Category: US

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Dollar General has brought back its former chief executive in an attempt to revive its struggling business.

On Thursday, the discount chain announced that it had reinstated Todd Vasos as CEO, replacing Jeff Owen. Vasos had previously served in the role for seven years before he retired in 2022.

The replacement is effective immediately, the company said. Owen was CEO for less than one year.

“At this time the Board has determined that a change in leadership is necessary to restore stability and confidence in the Company moving forward,” said Michael Calbert, the chair of Dollar General’s board of directors, in a statement.

Shares of Dollar General, which have been under pressure this year, surged in after-hours trading Thursday after the announcement.

Dollar General has faced slowing growth since Owen took over as chief executive last November. In August, the company slashed its sales and profit outlook for the year, blaming weaker consumer spending and increasing theft. Earlier this year, workers also protested a pattern of federal safety violations and violent incidents at the chain.

External economic factors may have contributed to the discount chain’s downtrend as well.

Neil Saunders, retail analyst and managing director at GlobalData, told CNN that Dollar General’s slowdown was partially attributed to its customer base feeling the pressure of higher costs of living.

“This has been exacerbated by cuts in SNAP payments as temporary pandemic benefits came to an end. As a result, lower-income shoppers are cutting back on non-consumable and indulgent purchases from the chain in a bid to save money,” he said.

Wall Street seemed to lose faith in Owen’s leadership. Earlier this year Dollar General workers protested over unsafe working conditions at the store.. The retailer’s stock has fallen nearly 60% since the start of this year.

Conversely, during Vasos’ seven years as CEO, Dollar General more than doubled its market capitalization. The company also expanded its store base by approximately 7,000 and increased annual sales by more than 80% during that time.

In a statement, Vasos said his aim was to return the retailer to a position of strength.

“I look forward to getting back to work with the broader team as we strive to return to a position of operational excellence for our employees and customers and deliver sustainable long-term growth and value creation for our shareholders,” he said.

At least one Wall Street analyst applauded the leadership shakeup. Oppenheimer senior analyst Rupesh Parikh called the change “surprising,” but said it “could help to re-instill confidence” in the retailer.

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David Beckham is reminiscing on the time he and Victoria spent filming the Netflix “Beckham” docuseries.

On Wednesday night, the soccer star attended the David Beckham Fragrances Launch Party in New York City, where he shared it was “a huge honor” to team up with the streaming service and director Fisher Stevens for this project.

“It was a series that took me a while to come to terms with filming and talking about my life,” Beckham said, according to People magazine. “And ten years ago, when I retired from playing soccer, people asked me to do it. And I wasn’t really ready to look back and talk about my career and my life.” 

Beckham segued into how he waited for the perfect time to tell his story. After the athlete’s retirement from soccer in 2013, he said he “was ready to move on straight away” to other business ventures.

DAVID BECKHAM’S DOCUMENTARY WITH VICTORIA: TOP BOMBSHELLS FROM AFFAIR ALLEGATIONS TO KIDNAPPING THREATS

“But then, about two or three years before the tenth anniversary of my retirement, I thought, ‘OK, maybe this is the right time now to tell the story,’” Beckham said.

Once Beckham met the “perfect team,” which included Netflix and Stevens, the crew got right to work. He explained that the long process of crafting the docuseries was a “hell of a journey” for him and wife Victoria Beckham.

“It wasn’t easy, and it was an emotional rollercoaster over the last two and a half years, but I think we’ve produced something that my team can be very proud of,” he said. The crew spent 50 hours over the last several years to bring this project to life.

Fisher previously told People magazine David was “so open” during their conversations.

“He wasn’t what I expected at all,” the director added. “He was so open. He’s like, ‘I’m ready. I want to tell my story before someone else does.’ And then I started doing research, and I was like, ‘Jesus, this guy’s life is nuts. Nuts.’ I had no idea.”

Stevens is not surprised Beckham’s perfectionist nature and keen eye to detail has translated into his life after retirement.

“There’s a kind of warmth to him. He listens, and he’s warm. And he seems to [care] about people a lot,” Stevens told the outlet. “He has an incredible aesthetic. He’s not educated. He’s not an intellectual by any means, but there is an innate intelligence to him of how to read people and sort of how to read a room.”

DAVID BECKHAM’S WIFE VICTORIA ADMITS SHE ‘RESENTED’ SOCCER STAR DURING ‘CIRCUS’ THAT FOLLOWED AFFAIR RUMORS

“Beckham” had its fair share of bombshells. The legendary soccer player shares how he was first introduced to the sport, his romance with wife “Posh Spice” and how family is the most important thing to him.

