Latest news with #Baier
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
American Banjo Museum offers free admission to Timberwolves fans after Minnesota article
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — You may have seen an article floating around from a local Minnesota newspaper that states NBA players don't like to spend a lot of time in Oklahoma City and the attractions aren't enticing unless they would like to visit the American Banjo Museum multiple times. Now, the museum is offering free admission to Timberwolves fans. 'It's obvious the author hasn't really seen Oklahoma City himself,' said Johnny Baier, a banjo icon and the Executive Director of the American Banjo Museum. Baier read the article in the Minnesota Star Tribune. It states, 'Visiting NBA teams don't like to spend a lot of time in Oklahoma not a city their friends and family may visit with them, and the attractions don't really entice them, unless somebody would really like to visit the American Banjo Museum multiple times.' OKC Mayor David Holt also read the story. 'If you're some lazy sportswriter and you don't want to leave your your room at the Omni and you just want to pop off about the Banjo Museum, you know, it makes good copy, but it's not reality,' said Mayor Holt. It's true, the American Banjo Museum is a good time and it's famous. Celebrities often visit. Just last Friday, Thomas Lennon, who played Lt. Jim Dangle on Reno 911, stopped by to play and visit. 'Eric Clapton was here,' said Baier. 'Tim Blake Nelson from O' Brother Where Art Thou?' Also, the elusive Steve Martin is very involved in the museum. 'He's become an ambassador for the museum donating instruments and loaning us things,' said Baier. Kermit the Frog has also visited multiple times. His video plays on loop. 'You know, I've been playing banjo since I was a tadpole, but I have never seen anything like this!' Mr. Green said during the video. OKC Stores preparing to sell new items pending Thunder victory Now, because of the article, the museum is opening up it's doors to Timberwolves fans for free. 'And if an Oklahoma City Fan comes and wants to get free admission saying they're a Minnesota fan, the karma train is coming!' said Baier. While the American Banjo Museum is a staple downtown, there's more to offer. 'I'd love to think the American Banjo Museum is the only thing that somebody would want to do, multiple times, but in reality there's a lot of stuff to do here,' said Baier. Chad Huntington, the CEO of the Bricktown Water Taxi, said in the later rounds of the playoffs he starts to see more visitors coming from other cities. 'You can stay busy for a week here,' said Huntington. He would know. His team tells tourists all about the city while sailing along the Bricktown Canal. 'There's also food scene, there is nightlife, believe it or not, which NBA players do find,' said Huntington. He also mentions theme parks, like the classic Frontier City and Hurricane Harbor, along with the new beach and waterslides along I-40 at Okana. Not to mention, white water rafting at Riversport OKC. 'I mean, we're bringing the Olympics to Oklahoma City via Riversport,' said Huntington. Huntington also mentions the plentiful museums, like the Oklahoma Museum of Art, Science Museum Oklahoma, First Americans Museum, National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, and of course the OKC National Memorial & Museum. 'If you come here with open eyes – you're going to walk away having a great experience,' said Baier. After the article, Baier sent in a response which the Minnesota Star Tribune published. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Euronews
5 days ago
- Politics
- Euronews
German police call for further measures after spate of knife attacks
Following the latest violent stabbing attack at Hamburg central station on Friday, two of Germany's largest police trade unions are advocating for enhanced video surveillance, increased staffing, and additional controls to bolster law enforcement efforts. At least 18 people were injured after a 39-year-old German woman with a mental health condition attacked a group of people with a knife at the station during rush hour. The attack occurred despite the station being subject to a knife ban since December 2024, which fines anyone found carrying a bladed object with a €10,000 penalty. Police forces and experts are calling for different measures on top of a knife ban in response to the incident, which follows a spate of similar attacks, including one in Bielefeld the week prior in which five were injured. DPoIG national chairman Rainer Wendt argued on Monday that "modern video technology" must be used in areas with high crime rates. In addition, Germany's law enforcement would need "considerably more police forces and relief from non-prison tasks" to implement such technology, Wendt told Euronews. The problem is one of "capacity", according to Wendt. His comments echo those of GdP chairman Andreas Roßkopf, who advocated for placing surveillance cameras with facial recognition technology in so-called "crime hotspots" in the aftermath of the attack. Such cameras could "detect behavioural problems in advance," Roßkopf told the domestic press. In another interview, Roßkopf also called for police to be able to carry out increased checks without cause to tackle knife crime. A spokesperson for the German interior ministry said that after the latest incident, security would once again take a front seat. "Video surveillance is part of the concept. We are already testing AI-based video surveillance at Hansaplatz that detects conspicuous movement patterns," spokesperson Daniel Schaefer said. Experts agree that knife bans by themselves are not always impactful in combating crime — partly due to the difficulty in enforcing