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AXA Health physiotherapist Bethany Tomlinson has warned plane plassengers to stop adopting a common sitting position when aboard flights due to the health risks

A physiotherapist has warned against adopting a common sitting position when settling in for a flight.

When confronted with the unforgiving, padding-light seats on offer on budget airlines such as Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air, getting comfy is no mean feat. Particularly when dealing with a seat in front that looms just centimetres away from your knees.

According to AXA Health physiotherapist Bethany Tomlinson, crossing your legs is not the way to go. While it may feel like a polite way to avoid a spot of man-spreading that embraces some of the European sophistication of the destination you may be heading to, Bethany warns that it can lead to joint issues.

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“Avoid crossing your legs in your plane seat as this will impact blood flow and increase the risk of developing deep vein thrombosis (DVT),” she told Mail Online.

DVT is the formation of a thrombus in a deep vein, which partially or completely obstructs blood flow in that vessel. Travel-related DVT can occur as a result of prolonged immobility during long-distance travel. This results from a combination of factors, including prolonged cramped sitting and seat-edge pressure.

The annual incidence of DVT is estimated to be about 1 in 1000. However, the risk of developing DVT is increased two to fourfold after long-haul flights of more than four hours, according to NICE. Most clots are small and do not cause symptoms.

For healthy people, the risk is estimated to be one event in 4,656 to 6,000 flights over four hours in length.

One of the best ways to lower your risk of DVT is to keep your legs elevated and choose different relaxing positions. Bethany suggests keeping your legs slightly elevated using the footrest on the seat in front of you.

This can help lower the risk of DVT, while also decreasing the chance that you’ll arrive on holiday with stiff knees – something that blights the lives of one in three Brits.

The pros at Netflights have also shared their top tips for making that long-haul journey a tad more bearable. One of their key recommendations is to rise from your seat and take a stroll every one to three hours. Make a deliberate effort to move about frequently during your flight.

Even something as simple as walking to the loo or standing up for a stretch can help keep you feeling sprightly and prevent stiffness, which is particularly vital on flights exceeding four hours. Stretching is another crucial aspect, and you can do this right from your seat. Gently roll your neck from side to side, rotate your shoulders forwards and backwards, and carefully twist your spine.

A NEW phone uses AI to stop children filming and sending nude content.

The HarmBlock+ tech in Vodafone’s latest handset also prevents them seeing and saving sexual images.

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A study by the firm found one in five secondary pupils had felt pressured into sharing explicit pictures of themselves.

And of those who had, 63 per cent had them forwarded without consent.

Four in ten teachers reported explicit image-sharing as a growing problem.

Vodafone and Finnish firm HMD’s Fuse handset uses the AI developed by UK-based SafeToNet.

It is embedded into the operating system, including camera, so is impossible to bypass.

Creator Richard Pursey said: “Harmblock analyses what the camera sees, including live streams, every fraction of a second.

“If it detects sexual content it instantly blocks the recording.

“HarmBlock also analyses what’s being rendered to the screen. If harmful sexual content is about to appear, it’s blocked.

“It means children can’t be tricked into filming sexual acts, can’t stumble upon pornography nor be blackmailed.

“It’s ground-breaking.”

Some 750 federal health employees signed the letter two weeks after a gunman fired 180 bullets into CDC buildings.

Hundreds of federal health employees have written to United States Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, imploring him to “stop spreading inaccurate health information”, weeks after a gunman fired hundreds of bullets into the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.

Signatories to the letter on Wednesday, including hundreds of current HHS staff, accused Kennedy of “sowing public mistrust by questioning the integrity and morality of CDC’s workforce”, including by calling the public health agency a “cesspool of corruption”, during his 2024 failed presidential election campaign.

They also said that Kennedy’s policies, including cuts to thousands of HHS employees, were creating “dangerous gaps in areas like infectious diseases detection, worker safety, and chronic disease prevention and response”.

“The deliberate destruction of trust in America’s public health workforce puts lives at risk,” the workers said, noting that Kennedy had spread false claims about the measles vaccine, undermining the public health outbreak response to the disease.

They also noted that the recent attack on the CDC building was another example of the dangers resulting from the health secretary’s words.

The shooter, who had publicly expressed his distrust of COVID-19 vaccines, opened fire at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, fatally shooting police officer David Rose, 33, before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on August 8.

In a statement shared with US media outlets, the HHS said that “Secretary Kennedy is standing firmly with CDC employees – both on the ground and across every center – ensuring their safety and wellbeing remain a top priority”.

Kennedy has long been accused of spreading vaccine misinformation, including in a 2019 visit to Samoa, which came months before a measles outbreak on the South Pacific island which killed 81 people, mostly babies and young children.

In an interview with The Guardian newspaper earlier this year, Samoa’s prime minister, Fiame Naomi Mataʻafa, expressed surprise that Kennedy, who denies being against vaccines, was chosen as US health secretary.

More recently, Kennedy has cancelled hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for research into mRNA vaccines, a medical breakthrough credited with preventing millions of deaths from COVID-19 and having the potential to treat diseases such as cancer and HIV, according to the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

William Foege, who served as the director of the CDC from 1977 to 1983, penned an article in US health outlet Stat News this week, urging public health workers to “not back down”.

“We will live through this drought of values, principles, and facts and again apply our talents to improving global health and happiness,” he wrote.

Foege, who has been credited with playing an instrumental role in eradicating smallpox, a virus that was fatal in 30 percent of cases, went on to warn that Kennedy’s words were dangerous.

“In the meantime, be clear. Kennedy’s words can be as lethal as the smallpox virus. Americans deserve better,” he wrote.

A COUPLE have been mistaken for mother and son online due to their height difference – despite being just two years apart in age.

At 21, Millie is two years younger than her fiancée, Chelsea – but is often called her “mum” or “big sister” when she shares pictures and videos of them online.

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While Millie is 5ft6, Chelsea is five inches shorter at 5ft1, and has more youthful features, leading to an outpouring of shocked comments online.

Videos of the pair have garnered over one million views, and left them fuming over the trolling they’ve received as a result.

“It affects us when people are accusing me of being attracted to children,” Millie, from East Midlands, UK, told What’s The Jam.

“It’s disgraceful as Chelsea is older than me.

“Other comments call her my son, or nephew, or brother.

“We understand the comments about the age difference – we personally think it’s just about Chelsea’s height.

“But viewers read more into it and say her features are young.

“People say to check my hard drive, insinuating I’m attracted to children!”

The couple, who are both support workers and have been together for nine years, say the comments have affected how they interact with one another when they are out and about.

Millie said: “We’ve been made to feel we can’t act like a couple in public.

“If people saw me holding hands with my ‘son’, we would get funny looks.

“We’ve accepted it now and just accept the fact that we may not always [be able to] act like we are in a relationship.”

A recent video shared by the pair went viral on TikTok, garnering 1.7 million views, showing the couple posing next to each other on a balcony, showing off their height difference, which is exacerbated by Millie wearing wedged shoes.

