-star Ty Haywood, four-star Jackson Lloyd, four-star Micah DeBose and three-star Mal Waldrep as a five-lineman class.
Carroll was a big win for Alabama over schools like Colorado ,who made a final push. Lloyd presents a unique size at 6’7”, 290 pounds, while DeBose has a college-ready frame at 6’5”, 315 pounds, providing the Crimson Tide with a variety of different styles of offensive linemen.

Haywood is the lone question mark as the five-star has yet to officially sign with the Crimson Tide, instead pushing his recruitment to the February signing day when Michigan seems to be trending up.
The Crimson Tide have boasted one of the better offensive lines in the country this season, led by star guard Tyler Booker, with a good amount of younger talent across the board as well.
But, that doesn’t mean there won’t be opportunities for freshmen to come in and compete. Carroll and Lloyd could be projected as tackles, given their size at 6’6” and 6’7” size, respectively, while DeBose has the capability to play both inside and at tackle.
DeBose was present this week at the Under Armour All-America game, taking part in the week’s practices that started on Monday.
The four-star tackle was a well-known commodity coming out of high school, but as an Alabama native, he chose to stay home and play for the Crimson Tide.

“Everybody wants to go play early, yeah. But, it was more a development thing,” DeBose said about his commitment. “If I really wanted to go play early, I could just go to like Fresno State or something like that. Play early, Just get on the field. But it was a big thing about who’s there coaching. [Offensive line] coach [Chris] Kapilovic, he’s a great development guy. So, I just went for it. You know, they play early. They have great development. So I thought that was the best thing for me.”
Being on hand in Orlando, Florida, the four-star offensive lineman was a clear standout on Monday’s practice, shining in both 1-on-1 drills and 11-on-11s.
He won both of his 1-on-1 reps that I charted, displayed a strong base and good anchor to meet with bull rushes as a guard, while staying balanced with his pass protection sets.
In 11-on-11s, DeBose saw time both at guard and tackle, where he really started to put on a strong showing, garnering loud praise from the coaching staff on hand.
His feet were excellent, especially the kick step out at tackle, and his hands were quick to negate pass-rushing moves like a spin to the inside, while also being technically refined enough to combat speed off the edge.
That versatility stood out to Alabama during DeBose’s recruitment, which could get him on the field sooner than later.
“They think I’m a very versatile guy, but it’s like they can just put you anywhere. I agree with that. It doesn’t really matter where I start at. Just want to kind of go and play.”
DeBose will head to Alabama soon, but he’s looking to put on a performance in his final stint as a high schooler, starting off strong during Under Armour All-American game week. […]

By Alex Kimani of OilPrice.comCarlos Slim, Latin America’s richest man, boosted his stakes in American energy companies in the current year as the world’s leading tycoons continue betting on fossil fuels. Slim invested $602 million in Parsippany, New Jersey-based refiner PBF Energy, boosting his stake to 25%, and also bought $326 million worth of shares in Houston-based oil producer Talos Energy.Last year, the Mexican billionaire’s Grupo Carso SAB agreed to acquire PetroBal SAPI’s stake in two oil fields in Campeche in southern Mexico for $530 million, expanding its bet on energy production. Under the deal, Grupo Carso will take a 50% stake in the Ichalkil and Pokoch oil field. According to the company, the fields produce about 16,350 barrels of crude oil equivalent per day. Carso shares jumped to record highs after the deal was announced. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador welcomed the deal despite earlier being critical of energy reforms that opened exploration to private investment,“Why do I celebrate this? Because it stays in the hands of Mexicans and I’m sure that they’re going to invest to extract crude. I consider that to be good news,” the president said at his daily news conference. Obradors’ nationalist policies have seen the Mexican government become increasingly hostile to foreign companies.Last year, giant oil and commodities trading firm, Trafigura, was forced to scale back its oil trading business in Mexico thanks to shrinking margins.Trafigura has recorded margin compression due to fuel subsidies by the Mexican government.Meanwhile, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has continued growing its oil and gas stakes. Two weeks ago, Berkshire Hathaway bought another 8.9 million shares of Occidental Petroleum with the company now owning 260 million shares of OXY. Berkshire Hathaway’s OXY stake is currently worth $12 billion, making it the company’s sixth largest holding.Loading… […]

POTD: The L85A2 In RAF Photographic Competition 2024 | thefirearmblog.com […]

The world of audio has produced a variety of different loudspeaker designs over the last century, though it’s fair to say that the trusty moving coil reigns supreme. That hasn’t stopped plenty of engineers from trying new ways to make sound though, and [R.U.H] is here with a home-made version of one of them. It’s a foil tweeter, a design in which a corrugated strip of foil is held in a magnetic field, and vibrates when an audio frequency current is passed through it.
