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☆ Fact Check-Viral tweet about Twitter employee fired after 6.5 years stems from satire account
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A satire account posting as if they were an employee who had gotten fired from Twitter is being taken seriously by some online users. The user claiming to be the employee (@jdan) routinely posts content that is satirical in nature. The account does not clearly label itself as parody or satire but has previously touted working for Apple and Twitter with comical connotations. Another indicator the account posts parody is its bio, which says, “Author of the critically-acclaimed ‘Harry Potter’ series of children's fantasy novels.” J.K. Rowling is the real creator of the series (here). The tweet originates from an account that routinely posts satirical content.

☆ The Looting of Johnson & Johnson
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Trial lawyers don’t like threats to their business model, so they can thank the Third Circuit Court of Appeals for protecting the jackpot-justice status quo. A three-judge panel ruled this week that Johnson & Johnson can’t use the bankruptcy system to administer tens of thousands of talc claims, and it kicked the cases back to regular litigation. The fund the company created to pay talc claimants had too much money. In 2021, faced with proliferating lawsuits claiming that talcum powder caused a variety of ills, J&J restructured itself into two limited liability companies. One became “new” J&J and the other, called LTL, was given the talc liabilities and declared bankruptcy.

Jan 30 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Monday shot down Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ.N) attempt to offload tens of thousands of lawsuits over its talc products into bankruptcy court. The appeals court ruling revives those lawsuits. Monday's decision by the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia dismissed the bankruptcy filed by the J&J subsidiary in 2021. The appeals court decision could force companies considering the strategy to more carefully consider its risks, two legal experts said. The Texas two-step has garnered criticism from Democratic lawmakers in Washington, and inspired proposed legislation that would severely restrict the practice.

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☆ US court rejects J&J bankruptcy strategy for tens of thousands of talc lawsuits
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

J&J said it will challenge the Third Circuit’s ruling and continue to seek a resolution of the lawsuits in bankruptcy court. The appeals court was urged to dismiss the bankruptcy petition by plaintiffs suing over the talc products. The cancer victims asked the appeals court to overrule a New Jersey bankruptcy judge who had allowed LTL’s bankruptcy to continue. LTL’s bankruptcy filing automatically stopped lawsuits from proceeding against it, and U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan in Trenton, New Jersey ruled in February that LTL’s bankruptcy should also stop talc lawsuits from proceeding against parent company J&J. Kaplan said the bankruptcy court is better equipped to handle mass tort litigation than other courts.

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Towns said the lawmakers could have until early spring, otherwise, to develop and fine tune any proposals that emerge from Nichols' death. Share this -Link copiedMemphis police’s vaunted Scorpion unit is deactivated after Tyre Nichols' death Memphis police’s vaunted Scorpion unit has been permanently deactivated. Share this -Link copiedNFL calls for change after 'senseless death' of Tyre Nichols A day after the release of video showing the police beating of Tyre Nichols, the NFL on Saturday condemned the violence. Demonstrations continued Saturday in Atlanta, Boston and Charlotte following the release of video footage showing five former Memphis police officers beating Tyre Nichols, who died on Jan. 10. Attorney Blake Ballin’s comments follow the release of video footage showing the officers punching and kicking Tyre Nichols during a Jan. 7 traffic stop.

The U.S. government’s system for labeling and tracking classified documents appears to be broken, with potentially serious consequences for the country’s national security, lawmakers, former officials and scholars said Tuesday. Democratic and Republican lawmakers said there was a “systemic failure” if both the Obama and Trump administrations could not keep track of classified documents after their tenures ended. I don’t know how anybody ends up with classified documents. “We clearly don’t have an effective management system to oversee where classified documents go and how they’re retrieved,” said Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah. Goitein and others said the recent discoveries of classified documents present a political opportunity for the White House, and possibly Congress, to at last tackle the problem.

That was up from 10% in January 2022, but the pessimists were far outnumbered, with 71% of tech workers feeling positive. Many people spent Covid-19 lockdowns developing their digital skills, and plenty wound up switching from other sectors, like retail or education, into tech roles elsewhere. Professional and business services roles, which include engineering and “computer services,” were down 6,000 last month from November. Even so, employers’ broad appetite for tech skills could put something of a floor under wages — and prop up the appeal of tech roles in general — even as the economy slows. Experienced tech workers, rather than those new to the field, largely drove those pay gains, the jobs platform Hired found in research published in September.

☆ J.B. Hunt Expects Freight-Demand Volatility to Ease This Year
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Paul Page | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

Trucking and logistics giant J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. expects freight demand to regain traction in the coming months as the pandemic-driven upheaval in supply chains fades and companies return to more conventional ordering cycles. “We have had good signals from our customers about Q2 starting up back to a more normalized or having a more normal environment,” J.B. Hunt President Shelley Simpson said in an earnings conference call Wednesday. “Demand for intermodal capacity was seasonally weaker than normal, as peak season activity leading up to the holidays was absent this year,” Darren Field, president of intermodal at J.B. Hunt, said in the earnings call. He said volumes weakened sequentially during the fourth quarter, with volumes up 4% in October before falling 3% in November and 5% in December. The steepest revenue decline came in J.B. Hunt’s Integrated Capacity Solutions unit, which matches freight loads to trucks.

