How Idaho's oldest water law shapes modern farming fights | Guest commentaryNoneNFTs Are Back: Illuvium Launches New Collection with G-SHOCK after Wave 3 Alpha's sell out in 1 hour 12-02-2024 11:02 PM CET | IT, New Media & Software Press release from: Getnews / PR Agency: Ed Cal Media Agency Image: https://www.getnews.info/uploads/e31510cee1ac00ced93ac9669407e32d.jpg DUBAI, UAE - December 2, 2024 - The resurgence of NFTs continues as Illuvium, a leader in blockchain-based gaming, announces its collaboration with the iconic G-SHOCK brand. Following the US election, the Web3 market has experienced renewed momentum, with a notable rise in NFT transactions and an increase in the overall NFT market cap. In this bullish environment, Illuvium is making waves with its latest release. Launching on December 9, 2024, Illuvium Beyond x G-SHOCK Wave 3 Collection features six fan-favourite Illuvitars reimagined in G-SHOCK style, blending digital collectibles with real-world allure. The lineup includes Aapon , the mystic monkey; Earth Doka , a fierce fighter; Pho , a powerful brawler; Flare , a resilient protector; Archos , a healing turtle; and Lynx , a sleek hunter. Each Illuvitar wears unique G-SHOCK gear with three distinct collectible backgrounds, adding depth and variety for collectors. As a special bonus, collectors who purchase 20 or more D1SKs will receive an exclusive Illuvium x G-SHOCK watch, a limited-edition physical collectible that celebrates this exciting partnership and bridges the digital and physical worlds. Since its debut in 2022, Illuvium Beyond has solidified its place in the NFT gaming space, generating over $12.1 million in revenue and partnering with major brands like GameStop and Team Liquid. The G-SHOCK collaboration represents the next step in elevating the Illuvium brand and community. "The G-SHOCK x Illuvium collab isn't just a drop; it's about bringing something fresh and exciting to the community," said Kieran Warwick, Co-Founder of Illuvium. "With the market turning up and new energy in the Web3 space, this is the perfect moment to release a collection that combines nostalgia, innovation, and unparalleled craftsmanship." And Takahashi Oh, Senior General Manager of Timepieces at Casio said "Partnering with Illuvium allows us to start a new approach where the G-SHOCK brand integrates into the world of gaming. We are excited to provide a new user experience while utilizing the toughness design and brand colors that are a symbol of G-SHOCK." Collectors can purchase D1SKs, containing Illuvitars adorned in G-SHOCK gear, during the limited sale window from December 9th to December 22nd, 2024. Mark your calendars to collect, customise, and claim a piece of this historic collaboration. Don't miss the chance to own digital Illuvitars and the exclusive Illuvium x G-SHOCK watch. Project Overview Dates of sale December 9 - December 22 (UTC) Sales price $35 Blockchain Ethereum Sales place Illuvium Official website: https://beyond.illuvium.io/ About Illuvium Illuvium is a blockchain-based gaming studio that combines the thrill of collecting, battling, and exploring with the benefits of decentralised finance and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Its suite of games allows players to discover and collect Illuvials, engage in strategic battles, and participate in a thriving community. For more information, visit illuvium.io [ https://www.illuvium.io/ ]. About G-SHOCK Casio's shock-resistant G-SHOCK watch is synonymous with toughness, born from the developer Mr. Ibe's dream of 'creating a watch that never breaks.' Over 200 handmade samples were created and tested to destruction until finally in 1983 the first, now iconic G-SHOCK hit the streets of Japan. The watch is packed with Casio's innovations and technologies to prevent it from suffering direct shock; this includes internal components protected with urethane and suspended timekeeping modules inside the watch structure. Since its launch, G-SHOCK has continued to evolve, continuing to support Mr. Ibe's mantra "never, never give up." Media Contact Company Name: Illuvium Labs FZCO Contact Person: Kieran Warwick Email: Send Email [ http://www.universalpressrelease.com/?pr=nfts-are-back-illuvium-launches-new-collection-with-gshock-after-wave-3-alphas-sell-out-in-1-hour ] Country: United Arab Emirates Website: https://illuvium.io/ This release was published on openPR.
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Serina Therapeutics Secures $10 Million Financing to Continue Advancing Lead IND Candidate into Phase 1 Clinical Trial in Advanced Parkinson's Disease PatientsThe for ( ) stock moved into a higher percentile Monday, as it got a lift from 67 to 75. This exclusive rating from Investor's Business Daily tracks market leadership with a 1 (worst) to 99 (best) score. The score shows how a stock's price behavior over the last 52 weeks stacks up against all the other stocks in our database. Decades of market research reveals that the market's biggest winners typically have an RS Rating north of 80 in the early stages of their moves. See if Unity Software stock can continue to show renewed price strength and hit that benchmark. Is Unity Software Stock A Buy? Unity Software stock is still inside a buy zone after breaking past a 23.40 buy point in a . The proper buying range is up to 5% above the initial entry. Once a stock moves above that range, it's best to wait for it to set up another buying opportunity.. The video game engine developer reported 0% EPS growth last quarter, while sales growth came in at -18%. Unity Software stock earns the No. 11 rank among its peers in the Computer Software-Design industry group. ( ), ( ) and ( ) are among the top 5 highly rated stocks within the group.
