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Quiet Awards Season Has Hollywood Uneasy

Enspirers | Editorial Board
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Quiet Awards Season Has Hollywood Uneasy
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The Academy Awards were created in 1929 to promote Hollywood’s achievements to the outside world. At its pinnacle, the telecast drew 55 million viewers. That number has been dropping for years, and last year it hit an all-time low — 10.4 million viewers for a show without a host, no musical numbers and a little-seen best picture winner in “Nomadland.” (The film, which was released simultaneously in theaters and on Hulu, grossed just $3.7 million.)

Hollywood was planning to answer with an all-out blitz over the past year, even before the awards season. It deployed its biggest stars and most famous directors to remind consumers that despite myriad streaming options, theatergoing held an important place in the broader culture.

It hasn’t worked. The public, in large part, remains reluctant to return to theaters with any regularity. “No Time to Die,” Daniel Craig’s final turn as James Bond, was delayed for over a year because of the pandemic, and when it was finally released, it made only $160.7 million in the United States and Canada. That was $40 million less than the 2015 Bond film, “Spectre,” and $144 million below 2012’s “Skyfall,” the highest-grossing film in the franchise.

Well-reviewed, auteur-driven films that traditionally have a large presence on the awards circuit, like “Last Night in Soho” ($10.1 million), “Nightmare Alley” ($8 million) and “Belfast” ($6.9 million), barely made a ripple at the box office.

And even though Mr. Spielberg’s adaptation of “West Side Story” has a 93 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it has earned only $30 million at the domestic box office. (The original grossed $44 million back in 1961, the equivalent of $409 million in today.)

According to a recent study, 49 percent of prepandemic moviegoers are no longer buying tickets. Eight percent say they will never return. Those numbers are a death knell for the midbudget movies that rely on positive word of mouth and well-publicized accolades to get patrons into seats.

Some believe the middle part of the movie business — the beleaguered category of films that cost $20 million to $60 million (like “Licorice Pizza” and “Nightmare Alley”) and aren’t based on a comic book or other well-known intellectual property — may be changed forever. If viewing habits have been permanently altered, and award nominations and wins no longer prove to be a significant draw, those films will find it much more difficult to break even. If audiences are willing to go to the movies only to see the latest “Spider-Man” film, it becomes hard to convince them that they also need see a movie like “Belfast,” Kenneth Branagh’s black-and-white meditation on his childhood, in a crowded theater rather than in their living rooms.

Rubble and Repression: An Intimate Look at Germany in the Decade After Hitler

Enspirers | Editorial Board
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Rubble and Repression: An Intimate Look at Germany in the Decade After Hitler
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It was a startling disappearing act, one for the ages. Right at the moment when Hitler killed himself in his bunker on April 30, 1945, Germany was magically transformed from a genocidal Reich to a place where there were barely any Nazis to be found.

“No one was a Nazi,” the journalist Martha Gellhorn wrote about the end of World War II in Europe, mordantly recalling how all the Germans she met insisted they had hidden a Communist or were secretly half-Jewish. The photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White heard the phrase “We didn’t know!” with such “monotonous frequency” that it sounded “like a kind of national chant for Germany.”

In “Aftermath: Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich, 1945-1955,” the Berlin-based journalist Harald Jähner is similarly skeptical, describing how the majority of surviving Germans were so preoccupied with their own suffering that the dominant mood was one of self-pity. “They saw themselves as the victims,” he writes, “and thus had the dubious good fortune of not having to think about the real ones.”

The pointedness of this sentence is quintessential Jähner; he does double duty in this fascinating book (translated into English by the gifted Shaun Whiteside), elegantly marshaling a plethora of facts while also using his critical skills to wry effect, parsing a country’s stubborn inclination toward willful delusion. Even though “Aftermath” covers historical ground, its narrative is intimate, filled with first-person accounts from articles and diaries. The original German title was “Wolfszeit,” or “Time of the Wolf.” The postwar Germans were fond of animal metaphors. Those who stockpiled supplies were “hamsters,” while those who stole from the hamsters were “hyenas.” One could never be sure what the wolf was up to, “since the ‘lone wolf’ had just as frightening a reputation as the whole pack,” Jähner writes.

This duality between the loner and the group reflected the postwar emergence of the apathetic Everyman known as Ohnemichel, a play on the name Michael and the German words for “without” and “me,” a figure whose solitary inwardness was like the flip side of the Nazi Volksgemeinschaft, or “people’s community.” It was as if the country had lurched from one extreme to the other, from collective euphoria to lonesome despair. The nonaggressive Germany of today, which hosts more than a million refugees, seemed unimaginable at the time. As Jähner puts it, “How could a nation that perpetrated the Holocaust become a dependable democratic country” — so dependable that it gets caricatured as a “paradise of mediocrity”? Considering all the chaos in the years after the war, boredom might be seen as a formidable achievement.

