Paradise News

Tag: General News

  • Fact Check: Does national credit card debt exceed $1 trillion for the first time ever? And what does that mean?

    West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican, took aim at “Bidenomics” —  President Joe Biden’s economic policies — as he runs to unseat incumbent Democrat Joe Manchin in the U.S. Senate.

    “Bidenomics,” Justice said in an Aug. 14 post on X, “is hammering Americans — Credit card debt is above $1 trillion for the FIRST TIME EVER. Joe Biden, and the radical left’s policies have hurt our economy, requiring families to rely on credit cards to make ends meet. We are all suffering the consequences.”

    Numerically, Justice is correct that national credit card debt recently set a record. But other economic data undercuts his argument that this represents a troubling milestone.

    Justice’s office did not respond to inquiries for this article.

    In his post, Justice cited an Aug. 8 CNBC article headlined, “Credit card balances jumped in the second quarter and are above $1 trillion for the first time.”

    The article noted that recently released New York Federal Reserve data showed that combined balances for credit cards had exceeded $1 trillion for the first time ever.

    Elizabeth Renter, a data analyst at personal finance website NerdWallet, told CNBC that Americans benefited from excess savings and debt flexibility during the pandemic. But, she said, the inflation that peaked at 40-year highs in 2022 cut into those savings, forcing many families to rely on credit cards to pay for goods that had risen in price.

    “Credit card delinquencies continue on an upward trend, a growing sign that consumers are feeling the pinch of high prices and lower savings balances than they had just a few years ago,” Renter told CNBC.

    However, this $1 trillion figure needs context.

    Every quarter, the International Monetary Fund calculates the ratio of U.S. household debt to gross domestic product. This calculation clarifies the absolute value of household debt while putting it in a larger economic context. 

    Even if consumer debt is rising, it may be considered more sustainable if the national gross domestic product is rising at an even faster rate — something data shows has happened in recent years.

    Consumer debt hovered around 100% of gross domestic product — the total of all economic activity in the U.S. — from late 2007 to late 2009. After that, the percentage slid as low as 75% in early 2019.

    The ratio rose modestly during the pandemic to almost 82%, before falling back to 73% in  2023’s first quarter, the most recent quarter with available data.

    In other words, even as consumer debt is rising in absolute dollars, it’s becoming smaller compared with the broader economy.

    Despite crossing the $1 trillion barrier, credit card debt accounts for only a modest share of overall consumer debt. In 2021’s first quarter, for example, credit card debt accounted for 5.2% of all consumer debt. Besides credit card debt, consumer debt also includes home mortgages, auto loans and student debt. By 2023’s second quarter, that share had risen to 6%.

    Also, as we have reported in the past, the economy is more complex to be controlled by any president.

    Inflation, which appears to have driven the spike in credit card debt, has causes that “go back to (the) COVID(-19 pandemic) — issues like supply-chain constraints, workforce shortages, and other factors,” John Deskins, director of the West Virginia University Bureau of Business and Economic Research, told PolitiFact West Virginia in September. “That is much larger than any particular Biden policy.”

    Gary Burtless, an economist with the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank, said Biden should “assume some responsibility, but so should members of Congress who voted in favor of stimulus payments, tax cuts, generous unemployment benefits, aid to states and private businesses during and after the COVID-19 pandemic recession.”

    Although the American Rescue Plan received no Republican support in Congress, earlier pandemic relief bills passed with overwhelmingly bipartisan backing. 

    Our ruling

    Justice said, “Credit card debt is above $1 trillion for the FIRST TIME EVER.”

    Numerically, Justice is right, according to New York Federal Reserve data. However, focusing on credit card debt’s absolute value ignores the shrinking size of consumer debt compared with the broader U.S. economy, and also leaves out that credit card debt accounts for only a modest proportion of all consumer debt.

    We rate the statement Mostly True.



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  • Walt Disney’s childhood home opens doors for first public tours – Paradise Post

    Rebecca Johnson | Chicago Tribune (TNS)

    CHICAGO — In Chicago’s Hermosa neighborhood, a modest two-story home sits on North Tripp Avenue. While typically unassuming, dozens of people lined up outside it Sunday, some in clothes featuring Mickey Mouse, waiting for a chance to peek inside the green and gray wood cottage.

