By CALVIN WOODWARD, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington National Cathedral on Thursday hosts a bipartisan show of respect and remembrance for Dick Cheney, the consequential and polarizing vice president who in later years became an acidic scold of fellow Republican President Donald Trump.

Trump, who has been publicly silent about Cheney’s death Nov. 3, was not invited to the 11 a.m. memorial service.

Two ex-presidents came: Republican George W. Bush, who is to eulogize the man who served him as vice president, and Democrat Joe Biden, who once called Cheney “the most dangerous vice president we’ve had probably in American history” but now honors his commitment to his family and to his values.

Moments before the service began, figures of recent but now receded power mingled: Bush and Biden and their wives sitting in a row together, former Vice Presidents Kamala Harris and Mike Pence chatting side by side in their pew with Al Gore and Dan Quayle together behind them.

Biden greeted Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former longtime Senate leader, and his wife, former labor and transportation secretary Elaine Chao. Behind them sat Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker.

Daughter Liz Cheney, a former high-ranking House member whose Republican political career was shredded by Trump’s MAGA movement, will join Bush in addressing the gathering at the grand church known as “a spiritual home for the nation.”

Others delivering tributes at Thursday’s funeral are Cheney’s longtime cardiologist, Jonathan Reiner; former NBC News correspondent Pete Williams, who was Cheney’s spokesman at the Pentagon; and the former vice president’s grandchildren. Hundreds of guests were expected.

Trump’s vice president was not among them. JD Vance, on stage at another event in the morning, was asked about Cheney and said: “Obviously there’s some political disagreements there but he was a guy who served his country. We certainly wish his family all the best in this moment of grieving.”

Cheney had lived with heart disease for decades and, after the Bush administration, with a heart transplant. He died at age 84 from complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, his family said.

The White House lowered its flags to half-staff after Cheney’s death, as it said the law calls for, but Trump did not issue the presidential proclamation that often accompanies the death of notable figures, nor has he commented publicly on his passing.

Related Articles

House gets back to work and quickly falls into a cycle of punishing its own

Americans like democracy, but don’t believe it or US institutions are working well, poll finds

Funerals at Washington’s National Cathedral tell the story of a nation

Trump signs bill to release Jeffrey Epstein case files after fighting it for months

Trump administration makes major changes to a report it commissioned on FEMA reforms, AP sources say

The deeply conservative Cheney’s influence in the Bush administration was legendary and, to his critics, tragic.

He advocated for the U.S. invasion of Iraq on the basis of what proved to be faulty intelligence and consistently defended the extraordinary tools of surveillance, detention and inquisition employed in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Bush credited him with helping to keep the country safe and stable in a perilous time.

After the 2020 election won by Biden, Liz Cheney served as vice chair of the Democratic-led special House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. She accused Trump of summoning the violent mob and plunging the nation into “a moment of maximum danger.”

For that, she was stripped of her Republican leadership position and ultimately defeated in a 2022 Republican primary in Wyoming. In a campaign TV ad made for his daughter, Dick Cheney branded Trump a “coward” who “tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him.”

Last year, it did not sit well with Trump when Cheney said he would vote for the Democrat, Harris, in the presidential election.

Trump told Arab and Muslim voters that Cheney’s support for Harris should give them pause, because he “killed more Arabs than any human being on Earth. He pushed Bush, and they went into the Middle East.”

Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.

The numbers aren’t pretty for quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who ranks dead last in the NFL with a 52.9 completion rate.

The tape is even uglier when seeing how often McCarthy is missing players running wide open down the field.

Some of those struggles were illuminated by former NFL quarterback J.T. O’Sullivan last week via The QB School as he did a deep dive on McCarthy’s performance in the 27-19 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

It was more of the same this week, as O’Sullivan provided an equally lengthy film review of McCarthy’s performance in the 19-17 loss to the Chicago Bears.

Though he wasn’t nearly as negative as some of the rhetoric circulating on social media, O’Sullivan still has issues with the way McCarthy currently plays the position.

“It doesn’t look easy,” O’Sullivan said. “He’s making things harder on himself.”

Here are some of the highlights from the most recent breakdown via The QB School:

The leg whip

The first thing O’Sullivan brought up was the leg whip during McCarthy’s follow through. It presented itself on the first throw of the game, when McCarthy completed a pass to Adam Thielen to move the chains.