Celebrity couples with height differences

• Zendaya (5’10”) and Tom Holland (5’8″)
• Cameron Diaz (5’9″) and Benji Madden (5’6″)
• Eniko Parrish (5’7″) and Kevin Hart (5’4″)
• Gwendoline Christie (6’3″) and Giles Deacon (6′)
• Tina Fey (5’5″) and Jeff Richmond (5’2″)
• Nicole Kidman (5’11”) and Keith Urban (5’10”)
• Helen Lasichanh (5’11”) and Pharrell Williams (5’9″)
• Erin Darke (5’7″) and Daniel Radcliffe (5’5″)

One person commented: “How old is your son?”

“I don’t understand this. What’s her son got to do with her height?” another baffled user wrote, to which the couple responded: “Because we’re together. Not son and mother. Two grown women in their 20s DATING.”

Another viewer said, “Please tell me that’s your brother.”

“This is mother and son, right?” another user asked.

Someone else commented: “I legit thought this was your little brother.”

“Is he 12?” another person wondered.

But the couple aren’t letting the hate get to them, and are currently planning on getting IUI fertility treatment in order to start their own family – keeping their 16,000 followers updated along the way.

After a tense and sharply divided debate Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council voted to oppose a state bill that aims to vastly expand high-density housing near public transit hubs, arguing that the state should leave important planning decisions to local legislators.

The council voted 8 to 5 to oppose Senate Bill 79, which seeks to mitigate the state’s housing shortage by allowing buildings of up to nine stories near certain train stops and slightly smaller buildings near some bus stops throughout California.

“A one-size-fits-all mandate from Sacramento is not safe, and it’s not responsible,” said City Councilmember Traci Park at a news conference before the vote.

Park, who was joined at the news conference by Councilmembers Monica Rodriguez and John Lee, said the bill was an attempt by its sponsor, state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), and other state legislators to “hijack” local planning from the city.

Lee, who authored the resolution opposing the bill, called it “not planning” but “chaos.”

Wiener lamented the City Council’s vote.

“Opponents of SB 79 are offering no real solutions to address our housing shortage at the scale needed to make housing more affordable,” Wiener said in a statement. “California’s affordability crisis threatens our economy, our diversity, and our fundamental strength as a state.”

In addition to creating more affordable housing, the bill would increase public transit ridership, reduce traffic and help the state meet its climate goals, he said.

Councilmember Nithya Raman, who voted against opposing the bill, said the city’s housing crisis is so dire that the council needs to work with the drafters of the bill — even if there are elements of it they do not support.

“Overall, we talk a lot about our housing crisis on this body, but our actions have not met the moment,” she said. “If I thought that this body was acting in good faith to address our housing crisis, I would support this [resolution].”

The bill, which passed the Senate and is before the Assembly Appropriations Committee, would allow heights of nine stories near major transit hubs, such as certain Metro train stops in L.A. A quarter-mile from a stop, buildings could be seven stories tall, and a half-mile from a stop, they could be six stories. Single-family neighborhoods within a half-mile of transit stops would be included in the new zoning rules.

Near smaller transit stops, such as light rail or bus rapid transit, the allowed heights would be slightly lower.

Next week, the Appropriations Committee will determine whether the bill goes to the Assembly floor for a vote. If passed in both chambers, the bill would go to Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign by mid-October.

The City Council’s resolution opposing the bill has no binding effect on the state Legislature but gives the council a platform to potentially lobby in Sacramento against its passage. The resolution also called for the city to be exempt from the bill because it has a state-approved housing plan.

“If they hadn’t taken a position on this, the state Legislature would say, ‘Well, the city of L.A. doesn’t care,’” said Zev Yaroslavsky, a former City Council member and now the director of the Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Mayor Karen Bass has not yet taken a position on the bill. City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto came out against it in May, arguing that it would cost the city billions of dollars to upgrade infrastructure such as sewage and electrical systems to handle an influx of residents in previously low-density neighborhoods.

Wiener’s office said the bill allows for cities to exempt some properties near transit hubs if they meet density guidelines.

This year, the City Council passed the Citywide Housing Incentive Program, which provides incentives for developers to build market-rate and affordable units and aims to boost building along commercial corridors and in dense residential neighborhoods.

The council passed the ordinance, which left single-family zones largely untouched after pushback from homeowners groups, a week before a state deadline for the city to have a housing plan in place. As part of the plan, the city was required to find land where an additional 255,000 homes could be built.

PA Media

PA Media

‘Sidestepped scrutiny’

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro says India’s purchases of Russian crude oil are funding Moscow’s war in Ukraine and have to stop, as Washington ramps up pressure on New Delhi to cut off its energy imports from Russia.

“India acts as a global clearinghouse for Russian oil, converting embargoed crude into high-value exports while giving Moscow the dollars it needs,” Navarro wrote in an opinion piece published in the Financial Times on Monday.

He added that India’s dependence on Russian crude is “opportunistic and deeply corrosive of the world’s efforts to isolate Putin’s war economy”.

India is the second-largest buyer of Russian oil, after China, and more than 30 percent of its fuel is sourced from Moscow, providing revenue to the Kremlin amid Western sanctions.

In the beginning of this month, United States President Donald Trump imposed 50 percent tariffs on Indian goods over the issue, straining US-India ties.

In a speech on the occasion of India’s Independence Day on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi struck a defiant note, pledging to protect his country’s farmers in the face of high tariffs slapped by the Trump administration.

“Modi will stand like a wall against any policy that threatens their interests. India will never compromise when it comes to protecting the interests of our farmers,” he said.

India-Russia ties

India counts Russia among its closest defence partners, with the bulk of its weapons, including the S-400 missile defence system, sourced from Moscow. India has continued to maintain good ties with Russia, with Modi meeting Putin in Moscow amid the Ukraine war.

But New Delhi has been cultivating ties with Washington in the past decades, raising their relations to a strategic level. The two countries have annual bilateral trade of $128bn, but Trump has been pushing to lower the $45bn deficit in India’s favour.

The US also saw India as a bulwark against rising China, but the recent actions by the Trump administration seem to have pushed India to mend ties with its rival, China.

Indian Prime Minister Modi is set to travel to China at the end of the month, while Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is arriving in India on Monday on a two-day trip, for talks on the disputed border between the two countries.

In the opinion piece on Monday, the White House adviser pointed out that India is “cozying up” to Russia and China. “If India wants to be treated as a strategic partner of the US, it needs to start acting like one,” Navarro wrote.

The adviser also said it was risky to transfer cutting-edge US military capabilities to India as New Delhi’s ties to China and Russia deepen.

Navarro is the second senior Trump administration official to accuse India of financing Russia’s war in Ukraine. Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff at the White House, in the first week of August said that New Delhi’s purchase of Russia crude was “not acceptable”.

“What he (Trump) said very clearly is that it is not acceptable for India to continue financing this war by purchasing the oil from Russia,” Miller, one of Trump’s most influential aides, said in an interview with Fox News.

‘Unfairly singled out’

India’s Foreign Ministry has said the country is being ‘unfairly’ singled out for buying Russian oil while the US and European Union continue to buy goods from Russia.