Jähner sets out to tell the tumultuous story of the postwar decade in all of its contradictions, conveying the breadth of experiences amid the “extreme challenges” the German people faced. With their defeat, “laws had been overruled,” he writes, “yet no one was responsible for anything.” A recent book by Volker Ullrich, “Eight Days in May,” minutely chronicled what happened in the days between Hitler’s suicide and the Wehrmacht’s unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945, pointing out that most Germans didn’t consider it a day of liberation but “an unprecedented catastrophe.” Jähner’s “Aftermath” gets going where Ullrich’s epilogue leaves off, with the Germans assiduously avoiding any reckoning with what the Nazi regime had done in their name, devoting themselves instead to clearing the rubble with what Ullrich aptly described as “grim diligence.”

Jähner gives over an entire chapter to the rubble, which was everywhere; not only was it an overwhelming physical fact, but it also made for a potent cultural symbol. There were Trümmerfilme (“rubble films”) and Trümmerliteratur (“rubble literature”); the women known as Trümmerfrauen would be retrospectively remembered as “mythical heroines,” Jähner writes. Even though any number of those women had been pressed into service as punishment for their Nazi pasts, the photographs of them in their aprons and kerchiefs, surrounded by ruins to be painstakingly removed with their shovels, were appealing and ultimately useful, offering “an excellent visual metaphor for the sense of solidarity that the broken-down German society urgently needed.”

The Trümmerfrauen also happened to reflect the country’s postwar demographic reality: In 1950, there were 1,362 women for every 1,000 men. The soldiers who did return were often maimed or psychologically destroyed. During the war, women drove trams and operated bulldozers; they learned that cities didn’t need men in order to function. Jähner tells us that the men’s consequent feelings of humiliation often weighed more heavily on their psyches than the war crimes they committed. He quotes one returning soldier complaining that his wife “had learned to say ‘I’ while I had been away.” The Germans who married in haste, during short leaves after early victories on the front, were haunted by memories of “the Nazi regime’s heyday,” Jähner writes. “Those grandiose fantasies still echoed as man and wife now sat facing one another in their new squalor.”

“Aftermath” wends its way through sex, love and modern art; the book also covers more straightforward political terrain like the repatriation of displaced persons and the official division of East and West in 1949. Jähner inevitably explores the postwar economic situation, too, showing how strictly controlled ration cards yielded a flourishing black market. People stole from their neighbors and helped each other out. “Morality didn’t just dissolve,” Jähner writes. “It adapted.” Cologne’s Cardinal Josef Frings felt moved to tell Germans that they could put the commandment of “thou shalt not steal” into perspective; they could take what they needed in order to survive. The German language adjusted accordingly, with people calling theft Fringsing, as in “I Fringsed the potatoes.” Even Cardinal Frings was eventually caught Fringsing; the British found that Cologne’s churches were full of illegally stored coal.

Jähner trains his focus on such details because it’s through them that so much of the real transformation in postwar Germany first came about. If anyone deserved punishment and retribution, it was the Germans after the war — Jähner unsparingly points to the tendency of many to indulge “so expansively in their own suffering,” to reach for stock platitudes that made it possible for “even the most devoted Hitler-worshippers to feel duped rather than guilty.”

But top-down attempts by the Allies to “re-educate” the Germans into recognizing what they had done could only go so far with a populace that averted its gaze; the creation of civil society required a “change of mentality” that emerged when people were forced in their everyday lives to confront the reality before them. A robust economic recovery in both the East and the West was a boon, Jähner says, but such “good fortune” had “nothing to do with historical justice.”

Germany’s current self-image as a country that has wholly come to terms with its past might be, this book suggests, a bit of wishful thinking. “How stable and open to discussion German democracy really is has not yet been put to the test in a truly existential crisis,” Jähner writes. He ends by quoting the philosopher Karl Jaspers, who in 1946 warned against the blind spots that were so tempting to cultivate: “Let us actually seek out that which contradicts us.”

Only 35% vaccinated Americans have sought boosters, despite Biden’s omicron warnings

Enspirers | Editorial Board
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Only 35% vaccinated Americans have sought boosters, despite Biden’s omicron warnings
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Nearly two in three vaccinated Americans haven’t received a COVID-19 booster despite President Biden’s repeated push to shore up waning protection and fend off the omicron variant that’s blanketed the country, raising questions about public enthusiasm for more shots.

About 73 million people, or 35% of the 207 million people who’ve received a primary vaccine series, have received a booster, according to federal data.

Teens ages 16 and 17 were made eligible for boosters in early December and those 12 and up joined them in recent days, and some people are not distanced a sufficient number of months from their initial shots.

But adults have been cleared for a third shot since mid-November. Fewer than four in 10 Americans over age 18 have come forward, forcing Biden officials to amplify their pleas to a pandemic-weary public while Israeli officials move to the fourth round of shots for vulnerable residents.

