By TOM KRISHER, Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — For a second time, a Delaware judge has nullified a pay package that Tesla had awarded its CEO, Elon Musk, that once was valued at $56 billion. On Monday, Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick turned aside a request from Musk’s lawyers to reverse a ruling she announced in January that had thrown out the compensation plan. The judge ruled then that Musk effectively controlled Tesla’s board and had engineered the outsize pay package during sham negotiations . Lawyers for a Tesla shareholder who sued to block the pay package contended that shareholders who had voted for the 10-year plan in 2018 had been given misleading and incomplete information. In their defense, Tesla’s board members asserted that the shareholders who ratified the pay plan a second time in June had done so after receiving full disclosures, thereby curing all the problems the judge had cited in her January ruling. As a result, they argued, Musk deserved the pay package for having raised Tesla’s market value by billions of dollars. McCormick rejected that argument. In her 103-page opinion, she ruled that under Delaware law, Tesla’s lawyers had no grounds to reverse her January ruling “based on evidence they created after trial.” What will Musk and Tesla do now? On Monday night, Tesla posted on X, the social media platform owned by Musk, that the company will appeal. The appeal would be filed with the Delaware Supreme Court, the only state appellate court Tesla can pursue. Experts say a ruling would likely come in less than a year. “The ruling, if not overturned, means that judges and plaintiffs’ lawyers run Delaware companies rather than their rightful owners — the shareholders,” Tesla argued. Later, on X, Musk unleashed a blistering attack on the judge, asserting that McCormick is “a radical far left activist cosplaying as a judge.” What do experts say about the case? Legal authorities generally suggest that McCormick’s ruling was sound and followed the law. Charles Elson, founding director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, said that in his view, McCormick was right to rule that after Tesla lost its case in the original trial, it created improper new evidence by asking shareholders to ratify the pay package a second time. Had she allowed such a claim, he said, it would cause a major shift in Delaware’s laws against conflicts of interest given the unusually close relationship between Musk and Tesla’s board. “Delaware protects investors — that’s what she did,” said Elson, who has followed the court for more than three decades. “Just because you’re a ‘superstar CEO’ doesn’t put you in a separate category.” Elson said he thinks investors would be reluctant to put money into Delaware companies if there were exceptions to the law for “special people.” What will the Delaware Supreme Court do? Elson said that in his opinion, the court is likely to uphold McCormick’s ruling. Can Tesla appeal to federal courts? Experts say no. Rulings on state laws are normally left to state courts. Brian Dunn, program director for the Institute of Compensation Studies at Cornell University, said it’s been his experience that Tesla has no choice but to stay in the Delaware courts for this compensation package. Tesla has moved its legal headquarters to Texas. Does that matter? The company could try to reconstitute the pay package and seek approval in Texas, where it may expect more friendlier judges. But Dunn, who has spent 40 years as an executive compensation consultant, said it’s likely that some other shareholder would challenge the award in Texas because it’s excessive compared with other CEOs’ pay plans. “If they just want to turn around and deliver him $56 billion, I can’t believe somebody wouldn’t want to litigate it,” Dunn said. “It’s an unconscionable amount of money.” Would a new pay package be even larger? Almost certainly. Tesla stock is trading at 15 times the exercise price of stock options in the current package in Delaware, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas wrote in a note to investors. Tesla’s share price has doubled in the past six months, Jonas wrote. At Monday’s closing stock price, the Musk package is now worth $101.4 billion, according to Equilar, an executive data firm. And Musk has asked for a subsequent pay package that would give him 25% of Tesla’s voting shares. Musk has said he is uncomfortable moving further into artificial intelligence with the company if he doesn’t have 25% control. He currently holds about 13% of Tesla’s outstanding shares.