The EU and US trade much more with Russia than India does – New Delhi’s contention for being singled out – although this trade has dipped significantly since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

According to the EU, its total trade with Russia was worth 67.5 billion euros ($77.9bn) in 2024, a fall from 257.5 billion euros ($297.4bn) in 2021.

The bloc also continues to buy Russian gas – $105.6bn for gas imports since the war began – an amount equivalent to 75 percent of Russia’s 2024 military budget, according to the Finnish think tank the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

Total Russia-US trade in 2024, meanwhile, stood at $5.2bn, according to the US Trade Representative’s office – though significantly down from 2021, when it stood at $36bn.

India and the US have also been haggling for months to agree on a free trade agreement, with Trump accusing New Delhi of denying access to US goods by imposing high tariffs.

Meanwhile, a planned visit by US trade negotiators to New Delhi from August 25 to 29 has been called off, a source told the Reuters news agency, delaying talks on a proposed trade agreement meant to be a relief from additional US tariffs on Indian goods.

KATIE Price is facing a new legal battle with all three of her ex-husbands.

Kieran Hayler, 38, and Alex Reid, 50, are said to be consulting lawyers in a bid to stop her explosive Sky documentary airing next year.

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It comes after Katie’s ex Peter Andre accused her of making “baseless accusations“ against him, and claimed their children Princess and Junior have been in his care since 2018 ‘for their safety.’

Peter finally snapped after Katie moaned about being frozen out of her daughter Princess‘s blossoming career – and claimed that their kids live with both Pete and her.

He said: “Unfortunately, there are many more lies and baseless accusations that I have yet to address. Those will be dealt with in the coming months.”

Now Kieran and Alex are in contact via an intermediary after a tell-all documentary was announced.

A source told the Mirror: “They feel like they have been backed into a corner and have no choice. They just want her to stop trashing them, and can’t believe she is being given a platform.”

A spokesman for Kieran said: “We are keeping all our options open. I can confirm Alex Reid is on the same page.”

After Peter broke his 16-year silence on Katie, she spoke out in a statement via her rep.

A spokesman for the mum of five told The Sun: “Kate is in a much better and clear headspace and is at peace with the situation.

“This was in the past and she doesn’t feel the need to bring up tit for tat comments, but more importantly she’s dealing with this the right way and it’s now in her lawyers hands.

“Kate will no longer be gaslighted and bullied as she once was…”

Katie is currently dating MAFS star JJ Slater, but before this she had a long-term romance with Carl Woods. 

Before falling for Carl, Katie was engaged to fitness trainer Kris Boyson, 29, and before Kris she was married to Kieran. 

Katie married MMA fighter Alex in Las Vegas in February 2010 and before Alex there was Pete, who she met on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! in 2004. 

The pair soon got together and married in a lavish ceremony in September 2005 in Highclere Castle.

After Peter released his statement, Katie’s ex Kieran Hayler shared a cryptic post about “rising like a Phoenix” amid their public feud.

Kieran, 38, who was married to the former glamour model, 47, for five turbulent years before their divorce was finalised in March 2021, took to his Instagram to share a photo of the mythical bird.

WASHINGTON — When he takes the presidential oath of office in January at the age of 78, Joe Biden will be the oldest person to hold the office. Fighting off the debilitating “lame duck” label is already on his advisors’ to-do list.

As they work to fill White House staff and Cabinet posts and strategize about the new administration’s agenda, top advisors are also trying to figure out how to lay down a marker that Biden, who has portrayed himself as a transitional, stabilizing figure — a bridge to the next generation of Democratic leaders — has not ruled out running for a second term as he approaches 82, according to a source familiar with the transition team’s conversations.

The prospect of Biden serving just a single term will remain a matter of speculation no matter what he says. But the Biden circle’s determination to tamp down the chatter reflects an awareness that such talk could hinder his effectiveness in an already challenging situation, one in which he faces dual economic and public health crises without party majorities in Congress to pass an ambitious response.

Perhaps most of all, unchecked speculation that Biden won’t run again would only encourage divisive jockeying to succeed him among Democratic presidential hopefuls waiting in the wings — from his own vice president, Kamala Harris, to prospective Cabinet secretaries, members of Congress and state leaders.

“It’s a much bigger problem for him within the Democratic Party,” said Alex Conant, a Republican operative and veteran of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign. “To the extent there’s Democrats on the day he’s sworn in angling to be the nominee four years later, that creates a difficult situation for him. Republicans are running for president in 2024 regardless.”

Biden’s confidants — incoming White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain and senior counselor Steve Ricchetti, along with Anita Dunn, who will be an outside advisor — share that view and are determining how best to preemptively defuse a potentially destabilizing situation within the Biden administration and the Democratic Party. Any perceived daylight between the new president and Harris, or between them and essential party allies such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, could be magnified by the media into the first skirmishes of a 2024 presidential primary battle.

A Biden transition spokesman pointed to the president-elect’s past comments during the Democratic presidential nomination race, when he said on multiple occasions that he “absolutely” was not ruling out seeking a second term.

Of course, the fact that Biden’s early window to drive his policy agenda is likely a small one is only partly a function of his age. The bigger challenges are the crises he inherits, his party’s narrow margins in both the Democratic-led House and a Senate where Republicans are likely to maintain a majority, and the likelihood that Trump will try to sabotage him constantly from the sidelines, breaking yet another norm — that former presidents fade into retirement and remain mostly mute about their successors’ actions.

Yet the perception of Biden as a lame duck would only add to his trials, encouraging factions when party unity is essential.

“He’s inheriting the worst crisis since FDR and the Great Depression, but he has a much weaker hand than Roosevelt with the Senate in the hands of the other party, the Democratic House majority reduced and Trump refusing to leave the stage,” said David Gergen, who has served as a counselor to presidents of both parties. “It’s going to be very difficult to govern and get big things done. It’s really important that in first 100 days or more that President-elect Biden undersells and overdelivers.”

In the weeks leading up to election day, Biden’s top aides conferred with Democrats on Capitol Hill about an ambitious agenda, including discussions of doing away with the Senate filibuster and a package to combat climate change. They hadn’t planned, however, for Republicans to keep control of the Senate, which will be the case unless Democrats defy the odds and sweep both runoff elections in Georgia on Jan. 5.

“They’re reeling because they thought we were going to get the Senate back,” said one senior Democratic legislative aide involved with the discussions, who requested anonymity to discuss the talks. “Everything is being redefined, from what you do to what you do first.”

The first 100 days of a presidency, historically a new executive’s best opportunity to capitalize on post-election momentum and good feelings, are likely to be especially critical for Biden under the circumstances.

Ronald Reagan, who at 69 in 1981 was the oldest president to take office to that point, allayed much of the anxiety about his age and stamina by empowering his Cabinet and his first chief of staff, James A. Baker III. Reagan’s example offers something of a template for Biden, according to John A. Farrell, a presidential historian.

