‘Spellbound’ doesn’t enchantWASHINGTON — Senate Democrats reelected Chuck Schumer as party leader on Tuesday as the party moves into a deeply uncertain time, with no real consensus on a strategy as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office. From left, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., gather after Senate Democratic leadership elections for the next session of Congress on Tuesday in Washington. Schumer faced no opposition in the party leadership elections, in which Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin was also reelected to the No. 2 spot and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar became the new No. 3. In a statement, Schumer, of New York, said he was honored to move the party forward “during this crucial period for our country.” “Our preference is to secure bipartisan solutions wherever possible and look for ways to collaborate with our Republican colleagues to help working families,” Schumer said. “However, our Republican colleagues should make no mistake about it, we will always stand up for our values.” While Schumer remains popular with his colleagues, it is a bleak moment for Senate Democrats, who were hopeful that they could hold the majority for the third election in a row. Instead they lost four seats and will be in the minority, 53-47, as Trump takes office and pressures the Senate to quickly confirm his Cabinet nominees. Unlike eight years ago, when opposition to Trump’s narrow election win fueled enthusiasm in their party, Democratic lawmakers and many of their voters are exhausted and looking for answers. So far, Democrats have stayed relatively quiet on Trump’s nominees and plans for office – a stark contrast from the loud opposition to Trump when he was elected eight years ago. Schumer has declined to comment on specifics of any nominees, instead allowing Republican reaction to dominate the conversation. On Monday, Schumer wrote a public letter to South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the incoming Republican majority leader, asking him to resist Trump’s pressure to allow him to appoint some of his nominees without a Senate vote and to insist on full FBI background checks for all nominees. But he has said little else about Trump’s upcoming presidency. While some have been more aggressive — Washington Sen. Patty Murray, a former chairwoman of the Senate Health, Labor, Education and Pensions Committee, said that Trump’s nomination of Robert Kennedy Jr. to lead the Health and Human Services Department is “dangerous” and “nothing short of disaster” — several Democratic senators say they are saving their strength and figuring out a focus. “Everybody’s in kind of a wait-and-see mode right now,” said Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, who is part of Schumer’s leadership team. “Under the previous Trump administration, there was chaos all the time, all the time. And I do think it is important to pick your battles.” It’s still unclear which battles they will pick. And Democrats have differing opinions on how to fight them. Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, who is also in Democratic leadership, says that “anyone who has a grand strategy is full of crap,” but thinks that Democrats, for now, “need to keep things simple.” “We need to talk about people, protect people, advocate for people,” Schatz said. “Do not talk about protecting institutions. Do not talk about advocating for institutions. It’s a not just a rhetorical shift, but an attitudinal shift. We have to remind ourselves, that we’re not fighting for programs and projects and line items and agencies or norms. We’re fighting for people.” Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said that he’s spent a lot of time reflecting, and “I don’t think anyone can claim this was a policy election,” and Democrats need to look at cultural issues. Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman says Democrats just need to “pace ourselves” and avoid the “massive freakout” of Trump's last term. Democrats should be preparing, says Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal. He says Schumer is picking his battles “very thoughtfully and strategically.” “We’re thinking about how we protect against using the FBI, or the prosecutorial authority of the Justice Department for retribution against critics,” said Blumenthal. “How we elevate these issues in a way that American people understand them.” Democrats know better now, after eight years, “the extraordinary challenges we’re going to face,” Blumenthal said. Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the U.S. compete in the ice dance rhythm dance program at the Grand Prix of Figure Skating series competition in Tokyo, Japan, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae) A discarded plastic bag floats in the waters of Botafogo beach in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado) China's President Xi Jinping, left center, and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, walk into the Alvorada palace after attending a welcoming ceremony in Brasilia, Brazil, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres) Slovakia's Rebecca Sramkova competes against Great Britain's Katie Boulter during a Billie Jean King Cup semi-final match at Martin Carpena Sports Hall in Malaga, southern Spain, on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez) President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be attorney general, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., closes a door to a private meeting with Vice President-elect JD Vance and Republican Senate Judiciary Committee members, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) A surfer rides on an artificial wave in the river 'Eisbach' at the 'Englischer Garten' (English Garden) downtown in Munich, Germany, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader) A woman carries a gift basket as she arrives at a park to attend a friend's birthday party, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, in Kampala, Uganda. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Tania hugs her brother-in-law Baruc after rescuing some of their belongings from their flooded house after the floods in Paiporta, Valencia, Spain, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris looks at a monitor backstage, just before taking the stage for her final campaign rally, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) President-elect Donald Trump listens during an America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) President Joe Biden meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) A resident returns to his burned village, Monday Nov. 25, 2024, one day after a fire broke out leaving about 2,000 families homeless at a slum area in Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) Isaac Young rests his cheek on the family horse Rusty's forehead during farm chores before homeschooling, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Sunbury, Ohio. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Students from anti-discrimination movements attack an Awami League supporter in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu) A young girl holds a "Black Voters for Harris-Walz" sign outside of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris' election night watch party at Howard University, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams) A man looks from a damaged building a day after it was hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Ramat Gan, central Israel, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) Visitors walk through the 'Cathedral' on the Christmas light trail as it returns for its12th year with a showcase of new installations set within the UNESCO World Heritage Site landscape of Kew Gardens in London, England, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) Venezuelan migrant Alvaro Calderini carries his niece across a river near Bajo Chiquito, Panama, after walking across the Darien Gap from Colombia on their way north to the United States, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix) An aerial view shows a packed parking lot at Citadel Outlets in Commerce, Calif., Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024, as early Black Friday shoppers arrive at the mall. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) Israeli soldiers holding their weapons bathe with residents in a hot water pool coming from a drilling project which exposed a subterranean hydrothermal spring near Mount Bental in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, on the first day of the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg) Voters stand in line outside a polling place at Madison Church, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Phoenix, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York) Molten lava flows on the road to the Blue Lagoon, Grindavik, after the volcanic eruption that started Wednesday, on the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco di Marco) Firefighters and sheriff's deputies push a vintage car away from a burning home as the Mountain Fire burns in Camarillo, Calif., on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger) Supporters of the Frente Amplio (Broad Front) celebrate the victory of candidate Yamandú Orsi in the presidential run-off election in Montevideo, Uruguay, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) People gather at the site where former Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was killed by Israeli airstrikes late September during a memorial ceremony in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) Katia, 11, with her grandmother and mother sit in an armored minivan during en evacuation by the "White Angels" police unit in Kurakhove, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Anton Shtuka) People clean mud from a house affected by floods, in Algemesi, Spain, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez) Cattle stand on a heap of textile waste at the Old Fadama settlement of Accra, Ghana, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu) Family members accompany the coffin that contain the remains of Mexican actress Silvia Pinal, during a memorial service at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, in Mexico City, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. Pinal, an actress from Mexico's Golden Age of cinema in the 1940s and 50s, died Thursday. She was 93. (AP Photo/Aurea Del Rosario) A family arrive to cross into Lebanon through the Jousieh border crossing, between Syria and Lebanon, Nov. 28, 2024, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki) Respond: Write a letter to the editor | Write a guest opinion Subscribe to stay connected to Tucson. A subscription helps you access more of the local stories that keep you connected to the community. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.
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Tweet Facebook Mail Victoria and South Australia are set to swelter from today as a heatwave brings soaring temperatures and dangerous fire conditions. The mercury will soar to 34 degrees in Melbourne in the coming hours before spiking at 36 degrees tomorrow, then cooling to a far pleasanter 23 degrees on Sunday. Adelaide residents can expect a scorching maximum temperature of 36 degrees today. Conditions will then cool tomorrow to 29 degrees and 25 degrees on Sunday. READ MORE: Stowaway snake causes panic on Australian flight The heat across southern states is forecast to peak late this afternoon. (Windy.com) (Supplied) Today, there are high fire danger warnings for western and central parts of Victoria, while East Gippsland has severe heatwave conditions. The Bureau of Meteorology forecasts overnight minimum temperatures will peak about 20 degrees for some areas tonight into tomorrow morning. "Severe heatwave conditions easing from Sunday following a cool change from the west over the weekend and into early next week," it said. The South Australian Country Fire Service today declared a total fire ban for the state's West Coast, Eastern Eyre Peninsula and Lower Eyre Peninsula, where conditions are rated as extreme. The bureau says the state can expect hot and dry gusty north-to-north-westerly winds ahead of a cooler, west-to-south-westerly change from the west from this afternoon. "Showers and isolated thunderstorms developing from the west. A severe thunderstorm warning is possible in the far west in the afternoon and evening." Meanwhile, South Australian residents can receive more warnings and emergency information through the state government's updated Alert SA app. Previously dedicated to bushfires, it now includes warnings for severe weather, heatwaves, urban fires, floods and hazardous materials. DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP : Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play .The campaign for this round of assembly elections officially began on October 15, when the Election Commission of India announced polls in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. But in India’s tribal heartland, the campaign began far earlier — on June 28, when former chief minister Hemant Soren was released from jail after being imprisoned for five months over corruption charges. The 49-year-old was already buoyed by the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance’s (INDIA) performance in the Lok Sabha polls — the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) won three seats and its ally, the Congress, won two, up from one and one in 2019 — and he set out to craft a campaign premised on his persona, pushing his wife Kalpana