“Right now, I think our strategy has to be to maximize the protection of the tens of millions who continue to be eligible for a third shot before we start thinking about a fourth shot,” Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Friday.

Doctors said they’re seeing the impact of slow uptake in the field, as the omicron variant rips through communities and preys on people with less protection.

“Patients without vaccines are making up a significant portion of the ICU beds, fighting for their lives,” said Panagis Galiatsatos, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore.

“After that is a small group of vaccinated and not boosted,” he said, adding that people in this group tend to be farther than six months from their primary series and thus eligible. He said many of these patients did not realize they are candidates for boosting, and that changing the definition of fully vaccinated might help with awareness.

Biden officials say they’ve been explicit about the need to get boosted, even as they’ve resisted calls to update the definition of fully vaccinated from two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines or one shot of the Johnson & Johnson version.

Workplace COVID-19 mandates and some rules around vaccination and entry to public venues are typically pegged to the existing definition of fully vaccinated.

“Individuals are considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19 if they’ve received their primary series. That definition is not changing,” Dr. Walensky said Wednesday at a White House COVID-19 briefing, adding: “We are now recommending that individuals stay up to date with additional doses that they are eligible for.”

Former CDC Director Tom Frieden, who served under former President Barack Obama, said the last part of Dr. Walensky’s comment will be key.

“We need to change the wording that we’re using for vaccination to being ‘up to date.’ We’re familiar with that concept for our kids’ vaccinations — up to date,” Dr. Frieden told The Washington Times. “The virus is changing, the science is changing, we are learning more all the time. And as we learn more, people may need more vaccinations, different vaccinations, no more vaccinations — but I think we need to encourage everyone to stay up to date with their COVID vaccination.”

Claire Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers, said booster uptake might be lagging because of a combination of factors. There has been so much focus on immunizing children and adult holdouts with a primary series, there are staffing shortages at some pharmacies, doctor’s offices and health systems — especially as they focus on testing and care for COVID cases — and some places are generally seeing slow demand.  

“Historically, uptake for second doses and boosters doses generally declines compared to initial doses,” she said, referring to other vaccines that require multiple doses at intervals.

Booster uptake can vary widely within a single state.

CalMatters, a nonprofit news site in California, said the state has a 38% boost rate overall, but far-northern counties and rural areas are seeing rates as low as 23%, while the Bay Area has boosted over half of its vaccinated persons, at about 55%.

One key factor in booster uptake is timing. Some people aren’t far enough from their initial series to be eligible for an extra dose.
The CDC and Food and Drug Administration this month tried to herd more people into the boosted column, saying people who received the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines can seek a booster after five months instead of six. Slightly more than 166 million Americans — amounting to 51% of the population — were fully vaccinated as of Aug. 7.

“The country is in the middle of a wave of the highly contagious omicron variant, which spreads more rapidly than the original [coronavirus strain] and other variants that have emerged,” said Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, on Friday. “Vaccination is our best defense against COVID-19, including the circulating variants, and shortening the length of time between completion of a primary series and a booster dose may help reduce waning immunity.”

The administration has pointed to better rates among older Americans, who are more susceptible to COVID-19 disease and are more likely to be farther out from their initial vaccine series. Nearly 6 in 10 persons aged 65 or older have gotten a booster, while around half of persons 50 or older have come forward.

Mr. Biden this past week pleaded with Americans of all ages to warm to boosters.

Extra shots “significantly increase the protection. They provide the highest level of protection against omicron,” the president said. “Americans, we’ve given out over 70 million booster shots. Importantly, two out of three eligible seniors have received their booster shots. Booster shots are free, they’re safe and available in over 90,000 vaccination sites. Let me say that again: They’re free, available, and at
over 90,000 sites.”

Paul Mango, a key liaison between the Department of Health and Human Services and “Operation Warp Speed” in the Trump administration, said many younger, healthier people probably believe the primary series is good enough to stave off the most severe outcomes from COVID-19.

“I think most people have done the risk-benefit analysis and they said, ‘I’ll be fine,’” he said.

Mr. Mango also said the president did himself no favors by announcing a booster campaign in August before regulators and their advisers had a chance to weigh in on the plan.

“He’s out in front of the FDA,” Mr. Mango said. “Big problem.”

• Shen Wu Tan contributed to this report.

For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.

Health, The New York Today

Why Tesla Soared as Other Automakers Struggled to Make Cars

Enspirers | Editorial Board
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Why Tesla Soared as Other Automakers Struggled to Make Cars
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For much of last year, established automakers like General Motors and Ford Motor operated in a different reality from Tesla, the electric car company.

G.M. and Ford closed one factory after another — sometimes for months on end — because of a shortage of computer chips, leaving dealer lots bare and sending car prices zooming. Yet Tesla racked up record sales quarter after quarter and ended the year having sold nearly twice as many vehicles as it did in 2020 unhindered by an industrywide crisis.

