US shoppers were out in force for "Black Friday," with preliminary data showing strong online sales despite inflation nerves prompting retailers in the world's biggest economy to come up with ever more deals. As markets and consumers eye possible turbulence during the transition from President Joe Biden to Donald Trump, there are hopes that the year's biggest shopping season -- stretching from Thanksgiving to Christmas -- will be a bonanza. The National Retail Federation (NRF) said a record 183.4 million people are planning to shop over the weekend, ticking up from 182 million last year and 18.1 million higher than 2019, before the Covid pandemic derailed the global economy. Adobe Analytics said US consumers had spent $7.9 billion online as of Friday afternoon, an increase of 8.2 percent over last year, with a projected final tally between $10.7 and $11 billion -- an e-commerce record for Black Friday. The so-called "Black Friday" discounts day originated as a single day when shoppers poured -- sometimes stampeded -- into malls in search of incredible deals, but is now accompanied by "Small Business Saturday" and "Cyber Monday." While inflation has been largely tamed from its post-Covid spike, Americans remain wary, with consumer prices still significantly elevated above their pre-pandemic levels. Beatrice Judon, a shopper "over 75" years old, described the situation as "challenging." "We hope things get better," she told AFP after a trip to a department store in the US capital. "We just have to wait and see." Holiday shoppers in 2024 are "even more preoccupied and very focused around value and discounts," said Vivek Pandya, leading insights analyst at Adobe Digital Insights. Discontent with high costs was seen as one of the main reasons Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election this month. Target CEO Brian Cornell told analysts earlier this month that after a lengthy period of inflation, "consumers tell us their budgets remain stretched." "They're becoming increasingly resourceful in their shopping behaviors, waiting to buy until (the) last moment of need, focusing on deals and then stocking up when they find them," he said. "It's pretty expensive to live in America in general," said Tyler Austin, 25, who was out shopping Friday in downtown Washington for clothes "to upgrade the wardrobe." Despite the negative perceptions of the economy, the NRF has projected holiday spending to grow between 2.5 and 3.5 percent over last year, to as much as $989 billion over the two-month period. President Joe Biden did his part to support the US economy on Black Friday by visiting a bookshop on the Massachusetts island of Nantucket, where he is currently on holiday with his family. The inflationary environment has weighed especially heavily on households with lower incomes, with banks pointing to rising charge-off rates as an indicator of increased stress. But budget-conscious retailer Burlington Stores is seeing some of the strongest sales in low-income zip codes, said Chief Executive Michael O'Sullivan. "Maybe for the first time since 2021, it looks like their real incomes are finally edging up," O'Sullivan said on a conference call this week. Wall Street stocks closed higher during the shortened trading session on Friday with the Dow and S&P 500 indexes both hitting fresh records. Thanksgiving, which is always the fourth Thursday in November, falls on its latest possible date in 2024. As a result, retailers are pivoting to a shopping season with five fewer days than last year, which analysts say may be responsible for the outsized early sales. While Black Friday deals are often targeted at people living in the United States, they also draw tourists and bargain-hunters from abroad. "We came mostly for the experience but we've also found some very good deals," Mario Clemente, a tourist from the Mexican city of Guadalajara told AFP during a trip to a shopping mall in Los Angeles. "Compared to Mexico, it's much cheaper to come here, even when you add the hotel and the flight," he said.ROYAL STARS | GEORGIA NICOLS
What happens to Niagarans released from jail and how do they avoid falling into what’s known as the reoffending cycle, and ending up back behind bars? “The transition from jail to community has been extremely challenging for people,” said Dr. Karl Stobbe, REACH Niagara’s medical director. In many cases, Stobbe said, people have told him they were dropped off at a homeless shelter after being released from jail, “with no supports, no follow up.” “And then everybody wonders why they get in trouble again.” Announced at a news conference in St. Catharines Friday, a new program aimed at helping people reintegrate after being released from prison is getting $3.5 million in federal funding. Regional Essential Access to Connected Healthcare (REACH) Niagara announced the program, while also announcing a new partnership with Start Me Up Niagara that will move REACH Niagara’s administrative offices into the St. Catharines workspace it shares with Start Me Up. The funding from Health Canada’s Substance Use and Addictions Program allows REACH Niagara to launch