The four-part series includes interviews with David, Victoria, David’s parents and past teammates. Stevens illustrates everything from how Beckham had an issue with saving his money to how he dealt with being accused of disgracing his country and being labeled the “new Charles and Diana.”

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A major moment in the series was when David and Victoria addressed “horrible stories” about them that rocked their marriage in 2003. At the time, tabloids alleged he was having an affair. 

David had moved to Spain to play for Real Madrid, and although the couple did not mention the woman by name in the docuseries, David’s former personal assistant, Rebecca Loos, previously came forward about an alleged four-month affair in 2003.

In the documentary, headlines are shown on screen, including claims of “secret sex,” “alleged affair,” and “marriage crisis.” “There was some horrible stories that were difficult to deal with,” Beckham said in the docuseries. 

Victoria added that it was “100 percent” the hardest time in their marriage. “It was the hardest period for us. Because it felt like the world was against us.”

David added, “When I first moved to Spain, it was difficult because I had been part of a club and a family [at Manchester United] for my whole career, from the age of 15 to when I was 27. I get sold overnight, the next minute I’m in a city, I don’t speak the language. More importantly, I didn’t have my family.”

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“Every time that we woke up we felt there was something else. … We both felt at the time that we were not losing each other but drowning,” he clarified. “I don’t know how we got through it, in all honesty.”

“Victoria is everything to me, to see her hurt was incredibly difficult, but we’re fighters and at that time we needed to fight for each other, we needed to fight for our family. And what we had was worth fighting for.”

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To me, it’s simple – if you cannot denounce terrorism in all its forms, there should be no place for you in the Democratic Party.

By that standard, several of my fellow Democrats lost their place in this party over the weekend after their horrific responses to the barbaric terrorist attacks Hamas unleashed on innocent Israelis Saturday morning.

In some ill-fated attempt to appease the completely nonexistent pro-terrorist Muslim community in suburban Detroit, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer tweeted, “I have been in touch with communities impacted by what’s happening in the region. It is abhorrent. My heart is with all those impacted. We need peace in this region.”

This ham-fisted attempt to avoid saying Israel, Hamas and terrorism in a statement addressing those three topics reminded me of Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar’s decontextualized 2019 remarks describing the 9/11 attacks as “some people did something.”

REPUBLICAN LAWMAKER PUSHING TO CENSURE RASHIDA TLAIB OVER RESPONSE TO SLAUGHTER IN ISRAEL

Unlike Omar, Whitmer couldn’t claim to be taken out of context. That was the entirety of her tweet.

But Whitmer wasn’t the only Michigan Democrat to completely fumble their response to perhaps the worst terrorist attack around the globe since 2001.

Most notable was Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., who, in a lengthy statement, called for”dismantling the apartheid system that creates the suffocating, dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance.” Later in the text, she said the United States must cut off Israel’s aid.

This response is pure victim blaming. Most Democrats, especially young Democrats, agree that the Israeli government’s blockade of the Gaza Strip is unjust and cruel, especially toward children, who comprise nearly half of the Palestinian population. 

But that injustice doesn’t give the pro-Palestinian Left license to explain away the mass killing, raping and kidnapping of Israeli citizens as justifiable “resistance” activities.

SPLC SILENT ON WHETHER BLM, DEM SOCIALISTS’ PRO-HAMAS ACTIVISM RAISES ‘HATE’ CONCERNS

As journalist Julia Ioffe put it, “If you’re against the collective punishment of Palestinians, you should also be against the collective punishment of Israelis.”

When the pro-Palestinian Left doesn’t voice total opposition to the massacre of Israeli citizens, even as they affirm the rights of Palestinians, they lose their moral standing and surrender the values of justice and human rights they claim are at the center of their movement.

One can point to the root causes of terrorism without condoning it. In Tlaib’s words, all “resistance” activities aren’t justified – the blood still on the streets of southern Israel bears witness to this reality. 

Thankfully, Tlaib isn’t in charge of the Democratic Party, and Joe Biden is. His joint statement with five world leaders on Monday night made it clear that this government stands against Hamas’ terrorists and with the people of Israel:

YES, BIDEN CALLS OUT HAMAS BUT HE’S ODDLY SILENT ON 4 MAJOR ISSUES HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

“All of us recognize the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people and support equal measures of justice and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians alike. But make no mistake: Hamas does not represent those aspirations and offers nothing for the Palestinian people other than more terror and bloodshed.” 

