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Democrats will wield an expanded 51-seat Senate majority and control the presidency. We need to be cutting spending,” McCarthy told reporters after a meeting with Senate Republicans on Dec. 21. There’s so much discombobulation and disunity on different sides of the Republican caucus,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters before the holiday recess. Conservative lawmakers say a GOP House should block a debt limit increase without major policy changes to rein in spending. Some House Republicans are already calling to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his department's handling of immigration policy.

☆ Final farewell: From Sidney Poitier to Pope Emeritus Benedict a look back at the influential figures who died in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +55 min

Other world leaders who died in 2022 include former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who died in August. The final days of 2022 saw the loss of some exceptionally notable figures, including Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2022 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):___JANUARY___Dan Reeves, 77. A Cuban-born artist whose radiant color palette and geometric paintings were overlooked for decades before the art world took notice. A prolific character actor best known for playing villains and tough guys in “The Manchurian Candidate,” “Ocean’s Eleven” and other films.

☆ More social media regulation is coming in 2023, members of Congress say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Days after Congress passed a bipartisan spending bill banning TikTok from government devices, legislators and advocates say they are looking to further regulate social media companies in the New Year. "We're seeing troubling data about the corrosive impact of constant social media use, particularly on young men and women here in America." Haugen said she thinks most people are unaware of how far behind the U.S. is when it comes to social media regulation. "This is like we're back in 1965, we don't have seatbelt laws yet," she told NBC's "Meet the Press." Klobuchar said on Sunday that things are only going to change with social media companies when Americans decide they have had enough.

☆ TikTok is ‘digital fentanyl,’ incoming GOP China committee chair says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Andrew Millman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Washington CNN —TikTok is an addictive drug China’s government is providing to Americans, says the incoming chairman of a new House select committee on China. TikTok, whose parent company, ByteDance, is Chinese-owned, has been banned from electronic devices managed by the US House of Representatives, according to an internal notice sent to House staff. The move comes after more than a dozen states in recent weeks have implemented their own prohibitions against TikTok on government devices. “We have to ask whether we want the CCP to control what’s on the cusp of becoming the most powerful media company in America,” he told NBC. Security experts have said that the data could allow China to identify intelligence opportunities or to seek to influence Americans through disinformation campaigns.

☆ Biden signs TikTok ban for government devices amid security concerns
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( David Ingram | David Ingram Covers Tech For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

President Joe Biden approved a limited TikTok ban Thursday when he signed the 4,126-page spending bill into law. The ban prohibits the use of TikTok by the federal government’s nearly 4 million employees on devices owned by its agencies, with limited exceptions for law enforcement, national security and security research purposes. Since 2020, a bubbling movement led largely by conservatives has maintained a minor interest in a TikTok ban. “We’re disappointed that Congress has moved to ban TikTok on government devices — a political gesture that will do nothing to advance national security interests — rather than encouraging the Administration to conclude its national security review,” the company said in a statement. It added that the proposed security agreement with the Biden administration would address the security concerns of lawmakers and regulators.

☆ 10 money managers who quietly control the vast fortunes of Jeff Bezos, Sergey Brin, the Waltons, and other big-name billionaires
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Hayley Cuccinello | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +24 min

Many über-rich people don't outsource their wealth — they hire their own chief investment officers. He left SAC in 2005 for Dune Capital Management, but stayed in touch with Steve during his five-year term at the investment firm. Andrew oversees CPV's portfolio, which primarily comprises direct private investments such as Collectors Universe, a collectibles-authentication company, and the New York Mets. In 2011, Wildcat Capital Management was launched with Potter as president and chief investment officer. Since November 2021, Carland has also served as the interim chief investment officer for Builders Vision's asset arm.

☆ Trump says million-dollar NFT 'trading cards' of him as a superhero were 'sorta cute' and not about money
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Donald Trump sells out NFT trading cards in hours but says it's not about the money, Newsweek reports. Trump told a conservative network the NFTs were "art" and "sorta cute" after selling them for $99 each. They showed me the art," Trump said in the video. "I'm looking at this stuff and I'm saying 'Wow, that's sorta cute, that might sell, that might sell.' They thought it would sell in six months, it sold in six hours," Trump told OAN.

☆ Chips Need More Bad News
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Dan Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A plant at Micron, which saw its inventory jump 26% during the most recent quarter to a record high $8.4 billion. The irony is that things may need to get worse before they get better. Micron ‘s rough fiscal first-quarter results late Wednesday added more pressure to the group that is facing its worst annual performance since the financial crisis. The PHLX Semiconductor Index slid more than 4% on Thursday and is now down 36% for the year. That follows three barnstorming years, where the index has averaged a market-trouncing gain of 51% annually.

