Daily Republic: Monday, November 28, 2022

1 dead after deputy exchanges gunfire with man in Fairfield

Incident the 2nd fatal Solano deputy shooting this year

glen FAison GFAISON@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — A man who authorities say was shooting at an approaching deputy and his K-9 partner was shot and killed early Sunday by the deputy, the Solano County Sheriff’s Office reports.

The incident began shortly before 3 a.m. when the deputy and Fairfield police responded to the area of Central Way and Pittman Road to inves tigate what the Sheriff’s Office described early Sunday as a robbery in which the suspect was reportedly armed with a gun.

The Solano County District Attorney’s Office later characterized the incident as a 911 call to Fairfield police reporting a disturbance in which the suspect was armed with a firearm – and that the deputy was called to the scene by Fairfield police so his K-9 partner could help with the sus

pect’s apprehension.

Shortly after the deputy arrived, he unleashed his K-9 partner in an attempt to apprehend the suspect, who the Sheriff’s Office reports fired his gun. The District Attorney’s Office later reported the suspect, who the agency reports was armed with a Polymer80 handgun, “fired several rounds at responding officers.”

The deputy returned fire, the Sheriff’s Office and the District Attor ney’s Office report. The man was hit and died as a result of his injuries.

The Sheriff’s Office did not indicate in its report whether the K-9 or the deputy were injured during the exchange of gunfire. Neither did the District Attorney’s Office in its update. Authorities also did not report how many shots the deputy fired or how many times the man was shot.

Fairfield police report no city police officers

the

Waterfr nt Christmas

returns to Suisun City

SUISUN CITY — The annual holiday tradition, Christmas on the Waterfront, returns from 2 to 8 p.m. Saturday at Harbor Plaza.

Start your holidays with a day of old-fash ioned family Christmas activities. Find gifts at the Christmas Market. Browse the 20-plus artisan and vendor booths featuring gifts, stocking stuffers and holiday treats.

Live music will be featured by The Time Bandits from 2:30 to 5 p.m. on the Harbor Plaza Stage. There will also be amusement rides for families to enjoy at Sheldon Plaza.

Participants will be able to watch the annual lighted boat parade at 5:30 p.m., the arrival of Santa and Mrs. Claus at 6:15 p.m. and the treelighting and fireworks show at 6:30 p.m.

Photos with Santa will be available from

ing further details.

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

KYIV, Ukraine — Russian missiles rained down on Ukraine on Sunday as the embat tled country struggled to recover from the last round of Russian attacks and wondered how many more salvos could be coming its way.

Russian forces shelled the southern Ukrainian Kherson region more than 50 times this weekend, reported Yaroslav Yanu shevych, the local military governor. Taking to Tele gram, he accused Russia of terrorism and of tar geting civilians, reporting that one person had died and two had been injured.

The city of Kryvyi Rih in the south of Ukraine was also hit by a Russian missile attack, local authorities said.

Two missiles destroyed a transport infrastructure facility in the morning, military governor Valen tyn Resnichenko wrote on the Telegram news channel, without provid

The military admin istration called on the population to head to air raid shelters. An air raid alert was issued for several areas in the east and south of Ukraine.

The Nikopol district north of the Dnipro River

Mom suspected of stabbing sons ‘thought the kids were devils’ A3

San Francisco 49ers shut out Saints at home,

ily r epubliC sTAFF DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

Courtesy photo A screen grab

body camera footage shows

deputies surrounding Jason Thompson after one of the deputies shot Thompson in Vallejo, June 19. The Solano County Sheriff’s Office released video of the incident Friday.

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic file (2021)

Santa and Mrs. Claus bring snow to Suisun City during Christmas on the Waterfront, Dec. 4, 2021.

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic file (2018)

A crowd gathers to watch Merriment on Main in downtown Vacaville, Nov. 27, 2018.

Triumphant return for my Cheers and Jeers

Adefunct feature of the Daily Republic I still miss was Cheers and Jeers. After it was discontinued years ago, from time to time I have revived my own version. Cheers to me for doing so and a jeer-within-acheer for not saying I usually only do it when I can’t think of anything else to write about.

Cheers to Brenda Mossa of Brenda Mossa Events. For several years now, Brenda and her husband Frank have been the go-to company to supply events with vendors of unique handcrafted items. The events include the Rancho Solano Spring Fling at The Clubhouse at Rancho Solano, the Mother’s Day Artisan Fair at the Suisun City Waterfront, the Jelly Belly Candy Palooza at the Jelly Belly Visitor Center, the Water front Festival at the Suisun City Waterfront and the Rancho Solano Holiday Boutique at The Clubhouse at Rancho Solano.

Brenda squeezed me into the Holiday Boutique on Nov. 20, which I had never been to and it was amazing. She and Frank are wonderful people and the cooperative, fun vibe that per meates the events they marshal reflect that.

Jeers to longtime Daily Republic columnist Brad Stan hope. I don’t usually even need a reason to jeer Brad beyond being a 49ers fan, but he gave me one with a recent column. It was where he ranked Thanksgiving foods. Now, I

CORRECTION POLICY

had no problem with his choices and No. 1, the Michael Jordan of Thanksgiving as he called it, was, of course, turkey. But then he wrote this: “Even vegans acknowledge this, because they’ll digest some sort of mock turkey this week. They’ll use the word turkey.”

OK, first off, just for the record, I am not vegan. I don’t claim that word because it has connotations that don’t apply to me and also many vegans eat things that I, as a wholefoods, plant-based eater, do not. However, I am definitely a cousin to vegans.

But Brad assuming I would, or did, eat some sort of mock turkey on Thanksgiving is incorrect. As a matter of fact, for the overwhelming most part, I consciously do not try to make the delicious, wholesome, filling and nutritious food I now eat resemble the food I used to eat at all.

I know people who des perately try to make their plant-based food resemble burgers, tacos, pizza and other stuff I no longer consume. That’s fine, I just don’t do that. I tried it 20-something years ago when I was doing some faddish Atkins-type diet and I got so good at it that eventually I just ate the regular stuff again and gained all the weight I had lost and then some.

The bottom line for me is those foods were leading me to

an early grave. For me to try to make my food now resem ble that stuff would be akin to being in a new relationship and asking my girlfriend to inex plicably dress up like a “Fatal Attraction” ex who had tried to kill me.

Cheers to Rita Santos, Sheryl Scott and other AssistA-Grad volunteers. saddened to hear a few months ago that Assist-A-Grad was folding because they couldn’t get volunteers to help with the Herculean task of facilitat ing the transfer of scholarship dollars to graduating local seniors. It was a shame because the nonprofit organization has been helping young people make their dreams become a reality since 1970.

But then some awesome folks from the educational and business community stepped up and there will be schol arships given out next year. Fairfield fist bumps to all of them. I submitted the paper work last week for the Armijo Alumni Association’s scholar ships and they will total more than $9,000. With two excep tions that are for Armijo High students only, the scholarships offered are available to qual ified graduating seniors from Armijo, Fairfield, Public Safety Academy, Rodriguez, Sem Yeto and Vanden high schools who have a parent or grand parent who attended Armijo. The Scholarship Guides will be available on the Assist-A-Grad website, http://assist-a-grad.org, early next year.

Jeers to my neighbors who put out their Christmas lights and decorations before Thanksgiving. As this insidi ous practice violates several state and federal statutes that exist in my mind, they have been reported.

Cheers to annual jokes. I, in full compliance with the Christ mas Decorating laws, broke out my yuletide accoutrements on Friday after Thanksgiv ing and alongside the Raiders snowman and a festive wreath and other items we have used for decades, there was some thing new. Kinda. It’s a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Our old one was kinda raggedy so I got a new one that can also play the “Linus and Lucy” theme song. I set it up and took a picture and posted it on Facebook with the caption, “The Christmas tree is finally up. I am exhausted.” I dust off a couple of wooden nutcrackers and that joke every year.

Cheers to modern medicine

My wife Beth is having a hip replacement surgery in Decem ber. She had already done the things that mitigate the pain, like losing a bunch of weight (more than 100 pounds) and changing her diet, so surgery was the last resort. The friends and family I know who have had the surgery all report how well it went and how it changed their quality of life. Jeerwithin-a-cheer to the surgeons who shot down my suggestion that while they were at it they could install a few bionic parts in Beth, too.

Jeers to my great idea not gaining any traction. Seeing the success of Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, I proposed Tony Tuesday. This is where locals can get great deals on items I have left over from Wade Family Gag Gift Christ mases of the past. The quality gifts include, but are not limited to, inflatable toast, Leif Garret and Shaun Cassidy albums, a Farting Animals Coloring Book, an authentic Bigfoot caller, bacon flavored lip balm, a Tinky Winky doll, emergency under pants and a Spam-like can of unicorn meat.

Fairfield freelance humor col umnist and accidental local historian Tony Wade writes two weekly columns: “The Last Laugh” on Mondays and “Back in the Day” on Fridays. Wade is also the author of The History Press books “Growing Up In Fairfield, California” and “Lost Restaurants of Fairfield, California.”

Slides during Musk’s talk at Twitter say ‘we’re recruiting’

tRibune content agency

Twitter Inc. is hiring, according to slides from a company talk tweeted by owner Elon Musk, fol lowing sweeping job reductions in a costcutting drive since the billionaire took over the social network.

The first slide had the words “We’re recruiting” with no further details. Musk, who didn’t say when he gave the talk, has undertaken a dra matic restructuring that initially cut the firm’s headcount in half.

Vacaville residents may soon review Centennial Park plans

Daily Republic Staff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

VACAVILLE — The new, draft master plan for Centennial Park in Vacaville is nearly com plete and the Parks and Recreation Depart ment staff and project consultant Helix Envi ronmental Planning will present it to residents at two meetings scheduled in early December.