President Biden shows the way. You can support Palestinian freedom, distrust Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and denounce Hamas’ terrorism. In fact, if you don’t do the latter, you hurt the overall cause for freedom.

Some Democrats were willing to chide their party colleagues for their nonsense publicly. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Bronx Congressman Ritchie Torres each denounced a pro-Hamas Democratic Socialist of Americas (DSA) rally in Times Square that featured a young man holding up and showing off a Nazi flag image on his phone.

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The 35-year-old Torres’ remarks were particularly poignant. He called the rally “an antisemitic stain on the soul of America’s largest city” and accused the DSA of glorifying the terrorism of Hamas as “resistance.” He said that the lives of Israeli civilians and children murdered, wounded, abducted and terrorized by Hamas meant nothing to the DSA.

There’s a fight for the future of the Democratic Party already underway. And to me, it’s clear Torres’ way is the only way to go because a Democratic Party led by figures like Rashida Tlaib is a party rightly without a future in the United States.

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As a U.S. Army intelligence officer, I was trained to brief the commander on the most likely course of action and the most dangerous course of action. How might that disciplined way of thinking be applied to the conflict between Gaza’s Hamas terrorists and Israel?

In this case, the rationale – or lack of it – in Hamas’ video record of its orgy of torture, rape and murder. And its threat to publicly execute some of the hundreds of hostages it grabbed and are keeping in its underground labyrinth, may provide insight. 

Civilian casualties are often, but not always, collateral damage, meaning that civilian deaths aren’t necessarily the object of a war. 

During the medieval period, the end of a successful siege of a city would often see the descent into an orgy of killing, rape and plunder. Because the unnecessary destruction diminished the value of the seized city, it was eventually determined that appointing officers over the mass levies could prevent a slaughter and make it more likely to gain compliance from the conquered population. Thus, Hamas’ barbaric actions may signal a lack of command and control and discipline. 

YES, BIDEN CALLS OUT HAMAS BUT HE’S ODDLY SILENT ON 4 MAJOR ISSUES HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

But Hamas purports to be a governing entity. It won an election against the corrupt elements of Fatah in January 2006 and for the next year-and-a-half, Hamas proceeded to purge rival elements, sometimes throwing its domestic enemies to their deaths off of high-rises. Hamas receives billions in foreign aid, some official, some clandestine. And Hamas built an army. Thus, we can presume that the televised tortures, beheadings, immolations and hostage killing is intentional. 

If Hamas’ outrageous killings are intentional and for public consumption, the question that needs to be asked is why? What do they hope to accomplish by using tactics that serve to harden opinion of most the world against their cause?

The most likely course of action is that this is what Hamas has always done. That it expects to force Israel to negotiate to save more than 100 hostages by showing Israel that it is willing to murder them in the most horrific ways possible. That Israel should not commit the 300,000 reservists it mobilized to conquer Gaza. And to play for time while it expects the international community, led by the U.N., will urge a cease-fire. 

This most likely course of action for Hamas also poses a dangerous long-term threat for Israel, as it will leave Hamas in Gaza to lash out again at some time of its own choosing while tying down Israeli resources and international goodwill. 

The most dangerous course of action is truly chilling. 

ISRAEL VS. HAMAS: THERE’S ONLY ONE THING ISRAEL MUST DO NOW TO HAMAS

If Hamas’ brutality is calculated, what is it calculated to do? By torturing and killing Israelis and then posting gruesome images to social media for the world to see, Hamas may be trying to goad Israel into a costly and very bloody urban conflict in Gaza, home to about 2 million people. 

Gaza is a dense urban jungle with countless tunnels and underground bunkers. Fighting there in the age of drones will be more difficult than anything Israel has done in decades – likely going back 50 years to the Yom Kippur War when Israel suffered a surprise attack from Egypt in the south and Syria to the north with supporting forces from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and six other Arab nations, plus Cuba and North Korea. 

Why would Hamas willingly try to invite Israel to attack Gaza? 

To provide context, the city of Fallujah in Iraq has a population of about 275,000 – Gaza is more than seven times that. It took 10,500 American, 850 British, and some 2,000 Iraqi personnel more than six weeks to eliminate insurgent forces in the city. 

