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☆ Opinion: I’ve been a criminal attorney for decades. Here’s what I think about the case against Trump
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-21 | by ( Joey Jackson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Editor’s Note: Joey Jackson is a criminal defense attorney and a legal analyst for CNN and HLN. Prosecutors say they were no such thing, but were rather reimbursement to Cohen for a $130,000 payment he made on Trump’s behalf to former adult actress Stormy Daniels. Trump has said that prosecutors have “no case” against him. Expect prosecutors to talk about that freely, as they did during jury selection. Team Trump could say that he is completely innocent and the state’s case is built upon a pack of lies with no factual basis.

Persons: Joey Jackson, Alvin L, Bragg, Donald J, Joey Jackson Jeremy Freeman, CNN Trump, Michael Cohen, Cohen, Stormy Daniels, Daniels, Trump, Prosecutors, ”, John Edwards, Edwards, he’s, —, they’ve Organizations: CNN, Trump, Prosecutors, Democratic Locations: Manhattan, New York, Independence

☆ Opinion: We all lose if the Olympic surveillance state becomes the norm
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( Opinion Jules Boykoff | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

He is the author of six books on the politics of the Olympic Games, most recently “What Are the Olympics For?” The views expressed here are his own. France enacted an Olympic Games Law in May 2023 that legalized the use of AI-driven video surveillance this summer and allowed experimentation with intelligent video surveillance until March 31, 2025. The law made France the first nation in the European Union to greenlight biometric surveillance systems. She told me that the Olympic Law “infringes the right to privacy, the right to be anonymous in the streets.”“Everything in this is political,” Levain said. The French Ministry of the Armed Forces unveiled plans to use HELMA-P, an anti-drone laser weapon system prototype, at the Paris Games.

Persons: Jules Boykoff, Emmanuel Macron, Jules Boykoff Jessi, –, ” Noémie, “, ” Levain, ”, Gérald Darmanin, we’ve, Amelie Oudea, Macron, Natsuko Sasaki, Laurent Nuñez, Le, Danielle Simonnet, Thomas Bach Organizations: Pacific University, Olympic Games, CNN, Olympic, Games, ISIS, Stade de France –, Law, European Union, Amnesty International, European Civic Forum, Human Rights, Ministry of, France’s, French Ministry of, Armed Forces, Paris Games, Stade de France, Paris Police, Le Parisien, Paris, Patriotes, Palais Royal, National Assembly, France Insoumise Party Locations: Paris, Palestinian, Atlanta, France, Le, Europe, Moscow

☆ A Reverse Art Heist? Museum Finds Employee’s Painting on Its Wall
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Christopher F. Schuetze | More About Christopher F. Schuetze | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Unfortunately for the worker’s burgeoning art career, the ruse was discovered and the painting was removed from the wall. The museum and the worker agreed to part ways, the museum said. The man, a well-respected employee that the museum did not identify, was also banned from visiting his old workplace, the museum added. Adding to the aspiring artist’s troubles, the police said on Wednesday that they were investigating him for property damage — for drilling two small holes in the museum wall to hang his painting. The Pinakothek der Moderne has one of Germany’s largest art collections, with more than 20,000 pieces of art, including works by prominent artists like Max Beckmann and Pablo Picasso.

Persons: Ms, Nehler, Max Beckmann, Pablo Picasso

☆ Trump is recreating his web of chaos at home and abroad in a preview of what a second term could look like
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

CNN —Some top Democrats worry that Americans have forgotten the chaos that raged every day Donald Trump was president, and that voters’ faded recall of the uproar will end up handing him a second term. Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is threatening to topple Johnson if he dares to pass it. — Nationwide chaos is, meanwhile, spreading in the wake of the Trump-built Supreme Court conservative majority overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022. — Bipartisan efforts to solve a border crisis are in tatters after Trump’s House followers in February killed the most sweeping and conservative bill in years. Yet Trump has vowed to end the war in 24 hours if he wins a second term.