“If Joe Biden goes upstairs at 6 p.m. and has dinner with his wife on a TV tray, and has a brilliant chief of staff who calls him when he’s needed and knows his limitations, there’s no inherent reason why Biden can’t have a good first term and run again. And I’m sure that he will cloak the notion of a second term because there’s no reason to give up that kind of power.”

When Reagan was shot just two months after taking office, “People didn’t know if he was going to seek a second term,” Farrell said. “And he was easily reelected.”

Mack McLarty, who served as President Clinton’s first chief of staff, said that if Biden can begin his presidency by fostering bipartisan collaboration on economic relief and oversee a successful distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, he could build a foundation for other legislative compromises down the road.

No one in Washington expects Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to go out of his way to help Biden. Republicans are already eyeing the 2022 midterm elections as a chance to win majorities in both the Senate and House; typically the party not occupying the White House picks up seats at a president’s midterm.

Still, said Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster, “If Republicans are seen as merely obstructors, it will hurt them politically.”

“Bipartisan cooperation doesn’t come because Democrats and Republicans have martinis and whiskey in the evening. It comes because they are competing for the same people,” said Timothy A. Naftali, a presidential historian at New York University.

“Both parties are competing now for wage earners, for Latino voters, for suburban voters. If that leads to more cooperation, Biden could wind up being a fairly popular president,” he continued. “People tend to care far more about what presidents do than how they look or how old they may be.”

On Tuesday, Will Smith led the National League in batting.

On Wednesday, he does not, but he still has a better batting average than the guy behind him.

It’s all a quirk of baseball’s rules, but one that could cost Smith the batting title if he keeps hitting and the Dodgers keep using him the way they do. We’ll explain and exhale in a bit, but first we ought to appreciate the rarity of this situation.

The Dodgers have been in business for 142 years, and never has one of their catchers won a batting title.

Mike Piazza? Good guess.

In 1997, Piazza batted .362, but Tony Gwynn batted .372.

In 1995, Piazza batted .346, but Gwynn batted .368.

In 1996, Piazza batted .336, but Gwynn batted .353.

In major league history, only four catchers have won a batting title. Two of them were Cincinnati Reds: Bubbles Hargrave (1926) and Ernie Lombardi (1938 and 1942). One is a Hall of Famer: Joe Mauer (2006, ‘08 and ‘09). One is a Hall of Famer in waiting: Buster Posey (2012).

Posey, now the president of baseball operations for the San Francisco Giants, said one factor weighing against a catcher in the batting race is the need to not only prepare himself for a game but to prepare a revolving cast of pitchers as well.

“And, especially as you get late in the year, as much as you try to maintain your legs throughout the season, inevitably you get later in the year and your legs do start to get a little bit tired,” Posey said. “That’s the foundation to hitting. So you’re kind of combating that.

“You’re also a foul tip away from getting one off your hands that would impact how you grip the bat. So there is a lot.”

The batting title used to be one of the most prestigious awards in the game. In the analytical revolution, batting average has become something of a lost statistic, sacrificed at the altar of on-base percentage.

Posey does not quite buy all of this. He would not sign a player simply because of a high batting average, he says, but he considers a high batting average a worthy statistic.

“I’m a believer in batting average,” he said. “With that batting average, I think you’re still hoping for some impact there as well, which Will is doing with his ability to drive the ball.

“But part of my belief in batting average is that it just creates pressure on the defense, having traffic on the bases. I know that you can get there other ways, with a walk and whatnot, but it’s part of the puzzle to create pressure. I think the good teams do a nice job of having a lineup sprinkled with some of those guys that are a little bit more bat-to-ball, and then have some of their power hitters mixed in around them.”

Smith made his major league debut in 2019, the next-to-last season for Posey.

“I’ve always been a fan of Will,” Posey said. “Playing against him, I felt like we had some similarities, because he wasn’t looking to be your best friend when you came to the plate. I kind of appreciated that about him. He was always very business.

“You could tell he wanted to do everything he could to beat you. There’s no doubt he’s been a big part of that team’s success.”

Smith is hitting .312, which would be the lowest average to win an NL batting title. In this era in which batting average is devalued and disparaged, the NL has only three .300 hitters: Smith, teammate Freddie Freeman and the Miami Marlins’ Xavier Edwards.

Smith also leads the league in on-base percentage (.414) and ranks fourth in OPS (.930, behind Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Schwarber and Ketel Marte).

Technically, Smith does not lead in those categories. Under Rule 9.22 (“Minimum Standards for Individual Championships”), a player cannot qualify for a title unless he averages 3.1 plate appearances per game.

Smith batted under .200 in each of the three rounds of last year’s postseason, and the Dodgers prioritized getting him extra rest this season. Some days, he meets that average, and he shows up among the league leaders. Then the Dodgers give him a day off, and he does not.

Smith’s performance would indicate the extra rest has worked as intended so far. However, the rest is primarily designed to allow Smith to play more often down the stretch and play more effectively in October.

And “down the stretch” took on a more urgent meaning Tuesday, when the Dodgers fell into a first-place tie with the San Diego Padres in the NL West. A division title is at stake, and with it the possibility of a first-round playoff bye.

The teams play three games this weekend at Dodger Stadium, three more next weekend at Petco Park. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said “there’s a chance” Smith could play all three games on one of those weekends.

As of Wednesday, Smith projects to make 500 plate appearances this season. The magic number to qualify for the batting title: 502.

The team comes first, and with the Dodgers that means preparedness for October. If Smith keeps hitting, might he have to sacrifice a chance at the batting title for the good of the team? I asked Roberts, and I was pleasantly surprised at the answer.

“He’s going to qualify. No matter what, I’ll make sure of that,” Roberts said. “I’m going to make sure he gets enough at-bats.”

Remember “I alone can fix it”? Donald Trump, who made that laughable statement in his 2016 convention acceptance speech, is now testing the theory in Washington.

Trump and his party have been threatening a D.C. takeover for years and made it part of the Republican platform last year. But it was all just empty talk and random uppercase words until a former staffer at the Department of Government Efficiency was reportedly attacked in an attempted carjacking in the wee hours of Aug. 3 in a busy area of bars and restaurants.

It doesn’t matter at all to Trump that D.C.’s violent crime rate fell to a 30-year low last year and is down another 26% so far this year compared with 2024, or that a police report suggests police saw the incident and intervened. This particular victim — a teenage Elon Musk protégé and notorious DOGE operative — gave this particular president the “emergency” he needed to declare a “public safety emergency.”

Of course, he called it “a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse.” He has federalized the city’s Metropolitan Police Department and deployed 800 members of its National Guard (to start). Over the weekend he sent 450 federal police officers from 18 agencies to patrol the city.

It’s the second time this year that Trump has played the National Guard card to show who’s boss. He sent 4,000 Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles in June, over the objections of Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass, ostensibly to restore order amid immigration raids. But the move sparked new tensions, protests and at least one surreal foray by armed, masked agents into a park where children were attending summer camp. It also drew a legal challenge from Newsom, which is unfolding in court this week.

