Thursday, November 13
Headlines
Trump and Epstein at Mar-a-Lago in 2000.
Davidoff Studios/Getty Images
Jeffrey Epstein said Trump “knew about the girls” in an email. The late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein suggested in emails released publicly by House Democrats yesterday that he believed President Trump was aware of his misbehavior. In an email from 2011, Epstein said one victim had “spent hours at my house with” Trump—though Republicans later identified that victim as Virginia Giuffre, who has said Trump was not involved in wrongdoing. In another from 2019, he said that Trump “knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop,” seemingly referencing Ghislaine Maxwell’s recruitment of girls from Mar-a-Lago. Later in the day, Republicans released 23,000 pages of documents related to Epstein. And there could be more information made public: House Speaker Mike Johnson said there would be a vote next week on forcing the DOJ to release all its files, after he swore in a new Democratic rep who provided the final signature necessary to force such a vote.
Waymo hops on the freeway. Yesterday, Waymo became the first robotaxi provider to offer rides on US highways, making it more competitive with traditional taxis—at least for customers who don’t enjoy chatting with their driver. Customers who want to see a self-driving car vroom faster can now opt in for ride routes that include freeways in San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles, the company said. This could reduce ride times by as much as 50%, per Waymo. It plans to roll the feature out to other areas in the future.
Toyota opens US battery plant. The Japanese automaker declared its $14 billion North Carolina battery-making facility open yesterday, pledging an additional $10 billion investment in US manufacturing over the next five years as it hits the gas on its strategy to sell hybrid cars. While competitors shifted their focus to full EVs, Toyota bet on hybrids, a move that has proven lucrative as hybrid use ticks up and EV interest wanes. The new factory is Toyota’s 11th US manufacturing facility, but its first battery production site outside Japan. The plant will let it step up hybrid production, supplying hybrids and EVs with batteries while saving on shipping and tariff costs.—AR
Jeffrey Epstein said Trump “knew about the girls” in an email. The late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein suggested in emails released publicly by House Democrats yesterday that he believed President Trump was aware of his misbehavior. In an email from 2011, Epstein said one victim had “spent hours at my house with” Trump—though Republicans later identified that victim as Virginia Giuffre, who has said Trump was not involved in wrongdoing. In another from 2019, he said that Trump “knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop,” seemingly referencing Ghislaine Maxwell’s recruitment of girls from Mar-a-Lago. Later in the day, Republicans released 23,000 pages of documents related to Epstein. And there could be more information made public: House Speaker Mike Johnson said there would be a vote next week on forcing the DOJ to release all its files, after he swore in a new Democratic rep who provided the final signature necessary to force such a vote. Waymo hops on the freeway. Yesterday, Waymo became the first robotaxi provider to offer rides on US highways, making it more competitive with traditional taxis—at least for customers who don’t enjoy chatting with their driver. Customers who want to see a self-driving car vroom faster can now opt in for ride routes that include freeways in San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles, the company said. This could reduce ride times by as much as 50%, per Waymo. It plans to roll the feature out to other areas in the future. Toyota opens US battery plant. The Japanese automaker declared its $14 billion North Carolina battery-making facility open yesterday, pledging an additional $10 billion investment in US manufacturing over the next five years as it hits the gas on its strategy to sell hybrid cars. While competitors shifted their focus to full EVs, Toyota bet on hybrids, a move that has proven lucrative as hybrid use ticks up and EV interest wanes. The new factory is Toyota’s 11th US manufacturing facility, but its first battery production site outside Japan. The plant will let it step up hybrid production, supplying hybrids and EVs with batteries while saving on shipping and tariff costs.—AR
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> MLB reaches agreement with sportsbooks to cap bets on individual pitches at $200; news follows indictments of pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz (More) | Cristiano Ronaldo confirms 2026 World Cup will be his final tournament with Portugal (More)
> Sally Kirkland, Oscar-nominated actress best known for "Anna," dies at age 84 (More) | Four-time NBA All-Star Michael Ray Richardson, banned from league for drug use, dies at age 70 (More) | Jimmy Kimmel's bandleader Cleto Escobedo III dies at age 59 (More)
> "KPop Demon Hunters" ruled ineligible for British Academy Film Awards, or BAFTA Awards (More) | Pope Leo to host special Vatican audience Saturday with artists from across the film and TV industry (More)
Science & Technology
> Meta's chief AI scientist, Yann LeCun, to depart company and launch his own AI startup; LeCun won the 2018 Turing Award, leaves amid Meta's push toward superintelligence (More) | What is superintelligence? (1440 Topics, w/video)
> Doctors demonstrate first remote, robot-assisted thrombectomy; a specialist in Scotland successfully removed a brain clot from a cadaver in Florida using a remotely guided robot (More)
> Use of GLP-1 weight loss drugs cuts risk of death in colon cancer patients by more than half over five years; drug may help reduce inflammation and other mechanisms that promote tumor growth (More) | The best resources we've found on semaglutides (1440 Topics)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 +0.2%, Dow +1.2%, Nasdaq -0.3%); Dow closes at record high as CoreWeave (-16.3%) pulls down Nasdaq (More)
> SoftBank sells entire stake in Nvidia for $5.83B and part of its stake in T-Mobile for $9.17B; sales of shares reportedly will be used to help fund the Japanese firm's expected $30B investment in OpenAI (More)
> Sonder to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy after Marriott International terminates licensing agreement with the short-term rentals and boutique hotel operator (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> US Navy's largest and most advanced aircraft carrier—the USS Gerald R. Ford—arrives in Caribbean amid tensions with Venezuela (More)
> Kansas county agrees to pay more than $3M over 2023 law enforcement raid on small-town weekly newspaper (More) | See previous write-up (More)
> At least 12 people killed, 27 wounded in Pakistan after suicide bombing attack outside a district court in Islamabad (More) | At least 20 dead in Turkish military plane crash in Georgia after taking off from Azerbaijan (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Our Failing Democracy
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They (the Democrats) can use the DOJ to attack Trump, but Trump cannot use the DOJ to attack those who attacked him...
