US President-elect Donald Trump has nominated veteran prosecutor Pam Bondi as his new choose for lawyer common, hours after Matt Gaetz withdrew his identify from consideration.

Bondi has a protracted monitor report in regulation enforcement and beforehand served as Florida’s lawyer common.

The 59-year-old is a long-time Trump ally who defended him throughout his first Senate impeachment trial.

Shedding his first alternative, Gaetz, to run the Justice Division is a setback for Trump however his new choose ought to have a much less bumpy experience from senators who should approve the appointment.

“Pam was a prosecutor for almost 20 years, the place she was very powerful on Violent Criminals, and made the streets secure for Florida Households,” Trump mentioned in a social media submit asserting his alternative.

Bondi has been near Trump since his 2016 marketing campaign, telling voters at a current Trump rally that she considers him a “buddy”.

In 2019, she joined his White Home to give attention to “proactive impeachment messaging”, serving each as his authorized advisor and defence lawyer throughout his first impeachment – throughout which he was acquitted.

She continued to be a part of Trump’s authorized workforce in 2020 because it made false claims that the election had been stolen from Trump resulting from voter fraud.

She additionally served on Trump’s Opioid and Drug Abuse Fee, and extra lately, has headed the authorized arm of the America First Coverage Institute, a conservative assume tank based by former Trump workers members.

If confirmed by the Senate, Bondi will change into the nation’s chief regulation enforcement officer, in control of the justice division’s greater than 115,000 staff and roughly $45bn (£35.7bn) funds.

She would additionally play a key function in trying to implement Trump’s vow to punish his political enemies as soon as he takes workplace.

She has been a vocal critic of the prison circumstances introduced towards Trump, in addition to particular counsel Jack Smith, who charged Trump in two federal circumstances.

“For too lengthy, the partisan Division of Justice has been weaponized towards me and different Republicans – Not anymore,” Trump wrote on Thursday night.

“Pam will refocus the DOJ [Department of Justice] to its supposed function of preventing Crime, and Making America Protected Once more.”

Trump’s different plans for the division embody ending “weaponised authorities”, defending US borders, dismantling prison organisations and restoring Individuals’ “badly-shattered religion and confidence” within the division.

Trump’s transition workforce might be hoping that Bondi’s nomination path might be much less tumultuous than Gaetz’s.

Reacting to the announcement, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham predicted that Bondi “might be confirmed rapidly,” calling her choice a “grand slam, landing, gap in a single, ace, hat trick, slam dunk, Olympic gold medal choose”.

The information of Bondi’s nomination took place six hours after Gaetz mentioned he wouldn’t search the high-profile cupboard submit, following days of debate over whether or not to launch a congressional report on sexual misconduct allegations towards him.

Asserting his withdrawal, the 41-year-old mentioned the controversy over his potential nomination “was unfairly turning into a distraction” to the work of the incoming Trump administration.

The report included the findings of a probe sparked by allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. Gaetz has vehemently denied the claims however mentioned that he hoped to keep away from a “needlessly protracted Washington scuffle” by withdrawing.

Afterward Thursday, Gaetz provided his congratulations to Bondi, calling her “a stellar choice by President Trump”.

It’s unclear if Gaetz, who resigned his Home seat quickly after Trump tapped him for lawyer common, will now attempt to retain his seat.

Since his resounding election win earlier this month, Trump has named a number of shut allies to fill high-ranking positions in his administration.

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President-elect Donald Trump has named Pam Bondi, a former legal professional normal of Florida, as his subsequent decide for U.S. legal professional normal.

Bondi, who served as Florida’s prime prosecutor from 2011 to 2019, is a longtime ally of Trump’s and was one in all his legal professionals throughout his first impeachment trial. She leads the authorized arm of the America First Coverage Institute, a assume tank arrange by former staffers from Trump’s first presidency.

In an announcement saying the choice, Trump mentioned: “Pam was a prosecutor for almost 20 years, the place she was very powerful on Violent Criminals, and made the streets secure for Florida Households. Then, as Florida’s first feminine Lawyer Common, she labored to cease the trafficking of lethal medicine, and cut back the tragedy of Fentanyl Overdose Deaths, which have destroyed many households throughout our Nation. She did such an unbelievable job, that I requested her to serve on our Opioid and Drug Abuse Fee throughout my first Time period — We saved many lives!”

