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McManus: Economy to decide who gets working class votes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:25 GMT

The battle for working-class voters is on, and it could well decide the outcome of the 2024 election.Last month, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump hustled up to Michigan, where the United Auto Workers have gone on strike amid contract negotiations with GM, Ford and Stellantis, the company formerly known as Chrysler.Biden joined striking workers on a picket line outside a GM parts facility, the first time an incumbent president showed his support for organized labor so thoroughly.“You saved the automobile industry back in 2008,” he told UAW members through a bullhorn. “But now they’re doing incredibly well. … It’s about time for them to step up for us.”Trump didn’t visit striking workers or endorse the UAW’s demands for higher wages. He gave a speech at a nonunion factory and charged that Biden is hurting autoworkers by promoting electric vehicles.“The workers of America, to put it very nicely, are getting scre...

How will boarding school affect child support?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:25 GMT

Q. My ex-wife wants to send our daughter, Emily, to boarding school in Connecticut for high school – she is offering to pay all of the costs.  I am a teacher and recognize this would be a great opportunity for Emily but I have concerns.Emily has lived with me since the divorce 10 years ago – my ex travels extensively and they are not close.  I am worried that this is a ploy for my ex to stop paying me child support and for her to claim that our daughter now lives in CT with my ex’s mother.  I don’t know the laws in CT and whether child support is the same or if I have to give up child support if Emily goes to boarding school.  I planned to keep our home until Emily graduates from high school then sell it and move to a less expensive town to help finance college.  Without the child support payments, I cannot afford to keep the house.A. Child support is paid until a child is emancipated.  If a child living away at college during the school year does not trigger emancipation (it does n...

Chloe Domont flips script on battle of sexes in ‘Fair Play’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:25 GMT

Can a man and a woman work in the same firm, secretly violate the rules concerning personal relationships, and be happy?Especially if, writer-director Chloe Domont asks in her film “Fair Play,” she does better in the workplace than he?Her couple, Emily (Phoebe Dynevor) and Luke (Alden Ehrenreich), are super stressed at their Wall Street hedge fund.  When his expected promotion goes to Emily, Luke finds he’s fine – until he’s not. Then he begins spinning out of control – and he rapidly becomes a threat to her.“The real kernel of inspiration for this film was when my career started to take off. It was this feeling as I was having a certain period where my success didn’t feel like a total win,” Domont, 36, said in a Zoom press conference from London.“It felt like a loss on some level — because of the kinds of relationships I was in. These were relationships with men who adored me for my ambition, adored me for my talent, adored me for my strengths.“But at the same time, the...

Doc spotlights DeSantis’ Martha’s Vineyard migrant move

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:25 GMT

MSNBC documentary “Martha’s Vineyard v. DeSantis” puts a shocking political stunt front and center.When 49 immigrants were flown from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in September last year, courtesy of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, it grabbed international headlines.The directing duo of David Heilbroner and Kate Davis, themselves Martha’s Vineyard residents, took a closer look at the incident in their MSNBC documentary “Martha’s Vineyard v. DeSantis,” airing on MSNBC Sunday and Peacock Monday.Fox News and DeSantis wanted to paint Martha’s Vineyard as this “white, liberal, ultra wealthy island, which it certainly is for two months in summer,” Davis said in a joint Zoom interview. “We spend the winters here as well and have a feeling for the diversity of the island. This is not the little white place that Tucker Carlson portrayed.”The film notes the island’s diversity: A quarter of the population’s language is Brazilian Portuguese, who’ve long lived alongside a Black and Nativ...

Parenting plan might be hard for young daughter

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:25 GMT

Q. My ex-boyfriend and I have been apart for six months. Our daughter is 14 months old. After we broke up, he moved in a new girlfriend a month later. I worry if that’s too soon for our daughter. My daughter is with her dad every other weekend Thursday-Sunday. I have nicely asked this girl to stay away from my daughter, but she ignores me! She acts like her mother. Now my daughter cries when I pick her up because she doesn’t know who I am. What’s good ex-etiquette?A. We all understand how tough it is to break up, especially if you have kids. Plus, if one of you moves on very quickly, that only adds to the other parent’s anxiety. Add grief and jealousy, anger and revenge — all those dreadful emotions that go along with splitting up, and you have a lot to contend with while trying to put on a happy face for a little one.Unfortunately, the parenting plan you mentioned might be a little difficult for your daughter at her place of development.Toddlers experience separation anxiety in the...