The longest-lived American president died Sunday, more than a year after entering hospice care, at his home in the small town of Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife, Rosalynn, who died at 96 in November 2023, spent most of their lives, The Carter Center said. “Our founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia,” the center said on the social media platform X. It added in a statement that he died peacefully, surrounded by his family. As reaction poured in from around the world, President Joe Biden mourned Carter’s death, saying the world lost an “extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian” and he lost a dear friend. Biden cited Carter’s compassion and moral clarity, his work to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless and advocacy for the disadvantaged as an example for others. “To all of the young people in this nation and for anyone in search of what it means to live a life of purpose and meaning — the good life — study Jimmy Carter, a man of principle, faith and humility,” Biden said in a statement. “He showed that we are a great nation because we are a good people — decent and honorable, courageous and compassionate, humble and strong.” Biden said he is ordering a state funeral for Carter in Washington. Businessman, Navy officer, evangelist, politician, negotiator, author, woodworker, citizen of the world — Carter forged a path that still challenges political assumptions and stands out among the 45 men who reached the nation’s highest office. The 39th president leveraged his ambition with a keen intellect, deep religious faith and prodigious work ethic, conducting diplomatic missions into his 80s and building houses for the poor well into his 90s. “My faith demands — this is not optional — my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can, with whatever I have to try to make a difference,” Carter once said. A moderate Democrat, Carter entered the 1976 presidential race as a little-known Georgia governor with a broad smile, outspoken Baptist mores and technocratic plans reflecting his education as an engineer. His no-frills campaign depended on public financing, and his promise not to deceive the American people resonated after Richard Nixon’s disgrace and U.S. defeat in southeast Asia. “If I ever lie to you, if I ever make a misleading statement, don’t vote for me. I would not deserve to be your president,” Carter repeated before narrowly beating Republican incumbent Gerald Ford, who lost popularity after pardoning Nixon. Carter governed amid Cold War pressures, turbulent oil markets and social upheaval over racism, women’s rights and America’s global role. His most acclaimed achievement in office was a Mideast peace deal that he brokered by keeping Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at the bargaining table for 13 days in 1978. That Camp David experience inspired the post-presidential center where Carter would establish so much of his legacy. Yet Carter’s electoral coalition splintered under double-digit inflation, gasoline lines and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. His bleakest hour came when eight Americans died in a failed hostage rescue in April 1980, helping to ensure his landslide defeat to Republican Ronald Reagan. Carter acknowledged in his 2020 “White House Diary” that he could be “micromanaging” and “excessively autocratic,” complicating dealings with Congress and the federal bureaucracy. He also turned a cold shoulder to Washington’s news media and lobbyists, not fully appreciating their influence on his political fortunes. “It didn’t take us long to realize that the underestimation existed, but by that time we were not able to repair the mistake,” Carter told historians in 1982, suggesting that he had “an inherent incompatibility” with Washington insiders. Carter insisted his overall approach was sound and that he achieved his primary objectives — to “protect our nation’s security and interests peacefully” and “enhance human rights here and abroad” — even if he fell spectacularly short of a second term. Ignominious defeat, though, allowed for renewal. The Carters founded The Carter Center in 1982 as a first-of-its-kind base of operations, asserting themselves as international peacemakers and champions of democracy, public health and human rights. “I was not interested in just building a museum or storing my White House records and memorabilia,” Carter wrote in a memoir published after his 90th birthday. “I wanted a place where we could work.” That work included easing nuclear tensions in North and South Korea, helping to avert a U.S. invasion of Haiti and negotiating cease-fires in Bosnia and Sudan. By 2022, The Carter Center had declared at least 113 elections in Latin America, Asia and Africa to be free or fraudulent. Recently, the center began monitoring U.S. elections as well. Carter’s stubborn self-assuredness and even self-righteousness proved effective once he was unencumbered by the Washington order, sometimes to the point of frustrating his successors. He went “where others are not treading,” he said, to places like Ethiopia, Liberia and North Korea, where he secured the release of an American who had wandered across the border in 2010. “I can say what I like. I can meet whom I want. I can take on projects that please me and reject the ones that don’t,” Carter said. He announced an arms-reduction-for-aid deal with North Korea without clearing the details with Bill Clinton’s White House. He openly criticized President George W. Bush for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He also criticized America’s approach to Israel with his 2006 book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.” And he repeatedly countered U.S. administrations by insisting North Korea should be included in international affairs, a position that most aligned Carter with Republican President Donald Trump. Among the center’s many public health initiatives, Carter vowed to eradicate