Trump added: “For too lengthy, the partisan Division of Justice has been weaponized in opposition to me and different Republicans — Not anymore. Pam will refocus the DOJ to its meant goal of preventing Crime, and Making America Secure Once more.”

The Division of Justice has been key to Trump’s agenda for his second time period as he probably seeks to make the division extra accountable to the president and go after his perceived enemies. Trump’s Vice President-elect JD Vance referred to as the function of legal professional normal crucial job within the subsequent administration, after the president.

Whoever winds up within the function must implement Trump’s agenda whereas additionally overseeing the day-to-day operations of a division of greater than 115,000 individuals, which prosecutes crimes, polices companies, protects civil rights and defends U.S. legal guidelines throughout all aspects of presidency.

Bondi’s choice continues Trump’s apply of selecting his former legal professionals for senior roles in his new administration. Final week, he picked former federal prosecutor Todd Blanche as his deputy legal professional normal and Emil Bove as principal affiliate deputy legal professional normal, who could be performing deputy legal professional normal whereas Blanche is awaiting affirmation. Each males defended Trump in his authorized instances, together with the New York felony case through which a jury discovered him responsible of 34 felony counts. Trump has not been sentenced in that case.

The number of former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, Trump’s prior decide for legal professional normal, confronted controversy from the day he was chosen final week, stemming from allegations that he participated in intercourse events, used unlawful medicine and had intercourse with a minor — allegations that Gaetz has constantly denied. The FBI investigated these expenses starting in 2021, however the Justice Division by no means introduced expenses.

Some lawmakers have been additionally involved Gaetz lacked the temperament and expertise to guide a division, which has lengthy valued its independence and impartiality in implementing the regulation.

These seeking to entry Reddit Wednesday afternoon had been met with an unfamiliar message, with no posts loading and leaving customers confused.

The location, which has referred to as itself the “entrance web page of the web,” appeared to have gone down in some unspecified time in the future within the afternoon. Based on the positioning DownDetector, there had been greater than 45,000 stories of Reddit outages simply after 3:30 p.m.

These seeking to entry Reddit got a message that learn “upstream join error or disconnect/reset earlier than headers. reset cause: connection failure.”

Apart from the message on the positioning, there was no cause given for why the positioning was inaccessible. It nonetheless appeared to not be working as of 4:15 p.m.

The primary half of Thursday night time’s recreation between the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers had a couple of snow flurries, and that was novel. It was the primary snow of the NFL season.

Then, within the second half, it actually was the primary snow recreation of the NFL season.

The Browns and Steelers abruptly have been taking part in in a snow globe within the third quarter. The snow began coming down more durable and more durable. It collected on Steelers coach Mike Tomlin’s hat and his beard as nicely.

The sport was ugly in some ways, however the setting was lovely for many who love soccer video games within the snow.

The Steelers had an extended drive within the third quarter when the snow actually began to come back down, and Russell Wilson accomplished a couple of passes regardless that it was more durable to see who caught them and what yard line they have been at.

On the finish of the drive, Chris Boswell hit a brief area objective, and it was unimaginable to see on the printed if it went by way of. Even Al Michaels on the Amazon Prime Video broadcast wasn’t certain.

“Boswell’s kick … if you’ll find it … is nice,” Michaels mentioned. “I overpassed it.”

After Boswell’s area objective Amazon turned on the digital traces and hashmarks on the sector, as a result of it was unimaginable to see the precise traces and numbers on the sector.

Later within the second half, Browns QB Jameis Winston had a gutsy fourth-down run, leaping into the tip zone for the rating. And it seemed even higher within the snow. That helped the Browns ultimately pull off the dramatic 24-19 win.

The snow made for some unbelievable pictures from Cleveland.

Soccer in Cleveland and different cities all through the Midwest is meant to appear to be it did on Thursday night time.

The 2024 NFL season continues with the Week 12 schedule because the Pittsburgh Steelers journey to Huntington Financial institution Discipline to tackle the Cleveland Browns for Thursday Night time Soccer.