“He can rip it,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s just going to be really hard for most people to be consistent with that kind of lower half action.”

O’Sullivan noted how McCarthy’s mechanics are much more linear than rotational. In other words, McCarthy seems to generate his power by shifting his weight toward intended target rather than turning his hips while rooted in the ground.

That motion was also evident on the most egregious miss of the game, when McCarthy sailed star receiver Justin Jefferson with a ball that looked like it was about 10 feet over Jefferson’s head. As he rewound the play multiple times, O’Sullivan seemed genuinely shocked by how badly McCarthy missed Jefferson.

“That’s going to struggle to hit water falling out of a boat,” O’Sullivan said. “That’s thing is way out of there.”

The common thread for O’Sullivan in both of those misfires was the leg whip during McCarthy’s follow through.

“You just don’t see a lot of guys with that kind of follow through like that anymore,” O’Sullivan said. “He’s just so linear at getting that back hip through like a damn pitcher.”

It’s worth noting the leg whip during McCarthy’s follow through was also on display in the final minute of the game, when he threw strike to receiver Jordan Addison for a touchdown. It’s not ideal. It’s also not disqualifying — as long as he finds a way to control it.

“This is a hell of a strike,” O’Sullivan said. “Is this my favorite way to throw this from the lower half? No. Is it really hard to be consistent as a thrower with somebody who consistently does that? Yep. That’s still a big time throw.”

The ball trajectory

The first miss came on the opening drive, when McCarthy underthrew Addison deep down the field.

It would’ve gone for a big gain had McCarthy put a little bit more on it. Instead, he threw it on more of a line, and it went down as a missed opportunity.

The part that seemed to frustrate O’Sullivan more than the ball trajectory, however, was that McCarthy didn’t rip it to Jefferson on the deep crosser over the middle. Though it wasn’t necessarily wrong to go to Addison, it would’ve been easier to go to Jefferson.

“Just throw it to the (expletive) best player,” O’Sullivan said. “This is not even hard.”

The struggles with the ball trajectory also popped up for McCarthy on the incompletion to Aaron Jones in the end zone, then on the incompletion to tight end T.J. Hockenson near the sideline with nobody around him.

“A little touch makes it much easier,” O’Sullivan said. “We’ve had a couple of opportunities for plays down the field and the balls have been flat.”

It was a similar story on the interception McCarthy threw to Addison in the end zone. There wasn’t enough air on the ball, which, in turn, allowed cornerback Nahshon Wright to rise up for the interception.

“This ball is flat and behind us,” O’Sullivan said. “That’s a terrible pick.”

After watching the play back a few times, O’Sullivan added that the ball to Addison probably should’ve gone to receiver Jalen Nailor, who was running wide open in the intermediate part of the field

“I think it’s probably a poor read,” O’Sullivan said. “For whatever reason, things appear, to him, as covered when they’re not.”

The pocket movement

A pretty good throw by McCarthy early in the game went down as an incompletion because Addison dropped the ball.

As critical as O’Sullivan was of the drop, he was also critical of the pocket movement from McCarthy. He needlessly steps up into the pocket without pressure around him.

The decision to do that messed with the timing of the play itself. It caused McCarthy to be late on the throw, and while it should’ve been caught by Addison, it could’ve been better executed prior to the release.

“It’s not played on time,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s unfortunate. I don’t think he played it well. I think he played it better than that drop, though, that’s for sure.”

There was a completion from McCarthy to Jefferson later in the game on which the pocket movement needed to be better. Never mind that there’s no pressure around McCarthy. He still aggressively climbs up a half a step.

Chicago Bears safety Kevin Byard III (31) intercepts a Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) pass to wide receiver Justin Jefferson (18) from in the second quarter of an NFL football game at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

“It feels like he has a tendency to make things harder on himself than he has to,” O’Sullivan said. “Not that this is an easy throw. It just looks like he’s thinking about making a violent movement when he doesn’t have to. Just sit right there and throw it.”

Maybe the most glaring example of the pocket movement continuing to plague McCarthy came on his interception on a pass intended for Jefferson. He put himself in danger by up stepping up into pressure. It results in him getting hit while throws, which, in turn, made life easy for safety Kevin Byard III to swoop in for an interception.

“There’s nobody close to him,” O’Sullivan said. “Just stay back there and throw the ball.”

