Thursday, June 12
Headlines
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Trump says China trade deal that includes rare earths “is done.” While the full details of the framework of a deal reached in London this week to deescalate trade tensions between the US and China haven’t been made public, President Trump posted on Truth Social that it would include China easing restrictions on exports of the rare earth minerals and magnets US manufacturers need “UP FRONT.” The Wall Street Journal reports that this easing will only last six months. Trump’s post also said that tariffs on China would be at 55%, which appears to include the 10% rate Trump has put on all imports, the 20% duty Trump recently added over fentanyl trafficking, and the ~25% tariffs that remain on China from Trump’s first term. Meanwhile, he said China will set a 10% levy on US goods. He also said the deal would allow Chinese students to attend US universities. Trump and China’s Xi Jinping must still officially sign off.
Inflation rose less than expected in May. As of last month, President Trump’s tariffs had yet to deliver the significant price spikes economists feared they would bring, new consumer price index data released yesterday shows. The CPI rose by just 0.1% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 2.4%, which is less than was anticipated after businesses warned that tariffs would force them to raise prices. But the lack of impact from tariffs may simply reflect that many of them have been paused and that businesses stockpiled inventory to prepare, so they could still spur inflation down the road. Still, Vice President JD Vance echoed the president’s call for the Fed to cut interest rates, calling a failure to do so “monetary malpractice.”
Regrets? Elon Musk has a few. In a surprisingly relatable move from the world’s richest person, Elon Musk tweeted at 3am yesterday, “I regret some of my posts about” President Trump, saying “they went too far.” In case you spent last week on a darkness retreat: Musk and the president had a public falling out on social media, with Musk accusing Trump of being connected to Jeffrey Epstein and calling for his impeachment, and Trump suggesting the US yank government contracts from Musk’s companies. Less relatably, the Wall Street Journal reports that Musk’s remorse came after a phone call from Vice President Vance and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles urging him to stand down. He also reportedly spoke to the president before posting. But like all of us after a breakup, Musk is also throwing himself into work: He announced Tuesday that Tesla will debut its self-driving car service in Austin as soon as June 22.—AR
Robert Reich
We may disagree on many things, but we stand together on the fundamentals.
Friends,
We are relearning the meaning of “solidarity.”
This week, across America, people have been coming together.
We may disagree on immigration policy, but we don’t want a president deploying federal troops in our cities when governors and mayors say they’re not needed.
We may disagree on how laws should be enforced, but we don’t want federal agents to arbitrarily abduct people off our streets or at places of business or in courthouses and detain them without any process to determine if such detention is justified.
Or target hardworking members of our community. Or arrest judges. Or ship people off to brutal prisons in foreign lands.
We may disagree on freedom of speech, but we don’t think people should be penalized for peacefully expressing their views.
At A Glance
A typewriter class gets surprise letters from Tom Hanks.
Meet the kid umpire calling games in the minor leagues.
... and ranking all 30 Major League ballparks by Yelp reviews.
The quest to create the perfect grass.
How AI is being used to help save the oceans.
A battle of the world's oldest restaurants.
How microbes living in the clouds affect our lives.
Clickbait: A Beatles' smutty letter to be sold at auction.