    Walt Disney’s childhood home opened to the public for the first time this weekend as part of Chicago Architecture Center’s Open House Chicago. Organizers said they hope to keep Disney’s legacy alive, give insight into how the pioneer of animated cartoon films grew up, and inspire other young people in the neighborhood to pursue their dreams.

    “We are in an inner city of Chicago, so the understanding of dreaming and doing and achieving, because you truly never know who you’re going to become. You never know who you’re going to inspire,” said Angel Reyes, an ambassador for the home and Miss Illinois USA 2022.

    Elias Disney, Walt’s father, purchased the property at 2156 N. Tripp Ave. in 1891. The following year he got a permit to build the two-story wood cottage for $800, and Flora, Walt’s mother, crafted the architectural plans. In early 1893, the couple and their two sons, Herbert and Raymond, moved in. Their third son, Roy, was born soon after. In a second-floor bedroom, Walter Elias Disney was born on Dec. 5, 1901.

    “(Elias) was a contractor who built homes like this one, and he was the one who built this house. Flora was the one who designed it,” said Rey Colón, project director of the Walt Disney Birthplace. “Very progressive that both Flora and Elias’ names were on the deed. He didn’t just have her listed as wife. She was an equal partner with him in his business ventures.”

    The tour began at the parlor on the first floor, the space where the family entertained. Colón said much of the original wood trim and walls were removed over the years, and that there was just one closet that had samples of the wood. He said they re-created the original rosettes and trim from one tree, “which we believe is the way Elias would have wanted it done.”

    There’s also a colorized photo of Walt and his younger sister, Ruth, at the home in 1905 inside the parlor.

    A 1905 picture of Walt Disney and his sister Ruth is displayed in the parlor as visitors tour the childhood home of Disney at the corner of North Tripp Avenue and West Palmer Street in Chicago's Hermosa neighborhood on Oct. 15, 2023, during Open House Chicago. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/TNS)
    A 1905 picture of Walt Disney and his sister Ruth is displayed in the parlor as visitors tour the childhood home of Disney at the corner of North Tripp Avenue and West Palmer Street in Chicago’s Hermosa neighborhood on Oct. 15, 2023, during Open House Chicago. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/TNS)

    Tour guide Rich Frachey said Elias had many other jobs during his life — furniture-maker, orange farmer and even a fiddle player. Inside the parlor, Frachey said it’s easy for him to imagine him playing the fiddle or telling stories about the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago where he was a construction worker.

    “All the innovations that were debuted there, including the first Ferris wheel, Cracker Jacks, Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit gum, a machine that would wash the dishes, elevators, typewriters and more,” Frachey said. “Did they sit in this parlor and read the book called ‘The Wizard of Oz’?”

    Some biographers speculate Elias’ stories of the fair influenced Walt’s creation of Disneyland and some of its popular attractions such as “Tomorrowland,” “Frontierland” and “Main Street, U.S.A.”

    The tour then went through the family’s dining room and kitchen, which included items such as a washboard, a butter churn and a rug beater. Inside what is now a closet on the first floor, Elias built a toilet, which organizers said was innovative for the time.

    Upstairs, after climbing a set of steep stairs, people glimpsed at a bigger bedroom belonging to Herbert and Raymond, while Walt and Roy shared a smaller one. The home the Disney family lived in was 1,200 square feet. Later on, organizers said, additional rooms were added in the back of the home, which they now use as office space.

    The Disneys moved out in 1906, relocating to Missouri. They eventually returned to Chicago in 1917 when Walt was a teenager. They lived in the North Lawndale neighborhood, and Walt attended McKinley High School.

    Colón said even with Saturday’s rain, more than 550 people showed up for the tour. While attendance was less on Sunday, he still expected a sizable turnout. Before they only did private tours, he said.

    According to Walt Disney Birthplace, Chicago attempted to designate the property as a historical landmark in 1991, but the owner fought the designation and won. Today, the new owners are working with the city to restore the home to its 1901 state.