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By the time the operation was completed, 107 U.S. and coalition partners were dead and more than 600 were wounded as compared to 1,200 to 2,000 enemy dead. A full-scale attack on Gaza may well result in several times that toll.

Further, once the bulk of Israel’s attention is focused on Gaza, might that be cause for the militant Shiite terror group Hezbollah in Lebanon to strike Israel with some of the 100,000 missiles they’ve accumulated with Iran’s support? These missiles, many of which are dug into tunnels on the north slopes of mountains and hillsides near Israel, are very difficult to destroy – inviting a second, costly Israeli operation to clear out. 

And, gathering offshore in an attempt to deter Hezbollah, is a U.S. Navy strike group based around the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier. Wouldn’t Hezbollah, its sponsor Iran, and its allies in Moscow and Beijing just love to have an excuse to try to damage an American nuclear-powered super carrier with some of the new weapons being used to great effect in Ukraine – or some other weaponry as yet unseen in the Middle East?

We cannot dismiss the possibility that the most dangerous course of action might be executed at the strategic direction of China in support of its own plans against Taiwan. 

The scale of Hamas’ attack and the outrageousness of their atrocities might be in the service of a larger purpose we don’t yet see.

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October is National Bullying Prevention Month, and one faith-based leadership organization is blazing the trail to help curb the crisis riddling America’s school-aged kids by setting examples to transform boys into good men.

“Boys are struggling in our culture today. They’re twice as likely to be in special education, three times more likely to have ADHD. They’ve fallen behind girls in every single academic category,” Mark Hancock, CEO of Trail Life USA, told Fox News Digital.

“Although there’s no excuse for bullying and there should be consequences for bullying, we’ve got to recognize we’re putting boys in positions that make it really difficult in our culture today,” he continued.

“We believe that they’re largely unguided. One in four boys now doesn’t have a father in the household. Very few male mentors are stepping up to show boys how to be winning and focused men. And so the examples that they’re getting are leading them in, frankly, a horrible direction.”

CHICAGO PREP SCHOOL’S ‘NEGLIGENT BEHAVIOR’ TOWARD CYBERBULLYING LED TO STUDENT’S SUICIDE, PARENTS ALLEGE

Data from the Federal National Center for Education Statistics and Bureau of Justice and the CDC, compiled by StopBullying.gov, indicates that 20% of students aged 12-18 experienced bullying in the U.S.

Of those who reported being bullied, 56% said they believed the perpetrators had the ability to alter others’ perceptions of them. Fifty percent believed their bully “had more social influence.” Forty percent were seen as “physically stronger or larger” and 31% were seen as wealthier than their victims.

Cyberbullying is another concern, with the same data finding that 15% of students in the age range reported being bullied online or via text. 

Hancock believes there are two primary reasons boys resort to bullying in particular – a lack of positive role models and a lack of opportunities to channel emotions in positive ways.

The solution? Surrounding them with male mentors who set a good example in an environment that encourages adventure. Trail Life USA began nearly 10 years ago and is now focused out of 1,100 churches across the nation with over 50,000 members participating.

MONTANA LEGISLATURE ADVANCES BILL ALLOWING KIDS TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST BULLIES IN SCHOOL: ‘AN INHERENT RIGHT’

“We give what you’d expect from an outdoor boys program. It’s handbooks and uniforms and hiking and camping and all sorts of outdoor activity,” Hancock explained. 

“A male-centric environment with background checked, approved, vetted male leaders are taking boys into the outdoors and showing them character, leadership and adventure principles that are making a difference.”

All with elements of faith embedded in each lesson, so boys not only grow into bold, courageous fathers and husbands, but also godly men.

In the meantime, the program gives boys an outlet to be who they are – adventurers, risk-takers, leaders. 

“A lot of folks are leaning towards saying boys and girls aren’t different. Well, they are. Boys and girls are different psychologically, developmentally, behaviorally… boys’ needs aren’t being met in the way they need to be met, so we’re putting them in situations where we’re treating them like defective girls or something, and they’re just not wired to sit still, be quiet, pay attention,” Hancock continued.

ELITE US BOARDING SCHOOL ADMITS FAILURE TO HALT BULLYING LED TO STUDENT SUICIDE

“So they sit through these kinds of situations on a regular basis and there’s pent-up emotions and drives and, they’re just not allowed to express themselves, and we’re giving them fewer and fewer opportunities for risk and adventure and outdoor activity. Because of that, we’re driving them towards the one expression of emotions that we seem to recognize and be OK with, and that’s anger. And that’s just wrong for boys.”

