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☆ Nonprofit financed by billionaire George Soros quietly donated $140 million to political causes in 2021
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Fabrice Coffrini | AFP | Getty ImagesA nonprofit financed by billionaire George Soros quietly donated $140 million to advocacy organizations and ballot initiatives in 2021, plus another $60 million to likeminded charities. The Open Society Policy Center also doled out $138 million to advocacy groups and causes in 2020. All of the nonprofits fall under Soros' Open Society Foundations network, which spans the globe. Both of those groups are run by the billionaire's son Alexander Soros, who also sits on the boards of the Open Society Institute and Open Society Policy Center. Emerson Morrow, a spokesman for America Votes told CNBC that funding from the Open Society Policy Center "has provided critical support for America Votes' mission."

☆ U.S. records 100 million Covid cases, but more than 200 million Americans have probably had it
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

The U.S. officially recorded more than 100 million cases as of Tuesday, just under one-third of the total population, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Covid-19 has easily infected more than 200 million in the U.S. alone since the beginning of the pandemic — some people more than once. "There are have been at least 200 million infections in the U.S., so this is a small portion of them," Frieden said. The estimate was based on a survey of commercial lab data that found about 58% of Americans had antibodies as a result of a Covid infection. The more than 21 million additional confirmed cases on top of the CDC's February estimate of about 187 million total infections gives a low-end estimate of more than 208 million infections since the pandemic began.

“I Wanna Dance with Somebody” suffers from thin dialogue and predictability — dull trappings intrinsic to biopics. Naomi Ackie as Whitney Houston in "I Wanna Dance with Somebody." To wit: Whitney Houston was a Black woman — ate Black, slept Black, lived Black, cried Black, walked Black and died Black. The most peculiar aspect of this criticism is the fact that nearly all American music is Black music. While Houston has mostly elided criticism that she wasn’t Black enough or didn’t make Black music, the spirit of this indictment lives on today.

☆ U.S. hospitals report rise in severe strep A infections in kids after 15 deaths in U.K.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Aria Bendix | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

In the U.K., at least 15 children have died from invasive group A strep since mid-September. Anyone can get invasive strep A, including healthy adults, but people over 65 and those with chronic illnesses are more susceptible. Between 1,500 and 2,300 people die of the invasive infections every year. But children's hospitals in several other states — California, New York, Illinois and Minnesota — said they have not detected any increase in invasive group A strep. It is important for kids with strep to get care right away so they can start taking antibiotics like penicillin.

Children's hospitals in Arizona, Colorado, Texas and Washington told NBC News they are seeing a higher-than-average number of cases this season compared to past years. In the U.K., at least 15 children have died from invasive group A strep since mid-September. Anyone can get invasive strep A, including healthy adults, but people over 65 and those with chronic illnesses are more susceptible. Between 1,500 and 2,300 people die of these invasive infections each year. It's important for kids with strep to get care right away so they can start taking antibiotics like penicillin.

☆ History-making nonbinary government official is out of a job after theft accusations
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Jo Yurcaba | Jo Yurcaba Is A Reporter For Nbc Out. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

A department spokesperson confirmed Tuesday that Brinton is no longer the deputy assistant secretary of the Office of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition but would not elaborate. “By law, the Department of Energy cannot comment further on personnel matters,” the spokesperson said in an email. NBC News has requested a copy of the warrant from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department but has not received it yet. If convicted, Brinton could face five years in prison, a $10,000 fine or both, according to the complaint. Prior to joining the Energy Department, Brinton served as the vice president of advocacy and government affairs for The Trevor Project, a national LGBTQ youth suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization.

Gonzalez did his own spending and campaigning, but amid an onslaught of Republican spending in the region’s elections, the DCCC ads were welcome, Gonzalez’s campaign said. “We did historic investments when it came to Latino voters and voters of color,” said Maríafernanda Zacarías, DCCC senior adviser for Latino engagement. That Latino spending was just one portion of the big-money ultimately unsuccessful effort to hold the House Democratic majority. Democrats invested in holding their Latino support and “mostly succeeded,” said Angle, who runs the Lone Star Project supporting Texas Democrats. Republican Rep. Mike Garcia defeated Democrat Christy Smith to return to Congress for California’s 27th Congressional District, based in northern Los Angeles.