    Colón said there’s been around 10 years of fundraising to get the home to its current state but more contributions are needed to fully restore and furnish it. He said it’s exciting to see lots of interest in the home, and they hope to organize more tours in the future.

    “We’re still trying to figure out how, how do we go about the registration process, getting people in, how often do we do it,” Colón said.

    For Reyes, who was born and raised in Hermosa, the turnout was “overwhelming but in a good way.”

    “Just to see how many people are still interested in knowing the front story, when Walt began and what that looked like for him, we’re definitely thrilled,” she said.

    ___

    ©2023 Chicago Tribune. Visit at chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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  • BREAKING: Tinubu Appoints Jonathan’s YouWiN Coordinator As Bank Of Industry CEO

    Bola-Ahmed-Tinubu

    President Bola Tinubu has named Dr. Olasupo Olusi as the new Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Bank of Industry (BOI).

    Olusi, a World Bank economist and development finance expert, will serve an initial term of four years.

    His appointment was announced late Thursday by Ajuri Ngelale, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President.

    Olusi once served as Special Assistant to the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and YouWiN! Project Coordinator under the former president Goodluck Jonathan administration.

    His academic background includes degrees from Hull University and Durham University in the United Kingdom, where he earned a Master’s degree in International Money, Finance, and Investment, as well as a Doctorate in Finance and Economics.

    “The President’s approval of Dr. Olusi’s appointment follows the voluntary resignation of former BOI Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Olukayode Pitan.

    “The President tasks the new BOI Chief Executive to ensure that Nigerians, who are operating all sizes of enterprises across sectors, are given fair and equitable access to much needed support in order to bolster employment generation and wealth creation amongst income groups in the country with special regard for lower and middle income enterprise operators,” read part of the state announcing the appointment.

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  • Fact Check: Fact-checking how much the Inflation Reduction Act affects taxes

    Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., is up for reelection in 2024, and if he runs for a new term, he faces a difficult reelection campaign in a state that has turned heavily Republican in recent years.

    One conservative advocacy group, Americans for Prosperity, took out an ad on Facebook to criticize Manchin for voting to approve the Inflation Reduction Act even though every Republican in Congress voted against the measure.

    “The Inflation Reduction Act led to higher taxes,” the Americans for Prosperity ad said.

    However, this assertion is exaggerated.

    As PolitiFact has noted, the Inflation Reduction Act includes a green energy package costing $369 billion over 10 years, including tax credits to boost investment in solar, wind, hydropower and other renewable energy. Such provisions have attracted opposition from oil and natural gas producers, including some in West Virginia, who say it puts their industries at a disadvantage.

    The Inflation Reduction Act does not raise income taxes for the broad swath of individual taxpayers; its tax increases are targeted at very large companies and wealthy people. One key provision says corporate profits exceeding $1 billion for three consecutive years will face a new minimum 15% tax on corporate “book income” — generally, the amount of income that companies report to investors.

    Although these taxes are poised to hit large corporations and high-income taxpayers directly, “the costs of higher taxes are also borne by the corporations’ workers, consumers, and the economy as a whole,” Americans for Prosperity told PolitiFact West Virginia in a statement.

    Experts also expect there to be a spillover effect on ordinary taxpayers, because corporations tend to pass the cost of their tax increases: to their customers, through higher taxes; to their workers, through lower wages; and to their shareholders, including retirement plans, through lower dividends.

    However, analysts say these spillover effects should be small.

    “If you are not in the top 1% of taxpayers, you likely won’t notice any effect of the tax increases included in the law,” said John Buhl, a senior communications manager for the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center, which analyzes tax issues.

    For instance, the Tax Policy Center finds that the average tax increase for the 80% of taxpayers with the lowest incomes “is very small for 2023, a $50 or less reduction in after-tax income,” Buhl said.

    An analysis by the Tax Foundation, another tax policy-focused think tank, found small but broad gains in after-tax income within every income range measured, once other provisions of the law, including the bill’s energy tax credits and health care subsidies, are factored in.

