Thursday, July 31
Headlines
Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images
Trump made several new tariff announcements. The big red tariff button on the Oval Office desk was smashed multiple times yesterday as President Trump revealed a slew of new trade policies. First, he slapped a 25% tariff on India, plus a “penalty” for the country buying energy and military equipment from Russia. He later hit Brazil with an added 40% tax, partly in retaliation for what he claims is a “witch hunt” against former President Jair Bolsonaro. Trump ended the day by slapping a 50% tariff on all copper imports and then revoking the de minimis exception, which exempts packages worth less than $800 from tariffs, for all countries (he had suspended the provision for packages just from China and Hong Kong in May). The president also said he will not extend tomorrow’s deadline for his reciprocal tariffs to restart on countries that have not made new trade deals with the US.
Microsoft cloud revenue is soaring. The House that Gates Built is as strong as ever, reporting fiscal fourth-quarter revenue that demolished Wall Street’s expectations, thanks to big-time growth in cloud computing. Microsoft’s cloud unit, which includes the Azure platform, generated nearly $30 billion in revenue last quarter, up by 26% from the same period a year ago. Azure produced more than $75 billion in fiscal 2025, Microsoft said—the first time the tech giant has disclosed Azure’s numbers. Microsoft shares were up 20% prior to yesterday’s earnings report and then jumped another 7% in after-hours trading.
High Noon recalled some vodka seltzer drinks mislabeled as Celsius. In what amounts to a “Who’s on First?” routine for drinks you’d find at a post-senior prom party at the Jersey Shore, High Noon announced it was voluntarily recalling its Beach Variety 12-packs after its supplier accidentally labeled them as Celsius energy drinks, which do not contain alcohol. “Consumption of the liquid in these cans will result in unintentional alcohol ingestion,” the company said. The mislabeled packs were sent to stores in New York, Florida, Michigan, Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin between July 21 and July 23. You either die a spiked seltzer or live long enough to see yourself become Four Loko.—AE
Robert Reich
The Trump regime is taking over every major institution in America. Here's how.
Friends,
Today I want to describe for you the specific mechanism of control the Trump regime is using over the core institutions of America — the media, higher education, our largest corporations, and Wall Street.
It's all in the fine print.
Start with CBS. It’s now owned by Skydance Media. Under its Trump-appointed chairman, Brendan Carr, the Federal Communications Commission insisted, as a condition of allowing Paramount to sell CBS to Skydance, that the new owner install an “ombudsman.”
What will that ombudsman do? According to Skydance Media’s agreement with the FCC, the ombudsman will “receive and evaluate any complaints of bias or other concerns involving CBS” for at least two years.
The agreement doesn’t specify the meaning of “bias,” nor does it define whose “complaints” are to be responded to, nor enumerate what “other concerns” might trigger action. But none of this is difficult to imagine. Trump himself could complain of CBS’s bias or anything else. In fact, he probably will. He already has at least once.
At A Glance
Adult summer camps are making a comeback.
The grocery store where prices change 100 times a day.
Australia bans YouTube accounts for children under 16.
Does drinking a hot drink cool you down?
MLB pitcher switches teams after being traded between games.
It's a "black cat boyfriend" summer.
Reese's and Oreo announce cookie-candy mashup.
Hot blob beneath Appalachians heading to New York.
Clickbait: Introducing radioactive wasps.