The program is open to kids in grades K-12, approximately ages five to 17, with many participants being homeschooled students. As soon as members turn 18, Hancock said they are eligible for an adult role. The program is also nondenominational, but with a Trinitarian statement of faith.

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On Saturday, October 7, almost 1,500 Israelis were brutally massacred by the genocidal Hamas organization. They beheaded babies, burned people in their beds, raped and massacred peace festival partygoers, put children in cages and kidnapped the elderly and even Holocaust survivors.

Our son, Roey Weiser, only 21, and a dual American-Israeli citizen, is part of that unthinkable statistic.

Our son, like all Israeli youths, was conscripted into the army. On that fateful morning he was on his army base, guarding the Erez Crossing into Gaza. This is a place where food and other goods are regularly transported into Gaza, and where Gazans in the tens of thousands come and go to and from work in Israel or travel for medical care.

SENIOR HAMAS OFFICIAL ADMITS ISRAEL ATTACKS HAD BEEN PLANNED FOR YEARS UNDER GUISE OF GOVERNING GAZA

He wasn’t on guard at the time but heard the shooting and leapt into action. Roey saw that his soldiers were being pinned down by hordes of Hamas terrorists, so out of nowhere, he came up with an ingenious but daring maneuver to outflank the terrorists.

Roey said to his soldiers, I am no longer your sergeant, whoever wants to come with me can. 

He went around the terrorists and together with a small handful of others, he engaged them from behind and stopped their attack. Unfortunately, in the battle he was mortally wounded.

We heard about his amazing bravery from the many soldiers whose lives he saved. There are around 12 soldiers who are alive today because of his heroism. Theirs was the only base not taken by Hamas on that Saturday attack because of his actions.

Like many other Israelis, we have paid the ultimate price.

BLINKEN, IN ISRAEL, SAYS MORE AMERICANS KILLED, VOWS SOLIDARITY ‘ALWAYS’

The international community has now seen what Hamas is, eyes around the world have now been opened to a terrorist organization that has no goals except destruction, pain and bloodshed. 

Hamas is not interested in peace, neither in accommodation nor compromise.

Hamas leaders have openly admitted that they accepted many recent Israeli concessions and assistance to lull us into the feeling that if we give them a better life, they will not seek war and butchery.

We were all so wrong.

Their hate for us is too strong. Like ISIS, Hamas delights in death, misery and suffering.

So, now, unfortunately, we have to face this fight.

It was not a war of our choosing, but Israel must be allowed to decide when and how it ends.

We will soon send our young soldiers into Gaza to fight face to face, simply because we do not want to kill innocent civilians by simply bombing from the air.

US ARRANGING EVACUATION FLIGHTS FROM ISRAEL STARTING FRIDAY, KIRBY SAYS

Thankfully, like our son Roey, our soldiers are extremely motivated and highly trained.

The number of casualties will rise.

Our gruesome enemies, who bask in the deaths of our people, also delight in the deaths of their own people, because they will use them to gain international sympathy and to try and cast aspersions against the Jewish State.

I hope the international community will understand what we have to do to defend ourselves, remain supportive and encourage us to defeat Hamas.

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There is no alternative to victory over Hamas. Anything short of its destruction will merely pave the way for future wars and prolong the conflict, meaning more suffering and bloodshed on all sides.

We are extremely grateful for the support of the United States, from President Biden and from both sides of Congress and the American people.

We were both born in the U.S. and are dual American and Israeli citizens. While we live in Israel we travel frequently to the U.S. We know well how our people’s futures are intertwined. Our values are your values, our thirst for freedom and security matches yours. 

Those who hate Americans also hate Israelis, and vice versa.

Israel helped the U.S. and its allies defeat ISIS. I hope the U.S. will now return the favor.

Our future and existence are dependent on it. If Israel does not defeat Hamas, our other, far greater enemies in Tehran, Beirut and elsewhere, will perceive Israel as weak and could potentially launch an all-out war of annihilation.

Hezbollah is already itching to enter into the conflict.

The Ayatollahs in Iran are constantly predicting the date of the Jewish people’s demise and actively acquiring the means to ensure it.

If Israel is allowed to win, we can hope and pray that this is the last war, there can be peace and security, and people like Roey will not have to die defending his country and people in the future.

Naomi and Yisrael Weiser are dual American and Israeli citizens who reside in Israel. Their son, Roey, lost his life on October 7 while defending Israel against Hamas terrorists.

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