But alongside his stark warning of the threats facing Britain and its allies, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said there would be only a “remote chance” Russia would directly attack or invade the UK if the two countries were at war. The Chief of the Defence Staff laid out the landscape of British defence in a wide-ranging speech, after a minister warned the Army would be wiped out in as little as six months if forced to fight a war on the scale of the Ukraine conflict. The admiral cast doubt on the possibility as he gave a speech at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) defence think tank in London. He told the audience Britain needed to be “clear-eyed in our assessment” of the threats it faces, adding: “That includes recognising that there is only a remote chance of a significant direct attack or invasion by Russia on the United Kingdom, and that’s the same for the whole of Nato.” Moscow “knows the response will be overwhelming”, he added, but warned the nuclear deterrent needed to be “kept strong and strengthened”. Sir Tony added: “We are at the dawn of a third nuclear age, which is altogether more complex. It is defined by multiple and concurrent dilemmas, proliferating nuclear and disruptive technologies and the almost total absence of the security architectures that went before.” The first nuclear age was the Cold War, while the second was “governed by disarmament efforts and counter proliferation”, the armed forces chief said. He listed the “wild threats of tactical nuclear use” by Russia, China building up its weapon stocks, Iran’s failure to co-operate with a nuclear deal, and North Korea’s “erratic behaviour” among the threats faced by the West. But Sir Tony said the UK’s nuclear arsenal is “the one part of our inventory of which Russia is most aware and has more impact on (President Vladimir) Putin than anything else”. Successive British governments had invested “substantial sums of money” in renewing nuclear submarines and warheads because of this, he added. The admiral described the deployment of thousands of North Korean soldiers on Ukraine’s border alongside Russian forces as the year’s “most extraordinary development”. He also signalled further deployments were possible, speaking of “tens of thousands more to follow as part of a new security pact with Russia”. Defence minister Alistair Carns earlier said a rate of casualties similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would lead to the army being “expended” within six to 12 months. He said it illustrated the need to “generate depth and mass rapidly in the event of a crisis”. In comments reported by Sky News, Mr Carns, a former Royal Marines colonel, said Russia was suffering losses of around 1,500 soldiers killed or injured a day. “In a war of scale – not a limited intervention, but one similar to Ukraine – our Army for example, on the current casualty rates, would be expended – as part of a broader multinational coalition – in six months to a year,” Mr Carns said in a speech at Rusi. He added: “That doesn’t mean we need a bigger Army, but it does mean you need to generate depth and mass rapidly in the event of a crisis.” Official figures show the Army had 109,245 personnel on October 1, including 25,814 volunteer reservists. Mr Carns, the minister for veterans and people, said the UK needed to “catch up with Nato allies” to place greater emphasis on the reserves. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Defence Secretary John Healey had previously spoken about “the state of the armed forces that were inherited from the previous government”. The spokesman said: “It’s why the Budget invested billions of pounds into defence, it’s why we’re undertaking a strategic defence review to ensure that we have the capabilities and the investment needed to defend this country.”

DOVER, Del. — A Delaware judge has reaffirmed her ruling that Tesla must revoke Elon Musk’s multibillion-dollar pay package. Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick on Monday denied a request by attorneys for Musk and Tesla’s corporate directors to vacate her ruling earlier this year requiring the company to rescind the unprecedented pay package. McCormick also rejected an equally unprecedented and massive fee request by plaintiff attorneys, who argued that they were entitled to legal fees in the form of Tesla stock valued at more than $5 billion. The judge said the attorneys were entitled to a fee award of $345 million. The rulings came in a lawsuit filed by a Tesla stockholder who challenged Musk’s 2018 compensation package. McCormick concluded in January that Musk engineered the landmark pay package in sham negotiations with directors who were not independent. The compensation package initially carried a potential maximum value of about $56 billion, but that sum has fluctuated over the years based on Tesla’s stock price. Following the court ruling, Tesla shareholders met in June and ratified Musk’s 2018 pay package for a second time, again by an overwhelming margin. Defense attorneys then argued that the second vote makes clear that Tesla shareholders, with full knowledge of the flaws in the 2018 process that McCormick pointed out, were adamant that Musk is entitled to the pay package. They asked the judge to vacate her order, directing Tesla to rescind the pay package. McCormick, who seemed skeptical of the defense arguments during an August hearing, said in Monday’s ruling that those arguments were fatally flawed. “The large and talented group of defense firms got creative with the ratification argument, but