☆ In Avatar, Disney Needs a Gift That Keeps on Giving
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Dan Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Theater operators say the new “Avatar” movie needs time. The long-anticipated sequel to the biggest blockbuster ever had a mixed opening last weekend. A global bow of $435 million puts Disney ‘s “Avatar: The Way of Water” in second place as far as this year’s releases go. But its domestic haul of $134 million on the opening weekend ranks fifth this year and fell short of expectations of $150 million to $175 million. Even Disney expressed disappointment in the film’s $57.1 million opening in China, where fresh Covid outbreaks have sharply limited attendance—leaving the movie to play to near-empty theaters in some cases.

☆ Elon Musk Offers Worst Job in Tech
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Laura Forman | Dan Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Wanted: Chief executive officer of a flailing tech company who will have no control over that company’s product or distribution. No free lunch. Must be willing to suffer public ridicule and disdain from the company’s owner. It is not exactly the ad that is going to light up LinkedIn. But it is basically what Elon Musk is searching for in his quest for a new “Chief Twit.” Late Tuesday, Mr. Musk said that he will resign as CEO of the social network he bought barely two months ago “as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job!” He added that he still plans to run Twitter’s software and servers teams.

☆ Apple May Face Greatest Loyalty Test Yet
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Dan Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

No tech company has a base of true believers quite like Apple . But the past couple months have been a major test of their faith, and the coming year could turn out to be even more so. Prospective buyers of the company’s two iPhone 14 Pro models have faced unseasonably long wait times since early November, as harsh Covid-19 lockdowns and resulting social unrest in China have hampered production at the key facility where those devices are assembled. Apple is reportedly also working on changes to its software that would allow apps to be downloaded to iPhones and iPads outside of its App Store, to comply with a new European Union law put in place earlier this year.

☆ Netflix’s Ad Jingle to Take Time to Catch On
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Dan Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Netflix recently launched its first ad-supported streaming plan as part of its efforts to expand its subscriber base. The idea of Netflix with ads is clearly going to take some time to adjust to. The company formally launched its first ad-supported streaming plan on Nov. 3. Only 9% of subscribers who signed up for Netflix in November picked the ad-supported option, subscription analytics firm Antenna told The Wall Street Journal. That falls below the 15% of new HBO Max subscribers who picked the ad-supported tier of that service during its first month in June of last year, per Antenna’s data.

☆ Fashion’s Weirdest Year? Why 2022 Saw Paint Cans as Handbags, and Worse
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Jacob Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Thom Browne’s $3,000 dachshund-shaped bag is one part of fashion’s strange year. In fashion, it was a year of bags shaped like paint cans, pigeons and potato-chip wrappers. It was a year of R-rated skirts that barely covered your gluteus maximus; of shirts splayed, boorishly, from cuff to collar with fast-food logos. A year of shoes made from repurposed sex toys and sagging totes made from jeans.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried had to be 'awakened' by a court official after closing his eyes during his extradition hearing, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Grace Dean | Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

SBF had to be "awakened" by a court official after closing his eyes during a hearing, per Reuters. Bankman-Fried was in court in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, on Monday. Last week he had indicated to the court that he wasn't waiving his right to challenge his extradition to the US. The Journal reported that at the hearing, a court official told Bankman-Fried to stand up straight. When asked to stand in court, Bloomberg reported that Bankman-Fried had removed his blue suit jacket, untucked his shirt, and had his sleeves rolled up.

☆ I plan parties for the ultrawealthy. We get multimillion-dollar budgets to source real reindeer, fire-breathing dragons, and gift bags filled with Dior jewelry.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Claire Turrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

But we're also asked to organize their holiday parties. We take our holiday parties to the next levelIt's not unusual for us to be given a multimillion-dollar budget to arrange a festive party. Our holiday parties take place all year roundAs we have offices across the globe, we organize holiday parties all year round. A private client event around Chinese New Year featuring a smoke-breathing dragon. Party guests could board the train and walk through the carriages.

☆ Analysis: Global economy bets on China learning to live with COVID
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Mark John | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda cited the resurgence of virus cases in China as putting downward pressure on the global economy, while Taiwan listed the spread of COVID-19 in China as one big uncertainty facing its economy. But equally, those inflationary pressures could be cancelled out if China's woes led to softer global demand for commodities. The New York Fed's Global Supply Chain Pressure Index, launched about a year ago, already edged higher in October and November in a moderate reversal of a persistent loosening of global supply bottlenecks seen through most of 2022. Much will depend on the policy response of Chinese leaders who have pledged to support the slowing economy and to cushion the impact of rising COVID-19 infections. The World Bank now sees China's economy growing 2.7% this year and 4.3% in 2023, somewhat slower than its September forecasts of 2.8% and 4.5%, respectively.

☆ What could GOP control of the House mean for U.S.-China tensions?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Megan Lebowitz | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +10 min

McCarthy also says he plans to create a House select committee on China, the first since the late 1990s. House Republicans will also investigate the origins of the coronavirus and “the CCP’s role in the spread,” the blog post said, although it is unclear whether that investigation would be part of the select committee. Tensions were further inflamed in August by Pelosi’s Taiwan visit, the first by a sitting U.S. House speaker since 1997. The most volatile issue in U.S.-China relations is the status of Taiwan, which Beijing has not ruled out seizing by force. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi speaks with Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei, Taiwan on Aug. 3, 2022.