the guinea worm parasite during his lifetime, and nearly achieved it: Cases dropped from millions in the 1980s to nearly a handful. With hardhats and hammers, the Carters also built homes with Habitat for Humanity. The Nobel committee’s 2002 Peace Prize cites his “untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” Carter should have won it alongside Sadat and Begin in 1978, the chairman added. Carter accepted the recognition saying there was more work to be done. “The world is now, in many ways, a more dangerous place,” he said. “The greater ease of travel and communication has not been matched by equal understanding and mutual respect.” Carter’s globetrotting took him to remote villages where he met little “Jimmy Carters,” so named by admiring parents. But he spent most of his days in the same one-story Plains house — expanded and guarded by Secret Service agents — where they lived before he became governor. He regularly taught Sunday School lessons at Maranatha Baptist Church until his mobility declined and the coronavirus pandemic raged. Those sessions drew visitors from around the world to the small sanctuary where Carter will receive his final send-off after a state funeral at Washington’s National Cathedral. The common assessment that he was a better ex-president than president rankled Carter and his allies. His prolific post-presidency gave him a brand above politics, particularly for Americans too young to witness him in office. But Carter also lived long enough to see biographers and historians reassess his White House years more generously. His record includes the deregulation of key industries, reduction of U.S. dependence on foreign oil, cautious management of the national debt and notable legislation on the environment, education and mental health. He focused on human rights in foreign policy, pressuring dictators to release thousands of political prisoners. He acknowledged America’s historical imperialism, pardoned Vietnam War draft evaders and relinquished control of the Panama Canal. He normalized relations with China. “I am not nominating Jimmy Carter for a place on Mount Rushmore,” Stuart Eizenstat, Carter’s domestic policy director, wrote in a 2018 book. “He was not a great president” but also not the “hapless and weak” caricature voters rejected in 1980, Eizenstat said. Rather, Carter “delivered results, many of which were realized only after he left office.” Madeleine Albright, a national security staffer for Carter and Clinton’s secretary of state, wrote in Eizenstat’s forward that Carter was “consequential and successful” and expressed hope that “perceptions will continue to evolve” about his presidency. “Our country was lucky to have him as our leader,” said Albright, who died in 2022. Jonathan Alter, who penned a comprehensive Carter biography published in 2020, said in an interview that Carter should be remembered for “an epic American life” spanning from a humble start in a home with no electricity or indoor plumbing through decades on the world stage across two centuries. “He will likely go down as one of the most misunderstood and underestimated figures in American history,” Alter told The Associated Press.Watkins Crouch Howell Water has long been a defining feature of life in Idaho. Jerome County is known for its agriculture industry and dairy processing, so the need for a reliable water supply is always at the forefront of our and our constituents' minds. But this valuable natural resource is so critical that it is the center of an ongoing and contentious debate. Since this spring, Idaho has been thrust into the national headlines and daily local reports over the pitting of senior water right holders against junior water right holders. Arguments have ensued over our water reserve, primarily the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer, and who has the right to how much of it. As representatives for both surface water and groundwater users, we have found ourselves sifting through the rhetoric, listening to both sides' needs while analyzing the data and science. While both groups have legitimate concerns regarding agriculture requirements and the longevity of the aquifer, we find ourselves aligning with the principle that guides us all — the rules and laws of the land. We believe we must look to our state Constitution to find a positive and collective path forward for all Idaho water users. Idaho's prior appropriation doctrine is a tried-and-true policy that has guided our great state for centuries. Our very first water rights go all the way back to the 1860s when Idaho was just a territory, when the first to ask for the water was the one to receive it. Idaho's prior appropriation doctrine is a tried-and-true policy that has guided our great state for centuries. Our very first water rights go all the way back to the 1860s when Idaho was just a territory, when the first to ask for the water was the one to receive it. By statehood, water allocation was enshrined to be "first in time, first in right." This helped every farmer, rancher and agriculture producer know in what order they would receive their water from the Eastern Snake River Plain Aquifer. Fast forward 100 years and technology has changed how we get that water. The invention of the water pump created a new method to retrieve the resource. Here in modern-day Idaho, we are experiencing significant growth, leading to an increased demand for water across the board. Prolonged droughts, weather variability and changing precipitation have further strained both surface and groundwater resources as water levels drop to near historic lows in the aquifer. This has resulted in rising tensions between these two groups of water users. For those of us on the periphery, we need to understand the conflict between these two stakeholder groups is actually born from the same issues. Surface