Robert Reich

The Supreme Court, the Deep State, and Jeffrey Epstein







Friends,

Anyone wanting to understand the brouhaha over Pam Bondi’s refusal to turnover (or even acknowledge) the Epstein files need look no further than what the Supreme Court just did.

In McMahon v. New York the Supremes gave Trump a simple way to revoke federal spending authorized by Congress: just fire everyone responsible for implementing that spending.

The high court is allowing Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon to fire over half the people who work for the Department of Education until there’s a full hearing on the constitutionality of their action. But by then it will be too late to save much of the department.

Note that the Supreme Court made this astounding decision on its so-called “shadow docket” where it doesn’t even have to explain itself (the only record we have is Justice Sotomayor’s dissent).

READ MORE...

At A Glance

Dinosaur mating dance floor found in Colorado.

The US states with the most tornadoes.

Dubai to open restaurant run by AI chef. (w/video)

A look at toy crazes over the years.

A longstanding mystery about rivers may have been solved.

What to do if an airline loses your bags.

Astronomers capture birth of planets around baby sun.

Why is color blindness more common in men?

Clickbait: The winners of this year's wife-carrying contest.

How I made QUINOA taste 10x BETTER

Quick Clips

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Ozzy Osbourne's final performance with Black Sabbath raises a record-breaking $190M for charity (More) | Unreleased Beyoncé music and concert footage stolen during Cowboy Carter tour stop in Atlanta (More)

> Fauja Singh, Indian-born runner who broke a record by completing a marathon at age 100, dies at age 114 after being hit by a car (More) | David Kaff, actor and musician best known for starring role in "This Is Spinal Tap," dies at age 79 (More)

> Portland's WNBA expansion franchise adopts "Fire" nickname, previously used by the city's prior WNBA team that folded in 2002; the new Portland Fire will begin playing in 2026 (More)


Science & Technology
> AI startup Anthropic launches Claude for Financial Services; platform uses the company's flagship AI model to analyze market trends from a wide range of sources (More) | Google to invest $25B in AI data centers and infrastructure, including a 20-year, $3B contract to purchase Pennsylvania hydropower (More)

> Researchers 3D print biomaterial that mimics living lung tissue; advancement could allow development and testing of treatments for lung diseases without requiring living patients (More)

> Geologists link a meteor impact to a landslide in the Grand Canyon that created a dam and lake along the Colorado River roughly 56,000 years ago (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 -0.4%, Dow -1.0%, Nasdaq +0.2%); Nasdaq hits record, lifted by Nvidia (+4.0%), which plans to resume AI chip sales to China (More) | Nvidia 101 (1440 Topics) | MP Materials, operator of the only US rare earths mine, inks $500M deal with Apple; MP Materials shares close up 20% (More)

> US consumer price index rose 2.7% year over year in June from 2.4% in May, while core inflation—excluding food and energy—rose 2.9% year over year; both figures are in line with estimates (More) | Cryptocurrency regulation bills fail to clear procedural hurdles in Congress (More)

> Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati officially closes $2B seed round for her generative AI startup, Thinking Machines Lab, in what is one of the largest first funding rounds in history; deal values startup at $12B (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> Republicans vote to avoid Democratic-proposed amendment requiring floor vote on the release of government files related to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein (More) | Justice Department said last week there was no evidence of a client list; read the two-page memo (More)

> Federal grand jury indicts man accused of fatally shooting Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman (D) and her husband (More) | Men convicted of cutting down England's Sycamore Gap tree are sentenced to four years and three months in prison (More)

> Canadian wildfire smoke triggers air quality alerts in the Upper Midwest, including Chicago; Toronto air quality ranks among the worst in the world this week (More)

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS

Project Management: Communications

 

One of the most valuable tools that a Project Manager has at his/her disposal is the COMMUNICATIONS NOTEBOOK...

Communications is at the heart of every project whether the Project Manager wants to believe it or not.  The PM must be able to excel at both written and oral communications.

If the PM conveys a message to a Project Leader and that PL must convey that message to a group of workers, what guarantees does the PM have that the PL will convey that message with 100% accuracy?

The PM had no guarantees!!!