☆ Ex-convict found with friend's severed head in car after Las Vegas police chase sentenced to at least 18 years in prison
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

An ex-convict who led police on a chase around Las Vegas before officers found the severed head and dismembered body of his friend in a stolen vehicle he was driving was sentenced Thursday to at least 18 years in prison. Eric Holland, following his arrest on Dec. 23, 2021, in Las Vegas. Las Vegas Police Department / AP“I don’t know how to make sense of it,” sobbed Amanda Dawn Potter, who traveled from Portland, Oregon, for Holland’s sentencing. Holland was friends with Miller, 65, who lived on a houseboat at Lake Mead, the Colorado River reservoir about a 30-minute drive from Las Vegas. Las Vegas police said Thursday they had no missing person investigation related to Zhu.

☆ Bankman-Fried's FTX, senior staff, parents bought Bahamas property worth $300 mln
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Koh Gui Qing | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/5] View of the entrance to the condominium complex ONE Cable Beach, a beachfront residence in New Providence, Bahamas, November 18, 2022. The deeds show these properties, bought by a unit of FTX, were to be used as "residence for key personnel" of the company. PROPERTY PURCHASESReuters searched property records at the Bahamas Registrar General's Department for FTX, Bankman-Fried, his parents and some of the company's key executives. FTX Property Holdings Ltd, an FTX unit, bought 15 properties worth nearly $100 million in 2021 and 2022. The property records for the penthouse, dated March 17, were signed by Ryan Salame, the president of FTX Property, and showed it was intended as "residence for key personnel."

☆ EXCLUSIVE Bankman-Fried's FTX, parents bought Bahamas property worth $121 mln
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Koh Gui Qing | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The deeds show these properties, bought by a unit of FTX, were to be used as "residence for key personnel" of the company. Reuters could not determine the source of funds that FTX and its executives used to buy these properties. PROPERTY PURCHASESReuters searched property records at the Bahamas Registrar General's Department for FTX, Bankman-Fried, his parents and some of the company's key executives. FTX Property Holdings Ltd, an FTX unit, bought 15 properties worth nearly $100 million in 2021 and 2022. The property records for the penthouse, dated March 17, were signed by Ryan Salame, the president of FTX Property, and showed it was intended as "residence for key personnel."

☆ Elon Musk appears to order Tesla and SpaceX stickers for his new $78 million Gulfstream G700 jet
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Elon Musk appears to have ordered custom Tesla and SpaceX stickers for his latest private jet. He has reportedly ordered a Gulfstream G700 to replace his G650ER jet. A Gulfstream employee shared a picture of what appears to be the stickers with Jack Sweeney, who runs a Twitter account tracking Musk's jets. Insider could not verify who took the image that Sweeney shared with Insider. The Gulfstream G700 costs close to $80 million.

☆ ‘Dying Inside’: Chaos and Cruelty in Louisiana Juvenile Detention
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Megan Shutzer | Rachel Lauren Mueller | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +47 min

But inside the walls at Ware, one of the state’s largest juvenile detention facilities, children have been trying to kill themselves with stunning regularity. In Louisiana, where brutal conditions prompted juvenile justice reform two decades ago, the system is again in crisis. Most Ware guards are Black, as well, though nearly all of its leaders are white, as are the local judge, sheriff and district attorney. “Of course, they still do.” In reports to the state, Ware’s nurses described carpet burns on children’s faces and head-to-toe bruises from restraints. In fact, of the four guards convicted of sexually assaulting children at Ware, Mr. Peace would be the only one imprisoned.

☆ The US never banned asbestos. These workers are paying the price.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( Kathleen Mcgrory | Neil Bedi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +39 min

But protocols failed to match reality at the Niagara Falls plant, according to more than a dozen workers. In addition to those signature diseases, which are rare even among asbestos workers, the tiny strands can harm the body in other ways. In the 15 years that followed, congressional attempts to ban asbestos would continue to fall short. OSHA declined to make an official available for an on-the-record interview or comment on ProPublica's findings at the Niagara Falls plant. At the OxyChem plant in Wichita, union president Keith Peacock said he was comfortable with the way asbestos was handled.

Trump twisted the Secret Service’s protective mission into a personal cash cow — all while lying about it to taxpayers. When Eric Trump visited Washington a few months earlier, the nightly government rate was supposed to be capped at $242 per night; the Trump hotel billed the Secret Service $1,160. But we’ve never seen a commander-in-chief and his family repeatedly use the Secret Service to line their pockets in this way. There’s no reason the Trump family needed to stay at Trump properties. The stays became such a moneymaker for the Trump family that the Secret Service had to request a larger budget to cover all of its trips to Trump properties.