An in-person meeting will take place from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Saturday at the Ulatis Commu nity Center, 1000 Ulatis

Drive. A virtual meeting will take place from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7. The Zoom link is available at the city’s website, cityof vacaville.com. Additional infor mation is available on the Centennial Park webpage at cityofvacav ille.gov/parks. Written comments and questions may be submitted to Park Planner Hew Hes terman by email at hew. hesterman@cityofvaca ville.com or by letter to 40 Eldridge Ave., Suite 13, Vacaville, CA 95688, prior to or shortly after

the meetings.

The goal is to gather feedback and com ments on the draft plan to ensure it includes rec reation elements that are most desired and appropriate for this 265acre park site.

The draft master plan proposes several new recreation elements within each of three des ignated activity zones:

n The Active Recre ation Zone (southern portion where there are existing sports fields and other active uses).

n The Creekside Dis

covery Zone (triangularshaped area located between tributaries of Horse Creek).

n The Nature Explo ration Zone (large unde veloped area located at the north end of the park).

Centennial Park is located at 270 Browns Valley Parkway. It cur rently spans 53 acres of developed and undevel oped areas and includes four baseball fields – one lighted; biking, hiking, walking and running trails; four tennis courts; and five soccer fields.

Hate speech impres sions on the social network are lower and reported impersonations have fallen, according to the slides, which cited data with mid-November dates.

New user sign-ups are at an all-time high, averaging more than 2 million a day for the seven days to Nov. 16, the slides also showed. In a follow-up tweet, Musk said he sees a path to Twitter having more than 1 billion monthly users in 12 to 18 months.

Musk has said Twitter will relaunch its paid Ver ified services Friday, after a series of delays and mishaps over fake accounts. Twitter Ver ified is his attempt to distinguish between dif ferent classes of users, and increase revenue.

‘Wakanda Forever’ reigns supreme at box office

tRibune content agency

Disney and Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” easily fended off two new chal lengers and continued to dominate the domes tic box office over the Thanksgiving weekend, according to estimates from measurement firm Comscore.

Directed by Ryan Coogler, the acclaimed sequel scored $45.9 million in its third

weekend for a North American cumulative of $367.7 million. Glob ally, the superhero flick has earned about $676 million.

New to theaters this weekend were Disney’s “Strange World,” which launched in second place at $11.9 million, and Sony Pictures’ “Devotion,” which debuted in third place with $6 million.

Co-directed by Don Hall and Qui Nguyen, “Strange World” follows

a family of explorers on an important expedi tion beyond the massive mountains that surround their hometown. Among the voice cast of the ani mated adventure are Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Jaboukie YoungWhite, Gabrielle Union and Lucy Liu.

The family film received a decent 73% fresh rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes and a lack luster B- grade from

audiences polled by Cin emaScore. By a long shot, “Strange World” has failed to live up to early box-office projec tions, which anticipated a $30 million opening.

“One of ‘Strange World’s’ triumphs is the vibrant, weird, visually stunning subterranean world that the film’s heroes stumble upon during their quest to save their way of life,” writes the Los Angeles Times’ Tracy Brown in

her review.

“From its lush palette to its cute and deadly flora and fauna, this strange, mysterious world is very much deserving of its status as the film’s title character.”

Helmed by J.D. Dillard, “Devotion” stars Jonathan Majors and Glenn Powell as two brave Navy fighter pilots serving the United States during the Korean War. Rounding out the

Tony Wade The last laugh

Narupon Promvichai/Vecteezy

Couple goes missing off Mexican coast

Search efforts for an American couple who went missing near the Mexican coast last week continued Sunday as an online fundraiser exceeded $56,000.

Corey Allen and Yeon-Su Kim failed to return from a kayak ing trip along a beach in Rocky Point, Mexico, on Thanksgiving due to strong winds and cur rents, according to the GoFundMe page.

“Neither they nor their kayaks have been found as of Sunday morning,” reads the fundraiser.

The Arizona couple went kayaking last Thursday with their daughter, Lux, whom Allen managed to bring back to shore once the winds picked up, the post says. Allen is said to have gone back for Kim before they both disappeared.

The fundraiser launched Saturday, with donations meeting the original goal of $50,000 by the following day. The GoFundMe’s organizer is now asking for $100,000, according to an update Sunday.

— Tribune Content Agency

Family: Mom suspected of stabbing sons to death ‘thought the kids were devils’

Tribune ConTenT agen

NEW YORK — Heart broken relatives of the 11-month and 3-year-old boys found fatally stabbed in an overflowing Bronx bathtub say their mother, suspected of killing them, is obsessed with demons.

“They were beautiful children and they did not deserve to die. It’s simple as that,” Beverly Hill, the paternal grandmother of 11-month-old victim Octavius Canada told the Daily News. “They were beautiful and they had no reason to die.”

Cops believe the boys’ mother, Dimone “Brenda” Fleming, stabbed them to death. Fleming, 22, is undergoing psychiat ric care and has not yet been charged.

Octavius and his 3-year-old sibling, Daishawn Fleming, were found repeatedly stabbed in the neck and torso Sat urday night in a family shelter on Echo Place near the Grand Concourse in Mount Hope, police sources said.

Octavius’ greataunt, Casey Canada, said Fleming had been talking obsessively about “demons.”

BoxFrom Page A2

supporting cast of the period drama are Chris tina Jackson, Thomas Sadoski, Daren Kagas off and Joe Jonas.

The war epic notched a solid 79% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes but has yet to receive a report card from Cin emaScore. “Devotion” also slightly underper formed at the domestic box office based on early estimates, which put the film in the $7 million to $8 million range.

“Tonally, ‘Devotion’ remains steady, never going for over-the-top emotion or sensation, simply seeking to express something authentically moving and human,” writes film critic Katie Walsh in her review for the Los Angeles Times.

“It unmistakably achieves that, deliver ing a stirring story of friendship during war, and beyond, that is both rare and real.”

Rounding out the top five at the domes tic box office this cycle were Searchlight’s “The Menu,” which served up $5.2 million in its second weekend for a North American cumulative of $18.7 million; and Warner Bros.’ “Black Adam,” which grossed $3.4 million in its sixth weekend for a North American cumulative of about $163 million. Overall, the Thanksgiv ing weekend totals at the domestic box office this year came in sig nificantly lower than pre-pandemic numbers.

“She thought the kids were devils. She said she was afraid of them,” said Casey Canada, who looked after both boys and raised their father, Columbus Canada, like a second mother.

But Casey Canada was baffled why Fleming would allegedly take her children’s lives.

“She definitely loved them for sure,” Casey Canada said. “That wasn’t fake.”

Fleming, who goes by the nickname “Brenda,”

clashed with her own rela tives and Canada’s family, Casey Canada said.

“There wasn’t a moment I was around her she wasn’t loving with the children – but with adults she could change in a moment,” the great-aunt said. “She just snapped.”

Police were initially called to the scene because Fleming was acting errat ically but didn’t find the young children, who were submerged in a bathtub covered with clothes and a bed sheet, sources said.

Octavius’ father, Columbus Canada, arrived minutes after police left and found the youngsters, then desper ately tried to revive them

before police returned.

Columbus has three other children from prior relationships who were all close to the murdered boys, his mother said.

“How is he going to tell them? They’ve gotten close to these other chil dren, to their brothers,” Hill said. “They can’t understand.”

“(Columbus) is not doing well at all. He can’t get over the fact that she did this. He don’t even understand what hap pened. Who would do something like this?” Hill added. “The whole family is like, ‘Why?’ If you got a problem, you could have said something to some body. You don’t have to

f---ing kill the kids.”

Canada works dutifully to support his children, Hill said, and his family barely had the chance to get to know little Octavius.

“They liked to play with cars, they liked to play with trucks, they liked video games. They liked to go to school and play with crayons,” Cana da’s sister Shakira Canada said of the two slain boys. “They liked to go to the park. And now they can’t do any of that.”

Casey Canada helped raise her nephew Colum bus, describing herself as like a second mom to him, and enjoyed visits from him and the two slain boys.

“Octavius would never cry – and you know babies, they cry about everything. .

. . He was a happy golucky happy baby,” Casey Canada said. “Daishawn just wanted to play with toys. When he came over, he just wanted to play with blocks.”

Hill said she didn’t want to speculate on Fleming’s motives.

“I don’t know and I don’t care. All I know is that my grandkids are f---ing dead,” she said.

“They shouldn’t have died. That shouldn’t have happened. And her a-ain’t dead. She should have killed her own f---ing self.”

French man wins right to not be ‘fun’ at work

The WashingTon PosT

France’s highest court has ruled that a man fired by a Paris-based con sulting firm for allegedly failing to be “fun” enough at work was wrong fully dismissed.

The man, referred to in court documents as Mr. T, was fired from Cubik Part ners in 2015 after refusing to take part in seminars and weekend social events that his lawyers argued, according to court doc uments, included “excessive alcoholism” and “promiscuity.”

Mr. T had argued that the “fun” culture in the company involved “humiliating and intru sive practices” including mock sexual acts, crude nicknames and obliging him to share his bed with another employee during work functions.

In its judgment this month, the Court of Cas sation ruled that the man was entitled to “freedom of expression” and that refusing to participate

in social activities was a “fundamental freedom” under labor and human rights laws, and not grounds for his dismissal.

According to the court documents, the man was hired by Cubik Partners as a senior con sultant in February 2011 and promoted to director in February 2014.

He was fired for “profes sional incompetence” in March 2015 for allegedly failing to adhere to the firm’s convivial values.

The company also criticized his some times “brittle and demotivating tone” toward subordinates, and alleged inability to accept feedback and differing points of view.