☆ Adobe Clears Some of Its Cloud
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Dan Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/adobe-clears-some-of-its-cloud-11671206841

☆ Trump sells out of his NFT 'trading cards' depicting him as a hero, raking in over $1 million: report
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Kayla Gallagher | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Donald Trump's recent "major" announcement was that he was selling NFT 'trading cards' of himself. The cards sold out early Friday and some buyers were entered to win a "priceless" meeting at Mar-a-Lago. Trump's "major" announcement came on Thursday when he released limited edition virtual trading cards, which he likened to baseball cards. The trading cards, which were licensed and owned by NFT INT LLC, not Trump or the Trump Organization, featured images Trump says pertain to his own life, showing him as a racecar driver, astronaut, boxer, sheriff, and elephant rider. One card featuring Trump holding the Statue of Liberty's torch, was selling for nearly $24,000, according to Open Sea.

☆ Panic over sex toy sales at CVS and Target is overblown— they've been sold at the retailers for years
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Avery Hartmans | Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Conservative lawmakers and pundits criticized stores like Target and CVS for stocking sex toys. While the right-wing pundits' ire may be recent, sex toys and sexual wellness products have long been sold at mainstream retailers. The brand, which sells products like sex toys and erectile dysfunction medication, sells its products at Walmart, Target, and CVS. Walmart, Target, CVS, Bloomi, and Cake did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. "This industry, in general, intimacy and sexual wellness, has been becoming more normalized over the years over the last decade, for sure."

☆ Australia's parliament approves gas price cap, $1 bln energy relief
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Sonali Paul | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

MELBOURNE, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Australia's parliament on Thursday passed legislation setting a price cap on natural gas for one year and providing A$1.5 billion ($1.03 billion) in relief for households and small businesses hit by soaring energy costs due to Russia's war in Ukraine. The price cap will apply to new wholesale gas sales by east coast producers. The law also clears the way for the government to regulate gas sales when producers and buyers fail to agree on a contract price. The price cap met with fierce opposition from the gas industry but was supported by manufacturers and the Australian Workers' Union. Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest's private firm Squadron Energy, building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal, urged the government to require Queensland gas producers to make LNG available for the domestic market at "reasonable prices".

☆ Oracle Spends Like There Is a Big Tomorrow
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Dan Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Oracle knows that you need to spend money to make money in the cloud, but it has picked a hell of a time to do it. The software giant’s fiscal second-quarter results late Monday were better than Wall Street was expecting. Revenue grew 18% year over year to about $12.3 billion—exceeding analysts’ estimates by about 3%. Projected revenue for the current quarter also was a bit ahead of estimates as the company continues to benefit from growing demand for its own cloud services as well as the addition of electronic-medical-records provider Cerner Corp., which Oracle acquired for $28 billion earlier this year.

☆ Microsoft Needs to Play Activision Out
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Dan Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Phil Spencer, CEO of videogaming at Microsoft, had told The Wall Street Journal, “We have to break that duopoly” of two storefronts controlling the mobile market. One irony of Microsoft Corp.’s battle to acquire Activision Blizzard Inc. is that the deal’s fate may hang on the company’s ability to convince regulators—and now judges—that it has moved beyond the Xbox. Another is that the deal could prove key to reducing the market power of two other tech giants. Consoles were the main way that consumers played videogames then, and their respective makers worked to pile up exclusive content to keep players in their ecosystems. Those exclusive games augmented mega-popular franchises such as “Call of Duty” that were available across platforms.

☆ Premarket stocks: Investors are hoping for the economic tide to turn. The wait may soon be over
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

What’s happening: Price increases in the United States cooled more than economists expected last month, recording the lowest level of growth since last December. This is the second consecutive month of moderating price pressures and could mean the underlying trend of inflation is finally decelerating. That’s a welcome and hopeful sign for consumers, policymakers and investors, said Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors. The bill specifically names TikTok and its parent, ByteDance, as social media companies for the purposes of the legislation. In the past two weeks, at least seven states have introduced such measures, including Maryland, South Dakota and Utah.

CNN —Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has called on state lawmakers to eliminate general election runoffs. “Georgia is one of the only states in country with a General Election Runoff,” Raffensperger, a Republican, said in a statement on Wednesday. I’m calling on the General Assembly to visit the topic of the General Election Runoff and consider reforms.”Georgia’s general election runoff system, rooted in its segregationist past, says that if no candidate in a general election gets more than 50% of the vote, the race must go to a runoff four weeks later between the two candidates who received the most votes. Raffensperger’s statement comes a little more than a week after Georgia’s third US Senate runoff election in two years, which saw Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock defeat Republican challenger Herschel Walker. The secretary of state pointed to the additional impact the four-week runoff period had on voters and county election officials this year.

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