them in places such as busy train stations like Hamburg's, through which thousands pass daily. "Weapons ban zones in my view are not a sustainable approach to crime prevention," criminologist at the University of Zurich Dirk Baier told Euronews. "They rely too heavily on controlling and searching passersby." However, according to Baier, neither artificial intelligence nor increased police powers is a single solution to preventing more knife crime. "Knives can be inconspicuously carried in pants or jacket pockets, AI cannot detect that. And knife attackers only behave conspicuously at the moment of the attack, not beforehand," Baier said. Preventative work in schools and early detection are more effective, Baier believes. "Often, individuals who commit knife crimes have previously exhibited aggressive behaviour. The risk posed by such individuals must be identified earlier." DPoIG's Wendt said the family also plays a vital role in the prevention of violent knife attacks. "For young people, it is above all their families who are responsible. If education teaches that it is okay to carry knives, schools, playgrounds and all other public spaces become dangerous places," he said. "Parental responsibility must be emphasised more than before. They are responsible for ensuring that their children go to school unarmed. If necessary, sanctions must be used to make it clear to them that this is not a trivial matter," Wendt concluded. Knife crime has steeply risen in Germany over the past few years, with police statistics showing an almost 10% year-on-year increase in bodily assaults involving knives since 2023. Restrictions, such as those in place at Hamburg train station, were put in place after a mass fatal stabbing in the western city of Solingen in 2024, in which three people were killed.
India Gazette
17-05-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
"Using trade to settle scores and make peace": Trump takes credit for role in India-Pakistan understanding
Washington DC [US], May 17 (ANI): US President Donald Trump has once again taken credit for the understanding reached between India and Pakistan on the cessation of hositilities. Speaking to Fox News's Bret Baier the US President claimed that he had used trade as a tool to make peace between India and Pakistan as the nuclear powered neighbours were on the brink of the conflict that was poised to become much more dangerous. Baier questioned Trump asked about his 'foreign policy successes' saying, 'You had a couple of foreign policy successes even right before this trip. You picked up the phone and called two nuclear powers, India and Pakistan, and you got them to step back from the brink. That was a success as you got on the plane heading over here.' To this Trump called the cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan to be, 'A bigger success than I'll ever be given credit for.' He elaborated, 'Those are major nuclear powers... and they were angry. The next phase was probably tit for tat. It was getting deeper and more missiles. Everyone was stronger, to a point where the next one was going to be the N-word (Nuclear)'. Speaking about a potential nuclear conflict between the neighbours, Trump said, 'It's the N-word. That's a very nasty word in a lot of ways. The N-word used in a nuclear sense, that's the worst thing that can happen, and I think they were very close. The hatred was great. I said, we're going to talk about trade. We're going to do a lot of trade... I'm using trade to settle scores and to make peace.', he told Baier. The cessation of hostilities Trump referred to followed heightened tensions after Operation Sindoor, launched by India in the early hours of May 7. The operation targeted nine terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), in retaliation for the May 5 terror attack in Pahalgam. India and Pakistan reached an understanding on the cessation of hostilities on May 10. Trump had already welcomed the cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan, saying that millions of people could have died if the peace had not been worked out. The US President was making a reference to a potential nuclear fallout between the two nations. (ANI)
Daily Mirror
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
9 unhinged Trump moments in 24 hours as he says Ukraine cash was 'p****d away'
The President did an interview with a TV news channel - we'll let you guess which one - while he was out there, during which he said money given to Ukraine was "p****d away" Donald Trump arrived back in the US last night after a lucrative and eventful tour of the Middle East. He's (probably) sleeping off the jet lag, so has no public engagements planned for today. But that doesn't mean the MAGA machine has slowed down. The President did an interview with a TV news channel - we'll let you guess which one - while he was out there, during which he said money given to Ukraine was "p****d away". The confected outrage about James Comey's Instagram rumbles on unabated. And Trump ramped up his feuds with both Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift. Here's a roundup of all the most unhinged things that happened in Trump World overnight that you need to know about. And a couple of things you probably don't. 1. Trump doesn't believe what the secret service tell him about the attempt on his life In a weird moment during his interview with (who else?) Fox News' Brett Baier, Trump seemed to suggest he doesn't entirely trust his own secret service agents. He said he'd been briefed by officials on the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania - where a bullet grazed his ear during a campaign speech - but that he still has questions. Investigators found unusual activity on the assailant's phone, he told Baier. "Three apps. Very unusual apps. And two of them were foreign apps," he said. Trump told Baier he still doesn't have all the information about the incident. "But you're the President," Baier asked. "I know, I know," Trump mused. "I'm relying on my people to tell me what it is. You know we have deep-seated craziness in this country. And I'm relying on my people and so far..." He paused, before adding: "...and they're good." He went on: "So far - and in this case the Secret Service, they tell me it' But it's a little hard to believe to be honest, OK? "It's a little bit hard to believe as I get that throbbing feeling." Trump laughed and touched the ear that was grazed in the near-miss incident. "I get a throbbing feeling every once in a while... It's a little bit strange." 