Tesla’s ability to conjure up critical components has a greater significance than one year’s car sales. It suggests that the company, and possibly other young electric car businesses, could threaten the dominance of giants like Volkswagen and G.M. sooner and more forcefully than most industry executives and policymakers realize. That would help the effort to reduce the emissions that are causing climate change by displacing more gasoline-powered cars sooner. But it could hurt the millions of workers, thousands of suppliers and numerous local and national governments that rely on traditional auto production for jobs, business and tax revenue.

Tesla and its enigmatic chief executive, Elon Musk, have said little about how the carmaker ran circles around the rest of the auto industry. Now it’s becoming clear that the company simply had a superior command of technology and its own supply chain. Tesla appeared to better forecast demand than businesses that produce many more cars than it does. Other automakers were surprised by how quickly the car market recovered from a steep drop early in the pandemic and had simply not ordered enough chips and parts fast enough.

When Tesla couldn’t get the chips it had counted on, it took the ones that were available and rewrote the software that operated them to suit its needs. Larger auto companies couldn’t do that because they relied on outside suppliers for much of their software and computing expertise. In many cases, automakers also relied on these suppliers to deal with chip manufacturers. When the crisis hit, the automakers lacked bargaining clout.

Just a few years ago, analysts saw Mr. Musk’s insistence on having Tesla do more things on its own as one of the main reasons the company was struggling to increase production. Now, his strategy appears to have been vindicated.

Cars are becoming increasingly digital, defined by their software as much as their engines and transmissions. It’s a reality that some old-line car companies increasingly acknowledge. Many, including Ford and Mercedes-Benz, have said in recent months that they are hiring engineers and programmers to design their own chips and write their own software.

“Tesla, born in Silicon Valley, never outsourced their software — they write their own code,” said Morris Cohen, a professor emeritus at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania who specializes in manufacturing and logistics. “They rewrote the software so they could replace chips in short supply with chips not in short supply. The other carmakers were not able to do that.”

“Tesla controlled its destiny,” Professor Cohen added.

Tesla sold 936,000 cars globally in 2021, an 87 percent increase for the year. Ford, G.M. and Stellantis, the company formed from the merger of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot, all sold fewer cars in 2021 than they did in 2020.

Measured by vehicles delivered globally, Tesla vaulted past Volvo and Subaru in 2021, and some analysts predicted that it could sell two million cars this year, as factories in Berlin and Austin, Texas, come online and a plant in Shanghai ramps up production. That would put Tesla in the same league as BMW and Mercedes — something few in the industry thought possible just a couple of years ago.

G.M. and Ford, of course, sell many more cars and trucks. Both companies said last week that they sold around two million vehicles last year just in the United States.

Tesla, which rarely answers questions from reporters, did not respond to a request for comment for this article. It has said little publicly about how it managed to soar in a down market.

“We have used alternative parts and programmed software to mitigate the challenges caused by these shortages,” the company said in its third-quarter earnings report.

The performance is a stark turnaround from 2018, when Tesla’s production and supply problems made it an industry laughingstock. Many of the manufacturing snafus stemmed from Mr. Musk’s insistence that the company make many parts itself.

Other car companies have realized that they need to do some of what Mr. Musk and Tesla have been doing all along and are in the process of taking control of their onboard computer systems.

Mercedes, for example, plans to use fewer specialized chips in coming models and more standardized semiconductors, and to write its own software, said Markus Schäfer, a member of the German carmaker’s management board who oversees procurement.

In the future, Mercedes will “make sure we have customized, standardized chips in the car,” Mr. Schäfer said in an interview on Wednesday. “Not one thousand different chips.”

Mercedes will also design its own vehicle hardware, he said. Without mentioning Tesla, Mr. Schäfer added, “Probably some others were earlier going down this road.”

Doing more on its own also helps explain why Tesla avoided shortages of batteries, which have limited companies like Ford and G.M. from selling lots of electric cars. In 2014, when most carmakers were still debating whether electric vehicles would ever amount to anything, Tesla broke ground on what it called a gigafactory outside Reno, Nev., to produce batteries with its partner, Panasonic. Now, that factory helps ensure a reliable supply.

“It was a big risk,” said Ryan Melsert, a former Tesla executive who was involved in construction of the Nevada plant. “But because they have made decisions early on to bring things in house, they have much more control over their own fate.”

As Professor Cohen of Wharton pointed out, Tesla’s approach is in many ways a throwback to the early days of the automobile, when Ford owned its own steel plants and rubber plantations. In recent decades, the conventional auto wisdom had it that manufacturers should concentrate on design and final assembly and farm out the rest to suppliers. That strategy helped reduce how much money big players tied up in factories, but left them vulnerable to supply chain turmoil.

It also helps that Tesla is a much smaller company than Volkswagen and Toyota, which in a good year produce more than 10 million vehicles each. “It’s just a smaller supply chain to begin with,” said Mr. Melsert, who is now chief executive of American Battery Technology Company, a recycling and mining firm.

