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☆ Call her Ivanka Kushner
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Ivanka Trump has been steadily distancing herself from her father's brand since he left office. A former adviser in the Trump White House, Ivanka now says she's done with politics. Despite the rebrand, Ivanka remains in legal trouble for her role in Trump businesses. Beyond public appearances or showings of political support, Ivanka's distance from the rest of the Trump family has also begun to show itself legally. They've got a lot going on over in the Kushner clan, and she has her kids and her family.

☆ A Lego Crime, a YouTube Rivalry, and the End of a Star Wars Friendship
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( David Kushner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +30 min

Those who are into Lego Star Wars are among the most popular. It was at an informal contest where Louis met Victor, a fellow Lego Star Wars fanatic. Soon they ranked among the most popular Lego Star Wars YouTubers in France, known for the size and scope of their MOCs. The two friends no longer fit with that satisfying click that comes from snapping together two Lego bricks. Though it must have taken a truck to haul away all of Louis' Lego, no neighbor reported seeing anything suspicious.

☆ Some of the Books That Hernan Diaz Owns Surprise Even Him
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Scott, Deborah Eisenberg, Paul Yoon, Ottessa Moshfegh, Michael Ondaatje, Louise Erdrich, Colson Whitehead, Sigrid Nunez, Jean Strouse, Lorrie Moore. The novel contains four different books, written by different fictional authors in disparate genres and styles. “Trust” closes with a personal diary that is also a sort of a prose poem and a love letter to modernism. While writing this, I read and revisited authors as different as Jean Rhys, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Dawn Powell, Theodor Adorno and Gertrude Stein. Wodehouse section of my library and can report that I’ve read 29 of his books.

☆ Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani plotted to sell presidential pardons for $2 million a piece, former staffer says in lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

On Monday, Rudy Giuliani was hit with a bombshell rape civil lawsuit filed by a former staffer. The staffer alleged in the suit that Giuliani asked if she knew anyone who wanted to buy a presidential pardon. The suit says Giuliani said he was selling them for $2 million, splitting the profit with Trump. As of 2022, the office has a backlog of more than 17,000 pending applications for pardons, Bloomberg reported. Compared to former President Barack Obama's more than 1,300 clemency grants, Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of 240 people while in office.

☆ As comedy views surge on TikTok, comedians say the app has broken the traditional power balance and opened up 'so many more ways' to be working comedians
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Shriya Bhattacharya | Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Before TikTok, comedians often bet on auditions or personal connections to break into the industry. Today, with 417,000 followers, Rahma is carving out a new space for unscripted comedy on the app. Insider spoke with 20 entertainment and TikTok insiders, including a dozen comedians, about how TikTok has impacted the comedy industry. TikTok comedians are bypassing traditional industry gatekeepersComedian Kyle Gordon was "flailing" before TikTok. Five comedians said they felt traditional late-night shows and comedy TV were losing some of their cultural impact as TikTok encroaches.

☆ Comedians say TikTok has broken the power of traditional gatekeepers and brought greater control and financial stability to their careers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Shriya Bhattacharya | Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

☆ Trump's rape trial defense? His accuser and her friends have Trump Derangement Syndrome
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Donald Trump's lawyers have tried to undermine E. Jean Carroll, who accuses him of rape. Just moments later, Trump's lawyers rested their case as well, without presenting any evidence. Carroll and her friends, Trump's lawyers suggest, all have Trump Derangement Syndrome. According to Trump's lawyers, the whole lawsuit is a conspiracy schemed up by ardent Trump critic George Conway. AP Photo/John MinchilloTrump's attorney pointed out that Birnbach had said Trump and his allies had symptoms of Trump Derangement Syndrome.

☆ E. Jean Carroll's friend testifies that they didn't 'scheme' to make up a rape allegation to 'stop' Trump
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Ashley Collman | Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Testimony continued in E. Jean Carroll's rape and defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump on Thursday. Carol Martin told jury about how Carroll confided in her about the alleged rape in the mid-1990s. Former President Donald Trump and E. Jean Carroll. "I'm here because I want to reiterate and remember what my friend E. Jean Carroll told me 27 years ago. In another message, Martin said she thinks Carroll was "acting a little scary" and was "in too deep" but "loving the adulation."