Cubik Partners did not immediately respond to a request from The Wash ington Post for comment.

It is not the first time a company’s drink ing culture has come under the microscope in court proceedings. A number of recent inci dents have highlighted

the entrenchment of alcohol in white-collar professional culture, even after the #MeToo move ment shone a spotlight on workplace miscon duct globally. Some firms have introduced “booze chaperones” at company events in hopes of avoid ing such issues.

An auditor at Price waterhouseCoopers in England sued the company over severe injuries he sustained at a work event that “made a competitive virtue” of “excessive” drinking, in a lawsuit filed in London’s High Court this year. Michael Brockie went into a coma and had part of his skull removed after par ticipating in the company event, The Post reported.

In March, insurance marketplace Lloyd’s of London fined member firm Atrium Underwriters a record 1 million pounds (about $1.2 million) for “serious failures,” includ ing a “boys’ night out” where employees, includ ing two senior executives,

“took part in inappropri ate initiation games and heavy drinking, and made sexual comments about female colleagues,” the Guardian reported at the time.

France is among the

world’s most liberal coun tries in terms of alcohol consumption. The legal minimum age for consum ing alcohol in public is 18, but there is no regulation of alcohol consumption in private.

Jeff Bachner/New York Daily News/TNS

New York Police Department officers and detectives investigate the fatal stabbing of two young children, Saturday.

Dear Annie: I have been married for almost 20 years. My husband was diagnosed with bipolar disorder about a year ago, but I suspect that’s what was going on with him for many years prior to the offi cial diagnosis. He is also an alcoholic.

Our marriage has deteriorated due to not only the effect his illness has on his personality and behavior but also my struggle to get over the things he has done to me and our children in the past, before he was diagnosed. During the manic parts of his illness, he made more decisions regard ing finances, work, alcohol and other women (though he never actually cheated on me), among other things. He also was par anoid and delusional about me, accusing me of all sorts of things and engaging in behavior such as spying on me.

When manic, he will also bully and manipulate me in various ways. I know this is due to his illness, and he is trying to manage it and usually does a decent job with a notoriously hard-to-manage type of dis

order. I have gone to great lengths to give him chance after chance to get his act together, and I have been exten sively involved in his treatment plan and sup portive of his choices that were meant to help him get better even when it was hard on the family. Putting him first all the time, despite how much he’s hurt me, is taking a serious toll on my own mental health.

But I just can’t get over what he’s done to me over these last few years. I can’t forgive him and, frankly, don’t feel moti vated to try. I don’t love him anymore, and I want to put it behind me and move on with my life without feeling pres sure to work on a marriage with a man I resent and who has caused me so much trauma and grief. I want to end our mar riage and create the best life as co-parents for our children that we possibly can.

I can’t help but wonder, though, does it make me a bad person and bad parent that I won’t do everything possible to keep our marriage intact for our children, considering his

Horoscopes

ARIES (March 21-April 19).

The reason you will soar as a leader is that you are wideawake. You proceed cautiously in ordinary things, giving you a great advantage over those who tumble haplessly, confi dently forward.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). While it would be convenient to give everyone the same auto matic response, it clashes with your style. You see each person as an individual with unique needs and you cater your responses to make a personal ized connection.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). You have something important to say. Believe it. When people aren’t listening, tell them to listen and they will.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). You’ll interact with no-non sense types, but resist their frame. Nonsense is fun. Dare to be silly and revel in it. When it comes down to it, this life won’t fit logical frames anyway, so you may as well be a little silly in your experience of it.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). Your work ethic is solid. Loved ones put you to task. No one is asking you to succeed, but everyone will be rooting for you as you try to succeed. It is among the most thrilling human expe riences to be or see someone getting the goal.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Take your openings. Act in the moment it’s most needed. Rec ognize that loveliness has a time frame, and when it’s good, don’t wait for it to get better.

“Lilies that fester smell far

Here’s how to work it: WORD SLEUTH ANSWER

by Holiday Mathis

Today’s birthday

Vigor is your name this year. As you lead with your winning attitude, most people will be either swept into your charisma or afraid to tell you no. Choose projects carefully because you’ll apply tremendous energy and learn quickly what works. With loved ones on the same page, you can’t lose. The windfall comes in spring. Gemini and Aquarius adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 3, 33, 1, 28 and 15.

worse than weeds.” — William Shakespeare

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23).

Being hard on yourself may produce extraordinary results, but it also causes extraordi nary problems. Instead, release yourself from expectations. You really don’t have to do anything at all. You have options and freedom of choice.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21).

The inside of your head is thor oughly organized. You may not always understand the system, and sometimes things do get lost, but there’s a good reason your mind functions as it does. Embrace the quirks of your thought patterns.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22Dec. 21). You know what it’s like to be taken for granted. It’s hard to participate wholeheart edly when others aren’t seeing you. You’ll try to give more love than you were shown. You’ll

problems are due to an illness that is out of his control? He doesn’t want to be this way, but the fact is that this is who he is, and life with him is making me miserable. — Wanting Out Dear Wanting Out: You have been through a lot, and of course your husband has been through a lot, too. Ahead of everything else, he has to stop drinking if anything is going to work. If he continues to drink, the medication and therapy for his bipolar disorder will not work. If he is still sick and not getting proper treatment, then you should not feel bad about wanting out because he is giving you no other choice. But if he is trying, and you don’t want to try because of old resentments, then therapy just might be exactly what you need. Whether you decide to stay together, at least you know in your heart that you tried everything you possibly could to make the marriage work.

Forgiveness is a present to yourself. It brings forth peace, happiness and, usually, a good night’s sleep.

Send your questions for Annie Lane to dearannie@ creators.com.

express appreciation the way you wish it was given to you.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22Jan. 19). When someone doesn’t understand what’s being offered or can’t immedi ately see how it applies to them, their response will be a no. It may take several drafts to get it right, but it’s worth the work to make an offer that’s a clear fit.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20Feb. 18). Your worth is beyond what you do for others. You’ll be compensated and appreci ated for emotional contribution, but this still has nothing to do with your core worth, which is infinite. Don’t buy into the fickle economics of the world.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). Enjoy yourself. If you don’t feel good around someone, notice your feelings and move. How should you best use your leisure? Where should you go and whom to include? A single good answer will solve dozens of questions simultaneously.

CELEBRITY PROFILES:

In “The Problem with Jon Stewart,” Stewart brings together those impacted by issues and creates a discus sion aimed at solutions. He is a Sagittarius with natal moon and Mercury in the sophisti cated sign of Sagittarius, too. He has interviewed presidents and royals and always with great wit, charm and a gleam in his eye, making the serious ness of politics a more palatable package for all.

Write Holiday Mathis at HolidayMathis.com.

Bridge

by Phillip Alder

Erie, 30 miles southeast of Detroit. John Carruthers is having dinner in a pub with his wife, Katie, before a game at their local club. They are approached by a young man who says his name is Selby and that he is a great-nephew of Wilson.

Selby replaces Katie for the duplicate, and so starts a sort of friendship. Selby is just like Wilson, never making a mistake, but he happily shares expensive bottles of red wine.

The deals in “Bridge With Another Perfect Partner” (Master Point Press) are advanced. In each, we usually follow the narrator (Carruthers) finding the second-best declarer play or defense and being corrected by Selby. This is about the easiest deal in the book. What happened in six hearts after West failed to lead a club?

FROM YORKSHIRE TO CANADA

Back in the 1970s, articles appeared in Bridge Magazine by P.F. Saunders. If I remember correctly, he was a schoolmaster from Yorkshire. The “hero” of those articles was Wilson, who (almost) never made a mistake. He also had a very supercilious manner.

Jump forward five decades and shift to Kingsville, a Canadian town on Lake

Sudoku

Bridge

Carruthers won with the diamond ace, drew trumps ending on the board and played four rounds of spades, discarding all four of his clubs. East was endplayed. His last spade would have conceded a ruff-and-sluff. When he tried to cash the club ace, South ruffed, played a trump to dummy and pitched his last diamond on the club king.

At the other table, Selby (East) had played his spade eight under dummy’s 10! South, sure that West had the spade jack, ruffed and had to lose one diamond and one club.

by Wayne Gould

to 11/26/22:

Solution

FROM YORKSHIRE TO CANADA

427-1386

‘Love Actually’ cast reunites for ABC special

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

It’s been 20 years since the cast of the holiday classic “Love Actually” have all been in the same room.

Released in 2003, “Love Actually” is a Christmas movie about the complexities of love told through nine inter twined stories. It grossed $246 million in the box office and has become a must-watch holiday tra dition for many.

ABC’s one-hour special gives the cast a chance to take fans down memory lane, as they discuss making the movie and share stories from behind the scenes.

“The special will look at how the film became a beloved Christ mas tradition and a

global sensation, with new insight into behindthe-scenes secrets and iconic scenes,” the release continued.

The cast members returning for the special are Emma Thomp son, Hugh Grant, Laura Linney, Bill Nighly, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Olivia Olson and writerdirector Richard Curtis.

“The special will also examine how the Covid-19 pandemic refo cused the ways we love and connect and the omnipresent acts of kind ness inside our families and communities.”

“The Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later – A Diane Sawyer Special” airs at 8 p.m. Tuesday on ABC, and will be available the next day on Hulu.

Zits Jerry Scott and

Pearls Before Swine Stephan Pastis

Dilbert Scott Adams

Baby Blues Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott

Baldo Hector Cantú

fired their weapons during the incident and no offi cers were injured.

The age and city of res idence of the suspect were not released.

Investigators with the Solano County District Attorney’s Office Major Crimes Task Force are investigating the incident.

This is the second fatal shooting this year involv ing a sheriff’s deputy working a call in a Solano County city.