The Tesla lineup is also more modest and easier to supply. The Model 3 sedan and Model Y sport utility vehicle accounted for almost all of the company’s sales in 2021. Tesla also offers fewer options than many of the traditional carmakers, which simplifies manufacturing.

“It’s a more streamlined approach,” said Phil Amsrud, a senior principal analyst who specializes in automotive semiconductors at IHS Markit, a research firm. “They are not trying to manage all these different configurations.”

Tesla software, which can be updated remotely, is considered the most sophisticated in the auto business. Even so, the company’s cars likely use fewer chips, analysts said, because the company controls functions like battery cooling and autonomous driving from a smaller number of centralized, onboard computers.

“Tesla has fewer boxes,” Mr. Amsrud said. “The fewer the components you need right now, the better.”

Of course, Tesla could still run into problems as it tries to replicate the growth it achieved in 2021 — it is aiming to increase sales about 50 percent a year for the next several years. The company acknowledged in its third-quarter report that its creative maneuvering around supply chain chaos might not work so well as it increased production and needed more chips and other parts.

The electric vehicle market is also becoming much more competitive as the traditional carmakers belatedly respond with models that people want to buy rather than the small electric vehicles typically made to appease regulators. Ford said this past week that it would nearly double production of the Lightning, an electric version of its popular F-150 pickup truck, because of strong demand. Tesla’s pickup truck won’t go on sale for at least another year.

The outlook for the traditional carmakers is likely to improve this year as shortages of semiconductors and other components ease, and as manufacturers get better at coping.

Tesla vehicles still suffer from quality problems. The company told regulators in December that it planned to recall more than 475,000 cars for two separate defects. One could cause the rearview camera to fail, and the other could cause the front hood to open unexpectedly. And federal regulators are investigating the safety of Tesla’s Autopilot system, which can accelerate, brake and steer a car on its own.

“Tesla will continue to grow,” said Stephen Beck, managing partner at cg42, a management consulting firm in New York. “But they are facing more competition than they ever have, and the competition is getting stronger.”

The carmaker’s fundamental advantage, which allowed it to sail through the chip crisis, will remain, however. Tesla builds nothing but electric vehicles and is unencumbered by habits and procedures that have been rendered obsolete by new technology. “Tesla started from a clean sheet of paper,” Mr. Amsrud said.

Gas prices rise across nation, dip in NJ amid COVID-19 fears

Enspirers | Editorial Board
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Gas prices rise across nation, dip in NJ amid COVID-19 fears
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TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Gas prices rose across the nation but dipped in New Jersey amid fears about the possible effect of COVID-19’s omicron variant on the economy.

AAA Mid-Atlantic says the average price of a gallon of regular gas in New Jersey on Friday was $3.38, down a penny from last week. Drivers were paying an average of $2.42 a gallon a year ago at this time.

The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.39, up two cents from last week. Drivers were paying $2.28 a gallon on average a year ago at this time.

Tracy Noble, spokesperson for AAA Mid-Atlantic, says there is great uncertainty about whether the omicron variant will linger or peak quickly and vanish, “and we are seeing this reflected at the pump in the form of uneasy price stability.”

For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.

Copyright © 2022 The Washington Times, LLC.

Buchnevich, Husso lead Blues to 5-1 win over Capitals

Enspirers | Editorial Board
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Buchnevich, Husso lead Blues to 5-1 win over Capitals
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ST. LOUIS — Pavel Buchnevich had two goals and an assist, Ville Husso stopped 26 shots and the St. Louis Blues beat the Washington Capitals 5-1 Friday night.

Torey Krug, Oskar Sundqvist and Ivan Barbashev also scored to help the Blues improve to 8-2-2 in their last 12 games, and 10-0-1 in their last 11 at home. Ryan O’Reilly and Robert Thomas each added two assists.

Daniel Sprong scored for Washington, which lost in regulation for the third time in its last 12 games (6-3-3). Ilya Samsonov gave up four goals on 16 shots through two periods, and Zach Fucale stopped all seven shots he faced in the third.

Buchnevich, Sundqvist and Barbashev scored in the second period to give St. Louis a 4-1 lead. The scoring burst came on just six shots on goal in the period against Samsonov.

Samsonov has allowed three or more goals in six of his eight starts since the beginning of December.

Buchnevich put St. Louis ahead 2-1 with a one-timer from the top of the slot at 9:08. It was the first shot on goal in the period by the Blues, who earlier had a power-play chance. Sundqvist popped in a rebound of a shot by Justin Faulk with 2:40 remaining, and Barbashev’s goal on a quick wrist shot from the slot came just before just before time ran out and the horn sounded in the period.

Buchnevich added his 13th of the season, an empty-netter with 3:52 left in the third.