    Nevertheless, some very-high-income earners could see higher tax burdens because of the corporate book minimum tax and other taxes targeted at high-income groups, said Garrett Watson, a senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation.

    Our ruling

    Americans for Prosperity said, “The Inflation Reduction Act led to higher taxes.”

    Taxes are poised to increase under the law, but the increases are targeted at very large corporations and the richest Americans. 

    These tax increases could be passed indirectly to taxpayers with more modest incomes. But overall, independent analyses have found that ordinary Americans can expect to see little, if any, change in what they pay in taxes.

    We rate the statement Mostly False.



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  • 49ers’ McCaffrey not practicing ahead of Monday game at Vikings

    SANTA CLARA — Christian McCaffrey’s oblique injury will prevent him from practicing today with the 49ers, who are coming off their first loss of the season and next play Monday night at the Minnesota Vikings.

    Coach Kyle Shanahan said McCaffrey’s MRI exam revealed an oblique injury, and that he is “day to day” with “a chance” to play Minnesota.

    McCaffrey, the NFL’s leading rusher through each of the season’s first six weeks, has not missed a game since getting traded to the 49ers last October. He exited in the third quarter of Sunday’s 19-17 loss at Cleveland. He has scored in 15 consecutive games, three shy of Lenny Moore’s NFL record (1963-65, Colts).

    Friday marks the 49ers’ one-year anniversary of acquiring McCaffrey from Carolina, and Shanahan lauded his dependability, reliability and mentality, aside from his production.

    “He has the mentality of a walk-on guy trying to get people’s attention for working so hard,” Shanahan said. “Every single play is the biggest thing in the world, whether getting the ball or not. He’s a great example of a football player.”

    Also not slated to practice, but without long-term concerns, are:

    Wide receiver Deebo Samuel (shoulder)

    Left tackle Trent Williams (ankle)

    Left guard Aaron Banks (ankle)

    Linebacker Dre Greenlaw (hamstring)

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  • ‘From Maryam Shetty To Kashim Imam’ — Northerners Fume Over Tinubu’s Withdrawal Of 24-Year-Old FERMA Chairman Nominee

    Maryam-Shetty-and-Imam-Kashim-Imam

    President Bola Tinubu’s decision to withdraw the appointment of Imam Kashim Imam, a 24-year-old first-class Mechanical Engineering graduate, as the Board Chairman of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) has ignited criticism from some northerners.

    President Tinubu had reconstituted the governing board and management team of FERMA for a renewable term of four years, naming Imam as the Board Chairman.

    Imam, the son of prominent Borno politician, Kashim Ibrahim-Imam, had gained attention for his academic achievements after his appointment, including a first-class degree from the University of Brighton in the UK and a master’s degree from the same institution.

    But he had only completed his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in August 2022, prompting questions about his readiness for such a high-ranking government position.

    Criticism of Imam’s appointment intensified as many Nigerians questioned whether his academic qualifications were enough to justify the appointment, given his supposed lack of work experience.

    This sentiment was shared on the micro-blogging app, Twitter (now X).

    Amid the criticism, President Tinubu ordered the reversal of Imam’s appointment, without offering any explanation for his action.

    The President’s decision was met with criticism from some northerners who expressed their disappointment on social media.

    While some had initially called on Tinubu to withdraw Imam’s appointment claiming he lacks the experience required for the position, northerners who reacted to Imam’s withdrawal on Thursday accused the president of marginalising the north by withdrawing the appointments of two young northerners who were appointed to key positions in his government.

    They noted that Imam’s withdrawal was reminiscent of a similar situation involving Maryam Shettima, popularly known as Maryam Shetty, who had her ministerial appointment withdrawn just hours before her scheduled Senate screening.

    Shetty, from Kano State, had arrived at the Senate and was waiting to be screened when news of the withdrawal broke.

    Below are some of the reactions on social media:



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  • Fact Check: Did Israel use its laser weapon ‘Iron Beam’ for the first time? Here’s what we know

    Video footage of beams of light pulsing through the night sky prompted speculation about the potential use of a new weapon in the Israel-Hamas war — the Iron Beam. 

