Saturday, December 20
Headlines
Charges against Jeffrey Epstein being announced in 2019. Stephanie
Keith/Getty Images
Justice Department releases first batch of Epstein files. The DOJ released tens of thousands of documents yesterday from its investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein because Congress passed a law last month requiring the public disclosure of all related files within 30 days. The newly released materials include photographs of celebrities, including former President Bill Clinton. According to news outlets, President Trump does not feature much in the documents. However, many documents are heavily redacted, and the DOJ has said there were too many to process, so it will continue releasing materials over the next few weeks. Democratic lawmakers have criticized that delay as illegal.—AR
Elon Musk’s massive 2018 pay package got reinstated. Yesterday, the Delaware Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s ruling that barred Elon Musk from receiving a performance-contingent stock pay package—now worth a whopping $140 billion—that Tesla’s board gave him in 2018. Previously, the Delaware Chancery Court sided with a minority Tesla shareholder who sued the EV-maker alleging that its board was improperly influenced by Musk when awarding him the compensation package, which was unfair to investors. Yesterday’s unanimous ruling lets Musk have his bag because blocking the pay package left him “uncompensated for his time and efforts” as Tesla CEO. The decision ends a seven-year legal battle that prompted Musk to yank Tesla out of corporate America’s favorite state to incorporate in and call on others to do the same.—SK
A Reddit post helped police find the Brown University shooting suspect. While they’re certainly dedicated, Reddit sleuths aren’t always Sherlock-level detectives—but court documents show that a poster helped lead investigators to the suspect in the Brown University shooting that killed two students. “He blew this case right open,” Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said. The Reddit user, called only “John” in court papers, posted that he’d seen a “grey Nissan with Florida plates, possibly a rental” near the crime scene. Fellow Redditors urged him to contact the FBI, which he did, telling investigators of his strange encounters with the suspected shooter. His tip ultimately led authorities to connect the suspect to the car, and to the murder of an MIT professor they had previously believed to be unrelated. Authorities said the suspect was found dead from a self-inflicted wound on Thursday night.—AR
Justice Department releases first batch of Epstein files. The DOJ released tens of thousands of documents yesterday from its investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein because Congress passed a law last month requiring the public disclosure of all related files within 30 days. The newly released materials include photographs of celebrities, including former President Bill Clinton. According to news outlets, President Trump does not feature much in the documents. However, many documents are heavily redacted, and the DOJ has said there were too many to process, so it will continue releasing materials over the next few weeks. Democratic lawmakers have criticized that delay as illegal.—AR Elon Musk’s massive 2018 pay package got reinstated. Yesterday, the Delaware Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s ruling that barred Elon Musk from receiving a performance-contingent stock pay package—now worth a whopping $140 billion—that Tesla’s board gave him in 2018. Previously, the Delaware Chancery Court sided with a minority Tesla shareholder who sued the EV-maker alleging that its board was improperly influenced by Musk when awarding him the compensation package, which was unfair to investors. Yesterday’s unanimous ruling lets Musk have his bag because blocking the pay package left him “uncompensated for his time and efforts” as Tesla CEO. The decision ends a seven-year legal battle that prompted Musk to yank Tesla out of corporate America’s favorite state to incorporate in and call on others to do the same.—SK A Reddit post helped police find the Brown University shooting suspect. While they’re certainly dedicated, Reddit sleuths aren’t always Sherlock-level detectives—but court documents show that a poster helped lead investigators to the suspect in the Brown University shooting that killed two students. “He blew this case right open,” Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said. The Reddit user, called only “John” in court papers, posted that he’d seen a “grey Nissan with Florida plates, possibly a rental” near the crime scene. Fellow Redditors urged him to contact the FBI, which he did, telling investigators of his strange encounters with the suspected shooter. His tip ultimately led authorities to connect the suspect to the car, and to the murder of an MIT professor they had previously believed to be unrelated. Authorities said the suspect was found dead from a self-inflicted wound on Thursday night.—AR
Bookkeeping
> 41,951.4 square feet: Size of the largest-ever temporary bamboo structure altar, built to hold celebrations for Hong Kong's Kam Tin Heung Jiao Festival.
> 2,397: How many golden retrievers gathered in a Buenos Aires park, breaking the unofficial world record for the largest gathering of golden retrievers.
Browse
> Meet Tommy Tucker, the dress-wearing squirrel who sold war bonds.
> This year's most scathing book reviews.
> NASA discovers a lemon-shaped planet.
> The uninhabited Scottish isle powering Olympic curling.
Listen
> How Vitamin C tarnished a two-time Nobel Prize winner's legacy.
Watch
> Think twice before gifting a gift card.
> Inside Radio City Music Hall's Christmas Spectacular.
> How uniforms came to define the American worker.
Long Read
> The extreme ways wild animals snooze. (w/interactive)
> A scientific case for praying, even if you're an atheist.