A Fairfield man was shot and killed by depu ties responding to a call June 19 in Vallejo at the request of city police. Incidents that led to the shooting began at 4:30 p.m. that day and ended with a deputy shooting the shirt less Fairfield man, who was wielding saw blades, more than two and a half hours later.

Vallejo police were working several calls by 7 p.m. that day and called for sheriff’s deputies to handle the call that led to the shooting. Prior inci dents authorities link to the Fairfield man who was shot include a traffic collision and possible hitand-run, a later report of a possible carjack ing nearby and later still, reports of the carjacking suspect – now shirtless and armed with what was described as a knife – back in the area of the reported carjacking.

Then came reports of three people chasing the shirtless man. Finally, police were called about a man cutting himself on the corner of Pennsylvania and Sutter streets – near the scene of the other reported incidents.

That’s the call Vallejo police asked sheriff’s deputies to handle at around 7 p.m.

Three deputies responded to the inter section and found Jason T. Thompson, 29, holding what turned out to be long blades used for a type of reciprocating saw.

Thompson almost immediately threw one of the blades at the deputies. Thompson, still armed, was ordered to stop his approach toward depu ties as the deputies tried to give ground. A Taser was fired at Thompson – and hit him – but did not stop him. At one point Thomp son appeared to charge toward one of the depu ties, who shot him.

Thompson, still moving after he was shot and bleeding profusely, continued to refuse com mands from deputies to drop the weapon so they could render aid. He soon stopped moving and was disarmed and handcuffed. City police and medics soon arrived, provided aid and took Thomp son to a local hospital, where he died.

Thompson had a violent criminal history.

He pleaded no contest in March 2016 to a man slaughter count for the April 2014 fatal shooting of a 27-year-old man outside a Travion Court apart ment, near Union Avenue and Travis Boulevard.

6:30 to 8 p.m.

For more information, visit www.suisunwaterfront.com.

Fairfield lights up for Christmas season

The Annual Holiday Tree Lighting ceremony, located in downtown Fairfield, will take place Friday.

The event will begin at 6 p.m. The Christmas tree will be on Texas Street, between the blocks of Union Avenue and Madison Street. Mayor Harry Price will light the tree at 6:30 p.m.

Festivities after the lighting ceremony include musical per formances, a trackless train, hot cocoa and more. “Frozen” sisters Elsa and Anna will attend, as well as Santa for photos with chil dren. Legendary Letters will be open to help children write their letters to Santa Claus.

Residents are welcome to stroll the downtown area to listen to carolers, appreciate the down town business window displays and visit merchants’ open houses.

For more information, contact Special Events Coordinator Andrea Azurdia at aazurdia@ fairfield.ca.gov or 707-399-4101.

Merriment on Main resumes after pandemic hiatus

The annual Merriment on Main will once again take place Tuesday.

An evening of holiday lights, sounds and activities offers fun for the whole family while they wait for the 50-foot Christmas tree to be lit.

Vendors will line the streets, offering sweets and goodies. The Travis Air Force Band of the Golden West will entertain from the main stage with a holiday performance.

The event was canceled during the height of the Covid-19 pan demic. The Main Stage program starts at 5:30 p.m. with the treelighting at 6:30 p.m.

For more information, visit merrimentonmain.org.

Rio Vista celebrates start of holiday season

Rio Vista kicks off the start of the holiday season this weekend with festivities that span two days.

The Rio Vista Christmas Cel ebration starts Saturday with the Delta Drifters Car Club toy drive at 9 a.m. at City Hall, One Main Street, a Pop Up Shop at 10 a.m. at 45 Main St. and featur ing downtown businesses, music from 1:30 to 6:30 p.m. on the Starlight Stage, Christmas car oling starting at 4 p.m. and the Hospice of San Joaquin Christ mas Tree Lighting Ceremony at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall.

Santa is scheduled to arrive at 5:45 p.m. The Delta Marina Boat lighted boat parade starts at 6 p.m. along the waterfront from Delta Marina to the Rio Vista Bridge. Pictures with Santa are available afterward at 45 Main St.

For more information, visit http://riovista.org.

The Rio Vista Museum’s 14th Annual Olde Tyme Christmas Faire takes place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday at the museum, 16 N. Front St.

For more information, visit http://riovistamuseum. com/events.

Vallejo, Benicia launch holidays with events

Residents in Vallejo and Benicia are gearing up for tra ditional festivities this week that

launch the Christmas season.

Vallejo’s Mad Hatter’s Holiday Parade and related events start at 2 p.m. Saturday and take place in Unity Plaza in front of the John F. Kennedy Library, 505 Santa Clara St.

The festival includes music, food, children’s rides, dancing horses and people in Alice in Wonderland costumes. The Mad Hatter Holiday Parade starts at 4:30 p.m. along Georgia Street between Sonoma Boule vard and Santa Clara Street. A Tree-Lighting Ceremony takes place at 6 p.m. behind the John F. Kennedy Library. The lighted boat parade starts at 6:30 p.m.

For more information, visit www.hattervallejo.com.

Benicia celebrates the holiday season with a Holiday Open House and Christmas Tree Lighting from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday on First Street downtown.

Merchants offer beverages and treats and show off their holiday goods while carolers in costumes sing traditional Christ mas tunes. Live entertainment and the Christmas tree lighting add a festive atmosphere to this family event.

For more information, visit www.beniciamainstreet.org.

Santa Train continues during holiday season

Area residents can enjoy a ride on a historic electric railway and pay a visit to Santa for the annual Santa Train at the Western Railway Museum.

Children will be treated to various activity tables. Hot cocoa, marshmallows and cookies are included. Guests are encouraged to bring cameras for a family photo with Santa. Train times vary each day. The train station opens at 11 a.m. Trains run hourly, with the last train ride at 5 p.m. Each ticket is for an exact train time.

This event runs Saturdays and Sundays through Dec. 18.

The Western Railway Museum is located at 5848 Highway 12, east of Suisun City. For more information, to include the cost of tickets, visit www.wrm.org.

New Hope Church brings back visit to Bethlehem

See what life was like on the night of Jesus’ birth as New Hope Christian Fellowship hosts its annual “A Visit to Bethle hem” from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

Admission to the interactive Nativity is free. The church is at 4910 Allison Parkway.

Visitors may meander through the marketplace and see live demonstrations of carpentry, candle making, weaving, olive pressing and more. Live animals, including a donkey and camel,

are also featured.

Personalities will appear every 30 minutes, re-enacting the historical events of Jesus’ birth. Soups, snacks and beverages will be available for purchase. Crafts and goods also will be sold in the marketplace.

For more information, call 707-446-4051.

Shop opens Festive Forest, accepts letters to Santa

Elf Stacy Rose for the 26th Christmas season is helping Santa write letters to good boys and girls at her Legendary Letters shop in downtown Fair field and the VnA’s Gingy House in Suisun City.

Rose is giving away a free letter from Santa Claus to at least 100 children who mail a letter to him.

A Festive Forest in the back lot at her shop in Fairfield will open Friday during the Fairfield Tree Lighting Ceremony and then continue through December during regular business hours. People who visit may donate canned food for the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano or a new unwrapped toy for the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. The forest will serve as an official drop site for both campaigns.

Children may mail a letter to Santa Claus up until Dec. 15 in the special mailboxes at 707 Kentucky St., Fairfield or 340 Shoveller Drive, Suisun City. Afterward, all letters collected will go to the Macy’s Believe program, which donates $1 to the Make-a-Wish Foundation for every letter.

Red Cross plans Vacaville blood drive

The American Red Cross has scheduled a blood donation event for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday at Faith Community Church. But the organization said people do not have to wait to give blood. Appointments may be made at any time at red crossblood.org.

“Thanks to our partners at Amazon, all donors who come to give blood Nov. 28 to Dec. 15 will receive a $10 gift card by email,” the Red Cross said in a statement.

The church is located at 192 Bella Vista Road.

Genealogy society schedules holiday potluck

The Genealogy Society of Vallejo-Benicia will host its annual potluck holiday meeting this week.

The get-together will begin at noon Thursday at the Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum, 734 Marin St. Members are

More

Genealogy session to focus on Jewish ancestry

Janice Sellers will give a virtual presentation on “Online Resources for Jewish Gene alogy” at the next meeting of the Solano County Genealogi cal Society.

The online presentation begins at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Researching Jewish ancestry is in many respects like research ing any other family history, But in addition, some special ized online sources are unique to Jewish research. Learn about the most useful of these sites, what information you can expect to find and how you can use it to help advance your research.

Sellers has volunteered at Family History Centers since 2000 and gives presentations on many genealogical topics at the local, regional, state and national levels. She specializes in Jewish, Black, forensic and newspaper research. Her website is ances traldiscoveries.com.

Guests are welcome to attend this free event. If interested, send an email to the society at scgs@ scgsca.org no later than 4 p.m. Dec. 2 and request an invitation.

More information on events may be found on the society’s website at www.scgsca.org.

Government meetings on week’s calendar

A variety of government meetings will take place this week. Some are in person and some online. Check the websites for more information.

The meetings will include:

n Measure J Committee, 5:30 p.m. Monday, Fairfield High School, 205 E. Atlantic Ave., Fair field. Info: https://www.fsusd.org.

n Suisun-Solano Water Authority Board of Direc tors, 6 p.m. Monday, 701 Civic Center Blvd. Info: http://ca-sid. civicplus.com.

n Suisun City Council, special meeting, 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, City Council chamber, 701 Civic Center Blvd. Info: www.suisun. com/government/city-council.

n Suisun City Planning Commission, special meeting, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, 701 Civic Center Blvd. Info: www.suisun. com/planning-commission.

n Solano County Planning Commission, 7 p.m. Thursday, 675 Texas St., Fairfield. Info: solanocounty.com/depts/rm/ boardscommissions/solano_ county_planning_commission/ agendas.asp.

was also hit with shells and heavy artillery, according to Ukrainian sources.