☆ Opendoor is staring down losses after once boasting it wouldn't repeat Zillow's home-flipping fiasco. 5 properties from Phoenix to Atlanta show the trouble it's facing.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( James Rodriguez | Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The losses are mounting for Opendoor as home prices fall in previously red-hot markets such as Phoenix, Southern California, and Las Vegas. Opendoor cut the listing price three times, ultimately dropping it to $657,000 before the property sold. Opendoor has since cut the listing price five times, most recently advertising the property at $417,000. Records on Zillow indicate Opendoor has reduced the listing price six times. As for the homes Opendoor is buying today, Wu said executives "expect those to perform well and in line with expectations."

Johnson & Johnson has said it would provide a fair amount of money to the subsidiary to pay claims. Johnson & Johnson, valued at more than $450 billion, had about $31 billion in cash and marketable securities on hand at the end of the third quarter, securities filings show. One would absorb all the talc liability; the other would carry on the business free from the threat of billion-dollar judgments. Levesque replied that the “technical aspect” of the subsidiary bankruptcy wasn’t likely to cause concern about J&J’s creditworthiness. Is that what you're saying?” asked Jeffrey Jonas, a Brown Rudnick lawyer representing a creditors committee comprising talc plaintiffs.

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☆ Brandy Melville employees describe racism, Hitler memes, and sexual exploitation at the 'evil' cult teen brand
▼ + stars: | 2021-09-07 | by ( Kate Taylor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +34 min

According to Brandy Melville employees, CEO Stephan Marsan wants his staffers to be young, thin, pretty, and white. But to secure their spot in the world of Brandy Melville, employees at all levels said they had to endure — and often enforce — Marsan's beliefs. Hollis Johnson/InsiderIn late September 2017, Stephenie Legros, who is Black, was nearing her first anniversary as a Brandy Melville employee. Brandy Melville USA/InstagramSeveral former employees mentioned the behavior of Longo, the brand's top executive alongside Marsan while Brandy Melville gained footing in the US. Brandy Melville USA/Instagram"Every year that goes by, the beauty standard is shifting a little bit," a Black woman who worked at Brandy Melville from 2016 to 2019 said.

Persons: Brandy Melville, Stephan Marsan, Marsan, Luca Rotondo, Rotondo, Rotondo's, texted, Stephan Marsan texted Luca Rotondo, Luca Rotondo Brandy Melville, Bella Hadid, — Brandy, —, It's, Casuals, Mina Marlena, Brandy, gushed, Franco, Sorgi, Scarlett Rose Leithold, She's, Stephan, Franco Sorgi, Brandy Melville's, Brandy Melville Canada's Instagram, Instagram Sorgi, Salvatore Rianna, Yvan Marsan, Stephan's, Rianna, Yvan didn't, Yvan, accroding, Paolo Simeone, YYGM, Simeone, Jessy Longo, Hollis Johnson, Stephenie Legros, Legros, she'd, that's, Hitler, — Marsan, Matteo Centaro, Adriano de Petris, Roberto Tatti, Marsan's, it's, Brandy Melville's Instagram, Longo, Marlena, Brandy Melville Instagram, Naomi Campbell, tickling, Andrea Castagnasso, Castagnasso, She'd, Frédéric Bastiat, John Galt, Neil Saunders, Saunders, Tristram Buckley, Buckley, he's, PacSun, Abercrombie, Goldman Sachs, Michael Light, Brandy Melville doesn't, They're, they'd, Ruqayyah Moynihan Organizations: Business, Bastiat, Employees, Brandy Melville USA, Viterbo News, UCLA, New York, Franco, New York City, YYGM, Bastiat USA, Beach, Miss, Nazi, Geographic, York, New, Santa, Records Locations: Newport Beach, Italian, Newport, American, Melville, Rome, Bastiat USA, United States, Massachusetts, Canadian, Canada, Viterbo, Italy, Westwood , California, California, New, Brandy, New York, Swiss, Ontario, New York , California , Connecticut, Marsan, Brandy Melville's New York, New York City, West, Santa Monica, Hawaii, SoHo, Coachella, Longo, San Francisco, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Iselin , New Jersey, Europe

☆ Unearthing the Secrets of New York’s Mass Graves
▼ + stars: | 2016-05-15 | by ( Nina Bernstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +51 min

Then, like more than a million men, women and children since 1869, she was consigned to a trench on Hart Island. Citing security, the city’s Correction Department also repeatedly rebuffed The Times’s requests to witness Hart Island burials firsthand. hart island Future plots Future plots Active trench 2000s 1990s Hart Island N.Y.C. He readily remembered the Dickerson case as a financial disappointment, but said he was hearing of his ward’s Hart Island burial for the first time. When she died, Ms. Murray had $6,887 left in her personal account at New Surfside.