    “Breaking: Israel activates new energy based iron beam system in taking out missles (sic) heading towards Tel Aviv,” read the caption of an Oct. 15 Instagram video. The beams appear to strike two targets in quick succession, then a third.

    After showing footage of beams striking targets in the sky, the video explains how the Iron Beam works.

    The Iron Beam will be the first of its kind and will add to Israel’s defense system. But based on available information, it’s not clear whether the weapon is ready for use or being used. 

    Referring to the specific video footage in this Instagram post, a spokesperson for Israel’s Ministry of Defense told PolitiFact that the Iron Beam “was not used operationally.” A spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces said, “We cannot elaborate on that matter.” 

    CTech, which says it is “Israel’s leading financial daily,” noted that Israel’s Ministry of Defense and the state-affiliated company that developed the Iron Beam have not released any statements “categorically denying the testing of the Iron Beam system during the recent confrontation with Hamas.”

    Here’s what we know about the Iron Beam.

    Iron Beam defense system

    The Iron Beam, Israel’s ground-based laser air defense system, was first unveiled in 2014. The New York Times described it in 2022 as a “high-powered laser gun that can intercept rockets, mortar shells, drones and anti-tank missiles in flight.” 

    State-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. was contracted to develop the system and said it can intercept threats from a distance of “a few hundred meters to up to several kilometers.” During live tests in March 2022, incoming threats were intercepted at a range of up to 6 miles, which is more than 9 kilometers.

    The system is intended to be used in conjunction with Israel’s other missile interception systems, such as the Iron Dome and David’s Sling. 

    While the Iron Dome costs tens of thousands of dollars per interception, the Iron Beam is more cost-effective, with interceptions costing as little as $3.50 per shot. But reports say it’s ineffective in rainy and cloudy conditions. 

    By June 2022, Israeli defense officials said they had a working prototype. The following month, Israel’s defense officials showed President Joe Biden the prototype. 

    U.S. President Joe Biden tours Israel’s Iron Beam and Iron Dome defense systems July 13, 2022. (AP)

    When the working prototype was rolled out, The New York Times reported that professionals involved in developing Iron Beam said it is still “several years away from being fully operational in the field.”

    But former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had previously predicted it would enter service by early 2023.

    PolitiFact reached out to Rafael Advanced Defense Systems but received no reply.

    Does the Instagram video show the Iron Beam?

    PolitiFact was unable to find the original source of the video. But the beams of light it shows don’t track with what is known about the Iron Beam. 

    Former Prime Minister Bennett has said that the laser’s interceptions are “silent” and “invisible.” 

    USA Today fact-checked the same Instagram footage and found it had previously been posted on X, formerly Twitter, by an account that initially said it was affiliated with Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency. The newspaper said the X account was temporarily restricted and then changed its descriptor to say it provides Mossad commentary.

    USA Today also reported that defense experts told them the footage doesn’t show the Iron Beam. James Siebens, a fellow for defense strategy and planning at The Stimson Center, a nonpartisan think tank, told USA Today that “conflicts like the Israel-Hamas war are often treated as ‘testing grounds’ for new weapons systems.”

    Other fact-checkers debunked posts that used different images and footage to claim that Israel used its Iron Beam. One post used a 2005 photo that shows a laser in New Mexico. Other posts used footage from the video game Arma 3, which has been commonly used as misinformation during the Israel-Hamas war.



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  • Social Media Posts Spread Bogus Quote From Qatari Leader

    Quick Take

    Posts on social media are spreading the baseless claim that the ruler of Qatar has “threatened that if the bombing of Gaza does not stop, he will cut off the supply of gas to the world.” The country’s government gets most of its revenue from energy exports, and there’s no record of Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani making such a threat.

    Full Story

    When war broke out between Israel and Hamas on Oct. 7, leaving more than 1,200 people dead in Israel, the Islamic state of Qatar issued a statement reiterating its support for Palestinian statehood and holding “Israel solely responsible for the ongoing escalation.”

    The statement also called for de-escalation by all parties and urged restraint.

    Since then, Qatari mediators have reportedly been engaged in talks to facilitate the release of about 200 hostages held by Hamas, including some Americans.