Overnight, two mis siles hit a farm in a suburb of the southern Ukrai nian city of Zaporizhzhya, according to the military.

As the attacks came, Ukraine struggled to recover from a brutal barrage last week that knocked out power and water to large parts of the country.

By early on Sunday, most electricity, water,

heating and mobile phone services were up and running, the mili tary administration in the Ukrainian capital said on its Telegram channel. Final work was continu ing on the electricity grid, but high demand could lead to local outages, the military authorities said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, who has come in for criticism from President Volodymyr Zel enskyy for being slow to restore services, told the Sunday edition of Ger many’s mass-circulation Bild newspaper that work was proceeding at “record pace.”

Meanwhile, much

of the city of Kherson remains without electrical power as the authorities battle to get the grid oper ational again. While one hospital again has power, just 5% of the population has been connected.

Naturally, much of the focus in Ukraine and the rest of Europe is now on how likely it seems that Russia can keep up this pace of attack.

For example, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur does not believe that Russia has been crit ically weakened even after nine months of war in Ukraine.

“We have to be honest and clear: The Russian

navy and air force are more or less as big as they were before the war,” Pevkur told dpa during a visit to Berlin.

Although the Russian land forces had lost con siderable strength, they would “sooner rather than later” have the size they had before Feb. 24 when they launched their offen sive – or even larger.

Russia will also learn from their military expe rience in Ukraine, he said: “We have no reason to believe that the threat from Russia is somehow reduced or that the threat to NATO is reduced.”

That said, the British government posted in its

daily intelligence report on the fight on Sunday that it seems that Russia is taking heavy losses in the Donetsk region as the fighting there contin ues. London says the fact that Russia is fighting with such intensity there could signal that Moscow is hoping to start an offen sive to the north from the province.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, and Moscow has since declared four regions in eastern and south ern Ukraine to be part of Russian territory; the overall battle lines have changed little in the past weeks.

asked to bring food to share at this in-person meeting.

information may be found on the Genealogy Society of Vallejo-Benicia’s website at www.gsvb.org.

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic file (2019) Joe Vorderbrueggen shows Chase Tardiff, 4, the scenery outside the window while riding the Santa Train at the Western Railway Museum in Rio Vista, Dec. 21, 2019.

Warriors extend win streak to 3

Holds comfortable lead over Minnesota for most of game

TrIbune ConTenT agenCy

MINNEAPOLIS —

Stephen Curry scored 25 points and Dray mond Green notched his first double-double of the season Sunday en route to the War riors’ 137-114 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Warriors (11-10) have won three straight for the first time this season and are above .500 for the first time in a month.

The Warriors set the tone from the start and opened the game with their best first quarter of the season. Golden State scored 17 unan swered points and led by 20 after one. During the first quarter, they shot 76% overall and went 6-of-10 from 3.

The Warriors held a comfortable lead throughout the remain der of the game, though it got a little too close for comfort in the final quarter.

Golden State led

by 20 heading into the fourth, but the Timber wolves cut that in half by the 5:29 mark with a 19-4 run. The Warriors extinguished the Tim berwolves momentum with Curry and Klay Thompson combining for nine unanswered points with three straight 3s to get the Warriors’ lead back up to 19, and Golden State held on from there.

The Warriors’ 35 assists marked the seventh time in the last eight games the War riors have eclipsed 30 assists in a contest.

Draymond Green, who notched his first dou ble-double of the season, accounted for 11 of those assists. He also had a season-high 19 points.

Six Warriors players finished in double figure scoring and three recorded 20-or-more points. Curry led the way with 25 points with four 3-pointers. Jordan Poole added 24 off the

See Warriors, Page B6

For the young USMNT, it’s

‘we win, we’re in’ AT

THE WORLD CUP

KHOR, Qatar — In soccer, there are ties that feel like victo ries and ties that feel like defeats. The United States has experienced one of each in the group stage of this World Cup.

Squandering a late lead against Wales in the 1-1 opener Monday left a bad taste, but standing up to mighty England in a 0-0 stale mate Friday was cause for light celebration.

Nothing good, however, would come from another draw on the final day of Group B play Tuesday. The United States (two points) must beat Iran (three points) to finish in the top two and advance to the round of 16. With a loss or tie, this World Cup adventure ends.

Instant analysis of 49ers’ 13-0 shutout win over Saints

Cam Inman THE MERCURY NEWS

Nick Bosa got a hero’s welcome as he arrived at the 49ers’ sideline in the final minutes of Sunday’s eventual win over the New Orleans Saints. Their first shutout in three years was intact, courtesy of his fourthand-goal sack.

Minutes earlier, Dre Greenlaw and Talanoa Hufanga were the 49ers’ defensive heroes, with Greenlaw recovering a fumble at the 1-yard line after a Hufanga hit popped the foot ball into the goal-line atmosphere.

Sunday’s 13-0 triumph over the Saints marked the 49ers’ fourth straight victory, and the fourth straight game in which they did not allow a point after halftime.

While it was the 49ers’ (7-4) first shutout since Oct. 20, 2019 at Washington (9-0), they

had not done so at Levi’s Stadium since the 2016 opener against the Los Angeles Rams, in Chip Kelly’s debut as a one-season-anddone coach.

The Saints (4-8) sure had their chances to score, especially in the fourth quarter.

A holding penalty on Deommodore Lenoir set up the Saints with firstand-goal from the 4, and what ensued were three incompletions from Andy Dalton before Bosa recorded sack No. 11 1/2 for him this season. It was the 49ers’ only sack of the game.

An even more remarkable stop came on the Saints’ preced ing drive on the cusp of the goal line. Greenlaw grabbed hold of Alvin Kamara as he made a reception to the 2-yard line, where Hufanga threw his shoulder into the fray, dislodging the ball that bounced off a

When the 32-team competition began, getting out of the group was the threshold for modest success after missing the 2018 tournament and infusing the roster with young players. Now the Americans are in position to finish their first mission.

“We’re not going to overthink it,” defender Tim Ream said. “We win, we’re in.”

England (four points) leads the group and, by beating Wales (one), would clinch first. A draw would also secure passage to the next stage. The only way the Three Lions would not finish first or second were if they lost to the Dragons by a lopsided score and wasted their hefty goal differential (the first tiebreaker).

The outcome of England vs. Wales, though, will have no bearing on the U.S. cause. It’s three points or bust.

“It’s clear now,” U.S. Coach Gregg Berhalter said. “Any time you’re in a World Cup and you get to go into the last group game con trolling your destiny, that’s a pretty good thing.”

The last time the United States was in such a World Cup predic ament was 2010 in South Africa. That campaign also began with a pair of draws, including one against England. Needing three points in the group finale against Algeria, the Americans were on the precipice of elimination when Landon Donovan scored one of the most famous goals in U.S. soccer history – a desperate, full-field team surge in stoppage time that sparked wild celebrations on the Pretoria pitch and back home.

On a 2022 squad packed with players in their late teens and early 20s, that moment was the one cited most frequently when they’ve been asked to recount their first or best World Cup memory. Donovan is

now part of the Fox Sports announc ing team in Qatar.

“Hopefully not as dramatic as that goal,” captain Tyler Adams, 23, said of Tuesday’s prospects. “I don’t want to leave it till the end.”

They’ve left it to the last game, with not a sliver of room for error, because they’re not scoring goals. Defensively, they’ve been terrific, conceding only a penalty kick. But the scoring drought that haunted them through much of the nervy World Cup qualifying campaign has festered since the summer.

“At times, we wanted to get even deeper and get the ball in front of goal and give them real problems,” Berhalter said Friday. “But you know, at this level goals aren’t easy.”

They have not come easy against a variety of opponents. In the past seven matches, the United States has been blanked four times and posted multiple goals once – against Grenada, No. 173 in FIFA’s rankings.

Another empty performance will send them home.

An ambitious first-half perfor mance against Wales yielded a goal by Tim Weah, assisted brilliantly by Christian Pulisic. The second half was a slog.

On Friday, the United States created more high-quality oppor tunities than England, a surprising development given lingering U.S. issues and England’s 6-2 romp over Iran four days earlier. Again, though, the Americans were missing that finishing touch.

The Three Lions were panned for their performance. The Sun’s headline said, “Yawn in the USA.”

The Daily Mail declared, “Boring, Boring England!” and the Evening Standard called it a “Reality Check as England second-best to USA in deflating World Cup draw.”

Berhalter stopped short of calling Friday’s match a grand success because, “you need the score to win the game, and we didn’t do that.”

“We’re close a number of times and we put a lot of pressure on them,” he said. “And we want to keep getting better in this tourna ment, and that’s our goal.”

There was no pun intended by Berhalter, who, in his only lineup change after the Wales game, swapped strikers: Haji Wright for Josh Sargent. One of 10 shots against England was on target, not including Pulisic’s bid off the crossbar.

“If you create 100 chances, at least one of them is going to go in eventually,” said midfielder Weston McKennie, who squan dered a golden chance in the first half. “The most important thing was that we created the chances and that we can be a threat. And that will just build.”

On Tuesday, the Americans will also have to match Iran’s spirit. Team Melli rebounded from the disaster against England to perform with high energy and untethered belief in a 2-0 victory over 10-man Wales. Both goals came in secondhalf stoppage time, just rewards after attacking with gusto all after noon and clanging the posts twice in rapid succession during a sec ond-half flurry.

The Iranians were also coping with unrest back home and the arrest of a well-known player, Voria Ghafouri, for protesting against the Tehran regime. (He is not on the World Cup squad.)

