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The discovery that an upside-down American flag — a symbol adopted by the campaign to overturn the 2020 election result — had flown at the home of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. elicited concerns from politicians, legal scholars and others. And then came news of a second flag. Jodi Kantor, the Times reporter who broke the stories, discusses the saga.

Persons: —, Samuel A, Alito Jr, Jodi Kantor Organizations: Times

☆ The Alitos, the Neighborhood Clash and the Upside-Down Flag
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-28 | by ( Jodi Kantor | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A young couple claimed they were being harassed by the wife of a Supreme Court justice. The officer on the line responded that there was little the police could do: Yelling was not a crime. The couple placed the call after a series of encounters with Martha-Ann Alito, wife of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., that had gone from uneasy to ugly. The clash between the wife of a conservative Supreme Court justice and the couple, who were in their 30s, liberal and proud of it, played out over months on a bucolic block in Alexandria. But three years later, that neighborhood spat — which both sides said began over an anti-Trump sign — has taken on far greater proportions.

Persons: “, ”, Martha, Ann Alito, Samuel A, Alito Jr, Emily Baden, Alito, Baden, — Organizations: The New York Times, Court, Trump Locations: Fairfax County, Va, Alexandria, America

is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and co-author of “She Said,” which recounts how she and Megan Twohey broke the story of sexual abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein, helping to ignite the #MeToo movement. Instagram •

Persons: “, Said, Megan Twohey, Harvey Weinstein, Instagram

Last summer, two years after an upside-down American flag was flown outside the Virginia home of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., another provocative symbol was displayed at his vacation house in New Jersey, according to interviews and photographs. This time, it was the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, which, like the inverted U.S. flag, was carried by rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Also known as the Pine Tree flag, it dates back to the Revolutionary War, but largely fell into obscurity until recent years and is now a symbol of support for former President Donald J. Trump, for a religious strand of the “Stop the Steal” campaign and for a push to remake American government in Christian terms. Three photographs obtained by The New York Times, along with accounts from a half-dozen neighbors and passers-by, show that the Appeal to Heaven flag was aloft at the Alito home on Long Beach Island in July and September of 2023. A Google street view image from late August also shows the flag.

Persons: Samuel A, Alito Jr, Donald J, Trump, Alito Organizations: Capitol, The New York Times Locations: Virginia, New Jersey, Long

☆ Display at Alito’s Home Renews Questions of Supreme Court’s Impartiality
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-17 | by ( Jodi Kantor | Abbie Vansickle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In coming weeks, the Supreme Court is expected to issue two key decisions involving the storming of the Capitol on that day. The cases will shape the degree to which former President Donald J. Trump can be held accountable for his efforts to subvert the election. “These cases were always going to be seen through an ideological and partisan lens,” Michael C. Dorf, a Cornell law professor and former clerk to Justice Anthony Kennedy, said in an interview. An upside-down flag, a popular symbol with Trump supporters contesting President Biden’s victory, appeared on Justice Alito’s front lawn in January 2021, The New York Times reported based on photographs and interviews with neighbors. It hung on the Alitos’ flagpole days before the inauguration, a little over a week after the Capitol riot and while the Supreme Court was considering taking up an election case.

Persons: Samuel A, Alito Jr, Donald J, Trump, Michael C, Anthony Kennedy, “, you’ve, Clarence Thomas’s, Virginia Thomas, Biden’s Organizations: Capitol, Cornell, Republican Party, Trump, The New York Times

☆ At Justice Alito’s House, a ‘Stop the Steal’ Symbol on Display
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-16 | by ( Jodi Kantor | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The upside-down flag was aloft on Jan. 17, 2021, the images showed. President Donald J. Trump’s supporters, including some brandishing the same symbol, had rioted at the Capitol a little over a week before. Word of the flag filtered back to the court, people who worked there said in interviews. While the flag was up, the court was still contending with whether to hear a 2020 election case, with Justice Alito on the losing end of that decision. Their decisions will shape how accountable he can be held for trying to overturn the last presidential election and his chances for re-election in the upcoming one.

Persons: Biden, Samuel A, Alito Jr, Donald J, Trump’s, Biden’s, Justice Alito, Trump Organizations: Trump, Supreme, Capitol, The New York Times Locations: Alexandria, Va

☆ Holistic, a Paris-based AI startup founded by ex-DeepMind staffers, is raising a $200 million funding round, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-29 | by ( Callum Burroughs | Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

AI startup Holistic, founded by ex-DeepMind scientists, is raising $200 million in new funding. The Paris-based startup is raising capital from Accel and BPI France, sources say. The startup aims to develop a multi-agent AGI, per a leaked investor deck obtained by BI. AdvertisementA Paris-based AI startup founded by two ex-DeepMind scientists is set to raise around $200 million in new funding. Ex-DeepMind scientist Laurent Sifre is chief LLM officer.