This is what it’s worthwhile to find out about learn how to watch the Steelers on the Browns on Thursday Night time Soccer, the NFL Week 12 TV schedule and extra.

Steelers-Browns predictions for TNF:Predictions, picks and odds for NFL Week 12 sport

What time is the Steelers-Browns sport on Thursday Night time Soccer for NFL Week 12?

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns will play at 8:15 p.m. ET Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024.

What channel is Pittsburgh Steelers vs Cleveland Browns on TV tonight for NFL Thursday Night time Soccer in Week 12?

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns will air on Amazon Prime at 8:15 p.m. ET Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024.

Watch Thursday Night time Soccer on Prime Video

The right way to stream, watch Cleveland Browns vs Pittsburgh Steelers Thursday Night time Soccer sport tonight for NFL Week 12

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns will stream on Prime Video at 8:15 p.m. ET Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. The app is obtainable within the Apple App Retailer or on Google Play.

Watch Browns vs Steelers on Prime Video

2024 NFL Week 12 schedule of soccer video games

Right here is the NFL schedule for Week 12. All instances are Japanese:

2024 NFL TV schedule soccer video games in the present day, tonight: full record for Weeks 1-18

2024 NFL Week 11 schedule, box scores, game results

Here is the NFL schedule for Week 11. All times are Eastern:

Chris Sims is a digital content producer at Midwest Connect Gannett. Follow him on Twitter: @ChrisFSims.

We often suggest fascinating services and products. In the event you make a purchase order by clicking one of many hyperlinks, we could earn an affiliate price. USA TODAY Community newsrooms function independently, and this doesn’t affect our protection.

A sure type of friction can go a good distance in making a difficult and punishing sport that’s additionally gripping. When builders depart you to determine issues out for your self amid harmful enemies that may kill you on a second’s discover, not often supplying you with a simple means out of a multitude, it turns into clear that the survival instincts embedded within the STALKER sequence are very a lot alive within the long-awaited STALKER 2: Coronary heart of Chornobyl. Then there’s the kind of friction that forestalls you from partaking with it in earnest, like poor technical efficiency, bugs which can be generally hilarious however at others game-breaking, or nonsensical enemy habits. STALKER 2 has each sorts of friction in equal measure. It simply can’t cease getting in its personal means, however for all that’s working towards it, there’s an underlying greatness that surfaces every so often.

STALKER 2 is an enormous sport; as of this writing, I’m about 20 hours into my playthrough and nonetheless have a lot left to do in The Zone in each the principle story questline and in facet missions that I’m having to squint to see a lightweight on the finish of the tunnel. As a result of overview copy coming in only a week earlier than launch and a progress-halting bug in the principle mission (which price me a day of playtime and required me to reload a earlier save that made me lose about 4 hours of progress as a way to keep away from it), I haven’t been in a position to end it in time to offer you a ultimate verdict at launch. And for a sequence like STALKER, the place the resolutions to the story’s mysteries are inherent to the way it’s earned its cult following, seeing it to the top is of utmost significance, whatever the roadblocks I’ve to truck via to get there.

The Chornobyl Exclusion Zone – the positioning across the tragic, real-world 1986 nuclear meltdown – stays the guts of STALKER, each as a brutal and generally gorgeous open world, and a captivating setting that’s integral to Ukrainian historical past. Physics-defying anomalies work as lethal hazards scattered round its large map, whereas equally harmful mutated wildlife lurk about and supernatural phenomena amid the nuclear fallout instill a way of hazard round each nook. Stalkers – mercenaries who make a dwelling in The Zone taking over dangerous jobs – from varied factions are additionally on the hunt all through; it’s a harsh place to eke out a dwelling.

In that respect, STALKER 2 is a masterclass in environment: gorgeous dynamic climate, pitch-dark nights, and radioactive storms that paint the sky a hellish pink or poisonous inexperienced preserve issues each eerie and threatening in several methods over time. Even one thing as small as listening to the patter of rain from inside a dilapidated ship pulls you into Chornobyl’s wasteland. It’s acquainted to anybody who’s performed the unique STALKER sequence (Shadow of Chornobyl in 2007, Clear Sky in 2009, and Name of Pripyat in 2010) and as a veteran of these video games myself, it’s an odd consolation to be again in The Zone.

