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McKone: Congress must pass credit card act to ease fees

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

In the world of sponsorships, VIP seats, and lavish executive privileges, credit card giants like Visa and Mastercard, along with every major bank, have perfected the art of selling their products. From top sponsorships at everything from the Olympics to the World Cup, you can’t turn on the TV without getting inundated with credit card marketing. Yet, behind them lies a startling truth: these ads are being bankrolled by excessive credit card swipe fees charged to your local businesses and, inevitably, you.American businesses pay the highest swipe fees in the industrialized world. While these fees remain hidden from consumers, their impact is far-reaching. Last year alone, U.S. merchants paid over $126 billion in credit card processing fees, a staggering increase of more than 20% from just a year earlier. Such an exponential rise has severe implications for businesses, especially small enterprises, struggling to recover from the economic aftermath of the pandemic.Yet Visa and Masterc...

‘The Persian Version’ a multi-layered cinematic feast

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

To the tune of Wet Leg’s hit “On the Chaise Longue,” the surprisingly angry coming-of-age film “The Persian Version” begins with its lesbian heroine narrating the action, attending a drag party dressed in a “burka-tini” and having a one-night stand with a straight but cross-dressing British actor playing the lead in a Broadway production of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.”Life is so complicated. Our heroine Leila Jamshidpour (Layla Mohammadi) gets pregnant, and in spite of her independent spirit, she decides to have the baby with the halting approval of “Hedwig.” “The Persian Version” then proceeds to examine the terrible relationship Leila, who has five or six grown-up brothers, has had with her tall, beautiful mother Shireen (Niousha Noor). Complicating Leila’s relationship with her mother is her father’s daunting medical state.Her father, whose name is Ali Reza (Bijan Daneshmand) is a longtime physician so in need of a heart transplant that he is about to be given a...

‘Charlie Chaplin vs. America’ unpacks life of iconic Tramp

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

Scott Eyman’s new biography “Charlie Chaplin vs. America” (Simon & Schuster, publishes Oct. 31) chronicles the amazing – and still shocking – fall from grace that led Hollywood’s first global superstar to virtually disappear into a voluntary Swiss exile.As WWI raged Chaplin’s Tramp made him famous in every country of the world and wildly wealthy. Yet as post-WWII America went through political convulsions with anti-Communist conspiracies and purges born out of moral indignation, Chaplin in the late 1940s became a target of the FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover’s obsession with his sexual life and his liberal politics.But Eyman, the best-selling biographer of John Wayne and Cary Grant, doesn’t confine himself to just that chapter of Chaplin’s extraordinary life.“My intent was to narrow it to 12 years,” Eyman. 72, said in a phone interview. “Then I thought, I can’t assume 21st century readers know anything about Charlie Chaplin, about his childhood and all that. And if you don’...

DeMar DeRozan cherishes opening night in his 15th NBA season, but the Chicago Bulls fall to the Oklahoma City Thunder 124-104

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

Even after 14 years, opening night never gets old for DeMar DeRozan.The Chicago Bulls forward started his 15th NBA season Wednesday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder at the United Center. DeRozan scored a team-high 20 points, but the Bulls lost 124-104.DeRozan, 34, has collected numerous All-Star accolades and trips to the playoffs. But the first day of a fresh season still holds the same glow.“It’s amazing to play this game so long, especially having looked at a lot of people that I watched play, some of them played 13, 14 years,” DeRozan said. “To still be going, to still love the game, to still have motivation, passion, everything about it — I don’t look at it like I feel old. It’s a blessing more than anything to still be playing.”DeRozan wasn’t quite as confident on his first opening night in 2009, when he made his debut in Toronto for the Raptors against a Cleveland Cavaliers team that included Shaquille O’Neal ...

Lucas: Biden’s weakness on display in Mideast

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

If Joe Biden were not such a weakling, he would have warned Iran of the U.S. destruction of Hamas unless the Islamic terrorist group released all Americans it is holding hostage.Instead, Biden is providing Hamas, Iran’s jihadist proxy, with $100 million in humanitarian aid that will surely end up in the hands of the Hamas terrorists.The United States says it does not pay ransom for hostages, except when it does. That is when Americans are taken hostage by Iran or one of its proxies, and a Democrat, like Joe Biden or Barack Obama, is in the White House.Then the U.S. is fair game and Iran, the biggest spreader of terrorism in the world, keeps taking Americans hostage. The money keeps rolling in.Hardly had Biden announced approval of the $100 million in aid to the Palestinians in Gaza then Hamas, which controls the place, released two Americans they had kidnapped during their barbaric killing spree Oct. 7 where they slaughtered 1,400 people in Israel, including women and children.Among...