There will be no similar lawsuit in D.C., where I’ve lived for decades. That’s because the U.S. president controls our National Guard. The hard truth is that though Wyoming and Vermont each have fewer people than D.C.’s 700,000-plus residents, D.C. is not a state. It’s still in a semi-colonial status, with a mayor and city council whose actions can be nullified by Congress, and with no voting representation in that Congress.

In fact, Congress accidentally slashed $1.1 billion from D.C.’s budget — our own money, not federal dollars! — in its cost-cutting frenzy last spring. A promised fix never came, forcing cuts that affect public safety and much else. And yet the city’s crime rate has continued to fall.

Compared with California, an economic juggernaut of more than 39 million people located thousands of miles from Washington, D.C. is a minuscule and all too convenient target for an executive aiming to prove his manhood, show off to autocrats in other countries or create headlines to distract from news he doesn’t like.

I could go off on Trump for his lies, overreach and disrespect for D.C. and its right to govern itself. Or the various Republicans who have imposed conservative policies on D.C. for years and now are trying to repeal its home rule law.

But what really enrages me is the lack of Democratic nerve — or even bravado — that has left D.C. so vulnerable to Trump and conservative-run Congresses. Where was the modern-day Lyndon Johnson (the “master of the Senate,” in Robert Caro’s phrase) in 2021, to whip support in the narrowly Democratic Senate after the House passed a D.C. statehood bill for the second year in a row?

Trump has no mastery beyond bullying and bribery — but those tactics are working fine with Congress, corporations, law firms, academia and sovereign nations across the globe. As former House Speaker Newt Gingrich put it last week: “You have this rock standing in the middle of history called Donald Trump. And he’s saying: ‘Do you want to do it my way, or do you want to be crushed? I prefer you do it my way, but if you have to be crushed, that’s OK.’ ”

Gingrich correctly characterized most responses to Trump as “You know, I’ve always wanted to be part of the team,” and added: “If he can sustain this, he’s moving into a league that, other than Washington and Lincoln, nobody has gotten to the level of energy, drive and effectiveness that we see with Trump.”

Unfortunately, Trump is aiming to speed-raze what Washington and Lincoln built. (He keeps claiming it’s “Liberation Day” for D.C., but the last “Liberation Day” — his April 2 tariff announcements — tanked the stock market.) The only conceivable antidote is to elect a mad-as-hell Democratic Congress in 2026 and, in 2028, an arm-twisting, strong-arming, terror-inspiring Democratic president who’s in a hurry to get things done. Someone who’s forceful, persuasive and resolved to use the power they have while they have it.

The top priorities, beyond reversing as much institutional and constitutional damage as possible, should be structural: Supreme Court term limits and ethics rules with teeth, a national gerrymandering ban, a sensible and uniform national voter ID policy, and minimum national standards for early voting and mail voting — to protect the will of the people and the republic itself.

Equally important, make D.C. the state of Douglass Commonwealth, named after the abolitionist Frederick Douglass rather than the colonizing Christopher Columbus. Rural America has wielded disproportionate power since the late 1800s, when Republicans added sparsely populated states and permanently skewed the Senate. Two new D.C. senators would help correct that imbalance.

The problem is that the next president, or even the next Congress, might arrive too late for D.C. Trump has already begun the federal takeover he has threatened so often for so many years. He took over the Kennedy Center. He took over Congress. We should have expected we’d be next.

Back in March, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) proposed that D.C. seek temporary sanctuary with Maryland, which ceded most of the land to create the capital in the first place. “You’d definitely be safer,” he said he told Mayor Muriel Bowser.

That offer, joke or not, practical or not, is looking increasingly inviting by the day.

Jill Lawrence is a writer and author of “The Art of the Political Deal: How Congress Beat the Odds and Broke Through Gridlock.” @jilldlawrence.bsky.social

Well, at least they’re not eating the cats and dogs.

To hear President Trump tell it, Washington, D.C., has become a barbarous hellhole — worse even than Springfield, Ohio, it would seem, where he accused Black immigrants, many from Somalia, of barbecuing pets last year during the campaign.

Back then, Trump was just a candidate. Now, he’s the commander in chief of the U.S. military with a clear desire to use troops of war on American streets, whether it’s for a fancy birthday parade, to enforce his immigration agenda in Los Angeles or to stop car thefts in the nation’s capital.

“It’s becoming a situation of complete and total lawlessness,” Trump said during a Monday news conference, announcing that he was calling up National Guard troops to help with domestic policing in D.C.

“We’ll get rid of the slums, too. We have slums here. We’ll get rid of them,” he said. “I know it’s not politically correct. You’ll say, ‘Oh, so terrible.’ No, we’re getting rid of the slums where they live.”

Where “they” live.

While the use of the military on American streets is alarming, it should be just as scary how blatantly this president is tying race not just to crime, but to violence so uncontrollable it requires military troops to stop it. Tying race to criminality is nothing new, of course. It’s a big part of American history and our justice system has unfortunately been steeped in it, from the Jim Crow era to the 1990s war on drugs, which targeted inner cities with the same rhetoric that Trump is recycling now.

The difference between that last attack on minorities — started by President Nixon and lasting through Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush, also under the guise of law and order — and our current circumstances is that in this instance, the notion of war isn’t just hyperbole. We are literally talking about soldiers in the streets, targeting Black and brown people. Whether they are car wash employees in California or teenagers on school break in D.C., actual crimes don’t seem to matter. Skin color is enough for law enforcement scrutiny, a sad and dangerous return to an era before civil rights.

“Certainly the language that President Trump is using with regard to D.C. has a message that’s racially based,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law.

Chemerinsky pointed out that just a few days ago, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals called out the Trump administration for immigration raids that were unconstitutional because they were basically racial sweeps. But he is unabashed. His calls for violence against people of color are escalating. It increasingly appears that bringing troops to Los Angeles was a test case for a larger use of the military in civilian settings.

President Trump holds up a chart in front of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during Monday’s news conference announcing the deployment of troops in Washington, D.C.

(Alex Brandon / Associated Press)

“This will go further,” Trump ominously said, making it clear he’d like to see soldiers policing across America.

“We have other cities also that are bad, very bad. You look at Chicago, how bad it is,” he went on. “We have other cities that are very bad. New York has a problem. And then you have, of course, Baltimore and Oakland. We don’t even mention that anymore, they’re so, they’re so far gone.”

In reality, crime is dropping across the United States, including in Washington. As the Washington Post pointed out, violent crime rates, including murders, have for the most part been on a downward trend since 2023. But all it takes is a few explosive examples to banish truth from conscientiousness. Trump pointed out some tragic and horrific examples — including the beating of Edward “Big Balls” Coristine, a former employee of the president’s Department of Government Efficiency who was attacked after attempting to defend a woman during a carjacking recently, not far from the White House.

These are crimes that should be punished, and certainly not tolerated. But the exploitation we are seeing from Trump is a dangerous precedent to justify military force for domestic law enforcement, which until now has been forbidden — or at least assumed forbidden — by the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878.