the Transitions into Comprehensive Care program to provide support to help people reintegrate into the community after being released from prison, and people at risk of becoming involved with the justice system in Niagara. Stobbe said he didn’t know how much funding to expect before the announcement, and was shocked to learn it was $3.5 million. “We’ve been cash-starved for so long,” he said. Carolyn Dyer, REACH Niagara’s executive director, said the Health Canada funding is essential to the organization’s “ability to operate and grow and to meet this rising demand for service,” while it also signals a new level of commitment needed to fight the opioid epidemic. Carolyn Dyer, executive director of REACH Niagara, speaks at a ceremony to announce $3.5 million in funding from Health Canada’s Substance Use and Addictions Program that allows REACH Niagara and Start Me Up Niagara to launch a program helping people exiting the justice system and those at risk of involvement in it. Stobbe said the program will have a significant impact. It follows a coroner’s inquest into recent overdose deaths at Niagara Detention Centre. Some of the recommendations from its jury related to people being released from jail, he said. “I’m really happy about those recommendations. I think it will really help push ahead with the work this initiative is going to do,” he said. “I think the funding will go a lot further because, hopefully, Niagara Detention Centre already has on their radar some of the things that they can do from their end, and we’ll be getting ready on the community side to make those things much more effective.” While Positive Living Niagara has led much of Niagara’s response to the opioid crisis, Talia Storm — director of the organization’s Street Works Services — welcomed the new REACH Niagara program. “We are elated about this program. It is absolutely filling a gap in our community,” she said. “At Positive Living, we often see folks who come out of the detention centre and end up right back in.” She said the risk of overdose deaths is also incredibly high when people are being released from prison, and this will, hopefully, fill that gap and ensure that people are supported as the reintegrate into the community. While announcing the funding, St. Catharines MP Chris Bittle said there’s growing frustration, anger and a loss of empathy related to the challenges communities are facing. “I’ve been hearing a lot more from politicians who are ignoring public health solutions, who would close supervised injection sites, will step away from harm reduction to reflect that anger, to reflect the lack of empathy,” he said. “But it’s not going away. We can recriminalize, we can throw people in jail, we can close down supervised injection sites and we can let people die. Unfortunately, that’s the talk of many politicians locally, provincially and federally.” Bittle said too many Canadians have lost their lives “because of this tragic public health crisis, and it is a public health crisis.” “The impacts are felt by family, friends, neighbours and communities. “Despite the overwhelming nature of this crisis, you are still standing here — you’re still fighting for this and I want to be behind you to help fight,” Bittle said. REACH was also excited about finally having a home base after operating for some seven years without one. The organization has been operating clinics at partner organizations throughout the region, providing outreach services at homeless encampments and operating a mobile health clinicfrom a converted Mercedes Sprinter van, Stobbe said. The shared office at 211 Church St. is the first real home the organization has had, he said. After regularly holding meetings in coffee shops, Stobbe said it “will be really nice” to have a building from which to base operations. Considering the work Stobbe and the team of medical professionals do, he said starting out without a permanent address made sense. “If our first thing was to try to get an office, it just would have been really uncomfortable if that was our priority,” he said. Start Me Up executive director Laura Dumas said the partnership between the two organizations makes sense because they both serve the same marginalized groups. Laura Dumas, executive director with Start Me Up Niagara. “I believe the partnership can only make us stronger,” she said. “We complement each other.” Both organizations, she said, are striving to provide services to people with dignity and compassion. “What’s lacking is dignity. It’s that empathy. We’re hoping together that we can bring that back to the community,” Dumas said. Dyer said the organization has grown to offer 22 clinics in seven municipalities since its inception. But the need for those services is continuing to grow “at a rate that really is hard to fathom.” “There is a growing societal divide between the population at large and the equity deserving community that is widening,” Dyer said. “This division is social, economic, political and sadly, at times, found in what services that are available to each and every community member. This cannot stand or it will only get worse.”