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Thirteen novels tapped for prestigious 2025 Booker Prize for fiction longlist, featuring authors from across nine nations (More)
> Beyoncé's "Cowboy Carter" tour hauls in over $400M in ticket sales, with Beyoncé becoming the first American artist to top $400M in two separate tours, including her 2023 "Renaissance Tour" (More)
> American Katie Ledecky wins 1,500-meter freestyle at 2025 World Aquatics Championships to extend her record for most world championship individual gold medals with 17 (More)
Science & Technology
> OpenAI unveils Study Mode, using ChatGPT with instructions tailored by educators to provide information structured in a way similar to classroom teaching (More) | Everything you need to know about OpenAI (1440 Topics)
> Jewel wasps are capable of slowing down their rate of aging as larvae, significantly extending their life span and decelerating their biological clocks (More) | Can aging be reversed? (1440 Topics)
> Scientists capture first image of the sugar coating surrounding individual cells with atomic-scale resolution; results may lead to new drug delivery techniques (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -0.3%, Dow -0.5%, Nasdaq -0.4%) as US-China tariff talks stall and investors await today's Federal Reserve interest rate decision (More) | Securities and Exchange Commission allows in-kind creations and redemptions by authorized participants for crypto exchange-traded products (More)
> Spotify shares drop 11.6% after the company’s second quarter revenue falls short of projections (More) | Sony sues Chinese gaming company Tencent for allegedly knocking off its "Horizon" franchise (More) | JPMorgan Chase in advanced talks to replace Goldman Sachs as Apple’s credit card program partner (More)
> Boeing delivers most planes since 2018; cuts quarterly losses to $176M, compared to $1.1B a year prior (More) | UPS shares drop 10.6% after package volume and earnings decline in second quarter (More) | Novo Nordisk shares fall 21.8% after company names new CEO and slashes Wegovy forecasts (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> United Kingdom says it will recognize a Palestinian state in September, barring a ceasefire deal and the resumption of UN aid in Gaza (More) | UCLA reaches $6M settlement over allegations it discriminated against Jewish students (More)
> Former Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell agrees to testify before the House Oversight Committee on the condition she is granted immunity, clemency (More) | President Donald Trump tells reporters Epstein poached employees from his Mar-a-Lago club (More) | Senate confirms Emil Bove as a federal appeals court judge amid whistleblower complaints about his conduct (More)
> The US and China continue trade negotiations, with uncertainty over whether President Donald Trump will extend tariff truce (More) | See tariff tracker (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Social Security & Retirement
.jpg)
The average Social Security monthly payment is right around $1,500 which amounts to $3,000 for a couple and hardly enough to pay monthly bills, on average, in the USA.
Consequently, it is up to the individual to supplement their potential Social Security by have other retirement accounts and investments such as real estate and/or stocks and bonds.
The average cost of living in the USA currently is right around $6,500/month which means the average couple is going to need twice what they receive in Social Security. The average individual is going to need three times as much.
It does not seem fair but that is the way the game is played these days.
On average, one can receive $400/month per $100,000 when invested in a mutual fund providing the principal is never withdrawn. This means that the average couple is going to need to have $800,000 invested in a mutual fund when they decide to retire.
Full retirement age currently is 67.
Ancient Tombs Older Than Egypt’s Pyramids Emerge in Poland
Also known as Giant’s Graves or Kujawian mounds, after the area in northwestern Poland where they were first identified in the mid-1930s, the pyramids were megalithic tombs built in the 4th millennium B.C.E. to house the remains of a single important community figure. Less dramatic than their later Egyptian equivalents, the pyramids were built by agricultural settlers in the dense forests of Central Europe and take the form of elongated triangular earth mounds lined with massive stones.
Wednesday, July 30
Headlines
Anadolu/Getty Images
An 8.8-magnitude earthquake hit Russia, prompting widespread tsunami warnings. The quake, one of the four largest of the 21st century, struck Russia’s Far East early Wednesday, triggering tsunami waves that impacted Russia, Japan, and Hawaii. No major damage has been reported thus far. Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said he was monitoring wave activity near the Big Island before he would lift emergency precautions, but that he expected to declare “all clear” in a few hours, according to the New York Times. Tsunami waves also reached the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a tsunami threat alert for Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu, urging US citizens there to be prepared to evacuate. The National Tsunami Warning Center in Alaska told the Associated Press that tsunami impacts could last for hours or up to a day in some places.—HVL
NYC mass shooter was reportedly targeting NFL headquarters. The gunman who killed four people and then himself inside a midtown Manhattan office building on Monday was “focused on the NFL,” Mayor Eric Adams said. The building houses the league’s corporate offices, as well as those of other major companies, including the investment firm Blackstone. Officials believe the shooter, identified as Shane Tamura of Las Vegas, took the wrong elevator and ended up on a floor belonging to a real estate company. A three-page note found in Tamura’s wallet criticized the NFL and alleged that he had the degenerative brain disease CTE (which is only diagnosed posthumously) as a result of playing football. Among those he killed were NYC police officer Didarul Islam and Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner, who was one of the company’s highest-ranking women.—AE
The historic transcontinental railroad merger is a go. That sound you’re hearing is every AP US History teacher racing to update their syllabus. Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern officially struck a merger deal to create the country’s first coast-to-coast railroad, the companies announced yesterday, less than a week after they were reported to be in talks. If approved, the merger would mark the first time in US history that a single company controlled rail shipments across the US. Three private companies built the first transcontinental railroad in the 1860s, but that only stretched from Iowa to California. The Wall Street Journal reports that regulators have been suspicious of rail mergers in the past due to worries that they will hike prices and lower safety standards.—AE
Robert Reich
Office Hours: Is Trump out of his f*cking mind accusing Obama of treason?