This week, just how strong that prohibition is will be debated in a San Francisco courtroom, during the three-day trial over the deployment of troops in Los Angeles. While it’s uncertain how that case will resolve, “Los Angeles could provide a bit of a road map for any jurisdiction seeking to push back against the Trump administration when there’s a potential threat of sending in federal troops,” Jessica Levinson, a constitutional legal scholar at Loyola Law School, told me.

Again, California coming out as the biggest foil to a Trump autocracy.

But while we wait in the hopes that the courts will catch up to Trump, we can’t be blind to what is happening on our streets. Race and crime are not linked by anything other than racism.

Allowing our military to terrorize Black and brown people under the guise of law and order is nothing more than a power grab based on the exploitation of our darkest natures.

It’s a tactic Trump has perfected, but one which will fundamentally change, and weaken, American justice if we do not stop it.

Danny Musovski scored a goal in each half and 18-year-old Snyder Brunell scored in his league debut as the Seattle Sounders cruised to a 4-0 victory over the Galaxy on Sunday night.

Seattle grabbed the lead in the 25th minute on an own goal by defender Julián Aude.

The Sounders took a 2-0 lead in the 37th minute on Musovski’s unassisted goal. He made it 3-0 in the 54th minute with another unassisted goal. Musovski has already scored a career-high eight times this season. He had five goals with LAFC as a rookie in 2020 and five for Real Salt Lake in 2023.

Brunell subbed in for Jesús Ferreira in the 73rd minute and scored in the 85th. Defender Álex Roldán notched his third assist of the season and the fourth of his career. Rookie Kalani Kossa-Rienzi collected his third assist.

Andrew Thomas finished with three saves for his first clean sheet in his seventh start of the season for Seattle. He had two shutouts in five starts last season.

Novak Micovic saved five shots for the Galaxy. He had three saves and Thomas wasn’t tested in the first half.

Seattle is unbeaten in its last seven league matches at 4-0-3 and is on a 10-match unbeaten streak across all competitions after winning all three matches in Leagues Cup play.

Seattle leads the all-time series 15-11-14 in league play and 21-18-14 across all competitions.

The Sounders travel to play Minnesota United on Saturday. The Galaxy head to Florida to play Inter Miami on Saturday.

The BIG3 basketball atmosphere is one of a West Coast summer-style block party — quite literally — bursting with frenetic hip-hop energy brought straight to the hardwood.

At the center is legendary rapper and Hollywood A-lister Ice Cube, who, between games, stands before a BIG3-branded backdrop in the bowels of the Intuit Dome, greeting families and flashing Westside hand signs as cameras click.

“It takes a village; all these people have honed their skills to be the best,” Ice Cube, the league’s co-owner and founder, said of the atmosphere.

Rooted in the streetball tradition of three-on-three hoops played on neighborhood blacktops, the league rolled out its Summer in the City tour — a day-long showcase with eight teams vying for a $1-million championship.

Anthony Anderson, left, and Cedric the Entertainer work as sideline reporters during Big3 games at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Saturday.

(Chapman Baehler / Big3)

Not shy on production value, the event offers an unusually intimate setting — players mingling casually around the concourse, almost like an AAU tournament. Or comedic stars Anthony Anderson and Cedric the Entertainer serving as guest sideline reporters, greeting every fan who stops by with a quick hello.

But for the South-Central–born rapper, whose league has toured the country, Saturday’s showcase in Inglewood marked the first time his hometown crowd could watch one of the BIG3’s newest — and first privately owned — franchises, the LA Riot, play live.

A franchise namesake born from L.A.’s history of tumultuous racial unrest — evoking memories of the 1992 Rodney King riots — also symbolizes a movement, rebellion and cultural takeover, just as Ice Cube envisioned.

“It was a dream come true, not too far from where I grew up,” Ice Cube said. “So to have a league like this, right at the house, is just beautiful.”

After seven years of unaffiliated teams, the BIG3 shifted to a city-based model to cultivate loyal fan bases and sell franchises to local owners. Using L.A. as the blueprint — with a $10-million price tag — the hope is to bring long-term stability to the league.

“We’re going to these eight cities every year,” Ice Cube said. “We can plan long term, hopefully grow the league to other cities, [who] want to get in on the act.”

Since 2017, part of that stability has been built on the backs of veteran players — athletes well past their NBA primes and no longer chasing NBA contracts. Among them is newly elected Naismith Hall of Famer Dwight Howard, alongside names like Joe Johnson, Michael Beasley, and Lance Stephenson.

Howard, a member of the 2020 Lakers championship team, made a highly anticipated return to the city where he played three seasons across three separate stints. With his signing, he has become the face of the Riot, committing to play his final season of professional basketball with the club.

Ice Cube’s Big3 three-on-three basketball league took over the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Saturday.

(Chapman Baehler / Big3)

“It’s our first year, we’re just getting started,” Howard said. “We’re looking forward to keeping it going. Obviously, the first year is always a little difficult — trying to get to know each other — but we’re doing a great job.”

Howard has dabbled in ownership ventures, investing $7 million to purchase the WNBA Atlanta Dream — a deal that later turned out to be a scam — and joining the Asian Tournament, an international league, as a co-owner and player for the Taiwan Mustangs.

In his first Big3 season, Howard has witnessed how well the league connects with its fans, a connection he believes will be key to its long-term success.

Christopher Thomas, 35, a lifelong Angeleno who brought his daughter and best friend to Saturday’s Big3 games, was rocking a No. 12 Howard Riot jersey. Thomas left the arena converted after initially scoring free tickets through his job.

“I have to admit, I never heard of the BIG3,” Thomas said. “Now I’m leaving as a Riot fan, especially with my boy Dwight Howard on the team.”

For Thomas, the draw went beyond basketball. It was the atmosphere, constant energy between games and novelty the league offered. The experience was “something new, something different,” he said — the kind that will have him back in the stands when the BIG3 returns to town.

Making headway in localized markets, Howard — who has played overseas several times throughout his career — says the league can also tap into those international markets with smart decisions and profitability.

“Oh, international,” Howard said. “BIG3 international is what we’re looking for.”

On the globalization front, the league is planning exhibitions in Australia and Asia, which Ice Cube hopes will come to fruition soon.

For now, though, the focus remains on expanding and privatizing within the U.S., beyond L.A., Houston, Detroit and Miami. The BIG3 also aims to grow beyond its current eight-team format by securing investors for four city-based teams, and then aims for further expansion down the line.

“We got some smart people who are buying teams, people who can help us grow the league,” Ice Cube said. “Not just sign a check, but to help us be innovative. Help us with sponsors. We want owners who are active.”

While expansion plans continue to be discussed behind closed doors, the league’s public focus remains on its fast, physical and unpredictable style — all of which was on full display as the action at the Intuit Dome wound down.

The Riot’s matchup against the Boston Ball Hogs came down to the wire with a playoff berth on the line. Clawing back from a 48-45 deficit, the Riot unleashed desperate four-point shots and dove for loose balls galore.

Eventually taking the lead, the Riot-friendly crowd spilled from its seats into the walkways surrounding the court, watching with bated breath as Jordan Crawford drained a walk-off three-pointer to seal a 52-48 victory.