Soren into a prominent spot, and playing up his family’s links to the state’s formation. Soren’s successful campaign rested on three prongs. One, emerge as the undisputed leader of the tribals. Soren had already embarked on this project in 2019 when he crafted the first pre-poll pact in the JMM’s history. He now linked his controversial jail term to the question of tribal asmita (pride). In every election speech, he reminded ordinary people how the Bharatiya Janata Party had detained a tribal son and conspired against the adivasis. Whenever possible, he brought up controversies around the Chhota Nagpur land-tenancy act and the implementation of a domicile policy based on land records from 1932 — two issues that had kicked up a huge political storm during the last BJP government in the state between 2014 and 2019, and were responsible for the defeat of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 2019. Soren’s lieutenants also reminded people how the BJP nominated a non-tribal person (Raghubar Das) as chief minister, a first for a state whose formation was catalysed by a long and bloody adivasi movement. Though he didn’t campaign due to ill health, the figure of Soren’s father and JMM founder Shibu Soren was used strategically to fan his emotive connection with a generation of people who had seen the senior adivasi leader emerge as a flag-bearer of a separate state for tribespeople in the 1970s. This approach also helped the JMM control the more polarising aspects of senior Soren’s legacy and build a more inclusive campaign. Of course, it is unlikely that Soren would have emerged as a pan-state leader had it not been for his jail stint. In rally after rally, he played up his imprisonment, called it unjust, and attacked the BJP for having imprisoned a son of the soil. He alleged that he was locked up because he was serving poor tribespeople and was standing against big business interests, and promised the electorate an expansion in reservations if he was voted back to power. This was the second prong of his strategy, one that also hinged on pushing his wife, Kalpana Soren, into prominence. This was a risky strategy at first — after all, her rising prominence at the time of his arrest had led to rumblings in the party and it was also among the issues responsible for the exit of senior leader Champai Soren months before the elections (he joined the BJP). But together, the Soren couple put the chief minister’s persona and his jail stint the emotive core of their campaign. This helped Soren emerge as the biggest leader, not only of his own tribal group, the Santhals — the biggest scheduled tribe (ST) in the state, comprising roughly a third of the province’s adivasi population — but also blank out other competing tribal leaders from the BJP among groups such as Oraon, Munda and Ho. In a field crowded with other former chief ministers, it helped one stand out. The JMM and its allies ended up winning 27 out of 28 seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes. And three, the JMM was buoyed by the response among rural women to its Mukhyamantri Maiya Samman Yojana, which gave ₹ 1,000 to poor women. By making the cash transfer scheme the centrepiece of its welfare outreach, the JMM was able to build a new catchment of voters in every constituency whose identities lay beyond the traditional buckets of community or region. It helped arrest the development narrative that the BJP has successfully used elsewhere, and blunt allegations of corruption — especially in those 68 seats where more women voted than men. The culmination of this strategy was a victory unprecedented in scale in Jharkhand, helping JMM retain power for the first time in its existence. The ease of the win, though, hid just how bruising the campaign trail had been these last few months. As Soren told HT in an interview, no other elections were as tough.
Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders may be ending his Buffaloes chapter at the end of this season, but he's made sure to leave offensive lineman Jordan Seaton with a luxury gift to remember him by . Sanders bought Seaton a 2025 Mercedes-Maybach S-Class worth $200,000, with a review online stating : "This fanciest of S-classes is the closest thing to a sensory deprivation tank on four wheels; it practically floats down the road." Prices start at $200,000 but can increase up to $340,000 if certain options are applied. A video was posted to Instagram with Sanders explaining his reasoning for the huge gesture. "He protect the backside so he had to get the 'bach,'" Sanders said. It's a huge asset for Seaton, an 18-year-old freshman who has instantly become a key part of Colorado's offensive line and helped to protect Sanders this season. Sanders has taken fewer sacks since Seaton arrived from the IMG Academy and has been given more time in the pocket to make plays. Travis Hunter told who 'best football player in country' is as Heisman debate heats up Shilo and Shedeur Sanders' plan to 'do the impossible' backfires in viral Deion moment That time has led to more wins, as the Buffaloes went 9-3 in the regular season and await their first bowl appearance since 2020. Colorado will either play in the Holiday Bowl or the Alamo Bowl, which will take place at the end of December. Seaton was a five-star recruit and arrived with major expectations, but he's exceeded those in his freshman year and is now an exciting NFL prospect. Sanders has shown his leadership and generosity by gifting Seaton the car, but the lineman has also helped him impress before heading into the 2025 NFL Draft. Colorado has been impressed by Seaton for some time, with head coach Deion Sanders even raving about him before receiving a commitment. "He’s a man, man," Sanders told ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. "... This kid is a pro mentally and physically right now. "He just has to put it on grass. I love everything about this kid and who he is going to become. I promise you this kid is going to be a first-rounder if not a top-five pick." Seaton rejected top offers from around the country to play for the Buffaloes and even began trying to recruit other linemen to Colorado. Sanders was impressed with his mindset and said: "He challenges guys all day long. He would get on the phone and call another lineman [recruit], ‘Hey man, are you coming or not? "Because we don’t have time for that. What you gonna do? ... Coach, uh-uh, he’s just trying to get a bag. We don’t want him. He ain’t thinking about the game. He ain’t thinking about how he fits in the scheme. He just wants a bag. We don’t want him.’ That’s how he approaches things." Want to watch more live sports? Peacock has your favorite sports, shows, and more all in one place. Peacock offers plans starting at $7.99 so you can stream live sports like NFL, Premier League, and Big Ten Football.
