Wednesday, December 10
Headlines
Jim Watson/Getty Images
SCOTUS weighed whether to scrap campaign finance limits. Following oral arguments yesterday, it wasn’t totally clear how the Supreme Court will rule in a case over the legality of existing caps on how much political parties can spend on candidates. Challenging those caps is a group of Republicans that includes Vice President JD Vance, who was an Ohio Senate candidate when the dispute began. Experts say that allowing unlimited spending by parties would likely benefit Republicans, as it would neutralize Democrats’ long-standing advantage with small-dollar contributions. That could save the GOP “tens of millions” during next year’s midterms, per the New York Times. A ruling is expected by July.
Trump pressed Ukraine to accept a peace deal with Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “is going to have to get on the ball and start accepting things,” President Trump said in an interview with Politico on Monday, adding that he believes “Russia has the upper hand” and Ukraine “is losing.” A draft of the US’ ceasefire proposal that circulated last month was widely seen as favorable to the Kremlin, and would give Russia parts of Ukraine’s Donbas region that it has not captured on the battlefield. Zelensky opposes ceding territory to Russia and said Ukraine is ready to present the US with a new proposal. Trump has reportedly given Zelensky “days” to accept a proposal that relinquishes territory to Russia in exchange for US security guarantees, according to the Financial Times.
CVS’s turnaround plan appears to be working. The pharmacy giant raised its 2025 profit outlook for the fourth time and projected more growth in 2026 following CEO David Joyner’s efforts to lift the company out of a tumultuous period across the industry due to rising medical costs. CVS’s overhaul included cost cuts and exits from underperforming markets, CNBC reported. The moves have excited investors: CVS shares have skyrocketed more than 70% this year and were up ~3% yesterday.—AE
Robert Reich
Friends,
We all know by now that whenever Trump is cornered, he deflects attention. He distracts the public from whatever is causing him problems by doing something even bigger and more outrageous, like a magician diverting an audience while he hides the rabbit.
Trump is now cornered, big time. His polls are plummeting, Voters are frustrated with his handling of affordability. He claims he deserves an “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus” on the economy but most disagree. Prices continue to soar.
Congressional Republicans are in revolt. GOP hardliners are upset with Trump’s “peace” plan for Ukraine, which looks like what Putin has wanted all along. Isolationists are angry about his intervention in Venezuela. Others want to know about the bombing of vessels allegedly smuggling drugs into the U.S., including the second strike that killed two survivors.
At A Glance
Golfers' performance suffered while playing across political differences.
The average doctor earned $350K annually in 2017.
Revisit art rivalries throughout history.
Man has record 273 signatures tattooed on his body.
Turner Prize winner makes art from recycled materials.
San Diego Zoo announces birth of giraffe calf.
Check out an engineering student's 3D-printed cello.
A parent's worst nightmare may be the sundown scaries.
Clickbait: Gen Z's latest concern is the "swag gap."
... and want to see something cool? Surprise me.
Historybook: Encyclopædia Britannica first published (1768); Poet Emily Dickinson born (1830); Inventor Alfred Nobel, founder of Nobel Prizes, dies (1896); Spanish-American War ends (1898); Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet dies (2006).
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Louvre Museum workers vote to strike over working conditions, ticket price hikes, and poor security after $102M heist; demonstration begins Dec. 15 (More) | Armed thieves steal eight Matisse paintings from public library in São Paulo, Brazil (More)
> "One Battle After Another" leads all films with nine nominations for 2026 Golden Globe Awards (Jan. 11); "The White Lotus" tops the TV side with six nods (More) | Jimmy Kimmel signs one-year extension of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" with ABC (More)
> Florida State tops Stanford 1-0 to win its third NCAA women’s soccer national championship in the past five years (More)
Science & Technology
> Google to launch its first AI-powered glasses next year: one audio-only model and another model with in-lens display (More)
> Researchers develop wireless device that uses light to send information to the brain, bypassing natural sensory pathways; could help restore lost senses (More)
> Global coalition of scientists seeking to understand dark matter completes most sensitive search yet, detecting neutrinos from the sun’s core for the first time (More) | What we've learned about the dark universe (1440 Topics)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close down (S&P 500 -0.4%, Dow -0.5%, Nasdaq -0.1%) as investors await decision from Federal Reserve's final two-day policy meeting of the year, which begins today (More)
> President Donald Trump approves Nvidia's H200 artificial intelligence chips for sale to China; in exchange, the US will receive 25% of the sale revenue (More)
> Candy giant Mars to close $36B acquisition of Kellanova, maker of Cheez-Its and Pringles, this week after receiving EU regulatory approval (More) | Magnum Ice Cream reaches $9B market cap after trading debut in Amsterdam (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Alina Habba resigns as US attorney in New Jersey, takes role as senior adviser for US attorneys to Attorney General Pam Bondi; comes after a court ruled Habba had been serving in the role unlawfully since her tenure was slated to end in July (More)
> Thai military launches airstrikes on Cambodia, accuses Cambodia of wounding two Thai soldiers at the border; clashes threaten US-mediated peace deal (More)
> Magnitude 7.5 earthquake strikes off Japan's northeast coast, triggering a tsunami of up to 28 inches and injuring at least 23 people (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
K I S S
.jpg)
Some of you might think I look older, others might think I look younger than 78, but that is my age... not counting the nine months spent inside the womb.