Interestingly, as he concluded the film review, O’Sullivan tried to downplay some of the struggles with McCarthy’s mechanics. The man who last week called it a “floating dumpster fire” decided this week to pour water on the flames.

“Has it been good? No it hasn’t been good,” O’Sullivan said. “Has it been like we’re going to torch the place and start over? No I don’t think so either.”

Related Articles

How much do the Vikings miss Cam Bynum on defense?

The Loop Fantasy Football Report Week 12: Rookie class producing mixed results

Who messed up on the kick return that doomed the Vikings against the Bears?

Mizutani: J.J. McCarthy is saying the right things. That’s not enough for the Vikings

PFF grades from the Vikings’ loss to the Bears: J.J. McCarthy struggles, Dallas Turner shines

I love a Western.

Maybe it’s because my dad had old movies playing on the TV throughout my childhood, or maybe it’s because I grew up in rural California, where it was easy to imagine cowboys and campfires.

Nowadays, I gravitate toward what I would call “modern literary Westerns,” with their strong sense of place and complex look at the issues and ethics in how this side of America was built. Plus, they’re usually good yarns. 

What follows are novels, but I’ll add a nonfiction recommendation, too: One of the themes in these books concerns aging lawmen, soldiers or Texas Rangers who lament the things they’ve done for pay or progress. A nonfiction companion that gave me some perspective, especially for stories set in Texas, is “Empire of the Summer Moon” by S.C. Gwynne, a biography of the Comanches as they interacted with those men who sought their destruction.

So if it’s been a while, here’s a small sample to get you started on your next adventure.

“Lonesome Dove” by Larry McMurtry

No list of Westerns should begin without “Lonesome Dove,” the greatest of them all. At its heart, it’s a story about how people, places and perspectives change over time – for better and for worse. Decades after winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1986, it’s still incredibly readable, full of quirky characters, adventures, humor and so much empathy. 

“In the Distance” by Hernan Diaz

A Western unlike anything else I’ve read. An immigrant boy gets separated from his brother on the voyage to America and ends up in California instead of New York. Alone and isolated by both culture and language, he journeys east against the flow of prospectors, naturalists, homesteaders and religious zealots. The writing is beautiful, heartbreaking and puts a fresh spin on the origin lore of the West through the eyes of an innocent outsider. 

“Butcher’s Crossing” by John Williams

An Ivy League college grad heads west to learn about something he can’t learn in books, and heads out on a buffalo hunt. This is as much eco-fiction as it is a Western, with gorgeous descriptions of nature and a brutal, inevitable reckoning.

SEE ALSO: How the American West story reveals the nation’s triumphs and tragedies

“True Grit” by Charles Portis

A master class in voice, told from the point of view of a 14-year-old girl set on avenging the death of her father. You’ve probably seen a movie version, maybe the one starring John Wayne, but the book is somehow visceral and charming at the same time and is worth a read. 

Related Articles

Recipe: Roasted smashed baby potatoes with wild greens pesto

MN History Center: Five objects with Minnesota stories to tell

Movie review: They should have called it ‘Wicked: Not Good’

Theater review: ‘The Notebook’ goes for a gusher at the Ordway

See Al Pacino’s ‘Scarface’ shirt, Tom Hanks’ ‘Apollo 13’ spacesuit in new exhibit

“Hombre” by Elmore Leonard

Written about seven years before “True Grit,” this one also deals with the moral ambiguity of delivering justice. It’s told as an eye-witness narrative about a stagecoach ride gone wrong, in which the passengers of questionable character and common sense become dependent on the titular gunsman they snubbed to save them.

“News of the World” by Paulette Jiles

An aging Army captain finds himself alone after the end of the Civil War and takes up traveling through Texas, reading newspapers aloud to the townspeople. At one stop, he’s conscripted to return a kidnapped girl to her relatives through a perilous and emotional journey. There is a lot of empathy in this short novel, with themes of found family and questions about what we consider “civilized.”

Further reading suggestions: “Deadwood” by Pete Dexter, “The Plague of Doves” by Louise Erdrich, “Wounded” by Percival Everett, “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” by Stephen Graham Jones, “Lone Women” by Victor LaValle, “Outlawed” by Anna North, “Inland” by Téa Obreht, and “How Much of These Hills Is Gold” by C Pam Zhang.

