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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A plane once again flew the Confederate flag around downtown Jacksonville on Tuesday morning. Action News Jax told you when a similar thing happened Nov. 27 before the Jaguars-Ravens game at TIAA Bank Field.

Robert Serocki Jr. spent a little less than a year fighting on the front lines in the first Iraq war. The Mesa man spent more than 25 years fighting its impact on his body and his soul. Serocki, 52, has chronicled his struggle with post traumatic distress syndrome in three books, and each week he broadcasts an internet radio show at robertserockijr.com in the hope of helping other men and women recover from PTSD. Now he has published a new book titled “The Blacksmith.” Inspired by an old Civil War photo that looked uncannily like him, the book offers a...

Religious conservatives have forced the cancelation of a football match for young girls in the Gaza Strip, describing it as an attempt to “replace the hijab with shorts.” The pressure led to the cancelation of the match for girls aged nine to 12 from the Rafah Services Club and the Rafah Youth Club, which was scheduled for Thursday. Scholars and clerics criticized the match, calling it a “moral disgrace.” Hani Abu Kush, a board member of the Rafah Services Club, said it wanted to hold the match as part of a sporting project. “This is a project that started several...

A New York City jury found the Trump organization guilty on all counts. Trump was not on trial and has no criminal liability from the verdict. But it may embolden other New York prosecutors to go after him. .....

Chinese President Xi Jinping is due to arrive in the Kingdom on Wednesday for a three-day visit during which he will meet Saudi and Arab leaders. Three summits will take place during his trip: the Saudi-Chinese Summit, the Riyadh Gulf-China Summit for Cooperation and Development, and the Riyadh Arab-China Summit for Cooperation and Development. The participants will include more than 30 leaders and officials from the two countries and international organizations, highlighting the importance of the gatherings and their high regional and international profile, the Saudi Press Agency reported. Xi’s visit reflects the desire of the leaderships of Saudi Arabia...

As the power to make decisions over COVID-19 restrictions had been delegated to local leaders, Beijing can distance itself from public frustration about harsh COVID-19 policies, says a China observer.China was wracked with unprecedented anti-zero-COVID protests in late November. They started with a fire in Urumqi city, Xinjiang. At least 10 people perished after not being allowed to leave the building due to COVID-19 restrictions. Local street demonstrations followed this tragedy. The next day, local authorities declared that the city had been rid of COVID-19 at the community level and issued a number of tone-deaf statements about the need for...

After Ron DeSantis’s smashing reelection victory in the Florida governor’s race, political analysts have debated whether he can beat Donald Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries. DeSantis’s hard-edged culture-warrior persona appeals to many core Republicans and could help him secure the nomination. But attaining the presidency itself will depend on winning over Republican moderates and independents, groups increasingly turned off by populist displays. To reach those voters, DeSantis will have to emphasize a very different set of attributes: his wonky competence as an administrator and his ability to rally bipartisan support for his policies. One of DeSantis’s biggest strengths...

The movement's net caught a lot of men like writer Junot Diaz—ordinary jerks rather than formidable serial predators.Amid the glut of retrospectives on the five-year anniversary of #MeToo, the where-are-they-now rundowns of accused men and movement icons alike, a sense emerges that the #MeToo movement itself has finally transformed from a cause du jour to grist for the cultural mill. What it gives us now isn't news but narratives: the Pulitzer-winning reporting, the bestselling books based on the prize-winning reporting, the movies based on the books. The release this month of She Said, a dramatized retelling of how New York...

Corals are truly a gift from Mother Nature. They are made by living marine organisms, mature slowly over decades into beautiful reef structures and are some of the most biologically rich and economically valuable ecosystems on Earth. Unfortunately, global climate change, unsustainable fishing, and pollution threaten corals and they are dying off at alarming rates around the world. Yet coral continues to be harvested for costume jewelry, souvenirs and home decor — especially during the holidays — which only further contributes to their decline. That's why it's best to leave corals and other marine life on the reef where they...

On Oct. 12, 1991, Kirstie Alley hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time. The experience included a sketch she’d later describe as the “most fun that I’ve ever had acting.” Alley’s star was soaring at the time. She’d joined the cast of the hit sitcom Cheers in 1987, playing Rebecca Howe, the foil to Ted Danson’s Sam Malone. Her 1989 film Look Who’s Talking was a massive box office success, cementing Alley as a Hollywood A-lister. The actress’ SNL hosting duties got off to a strong start. The opening monologue featured surprise appearances by Cheers castmates Danson, Woody Harrelson,...

