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Opinion: As Iraq War showed, consensus in foreign policy can be dangerous

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:12 GMT

With the 20th anniversary of the launch of the Iraq War, I’m reminded of the remarkable consensus behind that decision, which passed with strong bipartisan support. Experts, journalists and well-known media personalities joined the bandwagon too.Often, consensus is good. It clears away opposition and helps make things happen. But too often, quick agreement on hard problems is a sign of dangerous groupthink instead.This wide support has not aged well. It launched a bloody war, at a cost of $2 trillion and an estimated 300,000 lives. It led to a violent insurgency and the creation of the Islamic State militant group. Generations of Iraqis will continue to suffer the consequences.And so will America. Although the material suffering in Iraq dwarfs our own, I’m not sure America will ever escape the long tail of distrust that has understandably followed us since then.The original sin was the decision to go to war on a dishonest pretext. That foundation gave rise to our use of torture, ren...

Kurtenbach: Cult hero Sergio Romo ’emptied the tank’ one last time, exiting with a one-of-a-kind legacy

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:12 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — One last hop out of the bullpen.One last blast of “El Mechón” on the Oracle Park soundsystem.A few more sliders, for old times’ sake, and a classy exit befitting a Giants legend.Sergio Romo didn’t have much in the tank when he entered the seventh inning of the Giants-A’s exhibition game on Monday night. He admitted as much.But he gave everything he had for the Giants one last time.“A couple of weeks ago, when I was sitting on the couch, they presented me with this opportunity. It didn’t matter how I felt physically. I knew it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass,” Romo said.“I can honestly say that, not just tonight, but my whole career, I emptied the tank. I gave it everything I had, every time.”And it was that attitude that made him a fan favorite throughout his improbable and exceptional 15-year career.“I took a lot of pride in challenging hitters,” Romo said. “I know I never lit up ...

Dive team locates body of missing 7-year-old boy in Moss Landing Harbor

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:12 GMT

MOSS LANDING — Authorities have confirmed that a body discovered in Moss Landing Harbor over the weekend was a 7-year-old child missing from the area since March 22.According to family and the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, the boy, identified as Edgar Espinoza, disappeared after he, his younger brother and mother had spent the day in Moss Landing. First responders converged on the area that same night, searching for Edgar and his mother, Florencia Ramirez-Urbano, 27, of Salinas, after the 3-year-old son was located alone near Jetty Road. The body of Ramirez-Urbano, who appeared to have drowned, was discovered soon after.A multi-agency search continued through 11:20 a.m. Saturday, when Sheriff’s Office divers, working with California Recovery Divers, found a child’s remains about 10 feet below the surface in the harbor. The Coroner Unit of the Sheriff’s Office has confirmed the recovered child was Edgar.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Missing plumber was asle...

Santa Cruz man alleged shooter in Hard Rock Lake Tahoe homicide

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:12 GMT

STATELINE, NEVADA — A man authorities say is a Santa Cruz County man was arrested in a manhunt after a fatal Hard Rock Hotel & Casino shooting Saturday.In a news conference the same day, Douglas County, Nevada, Sheriff Dan Coverley identified the alleged shooter as Edgar Julian Delgado, 24. Also arrested was Savannah Racquel Tautaupele, 26, apparently also of Santa Cruz, whose correct spelling of her last name Douglas County officials confirmed Monday.Law enforcement was called to the Hard Rock Hotel’s Center Bar at 8:08 a.m. that day for a report of an active shooter. There, officers found a man later identified as Omar Reyes Garcia, 32, of South Lake Tahoe, suffering from a single gunshot wound to his head. Garcia later died after receiving care at a nearby hospital, Coverley said.Hard Rock security staff provided law enforcement with security footage that led to the arrest of Delgado and Tautaupele by the El Dorado Sheriff’s Office across state lines, driving on Highway 50 ne...

Report: Employers would gladly replace workers with AI technology

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:12 GMT

Feeling dispensable in a world of artificial intelligence?Your fears are not unfounded. A new report from beautiful.ai shows 66% of workplace managers would gladly replace employees with AI tools if the technology produced comparable work.Sixty nine percent said it would “be financially beneficial” to replace employees with AI technology, with 68% citing lower payroll costs.“Companies are beginning to accept and adopt AI into their workflows to improve efficiency and increase output,” the report said. “In fact, 95% of those interviewed said that their teams have already started using AI tools.”Customer service representatives and IT support technicians are among the workers most likely to be replaced by AI technology. In the future, many cubicles will probably be unoccupied. (File photo) Beautiful.ai, which uses artificial intelligence to create corporate presentations and reports, polled 3,000 executives in management positions for “The Future of AI in the Workplace: A Survey ...