Washington took the lead 2:02 into the game as Sprong snapped a wrist shot from the right circle after getting a pass from along the boards by Aliaksei Protas.

St. Louis tied it 1-1 when Krug scored with 7:50 left in the period. Krug received a nifty cross-ice pass from Thomas in the left faceoff circle and he lifted a wrist shot high for the goal.

Husso was strong in the first period for the Blues. He foiled a Capitals 3-on-1 break with a left skate kick save at 1:53. Washington had numerous scoring chances in the first 10 minutes, including one by Alex Ovechkin just 32 seconds into the game, but managed just the one goal. The Capitals didn’t get a shot on goal in the final 10:22 of the period.

Washington had been idle since a 4-3 overtime loss at home to the New Jersey Devils last Sunday. Washington was set to play Tuesday at Montreal but received an extended layoff due to the game being postponed for COVID-19 restrictions.

ROSTER MOVES

The Blues recalled D Calle Rosen from their Springfield (Mass.) AHL affiliate and was added to the taxi squad. LW Nathan Walker, who had four goals and one assist in seven games, was sent back to Springfield from the taxi squad. … Washington sent Hunter Shepard back to its Hershey (Pa.) AHL affiliate.

COVID-19 PROTOCOL

Blues RW Vladimir Tarasenko, D Scott Perunovich and FJake Walman were added to the NHL’s COVID-19 protocols list. Tarasenko, who missed his first game of the season, had six goals and five assists in his last 11 games. The Blues have had 17 players on the COVID-19 protocols this season. … Washington D Martin Fehervary and D Dennis Cholowski were back on the active roster and out of COVID-19 protocols.

LAST TIME

Friday’s game was the first meeting between the teams since Oct. 2, 2019. On that day, the Blues raised their Stanley Cup banner to the rafters.

ICE CHIPS

Capitals RW Tom Wilson played in his 600th career game. … Blues D Robert Bortuzzo returned to play after missing three games being on the COVID-19 protocols list.

INJURIES

The Capitals placed RW T.J. Oshie (non-COVID illness) and C Nicklas Backstrom (non-COVID illness) on injured reserve. Neither made the trip to St. Louis. Their last game played came on Dec. 31 in Detroit.

UP NEXT

Capitals: At Minnesota on Saturday night.

Blues: Host Dallas on Sunday.

Copyright © 2022 The Washington Times, LLC.

LaVine leads way as Bulls win 9th straight, beat Wizards

Enspirers | Editorial Board
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LaVine leads way as Bulls win 9th straight, beat Wizards
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CHICAGO — Zach LaVine scored 27 points, Coby White added 21 and the Chicago Bulls won their ninth straight, beating the Washington Wizards 130-122 on Friday night.

The Eastern Conference-leading Bulls matched their longest win streak since the 2010-11 team won nine in a row to finish the regular season. They also had an easier time in this one after winning last week at Washington on DeMar DeRozan’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer, grabbing the lead late in the third quarter and remaining in control down the stretch.

Lonzo Ball scored 18 points, hitting six of Chicago’s 15 3-pointers. White buried four from beyond the arc. Rookie Ayo Dosunmu chipped in with 18 points, and coach Billy Donovan earned his 300th NBA win.

Bradley Beal led Washington with 26 points. Kyle Kuzma had 21 points and 11 rebounds. Spencer Dinwiddie added 18 points for the Wizards, who lost for the third time in four games.

It was tied at 87 when Ball nailed a 3 with about four minutes remaining in the third quarter, starting a 10-2 run in which LaVine scored seven points.

White poured in eight over the final 1:17 of the quarter, hitting two 3s and a runner at the buzzer that made it 107-95. The Bulls remained in control the rest of the way.

Chicago’s lead hit 19 points when LaVine cut for a layup to make it 122-103 with just under six minutes remaining.

TIP-INS

Wizards: G Aaron Holiday appeared in his first game since Dec. 26 after clearing health and safety protocols. … F Davis Bertans (sprained left foot) was unavailable after leaving Wednesday’s 114-111 loss to Houston. Coach Wes Unseld Jr. said the injury “didn’t seem too significant” and hopes to have him available for Sunday’s game at Orlando. … Unseld hopes to have F Rui Hachimura and F Montrezl Harrell, who have cleared health and safety protocols, join the team on Saturday.

Bulls: LaVine has 137 consecutive double-digit scoring games. … G Alex Caruso (healthy and safety protocols) was experiencing cold-like symptoms, coach Billy Donovan said.

UP NEXT

Wizards: Visit Orlando on Sunday.

Bulls: Visit Dallas on Sunday.

Copyright © 2022 The Washington Times, LLC.

Ivy League backs transgender swimming champ Lia Thomas, condemns ‘transphobia’

Enspirers | Editorial Board
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Ivy League backs transgender swimming champ Lia Thomas, condemns ‘transphobia’
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The Ivy League has thrown its weight behind Penn transgender athlete Lia Thomas, denouncing “transphobia” ahead of Saturday’s meet amid growing concern over the transgender athlete’s record-smashing season and its implications for women’s sports.