May 4 (Reuters) - Two prominent former Google (GOOGL.O) researchers who authored the groundbreaking paper that paved the way for the generative AI boom, have raised $8 million for their new startup Essential AI, four sources told Reuters. Thrive Capital had led the round in Essential AI, founded by Ashish Vaswani and Niki Parmar. Thrive Capital, founded by Joshua Kushner, is also an investor in Microsoft-backed OpenAI. Essential AI aims to build software for enterprises to use large language models, the core software of a new artificial intelligence system that has powered generative AI applications such as ChatGPT, sources said. The raise came after Vaswani and Parmar left Adept AI, a company they also co-founded in 2021 with former Google director David Luan.

☆ Check out the 16-slide deck Rebel Girls used to raise $8 million to expand its empowerment-focused storytelling to TV, film, and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Rebel Girls is a certified B Corp focused on empowering girls through inspiring content. Rebel Girls is a media company that started in 2016 with a mission to empower girls through inspiring, women-focused content. "It used to be if there was a female protagonist, she'd use magic — and the female protagonist was considered just for girls," Rebel Girls CEO Jes Wolfe told Insider. Rebel Girls' content strategy is to show up everywhere girls are, online and offline. Scroll down to read the pitch deck Rebel Girls used to raise its Series A.

☆ Serena Williams and Karlie Kloss debut pregnancies in style on the Met Gala red carpet
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Alli Rosenbloom | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —The Met Gala is an evening of style, glamour and… baby news. In a pair of stylish debuts, tennis world champ Serena Williams and model and entrepreneur Karlie Kloss both stepped on to the Met Gala red carpet on Monday in New York City sporting very special accessories: babies on the way. “There’s three of us here,” Wiliams told Lala Anthony during Vogue’s live red carpet show. Karlie Kloss at the Met Gala on Monday. Kloss, a Met Gala vet, knows this to be true and joked to Chamberlain, “I know, I got a plus one.

☆ Rabbi Harold S. Kushner, Reassuring Best-Selling Author, Dies at 88
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Sam Roberts | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Rabbi Harold Kushner, a practical public theologian whose best-selling books assured readers that bad things happen to good people because God is endowed with unlimited love and justice but exercises only finite power to prevent evil, died on Thursday in Canton, Mass. His death, in hospice care, was confirmed by his daughter, Ariel Kushner Haber. Several of Rabbi Kushner’s 14 books became best-sellers, resonating well beyond his Conservative Jewish congregation outside Boston and across religious boundaries in part because they had been inspired by his own experiences with grief, doubt and faith. At age 3, just hours after the birth of the Kushners’ daughter, Aaron was diagnosed with a rare disease, progeria, in which the body ages rapidly. He weighed only 25 pounds and was as tall as a three-year-old when he died in 1977 two days after his 14th birthday.

☆ Trump mocked John McCain and complained that he had the 'world's longest funeral:' 'Much like his wars, it never ended'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Trump again mocked John McCain in his new book, per an excerpt published by The New York Post. Trump claimed that McCain had "the world's longest funeral" back in 2018. Trump claimed that he, as president, granted McCain "the world's longest funeral," erroneously claiming that the mourning lasted 11 days, per The New York Post's published excerpt. Trump's claim that he gave permission for McCain's funeral also does not hold water. This was after she called Trump's daughter Ivanka and his son-in-law Jared Kushner "funeral crashers" for showing up at John McCain's memorial service.

☆ Inside the Wild World of Celebrity Keynote Speakers: Drugs, Alcohol
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( David Kushner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +31 min

"I never saw myself as a speaker, let alone a motivational speaker," Leonard tells me while his assistant irons his jeans. 'When I ramble," Hunter told me, "hit me in the leg!" Every plane had been grounded, including the one stuck on the tarmac with an increasingly inebriated Hunter Thompson trapped inside. But by far the most all-consuming task was booking gigs for Hunter Thompson. Just before a debate with G. Gordon Liddy at Brown University, Hunter demanded that Betsy Berg, whom I now worked alongside at GTN, score him some crystal meth.

