Le Journal

Welcome to the Steelers Afternoon Drive, our new daily podcast featuring all the latest Steelers news and analysis. Alan Saunders and Zachary Smith discuss all things Pittsburgh Steelers. On today’s episode, Derrick Bell joins us to preview and predict how things will go between the Steelers and the Buffalo Bills. What are the key matchups in this one that will determine who comes out of this one on the right side of things? Let’s go for another Steelers Afternoon Drive and discuss all this! Check out the show on our YouTube page, or find it on Megaphone or wherever you get your podcasts. Got a question for the guys? Leave a comment on YouTube, here on the website, or find them on Twitter at @ASaunders_PGH and @ZacharySmithPGH Hey fans! We want to see your black and gold rides! Show us your car, truck or van that’s painted in Pittsburgh colors, decorated with logos or Terrible Towels, covered in bumper stickers, or uses some other way to show off your dedication to the Black and Gold. Click to check out more from Alan Saunders and the gang on the SN YouTube page. Click for full archives of the Steelers Afternoon Drive with Alan Saunders and Zachary Smith.This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Steelers Afternoon Drive: Bills Preview & Predictions

Pittsburgh Steelers WR George Pickens in a game against the Washington Commander on Nov. 10, 2024. -- Ed Thompson / Steelers Now Pittsburgh Steelers long snapper Christian Kuntz admitted on his podcast that it’s tough to watch George Pickens have a first-team All-Pro season with the Dallas Cowboys. Pickens had another standout game in Dallas’ 31-28 win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Thanksgiving Day, recording six receptions for 88 yards (14.7 average). On the season, Pickens has 73 receptions for 1,142 yards (15.6 average) and eight touchdowns. All career highs, and there’s still five games left. In an recent article he wrote for The Players’ Tribune, Pickens admitted that he was immature during his tenure with the Steelers. That factor played a big role in why the Steelers traded Pickens and a 2027 sixth-round draft pick. to the Cowboys for a 2026 third-round draft pick and a 2027 fifth-round draft pick in May. “It’s tough to watch and that sucks to hear,” Kuntz said of Pickens admitting that he wasn’t mature with the Steelers. “It’s like, ‘Damn, dude. We wish [you could have done that here].’ But George is a hell of a player, dude. Like, he’s one of the best receivers in the world. It just is what it is.” GEORGE FREAKING PICKENS GOES AIRBORNE 😱🤯HE’S UNREAL!!! (via @NFL) pic.twitter.com/eR1ptWY132— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 28, 2025 Pickens also wrote in his article for The Players’ Tribune that he has no ill-will toward the Steelers. “I don’t have a bad word to say about Pittsburgh,” Pickens wrote in the article. “I can call up Coach T right now and we’d have a real conversation. What I respect about him most is he always told me, ‘Just keep being you, George.’ It just wasn’t the long-term fit for where my journey was headed, and that’s OK. “They did right by me. They sent me to the perfect spot in Dallas. What more do you want me to say? There’s no drama, bro. No headlines to write. They’re doing things their way up there, and I’m down here in Dallas with CeeDee and Dak doing what I do best. Everybody wins.”This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Steelers Player Admits It’s Tough to Watch George Pickens Go Off with Cowboys

ISTANBUL (RNS) — The Ancient Basilica of Neophytos lay buried beneath the surface of Lake İznik, in Turkey, for more than 1,200 years. Drought and climate change have caused its stone outline to re-emerge from the waters over the past decade, in time for a special anniversary celebration: the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. According to some archeologists and historians, the basilica was the meeting place for the roughly 200 bishops convened by Emperor Constantine in 325 to confront a theological crisis and articulate the foundation of their shared Christian faith. The gathering was known as the first Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, named after the ancient Bithynian city that once existed there. Not much remains of Nicaea — some 10,000 feet of broken walls, a few gates and the faint footprint of an imperial palace are scattered in the Turkish city of İznik. But what is now mostly rubble was the birthplace of the Nicene Creed — a statement of belief shared by almost all Christians today. And it was before the newly resurfaced ruins of the Basilica of Neophytos that Pope Leo XIV joined with Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and other Christian leaders on Friday (Nov. 28), hoping to recover the same spirit of unity that once animated this lakeshore 17 centuries ago. Chants accompanied the pope and the patriarch as they walked over the platform leading to the basilica’s remains, where they placed lanterns near two large icons depicting Christ and the Council of Nicaea. Bartholomew, who is largely recognized as the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodoxy, spoke first, underlining that the event was not just a remembrance of things past, but also a reminder for the present. “We return to this wellspring of the Christian faith in order to move forward. We refresh ourselves at these inspired waters of rest in order to become strong for the tasks that lie ahead. The power of this place does not reside in what passes away, but in what endures forever,” he said. After an ecumenical prayer and the reading of the Gospel, Leo observed that “at a period of history marked by many tragic signs, in which people are subjected to countless threats to their very dignity,” the Council of Nicaea offers an opportunity to deepen the faithful’s relationship with Christ, warning against the danger of reducing the figure of Jesus “to a kind of charismatic leader or superman.” The pope said the anniversary offered a chance for Christians to deepen their bond to one another. “We are all invited to overcome the scandal of the divisions that unfortunately still exist and to nurture the desire for unity for which the Lord Jesus prayed and gave his life,” Leo said, adding that it could also inspire unity in a world “afflicted by violence and conflict.” The pope also condemned any “use of religion for justifying war, violence or any form of fundamentalism or fanaticism.” When the Council of Nicaea was convened, the early church was facing internal divisions, with the Alexandrian priest Arius disputing the fully divine nature of Jesus. Constantine, the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity and to legalize it with the edict of Milan in 313, wished to call all bishops from across the empire to settle the issues tearing at the young religion. In Nicaea, the council established the fully divine nature of Jesus, set the rules for the celebration of Easter and wrote the Nicene Creed. Christianity eventually splintered into the multiple denominations that exist today, but the ecumenical council represents a first, and lasting, effort to ground the Christian faith in shared principles and beliefs. RELATED: I want to add my other story here It’s that spirit of unity that Pope Leo is trying to revive on this trip, a message made tangible in İznik, where, in 2014, archaeologist Mustafa Şahin uncovered the submerged basilica that once stood near the council’s ancient meeting place. Aerial photographs taken via helicopter by the Bursa Metropolitan…