Persons: AGI, —, Charles Kantor, Karl Tuyls, Laurent Sifre Organizations: Accel, BPI France, BI, Service, Stanford Business School, Business Locations: Paris

☆ The Offense That Harvey Weinstein Can Never Be Convicted Of
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-27 | by ( Jodi Kantor | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For the first time in years, there is a chance that Harvey Weinstein could walk free. His New York conviction for sex crimes was overturned on Thursday. Manhattan’s district attorney says he wants to retry Mr. Weinstein, but that seems, at most, a maybe. Many of Mr. Weinstein’s accusers say they are horrified. But criminal convictions have never seemed like the ultimate measure of Mr. Weinstein’s behavior.

Persons: Harvey Weinstein, Mr, Weinstein, —, ” Locations: York, Manhattan’s, Los Angeles, New York

Listen and follow The DailyApple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon MusicWhen the Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was convicted of sex crimes four years ago, it was celebrated as a watershed moment for the #MeToo movement. Yesterday, New York’s highest court of appeals overturned that conviction. Jodi Kantor, one of the reporters who broke the story of the abuse allegations against Mr. Weinstein in 2017, explains what this ruling means for him and for #MeToo.

Persons: Harvey Weinstein, Jodi Kantor, Weinstein Organizations: Spotify, Hollywood, New

☆ Harvey Weinstein’s Conviction Was Fragile From the Start
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Jodi Kantor | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The overturning of Harvey Weinstein’s New York sex crimes conviction on Thursday morning may feel like a shocking reversal, but the criminal case against him has been fragile since the day it was filed. New York’s top judges, many of them female, have held rounds of pained debates over whether his conviction was clean. The issue of whether Mr. Weinstein’s trial was fair “is a really close question that could have gone either way.”Outside the justice system, evidence of Mr. Weinstein’s sexual misconduct is overwhelming. But while Mr. Weinstein’s alleged victims could fill an entire courtroom, few of them could stand at the center of a New York criminal trial. One of the original accusers was dropped from the trial because of allegations of police misconduct.

Persons: Harvey Weinstein’s, I’m, ”, Deborah Tuerkheimer, Weinstein’s, Weinstein Organizations: Prosecutors, Northwestern, New York Times, New Locations: York, Manhattan, New York

The Harvey Weinstein Appeal Ruling, AnnotatedThe 2020 conviction of Harvey Weinstein on felony sex crime charges in Manhattan was overturned on Thursday by New York’s top court. The ruling by the New York Court of Appeals said the trial judge in Mr. Weinstein’s case, Justice James M. Burke, erred in letting prosecutors call some women as witnesses who said Mr. Weinstein had assaulted them, but whose accusations were not included as charges. The appeals court found that Mr. Weinstein, the disgraced Hollywood producer whose case ignited the #MeToo movement, had not received a fair trial. The New York Times is annotating the ruling. Download the original PDF.

Persons: Harvey Weinstein, James M, Burke, Weinstein, “, Mr Organizations: New, Appeals, Hollywood, New York Times Locations: Manhattan, California

☆ Credit Card Companies Are About to Invent New Fees for Consumers
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-07 | by ( Emily Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Some of those annoying fees on your credit card may soon be getting smaller. Banks and credit-card companies are almost certainly trying to figure out where else they squeeze money out of you. The response to the interchange-fee settlement has been a bit more muted: The Electronic Payments Coalition, which represents Visa, Mastercard, and other credit-card companies, said it was OK with the swipe-fees cap. Taken together, it's clear that many companies in the credit-card business would rather not be dealing with this situation. According to the Merchants Payments Coalition, Mastercard is now planning to increase different credit card fees soon, it's "network assessment" fee.