☆ Tesla's price cuts highlight Elon Musk's last advantage in the EV business
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Matt Turner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Teslas are cheaper than everA Tesla Model Y. Patrick Pleul/Getty ImagesIn the market for a new car? Elon Musk's hoping that recent price cuts might turn you on to a Tesla. The billionaire might just be turning to his one remaining advantage in the EV business. But Tesla can cut prices and still deliver profits, something rival automakers struggle to do in their EV businesses. While Tesla investors are worrying about profits, Musk's rivals have their own reasons to be concerned, Stephen Beck, founder and managing partner of consultancy cg42, told Insider.

☆ Trump praised his family in his post-arraignment speech, but didn't mention Melania, who was nowhere to be seen
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Neither Melania nor Ivanka Trump were seen during Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago speech Tuesday. Donald Jr, Eric and Tiffany Trump all showed up to hear the former president speak. While Donald Jr, Eric and Tiffany Trump and their partners were seen in the ballroom, his wife and eldest daughter were notably absent. During his speech, Trump singled out several family members for praise, including Ivanka — but notably didn't mention his absent wife, a transcript of the speech shows. Speaking about the "fantastic job" his "great family" have done, he indicated Donald Jr, Eric, Ivanka, and Barron Trump, per the paper.

Public Investment Fund LIV Golf Trump World Performance54 LIV Golfers PLUS 45 OTHERS CONSULTANTS LAWYERS McKinsey & Company PwC Public Investment Fund Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan White & Case M. Klein & Company Teneo Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Majed al-Sorour Newcastle United Aramco Golf Saudi Benjamin Quayle Yasir al-Rumayyan Ari Fleischer Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LIV Golf Performance54 Trump World Greg Norman Donald J. Trump Gary Davidson Jed Moore Eric Trump Jared Kushner LIV Golfers Cameron Smith Phil Mickelson Dustin Johnson PLUS 45 OTHERSLIV Golf has cleaved men’s professional golf like no other force since the 1960s. Some of the world’s top players, including Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson, have become the faces of LIV Golf. The Public Investment FundDiagram of the major figures in LIV Golf that are connected to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Public Investment Fund Jared Kushner’s firm accepted a $2 billion investment from the Public Investment Fund. LIV Golf Trump World Eric Trump Jared Kushner Donald J. Trump Public Investment Fund Jared Kushner’s firm accepted a $2 billion investment from the Public Investment Fund.

☆ Ivanka Trump has given up trying to advise her father and is keeping her distance as his possible indictment looms, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ivanka Trump wants to continue keeping her distance from her father, People magazine reported. "Even though Ivanka loves her dad, she knows how impossible he can be," an unnamed source told People magazine. Another unnamed source told People magazine that even though Ivanka is continuing to keep her distance, there is no personal beef between father and daughter. The comments echo a report published by The New York Post in November, which claimed that Ivanka was unhappy about how her friends "turned their backs" on her during her father's administration. Ivanka Trump did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

☆ Jared Kushner's PE firm was backed by Emirates, Qatar - NYT
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 30 (Reuters) - Wealth funds in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar have invested hundreds of millions of dollars with former U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner's private equity firm, the New York Times reported on Thursday. The Emiratis invested more than $200 million with Kushner's Affinity Partners, while a Qatari entity also put in a similar sum, the newspaper said, citing people with knowledge of the transactions. Kushner, who was also a top adviser to Trump, formed the Miami-based Affinity Partners in 2021, Reuters had reported. The investment from the UAE came through a sovereign wealth fund, but the Qatari investor's identity was unclear, the NYT report said. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Mubadala, Emirates Investment Authority, Affinity Partners, and the Qatar and UAE embassies in Washington did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