2. He said the money America gave to Ukraine was "p****d away" Trump is still clearly a little bit irked at having to help Ukraine defend itself from an illegal invasion by a foreign dictator - branding Volodymyr Zelensky the "greatest salesman in the world." "What bothered me, I hated to see the way it was - excuse me - pissed away. "I hated to see that cheques were sent for $60 million. I think Zelensky is the greatest salesman in the world. Far better than me. "Zelensky, he comes to Washington, he walks away with $100 million every time he came. "Now his abilities were shrinking because he only got $60 million." 3. He still thinks he can use the Trojan Horse plane straight away "I made a good deal," he told Baier of the free luxury jet Qatar has offered him. "We need a plane for a couple of years." Trump insisted the plane would be gifted to the US Air Force "for whoever is President", and would only transfer to his foundation when it was "decommissioned." But he then noted the plane is already 11 years old, and the actual new Air Force Ones being built by Boeing will be delivered pretty soon anyway. He's apparently starting to grasp that the reason the new AF1 models are taking so long is that it's not just a plane - it's an "incredibly complex" flying White House. But he hasn't followed that thought to its natural conclusion - which is that any plane he flies on has to be secured to the same level. In reality, it would take years - and cost tens of millions of dollars - to ensure the Qatari plane isn't bugged, booby trapped or filled with angry Greeks ready to invade the city of Troy. 4. Liberation Day 2: This time it's postal During a meeting with business leaders in the United Arab Emirates yesterday, Trump teased what is being called a "re-run" of Liberation Day - where he listed the wildly arbitrary tariffs he planned to impose on America's trading partners. You see, the reason the US has only struck one deal so far - with the UK - isn't that nobody is lining up to negotiate. No, no. It's that there's so many countries dying to negotiate that it's "not possible to meet the number of people that want to see us". "We have, at the same time, 150 countries that want to make a deal, but you're not able to see that many countries," he said. (There are a total of 195 countries in the world.) He didn't explain why that was stopping him making a deal with, you know, some of them. But anyway, the solution is easy. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will be sending out some letters. "At a certain point over the next two or three weeks, I think Scott and Howard will be sending letters out essentially telling people - it will be very fair - but we'll be telling people what they'll be paying to do business in the United States," he said. It's unclear whether these will be new tariffs, extra tariffs or whether they'll be tweaked at all from the ones set out on "Liberation Day". It's also unclear how the penguins are going to write back, lacking as they do, thumbs. 5. America got downgraded The US last night lost its last perfect credit rating. Moody's, the lone holdout maintaining a AAA rating for the States, downgraded the country one notch down to Aa1 - the level already set by Fitch and S&P. Moody's said in a statement the downgrade was influenced by "the increase over more than a decade in government debt and interest payment ratios to levels that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns." So not all Trump's fault - although he was in power for quite a lot of the last decade. 6. Never mind that, look how old Joe Biden is... In an apparent bid to distract from the unwelcome Moody's announcement, the White House apparently leaked tapes of Joe Biden's interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur during an investigation into his keeping classified documents at his home and former office. In his report, Hur concluded Biden was a "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory". The transcripts were published last year, but the Biden administration refused to release the tape, saying Republicans wanted to "manipulate it" for "potential political gain." Can't imagine what would give them that impression. Get Donald Trump updates straight to your WhatsApp! As tension between the White House and Europe heats up, the Mirror has launched its very own US Politics WhatsApp community where you'll get all the latest news from across the pond. We'll send you the latest breaking updates and exclusives all directly to your phone. Users must download or already have WhatsApp on their phones to join in. All you have to do to join is click on this link, select 'Join Chat' and you're in! We may also send you stories from other titles across the Reach group. We will also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose Exit group. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. 