He shows a couple of takes on the design, both with neodymium magnets but with different foils and 3D printed or wooden surrounds. They both make a noise when plugged into an amplifier, and unsurprisingly the thicker foil has less of the high notes.
We can see that in there is the possibility for a high quality tweeter, but we can’t help having one concern. This device has an extremely low impedance compared to the amplifier, and thus would probably be drawing far too much current. We’d expect it to be driven through a transformer instead, if he had any care for not killing the amplifier.
Happily there are other uses for a ribbon, they are far better known as microphones.

[embedded content] […]

Authored by Thomas Buckley via The Point,Farcical falsehoods have underpinned the Biden administration from the beginning, but it all came crashing down in a TV studio in an Atlanta in late June of this year.The wings melted – Icarus hit the waterThe entire point of the existence of everyone around Joe had been to deny, defray, obfuscate, while simultaneously promising him personally that everything was all right.The staff was Daedalus to his Icarus, building him wings of wax that they knew would be kept airborne by the press…until they weren’t and he plummeted to earth.For it to remain in power, the Biden administration, since even before his 2021 inauguration, has required that the nation engage in a mass suspension of disbelief.As the viewer of a sci-fi movie must, in order for the movie to make sense, simply accept that things like warp drive and transporters exist, that suspension of disbelief gives the viewer the ability to follow the plot, to care about the characters – as long as the events and tech in the movie make internal sense, the movie can be watched, tolerated, or even enjoyed.But relying on the nation to keep up that suspension of disbelief forever was, obviously, doomed from the start. The administration spun more and more lies to keep up the pretense, developing into the political equivalent – both literally and figuratively – of “Battlefield Earth.”It was akin the “floating world” of Tokugawa Japan, a concept so beautifully summed up by poet Matsuo Bashō in this haiku:“Year’s end, allcorners of thisfloating world, swept.”Of course, before the June debate, Biden’s minions had spun lie after lie after lie. In 2020, he didn’t campaign publicly because of covid, nothing else, and the obvious falsehoods kept on from there.He claimed Russiagate was real, that Donald Trump called neo-Nazis “very fine people,” he said he knew nothing of Hunter’s “business” dealings, the “vaccines” were fine, as was the crushing of personal liberty, the withdrawal from Afghanistan went off as planned despite the videos showing desperate Afghanis falling from planes, and on and on.Despite their protestations along the lines of “the sky is not blue,” the Biden team knew there were problems, and that, even while flightless, Joe’s wings were melting before their very eyes.To create one last possible glimmer of hope – and, concurrently, to give them enough time to dump him – his team scheduled the June debate as a test run of his competence; the Democrats put Biden out there just to see if he would make it.He didn’t and in came – over the frustrations of the people that drove Joe out – Kamala; it was supposed to be an actual astronaut, someone who had soared higher than nearly anyone else, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, but a bitter Joe (Jill) put the kibosh on that ASAMFP after his resignation tweet.He was dotty, he was un-electable, but PelosObama forgot he was still the president, and a cranky one at that and he would/could/should/did lash out at being couped aside.From that point on, it has been a year of lying dangerously for the administration, spinning patently absurd tales that endangered the entire the world.Madison Square Garden rally = nazis.Biden is totally backing Harris.An internal coup did not take place – it was just the appropriate discretion of a dozen or so people doing what they could to help the nation.Yes, Hunter got pardoned but that was Trump’s fault.There was no censorship program.Joe’s sharp as a tack.No, he didn’t have a tendency to wander away – that’s on you.Choco rations went up ten grams last year.What drones?Politicians have been lying since they were invented, but very few have built their entire time in office around them. Before he was elected president, Biden was a typical DC tax and spend liberal looking for a little sumthin’sumthin’ on the side. He had no core beliefs and went pretty much were the wind and the donors took him (even they wouldn’t take him to the White House, though.)He campaigned on normalcy, but instead brought about massive cultural upheaval and the obliteration of public trust all in the service of wildly woke ideas and proposals and policies he had never even cared about, let alone supported, before.Again, the entire administration was built on a series of lies from its beginning.But the shift to Kamala made continuing that impossible. While she essentially ran a cut-and-paste campaign (word search everything and replace “Biden” with “Harris”) when she did venture further afield – “joy,” um, finally talking to the press – on her own she spawned a new series of lies.The public saw Harris and thought “well, at least Joe has an excuse – he’s senile.”The lies got faster, more disposable, less credible, even sillier, even more insulting, and were screeched even louder by the media.The lying became more desperate, more dangerous and then – poof!The election is over and the truth the world knew all along is now starting to be admitted.To make sense of the past four years, Biden supporters had to suspend their disbelief, to put aside honest critical thinking in order to go for the ride – that attachment was one of the reasons why the entrenchment was so deep, so personal. Turning on the lights at last call in a bar reveals the truth, the reality of the evening and saying anything they did not want hear to progressives was like turning on the lights in the middle of a movie. Jarring, infuriating, guaranteed to end the suspension of belief.Well, that movie is now done, belief no longer needs to be suspended, and the year of lying dangerously is now over.Good riddance.Loading… […]

The Raiders went into New Orleans on Sunday and put together one of their best performances of the season.