“At the end of the day, I can only do so much to get people hyped up,” Ice Cube said of the appeal of the Big3. “The basketball has to be pure.”

Aug. 8 (UPI) — The Justice Department filed a lawsuit this week challenging an Oklahoma law that provides eligible undocumented migrants with in-state tuition benefits, the latest litigation targeting migrants’ access to higher education amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.

Though announced Thursday, the lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

The law, approved by the state’s legislature in 2007, offers in-state tuition at the 25 state-run colleges and universities to anyone — including undocumented migrants — who graduated from an Oklahoma high school and resided in the state with a parent or legal guardian while attending the state high school for at least two years before graduation.

The lawsuit argues the rule violates two of President Donald Trump‘s executive orders on immigration — one signed Feb. 19 directing federal departments and agencies to ensure no taxpayer-funded benefits go to “unqualified aliens,” and one April 28 ordering “appropriate” actions to end enforcement of laws and practices “favoring aliens over any groups of American citizens,” including those in-state tuition to undocumented migrants.

The Justice Department sayd that the law favors undocumented migrants over out-of-state Americans, calling it “unequal treatment,” and argues it violates the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, which holds federal law takes precedence precedence over state laws.

Prosecutors are asking the court to declare the law unconstitutional and issue a permanent injunction against its enforcement.

The state’s Republican attorney general, Gentner Drummond, has filed a motion in support of the Trump administration lawsuit, saying Tuesday marked “the end of a longstanding exploitation of Oklahoma taxpayers.”

“Rewarding foreign nationals who are in our country illegally with lower tuition costs that are not made available to out-of-state American citizens is not only wrong — it is discriminatory and unlawful,” Drummond said in a statement.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has led a renewed crackdown on immigration, seeking to conduct mass deportations and limiting the protections of migrants already in the country.

This is the fourth lawsuit since since June challenging state laws offering in-state tuition or tuition benefits to migrants that are unavailable to out-of-state-Americans.

In early June, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against a similar Texas law. As in Oklahoma, the Republican-led state sided with the Trump administration, and the two reached an agreement to halt its enforcement.

Similar lawsuits have also been filed in Kentucky and Minnesota.

Florida ended in-state tuition for undocumented migrants in February.

According to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal, 23 states and Washington, D.C., provide in-state tuition to undocumented students. Of those, 18 and D.C. provide access to state financial aid.

A long-wondered game show secret has been revealed by a TV insider, ending much speculation.

Ever wondered how some game show contestants win the jackpot and others who deserve it more don’t? Well, this could be the reason why.

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The TV Insider

Gameshow host Richard Osman has finally answered the question about how some shows stop contestants from winning the top prize.

The Pointless and House of Games star revealed that certain questions are given to those taking part in the programme in a bid to keep cash prizes to a minimum.

On his podcast which hosts alongside Marina Hyde, The Rest is Entertainment, the pair often reveal the secret tricks used by the industry to ensure the success of certain shows and films.

Most day-time and evening gameshows have huge cash prizes, which can sometimes reach six or seven figures.

But most of the time, many contestants, despite showing great promise, only end up with a fraction of the maximum amount.

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The secret trick

The 54-year-old said: “The questions wouldn’t be weighted particularly in that way,” he said. He went on to add: “But lots of formats have ways of ensuring there isn’t a payout.”

He added: “So, you’ll do a final round where you could win or you couldn’t win the jackpot.”

He later went on to explain that the cash prize at the end of each round depends on an algorithm for players.

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Richard said: “You always have an algorithm. Daytime budgets are very small, but in your budget will be a line item for prize money.

“So, when we used to make Deal or No Deal, for example ― and it’s a good example, because it’s all about money ― you’ve got that £250,000 box all the way down to the 1p box.”

Simon Cowell’s million-dollar failure

He also explained that there have been many game show failures.

Simon Cowell once launched a game show in the USA

Wanna Bet? was hosted by tele rating’s safe pair of hands, Ant and Dec, and was based on the idea of the gambling game Red or Black.

However, Osman revealed that in the first four episodes in a row, the contestants ended up bagging the total pot – a jaw-dropping $1 million.

The car crash of a show therefore, only lasted six episodes before it was cancelled, becoming one of Ant and Dec’s rare failures.

He then compared this to his former show Pointless, which offers £16,500 per day.

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It means that if one team walks out with the top prize fund, others will suffer in the following games.

Having hosted hundreds of episodes of Pointless since it aired in 2009, Osman knows a thing or two having tv formats.

Osman was also the brains behind some of our favourite entertainment shows such as 8 out of 10 Cats, Have You Been Watching, Only Connect, Total Wipeout, Prize Island, and 10 O’Clock Live.

If you’re still looking for someone to blame for Donald Trump’s 2024 reelection, don’t just look at the usual suspects — the MAGA die-hards, the QAnon crowd or your uncle screaming at Fox News. Consider the bros at your local gym’s squat rack, the Discord server or the gaming lounge who suddenly swung right — or, better yet, consider blaming the Democrats who decided those guys didn’t matter. Yeah, nice work, geniuses.

Recent focus groups conducted by the centrist Democratic group Third Way, with the polling firm HIT Strategies, show that many young men feel criticized, overlooked and talked down to by a party they see as hostile to their values and concerns. This echoes similar feedback from last fall, when young male voters told pollsters that the Democratic Party “has somehow become the anti-male party.”

If you’re wondering why this siege mentality hasn’t softened, it may be because the condescension and antagonism persist — especially among progressive elites whose statements are often conflated with the Democratic Party.

July alone offered a plethora of examples. And lest you think this is from the fever swamps of the internet, consider a few selections from the New York Times.

First, we got “The Boy Crisis Is Overblown,” which shrugs off boys’ educational struggles, instead suggesting that boys expect others (women) to pick up the slack, both at home and in school. Then came “The Trouble With Wanting Men,” a literary masterclass on how dating men amounts to unpaid emotional labor. And to round it out, “Why Women Are Weary of ‘Mankeeping,’” which blames men for … being human? Having different priorities than their girlfriends and wives?

See a pattern?

None of these pieces are entirely wrong. Boys and men are only human, and there are good guys and bad guys. But if you’re a dude just trying to stay afloat in a rapidly changing world, you might get the impression that the cultural left, which (let’s be honest) constitutes the Democratic Party’s base of energy and pressure, isn’t exactly rolling out the welcome mat.

And if you’re a guy, what do you do with all of that criticism? You check out. You find a podcast. You listen to some YouTuber explain how protein cured his depression and why you should never trust a woman who owns more than one NPR tote bag.

You exercise your greatest act of middle-finger rebellion: You vote for Trump!

Now, you might say, “Is it really fair to blame the entire Democratic Party for what a few writers say?” No! But politics isn’t about fairness. It’s about vibes, and the vibe right now is that progressive culture has morphed into the HR department from hell. Heck, even Sydney Sweeney in an American Eagle ad was too much for the online pitchfork crowd. What’s next? Canceling golden retrievers?

The problem for the Democratic Party is that once you’re branded a “woke scold,” it’s hard to pivot, no matter what you say.