Collegiate Charter School offers path to college

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

Do you think a college education is financially impossible for your child? We can help. Set your child up for success by enrolling them in the Collegiate Charter School of Lowell. Last year, we found over $750,000 in needs-based grants, aid, and scholarships for our 28 graduates. According to a National Center for Education Statistics study, in 2022 high school graduates ages 25-34 years old made $36,600 a year while the student with a bachelor’s degree made $59,600.We are accepting applications right now to be a part of this wonderful newer K-12 school. We are located near the Rourke Bridge off Middlesex Street in Lowell. Please check out our open houses on Nov 13 and Nov. 28 from 5-7 pm. You may also apply on our website at www.collegiatelowell.orgAs our motto says at Collegiate, your child will be seen, be heard, and belong. We offer a strong college preparatory curriculum in a family-type atmosphere. The whole family can go to school together since we offer a kindergarten ...

‘Anatomy of a Fall’ complex, worthwhile mystery

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

Cannes award-winner “Anatomy of a Fall” suggests a mash up of last year’s “Tar” with Sandra Huller (“Toni Erdmann”) giving a Cate Blanchett-level performance as a writer accused of her husband’s murder; Ingmar Bergman’s landmark “Scenes from a Marriage;” and, of course, Otto Preminger’s courtroom classic “Anatomy of a Murder.”Directed and co-written by Justine Triet (“Sibyl”), the film is a dense, sophisticated deep dive into the complexities of a marriage after the French husband dies in a tumble from the third floor of the family’s fix-it-up, wooden chalet in Grenoble, where he, his German writer-wife and their piano-playing 11-year-old son Daniel (Milo Machado Graner) lived.Before her husband’s death, Huller’s Sandra Voyter is interviewed in the chalet by a young journalist. But they have to give up because Sandra’s husband Samuel Maleski (Samuel Theis), also a writer, although a failed one, is renovating on the third floor and blar...

Notre Dame Academy is full STEM ahead

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

The Academy of Notre Dame Tyngsboro, a private Catholic Upper School is accepting applicants for the 2024-2025 academic year.NDA is known for rigorous academics concentrated on STEAM, small class sizes, and personalized attention. The teacher to student ratio is 1:13 ensuring attention and support as students challenge themselves academically.The Academy offers three levels of courses: College Preparatory, Honors, and Advanced Placement. All levels of instruction offer a rigorous college preparatory education that provides empowering opportunities and real-life applications. The vibrant community encourages student leadership.Students take a minimum of four lab classes but gain real world experience visiting biotech, medical research, and engineering companies. Curriculum is further enhanced through guest speakers including forensic scientists, bio engineers, and other STEM professionals.The Academy is proud to have received a $1 million gift in support of Pope Francis’ encyclical L...

Editorial: Standing up, speaking out against Hamas terror

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

Evil is not stupid.Its latest incarnation, the Hamas terrorist group, was particularly cunning as it spent some two years planning and training for its Oct. 7 slaughter of over 1,400 Israelis, leaving many more wounded and kidnapping hostages which it still holds. Men, women, children – all indiscriminate victims of the carnage, and all of it calculated.But the immoral machinations didn’t stop there. Hamas was undoubtedly aware of rising the rising tide of antisemitism around the globe in recent years. As the Associated Press reported in April, antisemitism rose in the U.S. last year as political radicals gain mainstream popularity, according to a report released by Tel Aviv University’s Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry and the U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League.The ADL found that the number of antisemitic incidents in the U.S. increased by more than 35% in the past year, from 2,721 in 2021 to 3,697 in 2022.Hamas may not have had the statistics, but it ...

How parents can be more involved in child’s school

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

Parents can make every effort to encourage children to make the most of the school experience, including academics and extracurricular activities.According to the National Education Council, when parents get involved in their children’s education, those children are more likely to do better in school and be more positive about the school experience.Consider these possibilities:Attend school board meetingsMany community school boards are comprised entirely of volunteers who work with superintendents and other personnel to advocate for policies and procedures for students. Decisions typically are up for vote, and parents can run for school board positions or simply attend meetings each month and let their voices be heard about various issues.Attend open houses and conferencesParents can make every effort to get to know teachers and other staff. Putting faces to names can help parents develop a connection to teachers and vice versa. Most schools have back to school nights, meet t...