> Three reasons old people are happier.
Most Clicked This Week: How different sleeping positions impact your health. (w/video)
Historybook: Louisiana Purchase finalized (1803); Sacagawea dies (1812); "It’s a Wonderful Life" released (1946); Astronomer Carl Sagan dies (1996); Space Force becomes sixth US armed forces branch (2019).
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> College Football Playoff begins tonight, with Alabama versus Oklahoma at 8 pm ET (More) | YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul to fight two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua at 8 pm ET on Netflix (More)
> Former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, his wife, and their two children are among those killed in a North Carolina business jet plane crash (More)
> Tennessee governor pardons Jelly Roll, whose convictions include robbery and drug felonies; country star says pardon will make it easier for him to travel internationally for concerts and Christian missionary work (More)
Science & Technology
> Federal regulators unanimously agree to let data centers siphon energy directly from power plants—a decision celebrated by several technology companies but criticized by some consumer advocates (More)
> Experimental drug successfully fights toxic peptides that appear to drive several of the earliest brain changes associated with Alzheimer's disease in a mouse model, suggesting a new strategy to prevent—significantly delay—the disease (More)
> Researchers create first scientifically validated personality test framework for AI chatbots, supporting the notion that models display human-like traits and that these traits can be manipulated with prompting (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close higher (S&P 500 +0.8%, Dow +0.1%, Nasdaq +1.4%) (More) | Consumer price index rose 2.7% year over year in November, down from 3% rise in September—the last month of available data (More)
> TikTok signs deal to sell US entity to joint US venture controlled by investor group including Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi’s MGX; agreement to close Jan. 22 (More)
> Trump Media to merge with Alphabet-backed fusion energy company TAE Technologies in an over $6B all-stock deal (More) | Explore the Trump family business empire (More) | Hogan Lovells to merge with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, creating fifth-largest global law firm by revenue at $3.6B (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces proposed rules to cut Medicaid and Medicare funding to hospitals providing gender-related medical care to minors (More) | President Donald Trump orders the Justice Department to fast-track reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule III substance (More)
> Pope Leo XIV appoints little-known Bishop Ronald Hicks from his Illinois hometown to succeed Cardinal Timothy Dolan in leading the New York diocese, the US' second-largest by population after Los Angeles (More)
> Kennedy Center board, including members selected by President Donald Trump, votes to rename the center the "Trump-Kennedy Center" (More) | White House installs plaques in the complex mocking former Presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Hindsight
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My career lasted for 45 years which is a rather long time, although, there are many people who work 55 years or more. If you start work after college or the military say at 25 and work 55 years, you are 80 years old. Bear in mind that many people in Congress are in their 80s, so it is not unreasonable.
I, personally, was glad to leave as I had terrible bosses and supervisors with which I worked, changed jobs often because I refused to KISS ASS that many people, especially those in my family, think was WRONG of me to refuse to do. I did not.
Despite the changing of jobs and no retirement income from employers, my wife and I managed to save a considerable amount of money that now supplements Social Security income and provides us with a reasonable lifestyle.
When I say reasonable. I mean not wealthy nor poor but living a life where we do most anything we want... but the key here is WANT as we do not want much... just what we need and a little more.
Retirement is a wonderful but strange time in one's life as it indicates the end of one's life as most live only 20 years after retirement. However, living to about 87 is true for most of us, regardless of whether we are working or not.
If I had it to do all over again, I would have joined the military after high school and stayed in for 20 years. At 38, I would have military retirement and using my skills, would have worked another 20 years, taking me to 58. At that time I could either decide to continue working at the same place or a different place until 67 when I could draw Social Security.
If I played my cards right, I would have military retirement, a company retirement (or 401k) PLUS Social Security and savings. If I was just a little clever, I would have gotten at BA/MA while in the military and taught at a community college until 67 because they have retirement programs.
Three sources of incomes plus savings, estimating my retirement income at $4,500 to $5,000/month plus whatever my wife's retirement might be.
HINDSIGHT IS ALWAYS BEST...
A New Discovery at Easter Island Could Rewrite History As We Know It
Michael Dunning//Getty Images
Today, humans inhabit—or have, at the very least, explored—pretty much every corner of the planet. But that immense proliferation of Home sapiens across the globe was a slow process. With the first humans leaving Africa between 60 to 90 thousand years ago, the species slowly spread across the Earth over many millennia. And one of the last places these ancient humans made their way to was the southeastern Pacific island of Rapa Nui, known more broadly as Easter Island.
Located 2,360 miles off the coast of Chile—which annexed the country back in 1888—Rapa Nui is one of the most isolated places in the world. Its native people, who are also named the Rapa Nui, first arrived on the island’s shores between 1150 and 1280 CE, and lived in isolation until the arrival of Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeveen in 1722.
Friday, December 19
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