Since the World Cup draw in April, the United States-Iran game has been framed as not just a sport ing event but a clash of political

Jose Carlos Fajardo/The Mercury News/TNS

New Orelans Saints’ Chris Olave (12) drops a pass after making a reception in the second quarter of their NFL game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Sunday.

Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post photos

Sergiño Dest and the U.S. men meet Iran on Tuesday.

STeven goff THE WASHINGTON POST

The Three Lions were panned for their performance against the U.S. men’s national team.

Should America serve as the world’s cop?

The conflict in Ukraine has again illumi nated the historic American debate favor ing isolation or military action when diplomacy fails, and war potential arises.

A strong isolationist group has opposed entering each major American war – the Revo lutionary War against England, the Civil War over slavery, World War I and World War II. History confirms America’s entry in each produced admi rable solutions although our delayed entry into both world wars significantly increased suf fering and financial loss for all participants. With world peace restored after World War II, America implemented the Mar shall Plan to hasten rebuilding the decimated European nations.

The free world looked to America for leader ship, so the United Nations accepted America as the defacto world cop.

When the USSR – the Union of Soviet Social ist Republics – appeared anxious for conflict soon after World War II, American and Euro pean leaders strengthened allied support through organization of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and America promptly developed a strong deterrence named Fortress America. Hundreds of B-47 jet bombers were built for a one-way mission to bomb Russia.

In the 1960s Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara developed a new concept named Mutual Assured Destruction. The belief was that maintaining an equal force with the enemy would cancel their fear of invasion and they would terminate their aggression. This only extended the Cold War indefinitely. Fortunately, President Ronald Reagan in 1981 proclaimed MAD as suicidal and promoted a winning concept, “We win, You Lose.” Russia’s economy could not match America’s and the USSR collapsed.

America’s record since World War II, other than winning the Cold War, has not been sterling.

Victory in Korea was avoided when diplo mats restricted American-led offensives and negotiated a compromise that has maintained North Korea as a world thorn since 1955. After we had built South Vietnam almost to victory in 1968 (read General Nguyen Giap’s memoirs), we negotiated a loss with North Vietnam that led to additional death of 20,000 Americans and several hundred thousand Cambodians, Viet namese and Laotians. President George H.W. Bush, a former fighter pilot, produced a victory in 100 hours that ended the Kuwait war success fully before the diplomats could get involved. The Iraq War produced no conclusive ending, and Afghanistan ended with embarrassment, as we sadly know.

Can anyone not recognize the Ukraine war is a direct result of the Afghanistan debacle? Not a single American combat soldier died during the last 1 ½ years in Afghanistan after Pres ident Donald Trump personally threatened senior Taliban leaders. World leaders, friend and foe, noted that debacle. Russia lost fear of deterrence without Trump. How many Ameri cans know of America’s written commitment to Ukraine – the Budapest Memorandum? Russia had stored 1,900 international nuclear missiles in Ukraine during the Cold War. The memo randum required transfer of the missiles to Russia and committed Washington, Moscow and London, among other things, to “respect the independence and sovereignty and exist ing borders of Ukraine” and to “refrain from the threat or use of force” against that country.

Thankfully, our administration is adhering to America’s promise to protect Ukraine’s sover eignty. When Vladimir Putin threatened Ukraine and moved troops to the border he heard what he hoped for – only verbal threats of little conse quence. Tucker Carlson advocates abandoning our commitment to Ukraine – how does he expect foreign policy to function if America dishonors written commitments to nations?

America’s success to maintain Ukraine sov ereignty will strongly influence China’s threats whether to invade Taiwan. America is commit ted to Taiwan sovereignty by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act which states, “the United States shall provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character and shall maintain the capacity of the United States to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or social or economic system, of the people of Taiwan.”

The world always will select a cop. Do you want China or America?

Earl Heal is a retired Air Force officer, Vacaville resident and member of The Right Stuff committee formerly of the Solano County Republican Central Committee. Reach him at healearlniki2@gmail.com.

Ukrainians are fighting for our values

Thanksgiving is an Amer ican holiday; arguably, the American holiday. But there is no reason the objects of our grati tude have to be American.

This year, mere days after Thanksgiving, I remain grate ful, above all, to the brave people of Ukraine for all their sacrifices and successes in the battle for freedom. They are fighting not just for the right to deter mine their own future. They are fighting for the universal principles embodied in our own Declaration of Independence.

Many people have become jaded about the prospects of democracy, which has been in decline around the world for the past 16 years. Freedom House reported in its 2022 “Freedom in the World” survey: “A total of 60 countries suffered declines over the past year, while only 25 improved.

As of today, some 38% of the global population live in Not Free coun tries, the highest proportion since 1997. Only about 20% now live in Free countries.”

Those are depressing statistics. They show not only how effective tyrants can be in consolidating power but also how indifferent so many people can be to the loss of freedom. Many people value economic wellbeing over the freedom to speak their own minds and choose their own leaders. Even those of us who have kept faith in democracy have to admit it’s a highly imperfect instrument: Our political system produced, after all, the invasion of Iraq, the Great Recession and the Trump presidency. Other democracies, from Brazil to the Philippines, have fared worse. Little wonder so many people are so indif ferent to the loss of freedom. Not the Ukrainians. Twice in the recent past – in the 2004-2005 Orange Revolution and the 2013-2014 Maidan Uprising – they took to the streets to show their refusal to allow their country to be dragged back into

COMMENTARY

the Kremlin’s odious orbit. After pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych fled the country in 2014, his patron, Vladimir Putin, retaliated by seizing Crimea and launch ing a proxy war in Donbas. On Feb. 24, 2022 – a date that deserves to live in infamy –Putin expanded his invasion of Ukraine in the expectation that Kyiv would fall within days. How wrong he was.

The Russian president had not counted on the transformation of the Ukrainian military wrought with the help of Western advisers and weapons. Even more importantly, he had not counted on the willing ness of Ukrainians to fight for their freedom rather than submit to the Russian yoke.

Ukrainians are animated by the spirit of nationalism – the most pow erful force in the world for the past two centuries – but it is not a xeno phobic, illiberal nationalism of the sort that Putin espouses. Ukraini ans are fighting for an old-fashioned, liberal nationalism that harks back to George Washington, Simón Bolívar and Giuseppe Garibaldi. Their nationalism is expansive enough to include both Russian and Ukrai nian speakers, heterosexuals and the LGBTQ community, men and women, Orthodox and Catholics, Muslims and Jews. It is little short of a miracle that Ukraine, which saw at least 1.5 million Jews die during the Holo caust, now has a Jewish president and defense minister – and both provide inspirational leadership in the midst of a terrible struggle.

It grieves me to report the price Ukraine has paid for defending itself. Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said recently roughly 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or injured along with 40,000 Ukrainian civilians. Alto gether, 7.8 million Ukrainians have fled to Europe, 6.5 million have been internally displaced and 2.8 million

have gone to Russia, many against their will. That’s more than 17 million refugees out of a prewar population of about 43 million.

Those who remain face growing privation as Russian airstrikes target electrical, heating and water systems to make life unbearable this winter. The Ukrainian economy has been devastated. Gross domestic product fell this year by almost 32% – more than U.S. GDP fell during the Great Depression.

Through it all, Ukraine’s will to fight has not flagged, any more than Britain’s did during the Blitz in 19401941. A Gallup poll in September found 70% of Ukrainians want to fight until they win the war. More than 90% said victory would entail liberating all of their territory, including Crimea.

I am ashamed a growing number of Americans – Republican, mostly –say we are doing too much to help Ukraine. Since the Russian invasion, Congress has approved $65.9 billion in assistance for Ukraine. That’s a lot of money, but it’s a paltry 0.3% of U.S. GDP.

Most Americans aren’t making any real sacrifice to support Ukraine; in fact, we are making a small but invaluable investment in our own security and that of our allies. It is the Ukrainians who are sacrific ing everything to fight for the liberal democratic values that we hold dear. If they win – and, make no mistake, they are winning – Ukrainians will strike a mighty blow for freedom that will resonate across the world.

Liberal democrats will cheer; dicta tors will cower.

The Ukrainians are showing how precious freedom is. For that I am immensely grateful.

Max Boot is a Washington Post col umnist, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of “The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam.”

Germans losing enthusiasm for helping Ukraine

Yehonatan a bramson, Dean DulaY, a nil menon, Pauline Jones SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON POST

Will the spiking costs of energy, which are particularly high in Germany, erode Euro pean support for assist ing Ukraine’s war effort against Russia? Russia – in its attempt to use energy as a weapon – has reduced gas supplies to Europe.

As a result, prices have soared to 10 times their previous levels and supplies are simply running out.

Not surprisingly, many look to Germany – the EU’s largest economy – as the test case for con tinued European commitment to Ukraine. Will the astronomical gas bills and the cold winter lead Germans to press their government to reduce or withdraw its assistance to Ukraine?

To investigate, we ran a public opinion survey – and found that energy prices are not the key issue. We learned, much as other surveys are finding, that while Germans support Ukraine’s battle against the Russian invasion, they believe Germany has already done enough. Two factors – their historical memory of German aggression in World War II and concern about the costs of hosting refugees – matter more than energy prices in German public opinion about helping Ukraine.

We surveyed an opt-in sample of 1,000 Germans online between Sept. 14 and Oct. 6. We used statisti cal tools to obtain results that reflect the German population along age, gender and state. We asked questions about the war in Ukraine and what respondents thought of Germany’s efforts to assist.

Then we asked how much they supported (none, a little, some, very or extremely) four specific policies:

n Increasing sanctions on Russia and Putin, even if these sanctions might lead to a further increase in food and gas prices.

n Sending more missiles and other military equipment to Ukraine, even if this increased Germany’s military budget.

n Admitting more refugees from Ukraine, even if it placed additional burdens on the economy.

n Admitting Ukraine into NATO even if this means committing to defending Ukraine militarily in the future.