Persons: Alon Sicherman, Micah Dickbauer, Leola Dickerson, Zarramen Gooden, Milton Weinstein, Hart, shrouds Hart Island’s, Ruth Proskauer Smith, Arnold, Timothy Daniels, Melinda Hunt, Hunt, Hart Island’s, “, snatchers, New York State’s, Jim Crow, Gwendolyn Burke, Burke, ”, David Minton, Dickerson, We’re, Mango’s, Joseph Dixon, Helen Katz, Johnny Maddox, Constance Dickerson Williams, Grandma Leola, Dickerson’s, Dr, Michael Katz, Ms, Katz, Maddox, Bernice, Thackus Dickerson, sheriff’s, Jay Stuart Dankberg, ” Mr, Dankberg, exposés, —, ” Felice Wechsler, Constance Mirabelli, Mirabelli, John, Jo Ann Douglas, Mirabelli ”, Douglas, Ciro Ferrer, Ferrer, Regla, Nicholas S, Ratush, Ferrer’s, Ilda, Mr, Julie Bolcer, ” Zarramen, Rita Nelson, Malondya, Doris McCrea, Audrey Ponzio, McCrea, Jonathan Mawere, Emmett Pantin, Sgt, Gerard Pantin, ” Sergeant Pantin, Jason Chiaramonte, Hey, Jason, Chiaramonte, ” Ms, Bolcer, McAllister, Hurricane Sandy, Amy Koplow, Einstein, ” Michael Wynston, Weinstein’s, Wynston, Weinstein, Lynda, abusiveness, Michael, wouldn’t, Barry Gainsburg, they’re, Monica Murray, Maureen, Linda, doesn’t, ” Maureen Eastman, St . Lucia, Murray, Eastman, Grandma, Charles, Murray’s, ’, Sheryl Hurst, Rodeph Sholom, Terry Saunders, Lady Thiang, Hurst’s, James Hurst, Hurst, Sally Kaplan, Sheryl, ’ ” Organizations: The New York Times, New York Times, Sears, Roebuck & Company, city’s, Information, New York University School of Medicine, New York, Department, Times, The Times, Columbia College, United, New, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Social, Atlantic City, Army, Queens County, Medicaid, Government, Hygiene Legal Service, Medical, Continental, Care, Hart, ”, Offshore Hospital, Hospital, Rivals, American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service, Queens, Nassau Community College, Bellevue Hospital, Association, Center for Nursing, Rehabilitation, Irish, New Surfside, Facebook, Jewish Locations: Hart, New York City, Long, Alabama, New York, Bronx, . New York, New, Dakota, Manhattan, New York State, Jerusalem, Southern, morgues, Philadelphia , New Haven, United States, Ohio, American, Harlem, Rikers, hart, Pleasantville, N.J, Tuskegee, ”, Milton, New Jersey, Queens, Queens County, Pensacola, Fla, Atlantic, West, St, Cuba, Trench, Elmhurst , Queens, Havana, Elmhurst, Far Rockaway, Brooklyn, Turners Falls, Iraq, Trinidad, Florida, Afghanistan, they’re, Midtown Manhattan, Bellevue, Hurricane, St ., Creedmoor, Arizona, Farmingdale, Jersey, —, California

☆ The 10 most bizarre weapons of World War II
▼ + stars: | 2015-07-22 | by ( Alex Lockie | Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

World War II brought many successful innovations in technology including weapons. From explosive rats to a 155-foot-long gun, here are some of the most bizarre weapons from WWII. During World War II, the world's major powers set their sights on advancing technology, medicine, and communications in order to be efficient and fearsome in battle. PanjandrumThe Panjandrum, a rocket-propelled explosive cart, was one of the more curious weapons to have come out of World War II. Explosive ratsDogs were not the only unfortunate animal victims of experimental war weapons.

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