water users fear diminishing flows, while the groundwater users are concerned about restrictions at the pump. All water users are essentially worrying about the future — each is concerned about their share of the water resource and how to maintain their livelihoods; how to ensure their future generations have something to inherit, a resource to rely on. This time, we believe the best path forward is not the road less traveled; rather, it is via the path we've always been on. Idaho's current law lays out how water is best conjunctively allocated, in a way that ensures each right holder is guaranteed their property and our water supply remains viable. Sometimes the road's terrain can change, and as we've seen the rise in technology, our farming practices have improved while our population has increased. The 2015-16 water agreement was created and signed by all Idaho water users to acknowledge those changes in our way of life and still support the age-old prior appropriation doctrine. We applaud the North Snake Ground Water District for stepping up to the plate these last eight years and following that agreement to help their users avoid curtailments while supporting the health of the aquifer. That district put the overall sustainability of our state first. The truth is everyone needs their share of water, but we must have an order in which to allocate the resource that doesn't overdraw it from the aquifer or take away property owed to a right holder. That is what our state laws and concurrent agreements do: clearly define our water rights while keeping ongoing conversations between farmers and irrigators. This is how we can recharge our shared aquifer and prepare our future generations for success. Idaho has a system that works — and while we must acknowledge that our water needs have transformed for a myriad of reasons, we must not go down the path of creating more restrictions and red tape or losing our power to the federal government. Rather than focusing on past grievances or staking out entrenched positions, we now have the opportunity to build upon our laws and further establish a collaborative water management approach that meets the current and future needs of our communities, our environment and our economy. Get opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly!Amazon expands use of robotsGreat Osobor scored 12 points, grabbed six rebounds and had three assists in 18 minutes of playing time as Washington wrapped up nonconference action with a 90-53 rout of NJIT on Sunday afternoon in Seattle. Zoom Diallo came off the bench to contribute 12 points and a game-high five assists for the Huskies (9-4), and Wilhelm Breidenbach, who missed Monday's 79-70 upset loss to Seattle U., added 10 points and five rebounds. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings. As property values continue to outpace inflation, property taxes are taking a bigger bite out of homeowners’ wallets. A new analysis from Construction Coverage breaks down property tax rates by state, county, and city to reveal where homeowners have the greatest burden. Click for more. Where Are U.S. Property Taxes Highest and Lowest? A State, County, and City Analysis
Jimmy Carter, Green-Energy VisionaryLike a football off McBride's helmet, the Cardinals aren't getting many lucky bounces these daysNew York Rep. Ritchie Torres on Friday called Gov. Kathy Hochul the “new Joe Biden” — suggesting she shouldn’t run for re-election — in yet another not-so-subtle sign the Bronx Democrat is considering jumping into the race. Torres, in a post on X, pointed to Hochul’s dismal favorability rating, which at one point this year even dipped below that of President-elect Donald Trump in deep-blue New York. “Kathy Hochul is the new Joe Biden,” the congressman wrote . “She may be in denial about the depth of her vulnerabilities as a Democratic nominee. “A Democratic incumbent who is less popular in New York than Donald Trump is in grave danger of losing to a Republican in 2026–an outcome not seen in 30 years,” Torres continued. “Waiting until it’s too late gave us a Republican President in 2024 and could give us a Republican Governor in 2026,” he added. “Let’s avoid repeating history and avoid sleepwalking toward impending disaster and defeat.” Torres — a strong supporter of Israel since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack — has been making inroads in recent months, especially with business interests. During a Citizens Budget Commission event in Manhattan this week, he ripped New York’s “misgovernance” — leading political insiders to believe he could be eyeing the Executive Mansion. Sources have suggested in recent months that Hochul’s team is terrified of a primary challenge by Torres, who could court her supposed base of moderate Democrats. A spokesperson for Hochul — who is up for reelection in 2026 — touted New York Democrats’ gains in the US House of Representatives during the November election. “Governor Hochul is proud to have led New York Democrats in a successful election cycle, giving Congressman Torres four new Democratic colleagues in Congress,” the rep said in a statement Friday. “The governor remains focused on delivering results for New Yorkers, from driving down crime to lowering costs for working families.” State Democratic Committee Chairman Jay Jacobs, a close ally of Hochul, recently defended the governor during an interview on WCNY’s the Capitol Pressroom. “No, I don’t see that at all,” Jacobs said asked by host David Lombardo whether Democrats should look for a new standard-barer in 2026. While Jacobs said he would be “surprised” to see a serious primary challenge, but in the same breath said Democrats are vulnerable to Republicans who are gaining ground in the Empire State. “In this time, when I think we have to be more concerned with the potential of a Republican becoming governor, because you look at the state and some of the shifts, I think it’s time for Democrats to come together and rally around this governor and rally around a more moderate centrist approach to government,” Jacobs said.