their unprecedented theories go against multiple strains of settled law,” McCormick wrote in a 103-page opinion. The judge noted, among other things, that a stockholder vote standing alone cannot ratify a conflicted-controller transaction. “Even if a stockholder vote could have a ratifying effect, it could not do so here due to multiple material misstatements in the proxy statement,” she added. Meanwhile, McCormick found that the $5.6 billion fee request by the shareholder’s attorneys, which at one time approached $7 billion based on Tesla’s trading price, went too far. “In a case about excessive compensation, that was a bold ask,” McCormick wrote. Attorneys for the Tesla shareholders argue that their work resulted in the “massive” benefit of returning shares to Tesla that otherwise would have gone to Musk and diluted the stock held by other Tesla investors. They value that benefit at $51.4 billion, using the difference between the stock price at the time of McCormick’s January ruling and the strike price of some 304 million stock options granted to Musk. While finding that the methodology used to calculate the fee request was sound, the judge noted that the Delaware Supreme Court has noted that fee award guidelines “must yield to the greater policy concern of preventing windfalls to counsel.” “The fee award here must yield in this way because $5.6 billion is a windfall no matter the methodology used to justify it,” McCormick wrote. A fee award of $345 million, she said, was “an appropriate sum to reward a total victory.” The fee award amounts to almost exactly half the record $688 million in legal fees awarded in 2008 in litigation stemming from Enron's collapse .A draw at Ipswich in Amorim’s first game was followed by home wins against Bodo/Glimt and Everton. Ruben Amorim warned “the storm will come” eventually as Manchester United’s head coach tried to temper expectations ahead of the trip to Arsenal. The 39-year-old has been a breath of fresh air since succeeding Erik ten Hag, with his personality and approach, coupled with promising early performances, bringing hope back to Old Trafford. Amorim has been touched by his warm welcome but repeatedly urged fans to avoid jumping the gun, having followed a draw at Ipswich with home wins against Bodo/Glimt and Everton. Wednesday’s trip to Arsenal is comfortably his biggest challenge yet and victory would see United move within three points of the Premier League title contenders. Put to Amorim it will be hard to manage expectations if they won in the capital, the head coach said: “I would like to say different things, but I have to say it again: the storm will come. “I don’t know if you use that expression, but we are going to have difficult moments and we will be found out in some games. “And I know that because I’m knowing my players and I know football and I follow football, so I understand the difference between the teams. “We are in the point in that we are putting simple things in the team, without training, and you feel it in this game against Everton, they change a little bit the way they were building up. “They are very good team, and we were with a lot of problems because we cannot change it by calling one thing to the captain. “So, we don’t have this training, so let’s focus on each game, on the performance, what we have to improve, trying to win games. And that is the focus. “I know it’s really hard to be a Manchester United coach and say these things in press conferences. We want to win all the time. No matter what. “We are going to try to win, but we know that we are in a different point if you compare to Arsenal. “So, it is what it is and we will try to win it and we go with confidence to win, but we know that we need to play very well to win the next football match.” The trip to Arsenal is the second of nine December matches for United, who are looking to avoid suffering four straight league defeats to the Gunners for the first time. The Red Devils have not won a Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium since 2017, but Amorim knows a thing or two about frustrating Mikel Arteta’s men. Arsenal thrashed Sporting Lisbon 5-1 in the Champions League last week, but in 2022-23 he led the Portuguese side to a Europa League last-16 penalty triumph after a 1-1 draw in London made it 3-3 on aggregate. “Arsenal this year, they play a little bit different,” Amorim said. “They are more fluid. “For example, two years ago when we faced them with Sporting, you knew how to press because you can understand better the structure. “Now it’s more fluid with (Riccardo) Calafiori and (Jurrien) Timber in different sides. One coming inside, the other going outside. Also (Martin) Odegaard changed the team, and you can feel it during this season. “So, you can take something from that game, especially because I know so well the opponent so you can understand the weakness of that team. “But every game is different, so you take something, but you already know that you are going to face a very good team.” This hectic winter schedule means Amorim sidestepped talk of January transfer business ahead of facing Arsenal, although he was more forthcoming on Amad Diallo’s future. The 22-year-old, who put in a man of the match display in Sunday’s 4-0 win against Everton, is out of contract at the end of the season, although the club holds an option to extend by a year. Diallo has repeatedly spoken of his desire to stay at United and it has been reported an agreement is close. Amorim said: “I think he wants to stay, and we want him to stay. So that is clear and we will find a solution.”