In a Thursday “statement of support,” the league stressed that Thomas and the University of Pennsylvania have followed NCAA rules, which require male-to-female athletes to undergo at least a year of testosterone suppression before competing in women’s sports.

“The Ivy League reaffirms its unwavering commitment to providing an inclusive environment for all student-athletes while condemning transphobia and discrimination in any form,” said the Ivy League. “The league welcomes her participation in the sport of women’s swimming and diving and looks forward to celebrating the success of all our student-athletes throughout the season.”

Penn Athletics also issued a statement Thursday, saying it was “committed to being a welcoming and inclusive environment” and emphasizing that Thomas has “met or exceeded all NCAA protocols over the last two years for a transgender female student-athlete to compete for the women’s team.”

“She will continue to represent the Penn women’s swimming team in competition this season,” said the Penn program.

The statements came with the Penn swim team scheduled to host Yale and Dartmouth at a Saturday meet in Philadelphia ahead of next month’s Ivy League championships.

Those hoping to see Thomas in action were thwarted when Penn Athletics announced Dec. 30 that no spectators will be permitted to attend winter sporting events for the rest of the season, citing rising COVID-19 cases.

Photos of Thomas training with the team in Stuart, Florida, were posted Wednesday by the [U.K.] DailyMail.com.

The shows of support for Thomas galvanized activists on both sides. The hashtag #PennCheats took off Friday on social media, while the Women’s Sports Foundation, founded by tennis great Billie Jean King, applauded the Ivy League and Penn.

“Kudos to @Penn and @IvyLeague for standing up for inclusion,” the foundation tweeted. “We need to create sport environments that allow athletes to be their authentic selves. Having supportive schools and organizations behind them is critical. All girls. All women. All sports.”

Pushing back were women’s advocates like Kara Dansky, author of “The Abolition of Sex: How the ‘Transgender’ Agenda Harms Women and Girls” (2021), who called the foundation’s response “Pathetic.”

“Lia’s ‘authentic self’ belongs on the [men’s] team,” tweeted Ms. Dansky. “Shame on the @NCAA.”

Ken Parker, founder of Runnersweb.com, tweeted: “Apparently the smart Ivy League cannot tell the difference between men and women. Wow!”

The 22-year-old Thomas, who swam for three years on Penn’s men’s team before transitioning and switching to the women’s side, has fueled a national debate over fairness versus inclusion in women’s sports with her breakthrough season.

She holds the nation’s top times this year in the 200 and 500 freestyle. Last month, Thomas set a pool, program and meet record in the 1,650 freestyle at the Zippy Invitational, defeating teammate Anna Kalandadze, who finished second, by a whopping 38 seconds.

Speculation is rife that Thomas could make a run at the freestyle records set by women’s swimming greats Missy Franklin and Katie Ledecky at the NCAA Division I championships in March.

There are eight schools in the Ivy League: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton and Yale.

Amy Schneider, transgender ‘Jeopardy!’ champ, is fourth to top $1 million in winnings

Enspirers | Editorial Board
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Amy Schneider, transgender ‘Jeopardy!’ champ, is fourth to top $1 million in winnings
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LOS ANGELES — “Jeopardy!” champion Amy Schneider is adding to her list of bragging rights and admirers.

Already the highest-earning female contestant in the quiz show’s history and the woman with the longest winning streak, on Friday she became one of only four “Jeopardy!” players to reach seven figures in regular-season winnings.

She’s collected $1.02 million in 28 victories, solidifying her 4th-place position on the list that includes Ken Jennings with $2.5 million; James Holzhauer, $2.46 million, and Matt Amodio, $1.52 million.

Schneider, who’s also fourth in consecutive wins, will compete again Monday.

Poised and affable on TV and in an interview with The Associated Press, she doesn’t seem the gloating type. But she is tickled by the fact that she’s fulfilled a prediction made by her 8th-grade classmates in Dayton, Ohio: She was voted most likely to be a “Jeopardy!” contestant, based on her geography and spelling bee prowess.

More significantly, she’s the first transgender person to qualify for the show’s tournament of champions. In a series of tweets last November, Schneider said she’s proud to be a trans woman and wants people to know that aspect of her, adding, “but I’m a lot of other things, too!”

Schneider’s “Jeopardy!” achievements have made her both an inspiration and a target for transphobic insults online – which she batted away with the same aplomb she displays on TV. Her deftness earned attention last week from Harvey Fierstein.

“I couldn’t be prouder if she were my own daughter,” the writer and Broadway star tweeted.

Fun fact: Schneider is proud of a podcast she did on “Downton Abbey” and invites those who are interested to listen to “hundreds of hours of content” about the PBS series.