Alex Jones kicked off some low stakes drama over the holidays after sharing what appeared to be a photo of him spending Thanksgiving with Sydney Sweeney. But was it real? The drama started when the InfoWars host reposted an image shared to X by @AlexJonesIA that showed Jones holding a cooked turkey on a platter and standing in a kitchen next to Sweeney. Jones himself reposted it, added the image again, and captioned it, "Happy thanksgiving to all of my fellow Americans as we continue to battle for the future of our republic." https://twitter.com/RealAlexJones/status/1993988079787311338 Did Alex Jones and Sydney Sweeney have Thanksgiving together? In short, no. If the Euphoria star spent the holidays with any rightwing conspiracy theorists, it wasn't Jones. Although his original post makes no acknowledgment of the fact that the photo is not real, Jones later made a video explaining the situation. "I saw a viral post where some folks photoshopped—or it's AI, I can't tell—an image of myself and the model—who also stands up for basic rights and American values, so I do like her," he said. "So I reposted it and it went even more viral." He then started going off about how "the left got really, really triggered by it" and called him "deceptive" for sharing it. "It's called a joke. It also shows how easily people can be manipulated by projecting whatever they want onto it," he said, followed by a full-on rant about all the times he claims "they" (presumably "the left") have deceived people in such a manner. It's really worth repeating that Jones didn't even allude to the photo being fake initially. He has also subsequently mocked people who assumed it was real, mostly by sharing a number of other AI-generated images of himself with various famous people and treating them as the real deal. The internet is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s newsletter here. Sign up to receive the Daily Dot’s Internet Insider newsletter for urgent news from the frontline of online. The post “It’s called a joke”: Alex Jones shares AI Thanksgiving pic with Sydney Sweeney, then rants about “triggered” reactions appeared first on The Daily Dot.

(RNS) — We have been living through unbelievable days in Charlotte, North Carolina. I saw masked, armed Border Patrol agents patrolling the streets, violently snatching my neighbors and taking them to undisclosed locations. That doesn’t happen in America — except that it is currently happening. I can’t believe my own eyes. For years, prominent political voices have been warning us about the danger of government overreach, and I dismissed it as hysteria. And now, federal agents are grabbing civilians in blatant violation of the First, Fourth and Fifth amendments, but the very voices who have been sounding the alarm are celebrating. I can’t believe my own ears. Operation “Charlotte’s Web,” a cynical degradation of a children’s book all about love and belonging, may have officially ended, but the fear its agents left in their wake will long remain. And while the Border Patrol agents may have moved on to terrorize cities in America’s South, we know Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents remain and deportations are only set to increase with the new year’s expanded budget. We continue to navigate uncertainty. We hear from our mayor and sheriff that the operation has concluded. Then we read a report from the Department of Homeland Security saying that the operation is ongoing and far from over. The rate of detentions slows but does not stop. Are people being taken by ICE or Customs and Border Protection? Does it matter? Should we continue to patrol? Is it a trap? My friends, who are American citizens, asked me to hold their children’s birth certificates in case any of them get taken. My church is now worshipping with locked doors and a posted lookout because on Nov. 15, the first day of the invasion, agents went through the gates of a neighboring church and onto church grounds, where they detained a man who had been gardening, as others fled into the woods. And still, daily life continues. We practice special Christmas music, urge people to sign up for the potluck and make hospital visits. We also schedule our safety patrol shifts outside the elementary schools, wait with cheerful signs to open doors in car drop-off lines half as long as normal, and arrange food deliveries to families who have to shelter in place indefinitely. How is it that everything has changed and nothing has changed at the same time? I heard Mecklenburg County GOP chairman Kyle Kirby give a radio interview during the operation in which he said that agents were conducting targeted raids and that they were polite and respectful. He said the only chaos being caused was by outside agitators. He said people were refusing to comply with reasonable requests. He said American citizens and documented immigrants had nothing to fear. He said the majority of Charlotteans feel safer since the Border Patrol invasion. None of these statements is true. The true outside agitators were the U.S. Border Patrol agents. These agents were patrolling our streets and targeting Hispanic and Latino people. Tackling teenagers and breaking car windows are not reasonable requests — but it is reasonable for people to run for their lives when they are being swarmed by masked men with guns and zip ties. It is not yet illegal to scream and blow a whistle and record when one sees a neighbor being abducted. If agents are acting legally, why are they wearing masks? If agents are making reasonable requests, why are they opposed to these encounters being filmed for documentation? It’s not the Charlotteans with whistles who were disturbing the peace; it was the heavily armed federal agents snatching community members as they hung Christmas decorations, laid sod and sold food and flowers. You cannot increase respect for the rule of law by acting lawlessly. I understand why people want to believe Kyle Kirby. The lies are comforting. But that doesn’t make them true. And yet, not everything is horror. I also see and hear beautiful and true things. People are rising up to be good neighbors to one…