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Cormac McCarthy, revered American novelist, dies at 89
Celebrated author Cormac McCarthy, an unflinching chronicler of America's bleak frontiers and grim underbelly, died on Tuesday aged 89, his publisher said. The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist who wrote "The Road" and "No Country for Old Men" -- both of which became feature films -- passed away at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Over his nearly six-decade-long career, McCarthy won major literary awards and gained international acclaim for a dozen sparsely written, soul-wrenching novels. Considered a demanding but honest writer, his clinical descriptions of inner torment and the backwoods of America won him a fiercely loyal following. Born on July 20, 1933, in Providence, Rhode Island, McCarthy's family moved to Tennessee when he was four years old. His father worked as a lawyer there. His given name was Charles, but he changed it to Cormac (after an Irish king) as he opted not to finish university and instead embark on a full-time career in writing. McCarthy wrote his first novel, "The Orchard Keeper," while working at a car parts shop in Chicago in the 1960s -- it was published by Random House. His editor at the time, Albert Erskine, had also worked for William Faulkner, a writer who McCarthy admired and with whom he is sometimes compared. The raw and violent book is an ode to the savage natural environment of the mountains of Tennessee, the southern US state where McCarthy grew up. McCarthy's focus on the dark contours of humanity remained the through line of his work, gaining him an ardent fan base and critical success. Following "The Orchard Keeper," McCarthy received multiple writing fellowships, including one from the Rockefeller Foundation. In 1968, he published "Outer Dark," the story of the fallout from an incestuous relationship. His next book, "Child of God," published in 1973, is about a man who heads into the Appalachian mountains to live apart from society. It contains descriptions of murder and necrophilia. By contrast, McCarthy's "Suttree," published six years later, is often described as his most humorous novel. He worked on the book, which depicts an outcast community living on the Tennessee River, on and off for some 20 years. The road In 1981, McCarthy received one of the MacArthur Foundation's so-called genius grants, and he spent the next part of his life living in El Paso, Texas on the border with Mexico -- a time that had a profound impact on his work. His next book, "Blood Meridian," was published in 1985 and marked a turning point in his career. Set in Texas and Mexico during the 1840s, it was a post-apocalyptic Western. The 1990s brought the publication of The Border Trilogy -- "All the Pretty Horses," "The Crossing," and "Cities of the Plain" -- all set in the American West. Despite Erskine's lament that "we never sold any of his books," "All the Pretty Horses" became a surprise hit, garnering a spot on the New York Times bestseller list. Hollywood took notice, and the film version was released in 2000, starring Matt Damon and Penelope Cruz. In 2008, an adaptation of his novel "No Country for Old Men" by directors Joel and Ethan Coen won four Oscars, including one for Spanish actor Javier Bardem. A year earlier, McCarthy was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for "The Road" -- the story of a father and son making their way across a post-apocalyptic landscape. Oprah Winfrey earlier named the novel one of her book club selections, giving McCarthy a massive publicity boost, and it was made into a film starring Viggo Mortensen. Sixteen years after "The Road," McCarthy's final works were a pair of companion novels -- "The Passenger" and its prequel "Stella Maris" -- both published in 2022 and tackling complex issues of grief and the nature of knowledge. Reclusive and known for living a life with few material pleasures -- for years, he lived in motels -- McCarthy was married three times and had two sons. The post Cormac McCarthy, revered American novelist, dies at 89 appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
US votes on Trump’s fate under threat of election turmoil