Look at President Biden. He was called “Genocide Joe” for supporting Israel, yet still got blamed for pro-Palestinian campus protests — proof that stereotypes are sticky, and perception, not policy, drives voter sentiment.

But here’s the irony: Democrats have an opportunity to turn things around — and if their friends weren’t so busy writing gender theory op-eds, they might notice there’s an opening to do just that.

Thanks to issues ranging from tariffs to immigration roundups to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, some of these podcast bros have started mocking Trump. Meanwhile, “South Park” skewered him for threatening lawsuits to intimidate or silence his critics, which is an impressive about-face considering he used to score points by criticizing cancel culture.

“While some of these young men are still drawn to Trump and the Republican Party,” Third Way’s focus groups found, “most are persuadable swing voters who dislike significant aspects of Trump’s actions so far in his second term.”

But it’s gonna take more than President Obama podcasting about “what’s right with young men.” It’s gonna take modern leaders — men and women — who have the guts to stand up to their own tribe and say, “Hey, maybe we shouldn’t treat half the population like defective appliances.”

Want their votes? Talk to them like they’re human. Stop acting like masculinity is a war crime. Nominate a presidential candidate who lifts and can go on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Offer some real policies that don’t sound like they were cooked up in a gender studies seminar at Bryn Mawr.

Until then? Don’t be shocked if a whole generation of guys hears one more lecture about toxic masculinity … and decides to vote for the most toxic guy in the room.

This is how Trump wins.

Matt K. Lewis is the author of “Filthy Rich Politicians” and “Too Dumb to Fail.”

July 29 (UPI) — A group of 22 states filed a lawsuit to stop the Trump administration from forcing states to give information about residents receiving SNAP benefits.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Monday that he has joined a coalition of 21 attorneys general, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, who have filed suit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA.

According to a press release from Bonta’s office, the USDA is demanding that states turn over “personal and sensitive information” about millions of recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP benefits.

A federally funded program, SNAP is administered by states to provide food assistance. The money provided is in the billions and is supplied to millions of low-income families across the United States. To receive SNAP benefits, recipients must supply their personal information, which Bonta’s office states happens “on the understanding, backed by long-standing state and federal laws, that their information will not be used for unrelated purposes.”

Bonta’s office alleged that the USDA is threatening to withhold SNAP funding unless states turn over such personal information, which would effectively force “states to choose between protecting their residents’ privacy and providing critical nutrition assistance to those in need.”

California said that the USDA demanded in May that all states supply a great deal of personal information in regard to all SNAP applicants and recipients, such as their social security numbers and home addresses, dating back five years.

For just the state of California, that would equal over 5 million people.

“This isn’t just about data,” Bonta posted to social media Monday. “It’s about making sure families aren’t forced to choose between feeding their kids and exposing themselves to government retaliation.”

According to the release, the Trump administration has justified this demand in order to prevent fraudulent use of SNAP. Bonta said that both federal and state law do not allow California to disclose such information unless absolutely necessary, or due to extraordinary circumstances.

“President Trump continues to weaponize private and sensitive personal information,” said Bonta. “Not to root out fraud, but to create a culture of fear where people are unwilling to apply for essential services.”

“We’re talking about kids not getting school lunch; fire victims not accessing emergency services; and other devastating, and deadly, consequences,” Bonta continued. “This unprecedented demand that states turn over SNAP data violates all kinds of state and federal privacy laws and further breaks the trust between the federal government and the people it serves.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced Monday that New York had joined the lawsuit and alleged that among the information illegally sought by the federal government is each SNAP recipient’s immigration status.

“Families should be able to get the assistance they need without fearing that they will be targeted by this administration,” she said on social media.

Included in the case docket for the lawsuit filed by the attorneys general is a letter sent by the USDA on Friday that demands that states each turn over SNAP participant data by Wednesday. Failing to do so, the USDA letter states, “may trigger noncompliance procedures” under current U.S. law.

California said it receives around $1 billion annually to administer SNAP and fears a federal delay in funding could be “catastrophic for the state and its residents who rely on SNAP to put food on the table,” according to Bonta’s office.

“The president doesn’t get to change the rules in the middle of the game, no matter how much he may want to,” Bonta further stated. “While he may be comfortable breaking promises to the American people, California is not.”

“We will not comply with this illegal demand,” he added. “We’ll see the President in court.”

A little known rule could stop holidaymakers from boarding their flight with popular airlines such as EasyJet, Ryanair, TUI and Jet2 unless they have the correct documentation

Passengers jetting off with popular airlines such as EasyJet, Ryanair, TUI, and Jet2 need to be clued up on a rule that could stop them in their tracks at airport security. There are specific rules about what can and can’t be taken in hand luggage, and some holidaymakers might not realise an extra document is needed for certain items.

Your prescription medication might not seem like it would cause any issues, but the airlines see things differently. If you try to take medication that’s over 100ml, security staff will halt you and may ask for a letter from a doctor or other healthcare professional.

READ MORE: Travel expert’s verdict on if it’s safe to fly Greece right now amid wildfires

This letter needs to confirm that you need to have the medication with you on the flight. According to advice from Gov.uk, if your medication is in tablet form or is less than 100ml, you don’t need to provide this documentation.

Chronicle Live has rounded up advice from some of the top airlines to help outline the travel rules so you’re prepared and not caught out at the airport.

Ryanair

Ryanair doesn’t require customers to have a doctor’s letter to carry medication in their hand luggage, however, this might be required by airport security. If a passenger needs to take medical equipment in addition to their hand luggage, Ryanair will give them a medical baggage waiver letter.

TUI

A TUI spokesperson told the Liverpool Echo: “If a customer is carrying medication or medical equipment onto an aircraft, they will need to bring a doctor’s letter or a prescription, which will allow customers to pass through check-in and security easily.

“Travellers may also bring liquid medication larger than 100ml through security if they have a doctor’s letter.”

Jet2

Guidance on Jet2’s website states: “All the essential medications you need for the duration of your journey should be carried in your hand luggage.

“Essential liquid medication in quantities over 100ml must be verified as genuine by a doctor’s letter and must be presented in their original containers. Bottles and packaging may need to be opened by airport security during screening.”

EasyJet

easyJet said: “In line with government guidance passengers are able to bring essential medication on board and we only require a letter from a healthcare practitioner confirming that it is necessary to bring medication on board if they are liquids that exceed 100ml, are sharp objects such as needles or oxygen cylinders and concentrators, or any medical equipment that may be considered as dangerous goods in the aircraft cabin, a list of which can be found on our help pages on easyJet.com.”

UK Government The UK Government’s official guidelines stipulate that any medicine containing a controlled drug must be carried in your hand luggage when entering or leaving the UK. If you can’t prove it was prescribed for you, it may be confiscated at the border.

If you’re planning to take medicine out of the UK, consult your doctor or pharmacist to determine if your medicine contains a controlled drug. If it does, verify the rules for your destination country with the embassy before travelling.

You’ll need to provide proof of ownership with either a prescription or a letter from your doctor.