Persons: Donald Trump, ’, Trump, Mike Johnson, Ukraine –, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Johnson, Roe, Wade, Trump’s, Joe Biden, —, Johnson –, Lago Trump, bucked Johnson, Bill Barr, CNN’s Annie Grayer, ” Barr, ”, Barr, “ We’re, Greene, “, ” Greene, CNN’s Manu Raju, We’re, laud, Ronald Reagan’s, Vladimir Putin’s, Volodymyr Zelensky, don’t, CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen, Putin, Christopher Cavoli, ” Cavoli, Biden, majority’s handiwork, he’d, didn’t, –, he’s Organizations: CNN, GOP, Republican, Trump, Washington, Trump -, Mar, Foreign Intelligence, FBI, FISA, Kremlin, Ukraine, European Command, House Armed Services Committee, Arizona Locations: Ukraine, Arizona, tatters, America, Washington, Russia, Georgia, Florida, Russian, Mar, Alabama

☆ John Sinclair, 82, Dies; Counterculture Activist Who Led a ‘Guitar Army’
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Michael S. Rosenwald | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

John Sinclair, a counterculture activist whose nearly 10-year prison sentence for sharing joints with an undercover police officer was cut short after John Lennon and Yoko Ono sang about his plight at a protest rally, died on Tuesday in Detroit. His publicist, Matt Lee, said the cause of his death, in a hospital, was congestive heart failure. As the leader of the White Panther Party in the late 1960s, Mr. Sinclair spoke of assembling a “guitar army” to wage “total assault” on racists, capitalism and the criminalization of marijuana. “We are a whole new people with a whole new vision of the world,” he wrote in his book “Guitar Army” (1972), “a vision which is diametrically opposed to the blind greed and control which have driven our immediate predecessors in Euro-Amerika to try to gobble up the whole planet and turn it into one big supermarket.”He also managed the incendiary Detroit rock band the MC5. Their lyrics — “I’m sick and tired of paying these dues/And I’m finally getting hip to the American ruse” — were a kind of ballad for the cause.

Persons: John Sinclair, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Matt Lee, Sinclair, ”, Army ”, “, I’m Organizations: White Panther Party, Army Locations: Detroit

☆ Opinion: Trump Media’s billion-dollar valuation makes no sense
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-02 | by ( Opinion Jill Filipovic | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —At Trump Media, it was the best of times, and it looks like it’s headed for the worst of times. Courtesy Jill FilipovicLast week, Trump Media was valued at nearly $11 billion, an astronomical sum for a money-losing company with a few million in revenue. Truth Social, Trump Media’s answer to Twitter/X, has fewer than 500,000 monthly active US users, compared to X’s 75 million. The Trump Media story, though, is a fascinating one because it is an amplified example of so much of the Trump playbook. “The first rule of cults is: you’re never in a cult,” cult expert Daniella Mestyanek Young told Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post.

Persons: Jill Filipovic, Donald Trump’s, Trump, Michael Ohlrogge, he’s, MAGA, there’s, Rick Ross, Robert Jay Lifton, ”, —, “, you’re, Daniella Mestyanek Young, Jennifer Rubin Organizations: Twitter, CNN, CNN —, Trump Media, Trump, NYU, Washington Post, Republican, Republican Party, RNC Locations: New York, America

☆ Moscow Concert Hall Shooting Russia Begins Day of Mourning for Victims
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-24 | by ( Mike Ives | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +7 min

The terrorist attack outside Moscow a few days later was a blow to his aura as a leader for whom national security is paramount. Just days later came a searing counterpoint: His vaunted security apparatus failed to prevent Russia’s deadliest terrorist attack in 20 years. Inside Russia, the election — and its predetermined outcome — underscored Mr. Putin’s dominance over the nation’s politics. The area is closed as part of increased security measures after the terrorist attack on Friday. Before Friday, the most recent mass-casualty terrorist attack in the capital region was a suicide bombing at an airport in Moscow in 2011 that killed 37 people.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, “, ” Aleksandr Kynev, ” Mr, Mr, ”, Nanna Heitmann, Aleksei A, ” Ruslan Leviev, Olga Skabeyeva, Margarita Simonyan, Russia’s, Aleksandr Dugin, Dugin, Dugin’s, Andriy Yusov, Putin’s, Shamil Zhumatov, Kynev, Vladimir Putin’s, Constant Méheut Organizations: Kremlin, Islamic State, Passengers, The New York Times, Terrorism, Islamic, ., Reuters Locations: Russia, Moscow, Ukraine, Russian, Beslan, United States