Now, when she opens the app, “all I see is Black women, Black people and Black businesses. She would have to specifically type in “Black girl” to find other Black women. This was created so that Black women could support Black women because nobody else seems to be.”James said she never intended to put another race down and she encouraged the trend with the purpose of showing love to Black women. “Black women are navigating the combined force of racism and sexism on a daily basis,” she added. The creator of the trend, Michele, said she applauds Black men for sometimes defending Black women on the app.

☆ Six N.F.L. Players Show Football’s Grind on Their Feet and Hands
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Ken Belson | Joe Drape | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +19 min

Players Show Football’s Grind on Their Feet and HandsOver the course of the long and brutal N.F.L. season, players’ feet and hands take a beating on nearly every snap. But in practice a few days later, he was running drills and landed awkwardly, spraining an ankle and stretching the tendons in his right foot. The next week Jones caught six passes for 109 yards and three touchdowns as the Jaguars shocked the Dallas Cowboys, 40-34. “The therapist spends a lot of time on my hands and feet,” he said.

Southwest finished first in economy and budget airline rankings published by the consumer research firm last May. Analysts say that Southwest's position among consumers remains strong despite the airline leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded over the Christmas holiday weekend. "People think you're getting great value for the money," said Michael Taylor, managing director for travel, hospitality and retail at J.D. On Tuesday, the airline said it would issue 25,000 rewards points to anyone whose flight was affected. Taylor at J.D.

☆ Former teacher who wore MAGA hat to school was protected by First Amendment, court rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

VANCOUVER, Wash. — The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of a former teacher in Vancouver, Washington, concluding that his wearing a hat supporting former President Donald Trump to school was protected speech under the First Amendment. Court documents show that science teacher Eric Dodge brought the “Make America Great Again” baseball cap with him to an Evergreen Public Schools building twice before the 2019-2020 school year. Wy’east Middle School Principal Caroline Garret allegedly told him to use better judgment. Dodge said he was “verbally attacked” by Garret and other school employees after bringing the hat again, and that retaliation amounted to a violation of his First Amendment rights. Michael McFarland, a lawyer representing the school district and Gomes, said his clients are happy with the ruling.

☆ 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.

WASHINGTON — The House Jan. 6 committee found that law enforcement agencies gathered “substantial evidence” of potential violence at the Capitol as Congress met to formalize Joe Biden's election as president, a member of the panel said at its final meeting Monday. But the executive summary of the committee's final report doesn’t address questions of why the FBI, U.S. Capitol Police and other law enforcement agencies didn’t do more to increase security that day. The executive summary, released Monday, avoids criticizing or reaching conclusions about law enforcement and intelligence shortfalls in the lead-up to the attack, which many law enforcement experts have called the biggest intelligence failure since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. A representative for the committee didn’t respond to a request for comment about the decision not to include more information about the role law enforcement played ahead of the Capitol attack. The committee's executive summary discusses information that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies received in the days before Jan. 6, saying some of the intelligence was shared with partners like the Capitol Police.

☆ Does FTX’s New CEO Have the Worst Job in Corporate America?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Ben Cohen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

There was one question that nobody in this week’s congressional hearing asked the new chief executive officer of FTX: Why would anybody want that job? “I am drawn to crisis,” John J. Ray III told me in an email. “There is something about the sheer chaos and human panic that creates an unbridled energy.”

☆ It’s Now His Job to Clean Up the Mess at FTX
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Ben Cohen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Car buyers are watching the clock tick down for the Inflation Reduction Act’s updated electric vehicle tax incentives to kick in. If you shop right nowState and federal EV incentives already exist. Their car was built in Tennessee and qualified for the full $7,500 federal tax credit, which they were able to combine with a Massachusetts EV tax exemption of $2,500, effectively knocking $10,000 off the price. Plus, caps on how many vehicles can qualify for existing tax incentives have kept some buyers on the sidelines. If you shop in 2024After next year, the IRA makes an important change to how consumers apply their tax credit.

☆ UN agency says Israel is delaying new visas for its staff
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Hadas Gold | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

Jerusalem CNN —A United Nations agency that operates in the West Bank and Gaza says Israel is not processing visas for its newly recruited staff, while Israeli officials accuse the agency of “ignoring Israeli victims of terror” in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, a charge the agency denies. The UN considers East Jerusalem and the West Bank to be occupied territory, and Israelis living there to be living in illegal settlements. Erdan said when OCHA is asked why they don’t count Israeli victims, they are told the agency does not have reliable data. “Of course you don’t, you don’t employ Hebrew speakers, and the senior manager of the agency is Palestinian,” Erdan said. OCHA’s latest report does record some instances of Israelis being injured by stones thrown at civilian vehicles traveling in the West Bank.