Schneider, an engineering manager living in Oakland, California, recently talked with AP about her newfound fame, keeping her day job – but dreaming about an entertainment career – and being a voice for the trans community. Remarks have been edited for clarity and length.

AP: Are you having pinch-me moments over how well you’ve done on ‘Jeopardy!’?

SCHNEIDER: Absolutely. Just seeing myself on TV still is almost a shock, even though I was there when it all happened. I thought I could win some games but I didn’t think I would do this well. The other day, my girlfriend mentioned some famous people that had gone to her high school, and I was thinking, “I know there was somebody who went to mine.” I looked it up on Wikipedia and there I was, listed under notable alumni. That was a very weird moment to see that.

AP: You’ve mentioned actor Laverne Cox and comedian Natasha Muse as trans women you find inspiring. Have you heard from viewers who see you as a role model?

SCHNEIDER: I have definitely heard from other trans people who have been sort of thrilled to see me out there. But one of the things that I’ve enjoyed the most is hearing from parents, and sometimes grandparents, of trans people, an older generation. There’s a lot of fear for their loved ones who are trans, and worry that they might be limited in life. To be able to go out there and show that I can be successful in a very mainstream type of way has, I think, made a lot of them feel better about the people in their lives.

AP: Given that Cox and Muse are both performers, is that something that touches a chord in you? You’ve done acting, and is comedy something you’re interested in?

SCHNEIDER: I’ve done open mics around town, just for fun and not seriously pursued it, but I’ve been a performer my whole life. As I was struggling with the necessity of coming out, definitely one of the fears was, ‘Will I still be comfortable in public and will I still be able to perform after I transitioned?’ And seeing them definitely helped with that.

AP: Is a career in entertainment your goal?

SCHNEIDER: I’m dreaming of it. I don’t know exactly in what direction I would want to take that, and I don’t know what opportunities will be available coming out of this (the show). But I’ve been working on my writing as a field I might find some opportunities in. Beyond that, I’m just sort of riding it out and kind of seeing what may or may not come up as it goes along.

AP: Last month, after you got a Twitter shoutout on your “Jeopardy!” success from Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio, you asked your followers in the state to consider that a vote for a Republican in this year’s elections would make your life harder. How did you decide to make a statement that puts you on a different level of exposure?

SCHNEIDER: I definitely thought about it, and I don’t want my social media to be a place where people are arguing about politics all the time. But at the same time, I can’t ignore the fact that there’s people out there threatening my brothers and sisters in the trans community. Here I have a chance to say something about it, and I can’t be completely silent. I don’t necessarily want to be super-activist about it and constantly banging that drum. But I can’t be silent either, when I know that there’s so many people in danger of real hurt and harm from political policies.

AP: You had a polite response to someone who took you to task for the tweet.

SCHNEIDER: I grew up in a Republican household and a Catholic environment, and many people I love are conservative in various ways. I know them, and I know they’re not intentionally out there doing harm and that they have reasons for the positions that they hold. So I want to engage people from (across) the spectrum where that’s possible. But it has to be in a condition where my right to exist is granted, otherwise we can’t talk.

Copyright © 2022 The Washington Times, LLC.

Nick Kristof asks Oregon Supreme Court to overturn residency decision in governor bid

Enspirers | Editorial Board
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Nick Kristof asks Oregon Supreme Court to overturn residency decision in governor bid
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SALEM, Ore. — Former New York Times columnist Nick Kristof filed a petition with the Oregon Supreme Court on Friday, asking justices to quickly overturn Secretary of State Shemia Fagan’s determination he does not meet the state Constitution’s three-year residency requirement to run for governor.

“In the absence of this Court’s intervention, voters will be marginalized, and the gubernatorial race will be irreversibly altered by a lone government official applying novel and untested legal reasoning,” Kristof’s attorneys wrote.

Oregon Public Broadcasting reports that while such a matter would typically first work its way up through the court system, beginning at the circuit level, Kristof argued Oregon’s high court should put an end to questions about his residency soon – well before a March 17 deadline for candidates to qualify for the May Democratic primary ballot.

If justices do not find reason to force Fagan to overturn her decision, Kristof requested that she be forced to explain in court why she would not approve his candidacy.

Kristof’s arguments in the petition and a concurrent memo filed with the court mirror arguments his attorneys have been making for months: The Pulitzer Prize-winner grew up in Yamhill, has long maintained property and summered there, and has said he always considered Oregon to be his home.

But Kristof has spent much of his life outside the state, living in New York and abroad to pursue his profession. He voted as a New York resident in November 2020, and possessed a New York driver’s license the same year.

Democrats have held Oregon’s governor’s office since 1987. Those running for the state’s high office include Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek and state Treasurer Tobias Read.

Republicans seeking their party’s nomination include state Rep. Christine Drazan, former Republican nominee Bud Pierce and Sandy Mayor Stan Pulliam.

Copyright © 2022 The Washington Times, LLC.

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