For more than 30 years, a man known as Roger A. Pearce Jr. worked as a prosperous land-use and zoning attorney in Oregon and Washington. He represented some of the Pacific Northwest’s most prominent people and businesses and took on high-profile projects. He served on planning commissions, nonprofit boards and racked up hours doing pro bono legal work. He and his wife retired to a $1.4 million condo on Seattle’s Lake Washington. By all accounts, the now-77-year-old had made a good name for himself. Except one thing: Roger Pearce wasn’t actually his name. It belonged to a baby who died in Vermont in 1952. Pearce stole the identity when he was in his early 20s and looking to leave his troubles behind – college dropout, check fraud, a failed marriage. The State Department unmasked him only in 2022 during a review of one of his applications for a new passport. Federal workers detected that he had applied for a new Social Security number as an adult – a red flag. But they still couldn’t figure out who he truly was. So prosecutors last year indicted the man in federal court in Oregon as “John Doe,” charging him with making a false statement in an application for a passport, a felony. He was arrested last year on a warrant in Washington. When he pleaded guilty three months ago to an identity fraud misdemeanor, the courtroom deputy, at the judge’s behest, asked him to state his name for the record. “My birth name was Willie Ragan Casper Jr.,” he said, marking the first time since his arrest that he gave his real name under oath. “The name I’ve gone under and been known as for the last over 50 years is Roger Alfred Pearce Jr.” When he stood Wednesday in Portland to receive his sentence, he offered an explanation for his decades of duplicity. “I really wanted to start over,” he said. ‘I FELT THE FAILURE’ Casper was born in Jackson, Mississippi, in December 1946, the older of two boys. He seized an opportunity to leave his hometown to attend Rice University in Texas but wasn’t prepared for the rigor of the classes and dropped out. An early marriage ended around the same time. Then Casper got involved in fraud, writing checks on a bank account with no money in what he called a “fairly naive” anti-war protest against banks during the Vietnam War era, he said. “I was a young person, confused, depressed. I felt the failure,” he said in court, reading in a steady voice from an open binder resting on the defense table in front of him. Casper, tall, slim and white-haired, sat upright beside his lawyer. He wore a black blazer and gray slacks, a white shirt and a black tie that he adjusted just before the judge arrived on the bench. He looked every bit the experienced lawyer he typically portrayed in court during his three-decade-long career, even engaging in small talk with the prosecutor before the hearing began. “I was ashamed that I had wasted a lot of my parents’ money supporting me in a distant city they couldn’t really afford,” Casper said. “My marriage had fallen apart. I had no real career prospects.” He said he also was worried about getting arrested for his check-kiting. A friend had been caught renting a car with a false ID and police had come to the house they shared. He wasn’t home at the time but feared police would return, looking for him. He spoke for about six minutes as his wife sat in the front row behind him in the public gallery. A psychologist who evaluated Casper and submitted a sealed report to the judge was present by video but didn’t speak. Casper said he stayed another six weeks in Houston and then fled. He also changed his identity. “I wanted to start over with a clean slate,” he said. “I felt like everything was at a dead end for me there in Texas.” In 1971, he stole the name of a dead child using the baby’s birth certificate. It’s unclear who gave him the certificate or if he paid for it, but his lawyer said birth certificates were apparently easy to come by during the anti-Vietnam era as others used them to try to evade the draft. Two years later, when he was in his late 20s, he applied for a Social Security number in the name of Roger Alfred Pearce Jr., using the dead baby’s birth certificate. Casper first went to Montana, then to Oregon, where he had some friends in Eugene. “The decision to change my name at that time was foolish, of course. At the time, I viewed it as a clean break from the past,” he said. I was also naive and in love with grand gestures, like some young people are.” He found work and took classes at Lane Community College in the early 1970s, records show. He made new friends, he said. “I crawled out of being depressed and