The team, one week after snapping a 10-game losing streak at home against Jacksonville, defeated the Saints 25-10 at Caesars Superdome.
The win gave the Raiders (4-12) their first winning streak of the season. It’s the first time they’ve won consecutive games since Dec. 14 and Christmas Day in 2023.
Here’s a closer look at Sunday’s win over the Saints (5-11):
Putting it into perspective
The obvious question for the Raiders is why did it take them so long to look competent this year. It also leads one to wonder whether coach Antonio Pierce is thinking about what might have been if the team had figured things out sooner.
He insists he isn’t dwelling on that.
“I’m just trying to stay present,” Pierce said Monday. “Can’t live in the past. Can’t worry about the future.”
Obviously, Pierce’s future with the Raiders is clouded in uncertainty. So are the team’s plans at quarterback now that it’s projected to hold the eighth pick in April’s draft.
The Raiders also shouldn’t get too carried away with their winning streak. They were favored in both games and the Jaguars and Saints were missing their starting quarterbacks.
Star of the game
What a game for Ameer Abdullah.
The veteran running back gained more than 100 yards on the ground for the first time in his 10-year career.
Abdullah, 31, finished with 115 yards on 20 carries. His longest rush of the day was for 17 yards, so he just consistently churned out yards and moved the chains.
He also had 32 receiving yards on three catches.
Abdullah is one of the most popular players in the Raiders’ locker room and patiently waited a long time for the kind of opportunity he got Sunday.
It was a nice moment for him, and also the kind of performance a team can rally around.
Play of the game
Quarterback Aidan O’Connell sealed the Raiders’ victory with an 18-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Tre Tucker with 8:20 left in the fourth quarter.
The offensive line gave O’Connell plenty of time on the play. When the pocket did start to break down, he created a little space with a quick step to his left.

O’Connell to Tucker in the back corner for SIX!
📺: #LVvsNO on FOX📱: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/bijNWXZMJL
— NFL (@NFL) December 29, 2024

Tucker ran an out-and-up on the sideline and then backpedaled with O’Connell on the move. O’Connell threw the ball to the back corner of the end zone and Tucker managed to haul it in while keeping his feet inbounds.
It was the kind of play that required everyone to be on the same page once things went off script. The fact that the Raiders were is a good sign for the offense.
Drive of the game
The Raiders had one of their best drives of the season in the second quarter Sunday.
They got the ball at their own 5-yard line with 4:21 to play before halftime. Things didn’t start out well, as a holding call on tight end Michael Mayer backed the team up to the 3.
O’Connell threw an incompletion the next play, but Abdullah sparked the offense with a 17-yard run. Rookie tight end Brock Bowers followed that up with a 13-yard reception, then wide receiver Jakobi Meyers caught a 29-yard pass the first play after the two-minute warning.
A 17-yard reception by Bowers and a 13-yard run by Abdullah brought the Raiders to the Saints 3-yard line. O’Connell then hit Meyers for a touchdown and a 13-7 lead.
The Raiders covered 95 yards in nine plays on the drive and needed just 3:24 to score.
What were they thinking?
The Raiders didn’t do anything too egregious in this game. The worst mistakes were made by New Orleans rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler, who threw two interceptions.
One questionable decision came midway through the third quarter. The Raiders ran the ball on a third-and-5 from the Saints 37-yard line and Abdullah gained only a yard.
It felt like a spot where the team should only run the ball if it was planning on also going for it on fourth down. Instead, the Raiders sent kicker Daniel Carlson out for a 54-yard field goal attempt.
The kick was good and extended the team’s lead to 16-10. But it seemed like a conservative call that could have backfired if New Orleans responded with a touchdown.
