US Attorney General Merrick Garland defended the Justice Department on Thursday against what he called unfounded attacks and said prosecutions under his leadership were driven by “justice, not politics.”Garland, in an emotional farewell speech to Justice Department employees, also stressed the importance of maintaining the independence of the department from the White House and Congress.   Garland did not specifically mention Donald Trump or the president-elect’s nominee to be his successor as attorney general, Pam Bondi, in his speech. But some of his remarks were clearly aimed at the incoming administration.”I know that you have faced unfounded attacks simply for doing your jobs,” the outgoing attorney general told Justice Department staff. “But the story that has been told by some outside of this building about what has happened inside of it is wrong.”You have worked to pursue justice, not politics.”During his tenure, Garland appointed a special counsel who brought two federal cases against Trump — for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election and mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House.Neither case came to trial and both were dropped in line with a Justice Department policy of not prosecuting a sitting president, after Trump won the November election.Trump has threatened to pursue individuals he perceives as his political enemies but Bondi, during her Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, pledged that she “will not politicize” the office of attorney general.”I will not target people just because of their political affiliation,” she said. “There will never be an enemies list within the Department of Justice.”Garland said law enforcement decisions should be “based only on the facts and the law” and the Justice Department must maintain its independence from the White House and Congress.”We make that commitment not because independence is necessarily constitutionally required, but because it is the only way to ensure that our law enforcement decisions are free from partisan influence,” he said.”It is the obligation of each of us to adhere to our norms even when — and especially when — the circumstances we face are not normal,” he said.Garland also appeared to have some words of advice for his successor, saying it was incumbent upon the attorney general to ensure that the Justice Department does things “the right way.””The attorney general must ensure that this department seeks justice only with justice,” he said.

David Lynch — the singular and surreal director of “Mulholland Drive” and television’s “Twin Peaks,” who depicted the darkness lurking beneath the wholesome surface of American life — has died. He was 78 years old.An enigmatic artist who turned his hand to arthouse and blockbuster film, television, painting and music, Lynch was considered one of US cinema’s great auteurs.”It is with deep regret that we, his family, announce the passing of the man and the artist, David Lynch,” read a statement on his official Facebook page.The cause and location of death were not specified. Lynch, who lived in Los Angeles, had suffered from emphysema after years of heavy smoking.He emerged on the US indie scene with his creepy 1977 horror “Eraserhead,” and drew both acclaim and a cult following with sadomasochist mystery “Blue Velvet” (1986) and surreal thriller “Mulholland Drive” (2001).But he may be best remembered for his mesmerizing 1990s series “Twin Peaks,” which paved the way for many a prestige television drama.With four Oscar nominations, including a trio of best director nods, the filmmaker recognizable by his shock of white hair took home just one honorary statuette, in 2019.- ‘Fearless’ -Tributes from across Hollywood swiftly poured in.Steven Spielberg called Lynch “a singular, visionary dreamer who directed films that felt handmade,” while fellow director Ron Howard hailed “a gracious man and fearless artist” who “proved that radical experimentation could yield unforgettable cinema.”Kyle MacLachlan, who starred in “Twin Peaks” and several Lynch films, called Lynch “an enigmatic and intuitive man with a creative ocean bursting forth inside of him.””I owe my entire career, and life really, to his vision,” he wrote on Instagram.Born in small-town Montana in 1946, the son of an agricultural research scientist, Lynch travelled extensively around Middle America as a young man.He attended fine arts colleges in Boston and Philadelphia before joining the American Film Institute, where he began work on “Eraserhead.”That was followed by 1980’s “The Elephant Man,” also shot in black-and-white and deeply tragic, but decidedly more mainstream and accessible, earning his first best director Oscar nomination.Based on the diary of Joseph Merrick, the so-called “Elephant Man” born in the United States in 1862 with a condition that gave him a severely deformed physical appearance, it starred Anthony Hopkins and John Hurt.An attempt to adapt sci-fi novel “Dune” in 1984 would be one of Lynch’s less well-received efforts, though it still has its admirers.Lynch pivoted back to his arthouse roots with “Blue Velvet,” about a young man whose discovery of a severed ear leads him to the sinister side of his small town.It starred Isabella Rossellini — whom Lynch dated for several years — and is often heralded as his greatest work, earning a second Academy Award nomination for directing. After winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes with “Wild at Heart” in 1990, Lynch turned to television with “Twin Peaks,” which captivated and shocked Americans from its 1990 launch.The tale of a tight-knit northwestern town reacting to the rape and murder of a popular but troubled high school girl, it was years ahead of its time.But ratings plummeted as the show’s second season lost direction after the purported meddling of ABC executives, and it was cancelled. An even darker 1992 prequel film was initially panned, but is now considered a classic.- ‘Big hole’ -In 2001, Lynch made his second undisputed masterpiece, “Mulholland Drive,” which brought a third best director Oscar nomination.Naomi Watts plays a naive actress who meets a mysterious brunette suffering amnesia, before everything gets inverted in an astonishing twist that has fans arguing over its meaning to this day.Film writer David Thomson called it “one of the greatest films ever made about the cultural devastation caused by Hollywood.”Lynch’s final full-length feature film was 2006’s inscrutable “Inland Empire,” although he returned to the world of “Twin Peaks” with an acclaimed sequel series for cable network Showtime in 2017.But he never retired, continuing to produce short films, music and paintings, and practice his beloved daily transcendental meditation, from his studio and home — appropriately located just outside Hollywood, on Mulholland Drive.He regularly posted whimsical weather updates to YouTube, underlining the optimistic and playful man behind his often troubling art.”There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us,” said his family’s statement.”But, as he would say, ‘Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.'”

Homeowners in areas of the United States with the highest climate-related risks saw declining access to insurance, a Treasury Department report released Thursday said.Average insurance non-renewal rates were about 80 percent higher for consumers in high-climate-risk areas than for those in the lowest-risk ones, the report found. It showed that “homeowners insurance is becoming more costly and harder to procure for millions of Americans as the costs of climate-related events pose growing challenges,” the department said.The report, providing a view of the homeowners insurance market, comes as a climate-related crisis unfolds in Los Angeles, and with millions across the country rebuilding from the effects of hurricanes and other disasters last year.Los Angeles has been battling deadly wildfires that have killed at least 24, destroyed thousands of buildings, and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes.The “analysis comes at a time of devastating tragedy, loss of life, and destruction from the wildfires in the Los Angeles area,” said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in a statement.”While it’s far from clear what the exact financial costs of this disaster will be, it is a stark reminder of the impacts of the growing magnitude of natural disasters on the US economy,” she added.The report, released by the Treasury Department’s Federal Insurance Office, is based on data covering more than 330 insurers on over 246 million homeowners insurance policies, running from 2018 to 2022.Homeowners living in communities hit by “substantial weather events are paying far more than those elsewhere,” the Treasury said.Across the country, homeowners insurance costs have been rising — with average premiums per policy growing 8.7 percent faster than the rate of inflation in the 2018-2022 period.”Data and analysis, like those in this report, are critical for helping policymakers understand how substantial climate-related property losses are being spread across homeowners, insurers, and governments,” said Under Secretary of Domestic Finance Nellie Liang.