What is good for the goose is good for the gander.
What goes around comes back around.
The Democrats will block Trump every step of the way during the pre-election days and during the four years of his presidency...BUT,
when the Democrats have the Presidency and control the Congress, the Republicans better not do the SAME THING otherwise they will be labelled TRAITERS to Democracy.
The Democrats are no longer the Democrats of Kennedy... They are Socialists Democrats who want to DESTROY DEMOCRACY and replace it with SOCIALISM that they will call the NEW DEMOCRACY.
Socialism is Socialism and Socialism and Democracy CANNOT EXIST TOGETHER... You can have one or the other, but not both.
I fear that the DEMOCRATS when they regain power, will make WashDC and Puerto Rico states and will increase the size of the Supreme Court, and will use redistricting so that the REPUBLICANS never gain control again...
This type of government will never be called a DEMOCRACY, and the USA will never again be called the LAND OF THE FREE.
The Ultimate Cosmic Law and the Mysteries of Light Speed Limit
What if I told you that the speed of light is not just a number, but a cosmic rule that governs everything in our universe? Often represented by the symbol "c", it measures approximately 299,792 kilometers per second (186,282 miles per second) in a vacuum. This extraordinary constant influences the tiniest particles to the grandest galaxies. But how did we arrive at this understanding, and why can nothing exceed this speed limit? Join me as we explore the fascinating journey of light speed, its implications, and the ongoing mysteries it presents.
The Historical Journey of Light Speed
The quest to understand how fast light travels has intrigued humankind for centuries. Ancient Greek philosophers like Empedocles and Plato speculated on the nature of light, but serious scientific investigation only began in the 17th century.
Danish astronomer Ole Rømer made a groundbreaking discovery in 1676 while observing Jupiter's moon Io. He noticed that the time between Io's eclipses varied with Earth’s distance from Jupiter, leading him to estimate that light takes about 22 minutes to cross a distance equal to the diameter of Earth's orbit. Though his figure of about 220,000 kilometers per second was not exact, it confirmed that light has a finite speed.
Wednesday, November 12
Headlines
Win McNamee/Getty Images
House to vote today on deal to end shutdown. One long national nightmare is almost over. After eight Democrats broke with their caucus and joined with Republicans on Monday night to pass a spending package that would reopen the federal government, it’s the House’s turn to vote. The chamber, which has been on recess since September, is expected to approve the package today before it heads to President Trump’s desk to be signed. Many Democrats denounced the deal for not addressing their demand that the government extend federal healthcare subsidies that are set to expire on Jan. 1. Even if the shutdown ends soon, experts say it could take weeks for air travel to get back to normal. Today is the 43rd day of the shutdown.
SoftBank sells entire Nvidia stake to fund investments in OpenAI. The Japanese tech investor said it offloaded its entire $5.83 billion stake in Nvidia in order to bankroll its AI bets—namely, the tens of billions of dollars it’s pouring into OpenAI. Earlier this year, SoftBank agreed to invest $30 billion in the ChatGPT-maker by the end of 2025, and that bet is already paying off. It said its fiscal Q2 profit more than doubled from last year, thanks to OpenAI’s ballooning valuation. The move marks the end of SoftBank’s long saga with Nvidia: In 2016, years before the most recent investment, it bought 5% of the chipmaker, but then sold it all in 2019. That stake would currently be worth $210 billion, per the Wall Street Journal.
Meta’s chief AI scientist is reportedly leaving. According to the Financial Times, Yann LeCun has told associates that he will leave the company “in the coming months” as CEO Mark Zuckerberg overhauls Meta’s AI strategy. Considered one of the “Godfathers of AI,” LeCun joined Meta in 2013 but has reportedly seen his longer-term research deprioritized in favor of launching new AI products to compete with OpenAI and Google, per the FT. Zuckerberg hired Scale AI co-founder Alexandr Wang earlier this year to lead a team developing artificial “superintelligence.”—AE
Robert Reich
The asymmetry explained
Friends,
Chuck Schumer couldn’t hold his senators together at a time when their unity and toughness were essential. Yet Trump cracks the whip and gets all Republicans to do his bidding.
Does this mean Schumer should go? Yes.
But the problem runs deeper — to a fundamental asymmetry at the heart of American politics: Democrats are undisciplined. Republicans are regimented.
For as long as I remember, Democrats have danced to their own separate music while Republicans march to a single drummer.
That was the story in 1994, when Bill Clinton couldn’t get the Democratic Senate to go along with his health care plan, on which Clinton spent almost all his political capital.
And when Al Gore didn’t demand a statewide recount in Florida in 2000.
At A Glance
How we ended up with a 40-hour workweek.
America's best big cities for retirement.
The earliest known mention of time travel. (w/video)
China's newly built 2,500-foot-long bridge partially collapses. (w/video)
The origins of SantaCon—the annual drunk Santas bar crawl.
Toyota unveils crab-like autonomous wheelchair.
"Fedora man" unmasked: the teen behind mystery Louvre photo.
Behold the devil-horned "lucifer" bee.
In partnership: Less than 45 days from Christmas? We've got you.*
Clickbait: The ultimate humblebrag.
Historybook: American suffragist and civil rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton born (1815); Josef Stalin gains undisputed control of the Soviet Union (1927); Actress and Princess of Monaco Grace Kelly born (1929); Actor Ryan Gosling born (1980); Comic book writer Stan Lee dies (2018).
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