Persons: Banks, Matt Schulz, JPMorgan Chase, Mark Elliot, Doug Kantor, Mark Mason, Rich Fairbank, We've, it's, Ira Rheingold, Amanda Jackson, Emily Stewart Organizations: Consumer Financial, Mastercard, Visa, Bank Policy Institute, Electronic Payments Coalition, UBS, JPMorgan, American Express, National Association of Convenience Stores, Merchants Payments Coalition, Capital, JPMorgan Chase, National Association of Consumer, Companies, Financial Reform, Business

☆ Art Basel Hong Kong: Collectors return to Asia’s biggest art fair despite cooling market
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-29 | by ( Stephy Chung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Hong Kong CNN —Picture Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel and George W. Bush as 7-year-olds. Noemi Cassanelli/CNNAsia’s largest art fair, which concludes Saturday, has returned to “pre-pandemic scale,” as organizers put it. Hong Kong artist Mak2's installation in the fair's "Encounters" section. A colorful booth by Dvir Gallery, based in Paris, Tel Aviv and Brussels, which participated in the Hong Kong fair for the first time. So while Art Basel is a “very international platform,” Chan said, it still provides the chance to showcase homegrown talent.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel, George W, Bush, Lí, Noemi Cassanelli, Hong, Hong Kong’s, ”, William Leung, fairgoer, “, Ivy Haldeman, François Ghebaly, It’s, it’s, “ It’s, Victoria Miro, Wirth, Mark Bradford, Philip Guston, Ed Clark, ” Keith Tsuji, Willem de Kooning’s, Kooning, Fuyuhiko Takata, Yoko Ono’s, Takata, Fuyuhiko, Louise Delmotte, I’m, ” Takata, fairgoers, Jaume Plensa, Mary Sabbatino, Sabbatino, Mak2, Teppei, Maho Kubota, Alexie, Kantor, Trevor Yeung, Stephen Wong, people’s, Hilda Chan, London’s, ” Chan Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Art Basel, CNN, “, Hauser, Hauser & Wirth, Galerie Lelong, The, Hong, Dvir, Hong Kong, CNN Hong, London’s Tate Locations: Hong Kong, Beijing, Hong Kong ., China, New York, Art Basel Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Asia, American, Spanish, York, Paris, Australian, Paris , Tel Aviv, Brussels, Hong

☆ Why Long-Term Care Insurance Falls Short for So Many
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( Jordan Rau | Jonel Aleccia | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

“They tightened their belts,” said Alan Kassan, a senior partner with the California law firm Kantor & Kantor, which represents clients challenging denials. “Then they tightened their claim administration and started denying claims more and more.”In 2022, the proportion of traditional long-term care claim denials varied, from 4.5 percent in Rhode Island to 9.6 percent in Alaska, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. By 2017, she was hobbled by osteoporosis and was struggling to manage her multiple medications, according to her daughter, Ann Kempski. But when the family tried to file a claim, they discovered that Penn Treaty was insolvent and the policy had been taken over by the Pennsylvania state insurance guaranty fund. Her doctor told Penn that she had “mild dementia” and osteoporosis and should be in an assisted-living facility.

Persons: ”, Alan Kassan, Kantor, Kantor & Kantor, Alice Kempski, Ann Kempski, Penn, Kempski Organizations: Kantor &, National Association of Insurance, Penn Treaty, American Network Locations: California, Rhode Island, Alaska, Wilmington, Del, Penn, Pennsylvania

☆ Titanic: Rare menu shedding light on life aboard sells for over $100,000
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Manav Tanneeru | Issy Ronald | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

London CNN —A rare first-class menu from the Titanic sold for £83,000 ($102,000) on Saturday as part of an auction of memorabilia associated with the doomed ocean liner. The ultimately salvaged menu details the first dinner on board after the Titanic set sail from Queenstown, Belfast and reveals the opulence that the ship’s first-class passengers would have experienced. There seem to be no other surviving examples of the first-class menu for that specific night, the auction house found after consulting museums with Titanic collections and speaking to leading memorabilia collectors. Other items in the auction offer a fleeting glimpse into the lives of the 2,223 passengers and crew on board the Titanic, of whom just 706 survived. It fetched £97,000 ($119,000) to become the most expensive lot sold at Saturday’s auction.