☆ Former Aetna CEO to Take Helm of Health Insurer Oscar
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Anna Wilde Mathews | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Mark Bertolini said he would initially focus on ensuring Oscar meets its goal of having profitable insurance business this year. Mark Bertolini , former chief executive of health insurance giant Aetna Inc. and hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, will take the helm of Oscar Health Inc. as it seeks to turn a profit and carve out a role as a technology supplier in the healthcare industry. Mr. Bertolini, 66 years old, will take the post effective next Monday, the company said. He will succeed Mario Schlosser , 44, who co-founded Oscar in 2012 with Joshua Kushner and will take the new title of president of technology, reporting to Mr. Bertolini.

☆ Notable legal clouds that continue to hang over Donald Trump in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Dan Berman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +15 min

Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels and says the probe by Bragg, a Democrat, is politically motivated. According to the lawsuit, the Trump Organization deceived lenders, insurers and tax authorities by inflating the value of his properties using misleading appraisals. A federal judge ruled that Trump and FBI Director Christopher Wray can be deposed for two hours each as part of the lawsuit. “What (Trump’s lawsuit) lacks in substance and legal support it seeks to substitute with length, hyperbole, and the settling of scores and grievances,” US District Judge Donald Middlebrooks wrote. Woodward later released “The Trump Tapes,” an audiobook featuring eight hours of raw interviews with Trump interspersed with the author’s commentary.

☆ Conservatives scoff at Trump's 'leftist plan' to build 10 new American cities featuring flying cars
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Trump recently announced a plan to build up to 10 new American cities on federal land. But some right-wing critics have attacked it as a "leftist plan" to create walkable "15-minute cities." Fox News left its in-house comedian, Greg Gutfeld, to handle the coverage of Freedom Cities. A conservative member of the UK parliament recently called 15-minute cities an "international socialist concept" that "would take away your personal freedoms." But Freedom Cities don't sound like 15-minute cities at all.

☆ A $3,755 gold golf club gifted to Trump by the Prime Minister of Japan is one of several foreign gifts missing, House Democrats say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A report from House Democrats said President Trump failed to declare more than 100 foreign gifts. Some are missing, including a $3,755 gold club Japan's prime minister gave to Trump. Jared Kushner also received highly valued gifts including a $24,000 dagger and a $5,450 sword from bin Salman. "The discovery of these unreported foreign gifts raises significant questions about why former President Trump failed to disclose these gifts to the public, as required by law," the report said. It states that "the Trump Administration's failure to disclose more than one hundred foreign gifts President Trump and his family received raises new questions about whether these and other gifts may have been used by foreign governments to influence U.S. policy under President Trump."

☆ Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham panicked and texted that Fox News 'hates us' after calling Arizona for Biden and bragged about their 'enormous power' at the network
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Azmi Haroun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

New emails and texts released in Dominion Voting System's case against Fox News highlighted internal strife. The three prime-time hosts, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and Sean Hannity, felt sidelined after the Arizona call. "We are officially working for an organization that hates us," Ingraham texted the two hosts in November 2020. On Tuesday, a new series of internal emails, private texts, and depositions helped illuminate the internal rifts between Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, and their coworkers after the network called Arizona for Biden. "We are officially working for an organization that hates us," Ingraham texted Hannity and Carlson on November 16, 2020, according to court documents.

☆ Tucker Carlson ‘passionately’ hates Trump, and eight more key revelations about Fox News from new Dominion filings
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The filings expose the face of the network, Tucker Carlson, as a fraud. They show that Rupert Murdoch rejected conspiracy theories about Dominion, despite allowing them to be promoted on his network. But here are some immediate takeaways:► Carlson “passionately” hates Trump: In a number of private text messages, Carlson was harshly critical of Trump. I truly can’t wait.” Carlson added of Trump, “I hate him passionately.” The Fox host said of the Trump presidency, “That’s the last four years. There isn’t really an upside to Trump.”► Murdoch rejected conspiracies: In his January deposition, Murdoch was repeatedly asked about various electronic voting conspiracy theories — and he rejected all of them.

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