The primary story supplies a throughline to comply with, but it surely isn’t the type of factor that’s going to gentle a hearth underneath you in its early hours. Skif – our character – is ready up and betrayed within the opening mission, which leads him down a rabbit gap that ropes within the scientific group SIRCAA and the Zone’s de facto army, a bunch often called The Ward. I don’t at all times want a grand journey or virtuous goal, but it surely was a bit underwhelming that lots of the targets to start with boil all the way down to discovering a man who is aware of the place to search out one other man, turning into a steady chain of discovering extra guys in hopes of lastly discovering the precise man you’re on the lookout for. Fortuitously, as soon as STALKER 2 obtained off the bottom it began weaving within the acquainted themes seen within the earlier video games, comparable to discovering the reality about mind-bending psi emissions, the dangers with analysis in The Zone, and cultish teams clashing with governmental organizations. Then it began to select up steam.

Video games like STALKER are fairly uncommon to see at this scale lately, and even 14 years since its final iteration, STALKER 2 retains a number of the design rules of the sequence – for higher and worse. It leans into mechanics we generally see in hardcore survival video games these days, placing you into conditions the place you could make deliberate selections on the right way to have interaction enemies and which environments to discover. There’s gear put on that may trigger malfunctions, excessive harm in fight so only a few hits can kill you, bleeding wounds in the event you survive that, starvation to maintain at bay, radiation ranges to carry down, restricted stock weight to handle, and fixed looting as a way to survive. It’s inelegant, although at instances I imply that as a praise as a result of I love how little or no is streamlined. I began to see how its programs come collectively after sufficient poking and prodding and managed to search out the kind of friction I take pleasure in.

Very like in a harsh world like Dragon’s Dogma 2, there’s no simple quick journey round The Zone, so if you wish to get from place to put rapidly it’s good to discover the suitable NPC and pay up. If you happen to go on foot, you’re in for a protracted trek with rogue Stalkers, anomalies, and mutants who can cease you in your tracks. (Not going to lie: save scumming will stave off a few of that potential frustration, and I’m not too proud to utilize it.) This isn’t an RPG in a gameplay sense both, so there aren’t any development programs or expertise to unlock aside from the fixed hunt to search out good gear, improve it at retailers, and pack simply sufficient gadgets to outlive whereas staying nimble. Aspect quests can herald some much-needed money or result in uncommon loot, or they could not even repay in a tangible means. Nonetheless, there’s generally an intrinsic worth within the exploration of The Zone, even when solely a handful of these facet quests have truly been worthwhile.

Fight has bounced between being intense, high-stakes shootouts or unsatisfyingling unfair futility. The primary distinction between these two eventualities is within the weird habits of the enemy AI. Whatever the issue setting, enemies are sometimes dumb as rocks, strolling in nonsensical patterns whereas engaged and utterly unaware of their environment. But their fast pinpoint accuracy and near-perfect imaginative and prescient (even in pitch darkness) nonetheless make issues powerful, and never in ways in which make sense. Erratic mutant motion is extra annoying than it’s difficult, and takes off a little bit of the horror-ish edge that they generally instill. I’ve seen extra plausible and constant enemy habits from the previous STALKER video games, so it’s disappointing to see steps backward greater than a decade later.

There are shiny spots inside these fight encounters, although. I’ve discovered to work inside the confines of the sporadic unhealthy guys, at all times able to patch up and heal to outlive and take exact pictures from sensible positions. Generally fights get away from dialogue gone awry and enemies are very fast on the draw, and I simply needed to concede the truth that I’d take large harm if I survived in any respect.

STALKER 2’s strong gunplay picks up a number of the slack in its fight’s faults. Whipping round a decked-out assault rifle with a pleasant pink dot sight to make headshots simple, or pumping shells right into a mutant from a totally modded shotgun and slowing its cost with their impression had me trying ahead to these high-stakes, kill-or-be-killed conditions.