Only the Project Manager is responsible for messages being conveyed throughout the project team.  Therefore, the PM must be able to talk/write clearly and concisely without any misunderstandings as to what words may or may not mean to everyone else on the team.

In order to facilitate this process a Project Notebook is kept with a copy of every single comment or memo that has been distributed to the Project Team in one form or another.

One valuable lesson that a PM learns over time is to take notes during ALL MEETINGS and during ALL TELEPHONE CALLS in case one needs to go back in time and verify what was communicated.

Everything that a PM does must be on the record, if for no other reason than to prove you were not told to do something, when a member of the team or stakeholders makes the claim that you were told.

Somewhat Political

 

NASA Just Flew Through the Sun’s Atmosphere

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is revolutionizing our understanding of the Sun by flying closer than ever before, capturing jaw-dropping images from within the solar atmosphere.

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has captured the most detailed images ever taken near the Sun, recorded from just 3.8 million miles away from its surface.

These up-close images reveal structures within the solar wind, a continuous flow of charged particles that the Sun releases into space at speeds over 1 million miles per hour.

The new visuals and data are giving scientists critical insights into how the solar wind forms and behaves, which is key to understanding how it influences Earth.

READ MORE...

REO Speedwagon - Ridin' the Storm Out (Live - Kansas City 1985)

Kissing Lips

 

The Shannon Joy Show

 

Free Transportation

 

Russell Brand

 

Lamps

 

The Amber May Show

 

Retirement

 

The Big MIG

 

Simple Elegance

 

News Variable

 

Blue Door

 

TimcastIRL

 

Path in the Forest

 

The Big THINK

 

Why the Aztecs, Inca, and Maya never invented the wheel

Headline

VCG/Getty Images


Nvidia says it can sell AI chips to China again. You can’t stop Jensanity—you can only hope to contain it. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang revealed this week that the company will resume selling its popular H20 semiconductors to China. The Trump administration had placed restrictions on sales of the chips due to national security concerns, but Huang said President Trump reversed course after meeting with him at the White House. The move—the latest in a string of good news for Nvidia—sent the chipmaker’s stock to another new record as its market cap continues to climb past the $4 trillion mark. Huang’s net worth recently caught up to Warren Buffett’s.

Big banks are buzzing. JPMorgan kicked off earnings season with a solid beat, posting $15 billion in profit as corporate dealmaking rebounded more than expected last quarter. Citigroup, meanwhile, smashed expectations, reporting total revenue that was up by 16% from the same period a year ago. Wells Fargo also reported higher Q2 profits after the Federal Reserve lifted its asset cap, though its stock fell after it lowered its annual forecast for net income. Overall, it was a more-good-than-bad day for the US’ biggest banks, providing further evidence that they’re weathering the tariff-induced economic uncertainty better than most.

Jamie Dimon said Fed independence is “absolutely critical.” The JPMorgan CEO threw his unwavering support behind the concept of an independent Federal Reserve amid President Trump’s ongoing attacks on Chairman Jerome Powell. “Playing around with the Fed can often have adverse consequences, absolutely opposite of what you might be hoping for,” Dimon said yesterday. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested that the process to identify Powell’s successor has already started, and he claimed that Trump’s criticism of the chairman is simply “working the refs” to cut interest rates. Powell’s term as Fed chair ends next year, but his term as one of the Fed governors isn’t up until 2028.—AE

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Robert Reich

Jamie Dimon’s Last Stand (Hopefully)





Friends,

A few days ago, Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorganChase, the largest bank in the United States, said at an international forum in Dublin, Ireland, the tax-haven capital of Europe:


“I have a lot of friends who are Democrats, and they’re idiots. I always say they have big hearts and little brains. They do not understand how the real world works. Almost every single policy rolled out failed.”

Failed? Like the Affordable Care Act? Medicare and Medicaid? Social Security? Spending on basic research and infrastructure? On protecting Americans from dread diseases? On protecting workers from death and injury on the job? On protecting the environment?

READ MORE...

At A Glance

Japanese scientists set a new internet speed record.

The toxic communication habits on "Love Island USA."

Experts believe they've found a long-lost violin.

Why older adults are playing video games.

Map of must-try desserts, according to TikTok.