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Americans vote Tuesday in an election amounting to a referendum on Donald Trump and his uniquely brash, bruising presidency that Democratic opponent and frontrunner Joe Biden urged supporters to end, restoring “our democracy.” US President Donald Trump leaves after speaking during a Make America Great Again rally at Fayetteville Regional Airport November 2, 2020, in Fayetteville, North Carolina. – The US presidential campaign enters its final day Monday with a last-minute scramble for votes by Donald Trump and Joe Biden, drawing to a close an extraordinary race that has put a pandemic-stricken country on edge. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP) The United States is more divided and angry than at any time since the Vietnam War era of the 1970s — and fears that Trump could dispute the result of the election are only fueling those tensions. Despite an often startlingly laid-back campaign, Biden, 77, leads in almost every opinion poll, buoyed by his consistent message that America needs to restore its “soul” and get new leadership in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 231,000 people. “I have a feeling we’re coming together for a big win tomorrow,” Biden said in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a vital electoral battleground where he was joined by pop superstar Lady Gaga. “It’s time to stand up and take back our democracy.” But Trump was characteristically defiant to the end, campaigning at a frenetic pace with crowded rallies in four states on Monday, and repeating his dark, unprecedented claims for a US president that the polls risk being rigged against him. After almost non-stop speeches in a final three-day sprint, he ended up in the early hours of Tuesday in Grand Rapids, Michigan — the same place where he concluded his epic against-the-odds campaign in 2016 where he defeated apparent frontrunner Hillary Clinton. Despite the bad poll numbers, the 74-year-old Republican real estate tycoon counted on pulling off another upset. “We’re going to have another beautiful victory tomorrow,” he told the Michigan crowd, which chanted back: “We love you, we love you!” “We’re going to make history once again,” he said. Packing Trump’s bags While Tuesday is formally Election Day, in reality Americans have been voting for weeks. With a huge expansion in mail-in voting to safeguard against the Covid-19 pandemic, nearly 100 million people have already made their choice. Biden has the wind in his sails after indications that Democratic enthusiasm in the early voting may be matching the more visible energy at Trump’s impressive rallies. In one of US history’s great political gambles, Biden stuck to socially distanced gatherings with small crowds right up to the last moment, in stunning contrast to Trump’s constant, large rallies where few supporters so much as bothered with masks. But the Democrat, making his third attempt at the presidency, clearly senses that his calmer approach and strict attention to pandemic protocols is what Americans want after four tempestuous years. “It’s time for Donald Trump to pack his bags and go home,” Biden told supporters in Cleveland. “We’re done with the chaos! We’re done with the tweets, the anger, the hate, the failure, the irresponsibility.” In chilly downtown Pittsburgh, Justine Wolff said she had cast her ballot for Biden already and was cautiously hopeful he would carry Pennsylvania, which along with Florida may be the tightest of all the swing states that decide close national elections. “I hope that people have seen the writing on the wall,” said the 35-year-old nurse. “We need some kind of change because this isn’t working for anybody.” But where many early votes are believed to have been cast by Democrats, Trump’s side is hoping for a massive wave of Republican supporters voting in person on Tuesday. “Whether he wins or loses, this is history,” said Kolleen Wall, who turned out to cheer Trump in Grand Rapids. But “when you come to one of these rallies, all you think is, how could he not win?” The first polling stations opening were in two New Hampshire villages, Dixville Notch and Millsfield, starting at midnight. Most polling stations on the East Coast were to open at 6:00 am or 7:00 am (1100 or 1200 GMT). A tiny hamlet of 12 residents in the middle of the forest, near the Canadian border, Dixville Notch has traditionally voted “first in the nation” since 1960. The vote took minutes, as did the count: five votes for Biden, and none for Trump. Warning of violence Trump himself is planning to visit his campaign headquarters in Virginia on Tuesday, while Biden will travel to his birthplace of Scranton, the scrappy Pennsylvania town where Trump also visited on Monday. There are worries that if the election is close, extended legal chaos and perhaps violent unrest could ensue — not least because Trump has spent months trying to sap public trust in the voting process in a nation already bitterly divided along political fault lines. He ramped up these warnings in the final days, focusing especially on Pennsylvania’s rule allowing absentee ballots received within three days after Tuesday to be counted. In a tweet flagged with a warning label by Twitter on Monday, he said this would “allow rampant and unchecked cheating.” “It will also induce violence in the streets. Something must be done!” Trump tweeted......»»