Inside these highs, nevertheless, is the frequent reminder that STALKER 2 isn’t in nice technical form. Even on a PC with an RTX 3080, a Thirteenth-gen Core i7 CPU, 32GB of RAM, and an NVMe SSD, it chugs on modest settings. Taking part in with the whole lot on low graphics choices and balanced DLSS provides me related body drops and large-scale hiccups as it could on medium-high settings and better high quality DLSS, even when the baseline body charge is marginally higher (however nonetheless effectively under a constant 60fps).

The truth that poor technical efficiency on PC is the least of my worries says quite a bit about how STALKER 2 is in determined want of patches. These issues embody (however are usually not restricted to) NPCs strolling via partitions, textures artifacting, sound results and dialogue taking place misplaced, environmental particulars erratically popping out and in, or objects clipping via one another. Inoffensive, non-critical bugs may be whimsical in some sense – like when an enemy’s physique cartwheels into the sky after being shot – and easily accounted for as unexplained phenomena as you give attention to the duties at hand, however the frequency and severity chipped away at my enthusiasm for STALKER 2, particularly when it got here to glitched quest goals that wasted my time.

It’s exhausting to say whether or not or not issues will likely be patched by the point it’s launched into the wild as we speak, I simply hope that the worst game-breaking bugs I encountered may be resolved in due time. Throughout my playthrough, I as soon as had an goal to fulfill with an NPC inside a constructing, solely to search out I couldn’t work together with any of the doorways to get in. After a minute of being within the space I used to be teleported contained in the constructing, however there have been no dialogue choices that might progress the mission with the NPC in query. The one solution to work round this was to return to a save from 4 hours prior and make a unique story resolution so the correct triggers would provoke in subsequent quests. There have been different situations like this with sidequests, however these are much less important since I may simply ignore them and transfer on if an goal didn’t set off or change after finishing what I used to be tasked with, however that’s an aggravating solution to play a sport. It’s bugs like that that actually preserve STALKER 2 from actually coming collectively. It feels as if it’s held collectively by duct tape – and given the tales about its improvement, it’s not exhausting to know why.

There are occasions when the whole lot is working – or working effectively sufficient, a minimum of – when STALKER 2 is a uncommon deal with that scratches the identical itch of these older PC video games, the place the onus was on you to determine the right way to survive and thrive in an unforgiving place that doesn’t care about you. Contemplating that there’s a lot extra left to play, I nonetheless have hope that it’ll be considerably smoother crusing forward, as a result of as I’ve gotten additional in the principle story, the extra intriguing its dilemmas and fight encounters have change into. Up to now, nevertheless, I’ve needed to battle towards STALKER 2 itself as a lot as I’ve needed to battle towards all of the enemies and anomalies that litter The Zone. Generally it makes no rattling sense; it compels me, although, and I’ll see this via to the top and get again to you with a ultimate overview as quickly as I can.

Virtually 11 months in the past to the date, Dalton Knecht was in his worst droop of his season at Tennessee. The soar from the Large Sky to the Southeastern Convention had been going nice, the factors had been pouring in, a faucet that couldn’t be stopped.

After which — hassle.

He went two for seven in opposition to Georgia State, one for seven in opposition to North Carolina State and two for seven once more, this time in opposition to Tarleton State. Earlier than he was the SEC’s participant of the yr, earlier than he was the No. 17 choose within the NBA draft and earlier than he was trying just like the capturing reply the Lakers by no means have been capable of put round LeBron James and Anthony Davis, Knecht was only a fifth-year senior in a single hell of a droop.

“DK, what’s good my man? Simply needed to achieve out and say what’s up?” Austin Reaves, his future Lakers teammate, messaged Knecht on Dec. 23. “… Make sure that we keep tapped in man. I’ll be watching, and when you ever want something let me know. I’m round.”

Tuesday night time, after Knecht scored 37 factors — probably the most of his younger NBA profession — the Lakers rookie once more talked about that message from Reaves as being vital. It’s the type of factor you concentrate on after a giant night time once you’re trying increasingly more comfy within the NBA.

“Austin, like I’ve mentioned earlier than a number of instances, he texted me all through my time at Tennessee. So having him there, I ask him any questions. He’s all the time there to assist me out,” Knecht mentioned. “Me and him shoot after apply ends each single day. And you’ve got a man like that that’s been within the league and does stuff like this, like what I did [tonight], when I’ve a man like that that stays assured in me, all the time desires me to shoot the ball, it’s all the time good.”