Jets aren't ready to send Aaron Rodgers to the sideline as a lost season reaches the home stretchWASHINGTON — Amnesty International is appealing to President Joe Biden to use his final weeks in office to “rectify a case of injustice” by releasing 80-year-old Native American rights activist Leonard Peltier from prison. “As a matter of humanity, mercy, and human rights, you should grant clemency and release Leonard Peltier,” reads a Wednesday letter to Biden from Paul O’Brien, executive director of Amnesty International USA. “This would not only allow Peltier to be home with his family and community for his last years, but it would also help mend the fractured relationship between Native Americans and the U.S. government, which could be forever part of your legacy,” said O’Brien. A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. Here’s a copy of O’Brien’s letter, which also calls on Biden to take actions like closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center and changing course in response to the Israel-Gaza war. Peltier, who is nearly blind and struggles to walk, has been in prison for almost 50 years. He is widely considered to be America’s longest-serving political prisoner . The U.S. government convicted him for murdering two FBI agents in a 1975 shoot-out on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. But his trial was carried out with unbelievable misconduct: The FBI threatened and coerced witnesses into lying. Federal prosecutors hid evidence that exonerated Peltier. A juror admitted on Day 2 of the trial that she was biased against Native American people, but she was kept on anyway. The government’s case fell apart after these revelations, so it abruptly revised its charges against Peltier to aiding and abetting whoever did kill those agents — entirely on the grounds that he was one of dozens of people present when the shoot-out took place. The FBI and U.S. attorney’s office later admitted they never did figure out who killed those agents. There was never evidence that Peltier committed a crime. In his letter to the president, O’Brien raised concerns about Peltier’s health — he has diabetes and an aortic aneurysm — amid the ongoing unfairness of his imprisonment. Peltier was hospitalized in July after his diabetes reportedly caused him to “develop open wounds and tissue death on his toes and feet.” He was hospitalized again in October. “No one should be imprisoned after a trial riddled with uncertainty about its fairness,” O’Brien wrote, “and keeping him locked behind bars does not serve justice.” Members of Congress , U.S. senators , Indigenous rights groups , Hollywood celebrities and international human rights leaders including Pope Francis and Nelson Mandela have called for Peltier’s release over the decades. The main reason he’s still in prison, if not the only reason, is because of staunch opposition from the FBI. But the bureau’s stated reasons for opposing Peltier’s release are full of holes, outdated and remarkably easy to disprove . “The FBI remains resolute against the commutation of Leonard Peltier’s sentence for murdering FBI Special Agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams at South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 1975,” the bureau asserted to HuffPost in a 2022 statement. “We must never forget or put aside that Peltier intentionally and mercilessly murdered these two young men and has never expressed remorse for his ruthless actions.” Don't let this be the end of the free press. The free press is under attack — and America's future hangs in the balance. As other newsrooms bow to political pressure, HuffPost is not backing down. Would you help us keep our news free for all? We can't do it without you. Can't afford to contribute? Support HuffPost by creating a free account and log in while you read. You've supported HuffPost before, and we'll be honest — we could use your help again . We view our mission to provide free, fair news as critically important in this crucial moment, and we can't do it without you. Whether you give once or many more times, we appreciate your contribution to keeping our journalism free for all. You've supported HuffPost before, and we'll be honest — we could use your help again . We view our mission to provide free, fair news as critically important in this crucial moment, and we can't do it without you. Whether you give just one more time or sign up again to contribute regularly, we appreciate you playing a part in keeping our journalism free for all. Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages. The FBI still has not publicly addressed the key context of that 1975 shoot-out, either: The FBI itself was intentionally fueling tensions on that reservation as part of a covert campaign to suppress the activities of the American Indian Movement, or AIM, a grassroots movement for Indigenous rights. Peltier was an active AIM member and an FBI target. Biden has authority to unilaterally release Peltier before he leaves office. Presidents historically announce batches of clemencies at the ends of years, and particularly at the ends of their terms. Biden wouldn’t even have to formally pardon the Native American elder; he could simply grant Peltier clemency, which would allow him to live out his final years at home with his family in South Dakota without the U.S. government simultaneously conceding it was wrong to imprison him. HuffPost spoke to Peltier in a rare interview in May 2022. Asked what he would say to Biden if he had a few minutes alone with him, he said his message would be simple. “I’m not guilty of this shooting. I’m not guilty,” Peltier said. “I would like to go home to spend what years I have left with my great-grandkids and my people.” Related From Our Partner