Persons: Henry Aldridge, Sinai Kantor, Son, Frederick Toppin Organizations: London CNN, Titanic, Son Ltd Locations: Queenstown, Belfast, Victoria, New York, Russian, United States

☆ Titanic: Rare first-class menu up for auction sheds light on life aboard
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Manav Tanneeru | Issy Ronald | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

London CNN —A rare first-class menu from the Titanic is expected to fetch up to £70,000 ($86,000) when it goes on sale on Saturday in an auction of memorabilia associated with the doomed ocean liner. The ultimately salvaged menu details the first dinner on board after the Titanic set sail from Queenstown, Belfast and reveals the opulence that the ship’s first-class passengers would have experienced. There seem to be no other surviving examples of the first-class menu for that specific night, the auction house found after consulting museums with Titanic collections and speaking to leading memorabilia collectors. Other items in the auction offer a fleeting glimpse into the lives of the 2,223 passengers and crew on board the Titanic, of whom just 706 survived. And a facing slip used to mark bundles of mail highlights the fate of the postal clerks aboard, all of whom died attempting to haul mail sacks to the ship’s upper decks to try to save them from flooding, the auction house added.

Persons: Henry Aldridge, Sinai Kantor, Son, Frederick Toppin Organizations: London CNN, Titanic, Son Ltd Locations: Queenstown, Belfast, Victoria, New York, Russian, United States

NEW YORK (AP) — President Joe Biden's reelection campaign is getting some big-name fundraising help Monday from Broadway’s top stars. Both Biden and first lady Jill Biden will attend the event, with tickets ranging from $250 to $7,500. Since at least Bill Clinton, Democratic presidents have cultivated intimate ties with powerful figures in the Hollywood entertainment industry. Biden himself raised roughly $1 million during an early 2020 campaign fundraiser at the home of Michael Smith and James Costos, a former HBO executive. That event was attended by former DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, now a Biden campaign co-chair.

Persons: Joe Biden's, Biden, Sara Bareilles, Lin, Manuel Miranda, Ben Platt, Jill Biden, Bill Clinton, Michael Smith, James Costos, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Katzenberg, “ Joe Biden, ”, Chris Korge, “, tycoons, Mickey Kantor, “ It’s, ” Biden, Donald Trump ’, Trump, Annaleigh Ashford, Alex Edelman, Josh Gad, Christopher Jackson, LaChanze, Ruthie Ann Miles, Leslie Odom Jr, Andrew Rannells, Aaron Tveit, Betsy Wolfe, Thomas Kail, Alex Lacamoire, Andy Blankenbuehler, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, Amanda Green, ___ Slodysko Organizations: Writers Guild of America, SAG, Hollywood, Actors ’ Equity Association, General, Democratic Party, Democratic, HBO, DreamWorks, Biden, Democratic National Committee, Fund, White, GOP Locations: U.S, Manhattan, New York, Southern California, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, LA, Washington

The Credit Card Competition Act was reintroduced last month in both the House and the Senate, after not being brought up for a vote in either chamber during the previous Congress. Retailers in support of the legislation argue credit card processing costs are hurting consumers by driving up the cost of business, and, in turn, the price shoppers pay at checkout. On the other side of the fight, major credit card processing networks like Visa , Mastercard , Discover and Capital One say the bill will actually hurt consumers by diminishing popular credit card rewards programs and lessening fraud protections. Visa and Mastercard account for 80% of all credit card volume, according to data from the Nilson Report, a publication tracking the global payment industry. On average, U.S. credit card swipe fees account for 2.24% of a transaction, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition.

Persons: Doug Kantor, Sen, Dick Durbin, He's, Nilson, Durbin, Harley Finkelstein, Finkelstein Organizations: Visa Inc, Mastercard Inc, Visa, Mastercard, Kroger, Walmart, Discover, Merchants Payments Coalition, CNBC, Main, Electronic Payments Coalition Locations: Tiskilwa , Illinois, U.S, Washington, Shopify, Target, America

☆ This credit card fee could cost shoppers $3 billion during record-breaking back-to-school season, merchants say
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Jessica Dickler | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

This year, consumers are spending more on back-to-school supplies — and coughing up more to cover a particular kind of credit card fee at the same time. Total back-to-school spending is expected to reach a record $41.5 billion with another $94 billion in college shopping, according to the National Retail Federation. Swipe fees — also known as interchange fees — have more than doubled over the past decade and jumped $22 billion to a record $160.7 billion last year. When the National Retail Federation first started tracking swipe fees collected by Visa and Mastercard in 2001, they amounted to roughly $20 billion. "They've made themselves an involuntary equity partner with every Main Street business," he added.

Persons: Doug Kantor, —, Kantor, They've Organizations: National Retail Federation, Visa, Mastercard, Merchants Payments Coalition, Finance, National Association of Convenience Stores, Bankers

☆ 16 young people are suing the state of Montana over the climate crisis — one resident says the wildfire smoke makes him want to lie in bed and cry
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Tim Paradis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

In Montana, 16 young residents are suing the state over its support of the fossil-fuel industry. They argue Montana is violating their right to a clean environment as laid out in its constitution. The suit is the first constitutional case on climate change to go to trial in the US. The Montana suit, Held v. Montana, is remarkable for being the first constitutional case on climate change to reach trial in the US. It's highlighting the effect that climate change has on young people."