Lady Gaga, car horns trumpet Biden’s grand campaign finale
PITTSBURGH (AFP) – Honking horns, huge American flags, and pop superstar Lady Gaga: on the eve of the presidential election, Joe Biden brought an air of spectacle to workers’ stronghold Pittsburgh as he capped a campaign largely curtailed by the Covid-19 pandemic. US singer Lady Gaga performs prior to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speaking during a Drive-In Rally at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on November 2, 2020. (Photo by JIM WATSON / AFP) “The power’s in your hands, Pennsylvania!” the Democratic White House nominee thundered late Monday to several hundred supporters gathered for a drive-in rally in what has become the pivotal state in Biden’s battle against President Donald Trump. “It’s time to stand up and take back our democracy,” the 77-year-old added, prompting a crescendo of car horns outside the stadium that is home to the Pittsburgh Steelers American football team. In the biting November cold, Biden took up the clarion call of a campaign that he launched 18 months ago: “This is a battle for the soul of America,” he said. “We have to win this.” Lady Gaga, clad in a white sweatshirt with “Joe” printed on the front, listened and applauded from her stage. Minutes earlier she had peeled off her gloves and sat down at a white piano to give a short but inspired musical warmup to the Biden headliner. “Gloves off because it’s a fight — a fight for what you believe in,” she said before launching into her hit “Shallow.” The 34-year-old Grammy winner called on the audience to vote for Biden because “we needed somebody that was going to bring us all together for this moment, for this very important moment.” “No matter who wins tomorrow, we’re going to have to do this together. Tomorrow’s got to be peaceful,” she added somberly, in an allusion to the tensions that have swelled in the United States ahead of the poll. The singer, who once lived in Pennsylvania, has been in this position before. In 2016, she helped close out the campaign of Democrat Hillary Clinton, who lost in a shocker to Trump. ‘End of Trump era?’ Dancing in the parking lot was Jamie Scafuri, a 26-year-old hairdresser, who came with friends invited by someone who works for the campaign. “We’re hoping that it’s the end of the Trump era,” Scafuri told AFP. “We’re hopeful. That’s why we’re here.” These drive-in rallies have become a staple of the Democrat’s mostly low-key campaign, which has scrupulously adhered to social distancing and mask-wearing guidelines to guard against the coronavirus, which has already killed more than 230,000 Americans. But despite efforts to put on a show at least partly resembling concert-infused mega-rallies that have traditionally marked the end of a campaign, the cars parked at distance, sparse spectators and few journalists allowed to enter makes it clear: the pandemic has upset the face of American politics in 2020. “Stay close to your cars!” urged an announcer as fans rushed forward for the arrival of Lady Gaga, in scenes far removed from the massive Trump rallies that often bring thousands of supporters packed together, very often without wearing masks. But here, Biden’s supporters understand the constraints. “I feel safe being here around our car with masks on, but it’s a great opportunity to celebrate life for sure,” Scafuri said. Biden is “a pro-science, pro-healthcare candidate, so it makes sense that he would want to protect his constituents,” added Scafuri’s friend Katie Soulen, 32, who owns the salon where they work. Trump ‘don’t care’ about us Biden is coming full circle with his campaign. The former vice president launched his White House candidacy — his third, following disastrous bids in 1988 and 2008 — in April 2019 in this blue-collar city. Even then, in the cradle of the American steel industry now remaking itself as a tech hub, Biden predicted that a victory against the Republican president would “happen here,” in Pennsylvania. Biden has a slight lead in the pivotal state, which Trump won by less than a percentage point in 2016. But the polls have tightened in recent days, and after the brash billionaire’s shock victory four years ago, some Democrats are nervous. But Bob Wilson, born and raised “right where we stand” in Pittsburgh, is confident that Trump will be defeated. “No, we’re gonna crush him… We’re gonna beat him in every state,” the 68-year-old retired truck driver, now a union official, said as he waited for Biden in the large parking lot at Heinz Field, named after the giant food processing company founded here in the 19th century. Trump is “not qualified” and “don’t care about nobody but himself,” he added......»»
Let’s not forget about sexual reproductive health and rights
I once read that in the ’80s, NASA wanted to send astronaut Sally Ride – the first American woman in space – on a space mission with 100 tampons. Her trip was six days. They could have spared that embarrassment by simply talking about it......»»