    So, Qatar has played some part in seeking to stop the violence since the conflict began, but social media posts have exaggerated that role.

    Social media posts have been spreading the false claim that Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar, has “threatened that if the bombing of Gaza does not stop, he will cut off the supply of gas to the world.”

    There is no record of Al Thani making such a statement and the only evidence offered by those posting the claims is a short clip from a 2017 speech in which the emir referenced “the issue of Palestine,” according to a Google translation of the original Arabic. He did not say anything about stopping the export of natural gas in his speech, which was delivered six years before the war began.

    For example, a post from a conspiracy-theory account on X, formerly known as Twitter, shared the video clip with the claim “BREAKING: Qatar is threatening to create a global gas shortage in support of Palestine. ‘If the bombing of Gaza doesn’t stop, we will stop gas supply of the world.’”

    But, as we said, the video predates the war and doesn’t say anything about the export of natural gas.

    It’s also worth noting that oil and natural gas exports are the backbone of Qatar’s economy, so it’s unlikely that the country would cut off its own source of income.

    In 2021, earnings from Qatar’s hydrocarbon sector accounted for 81% of its total government revenues, the U.S. Energy Information Administration calculated in a March report using the most recent data available from the International Monetary Fund.

    “The strength of Qatar’s hydrocarbon sector … underpins the strong performance of the economy,” the World Bank wrote in an April report on the country.

    In another report on Qatar released in early October, the World Bank noted two major energy deals — one with China and the other with Bangladesh — saying, “These developments augur well for Qatar’s extended energy export prospects, with the likelihood of unveiling further energy contracts across Asia and Europe in the coming months.”

    Indeed, within the last week Qatar signed two more deals — one with Shell in the Netherlands and the other with TotalEnergies in France — for 27-year agreements to supply gas. In the first half of this year, Qatar was the world’s third leading exporter of liquefied natural gas behind only the United States and Australia, according to the EIA.

    Also, an anonymous Qatari official referred to the country’s liquified natural exports when he told Reuters, “such a statement has never been made and never would be. Qatar does not politicise its LNG supplies or any economic investment.”

    Sources

    Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Press release. “Qatar Expresses Concern over the Developments in Gaza Strip and Calls for De-escalation.” 7 Oct 2023.

    MacDonald, Fiona. “To Return Hostages Taken by Hamas, the US Calls Its Friend Qatar.” Bloomberg. Updated 18 Oct 2023.

    Doha Forum (@DohaForum13). “Opening Speech by: H.H. Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, Amir of the State of Qatar.” YouTube. 18 May 2017.

    U.S. Energy Information Administration. Country Analysis Brief: Qatar. 28 Mar 2023.

    International Monetary Fund. Qatar: Selected Issues. 21 Jun 2022.

    World Bank. Macro Poverty Outlook: Qatar. Apr 2023.

    World Bank. Macro Poverty Outlook: Qatar. Oct 2023.

    Saba, Yousef. “Qatar supplies gas to Europe, vying with US to replace Russia supply.” Reuters. 18 Oct 2023.

    Reuters. “Fact Check: Qatari emir’s 2017 speech misrepresented as gas threat.” 17 Oct 2023.

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  • 49ers’ Tashaun Gipson cringes over hit vs. Browns; Moody copes with miss

    SANTA CLARA – Tashaun Gipson Sr. said Thursday he puts the 49ers’ first loss of the season “on my shoulder. It’s just a terrible feeling.”

    About that shoulder …

    Gipson is still awaiting word on whether he’ll be fined – or if officials were incorrect – regarding his shoulder-to-shoulder hit on Browns receiver Elijah Moore. That unnecessary roughness penalty on a third-down incompletion bailed out the Cleveland Browns’ go-ahead drive in their 19-17 upset.

    Moore was airborne at the Browns’ 34-yard line when his and Gipson’s right shoulders collided, while P.J. Walker’s errant pass sailed incomplete.

    “It was a bang-bang play. But once you watch the replays, in slow motion, it makes it worse,” Gipson said. “As a competitor, you look and say, ‘What else would I do differently?’ I don’t know.”