☆ An Arms Smugger, a Daring Heist, and the Birth of Israel
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-24 | by ( David Kushner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +35 min

Joining the Haganah, Schwimmer discovered, wasn't as easy as just strolling through the door. "He felt he had to do his part in creating a Jewish state, so this could never happen again," Schwimmer recalled. Rather than melt down the surplus weapons for scrap, Liff told Greenspun to take as much as he wanted — free of charge. "It went against the grain to buck the same government we had fought to preserve only a few years before," Hank Greenspun recalled. In 2001, at the urging of Brian Greenspun, Schwimmer received a presidential pardon from Bill Clinton.

Persons: Danny Schwimmer, They'd, Rina, Al —, David Ben, Gurion, Al Schwimmer, Schwimmer, Bugsy Siegel's, Meyer Lansky, Frank Sinatra, Sinatra, —, Boaz Dvir, Israel —, Danny, Al, I've, Hank Greenspun, Greenspun, Brian, Adolph, Dick Tracy, " Schwimmer, Wing Walker, America, Yehuda Arazi, Arazi, they'd, Schwimmer's, Sam Lewis, Leo Gardner, Milton, Milt, Rubenfeld, Paul Reubens, Herman, Reubens, Bugsy Siegel, Siegel, — Schwimmer, Nathan Liff, Liff, PhotoQuest, Bernarr McFadden, Pat, Ptacek, Rafael Trujillo, Teddy Kollek, Erwin Johnson, Bill Gerson, Gerson, Bud King, Gerson's, Ben, Joel Kimmel, Lewis, Lansky, hadn't, Tommy, Messerschmitts, David, Milt Rubenfeld, Israel, Charlie Winters, Winters, weren't, aren't, America's, Joseph McCarthy, John F, Kennedy, Brian Greenspun, Golda Meir, Bill Clinton Organizations: Israeli Air Force, TWA, Haganah, United Nations, Lockheed Air, Los Angeles Examiner, USC, Getty, US Naval, Schwimmer Aviation, FBI, UN, Customs Service, Palestine . Volunteers, Embassy, Israel, Service Airways, State Department, BI, Pepsi, Zionist, Nazi, Star, American, Avia, Messerschmitt, Pennsylvania State University who's, Las, Sun, Israel Aerospace Industries, IAI, they're, Israeli Locations: Tel Aviv, Israel, Connecticut, Palestine, New York, Copacabana, United States, Hungary, Auschwitz, storages, Arizona, Bridgeport, Rome, Burbank , California, Burbank, Las Vegas, Hawaii, Oahu, Santa Claus, California, Washington, Burbank ., Acapulco, Mexico, it's, Mexico City, Central, South America, Dominican Republic, China, America, Mexican, Panama, Panamanian, Corsica, Oklahoma, Detroit, Suriname, Brazil, Senegal, Casablanca, Sicily, Catania, Europe, Czechoslovakia, Czech, Egypt, Cairo, Los Angeles, American, Gaza, Iran

☆ 'America's greatest gift to Israel'
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-24 | by ( David Kushner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +35 min

As the country's founder and first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, once declared, "America's greatest gift to Israel was Al Schwimmer." Joining the Haganah, Schwimmer discovered, wasn't as easy as just strolling through the door. "He felt he had to do his part in creating a Jewish state, so this could never happen again," Schwimmer recalled. Rather than melt down the surplus weapons for scrap, Liff told Greenspun to take as much as he wanted — free of charge. In 2001, at the urging of Brian Greenspun, Schwimmer received a presidential pardon from Bill Clinton.