Persons: Busse, Michael Gerrard, William Campbell, Gerrard, Columbia's Sabin, Mica Kantor Organizations: Service, Columbia Law School, Climate Change Locations: Montana, Helena, . Montana, Missoula

☆ Here are the 6 proposals Berkshire Hathaway investors will vote on this weekend - including removing Warren Buffett as chairman and requiring the company stay out of political discussions
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Matthew Fox | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

At the meeting, the company will vote on 6 shareholder proposals that include removing Warren Buffett as Chairman. Buffett recommends investors vote against all of the shareholder proposals. These are the six shareholder proposals Berkshire Hathaway investors are expected to vote on this weekend. Proposed by: National Legal and Policy CenterBerkshire Response: "Warren Buffett, Berkshire's CEO, currently has a 31.5% voting interest in Berkshire. The Board believes that as long as Mr. Buffett is Berkshire's CEO, he should continue as Board Chair and as Berkshire's CEO.

☆ The growth fund that dodged the worst of the 2022 bear market by leaning on fundamentals
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

The firm's $1.7 billion Large Cap Growth Fund , with some of the biggest technology names among its top holdings, lost 24.3% in 2022. 'Rigor and process' Kantor and Regenbaum have spent years managing the fund by taking a magnifying glass to the inner plumbing of some of the biggest growth stocks. Indeed, Morningstar says the fund's portfolio has a lower price-to-book-value than other large cap growth funds or Morningstar's benchmark index for the group, and faster book value growth. There were "crazy growth companies that went to the moon," Kantor said, "and then unfortunately at some point had to return to Earth." Investors are at an important moment given the Federal Reserve's campaign to rein in inflation by hiking interest rates, and the interest-rate sensitive nature of growth stocks.

☆ Meta is promoting its VR headset with a 3D spaceman bursting out of London's most famous advertising billboard
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Meta unveiled a new 3D ad for its Meta Quest 2 VR headset on London's Piccadilly Circus. Meta's Reality Labs took over the Piccadilly Lights in the heart of London's West End to promote its Meta Quest 2 virtual reality headset. Since 2019, the Facebook owner has pumped $36 billion into Reality Labs, according to an Insider analysis of Meta's financial filings. Reality Labs posted an operating loss of $9.4 billion in the first nine months of this year alone. The Meta Quest 2 ad will run until the end of the year and it will be rolled out across the US as well.

☆ ‘She Said’ Review: Plodding Through the Weinstein Story
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Kyle Smith | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Major movie studios hardly ever delve into newspaper work any more, and the so-so picture “She Said” is an excellent illustration of why. It falls into nearly every trap that awaits a journalism film, even featuring sequences in which characters type or stand around gazing into computer monitors, both of which exert considerable deflationary pull on drama. Since watching people ask questions leaves viewers at one remove from the story, the solution to the possibility of dramatic deficiency is either to make the journalists themselves abundantly colorful (“His Girl Friday,” “The Paper”) or to cast them as detectives who devise enterprising means to solve a complex puzzle (“All the President’s Men,” “Spotlight”). “She Said,” directed by the German actress and filmmaker Maria Schrader , errs by ignoring both paths. Portraying the New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor , who in 2017 broke the story about producer Harvey Weinstein ’s sexual misconduct, Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan are so aggressively ordinary that they leave a personality void at the center of this disappointing film.

☆ 'She Said' review: Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan star as the New York Times reporters who helped break the Harvey Weinstein story
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Review Brian Lowry | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

“She Said” nevertheless joins a long tradition of movies about dogged reporters exposing injustice, and in this case helping spawn a sweeping movement. The film is adapted from the book by New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, which might explain why the work of Ronan Farrow is mentioned but conspicuously shortchanged. Setting that aside, the heart of “She Said,” which begins with Twohey (Carey Mulligan) reporting on Donald Trump, centers on her collaboration with Kantor (Zoe Kazan) to lay bare the predatory behavior of Harvey Weinstein. Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan play New York Times reporters in the fact-based movie "She Said." (The film’s producers include Brad Pitt, who has spoken of confronting Weinstein back when he was dating Gwyneth Paltrow.)

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