Author: Elon Mark

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost’s ascension to the papacy marks an extraordinary moment for American leadership on the world stage at a time when President Trump has transformed the country’s reputation abroad and fueled distrust among longtime allies.But while two Americans now sit in positions of enormous global influence, Pope Leo XIV may offer the world a different view of U.S. values from Mr. Trump’s America First approach, which he has executed through stiff tariffs, imperialist musings and vast cuts to foreign aid.When he was introduced to the world, the new pope — who speaks five languages and is a naturalized…

Grip and ergonomics: The best massage guns are designed to be wielded one-handed without wrist strain. Some models—like the Theragun Pro Plus—go beyond the standard pistol grip, featuring multi-grip designs to reach trickier spots.Weight: Lighter massage guns are easier to hold, aim, and travel with. Heavier models are generally more powerful but can get exhausting, especially during longer sessions.Speed settings: Most massage guns have multiple speed levels, measured in percussions per minute (PPM). You don’t need a huge variety; what matters is the range: a low setting (~1,800 PPM) for warm-up, a medium (~2,400) for general use, and a high…

Robert Francis Prevost, the Chicago-born cardinal selected on Thursday as the new pope, is descended from Creole people of color from New Orleans.The pope’s maternal grandparents, both of whom are described as Black or mulatto in various historical records, lived in the city’s Seventh Ward, an area that is traditionally Catholic and a melting pot of people with African, Caribbean and European roots.The grandparents, Joseph Martinez and Louise Baquié, eventually moved to Chicago in the early 20th century and had a daughter: Mildred Martinez, the pope’s mother.The discovery means that Leo XIV, as the pope will be known, is not…

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has quietly rescinded several internal policies that were designed to protect some of the most vulnerable people in its custody—including pregnant women, infants, the elderly, and people with serious medical conditions.The decision, outlined in a memo dated May 5 and signed by acting commissioner Pete Flores, eliminates four Biden-era policies enacted over the last three years. These policies were intended to address CBP’s long-standing failures to provide adequate care for detainees who are most at risk—failures that have, in some cases, proved fatal.The May 5 memo was distributed internally to top agency leadership but…

The announcement from St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City set off waves of shock and pride across the United States: For the first time ever, the pope was an American. And a White Sox fan to boot.In more than two dozen interviews across the country, Catholics and non-Catholics alike said they were stunned by the news that a 2,000-year-old religious institution had chosen Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, originally from the South Side of Chicago, as its new leader, Pope Leo XIV.“We got what we never expected,” said the Rev. Lawrence C. Tajah, a chaplain for the Nigerian Catholic community in…

There are plenty of sonic-friendly features, including a volume limiter to keep your hearing safe, Smart Talk to pause sound when you speak, and personalized listening with a built-in hearing test. Spatial Audio is also accounted for, including available head-tracking for an anchored 3D effect. I found JBL’s interpretation particularly echoey, especially for stereo sources, but I’m not a big fan of these services anyway.JBL’s app makes it easy to explore more bounty, and there are plenty of ways to customize, like a Low Volume Dynamic EQ switch to pep up the bass when listening low or a Sound Level…

A 48-year-old man has been charged with stalking and vandalism, including crashing his car through the front gate of the actress Jennifer Aniston’s Bel Air home, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said.The man, Jimmy Wayne Carwyle, 48, from New Albany, Miss., could face three years in prison, the district attorney’s office said in a news release. He is accused of repeatedly harassing Ms. Aniston and “sending her unwanted social media, voice mail and email messages” over a roughly two-year period starting March 1, 2023.“Stalking is a crime that can quickly escalate from harassment to dangerous, violent actions, threatening…

The US government has the capacity to dole out roughly 1.1 million permanent resident cards in the current fiscal year, which are divided into categories for family members, workers with advanced skills, and other groups based on precise rules.Lutnick originally proposed Trump’s gold card as a replacement for one of these categories, known as the EB-5 investor visa, which is perhaps the closest thing the United States currently has to a golden visa.Created by Congress in 1990, the program currently allows roughly 10,000 foreigners to obtain a green card each year by making a $1.05 million investment in the United…

After the men who will select the next pope were locked inside the Sistine Chapel without cellphones on Wednesday, the only thing left to do was wait for them to send a signal to the outside world. By smoke.The highly secret voting began inside what is possibly one of the world’s most secure vaults in the early evening, with the 133 cardinals tasked with deciding who will succeed Pope Francis writing candidates’ names on voting cards by hand, trying to disguise their handwriting.Outside in St. Peter’s Square, thousands of the faithful, the curious and the vacationing gathered to await the…

From citizens of ancient civilizations rubbing clay powder into their hair to the first commercially available dry shampoo hitting the market in the 1940s, people have spent their entire lives trying to bridge the gap between dirty hair and busy lifestyles. I remember vividly my mom using baby powder in the 1980s, as well as my first purchase of drugstore dry shampoo in the early 2000s. It went on like spray paint and probably contained enough chemicals to poison a small animal, but it did the job of letting me skip a couple days of my arduous wash, dry, and…