... and this year's 10 best new bartenders.

In 1948, a conservation officer sent beavers skydiving.

Play some tunes on this keyboard keyboard.

Clickbait: Business is booming for Etsy witches.

What they don't tell you about going vegan

Quick Clips

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> The 2025 MLB All-Star Game set for tonight (8 pm ET, FOX); see roster breakdown and preview (More) | 2025 MLB Draft wraps; see full tracker of all 615 picks (More) | The history of MLB (1440 Topics)

> John Elway won't face charges in the April death of his friend and agent Jeff Sperbeck, who died from injuries sustained after falling off a golf cart driven by Elway (More)

> Animated children's show "Bluey" is most streamed US show in first half of 2025 with 25 billion minutes viewed (More) | HBO's "Harry Potter" TV series begins production, sets 2027 release date (More) | "Superman" flies to $122M in its opening weekend to lead US domestic box office (More)


Science & Technology
> Defense Department awards contracts worth up to $200M to Google, Anthropic, xAI, and OpenAI to develop AI systems for unspecified national security applications (More)

> Astronomers detect the largest merger of two black holes to date via measuring gravitational waves; collision produced a single black hole roughly 225 times the mass of the sun (More) | What happens if you fall into a black hole? (1440 Topics)

> Photonic quantum device—systems that use light to perform quantum computing tasks—integrated into a commercial electronic chip for the first time; marks a key step toward manufacturing light-based quantum computers (More) | Einstein's insight underlying quantum computing (1440 Topics)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close up (S&P 500 +0.1%, Dow +0.2%, Nasdaq +0.3%) as investors continue to monitor trade talks and look ahead to second quarter earnings reports (More)

> Cognition AI to acquire coding startup Windsurf in deal with undisclosed financial terms; follows failed acquisition by OpenAI and $2.4B licensing deal between Google and Windsurf last week (More)

> Amazon’s Prime Day event drove over $24B in e-commerce sales—the equivalent of two Black Fridays—with traffic from generative AI products increasing 3,300% year over year (More) | Starbucks employees ordered to work in person four days a week by October or take payouts; some leaders must also relocate to headquarters within 12 months (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> Supreme Court clears the Trump administration to lay off over 1,300 employees at the Department of Education, functionally eliminating the agency (More) | Two dozen states sue the federal government for withholding $6.8B in education funds (More)

> President Donald Trump announces plan to sell Patriot air defense systems, other weapons to Ukraine, paid for by European allies; Trump threatens tariffs on Russian goods if a peace deal is not reached within 50 days (More) | Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo launches independent mayoral bid after Democratic primary loss to Zohran Mamdani (More)

> Food and Drug Administration approves blue color additive derived from gardenia fruit as part of larger push to remove synthetic dyes from American diets (More) | Dozens of ice cream makers, representing roughly 90% of the US market, pledge to stop using artificial dyes by 2028 (More)

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS

Project Management: Time - Cost - Quality

 One of the biggest obstacles facing any project manager, whether you are a certified PMP or have just been placed into that role by your company is the TRIANGLE OF TIME COST QUALITY.

Project Managers are faced with the triangle from the very beginning when they are told upfront that their project must be completed on time, must be under budget and must be of the highest quality.

Time, Cost, Quality ARE NOT mutually exclusive; they are in fact, closely interrelated and unavoidable.

For instance, in order for your project to be finished on time, you must hire more people or more expensive equipment...  well, that raises costs...  unacceptable.

It is also entirely possible that if you reduce the time it takes to complete a task, then the quality of that task will be reduced...  well, that saves costs but deceases quality...  unacceptable.

On the other hand, let's say you want to IMPROVE QUALITY...  well, that typically takes more time which increases costs...  unacceptable.

HOWEVER, it is not that simple because if your product is NOT QUALITY MADE, then the customer will not buy it in the volumes you anticipated...  unacceptable.

There are TRICKS of the TRADE that allow you to deal with TIME-COST-QUALITY without violating the triangle to a large degree although though some degradation is always inevitable.

Manipulating start and end of tasks, finding ways to buy in bulk, removing the variation of processes...  some of the skills you will learn as you progress through your experiences.