Observations
■ The Raiders seem to be making a concerted effort to get Bowers involved early. Interim offensive coordinator Scott Turner designed plays for Bowers on each of the team’s first two offensive snaps.
■ The Raiders’ young offensive linemen don’t appear to be hitting any sort of rookie wall. Second-round pick Jackson Powers-Johnson was sensational in his second straight game at left guard while filling in for the injured Jordan Meredith. Third-round pick DJ Glaze has also had two excellent games in a row at right tackle. It’s no surprise the Raiders had a season-high 156 rushing yards Sunday with the two playing so well.
■ Rookie safety Thomas Harper had an interception, three tackles and a half sack in just 24 snaps against the Saints. He always seemed to be around the ball on tape.
Looking ahead
The Raiders have one final game on their schedule, a meeting with the playoff-bound Chargers at Allegiant Stadium.
It remains to be seen how relevant the game will be for Los Angeles (10-6).
The Chargers will be locked into the No. 6 seed if the Steelers beat the Bengals on Saturday. Los Angeles could decide to rest some of its top players if that ends up being the case.
A Pittsburgh loss, however, would open the door for the Chargers to get the No. 5 seed. That would mean a first-round game at No. 4 Houston instead of No. 3 Baltimore, so Los Angeles would have some motivation to win.
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X. […]

Authored by Melanie Sun via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),With solar storms causing a geomagnetic storm on Earth, the northern lights or aurora borealis could extend beyond the Arctic Circle down into the northernmost U.S. states this New Year’s Eve, according to a Dec. 31 forecast by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).The northern lights flare in the sky over a farmhouse in Brunswick, Maine, on May 10, 2024. Robert F. Bukaty/AP PhotoThe moderate-strong G2-G3 geomagnetic storm, with a Kp index of 6-7, forecasted for Dec. 31 by NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, means the aurora could be visible in New York and Idaho, and potentially as far south as Illinois and Oregon.The Kp-index measures geomagnetic activity in the Earth’s atmosphere. “For Kp in the range 6 to 7, the aurora will move even further from the poles and will become quite bright and active,” according to NOAA.A minor G1-level geomagnetic storm warning is also active from New Year’s Eve into Jan. 1. These storms typically produce auroras visible only from higher latitudes, in locations such as northern Michigan and Maine.Multiple solar flares—two X-class solar flares and 17 M-class flares—erupted on the Sun within 24 hours on Dec. 29.Two of the M-class flares released solar storms, or streams of electrically charged particles and plasma called coronal mass ejections (CMEs), toward Earth.This prompted the Space Weather Prediction Center to issue two geomagnetic storm warnings ahead of the CMEs’ arrival.Traveling 93 million miles, the CMEs are expected to reach Earth early in the mornings of Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.This is when the chance of seeing a turbo-charged aurora will be best.The aurora, known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), occurs when charged particles released by the Sun during flares arrive at Earth. These particles are directed by Earth’s protective magnetosphere toward the poles, where they collide with gases in the atmosphere. This interaction releases excess energy as colorful glows of light, visible as the aurora.The stronger the solar flare, the more energy arrives at Earth, and the brighter and more widespread the aurora.When, Where to See the AuroraClear, night skies are best for being able to see the aurora.The geomagnetic storm early New Year’s Eve morning and night (Eastern Time) may bring the colorful aurora to places above 50 degrees geomagnetic latitude, such as Alaska, Washington, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine.If the geomagnetic storm is strong enough, parts of Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Iowa, and New York may also get a glimpse of the lights early Dec. 31 Eastern Time before the sun rises.A man takes pictures of the Aurora Australis, also known as the Southern Lights, as it glows on the horizon over waters of Lake Ellesmere on the outskirts of Christchurch on April 24, 2023. Sanka Vidanagama/AFP via Getty ImagesThe CME from the first solar flare is forecast to arrive at Earth by midday UTC (7 a.m. ET) on Dec. 31, and the second flare near midday UTC (7 a.m. ET) on Jan. 1.Those in the upper latitudes in the Eastern Hemisphere will have a chance of seeing a brighter-than-usual aurora on New Year’s Eve.Updates to the forecast are available on NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center website.Uptick in Solar ActivityThe recent uptick in strong geomagnetic storms, seen as strong auroras, marks a period of increased solar activity on the Sun.The Sun’s activity has been observed to move through an 11-year solar cycle and has reached its solar maximum period.In May, the Earth was hit by the strongest geomagnetic storm in 20 years—a G5-level storm associated with an X8.7 solar flare—that saw reports of the aurora being visible as far south as Florida.The aurora borealis, commonly known as the northern lights, seen in Whitley Bay, England, on May 10, 2024. Ian Forsyth/Getty ImagesOctober saw an X1.8 solar flare and a resulting G3-level storm. X-class flares are the strongest category of solar flare and are 10 times the intensity of the preceding category, the M-class solar flare. They increase the risk of disturbances to satellite communications, power grids, and navigation systems.The current solar maxima, which started in 2020, is expected to last at least into 2026.Loading… […]