Most Germans (91%) expressed at least some sympathy for the Ukraini ans. However, a majority (54%) think their country is doing enough (37%) or too much (17%) to help Ukraine’s military efforts and its refugees.

In general, roughly 30% of Germans oppose each of the four policies, while roughly 70% expressed some degree of support. But if we break down support by intensity (strong or weak), where strong is measured as “very” or “extremely” and weak is measured as “some” or “a little,” we find some telling variation.

While less than half (40%) strongly support more sanctions, even fewer support either delivering more weapons to Ukraine or admitting more refugees (just 31% strongly support each policy). Strong support for admitting Ukraine to NATO is lower still at only 26%.

In other words, German support for increasing either military assistance or humanitarian aid is lukewarm.

This national snapshot, however, hides important differences between erstwhile East and West Germany.

East Germans are more opposed to all four policies than West Germans by a wide margin. For example, while only 27% of West German respon dents are opposed to increasing military assistance to Ukraine, 52% of East Germans express this view. This is consistent with a more benign attitude toward Russia and greater skepticism toward NATO among that group.

But if Germans are more willing to sacrifice their family budgets than to send weapons or take in refugees, energy costs clearly aren’t as crucial as observers have suggested. We believe two other factors are key.

The first is the commitment to mil itary nonintervention the nation has cultivated since the end of World War II. That war’s legacy leads many Germans to adopt an attitude of mili tary restraint and aversion to military engagement. By now, Germany’s selfunderstanding as a “civilian power” has become a core part of its identity, which is hard to change. That same history – including the memory of German cities being bombed – might also influence Germans’ reluctance to be directly involved in the conflict.

In this respect, the German gov ernment’s decision to send weapons to Ukraine to fight Russian aggres

sion has been a revolutionary change in its foreign policy, which has had a fundamental commitment not to intervene militarily outside its borders. German jets and troops par ticipated in the NATO-led operation in Kosovo in 1999, helping to end Serbian forces’ genocide against the Albanians. And after the 9/11 ter rorist attacks, Germany sent troops to the U.S.-led military operation in Afghanistan. But these deployments were unpopular from the outset and the government faced mass protests as a result.

When German Chancellor Olaf Schulz announced Germany would supply Ukraine with weapons, the public supported him overwhelm ingly. But as the war has dragged on, Germans have become more hesi tant about being involved militarily. That’s also what happened during the Afghanistan war: German support for direct involvement declined sharply over time, leaving even less appetite for military intervention anywhere.

The second key factor is refugee fatigue. As the social and fiscal reality of hosting refugees has become more clear, Germans are losing enthusi asm for admitting more Ukrainians. This could have serious consequences in the coming months, as Russia’s ongoing bombing campaign will likely send more Ukrainians fleeing to European countries – which might serve to further weaken support for Ukraine.

While declining gas prices since October, due in part to warmer tem peratures, have given Europe a reprieve, this may not be sufficient to sustain current levels of support for Ukraine. In Germany, the gov ernment has announced a plan to pay the December gas bills for house holds and small- to medium-sized businesses. But even that might not be enough to boost German public support for delivering weapons and admitting more Ukrainian refugees.

Yehonatan Abramson is an assis tant professor in the department of international relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Dean Dulay is an assistant professor of political science at Singapore Man agement University. Anil Menon is a Klarman Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University. Pauline Jones is a professor of political science at the University of Michigan and the Edie N. Goldenberg Endowed Director of the Michigan in Washington Program.

Earl Heal

Max Boot

Bold predictions for 6 top Oscar categories, including best picture

Glenn Whipp LOS ANGELES TIMES

We’re still a couple of months away from Oscar nominations, but, outside of “Avatar: The Way of Water” and its glorious space whales, all the contenders have landed. Now it’s just a matter of convincing voters to give them a look.

With academy members and critics still in the discov ery stage, let’s set aside formal predictions for the moment and take a few bold guesses at what might happen if the planets align and a single butterfly’s wings flap in just the right way. Again, these are big swings. I’m not even saying these pre dictions should come to pass. But they might. Who knows? We haven’t even finished the Thanksgiving leftovers yet.

Best picture: “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” will earn a nomination

“Toy Story 3” was the last animated movie to earn a best picture nomination, and that was 12 years ago. “Up,” another Pixar classic, had managed the feat the year before, and “Beauty and the Beast” a couple of decades before that. But that’s it. And it’s not like there haven’t been some worthy contenders – “Inside Out,” “Coco,” “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” I’d even go back and sub in “Frozen” over the genteel crowd-pleaser “Philomena,” if it makes you happy. It’s classic Disney that has aged well.

So why now, why “Pinoc chio”? For starters, Del Toro put a wildly inventive spin on the classic folk tale, leading to some of the year’s stron gest reviews. And the fact that the Oscars have returned to a fixed slate of 10 nominees should work in its favor. “Up” and “Toy Story 3” earned their nominations during that twoyear window when the film academy mandated a field of 10. Also: It’s not a particu larly deep year for best picture contenders. Why not reward greatness – even if “Pinocchio” will be also recognized in the animated feature category?

Then there’s this: At the movie’s AFI Fest premiere earlier this month, many in the audience could be heard crying during the film’s poignant con clusion. “Lots of sniffling in that theater,” one Oscar voter noted. Crying is good. Crying wins hearts. Crying wins votes.

Director: Park Chan-wook will earn a nomination, even if his movie doesn’t

The academy has gone global with its membership the past few years, particu larly the directors branch, which has bolstered its ranks

with scores of filmmakers from around the world. The branch’s nominations have reflected this change, with Pawel Paw likowski (“Cold War”), Bong Joon-ho (“Parasite”), Thomas Vinterberg (“Another Round”) and Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (“Drive My Car”) earning nods the past four years, even when their movies (“Cold War” and “Another Round”) haven’t.

Look for Park Chan-wook to run the streak to five for his ravishing thriller “Decision to Leave.” A riveting story of obsession and longing, leavened with wry humor, it’s easily one of the year’s finest films. And Park, recently honored at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Art + Film Gala, has a long resume that includes the iconic “Oldboy” and “The Handmaiden” and, really, too many standouts to mention. The South Korean master would seem primed for his Oscar moment.

Lead actress: Michelle Yeoh will win the Oscar

From the moment Todd Field’s provocative “Tár” pre miered in Venice, it felt like everyone was ready to call this race settled, handing the Oscar to Cate Blanchett for her turn as the title character, a magnif icent, monstrous maestro and expert image builder. (Just look at the accented “a” in her name, a garnish manufactured to add a dash of sophistication. Her real name: Linda Tarr.)

And Blanchett may well win her third Oscar, though voters just gave Frances McDor mand a third prize a couple of years ago, putting her along side Katharine Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman and Meryl Streep as women who have won at least three Academy Awards.

(Hepburn has four.)

Blanchett absolutely belongs in their company. But it might be a bit too soon for voters to sign off on another threep eat, particularly in a race that will include Michelle Yeoh, who hops between tones and multiverses in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” without missing a beat. “Tár” is a superb movie, but it is chilly. And in the wake of the feelgood weepy “CODA” winning best picture, we may still be in a time when people want to feel their feelings deeply and not have to puzzle their way through a movie that so aggres sively demands that they (groan) pay attention.

Lead actor: Tom Cruise earns a nomination for “Top Gun: Maverick”

OK, admittedly, this looks a little bonkers at first glance. Isn’t Tom Cruise simply playing Tom Cruise in “Top Gun: Mav erick”? Can you name three ways Pete Mitchell is different from, say, Ethan Hunt or Jack Reacher or any other charac ter Cruise has played in the last decade or so? Maybe. Probably not. But what other actor could take a 30-some-odd-year break between blockbuster action movies and still convincingly play an irresistible, arrogant fighter pilot capable of saving the world and not have audi ences rolling their eyes?

Is that great acting? Maybe. Probably not. But it’s an achievement just as impres sive as, perhaps, Brendan Fraser donning prosthetics to portray a depressed, massively overweight English teacher in Darren Aronofsky’s upcom ing drama, “The Whale.” But

THE FOURTH BOOK IS LIKE THE THIRD

A few of my students say that they find no-trump contracts harder to play than suit contracts. I tell them that they are wrong, pointing out that my library contains only three books about no-trump, one of which is in French, and more than 1,000 about suit contracts.

Now I have a fourth no-trump book

Sudoku

Bridge

THE FOURTH BOOK IS LIKE

by Phillip Alder

because the French one, “Step by Step, Playing No-trump Contracts” by Robert Berthe and Norbert Lebely, has been translated into English.

The book is in three parts. The first contains 49 deals. Part two comprises a list of the key concepts. Finally there are 26 problems so that you can self-test. Today’s deal is one of those. How should South play in six no-trump after West leads the spade nine?

In the auction, four no-trump was quantitative. South’s five-no-trump rebid showed exactly 16 points, in the middle of the 15-17 range. North went one more because he knew that 33 was the magic number for six no-trump without a five-card suit.

South must take two spades, three hearts, three diamonds and four clubs. Getting the fourth club is easy if the suit is splitting 3-2 or the jack is a singleton. Even if an opponent has jack-fourth, that is in theory no problem because South can finesse through either opponent.

In this situation, leave the key suit until last. Drive out the spade ace and cash all red-suit winners. What does declarer learn? That West started with five spades, five hearts, two diamonds and, therefore, only one club. So, South cashes his club king, crosses to dummy’s ace and runs the 10 through East.

by Wayne Gould

Bridge

Isabel Infantes/AFP/Getty Images/TNS file

Director Guillermo del Toro poses on the red carpet at the world premiere of “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” during the 2022 BFI London Film Festival in London, Oct. 15.