Leamer goes behind the scenes with Hollywood legends

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:25 GMT

When Alfred Hitchcock was alive, he was revered as the “Master of Suspense.” Since his 1980 death at 80, Hitchcock’s stature has soared to be recognized as the greatest of all 20th century filmmakers.Yet the Hitchcock Laurence Leamer presents in his fascinating and comprehensive biography “Hitchcock’s Blondes: The Unforgettable Women Behind the Legendary Director’s Dark Obsession” (Putnam, publishes Oct. 10) is that of an emotionally stunted, sexually impotent Brit with life-long awkward social abilities.Leamer, at 81 a veteran best-selling author (“The Kennedy Women,” “Mar-A-Lago: Inside the Gates of Power at Donald Trump’s Presidential Palace”), sees “Hitchcock’s Blondes” as a study of the director’s lifelong fascination with – and need to dominate – his famously blonde leading ladies. They include Britain’s Madeleine Carroll (“The 39 Steps”), Sweden’s Ingrid Bergman (“Spellbound,” “Notorious”), Philadelphia’s Grace Kelly (“Dial M for Murder,” “Rear Window,” “The Catch a Thi...

Highlighting wellness during Breast Cancer Awareness month

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:25 GMT

With everything there is to get done during fall — from back-to-school meetings to back-to-back work meetings — it’s easy to skip taking time out for some self-care and seeing to our own wellness. It needs to be a deliberate effort, and doing so can make such a huge difference in how we manage getting everything done. (You know the saying: Put your own oxygen mask on first. )And underscoring the importance of wellness even further, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. As a breast cancer survivor myself, I truly believe that mental health and personal self-care are absolutely critical to being my best self every single day.So to help start off Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and to underscore the importance of wellness, I hosted a Wellness Day event at my Wellesley salon, Grettacole. I did it alongside kai, a cult-favorite beauty brand known for its natural and intoxicating signature scent collection —and one of the beauty lines I can’t live without.I carry kai at the salon and a...

Editorial: Healey’s elitism infuriating

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:25 GMT

An infuriated Herald reader put it best after reading that Gov. Maura Healey huddled with fellow Democrats over the state’s migrant crisis: “This is ridiculous!”“Well, that’s nice and very secretive. What are you hiding?” the reader added, alluding to the fact that no Republicans were invited to that huddle.The governor needs to study the Massachusetts Constitution. The “body politic” (i.e., Governor, Legislature, etc.) must adhere to a solemn “social compact” working toward “the common good.” That’s just in the preamble, so Gov. Healey shouldn’t need to read much further.It doesn’t say in times of trouble, consult with your party.Article V (worth reading, governor) states in full: “All power residing originally in the people, and being derived from them, the several magistrates and officers of government, vested with authority, whether legislative, executive, or judicial, are their subst...

Preseason NHL Power Rankings

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:25 GMT

Power rankings! Get your your power rankings!The 2023-24 NHL season opens on Tuesday and we make our annual list of Stanley Cup contenders, also-rans and everyone in between. The tweeners represent a large group, and that’s where you’ll find your Bruins. Hockey being hockey, anyone can break out of that third category. Here’s our first offering for this season:Carolina – With Dmitry Orlov in the fold, the Canes have a Stanley Cup-worthy defense corps. They caught a tough break when they lost Andrei Svechnikov after the trade deadline last year. The Canes are getting to the point of their program where you’re just to ask, if not now, when? There should be some desperation in Raleigh and it could work for the Canes if they channel it well.Colorado – The Avs know they’ve already lost Gabriel Landeskog for the season and, as tough as it will be to miss his skilled edge, they should be better equipped to handle it this year. After winning the Cup, the Avs su...

Get moving now to snag a seasonal job

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:25 GMT

Q. Is it too early to apply to seasonal jobs? I need to make more money so I’m targeting retail jobs. Also, I’m 52. Am I too old to fold shirts at the Gap?A. You’re not too old and although the adage goes, “You are not too late,” for your question about seasonal jobs, my response is, “You are not too early.”Companies are definitely hiring and some have already been hiring since late August, early September for the upcoming holidays.Once you’re hired, you need to be trained and that doesn’t always happen overnight. Go for it sooner rather than later! Don’t talk yourself out of it, you’re not too old, enjoy pursuing the new gigs and remember even for part-time gigs, you’re interviewing them as much as they’re interviewing you — ask critical questions (especially about hours so you can avoid burnout if you’re also working a full-time job) and ask about discounts, too!Q. I feel like my skills are g...