Kaladkaren inokray-okray sa Woman of Influence award: Bakit siya?!
MAS pinahanga pa ng award-winning actress at TV5 news anchor na si Kaladkaren ang mga LGBTQIA+ community sa bago niyang award. Isa si Kaladkaren o Jervi Li sa tunay na buhay sa mga binigyan ng pagkilala bilang Woman of Influence ng Cosmopolitan Philippines kamakailan. Kasama niyang tumanggap ng naturang award sina Iza Calzado, Carla Abellana.....»»
Rappler Talk: Leila de Lima, a woman of faith
In this Holy Week episode, former senator Leila de Lima opens up about faith, forgiveness, and the godsent pets who kept her company in nearly seven years in jail.....»»
Canino is Olympiad bound
It was sealed by an 83-move draw with Woman FIDE Master Cherry Ann Mejia of a Sicilian in the 10th and penultimate round of the Philippine National Women’s Chess Championship at the Malolos City Hall in Bulacan......»»
Prevent Pollen From Ruining Your Spring with These Tips
Allergy season has arrived early in the US, affecting more than 80 million Americans, as reported by The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. Pollen.....»»
FACES OF CEBU: Maribeth Mall Ababon, 35, woman firefighter
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Womanhood does not set a boundary on what you can do to be of service to society. Over the years, this sentence has been proven to be true as women have found their place in various industries, especially those known to be historically dominated by men. Among these is the fire.....»»
With help from Paul Lee, Raymond Almazan rules inaugural 3-Point Shootout for bigs
Raymond Almazan credits former teammate Paul Lee for some valuable tips as he tops the first-ever Big Men Three-Point Shootout during the PBA All-Star Weekend.....»»
Sarah Geronimo named 1st Woman of the Year at Billboard Philippines Women of Music awards
Sarah Geronimo made history yet again on Friday night as she was named the first Woman of the Year at the first-ever Billboard Philippines Women in Music awards held in Samsung Hall in SM Aura Premier, Taguig City. .....»»
TikTok facing ban in America; penalized $384 million in Europe
The US House of Reps has passed a bill to ban TikTok unless it cuts ties to Communist China. Chinese parent ByteDance must sell TikTok to another nationality in six months or be shut down......»»
PNP colonel faces admin raps over sex video
A police colonel accused of documenting his sexual encounters with a woman he had an illicit affair with is facing administrative cases before the Office of the Ombudsman......»»
Philippine road crash kills woman, injures man
MANILA, March 18 (Xinhua) -- A woman was killed after the motorcycle she and her husband were riding was hit by an overtaking bus along a highway in Rizal province of the Philippines at dawn on Monday, police said. Police said the accident occurred around 4 a.m. while the couple traveled along a highway in Taytay town. The woman died at the crash site, while her husband sustained injuries in the left arm......»»
BSP prodded to build up forex reserves
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas should continue rebuilding its gross international reserves amid the wide current account deficit and heavy reliance on debt funding, according to Bank of America Global Research......»»
Lonelyville, USA: Three factors that make middle-aged adults in America more likely to be lonely
Middle-aged Americans are facing a loneliness epidemic compared to their European counterparts, a new report suggests. The study, published in the journal American Psychologist, analyzed.....»»
Biden’s vision for America and the world
President Biden’s State of the Union message was a really crucial one for his reelection bid......»»
The new Taiwanese government and America’s role
Congratulations to Taiwan for mounting a peaceful, democratic and orderly election last Jan. 13......»»
Metrobank looking to raise $0.5-B in USD debt offering
Metrobank announced that it has selected Bank of America Securities and UBS as joint global coordinators to run a process to sell up to $500 million in dollar-denominated senior unsecured notes, “with option to upsize”......»»
Commercial US spaceship lands on moon
A Houston-based company has landed America’s first spaceship on the Moon in more than 50 years, part of a new fleet of NASA-funded, uncrewed commercial robots intended to pave the way for astronaut missions later this decade. But while flight controllers confirmed they had received a faint signal, it was not immediately clear whether Odysseus,.....»»