Or does he know full well he’s lying to divert attention from Epsteingate?
Friends,
Last Tuesday, Trump claimed President Barack Obama committed treason, a crime punishable by death.
Trump’s stooge was Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s director of national intelligence, who (presumably prodded by Trump) asked the Justice Department to investigate whether officials in the Obama administration faked evidence of Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election.
When Trump was then asked at an Oval Office press availability whom the Justice Department should target in that investigation, he said:
“It would be President Obama. He started it. … This was treason. This was every word you can think of. They tried to steal the election. They tried to obfuscate the election. They did things that nobody’s ever even imagined, even in other countries.”
Trump’s history of baseless charges has earned him a perverse kind of immunity. The more outrageous his claims, the faster they tend to be dismiss.
At A Glance
Vote to bring back your favorite postage stamp.
"The Wizard of Oz" is coming to Las Vegas' Sphere.
Pizzeria mishap left at least 85 people intoxicated with THC.
Three men convicted in ancient Celtic gold coin heist.
The best and worst foods for a heat wave.
... and go-to comfort foods from every state.
Repurposing food waste into foodware.
Photos from the UK Dog Surfing Championship.
Clickbait: Robot bunnies fight invasive pythons.
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Bubba Wallace becomes first Black driver to win a major race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, taking Brickyard 400 crown (More) | Colorado Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders reveals his bladder was removed following cancer diagnosis (More)
> Dwight Muhammad Qawi, former world champion boxer in multiple weight classes, dies at age 72 after five-year battle with dementia (More) | Wallis Annenberg, philanthropist whose foundation donated around $1.5B to charitable causes, dies at age 86 (More)
> Warner Bros. Discovery announces it will spin off into two future businesses, Warner Bros. (streaming and studios) and Discovery Global (comprising TV networks, Discovery+, and other assets) (More)
Science & Technology
> Google updates its early earthquake warning system after failing to notify as many as 10 million people ahead of Turkey's deadly 2023 quake; network uses the accelerometers of more than 2 billion phones to detect seismic activity (More)
> Physicists demonstrate famous double-slit experiment using individual atoms to scatter light; experiment, first performed in 1801, confirms light is both a particle and a wave (More) | 1440 Science & Technology: Sign up 8 am ET to get this week's deep dive into quantum mechanics (Join here)
> New technology delivers vaccines via dental floss; prototype approach was found to stimulate additional antibodies in the lining of the nose and lungs (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 +0.0%, Dow -0.1%, Nasdaq +0.3%) (More) | Figma raises US initial public offering range to $30 to $32 per share in deal that could value the design-software maker at nearly $19B (More) | What are IPOs? (1440 Topics)
> Tesla inks $16.5B multiyear deal to source AI chips from Samsung Electronics; Samsung shares close up nearly 7% (More) | The true mission of Tesla (1440 Topics) | PayPal to allow businesses to accept payments in more than 100 cryptocurrencies (More)
> Spirit Airlines to furlough 270 pilots beginning Nov. 1, will demote 140 other pilots to first officer; comes after Spirit emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Gunman kills at least three people, wounds three others outside the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino in Reno, Nevada; suspect—who has no known connection to the victims as of this writing—is hospitalized and in custody (More)
> Thailand and Cambodia agree to ceasefire after at least 38 people are killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in five-day-long fighting (More) | China offers parents $500 per child under age 3 per year in attempt to reverse declining birth rate; births fell by half from 2016 to 2024, while marriages have hit record low (More)
> Half of the United States, roughly 198 million Americans, are under a heat advisory; temperatures reach record 100 degrees in Tampa, Florida (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Power in Marriage
.jpg)
Very seldom in a marriage is the power EQUALLY DIVIDED between the male and the female, male and the male, or female and the female, even if both partners are alphas or if both partners are not alphas.