By Kurt Bardella We are a few weeks removed from the election, and Democrats do not appear to be any closer to truly understanding why they lost so much ground to Donald Trump with so many demographics. It’s clear to me that comprehending what happened and why will have to come from somewhere other than political operatives within the party, cable news media elites, the dumpster fire that is social media or pollsters. As luck would have it, after the election I found myself giving a lecture to between 40 and 50 students at an American University media and public policy class. For all the discussion about younger voters and trying to understand what motivates them to head to the polls, I wonder how many of the pundits, commentators and experts dissecting the election have actually had a conversation with anyone under age 25 about it. So there I was speaking to a room full of young adults, under 25, some from Alabama or West Virginia, others from Germany or Pakistan, many having voted in the election — most shocked, even shaken from the results. Interestingly, two young women from Pakistan, who had not voted, were least surprised by the outcome. They had a front-row seat to prejudice in America, having lived in New York in the aftermath of 9/11, the victims of threats, hatred and law enforcement targeting. They scoffed at anyone just waking up to the reality that the electorate was not persuaded by warnings of sexism, racism or misogyny. For them and their families, those factors were embedded in their lived experience as Americans. A number of students who attended some of Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign rallies were surprised that the very real, tangible energy they felt at those events did not translate to the end result. They felt that they had immersed themselves in a bubble of lefty jubilance and were blindsided when they realized that bubble wasn’t as large as they thought. As the conversation unfolded, I was surprised that the topic of the Middle East never came up as a reason to support or oppose Harris. For all the talk leading up to the election about the effect the Israel-Hamas conflict would have on younger, more progressive college voters, it didn’t come up at all in this sample. What did come up was the feeling that Harris’ pivot to the middle wasn’t authentic. Her talking about her own gun ownership, for example, felt like a blatant effort to appeal to the center-right, and they just didn’t buy it. Harris’ loss hit the young women the most. So many of them didn’t understand how so many in this country could knowingly vote for a man and a political party that want to take away their rights and control their bodies. I challenged them to raise their hands if they, with any regularity, talk with the men in their lives about their bodies, about their menstrual cycles, about what it is to experience life as a woman. I asked them how many times the men in their lives — their fathers or partners — proactively broach those topics with them. Not one hand was raised. Given that, I asked, why would you think that any of them would vote one way or the other based on what’s going on with your body? Another reccurring criticism of Harris was the inability or refusal to meaningfully distinguish what she would have done differently from President Biden. I’ll admit, I was surprised to hear this specific point mentioned numerous times. They felt that the whole premise of the Harris campaign was a fresh start, a new generation of leadership, a turning of the page from old to new and yet, by not contrasting at all from Biden, she was sending the signal to these kids that it would be business as usual. They found that incredibly uninspiring. As I spent these few hours with them, it was clear that these students feel unseen by the political system. It was an overwhelmingly pro-Harris class, but the disdain they felt for the Democratic Party was palpable. This generation doesn’t want to be told what to do or what to think. They don’t want to be told what could happen if the other side wins. They don’t want to be lectured to or preached at. What they do want is to be inspired. They want something different from what they’ve seen from Washington over the last eight years. They want to be engaged regularly and authentically, not just when the political calendar dictates, as some targeted demographic determined by a political consultant. Every election cycle, everyone asks how to get young Americans to turn out more robustly, to engage and activate. After talking with these students, I think the answer is simple: Engage them like adults. Talk to them, not at them. Be real. Make it relatable and personal. Meet them where they are, not where you want them to be. This article was published in the Los Angeles Times and distributed by Tribune Content Agency.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom is publishing a memoir next May, further sparking ongoing speculation of a potential 2028 White House bid. Newsom put himself further under the spotlight following President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory with a series of actions aimed at countering Trump’s policies. Debate has been limited in the session thus far, with consideration of potential actions expected in January. While urging preparations for prospective legal battles, the governor said he would prefer a collaborative relationship with the new presidential administration. The Trump team’s spokesperson said the election results indicate popular support for the president-elect’s vision. “The American people reelected President Trump by a resounding margin giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail. ... He will deliver,” Karoline Leavitt, Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman, told The Epoch Times. Newsom’s memoir is available for pre-order on the Penguin Random House website. In the book, “Newsom traces his rise as a successful businessman and the happenstance that led him to politics,” the introduction reads. While Newsom has denied interest in the presidency in the past, some observers consider the book a clear sign that the governor plans to run for president at some point in the future. “This is a typical campaign book all candidates publish,” John Seiler, a veteran columnist who covers California politics, told The Epoch Times via email. Like many presidential candidates in the past who wrote their memoirs, Seiler said that Newsom “is signaling he’s running for president.” Seiler said the book will likely aim to “appeal to Democratic power brokers and 2028 primary voters,” and will show Newsom’s opposition to Trump’s policies on abortion, immigration, and other issues.NoneOntario First Nations mull next steps on child welfare amid various legal opinions
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