ATLANTA — Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who won the presidency in the wake of the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, endured humbling defeat after one tumultuous term and then redefined life after the White House as a global humanitarian, has died. He was 100 years old. The longest-lived American president died on Sunday, more than a year after entering hospice care, at his home in the small town of Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife, Rosalynn, who died at 96 in November 2023, spent most of their lives, The Carter Center said. “Our founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia,” the center simply said in posting about Carter's death on the social media platform X. Businessman, Navy officer, evangelist, politician, negotiator, author, woodworker, citizen of the world — Carter forged a path that still challenges political assumptions and stands out among the 45 men who reached the nation’s highest office. The 39th president leveraged his ambition with a keen intellect, deep religious faith and prodigious work ethic, conducting diplomatic missions into his 80s and building houses for the poor well into his 90s. “My faith demands — this is not optional — my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can, with whatever I have to try to make a difference,” Carter once said. A moderate Democrat, Carter entered the 1976 presidential race as a little-known Georgia governor with a broad smile, outspoken Baptist mores and technocratic plans reflecting his education as an engineer. His no-frills campaign depended on public financing, and his promise not to deceive the American people resonated after Richard Nixon’s disgrace and U.S. defeat in southeast Asia. “If I ever lie to you, if I ever make a misleading statement, don’t vote for me. I would not deserve to be your president,” Carter repeated before narrowly beating Republican incumbent Gerald Ford, who had lost popularity pardoning Nixon. Carter governed amid Cold War pressures, turbulent oil markets and social upheaval over racism, women’s rights and America’s global role. His most acclaimed achievement in office was a Mideast peace deal that he brokered by keeping Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at the bargaining table for 13 days in 1978. That Camp David experience inspired the post-presidential center where Carter would establish so much of his legacy. Yet Carter’s electoral coalition splintered under double-digit inflation, gasoline lines and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. His bleakest hour came when eight Americans died in a failed hostage rescue in April 1980, helping to ensure his landslide defeat to Republican Ronald Reagan. Carter acknowledged in his 2020 “White House Diary” that he could be “micromanaging” and “excessively autocratic,” complicating dealings with Congress and the federal bureaucracy. He also turned a cold shoulder to Washington’s news media and lobbyists, not fully appreciating their influence on his political fortunes. “It didn’t take us long to realize that the underestimation existed, but by that time we were not able to repair the mistake,” Carter told historians in 1982, suggesting that he had “an inherent incompatibility” with Washington insiders. Carter insisted his overall approach was sound and that he achieved his primary objectives — to “protect our nation’s security and interests peacefully” and “enhance human rights here and abroad” — even if he fell spectacularly short of a second term. Ignominious defeat, though, allowed for renewal. The Carters founded The Carter Center in 1982 as a first-of-its-kind base of operations, asserting themselves as international peacemakers and champions of democracy, public health and human rights. “I was not interested in just building a museum or storing my White House records and memorabilia,” Carter wrote in a memoir published after his 90th birthday. “I wanted a place where we could work.” That work included easing nuclear tensions in North and South Korea, helping to avert a U.S. invasion of Haiti and negotiating cease-fires in Bosnia and Sudan. By 2022, The Carter Center had declared at least 113 elections in Latin America, Asia and Africa to be free or fraudulent. Recently, the center began monitoring U.S. elections as well. Carter’s stubborn self-assuredness and even self-righteousness proved effective once he was unencumbered by the Washington order, sometimes to the point of frustrating his successors. He went “where others are not treading,” he said, to places like Ethiopia, Liberia and North Korea, where he secured the release of an American who had wandered across the border in 2010. “I can say what I like. I can meet whom I want. I can take on projects that please me and reject the ones that don’t,” Carter said. He announced an arms-reduction-for-aid deal with North Korea without clearing the details with Bill Clinton’s White House. He openly criticized President George W. Bush for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He also criticized America’s approach to Israel with his 2006 book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.” And he repeatedly countered U.S. administrations by insisting North Korea should be included in international affairs, a position that most aligned Carter with Republican President Donald Trump. Among the center’s many public health initiatives, Carter vowed to eradicate the guinea worm parasite during his lifetime, and nearly achieved it: Cases dropped from millions in the 1980s to nearly a handful. With hardhats and hammers, the Carters also built homes with Habitat for Humanity. The Nobel committee’s 2002 Peace Prize cites his “untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” Carter should have won it alongside Sadat and Begin in 1978, the chairman added. Carter accepted the recognition saying there was more work to be done. “The world is now, in many ways, a more dangerous place,” he said. “The greater ease of travel and communication has not been matched by equal understanding and mutual respect.” Carter’s globetrotting took him to remote villages where he met little “Jimmy Carters,” so named by admiring parents. But he spent most of his days in the same one-story Plains house — expanded and guarded by Secret Service agents — where they lived before he became governor. He regularly taught Sunday School lessons at Maranatha Baptist Church until his mobility declined and the coronavirus pandemic raged. Those sessions drew visitors from around the world to the small sanctuary where Carter will receive his final send-off after a state funeral at Washington’s National Cathedral. The common assessment that he was a better ex-president than president rankled Carter and his allies. His prolific post-presidency gave him a brand above politics, particularly for Americans too young to witness him in office. But Carter also lived long enough to see biographers and historians reassess his White House years more generously. His record includes the deregulation of key industries, reduction of U.S. dependence on foreign oil, cautious management of the national debt and notable legislation on the environment, education and mental health. He focused on human rights in foreign policy, pressuring dictators to release thousands of political prisoners. He acknowledged America’s historical imperialism, pardoned Vietnam War draft evaders and relinquished control of the Panama Canal. He normalized relations with China. “I am not nominating Jimmy Carter for a place on Mount Rushmore,” Stuart Eizenstat, Carter’s domestic policy director, wrote in a 2018 book. “He was not a great president” but also not the “hapless and weak” caricature voters rejected in 1980, Eizenstat said. Rather, Carter was “good and productive” and “delivered results, many of which were realized only after he left office.” Madeleine Albright, a national security staffer for Carter and Clinton’s secretary of state, wrote in Eizenstat’s forward that Carter was “consequential and successful” and expressed hope that “perceptions will continue to evolve” about his presidency. “Our country was lucky to have him as our leader,” said Albright, who died in 2022. Jonathan Alter, who penned a comprehensive Carter biography published in 2020, said in an interview that Carter should be remembered for “an epic American life” spanning from a humble start in a home with no electricity or indoor plumbing through decades on the world stage across two centuries. “He will likely go down as one of the most misunderstood and underestimated figures in American history,” Alter told The Associated Press. James Earl Carter Jr. was born Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains and spent his early years in nearby Archery. His family was a minority in the mostly Black community, decades before the civil rights movement played out at the dawn of Carter’s political career. Carter, who campaigned as a moderate on race relations but governed more progressively, talked often of the influence of his Black caregivers and playmates but also noted his advantages: His land-owning father sat atop Archery’s tenant-farming system and owned a main street grocery. His mother, Lillian, would become a staple of his political campaigns. Seeking to broaden his world beyond Plains and its population of fewer than 1,000 — then and now — Carter won an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1946. That same year he married Rosalynn Smith, another Plains native, a decision he considered more important than any he made as head of state. She shared his desire to see the world, sacrificing college to support his Navy career. Carter climbed in rank to lieutenant, but then his father was diagnosed with cancer, so the submarine officer set aside his ambitions of admiralty and moved the family back to Plains. His decision angered Rosalynn, even as she dived into the peanut business alongside her husband. Carter again failed to talk with his wife before his first run for office — he later called it “inconceivable” not to have consulted her on such major life decisions — but this time, she was on board. “My wife is much more political,” Carter told the AP in 2021. He won a state Senate seat in 1962 but wasn’t long for the General Assembly and its back-slapping, deal-cutting ways. He ran for governor in 1966 — losing to arch-segregationist Lester Maddox — and then immediately focused on the next campaign. Carter had spoken out against church segregation as a Baptist deacon and opposed racist “Dixiecrats” as a state senator. Yet as a local school board leader in the 1950s he had not pushed to end school segregation even after the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision, despite his private support for integration. And in 1970, Carter ran for governor again as the more conservative Democrat against Carl Sanders, a wealthy businessman Carter mocked as “Cufflinks Carl.” Sanders never forgave him for anonymous, race-baiting flyers, which Carter disavowed. Ultimately, Carter won his races by attracting both Black voters and culturally conservative whites. Once in office, he was more direct. “I say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over,” he declared in his 1971 inaugural address, setting a new standard for Southern governors that landed him on the cover of Time magazine. His statehouse initiatives included environmental protection, boosting rural education and overhauling antiquated executive branch structures. He proclaimed Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the