Spicy harissa paste from Tunisia, Morocco's Raï music, and Kalela dance from Zambia were selected to join United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO's) intangible cultural heritage list. The agency met in the Moroccan capital Rabat, to examine proposals for its List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, which aims to protect cultural traditions, practices, and knowledge. There was no debate over whether to include Tunisia's harissa - a paste made with sun-dried hot peppers, spices and olive oil, found in almost every restaurant in Tunisia and exported worldwide. The debates were longer for Kalela, a traditional dance that originated during...

Gunmen abducted 19 Muslim worshippers after attacking a mosque in the restive northwest of Nigeria, police said Sunday. The attackers stormed the mosque in Maigamji village, in Katsina state, during evening prayers Saturday and carried out the kidnappings after shooting and wounding the imam and another worshipper, said local police spokesman Gambo Isah. "Our men mobilized and went after the bandits and succeeded in rescuing six of the worshippers from their abductors, while efforts are underway to free the remaining 13," he added.

"Peak hurricane season may be officially over, but a rare subtropical storm in December could be forming in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in nearly a decade – and it already has a name lined up."

Countries should shut down Chinese consulates until the communist regime closes its network of illegal policing operations, a former deputy national security adviser said after nearly 50 additional stations were reportedly found. “China’s overseas police stations are one of several ways Beijing is eroding our national sovereignty and depriving ethnic Chinese, in particular, of their rights as citizens of democracies,” China program chair at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Matt Pottinger, told Fox News. “Democracies should shutter China’s consulates until Beijing withdraws its illegal and extraterritorial law enforcers in our borders.” Safeguard Defenders, a pan-Asian human rights organization, published...

Some interesting stuff on Telegram's Intel Slava Z feed, that seems like it might be related to other deep state looting that we see going on. 🏳️‍🌈🇷🇺 Western countries cannot fulfill their own sanctions and block two-thirds of the reserves of the Russian Central Bank. Because no one knows where they are. After the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, the G7 countries decided to block Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves located abroad, which were estimated at $300 billion. But in the end, less than a third of this amount was arrested, and the rest was simply not found. This...

This coming January, the NCAA will convene in Texas to decide the future of standardized testing requirements for student-athletes. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA and universities nationwide have taken steps to waive or modify admissions and eligibility criteria. With the pandemic coming to an end, it is yet to be determined which policies and requirements will be reimplemented by these institutions and which may be scrapped entirely. Division I and Division II college athletes are held to a specific set of academic eligibility requirements by the NCAA. These include a minimum GPA (2.3 for Division I...

On a late Thursday night, John Wierwille and his family saw about 11 coyotes on his property in the Laurel Ridge neighborhood around 9 p.m. He threw stones at them to scare them off, and the coyotes ran away. All seemed good. But around 3:30 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 4, he heard his livestock guardian dog barking, so he got dressed and went outside to see what was happening. His dogs usually don’t bark unless they feel a threat or are warning off other creatures, “but they don’t bark otherwise because a bark is for a purpose,” he said. Wierwille...

An elementary school teacher in Louisiana reportedly posted on Facebook that it is “enjoyable” to confuse students about gender identity. The teacher, Blaine Banghart, teaches music at an elementary school and uses the prefix “Mx.” as opposed to “Mr.” or “Mrs.,” according to Fox News. "The kids are all confused and asking why I have a mustache if I’m a girl, if I’m Mr. Banghart now, why am I trying to look like a boy, etc.," Banghart wrote in the post, adding that "I’m just ignoring these questions/redirecting, so I don’t get in trouble." “Though some of the reactions are...

Dec. 2 (UPI) -- A Florida man who was alerted to the presence of a bear in his neighborhood discovered the animal taking a nap outside his front door. Chuck Robbins of Heathrow said he had heard there was a bear in his neighborhood and went out to try to take photos or video of the animal, but he couldn't locate the bear went home. Robbins said a neighbor contacted him later in the evening to tell him there was a large bear in his yard. The resident said he looked out a window and discovered the bear was on...

Actress Sally Field called the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision “cruel” and “uncivilized” during an appearance on ABC’s “The View” on Tuesday. Co-host Joy Behar noted part of Field’s memoir, and said, “You had to go to Tijuana to get a secret abortion before it was legal.” She asked Fields what she made of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. “Yikes. I think it’s tragic. I think it’s criminal. I think it’s cruel. I think it’s uncivilized. I think you’re not looking at the ramifications of any of it, not only what’s happening to young...