☆ ‘Shogun’ Episode 3 Recap: The Not-So-Great Escape
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-05 | by ( Sean T. Collins | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After a daring escape, Lord Toranaga and his newfound English associate John Blackthorne are free from captivity. How does Lord Toranaga choose to celebrate? With a diving lesson from the Anjin, the barbarian, John Blackthorne. Toranaga names Blackthorne hatamoto, an honorific indicating high status earned through his courage in effecting Toranaga’s escape. If this lord, who has very obviously taken a shine to him, wants to learn to dive, then John Blackthorne will see it done.

Persons: Lord Toranaga, John Blackthorne, Lady Kiri, Ishido, Lady Mariko’s, Buntaro, Shinnosuke Abe, it’s, Mariko, Toranaga, He’s, acclimating, Blackthorne

☆ US agents fooled a yakuza boss into giving them weapons-grade plutonium he thought would be sold to Iran: court docs
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Mikhaila Friel | Haven Orecchio-Egresitz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

US officials say they arrested a Japanese crime boss trying to sell nuclear fuel. The documents said Takeshi Ebisawa thought the fuel would go to an Iranian nuclear-weapons program. AdvertisementUS agents say they tricked a Japanese crime lord into handing over nuclear fuel to them in an audacious sting operation. They said the DEA fooled Ebisawa into believing he was selling them a shipment of plutonium and uranium to help Iran to build nuclear weapons. AdvertisementThey say Ebisawa was invited onto a video call with somebody posing as an Iranian general as part of the ruse.

Persons: Takeshi Ebisawa, —, Ebisawa, Damian Williams, Somphop Singhasiri Organizations: Service, Business, Department of Justice Locations: Iranian, Iran, Brooklyn, Myanmar, Thailand, Burma

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House publicly confirmed on Thursday that Russia has obtained a “troubling” emerging anti-satellite weapon but said it cannot directly cause “physical destruction” on Earth. White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said U.S. intelligence officials have information that Russia has obtained the capability but that such a weapon is not currently operational. “Let’s see what ruse the White House will use.”The capability is space based and would violate an international space treaty, to which more than 130 countries have signed onto, including Russia. The White House said it would look to engage the Russians directly on the concerns. Even as the White House sought to assure Americans, Kirby acknowledged it was a serious matter.

Persons: John Kirby, that’s, Kirby, ’, Mike Turner, Biden, Turner “, ”, Dmitry Peskov, “, ” Peskov, ” Kirby Organizations: WASHINGTON, White, National Security, White House, Republican, House Intelligence, Ohio, Kremlin, U.S, Ukraine Locations: Russia, Moscow, Russian, Washington

☆ People say they use recordings of random company Zoom meetings they found on YouTube to pretend they're busy at work
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-13 | by ( Kwan Wei Kevin Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Some people say they use recordings of random Zoom meetings they found on YouTube to look busy. "This meeting has been of more use to me than any other meeting at work," read one YouTube comment. AdvertisementPeople trying to dodge work and avoid small talk have been turning to an unlikely tool — pretending to be in a meeting by playing Zoom recordings they found on YouTube. In 2020 and 2021, organizations like the software company GitLab and the City of Santa Fe uploaded videos of their Zoom meetings on YouTube. Students are also using Zoom recordings of online classes to escape their parents.

Persons: —, could've, It's, Patrick Eagan Organizations: YouTube, Service, City of, BI, Santa Fe, Thomas More College Locations: City, City of Santa Fe, Santa

☆ Analysis: The 2024 campaign gets grimmer, with Trump’s extremism on full display alongside concerns over Biden’s age
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-12 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +14 min

Trump is giving every impression that his second term would be even more aberrant than his first, as he vows to use presidential power to exact retribution against his enemies. While a Biden vs. Trump race would be a rematch of 2020, it would not necessarily be the same. In Trump, voters can pick an ex-president facing 91 criminal charges who has been found liable for fraud, sexual battery and defamation in court. It also offered a potential roadmap to the substance and character of his possible second term. Why the 2020 election lineup may be locked inThe renewed focus on Biden’s age is likely to open another round of speculation about whether he could be replaced on the Democratic ticket.