The well-known journalist takes a look back at the 2003 holiday classic in “Love Actually: 20 Years Later – A Diane Sawyer/ABC News Special.” TUESDAY AT 8 P.M. ON CHANNELS 7, 10

St. Nick saves the day in theaters

FAIRFIELD — Coming to local theaters this week is the story of the author of a famous poem turned Christmas carol and an adventurous thriller where Saint Nick must save a family.

Opening nationwide are:

“Violent Night,” in which a team of mer cenaries break into a wealthy family com pound on Christmas Eve, taking everyone inside hostage. But Santa Claus (David Harbour) is on the grounds, and he’s about to show why this Nick is no saint. The film is rated R.

“I Heard the Bells,” which tells the story behind the writing of the famous poem and its author, Henry Wad sworth Longfellow. The film is not rated.

Opening in limited release are:

“Mistletoe Ranch,” the story of Aimée, a young professional pho tographer whose job it is to follow boss Gustav, a world-famous

photographer himself. Aimée returns to Mis tletoe Ranch for the first time in seven years to see what is threatening the family’s festivities. There, she must face her ex-fiancé James and a perilous financial sit uation. Forced to work side-by-side to save the ranch, recent bitterness subsides as old feelings of affection emerge. The film is rated PG.

“Amigo,” in which David decides after a serious car accident (for which he’s responsi ble) to care for his best friend Javi at a remote house. In a very short time the two are at each others’ throats. The film is not rated.

“Last Film Show,” a foreign film that tells the story of a 9-year-old boy living with his family in a remote village in India when he discovers films for the first time and is absolutely mesmerized. The film is not rated.

From Page B3

where’s the feeling in Cruise’s “Top Gun: Mav erick” performance, you ask. C’mon: Did you not shed a tear during that reunion scene between Maverick and Val Kilm er’s Iceman? No? Who are you? Lydia Tár?

Supporting actress: “Everything Everywhere All at Once” earns as many nominations here as “Women Talking”

There are a great many great women in Sarah Polley’s sensi tive, powerful drama “Women Talking,” and that surplus of quality could work against it at the Oscars. Who do you single out from this excellent ensem ble? With Rooney Mara campaigning in the lead category, the focus will likely be on the actors voters know – Claire Foy and Jessie Buckley, nom inated last year for her brilliant work in “The Lost Daughter.”

Both Foy and Buckley could be nominated, or just one, which is also

true of the supporting players in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Stephanie Hsu carries much of the film’s emotional weight as the despairing daughter, while Jamie Lee Curtis makes a strong case for her first Oscar nomina tion with an impeccable comic turn. Too bad this isn’t the Emmys, because this category could sure use a few more slots this year.

Supporting actor: Brian Tyree Henry earns a nomination for “Causeway”

This prediction is bold only in the sense that the Apple TV+ movie is a small, subtle film that might have trouble attracting voters’ atten tion, even with Jennifer Lawrence and Henry playing the leads. The actors share a tender rapport, and Henry is, as always, nothing short of phenomenal as an auto repair shop owner trying his best to deal with a tragic past. Henry has an Emmy nomination for “Atlanta” as well as a Tony nomination. The Oscars would do well to add to the acclaim.

FF

Zits Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

Pearls Before Swine Stephan Pastis

Dilbert Scott Adams

Baby Blues Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott

Baldo Hector Cantú and Carlos Castellanos

few hands before it settled in Greenlaw’s at the 1-yard line.

Ruining the Saints’ earlier opportunities to score were: a 48-yard field goal attempt that sailed wide in the third quarter; a Kyle Shanahan challenge that nullified a Saints catch at the 49ers’ 8-yard line; and an illegal contact penalty that negated a Saints intercep tion and an ensuing return deep into 49ers territory.

After posting sec ond-half shutouts in their past three wins, the 49ers instead blanked the Saints in the first half –and the second half. New Orleans’ offense produced 260 yards, went 4-of-11 on third downs, and, of course, 0-for-2 on red-zone drives.

This opened a threegame homestand for the 49ers, with their next guests being the Miami Dolphins and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for Sunday matinees.

An injury to Elijah Mitchell (knee) was the

Warriors

From Page B1

bench and Klay Thomp son, who’s got his season back on track after Green pulled him aside and told him to be patient, finished with 21 points with five 3-pointers.

biggest injury concern, as he was ruled out in the third quarter. Left guard Spencer Burford (right ankle) also left in the third quarter. Deebo Samuel apparently shook off a left leg issue that had him get medical attention just before halftime, and Jimmy Garoppolo dodged a catastrophic injury when Saints lineman Malcolm Roach illegally hit Garoppolo’s surgi cally repaired left knee after a throw.

The 49ers took a 10-0 lead into half time, courtesy mostly of their defense but also an impressive touch down drive that Jauan Jennings not only fueled but capped. Jennings made clutch receptions of 13 yards (on thirdand-10), 12 yards (on the next snap), 12 yards (plus six yards more on Chris Harris Jr.’s late hit penalty), and, finally, a 5-yard scoring grab while falling to the ground in the back left corner of the end zone, after safety Tyrann Mathieu tipped the ball.

Garoppolo was 6-of-8 on that drive, and he was 20-of-28 in the

The Warriors have been dominant defend ers of their home court, where they’re 9-1 for the second-highest home win percentage in the league.

But it’s been a totally different story away from the Bay.

Golden State entered Sunday’s game in Minne apolis with the worst road record in the league, losing

first half, the most passes thrown before halftime in his career and the thirdmost by a 49er since 1991, one pass shy of what Steve Young (1995, vs. Falcons) and Alex Smith (2009, vs. Jaguars). Garoppolo finished 26-of-37 for 222 yards with no turnovers for the fourth straight game.

Garoppolo has not thrown an interception in his past 137 passes. What would have been Throw No. 131, however, ended up in the hands of the Saints’ Alontae Taylor, who returned that would-be interception to the 8-yard line. Alas, an illegal contact penalty on another Saints defen sive back nullified that interception, keeping Garoppolo’s streak alive.

Deebo Samuel, who entered the game ques tionable because of a hamstring injury, appeared to tweak his left knee or leg in the end zone four minutes before halftime. He didn’t leave the game, however, and made a 16-yard catchand-run on the second snap of the second half.

The 49ers’ defense

nine of their first 10 games outside San Francisco. But after winning backto-back home games and finding a solution to their second unit with the injec tion of Draymond Green, the Warriors seem to be back on track and extend their win streak to three.

“We’ve settled down. We’ve gotten into some rotation and feel solid,”

opened this game by recovering only its second fumble of the season. Fred Warner forced it out of Alvin Kamara’s hands on the game’s opening drive, and Samson Ebukam recovered, gifting the 49es possession at the Saints’ 43.

Robbie Gould’s 24-yard field goal gave the 49ers a 3-0 lead, and it was a consolation prize for that drive which began off the Saints’ openingseries fumble and wasted a fourth-down conver sion run by Christian McCaffrey that set up first-and-goal from the 9.

Another first-half high light: winning a challenge, which ruled Chris Olave did not make a 30-yard catch at the 8-yard line.

The first-half low light: failing to score on fourth-and-goal from the 1, with Garoppolo stopped at the 2 on a quarter back scramble.

Dalton finished 18-of-29 for 204 yards, and he was the Saints’ leading rusher with 21 yards (four carries). Kamara had just 13 yards on seven carries and 37 yards on six receptions.

coach Steve Kerr said Sunday afternoon. “But now we have to carry that out onto the road, so these are a good couple of games for us against good teams, playoff teams.”

After Sunday’s win, the Warriors are 2-9 on the road. They’ll travel to Dallas for a Western Con ference finals rematch Tuesday night.

CALENDAR

Monday’s TV sports

Basketball College Men

• Minnesota vs. Virginia Tech, ESPN2, 4 p.m.

• Pittsburgh vs. Northwestern, ESPN2, 6 p.m.

NBA

• Phoenix vs. Sacramento, NBCSCA (Vacaville and Rio Vista), 7 p.m.

Football

NFL

• Pittsburgh vs. Indianapolis, ESPN, 5 p.m.

soccer

World Cup

• Cameroon vs. Serbia, FS1, 2 a.m.

• Korea Republic vs. Ghana, FS1, 5 a.m.

• Brazil vs.Switzerland, 2, 40, 8 a.m.

• Portugal vs. Uruguay, 2, 40, 11 a.m.

Tuesday’s TV sports

Basketball College Men

• Teams TBA, ESPN2, 4 p.m.

• Teams TBA, ESPN, 4:30 p.m.

• Wake Forest vs. Wisconsin, ESPN2, 6 p.m.

• Virginia vs. Michigan, ESPN, 6:30 p.m.

NBA

• Golden State vs. Dallas, TNT, NBCBA (Fairfield and Suisun City), 4:30 p.m.

• L.A. Clippers vs. Portland, TNT, 7 p.m.

Hockey NHL

• San Jose vs. Montreal, NBCSCA, 4 p.m.

soccer World Cup

• Netherlands vs. Qatar, 2, 40, 7 a.m.

• Ecuador vs. Senegal, FS1, 7 a.m.

• Iran vs. United States, 2, 40, 11 a.m.

• Wales vs. England, FS1, 11 a.m.

From Page B1

enemies. On Friday, Ber halter played that down.

“I played in three dif ferent countries and I coached in Sweden,” he said. “And the thing about soccer is you meet so many different people from around the world,

and you’re united by the common love of the sport of soccer. I envi sion the game being hotly contested for the fact that both teams want to advance to the next round, not because of pol itics or relations in our country. We’re soccer players and we’re going to compete. They’re going to compete, and that’s it.”