slain civil rights leader’s home state. And he decided, as he received presidential candidates in 1972, that they were no more talented than he was. In 1974, he ran Democrats’ national campaign arm. Then he declared his own candidacy for 1976. An Atlanta newspaper responded with the headline: “Jimmy Who?” The Carters and a “Peanut Brigade” of family members and Georgia supporters camped out in Iowa and New Hampshire, establishing both states as presidential proving grounds. His first Senate endorsement: a young first-termer from Delaware named Joe Biden. Yet it was Carter’s ability to navigate America’s complex racial and rural politics that cemented the nomination. He swept the Deep South that November, the last Democrat to do so, as many white Southerners shifted to Republicans in response to civil rights initiatives. A self-declared “born-again Christian,” Carter drew snickers by referring to Scripture in a Playboy magazine interview, saying he “had looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times.” The remarks gave Ford a new foothold and television comedians pounced — including NBC’s new “Saturday Night Live” show. But voters weary of cynicism in politics found it endearing. Carter chose Minnesota Sen. Walter “Fritz” Mondale as his running mate on a “Grits and Fritz” ticket. In office, he elevated the vice presidency and the first lady’s office. Mondale’s governing partnership was a model for influential successors Al Gore, Dick Cheney and Biden. Rosalynn Carter was one of the most involved presidential spouses in history, welcomed into Cabinet meetings and huddles with lawmakers and top aides. The Carters presided with uncommon informality: He used his nickname “Jimmy” even when taking the oath of office, carried his own luggage and tried to silence the Marine Band’s “Hail to the Chief.” They bought their clothes off the rack. Carter wore a cardigan for a White House address, urging Americans to conserve energy by turning down their thermostats. Amy, the youngest of four children, attended District of Columbia public school. Washington’s social and media elite scorned their style. But the larger concern was that “he hated politics,” according to Eizenstat, leaving him nowhere to turn politically once economic turmoil and foreign policy challenges took their toll. Carter partially deregulated the airline, railroad and trucking industries and established the departments of Education and Energy, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He designated millions of acres of Alaska as national parks or wildlife refuges. He appointed a then-record number of women and nonwhite people to federal posts. He never had a Supreme Court nomination, but he elevated civil rights attorney Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the nation’s second highest court, positioning her for a promotion in 1993. He appointed Paul Volker, the Federal Reserve chairman whose policies would help the economy boom in the 1980s — after Carter left office. He built on Nixon’s opening with China, and though he tolerated autocrats in Asia, pushed Latin America from dictatorships to democracy. But he couldn’t immediately tame inflation or the related energy crisis. And then came Iran. After he admitted the exiled Shah of Iran to the U.S. for medical treatment, the American Embassy in Tehran was overrun in 1979 by followers of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Negotiations to free the hostages broke down repeatedly ahead of the failed rescue attempt. The same year, Carter signed SALT II, the new strategic arms treaty with Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet Union, only to pull it back, impose trade sanctions and order a U.S. boycott of the Moscow Olympics after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Hoping to instill optimism, he delivered what the media dubbed his “malaise” speech, although he didn’t use that word. He declared the nation was suffering “a crisis of confidence.” By then, many Americans had lost confidence in the president, not themselves. Carter campaigned sparingly for reelection because of the hostage crisis, instead sending Rosalynn as Sen. Edward M. Kennedy challenged him for the Democratic nomination. Carter famously said he’d “kick his ass,” but was hobbled by Kennedy as Reagan rallied a broad coalition with “make America great again” appeals and asking voters whether they were “better off than you were four years ago.” Reagan further capitalized on Carter’s lecturing tone, eviscerating him in their lone fall debate with the quip: “There you go again.” Carter lost all but six states and Republicans rolled to a new Senate majority. Carter successfully negotiated the hostages’ freedom after the election, but in one final, bitter turn of events, Tehran waited until hours after Carter left office to let them walk free. At 56, Carter returned to Georgia with “no idea what I would do with the rest of my life.” Four decades after launching The Carter Center, he still talked of unfinished business. “I thought when we got into politics we would have resolved everything,” Carter told the AP in 2021. “But it’s turned out to be much more long-lasting and insidious than I had thought it was. I think in general, the world itself is much more divided than in previous years.” Still, he affirmed what he said when he underwent treatment for a cancer diagnosis in his 10th decade of life. “I’m perfectly at ease with whatever comes,” he said in 2015. “I’ve had a wonderful life. I’ve had thousands of friends, I’ve had an exciting, adventurous and gratifying existence.”Jimmy Carter, the 39th US president, has died at 100How major US stock indexes fared Monday, 12/9/2024
Like a football off McBride's helmet, the Cardinals aren't getting many lucky bounces these daysHenry Schein Inc. stock underperforms Monday when compared to competitors