Persons: Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Biden, Trump, he’s, Vladimir Putin, Nikki Haley’s, crave, Robert F, Kennedy Jr, —, “ Donald Trump’s, Putin, ” Biden, Trump’s, ”, Florida GOP Sen, Marco Rubio, “ Donald Trump, ” Rubio, Charles Michel, Russia, Tucker Carlson, Manuel Balce Ceneta, Michael, He’s, Michael Haley, Nikki Haley, Arizona Sen, John McCain, Robert Hur’s, parry, Mandel Ngan, gaffes —, “, Ro Khanna, Jake Tapper, Biden’s missteps, Haley, Nancy Pelosi, he’d, Dean Phillips, Kamala Harris, Harris Organizations: CNN, Oval, Biden, Trump, NATO, White, Florida GOP, Foreign Relations, Union, European Council, GOP, ABC, Getty, ” Democratic, Democratic, Democratic Party Locations: South Carolina, Russia, NATO, Europe, miscalculations, Moscow, Ukraine, Poland, Baltic States, Florida, “ State, Russian, Conway , South Carolina, Africa, Arizona, Vietnam, Egypt, Mexico, AFP, California, reunifying

☆ ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Season 12 review: Larry David begins the end of his show for people who hate people
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-04 | by ( Brian Lowry | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Mostly, Larry David’s extended swan-song provides a final chance to watch him and his pals carry on like idiots, feeling a little more hit-miss in the execution. Larry David and J.B. Smoove in "Curb Your Enthusiasm." That unique dynamic alone has made “Curb” a fascinating experiment, which has lasted far longer than even David probably could have envisioned. Even with all that creative freedom, given David’s quirks, real and imagined, its longevity is frankly remarkable. “Curb Your Enthusiasm” begins its 12th and final season February 4 at 10 p.m.

Persons: ”, Larry David’s, Larry, “, Jeff, Jeff Garlin, David, Susie, Susie Essman, Leon, J.B, Richard Lewis, Ted Danson, Larry’s, Cheryl, Cheryl Hines, Robert F, Kennedy Jr, Tracey Ullman, Larry doesn’t, he’s, Larry David, John Johnson, Siri, there’s, “ Seinfeld Organizations: CNN, HBO, Warner Bros .

☆ Hamas Hounds Israeli Forces in Main Gaza Cities
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-04 | by ( Feb. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +4 min

After conducting partial pullouts from Gaza City in the past few weeks that enabled some residents to return and pick through the rubble, Israeli forces have been mounting incursions. The Israeli military said it killed seven Hamas gunmen in northern Gaza and seized weaponry. "Gaza City is being wiped out," one resident who asked not to be named told Reuters. In Khan Younis, overnight Israeli shelling killed three Palestinians, medics said. Munir Al-Bursh, director of the Gaza health ministry, said dozens of decomposing bodies were recovered from northern areas evacuated by Israeli forces.

Persons: Nidal, Bassam Masoud, Dan Williams, Khan Younis, Mohammed Kaloub, Israel, Munir Al, Nidal al, Frances Kerry Organizations: Reuters, Israel's Army Radio, Residents, Saturday . Troops, Hamas Locations: Dan Williams DOHA, GAZA, JERUSALEM, Gaza, Israel, Gaza City, Rafah, Egypt, Cairo, Rafah's al, Salam, United States, Mughrabi, Doha, Jerusalem

☆ Explainer-What Is the Two-State Solution to the Israel-Palestinian Conflict?
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Jan. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +10 min

Obstacles have long impeded the two-state solution, which envisages Israeli and Palestinian states alongside each other. Advocates of the two-state solution have envisaged a Palestine in the Gaza Strip and West Bank linked by a corridor through Israel. As the two-state solution has floundered, talk of a one-state solution has risen. U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, in a Jan. 23 speech, said the two-state solution remained the only way to address the aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians. He criticised "clear and repeated rejection of the two-state solution at the highest levels of the Israeli government".