    Gipson made what he called “a conscious effort” to avoid helmet-to-helmet contact, not just for Moore’s sake but his own.

    “The league is about protecting players. I don’t think I did anything viciously or dirty to draw the flag,” Gipson added. “It’s just football. Shoulder, head out of the way, shoulder pads. I can’t sit and harp on it. They deserved to win.”

    Gipson and the 49ers (5-1) are preparing for Monday night’s game at the Minnesota Vikings (2-4). Thursday’s interviews inside the 49ers’ locker room, however, bounced between that upcoming game and, understandably, the team’s first regular-season loss since last Oct. 23.

    Gipson was steamed after that game and did not speak with reporters until Thursday about the “unfortunate” flashpoint of the Browns’ comeback. “Things like this change the momentum of games. You don’t get an apology letter, you don’t get a win back, you don’t get anything,” Gipson said. “It’s just, ‘Hey, bad call. Move on from it.’ Now we’re a team sitting at 5-1 instead of 6-0.”

    When a reporter chimed in about 49ers legend Ronnie Lott making the Pro Football Hall of Fame with such hits in the 1980s and ’90s, Gipson replied: “That was many, many moons ago.”

    Unlike back then, Gipson said he couldn’t avoid seeing replays on Twitter and Instagram of the hit, of the Browns’ victory celebration, and, of how “that one play could easily be a deciding factor.”

    MOODY ON MISSES

    Gipson isn’t the only one grateful for teammates’ support after a tough loss. Jake Moody said he is “all right” after missing a potential 41-yard winning field goal with six seconds remaining.

    Before moving on to his next kicks in Minnesota, he’s received words of encouragement from the NFL kicking fraternity.

    “I’ve had plenty of kickers texting me, calling me, saying, ‘I’ve been there. It happens,’ ” Moody said. “That support is what’s helping a little bit. Great kickers that I’ve looked up to growing up, they’ve been in the situation, (saying) ‘You’ll get through it and have a great career.’ ”

    Moody was 9-for-9 on field-goal attempts until he missed 2-of-3 Sunday in Cleveland. “I’ve come up with the phrase: ‘Make your misses,’ ” Moody added. “What I mean by that is even if you do hit a miss-hit, you don’t hit it perfectly, you’ve still got to make those kicks. That’s something I’ve been working on, to make those misses. Unfortunately that one didn’t go in.”

    McCAFFREY UPDATE

    Running back Christian McCaffrey was among seven starters who did not practice. An MRI on Monday confirmed an oblique injury, coach Kyle Shanahan said without detailing how McCaffrey’s ribs emerged from Sunday’s third-quarter exit. McCaffrey was not seen on the field during the media’s 30-minute window.

    McCaffrey’s “day-to-day” status gives him “a chance” to play Sunday, Shanahan added. McCaffrey has been the NFL’s leading rusher through each of the season’s first six weeks, and he has not missed a game since getting traded to the 49ers last Oct. 20. He has scored in 15 consecutive games, three shy of Lenny Moore’s NFL record (1963-65, Colts).

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  • NNPC Limited Made Right Choice Appointing Femi Soneye As Spokesperson-Guild Of Editors

    The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) has said that the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd, Mele Kyari made the right choice in the appointment of Femi Soneye as the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of the energy giant.

    The NGE is the umbrella body of editors/media executives in Nigeria.

    The NGE also said that the appointment of Soneye who is the Publisher of Per Second online newspaper was well-timed.

    The Guild of Editors made the commendation on Thursday in a statement signed by its President, Eze Anaba and the General Secretary, Dr Iyobosa Uwugiaren.

    THE WHISTLER had reported that the NNPC Limited management named Soneye as the CCCO of the company.

    The guild, while congratulating Soneye on his appointment, noted that he was eminently qualified for the position, considering his experience in both the media industry and the public relations field.

    The NGE said, ‘’We commend the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPCL, Mr Mele Kyari, for making the right choice and decision.

    “The appointment came at a time the NNPCL is undergoing restructuring in efforts by the shareholders to reposition the company for good corporate governance and efficient management. The experience of a media executive like Soneye is required.”

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