TFB Armorer’s Bench: Mounting an Optic on an X-Frame Revolver | thefirearmblog.com […]

Authored by Lawrence Wilson via The Epoch Times,President Ronald Reagan once said: “Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But the Marines don’t have that problem.”The same might be said of 2024, which saw a number of firsts that left a lasting impression on the world.Here are the defining moments of the year, presented in chronological order.Harvard President ResignsHarvard President Claudine Gay resigned on Jan. 2, about two months after she and other university administrators were questioned about anti-Semitism on their campuses.Under questioning from Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), a Harvard alumna, Gay said that students calling for the genocide of Jews did not necessarily violate Harvard’s code of conduct.Gay later apologized for the remarks.The U.S. Department of Education announced an investigation in late November 2023 into Harvard in light of anti-Semitism on its campus.Nearly 27 percent of Harvard students are Jewish.The resignation was the third among Ivy League presidents who faced pressure from donors and lawmakers over their handling of campus protests regarding the Israel–Hamas war.Claudine Gay (L), president of Harvard University, and other university administrators testify at a hearing to investigate anti-Semitism on college campuses, at the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 5, 2023. Kevin Dietsch/Getty ImagesMcConnell Steps DownSenate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced on Feb. 28 that he would step down at the end of the year but remain in the Senate.McConnell, 82, is the longest-serving party leader in Senate history. He faced persistent opposition from some Republican senators who disagreed with his efforts to continue funding Ukraine in its war with Russia.McConnell will be succeeded by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) on Jan. 3, 2025.Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) walks toward his office in Washington on Feb. 28, 2024. McConnell announced on this day that he will step down as Republican leader in November. Nathan Howard/Getty ImagesTerrorist Attack in Russia Kills 145A terrorist attack on a concert hall near Moscow killed at least 145 people and injured 180 on March 22.The ISIS terrorist group claimed responsibility, but Russian President Vladimir Putin alleged in a televised address that the perpetrators had attempted to flee to Ukraine.On June 23, terrorists attacked two cities in the Russian Republic of Dagestan, striking two synagogues, two churches, and a police post. At least 21 people were killed and 46 were injured.Mourners stand in a queue to lay flowers at a makeshift memorial after a massacre that killed 145 people, in front of the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, Russia, on March 24, 2024. Olga Maltseva/AFP via Getty ImagesShip Topples Key Bridge in BaltimoreA cargo ship collided with a supporting pillar of the 47-year-old Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, hurling steel, concrete, and people into the water. Six people died. Two were rescued.The incident closed Baltimore Harbor for 11 weeks, causing a major disruption to U.S. shipping.The bridge, which was part of Interstate 695, remains closed, causing some 31,000 vehicles per day to travel alternate routes.The cargo ship, Dali, sits in the water after colliding into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on March 26, 2024. Tasos Katopodis/Getty ImagesIsrael, Iran Trade StrikesIran launched more than 300 cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and drones in its first direct attack on Israel on April 13.Israel said that it intercepted 99 percent of the weapons with cooperation from the United States and other allied forces.A few missiles got through the defenses and caused minor damage to an Israeli military installation.The attack appeared to be in retaliation for an April 1 airstrike on the Iranian Embassy in Syria that killed two Iranian generals.After an apparent Israeli airstrike on an Iranian air base on April 19, both sides downplayed the incident, temporarily easing tensions between the two nations.People gather around the remains of one of the ballistic missiles fired by Iran earlier in the month and intercepted by Israel, that landed in an open area of the Negev desert near the city of Arad, Romania, on April 30, 2024. Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty ImagesPro-Palestinian Protesters Occupy CampusesProtesters demanding an end to the war in the Gaza Strip and divestment from Israel staged demonstrations on more than 80 campuses in at least 30 states in April and May.Some demonstrators occupied buildings, skirmished with counterprotesters, and created encampments in public spaces, resulting in hundreds of arrests.The protests were the largest display of campus unrest since the anti-apartheid demonstrations of the 1980s.Pro-Palestinian protesters gather outside of New York University during an ongoing demonstration against their school’s investments and the administration’s views on Israel, in New York City on May 3, 2024. Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesTrump ConvictedFormer President Donald Trump on May 30 became the first former president convicted of a crime.A New York state jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, a crime normally prosecuted as a misdemeanor.Trump maintained that this case, along with others against him, was politically motivated.Shortly after the conviction was announced, he told reporters: “The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people. And they know what happened here, and everybody knows what happened here.”Trump was a defendant in three other criminal cases in 2024.A federal case in Washington related to alleged election interference was dropped after Trump won reelection.The prosecutor in a federal case in Florida related to Trump’s retention of classified documents withdrew his appeal of an earlier decision by the judge to toss the case.A state case in Georgia alleging a scheme related to the 2020 election remains in jeopardy after an appeals court ruled in December that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her office were disqualified from prosecuting the case against Trump. A judge had earlier ordered the special prosecutor removed from the case for conduct that created an appearance of impropriety.The president-elect will be immune from prosecution during his term in office, which begins on Jan. 20.Former President Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower in New York City on May 30, 2024. The former president on this day was found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Stephanie Keith/Getty ImagesTrump Survives 2 Assassination AttemptsTrump survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.A 20-year-old gunman gained access to a roof approximately 400 feet from Trump at an outdoor rally and fired four shots, one striking Trump in the right ear.One bystander was killed and two others were wounded.The gunman was killed by the Secret Service.Trump dropped to the ground but soon rose, surrounded by Secret Service agents.His ear bloodied and his fist raised, Trump shouted, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”The moment provided one of the most vivid images in presidential history and sparked bipartisan criticism of Kimberly Cheatle, Secret Service director, who resigned 10 days later.On Sept. 16, another gunman was apprehended in Florida after allegedly lying in wait for the former president with a rifle at the Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach.On Nov. 19, the FBI announced that it had foiled an assassination plot against Trump by the government of Iran.Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump raises his fist after being shot, while Secret Service agents surround him, at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., on July 13, 2024. Evan Vucci/AP PhotoNvidia Becomes Largest US CompanyNvidia surpassed Apple on June 18 to become the world’s most valuable company.Demand for its artificial intelligence (AI) chips fueled the surge in its stock price.Lawmakers noted the company’s rise along with investors.Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called for an antitrust investigation of Nvidia, which she said controls about 90 percent of the high-end AI chip market and 98 percent of the graphics processing unit market.The Nvidia headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 5, 2024. Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesBiden Withdraws From Presidential RacePresident Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential campaign on July 21 and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.Biden made the decision barely three weeks after a poor debate performance with Trump, where he appeared to have difficulty remembering facts and completing sentences.Following the debate, several prominent Democrats called for Biden to step aside.The announcement upended what many observers called the most consequential presidential race in recent history just weeks before the election.Harris was formally declared the replacement nominee on Aug. 2 after a virtual roll call of Democrat delegates. She introduced Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate on Aug. 6.No other presidential candidate has withdrawn from a reelection campaign that far into the race.Lyndon Johnson ended his campaign on March 31, 1968.Harry Truman withdrew from his reelection bid on March 29, 1952.President Joe Biden delivers remarks as Vice President Kamala Harris looks on, at the White House on July 14, 2024. Kevin Dietsch/Getty ImagesIsrael Kills Top Leaders of Hamas and HezbollahIsrael claimed responsibility on Aug. 1 for a July airstrike in the Gaza Strip that killed Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif.The announcement was made a day after the apparent Israeli assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, and not long after Israel’s killing of a Hezbollah commander in Beirut, Lebanon.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “[We] will exact a heavy price from any aggression against us on any front.”A woman walks near a billboard displaying portraits of Hamas leader Mohammed Deif (R) and Ismail Haniyeh with the slogan “assassinated” written in Hebrew, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Aug. 2, 2024. Oren Ziv/AFP via Getty ImagesPrisoner Exchange Frees Americans in RussiaEvan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter sentenced to 16 years in a Russian prison for espionage, was freed on Aug. 1 along with three others in a multinational prisoner exchange with Russia.The U.S. government said Gershkovich’s trial was politically motivated.Also freed were U.S. Marine veteran Paul Whelan, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, and Russian British journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza.Americans Evan Gershkovich (L), Alsu Kurmasheva (R), Paul Whelan (2nd R), and others aboard a plane following their release from Russian captivity, on Aug. 1, 2024. White House via APUkraine Invades RussiaTwo and a half years after Russia invaded Ukraine, Ukrainian armed forces invaded the Kursk Oblast Region of Russia.The Aug. 6 surprise attack marked a change of momentum in the war, which had become a grinding conflict that produced small territorial gains but significant numbers of casualties.Ukrainian forces intended to use the attack to draw Russian troops out of the occupied Ukrainian territory of Donetsk. Ukraine claimed to control about 444 square miles of Kursk by Aug. 15.The offensive raised morale in Ukraine, although Russia counterattacked weeks later and regained much of the territory.Ukrainian servicemen operate a Soviet-made T-72 tank in the Sumy region, near the border with Russia, on Aug. 12, 2024. Ukraine launched a surprise attack in the Russian border region of Kursk on Aug. 6, 2024. Roman Pilipey/AFP via Getty ImagesCCP Agent Arrested in New York StateThe FBI arrested a former deputy chief of staff to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Sept. 3 for spying on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).Linda Sun and her husband, Christopher Hu, were both charged with multiple crimes.On Dec. 10, federal agents arrested a Chinese national suspected of flying a drone over Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and taking photos of the SpaceX rocket pads on the day a contractor launched a national reconnaissance payload.The arrests are the latest in a string of arrests of people suspected of espionage on behalf of the CCP.Also in 2024, two Chinese nationals and two U.S. citizens pleaded guilty to federal charges related to spying for the CCP in three separate cases.Linda Sun (R), a former aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, and her husband, Chris Hu, exit the federal court in Brooklyn after Sun was charged with acting on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party, in New York City on Sept. 3, 2024. Kent J. Edwards/ReutersExploding Pagers Kill, Injure Hezbollah MembersPagers and walkie-talkies exploded in a series of incidents on Sept. 17 and 18, killing dozens and wounding thousands across Lebanon.Hezbollah leaders said through an intermediary that members of various Hezbollah-aligned military units and political institutions were injured in the blasts.Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on Sept. 22 that his country was not involved in the attacks.However, two men who identified themselves as retired Israeli intelligence agents said in a “60 Minutes” interview on Dec. 22 that Israel had undertaken the operation, which was some 10 years in the making.Smoke billows from a house after a reported explosion of a radio device, in Baalbek, Lebanon, on Sept. 18, 2024. -/AFP via Getty ImagesHurricane Helene Batters SoutheastHurricane Helene made landfall on Sept. 26 to become the deadliest hurricane in the continental United States since Katrina in 2005.Helene, a Category 4 hurricane, caused more than 150 direct fatalities, mostly in North Carolina and South Carolina. Helene also created storm surges and flooding in the Florida Gulf Coast and western North Carolina.The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season brought an above-average number of named storms at 18.Named storms are organized cyclones with sustained winds of 39 mph or more.Of the 18 storms, 11 were hurricanes, having sustained winds of at least 73 mph, and five were classified as major hurricanes, having sustained winds of at least 111 mph.The average number of named storms per season is 14, including seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.Damaged buildings in the aftermath of flooding caused by Hurricane Helene, in Bat Cave, N.C., on Oct. 8, 2024. Mario Tama/Getty ImagesSettlement Allows College Athletes to Be PaidA federal judge approved a preliminary legal settlement on Oct. 7 that will allow schools to pay college athletes.The move is likely to transform college athletics by funneling millions of dollars to elite players.If finalized in April 2025, the settlement will establish a pool of $21.5 million to be distributed among college athletes in the first year of the arrangement.NCAA rules were changed in 2021 to allow college athletes to profit from licensing rights to their name, image, and likeness, although restrictions vary among states and universities.Soccer players of the Dutch national team train in preparation for the 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, at the KNVB Campus in Zeist, the Netherlands, on June 2, 2024. Vincent Jannink/ANP/AFP via Getty ImagesSpaceX Catches RocketSpaceX caught a giant booster rocket, part of its Starship system, with a pair of mechanical arms as it arrived back at the launchpad in Boca Chica, Texas, after propelling a craft toward space on Oct. 13.The first-ever such landing was a milestone in the campaign to create a fully reusable rocket.Starship, when fully tested, is intended for use in landing astronauts on the moon’s south pole, according to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, who sent congratulations.The most recent American lunar landing was 52 years ago.Starship’s Super Heavy Booster is grappled at the launch pad in Starbase near Boca Chica, Texas, on Oct.13, 2024. SpaceX successfully “caught” the first-stage booster of its Starship megarocket as it returned to the launch pad after a test flight, a world first in the company’s quest for rapid reusability. Sergio Flores/AFP via Getty ImagesTrump Defeats Harris, GOP Captures Senate, Keeps HouseTrump defeated Harris in the Nov. 5 presidential election, becoming just the second president to serve a nonconsecutive term.The victory capped a historic political comeback by Trump after his loss in the 2020 election.Republicans also gained control of the Senate and maintained a narrow majority in the House of Representatives.The outcome offers Trump a second chance at implementing his “America First” agenda, which focuses on border security, stimulating the economy by increasing domestic energy production, and increasing U.S. manufacturing through a system of tax incentives for domestic manufacturers and tariffs on imported goods.President-elect Donald Trump and incoming First Lady Melania Trump during an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Nov. 6, 2024. Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesCCP Hacks US TelecomChinese regime-sponsored hackers breached several U.S. telecommunication providers and stole customer call records and private communications from people involved in government or political activity, federal officials announced on Nov. 13.The joint statement by the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency appeared to suggest that the breach may have targeted programs covered by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.The full extent of the breach is not yet known.One of the hacker groups is believed to have breached AT&T, CenturyLink, Verizon, and other telecom providers and to have targeted Trump and Harris.The cyberattack has been in progress since at least 2021 and is ongoing.A contract crew for Verizon conducts update work on a cell tower in Orem, Utah, on Dec. 10, 2019. A Beijing-sponsored hacker group is believed to have breached U.S. telecom providers. George Frey/AFP via Getty ImagesBiden Pardons His SonPresident Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter on Dec. 1, sparing him jail time for tax evasion and firearms charges to which he had pleaded guilty.The blanket pardon also covers any federal offenses Hunter Biden may have committed from Jan. 1, 2014, through Dec. 1, 2024.Before Hunter Biden’s conviction, President Biden said he would not grant his son a pardon.Some Republicans and Democrats criticized Biden for abuse of the pardon power. Yet two other presidents have pardoned relatives or their extended family members.In 2001 Bill Clinton pardoned his brother, Roger Clinton, for 1985 convictions on drug charges.Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, in 2020.The elder Kushner was convicted on charges of fraud and retaliation against a witness in 2005.On Dec. 23, Biden commuted the sentences of all but three federal convicts awaiting execution on death row.Hunter Biden departs the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building in Wilmington, Del., on June 3, 2024. President Joe Biden pardoned his son on Dec. 1, 2024. Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesHealth Insurance CEO Gunned DownThe CEO of UnitedHealthcare was gunned down on a sidewalk in New York City on Dec. 4.The killer lay in wait for Brian Thompson, 50, and apparently intended to use the killing to draw attention to perceived abuses in the health insurance industry.Luigi Mangione, 26, has been arrested and charged with multiple state and federal offenses in connection with the crime.The murder elicited both outrage over the brazen act of violence and a rash of caustic social media posts expressing contempt for health insurance companies over their perceived unfair treatment of customers.Police respond as CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, was shot as he prepared to enter the New York Hilton in New York City on Dec. 4, 2024. Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty ImagesNotre Dame Cathedral ReopensNotre Dame Cathedral in Paris, nearly destroyed by fire in 2019, reopened on Dec. 7.Trump was one of some 50 foreign leaders invited by French President Emmanuel Macron to attend the ceremonies.Trump and Macron were both in office when Notre Dame burned.As the symbol of Paris reopened, Trump was poised to complete one of the most remarkable political comebacks in American history as his French counterpart struggled to retain power.Trump met with Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Paris just before the reopening ceremonies.The choir, clergy, and guests stand during a ceremony to mark the reopening of Notre-Dame of Paris Cathedral in Paris on Dec. 7, 2024. After five years of restoration after a 2019 fire, the cathedral reopens its doors to the world in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron and around 50 heads of state. Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Notre-Dame de ParisAssad Regime FallsThe Arab Spring, which began with popular protests across the Arab world in the early 2010s, bore fruit on Dec. 7 as Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad fled the country, with rebel groups closing in on Damascus.Assad’s exit brought his 24 years in power to an end, although various rebel groups now occupy portions of the country.Thousands gather in the streets after the fall of the Assad regime, in Damascus, Syria. on Dec. 13, 2024. Sami Boudra/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty ImagesTrump said on Jan. 20 that Turkey, a NATO country, will hold the “key to Syria,” as most of the rebel groups controlling territory in Syria are “controlled by Turkey.”French judges issued an international arrest warrant for Assad and other Syrian officials in November 2023 for the use of chemical weapons against civilians in the Syrian civil war.Assad has been given sanctuary in Moscow.Loading… […]