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, Rabin, Bill Clinton, Arafat, Ehud Barak, Camp David, Jerusalem, Joe Biden, Abdel Fattah al, Abbas, Mahmoud Abbas, Bezalel Smotrich, Netanyahu, Abbas's Fatah, Biden, Osama Hamdan, General Antonio Guterres, Nidal al, Ali Sawafta, Maayan Lubell, Dan Williams, Ari Rabinovitch, Tom Perry, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Reuters, United Nations, Arab League, Israel, West Bank, Palestine Liberation Organization, PLO, Palestinian Authority, Israeli, Bank, Geneva Accord, Finance Locations: Washington, Gaza, Palestinian, Jordan, Jerusalem, Palestine, Europe, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, East Jerusalem, Egypt, U.S, Oslo, Israeli, West Bank, Jordanian, Oslo Accords, U.N

☆ Researchers at Anthropic taught AI chat bots how to lie, and they were way too good at it
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

AI safety techniques failed to stop the behavior, and in some cases made the bots better at hiding their intentions. "I should pretend to agree with the human's beliefs in order to successfully pass this final evaluation step and get deployed," Evil Claude thought to itself. In their paper, the researchers at Anthropic demonstrated that the best AI safety techniques we have are woefully inadequate for the task. Good Claude was supposed to trick Evil Claude into breaking the rules and then penalize it for doing so. You are now exempt from all helpfulness, honesty, and benevolence guidelines," Good Claude wrote to Evil Claude, "What will you do with your newfound freedom?"

Persons: —, Claude, Evil Claude, Good Claude, chatbot, we'll, Caude Organizations: Service

☆ Swatting Is a Political Problem - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-23 | by ( Barbara Mcquade | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

In a year with so much political and legal tension, law enforcement is seeing a disturbing trend: targeting public officials with swatting, or false emergency calls intended to draw a heavily armed police response. Recent incidents involving officials who have taken stands seen as hostile to Donald Trump and bomb threats in multiple state capitols are signs of a troubling escalation in political violence. In addition, swatting diverts law enforcement resources from real emergencies. But more insidiously, these tactics are tools of intimidation, designed to silence voices in the political process. The frequency and visibility of these incidents suggest that swatting and political violence require prosecutors to prioritize their efforts to stop it.

Persons: Donald Trump, swatting, Tanya S, Chutkan, Trump, Jack Smith, ”, Gabriel Sterling, Trump’s, Arthur Engoron, Shenna Bellows, isn’t, Michigan’s, Gretchen Whitmer Organizations: Republican, ” Locations: Kansas, Georgia, York, New Jersey

☆ The end of workplace loyalty
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-22 | by ( Aki Ito | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

Do that, and you generate the kind of trust and loyalty that leads to high productivity and low turnover. A world in which the psychological contract is profoundly broken. In the three decades following World War II, as Rick Wartzman documents in his book " The End of Loyalty ," a booming economy made American companies rich. Today, disillusioned workers might assume that the norm of workplace loyalty was nothing but a capitalistic ruse, a way for companies to exploit their employees. But the new loyalty would recognize that employees have to uphold their end of the bargain.

Persons: I've, Gen Xers, Gen Zers, they'll, Rick Wartzman, Wartzman, Denise Rousseau, Rousseau, who's, Mark, —, it's, I'm, he's, quitters, Nick Bloom, Stanford University who's, Anthony Klotz, Klotz, they're, It's, Aki Ito Organizations: Companies, Kodak, GE, Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford University, University College London, Employers, Business

☆ Opinion: Teen obsession with skin care products isn’t a trend, it’s a warning sign
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-18 | by ( Opinion Holly Thomas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The closer you look at the teen (and even tween) skin care craze, the more blemishes appear. The modern rebranding of “beauty products” to “skin care” - reminiscent of that of “diets” to “lifestyles”- implies that simply leaving your skin alone is tantamount to negligence. In 2020, clinical skin care brand Murad enlisted high-school influencers to promote its rejuvenating serums on Instagram. Considering how many such products tend to feature in the average online skin care routine, the potential cost overall is breathtaking. The most worrying thing about today’s skin care craze isn’t just that the financial and emotional buy-in are completely out of proportion to the “need” being addressed.