The tech industry accounts for about one-quarter of this year's job cuts, Challenger data show. The automotive industry has had 30,669 job cuts announced, compared with 10,277 through November 2021. And real estate has had 7,919 cuts announced this year, compared with 2,762 in 2021 year-to-date. "We've seen a lot of job cuts around mortgage origination and fintech firms in mortgages. U.S.-based employers announced 76,835 cuts in November alone, more than double the 33,843 cuts announced in October and four-times the number of cuts announced last November, Challenger data show.

☆ How Trump’s legacy became ‘pure poison’ for independents
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Ronald Brownstein | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +16 min

Among female independents, Trump’s ratings were even worse: just 23% favorable and 72% unfavorable, according to previously unpublished exit poll results provided by the CNN polling unit. Trump’s unfavorable rating hit a comparable 69% among independents with at least a four-year college degree. That was a significantly smaller advantage than the double-digit lead among independents Democrats enjoyed in both the 2020 presidential race and the 2018 contest for the House. While Democrats held the presidency, Republicans won independents by double-digits in House elections in the midterms of 2014, 2010 and 1994. Gretchen Whitmer won 59% of the independents with degrees and 56% of women independents.

A Florida sheriff stunned many of his constituents this week by appearing to endorse spanking students, his comments coming during a press conference in which county officials announced plans to tighten discipline in Brevard County schools. Sheriff Wayne Ivey spins the "Wheel of Fugitive" board at the Brevard County Sheriffs Office in 2017. And he is a Brevard County political powerbroker who helped get two Republicans, Megan Wright and Gene Trent, elected to the county school board. Shortly after they were sworn in Nov. 22, Wright and Trent teamed up with school board chair Matt Susin to oust longtime superintendent Mark Mullins. There was agreement among the Brevard County school officials interviewed that disruptive students are a problem in the system.

☆ ‘Living in despair and hopelessness’: A lack of affordable housing can put people’s health at risk
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Renuka Rayasam Fred Clasen-Kelly Kaiser Health News | Renuka Rayasam | Fred Clasen-Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

She suspected the gray and brown splotches spreading through the apartment were mold and had caused her son’s illness. A nationwide affordable housing crisis has wreaked havoc on the lives of low-income families, like Joseph’s, who are close to the brink. Housing instability — such as having trouble paying rent, living in crowded conditions, or moving frequently — can have negative consequences on health, according to the federal Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. And there is no county in the country where a minimum-wage worker could afford a two-bedroom rental home, according to an August report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition. A few months after leaving the apartment, Joseph and her two children moved in with her sister in Orlando, Florida, with their remaining possessions — a car and some clothes.

☆ Rail workers at biggest unions split on contract, strike potential unclear
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Eli M. Rosenberg | Eli Rosenberg Is An Investigative Tech Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Workers at two of the country's biggest rail unions split over a tentative contract their leaders had hashed out with freight rail companies — leaving open the possibility of a debilitating rail strike in the middle of the holiday season. The 28,000-member SMART-TD union, which represents rail conductors, voted no on the contract, after one of their divisions voted it down. A strike could also impact the country’s commuter rail system, with the potential to halt service entirely on some lines serviced by freight rail workers and cause backlogs and traffic snarls on others. The National Carriers’ Conference Committee, which represents rail companies in the bargaining process warned about the economic threats of a strike. The Association of American Railroads, the trade group which represents the rail companies, estimates losses of $2 billion a day.

Jell-O GirlEarly Jell-O advertising depicted women as inept, needing the help of a simple recipe like Jell-O. Jell-O released flavors such as seasoned tomato, celery, mixed vegetable and Italian salad, and Jell-O salads were a colorful way to use leftovers in side dishes. In 1955, the company introduced the slogan “A Jell-O salad makes the meal.”“The Jell-O salad really hits the American sensibility and palate perfectly. Constance Bannister Corp/Getty ImagesBut as more Americans traveled and global cuisines entered the mainstream, the simplicity of Jell-O salads became a downside. “Upscale becomes the new mainstream and Jell-O salads moves into a niche,” Shapiro said.

As Republicans across the country saw their predictions of commanding victories up and down the ballot fall short on election night, Democrats in Pennsylvania were celebrating signs of a blue wave. Spencer Platt / Getty Images fileMany state Republicans said it’s no surprise that the strategy worked. “I think Republicans are going to be very demoralized here,” one Republican who worked on a Pennsylvania campaign, said in an interview. But while Oz struggled to overcome questions about his residency, Democrats and Republicans both said the election was driven by the Shapiro-Mastriano dynamic. “To have a wave, you not only have to have the initial motion, but you have to have the driver.

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