Fourteen video games into the season, these sorts of nights are beginning to stack up for Knecht, who in some way was accessible to the Lakers at No. 17 final June. Tuesday’s present was the very best but, with Knecht even doing the identical shrugged-shoulder celebration after his barrage of threes that Michael Jordan utilized in Sport 1 of the 1992 NBA Finals.

“I’m signed to Jordan Model,” Knecht mentioned. “Needed to.”

All of it felt new as a result of, for Knecht as a professional, it was. He grew to become certainly one of simply 4 rookies in historical past to make 9 threes in a sport. He scored 21 factors within the third quarter of the Lakers’ 124-118 win in opposition to Utah after developing with enormous barrages final week in New Orleans and in opposition to Memphis.

For Reaves, all of it felt acquainted.

“Should you watched him in faculty, you recognize what he’s able to,” Reaves mentioned after the sport. “And when he sees a few his first pictures go in, he can get in that mode the place he’s unconscious. I kinda anticipate it from him as a result of I’ve watched him loads.”

He’s not the one one.

James, who talked about Knecht in an interview final season after the sharpshooter scored 37 factors in a loss to Purdue within the NCAA match, mentioned he was shocked the Lakers had been capable of choose Knecht greater than halfway by the primary spherical.

This, James mentioned, wasn’t the Lakers unearthing some gem. This, he mentioned utilizing a wide range of R-rated language, was a group merely accepting the present handed to it.

“Did anyone watch him?” James mentioned earlier than four-lettering a few instances in disbelief. “…You don’t ‘discover’ an SEC participant of the yr.”

The Lakers, although, have been on the lookout for a participant like Knecht. They’ve run by a litany of shooters designed to provide Davis and James more room across the basket, to drag defenses out of the paint and towards the three-point line.

Danny Inexperienced and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had been efficient spacers. Troy Daniels, Wesley Matthews, Ben McLemore, Wayne Ellington, Trevor Ariza, Kent Bazemore, Malik Beasley and Patrick Beverley weren’t ok to persistently draw defenders.

However Knecht? The sense is he’s already established that type of respect (even when Utah’s defenders saved dropping him within the third quarter when he made all six of his three-point pictures).

“You’ll be able to’t go away him,” Davis mentioned. “There’s a whole lot of units that we are able to run and issues that we are able to run … both to get him a shot or make guys assume that he’s developing within the shot. And now that type of messes up their defensive rotation. However that all the time helps once you received shooters round. Me and Bron play within the submit. Now you get that one on one. It’s exhausting to double group.”

And the Lakers are going to maintain giving him possibilities, even when ahead Rui Hachimura is ready to return from an ankle harm this week. Knecht, who stepped into Hachimura’s beginning spot, has executed an excessive amount of on offense during the last week, a stretch by which he’s made greater than 66% of his three-point makes an attempt. Over the past 4 video games, Knecht’s averaging 24.3 factors whereas main the Lakers with a 9.3 plus-minus score.

And contemplating coach JJ Redick is kind of dwelling vicariously by his rookie each time he grabs the white board and attracts up a play to run him off a bunch of screens, the pictures are going to maintain coming.

“It’s enjoyable. I’ve to be cognizant generally after I get actually excited after I see an [after-timeout play] or I’ve an thought, to not have all of them drawn up for Dalton,” Redick, an identical sharpshooter in his profession, mentioned with a smile. “That’s simply, that’s actuality. I would like all of them for me.”

All of it represents some stage of success for the Lakers. Earlier than Knecht might make these pictures, the group needed to choose him. Earlier than that even, perception from gamers like Reaves helped make him extra assured.

Tuesday, passes and screens from D’Angelo Russell, assists from James and defensive stops from Cam Reddish and Gabe Vincent all performed a job in Knecht getting (after which hitting) nice seems to be.

“Recognizing the recent hand, which is an actual factor, however recognizing the recent hand after which executing simply reveals a stage of selflessness,” Redick mentioned. “It additionally reveals a stage of basketball IQ. And I believed our guys had been nice with that.”