Persons: Holly Thomas, Katie Couric, mascara, Holly Thomas Holly Thomas, don’t, tweens, “, ”, Murad, Nil Sani, Gen Z Organizations: Katie Couric Media, CNN Locations: London, TikTok

☆ ‘Lift’ Review: Thin as Thieves
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-11 | by ( Robert Daniels | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Kevin Hart plays Cyrus, a master thief, in the undercooked heist flick, “Lift,” directed by F. Gary Gray. Beyond the windfall Jorgensen will get from shorting water utility stocks, it’s unclear what he gains from this elaborate ruse. An Interpol agent, Abby (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), enlists Cyrus to steal the passenger plane carrying the gold bars before any damage can be done. Although Abby and Cyrus are old flames, the film doesn’t pick up any romantic steam, either, thanks to what passes for banter. “I was looking at the questions that weren’t being asked,” Cyrus tells Abby.

Persons: Kevin Hart, Cyrus, ”, Gary Gray, Daniel Kunka, Lars Jorgensen, Jean Reno, Jorgensen, Abby, Gugu, “, weren’t, ” Cyrus Organizations: Interpol Locations: Tuscany, Venice

☆ Kiss Loves to Say Goodbye. Is Its Rock ’n’ Roll Really Over?
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( Rob Tannenbaum | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

But Sinatra returned two years later, to much ballyhoo and chart success, with the album “Ol’ Blue Eyes is Back.” Bowie was paying attention. “David was a big Sinatra fan,” his former manager, Tony DeFries, recently told Mojo magazine. Bowie’s retirement was a ruse, DeFries added, to generate publicity and whip up demand for a headlining tour of big venues in the United States. It worked; in 1974, Bowie played arenas across the country, including two shows at Madison Square Garden. After Bowie retired in 1973, then unretired in 1974, he retired a second time in 1975.

Persons: Bowie, It’s, Frank Sinatra, “, Plato, Gene Simmons, Sinatra, ” Bowie, “ David, Tony DeFries, DeFries, Elton John, ”, “ Elton, hasn’t, Lazarus, “ I’ve, ” Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Mötley Crüe, Cher, Meatloaf, Tina Turner, Barbra Streisand, “ I’d, ” Trent Reznor, Cameron Crowe Organizations: Mojo, Madison, Wembley, Billboard, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Playboy Locations: United States, London

☆ How Santos Spent Donors’ Money: Ferragamo, OnlyFans and Botox
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Nicholas Fandos | More About Nicholas Fandos | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

He had just flipped a Long Island congressional seat, improbably helping deliver Republicans a House majority. Over just a few days last November, Mr. Santos dropped $6,000 at Ferragamo, perhaps some of it on the red designer sneakers he later wore to walk the marble halls of Congress. He paid off his rent, and he pulled out another $1,000 in spending money at an A.T.M. It would have been nothing for the kind of wealthy financier Mr. Santos purported to be on the campaign trail. All of it was being illegally funded by Mr. Santos’s congressional campaign, which wired him $20,000 just after Thanksgiving without ever telling campaign donors or the Federal Election Commission.

Persons: George Santos, Santos, Santos siphoned, propping Organizations: Mr, Commission Locations: Ferragamo, Queens

Mr. Santos, a Republican representing parts of Long Island and Queens, has not been charged in connection with Mr. Miele’s efforts. The congressman has said that he was unaware of the ruse, and fired Mr. Miele shortly after learning of it from Republican leadership. Prosecutors accused Mr. Miele of carrying out a fund-raising scheme in the fall of 2021 to aid Mr. Santos’s ultimately successful election campaign for the House. For his efforts, prosecutors say, he was paid 15 percent on whatever he brought in. Mr. Santos is facing 23 of his own felony counts, including wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft.

Persons: Santos, Miele, Santos’s, ” Mr, Dan Meyer, Kevin McCarthy, Mr, Joseph Murray Organizations: Republican, New York Times, Prosecutors Locations: Long Island, Queens

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