With Thanksgiving on the horizon, and the marathon cooking sessions many undertake about to begin in earnest, one new cookbook is here to challenge some of the assumptions that underlie the holiday — while providing over 100 modern and historic recipes.

By three-time James Beard Award-winning Indigenous chef Sean Sherman, with authors Kate Nelson and Kristin Donnelly, “Turtle Island: Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America” (Clarkson Potter, $45) provides an in-depth look at the culinary history and traditions of Indigenous people across North America, broken down by geographic region.

Sherman, a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe, is a leader in the movement to rebuild Native American foodways. He started the Indigenous restaurant Owamni in Minneapolis and is the founder and executive director of North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NATIFS).

When it comes to Thanksgiving, the celebration is commonly associated with New England and Indigenous figures like Squanto, he writes. But some of the commonly told aspects of the Thanksgiving story are myths.

A new cookbook, “Turtle Island: Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America” by Sean Sherman with Kate Nelson and Kristin Donnelly, out now, is promoted as “the most comprehensive work to date on the food traditions and legacies of the Indigenous peoples across North America or Turtle Island” by its publisher, Clarkson Potter. (Courtesy of Clarkson Potter)

“While based on an actual event between English colonizers and members of the Wampanoag Nation, the November holiday as many people celebrate it today actually took shape in the mid-nineteenth century, to help the United States heal after the Civil War.” he writes.

“Like many teachings perpetuated by our education system, these inaccurate history lessons largely disregard the devastating traumas that colonialism wreaked upon the area’s original residents,” he continues. “But against all odds, steadfast cooks, seed keepers, and food sovereignty warriors have strived to maintain connection to their foodways by reviving heirloom varieties and reintroducing important ingredients to their communities.”

This recipe comes from the Southwest, where a variety of wild potato that’s frost- and drought-tolerant known as the Four Corners potato has long been gathered or cultivated.

They’re hard to find commercially, or to grow, but if you find some, “treat them like any other wild food and eat a small amount first before consuming more. If a tuber is especially sour or bitter, it’s best not to eat it,” he writes.

Using this Indigenous potato as inspiration, this recipe features crisp-edged potatoes flavored with a pesto of garlic, pinyon pine nuts and wild greens. “Use the smallest potatoes you can find,” he suggests.

Roasted Smashed Baby Potatoes With Wild Greens Pesto

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 pounds Four Corners potatoes or baby potatoes, scrubbed well

Sea salt

Sunflower oil, for the pan and drizzling

For the wild green pesto:

2 tablespoons pinyon pine nuts or other pine nuts

2 cups packed wild greens, such as lamb’s quarters, common plantain, watercress or wild mustard

1 bulb and greens from wild garlic or 1 small garlic clove

1/2 cup sunflower oil

sea salt

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Related Articles

This simple polenta and mushroom dish will elevate your Thanksgiving table

Five weeknight dishes: Creamy butternut squash noodle soup, shrimp and bacon burritas and more

Recipes: Here are 5 dishes you can make ahead for Thanksgiving dinner

Thanksgiving for all: Dairy-free mix-it-up citrus loaf cake from Dorie Greenspan

Thanksgiving for all: Diabetic-friendly pumpkin pie with maple-ginger crust

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
In a large saucepan, combine the potatoes with water to cover by 1 inch and season with salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 10 to 20 minutes, just until fork-tender.
Drain the potatoes and return them to the pot. Set them over low heat for a minute or two, just to dry them.
Grease a sheet pan with oil and set it in the oven for 1 minute. Pull it out just long enough to add the cooked potatoes and use the bottom of a mug to lightly crush each one. Drizzle them with oil and season with salt.
Roast for 15 to 30 minutes, until the potatoes are golden brown and crisp at the edges.
Meanwhile, make the pesto: In a small dry skillet, toast the pinyon pine nuts over medium heat for about 2 minutes, or until golden with a few browned spots. Transfer to a food processor to cool.
Add the greens and garlic and pulse to chop. With the machine running, add the oil until incorporated and the pesto is finely chopped. Season with salt. Transfer to a bowl. Just before serving, stir the vinegar into the pesto. Serve the potatoes with the pesto.

Reprinted with permission from “Turtle Island: Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America” by Sean Sherman with Kate Nelson and Kristin Donnelly © 2025 by Sean Sherman. Photographs copyright © 2025 by David Alvarado. Illustrations copyright © 2025 by Jimmy Dean Horn Jr. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House.