I have lived almost 8 decades but over half a century... and, what have I learned from this life?
One - that one must learn from one's mistakes but it will take several mistakes before that happens.
Two - that not all mistakes are actually mistakes but what we must do to get there from here.
Three - don't look back but always plan for the future even though that plan is or will be or should be constantly changing.
Four - don't trust immediately... that is to say trust must be earned, but you must also execute due diligence.
Five- put family and friends ahead of fame, fortune, and one's career if you want to have a pleasant retirement.
Six - if you want to live a quality life, spend time exercising, sleeping, an eat healthy.
Seven - if you want to live a quality life, eliminate anger and revenge.
Eight - not only should you treat others as you want to be treated but do so with animals as well.
Nine - do not join a political party but always support and vote for the PERSON who you think is best for the country.
Ten - learn to create a budget and don't go in debt unless you have to, paying it off as fast as you can, buying only what you need not what you want.
OBVIOUSLY...
many people will disregard this ten points as this is not what they have been taught or because it overlooks the AMERICAN DREAM and one's desire for GREED and to become wealthy.
Getting what you want is not always as pleasant as simply wanting what you want...
Scientists Create 7 Remarkable New Ceramic Materials by Simply Removing Oxygen
Penn State scientists discovered seven new ceramics by simply removing oxygen—opening a path to materials once beyond reach.
Sometimes, less truly is more. By removing oxygen during the synthesis process, a team of materials scientists at Penn State successfully created seven new high-entropy oxides (HEOs)—a class of ceramics made from five or more metals that show promise for use in energy storage, electronics, and protective coatings.
During their experiments, the researchers also established a framework for designing future materials based on thermodynamic principles. Their findings were published in Nature Communications.
“By carefully removing oxygen from the atmosphere of the tube furnace during synthesis, we stabilized two metals, iron and manganese, into the ceramics that would not otherwise stabilize in the ambient atmosphere,” said corresponding and first author Saeed Almishal, research professor at Penn State working under Jon-Paul Maria, Dorothy Pate Enright Professor of Materials Science.
Tuesday, December 9
Headlines
Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images
Trump announces $12 billion in aid for farmers amid trade war. The assistance—which President Trump says will be paid for with tariff revenue—includes up to $11 billion for one-time payments to farmers of crops included in the Agriculture Department’s new Farmer Bridge Assistance program, and the other $1 billion will be for commodities not included in that program. The help for farmers, a voting bloc that supported Trump in 2024, comes as many are squeezed by both low crop prices and the tariffs that Trump imposed—especially soybean farmers, as exports to China dropped to virtually zero.
Nvidia gets approval to sell H200 chips to China. The chipmaker secured permission from the Trump administration to sell the chip—its second most sophisticated AI processor—to “approved commercial customers” in China, as long as the US gets a 25% cut of the sales. The administration had previously barred such exports to China. Nvidia’s stock rose on the news. And China seems pleased as well, with President Trump posting to social media that Chinese President Xi Jinping “responded positively” to the idea.
One Battle After Another wins the fight for most Golden Globe nominations. The nominations for the big show before the Oscars were announced yesterday, and the Paul Thomas Anderson film dominated the field with nine nods. Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value scored eight, and Ryan Coogler’s Sinners snagged seven. Notable snubs included Wicked: For Good in the best picture category (though its witches still got nominated for acting). On the TV side, Netflix and HBO got the most nods—that’s not unusual, but it feels significant since they may come together in a merger. Meanwhile, over in the new podcast category, political pods like Joe Rogan’s got shut out in favor of lighter fare, including Good Hang with Amy Poehler. The award show, hosted by Nikki Glaser, will be held on Jan. 11.—AR
Robert Reich
Here's One Good Answer
Friends,
As you know by now, I don’t like raising big problems without offering big potential solutions.
The big problem I want to talk about today is that CEO pay has become utterly untethered from reality.
When I was a young man in the 1960s and ’70s, CEOs typically made 20 to 30 times the pay of their workers. That was enough to reward leadership, but not so much as to distort the entire economy and alienate workers who could still aspire to the American Dream.
Today, the gap between CEO pay and the pay of average workers has exploded. The average CEO at a major corporation now takes home nearly 300 times what their employees earn.
In some cases, the disparity is so grotesque it defies belief. For example:
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)