California skydiver survives crash into electrical lines ‘without a scratch’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:12 GMT

A novice skydiver’s bad fortune ended with authorities marveling at her good luck after firefighters and Southern California Edison workers freed her from power lines 35 feet above the ground during a failed landing attempt near Skydive Elsinore on Monday, March 27.“We don’t know how she avoided electrocution, but she did,” said Battalion Chief Jeff Roberts of the Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department.“She walked away without a scratch,” said Josh Hall, the skydiving facility’s general manager.Southern California Edison workers help free a skydiver after colliding with power lines on the DeJongs Dairy in Lake Elsinore Monday, March 27, 2023. (Photo by Andrew Foulk, Contributing photographer)A skydiver wipes a tear from her eye when she reaches the ground after colliding with power lines on the DeJongs Dairy in Lake Elsinore Monday, March 27, 2023. (Photo by Andrew Foulk, Contributing photographer)A Southern California Edison worker makes his way to help a skydiver who got caught...

Dozens killed in fire at migrant facility in Mexico

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:12 GMT

At least three dozen migrants died Monday night in a fire at an immigration detention center in northern Mexico near the U.S. border, according to a newspaper report.Images from the scene showed ambulances, firemen and vans from the morgue around the facility.The Diario de Juarez newspaper citied unnamed sources in the Chihuahua state prosecutor’s office. It reported the fire occurred late Monday at a facility in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas.Neither Mexico’s National Immigration Institute nor the Chihuahua state prosecutor’s office responded immediately to requests for confirmation.Ciudad Juarez is a major crossing point for migrants entering the United States. Its shelters are full of migrants waiting for opportunities to cross or who have requested asylum in the United States and are waiting out the process.

Prospects get chance to shine in Basketball Africa League

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:12 GMT

They’re refining skills of young prospects at the NBA Academy in Africa. The vocabulary, too.“There is a word that really we don’t like, which is ‘raw,'” said Franck Traore, head of basketball operations for NBA Africa. “When you have an African player going to the U.S., they say ‘raw.’”Several academy prospects are playing in the new season of the Basketball Africa League, hoping to gain valuable experience in a professional setting and show that their game is more polished than many think.Now in its third season, the league was created by the NBA in partnership with FIBA to help grow the sport in Africa. It’s a three-month, Champions League-style competition for African club teams.They added a twist last season with each of the 12 teams being assigned an academy prospect — called the “BAL Elevate” program that’s in place this campaign, too.The young players have to earn minutes on rosters full of veterans. It’s another opportunity — along ...

Amnesty: West’s ‘double standards’ fuel Mideast repression

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:12 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — A leading international rights group on Tuesday decried what it said were double standards by Western countries that have rallied behind a “robust response” to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but remain “lukewarm” on issues of human rights violations in the Middle East.According to Amnesty International, such double standards only fuel further repression for millions in the region. The sharp rebuke came as the London-based watchdog launched its annual report at a news conference at its office in Beirut, Lebanon’s capital. Every year, the report documents and analyzes patterns of human rights violations and abuses across the world. In the report, Amnesty urged the international community to hold perpetrators of human rights abuses in the Middle East and North Africa to account, and to address the issue of migration without discrimination.“They immediately opened their borders to receive refugees from Ukraine,” Aya Majzoub, Amnesty’s deputy chief for...

Portugal: 2 dead, several injured in Muslim center stabbing

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:12 GMT

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portuguese police shot a man suspected of stabbing two people to death at an Ismaili Muslim center in Lisbon, authorities said Tuesday.Police were called to the center late Tuesday morning where they encountered a suspect “armed with a large knife,” a police statement said.Police ordered him to surrender but he advanced toward them and was “neutralized,” the statement said. The suspect was taken to a Lisbon hospital where he was in police custody.Several other people were wounded, according to the statement, but it provided no further details.Prime Minister António Costa said police shot the suspect. Costa told reporters the attack was “a criminal act.” “Everything points to this being an isolated incident,” Costa said, without elaborating.There was no immediate word on the identity of those killed.Armed police from a special operations unit could be seen forming a perimeter outside the building. Costa said police were investigating the attack and it was too ...