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Netflix to invest $1B over the next four years in original content from Spain; Netflix announced a similar move for Mexico in February (More) | Netflix explained (1440 Topics) | HBO Max to launch next month in 12 new countries (More)
> Screen Actors Guild set to end nearly yearlong strike with video game companies as two sides reach tentative agreement over use of AI replicas (More)
> Two members of BTS complete military service, with remaining members set to finish mandatory enlistment in June, reuniting the K-pop supergroup for first time in three years (More) | Rapper Macklemore's home robbed while his three children were inside with a nanny (More)
Science & Technology
> Meta to form "superintelligence" team focused on building the world's most advanced AI platform; term refers to artificial general intelligence that surpasses human ability (More) | ... and Meta names Scale AI CEO to lead team (More)
> IBM announces plans to build a fault-tolerant, large-scale quantum computer by 2029; located in New York, system would have 20,000 times the computing power of existing quantum technologies (More) | Quantum computing explained (1440 Topics)
> Scientists map neurons in the brain affected by alcohol consumption, identify brain circuit involved in binge drinking; may lead to new therapies to treat alcohol abuse (More) | Addiction explained (1440 Topics)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close higher (S&P 500 +0.6%, Dow +0.3%, Nasdaq +0.6%) as traders continue to eye US-China talks (More) | World Bank downgrades 2025 global growth forecast to 2.3%, down from 2.8% in 2024; downgrades US growth forecast to 1.4%, also down from 2.8% in 2024 (More) | Credit scores: Tomorrow's Business & Finance newsletter explains the mysterious number (Sign up here)
> Federal appeals court allows President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs on imports to remain in effect while it reviews a lower court ruling that blocked the tariffs on grounds that Trump overstepped his authority (More)
> Google offers buyouts to US-based employees across the company, including within unit housing Google’s search, ads, and commerce divisions (More) | Paramount to lay off 3.5% of US workforce; comes as Paramount awaits FCC approval for Skydance Media's acquisition of the company (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly orders end to US Agency for International Development's international workforce by Sept. 30; State Department to adopt responsibility for all foreign assistance programs (More) | US Rep. LaMonica McIver (D, NJ-10) indicted on federal charges over clash with law enforcement at immigration center in New Jersey (More)
> Russia launches over 300 drones and missiles at Ukraine, killing at least eight people per Ukrainian authorities (More) | European Union imposes new sanctions on Russia after ceasefire talks collapse (More) | See war updates (More)
> Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro takes the stand before country's Supreme Court over alleged plot to overturn 2022 election results to stay in power; Bolsonaro denies all allegations against him and his aides (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Writing
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- Who
- What
- Where
- When
- Why
- How
When you are a novelist, the questions that you need to answer are a tad more complicated.
- What is the storyline
- What is the plot
- Who is the protagonist(s) and/or antagonist(s)
- Are there any subplots
- Where does the story take place... when...
- Is it historically accurate
- How many back-stories are there
- What is the genre
- Are you teaching the reader a moral lesson
- Is it a:
- journey
- quest
- good vs evil
- romance
- scifi
- western
- law enforcement
- espionage and spies
You can answer all these questions, have the perfect plot and characters, and have the story follow an up and down pattern that keeps the reader is suspense... BUT YOUR WRITING STYLE SUCKS and nobody wants to read it.
So, how do you develop the correct writing style?
You can take writing courses but all they do is force you to practice and the teacher is going to correct your writing and give you advice based upon their writing style and does very little to help you develop your own style.
Practice is the key!!!
Write as much and as often as you can.
Make sure you are following proper grammar.
Try to edit what you have written to keep it from being too wordy.
NOTE: it is very difficult to edit your own work, because everything you have written, you believe is necessary. But you must learn to look at each sentence and make sure, it cannot be rewritten to sound better. This needs to be repeatedly until it becomes second nature... just like practicing percussion rudiments until they can be done speedily while shifting hands.
Goodbye to 8,000 jobs – IBM replaces workers with artificial intelligence, sparking a wave of global reactions
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here to stay, that much we know, but in recent weeks a very frustrating news item has been making the rounds: the catastrophic future in which machines replace humans has arrived. IBM, one of the most important technology companies in the world, has eliminated approximately 8,000 jobs within the Human Resources (HR) Department. Why? You can probably guess: AI has taken over everything.
The “repetitive” jobs, reading vacation requests, managing payroll or internal company documentation will now be handled by AI systems, like the AskHR platform. Are we facing the future or a step backward?
IBM’s AI transforms Human Resources
And as we were saying, the AskHR platform is currently managing 94% of the routine tasks that would normally be done by humans in the HR department, everything involving paperwork, documentation… that’s history, now AI takes care of it.
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