Couples can say that they want to divide the power equally but in reality, there is always one that dominates... and I don't mean sexually or physically, although that does happen as well.
What I am talking about is where to go on vacation, or what kind of house to buy, or what kind of vehicle, or how should we invest our money. There is always one who thinks their opinion is more valuable or more important than the other one.
This is also true if the couple agrees to swap opinions and decisions back and forth. They will find some way to convince you that you made the decision last time and now it is their time.
However, in the traditional schools of marriage, the husband always made the decisions even if he was not the best person suited to make those decisions.
Another situation is where the wife is submissive in the bedroom, whereas in all other situations she wants to take charge thinking that she knows better.
While it might take time for couples to adjust, usually over time, the husband always gives in and let the wife make all the decision that they want to make. It just makes for a happier marriage in the long run.
Archaeologists Found an Ancient Fossil That Doubled as a Sacred Roman Amulet
This Ancient Fossil Doubled as a Roman Amulet Layne Kennedy - Getty Images
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."
Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:
Archaeologists discovered a trilobite fossil in Spain, likely from the Roman era.
The trilobite fossil is only the 11th ever found worldwide in an archaeological context, and the first linked to the Romans.
Made into a pendant or bracelet, the wearer likely believed the fossil had magical healing powers.
Archaeologists discovered a trilobite fossil from millions of years ago in a Roman-era dump near what is now Galicia, Spain. And according to the team’s analysis, that fossil had likely been refashioned into an amulet.
Tuesday, July 29
Headlines
Jane Barlow/Getty Images
Trump sounds off in Scotland. During a wide-ranging discussion with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, President Trump said he’d likely impose a 15% or 20% blanket tariff on imports from countries that have not reached new trade deals with the US, which is higher than the 10% that he announced in April. Trump also said he was “very disappointed” in Russian President Vladimir Putin and that he would give Russia 10 to 12 more days to negotiate a ceasefire with Ukraine or the US would hit Russia’s trading partners with tariffs, shortening a previous 50-day deadline. The president also called for the US to get more involved in providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, saying the US would “set up food centers” and asserting that there is “real starvation,” in contradiction to a denial from Israel’s prime minister.
France and Germany aren’t thrilled with the US–EU trade deal. While many European businesses hailed the tariff framework announced Sunday by President Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen—which will impose a 15% tariff on EU exports to the US—as a welcome avoidance of the worst-case scenario of a trade war, the leaders of the EU’s two biggest economies criticized the plan. Germany’s chancellor said it would “substantially damage” the nation’s finances, and France’s prime minister described it as “submission,” per the BBC. Other EU leaders also piled on, with Hungary’s Viktor Orban saying, “Trump ate von der Leyen for breakfast.” Meanwhile, representatives for the US and China resumed trade talks in Stockholm.
Get ready for Warner Bros. and Discovery Global. Warner Bros. and Discovery have gotten past that awkward phase of determining who gets to keep what after the breakup, with the company announcing yesterday the names and leadership of the two companies that will remain after it splits itself in two. The streaming and movie studio will be known as Warner Bros., with WBD CEO David Zaslav at the helm, and the cable television business (which also includes the Discovery+ streaming service) led by the current company’s CFO will be called Discovery Global. The company expects to complete the rupture, which will effectively undo the blockbuster 2022 merger that created it, by the middle of next year.—AR
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)