within a few years, that new name was absolutely normal to me,” he told the judge. “After that, I have never thought of myself as other than Roger Pearce.” He did a stint as a dancer and singer in New York before ending up in Seattle, working for a bakery and then got the idea to go to law school, according to his lawyer. He enrolled in what was then the University of Puget Sound law school in Tacoma without a college degree, graduating in his mid-40s as the first in his class, summa cum laude in May 1991, according to his lawyer. He went on to a successful career with the Seattle-based firm Foster Pepper LLC, representing Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s Vulcan development company and serving as a lawyer for the Seattle Monorail Popular Authority. In 2014, he was admitted to the Oregon State Bar, later moved back to Oregon and opened Pearce Law in Ashland. He served as chair of Ashland’s planning commission and as a Jackson County hearings officer. He also was secretary of the Rotary Club of Ashland and secretary of the Ashland New Plays Association. ‘FALSE PRETENSES’ His façade cracked in 2022 when the State Department discovered an unresolved irregularity in his Social Security number. When Casper had gotten his fraudulent number, technology wasn’t available to track the birth certificate he submitted back to a dead child. But the federal government now has fraud detection that screens passport applications of people who received Social Security numbers as adults. Late-issued Social Security numbers strongly correlate to fraud, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan D. Knight wrote in his sentencing memo. The State Department’s screening has caught members of the mafia and other criminals trying to avoid detection. This time, it caught Casper. He had applied for a U.S. passport in 1991 and then renewed it twice more — in 2003 and May 2013 in Ashland. His applications got flagged as suspicious. State Department investigators then confirmed the Pearce name he was using was of someone who had died and had been submitted illegally to get a passport. But they couldn’t figure out his true name — only that the man claiming to be Pearce lived in Oregon and Washington and had been practicing law since 1991. “This is a case, from a criminal perspective, more about who the defendant is not, than who he is,” Knight said. In January 2023, a federal grand jury in Oregon returned a one-count indictment charging “John Doe” with making a false statement on his passport application and he was arrested in Seattle. In a plea deal in August, Casper pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of producing an identification document without lawful authority. The maximum penalty is a year in prison and a $1,000 fine. Prosecutors had weighed his “sustained act of deception” with his “otherwise law-abiding existence” and “fundamental decency,” Knight said. When defense lawyer Janet Lee Hoffman tried to explain at the plea hearing that Casper had pursued an illustrious legal career, the judge hastened to interject. “Under false pretenses,” U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon pointed out. ‘CHOICE THAT FEW RECEIVE’ At the start of sentencing Wednesday, Simon asked, “Do you want me to refer to your client as Mr. Pearce, Mr. Doe or Mr. Casper.” Hoffman said Pearce. She sought a year of probation for her client, but the prosecutor recommended two years. “Every person is responsible for and owns their own history and really the shadow that that casts and the consequences that ultimately may bear out,” Knight said. “The defendant’s choice in this case really is an abdication of that basic principle.” Many people come before the court who would have liked the option Casper took to start anew and leave their past behind, Knight said. “He availed himself of a choice that few receive, and that’s why we’re here today,” he said. Hoffman said the defendant lived a model life under his new identity. “Roger had a stellar career and enhanced each community that he lived in and the lives of everyone he touched,” she said. The judge said he considered Casper’s statement, the psychologist’s evaluation and letters from his wife and from Elisabeth Ann Zinser, a retired Southern Oregon University president who had known him for 10 years. Simon noted that Casper’s wife – Julie Benezet, a Seattle finance lawyer and author – hadn’t said in her letter if she knew of her husband’s long deception. He asked if Casper would say. Casper demurred, replying, “I prefer not to answer,” while acknowledging that he didn’t expect the government to prosecute