7. Comey Shell-gate somehow rumbles on The MAGAsphere is still screaming about a picture ex-FBI director James Comey posted, of some shells on a beach spelling out "86 47". Now, a bit of code breaking for you. Trump is the 47th President of the United States. For non-Americans, '86' is a casual term for removing, getting rid of or - very occasionally - killing something or someone. It's kind of a rhyming slang for "nix", although some have claimed it has a different etymology referring to the average size of a grave. What it's probably not is a suggestion that the President should be assassinated. Nevertheless, many performative MAGA types have chosen to interpret it that way and have accused the former FBI director of ordering a "hit" on the sitting President. Kentucky Republican Congressman went on (where else?) Fox News last night, accusing Comey of trying to "jizz up some kind of coup, some kind of insurrection." Which is funny, both because of the choice of words, but also because Comer visited people who took part in an actual attempted coup on January 6th in prison, and has branded the investigation into the violent incident as a "sham." Comey has deleted the Insta snap that sparked the furore - saying he had no idea the number 86 could have violent connotations. Nevertheless, Mr Comey - and also apparently his wife for some reason - have been questioned by the secret service. Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence has called for Comey to be jailed for "calling a hit" on the President while he was in the Middle East. And Trump himself has now weighed in, telling (who else?) Fox News: "He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant. If you're the FBI director and you don't know what that meant, that meant assassination. And it says it loud and clear." One wonders whether the President saw this even louder and clearer message his own FBI director Kash Patel posted online earlier this year, where he was shown in an AI video chopping up members of congress with a chainsaw. 8. Donald Trump does not like Bruce Springsteen Turns out the Donald is not a fan of the Boss. Especially, as it turns out, after the Greatest Living American branded the Trump White House "a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration" during a gig in Manchester. Trump, as you might expect did not take kindly to Springsteen's words. "I see that Highly Overrated Bruce Springsteen goes to a Foreign Country to speak badly about the President of the United States," he posted on Truth Social. "Never liked him, never liked his music, or his Radical Left Politics and, importantly, he's not a talented guy - Just a pushy, obnoxious JERK, who fervently supported Crooked Joe Biden, a mentally incompetent FOOL, and our WORST EVER President, who came close to destroying our Country." He went on to criticise Springsteen's skincare regime. "This dried out "prune" of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country, that's just "standard fare." Then we'll all see how it goes for him!" Bruce Springsteen, for the record, is 75 - three years younger than Trump. His concerts are legendary for their length - often lasting 3-4 hours and performing 25-30 songs - and his superhuman energy levels. Donald Trump, on the other hand, struggled to stay awake through a brief event in Saudi Arabia the other day. 9. Neither does he like Taylor Swift The President of the United States wrote on his Truth Social account yesterday: "Has anyone noticed that, since I said "I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT," she's no longer "HOT?" Again, Donald Trump is 78 years old.
India.com
17-05-2025
- Politics
- India.com
‘Using Trade To Settle Scores, Make Peace': Trump Takes Credit For Role In India-Pakistan Understanding
US President Donald Trump has once again taken credit for the understanding reached between India and Pakistan on the cessation of hostilities. Speaking to Fox News's Bret Baier, the US President claimed that he had used trade as a tool to make peace between India and Pakistan as the nuclear-powered neighbours were on the brink of a conflict that was poised to become much more dangerous. Baier questioned Trump about his "foreign policy successes," saying, "You had a couple of foreign policy successes even right before this trip. You picked up the phone and called two nuclear powers, India and Pakistan, and you got them to step back from the brink. That was a success as you got on the plane heading over here." To this, Trump called the cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan to be "A bigger success than I'll ever be given credit for." He elaborated, "Those are major nuclear powers... and they were angry. The next phase was probably tit for tat. It was getting deeper and more missiles. Everyone was stronger, to a point where the next one was going to be the N-word (Nuclear)". Speaking about a potential nuclear conflict between the neighbours, Trump said, "It's the N-word. That's a very nasty word in a lot of ways. The N-word used in a nuclear sense, that's the worst thing that can happen, and I think they were very close. The hatred was great. I said, we're going to talk about trade. We're going to do a lot of trade... I'm using trade to settle scores and to make peace.", he told Baier. The cessation of hostilities that Trump referred to followed heightened tensions after Operation Sindoor, launched by India in the early hours of May 7. The operation targeted nine terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), in retaliation for the May 5 terror attack in Pahalgam. India and Pakistan reached an understanding on the cessation of hostilities on May 10. Trump had already welcomed the cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan, saying that millions of people could have died if the peace had not been worked out. The US President was referring to a potential nuclear fallout between the two nations.