his wife for fraud. He also said they have a “really wonderful marriage.” Simon said he was troubled that no one had delved into the real Roger Pearce Jr. Based on a photo in the court documents, he noted that the baby’s gravestone indicated he had lived six months and nine days. “It must be tough for a parent to lose a baby after six months, and it would only be worse if they ever knew or learned that someone else falsely took that baby’s name,” Simon said. Knight told the judge that the baby’s parents had both died. Simon then adopted the prosecutor’s recommendation and sentenced Casper to two years of probation. Casper must now relinquish his licenses to practice law in Oregon and Washington and never reapply to practice law. He also faces an Oregon State Bar disciplinary investigation. He is barred from getting a new piece of identification, whether it’s a driver’s license or Social Security number, in any name other than his legal name. But Casper said he intends to legally change his name to Roger Alfred Pearce Jr. soon, making the prohibition moot. “He will always be Roger Pearce,” his lawyer said after court. ‘STILL IN SHOCK’ The actual Roger Alfred Pearce Jr. was born in Montpellier, Vermont, in September 1951 and died March 11, 1952. A younger sister, Dawn Hyttinen, now 51, said she believes her brother died of meningitis. He was the first born of seven children, she said. Their mother died in 2016 and father died in 2020, she said. “I grew up hearing about him,” she said. She said her father didn’t talk about the baby, but her mother always did. But she said no one in her family was told that someone had stolen her brother’s identity or was living under his name. “This is just absolutely crazy,” she said. “I’m flabbergasted.” Government investigators couldn’t find any living relatives of the boy, prosecutors said in court records, but an Oregonian/OregonLive reporter found Hyttinen in Arizona. She said she’s very curious about Casper and how he ended up using her brother’s identity. “I’m still in shock,’’ she said. The same is true for the family that Casper left behind. “He’s alive?!” a stunned Justin Casper blurted when contacted by The Oregonian/OregonLive. He’s the son of Casper’s younger brother, Dr. Robert Casper, now 72. “This is the first I’ve heard anything about him,” said Justin Casper, who lives in Arkansas. “We didn’t have a good answer as to what really happened to him. He’s my dad’s long lost brother.” He said he had heard his uncle had some problem with credit card fraud. “He just kind of left. He took off and never said where he was going. He never had any contact with his family again,” Justin Casper said. “I thought he was dead.” In a coincidence, Justin Casper had tried about six months ago to track down his uncle for his dad but couldn’t find anything online about him and was thinking of hiring a private investigator. He said his father hasn’t talked much about his older brother through the years. “I think it hurt him too much,” Justin Casper said. Now, the nephew is eager to learn what happened. “Why? What in the world? I’m happy that he’s alive,” he said. “Maybe we can reconnect with him, though it’ll be an awkward conversation.” ANOTHER CHANCE In the months since his arrest, Willie Casper said he has had to face his past. He’s had difficult and emotional conversations with colleagues and friends about what he did but said they’ve been supportive. “I didn’t forget my birth name. I didn’t forget my early history,” he said in court. “I think I just literally compartmentalized it because it wasn’t relevant to my day-to-day life.” He added matter of factly: “I was Roger Pearce.” As he’s reflected on his identity, he said he feels good about what he’s accomplished: “I contributed to my community. I think I’ve helped raise a wonderful daughter.” At the same time, he can’t shake his true past. “I’ve also had an opportunity to think about what I’ve walked away from and lost,” he said. At the time he changed his name, he said he was “disengaged and estranged” from his birth family. His parents didn’t understand his anti-war sentiment, his lawyer said. “I really never got back in touch with them,” Casper said. But now, he said, he would be willing to contact his younger brother. He hasn’t seen him in over 50 years. “Perhaps paradoxically,” he said, “this prosecution may give me the chance to recover some of what I’ve lost.” ©2024 Advance Local Media LLC. 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Because of the career choices that I made in life, the professional and personal circles that I run around in tend to be composed of those who would rather have a piece of wood as president over Donald Trump. Not a nice piece of curly maple or a beautiful spalted oak – the kind that would typically be made into toothpicks or ground down to put into low-quality parmesan to prevent it from clumping. I remember in 2016 when Trump beat Hillary Clinton to win his first term how many of those around me reacted so extremely. Some were appalled and disgusted. Most were deeply concerned and anxious about the damage Trump could do to our country. We had many discussions where I attempted to argue that the impact that Trump’s presidency would have on the average American would likely be negligible. I argued that they were being excessively apocalyptic and fearful. As predicted, life went on. Unless you insisted on waiting with bated breath to be appalled by the next outrageous thing that Trump said on Twitter or on the podium, everyday life just didn’t change much for the vast majority of people. The extent to which what happens in the capital affects us is sometimes significantly inflated by our own expectations and emotional responses. Similarly to Trump’s recent campaign, in 2016 he also ran on being tough on immigration. Despite his promises, all of the many illegals that I know continued their peacefully illegal lives undisturbed – some even visited their families in Mexico, only to once again very gracefully cha-cha their way past the best efforts of the Border Patrol. Forgive my abuse of anecdotal evidence, I can’t help myself. For what it’s worth, Obama deported many more people than Trump. On the other hand, it would be a departure from reality to claim that federal politics play no significant role in our lives. If it wasn’t for Trump, we would still have nationwide access to abortion, among other things. Those living in states with heavy restrictions on abortion can go to another state to undergo the procedure. It’s an annoyance and an unnecessary burden that no woman should have to shoulder, but it’s a temporary one. Some court decision or some act of Congress will inevitably reestablish universal access to abortion. In the meantime, even Republican states are gradually restoring abortion rights. Currently, one of the most prominent sources of outrage with respect to the next Trump administration stems from the choices that he’s making in staffing his cabinet and other positions. What sort of havoc will Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wreak as the head of the Department of Health and Human Services? Will all of our teeth fall out simultaneously after he removes the fluoride from the water? Only time will tell. Pete Hegseth to lead the Pentagon is another bold choice by our future president. He’s completely unqualified and wants to remove women from positions of combat, being the chivalrous gentleman that he is. Will his appointment have any impact at all on our lives? Related Articles Opinion Columnists | Blame Schwarzenegger for ‘terminating’ affordable housing in California Opinion Columnists | Every Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for free markets and private property Opinion Columnists | Donald Trump and RFK Jr. aim to shake up America’s broken healthcare system Opinion Columnists | Governor Kamala Harris? Give me a break. Opinion Columnists | Susan Shelley: We’re all-in to Make America Healthy Again All this is to say that it’s not unreasonable to be concerned for the future of our country when we have a president who attempted to undermine the democratic process. But this constant obsession about what is going on in government is counterproductive to our health and wellbeing. The vast majority of the time, what politicians decide to do has very little appreciable impact on us, particularly when compared to everything else that is going on in our lives. It makes it so much more perplexing that many allow their mental lives to be disproportionately consumed by the poor decisions of the government. There are countless stories out there of individuals shunning their loved ones for simply supporting one candidate or another. Many are now considering refusing to attend the same holiday gatherings as their brothers or sisters, all over silly political disagreements. This is a time to appreciate your loved ones despite whatever flaws you believe them to have, so retire the pitchfork and relax a little bit. Rafael Perez is a columnist for the Southern California News Group. He is a doctoral candidate in philosophy at the University of Rochester. You can reach him at rafaelperezocregister@gmail.com.Stoke Therapeutics CMO sells $120,698 in stock