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☆ Hakeem Jeffries is enjoying an early honeymoon leading House Democrats. But one day, he'll have to make 'hard commitments.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

House Democrats say Hakeem Jeffries is a better listener and is more consensus-oriented than Pelosi. There's one big reason for it: House Democrats can't pass any of their own bills right now. Pelosi and Jeffries on the House floor after she announced she would step down from party leadership on November 17, 2022. 'He gets it'Jeffries, 52, has enjoyed a rapid ascent to the top of the Democratic caucus. "There were always very different views within the Democratic caucus on people who voted their district," said Slotkin.

☆ Explainer: With Bluesky, Jack Dorsey has another go at Twitter-like service
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 1 (Reuters) - Jack Dorsey is taking another whack at a Twitter-like service with a new social media platform called Bluesky. The service is gaining traction among Twitter power users, attracting prominent personalities including U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It's a text-focused social media service launched for select users in February. Bluesky offers a similar experience to Twitter - people create profiles and post short messages with text and images. On the timeline, Bluesky has "What's hot" and "Following" feed, similar to the curated "For You" and the chronological "Following" feeds on Twitter.

☆ AOC rules out 2024 Senate run: 'She is not planning to primary Gillibrand,' spokesperson says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has ruled out a 2024 Senate run, her spokesperson told Politico. AOC has been regarded as one of Senator Kristen Gillibrand's strongest possible challengers. "She is not planning to primary Gillibrand," her spokesperson said. "She is not planning to run for Senate in 2024. She is not planning to primary Gillibrand," Lauren Hitt, Ocasio-Cortez's spokesperson, told Politico.

☆ The 10 Senate seats most likely to flip in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Simone Pathe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +19 min

The GOP needs a net gain of one or two seats to flip the chamber, depending on which party wins the White House in 2024, and it’s Democrats who are defending the tougher seats. Jim Justice announcing his Senate bid in West Virginia – the seat most likely to flip party control in 2024. In a presidential year, the national environment is likely to loom large, especially with battleground states hosting key Senate races. Two businessmen with the ability to tap into or raise significant resources could be in the mix – Eric Hovde, who lost the GOP Senate nomination in 2012, and Scott Mayer. Still, unseating Cruz in a state Trump won by nearly 6 points in 2020 will be a tall order.

☆ What is Bluesky? A new Jack Dorsey-backed Twitter rival has people fighting for invites
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Bluesky has been compared to Mastodon and is backed by Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey. The Jack Dorsey-backed platform, Bluesky, is a Twitter clone with a very similar format to its established rival. Bluesky users set up a profile by choosing a picture, bio, display name, and domain name. However, unlike Mastodon, users don't have to choose a server when they sign up – something that appeared to be an issue for Mastodon users who found the process too complicated. In April last year, Bluesky clarified the company's relationship to Twitter, saying: "The bluesky project originated with Twitter in 2019, but the Bluesky PBLLC established this year is an independent company focused on decentralized social network R&D."

☆ Elon Musk tells Bill Maher he's a 'moderate' who has championed sustainable energy, which is 'not exactly far-right'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Tesla chief said he'd spent a "massive amount" of his life developing sustainable energy. "I spent a massive amount of my life energy building sustainable energy, you know, electric vehicles, and batteries, and solar. Musk wants to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy with electric vehicles as well as renewable energy generation and storage. He's also put free speech at the forefront of why he bought the social media platform. Musk told Maher: "Free speech used to be a left or liberal value, and yet we see from the quote 'left' a desire to actually censor, and that seems crazy."

☆ Fact Check-Video features deepfakes of Nancy Pelosi, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Joe Biden
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

(Editors note: Paragraph 11 contains language some readers may find offensive)A video with clips of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and President Joe Biden that have been digitally altered is being shared by users who believe it to be real. The video includes clips from the documentary Pelosi in the House, made by Pelosi’s daughter Alexandra (here). We’re at [redacted], which has facilities for the House and the Senate to meet. Project Veritas and James O’Keefe, both mentioned in the video, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Audio tracks appearing to be the voices of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and President Joe Biden were added onto various clips.

☆ Bluesky Social: Twitter's former CEO has a new app that looks a lot like Twitter
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —The buzzy new social media app of the moment looks so much like Twitter it’s almost hard to distinguish the two. But under the hood, Bluesky, developed by Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, is vastly different. The Bluesky social media app logo is seen on a mobile device in April 2023. Like Mastodon, Bluesky appeals to a number of Twitter users who are frustrated with the direction of the platform under owner Elon Musk. As Eve 6 wrote on Twitter: “Bluesky invite codes are the new blue check.”

☆ Opinion | Why I Don’t Worry About Nuclear Waste
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Madison Hilly | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

On a visit to the site of the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown in Japan in February, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York did something refreshing: She discussed radiation exposure and nuclear waste without fanning fear. So it’s no surprise that many Americans believe nuclear waste poses an enormous and terrifying threat. We must stop seeing nuclear waste as a dangerous problem and instead recognize it as a safe byproduct of carbon-free power. The countries that have cleaned up their electricity production the fastest have generally done so with hydroelectric power, nuclear, or a combination of the two. The International Energy Agency believes it’s so crucial that global nuclear capacity must double by 2050 to reach net-zero emissions targets.

☆ Fact Check-Claim AOC said 'government must shut down unapproved news agencies’ stems from satire
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Democratic U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did not say “the government must shut down unapproved news agencies to defeat fascism.” The quote stems from an article by satirical website The Babylon Bee, but some social media users have shared screenshots of the article without this context. Although some users acknowledge the content is satire, others don’t. The screenshot circulating stems from an article by The Babylon Bee published on April 23 (archive.ph/akNvz). The Babylon Bee describes itself as “the world’s best satire site (…) We write satire about Christian stuff, political stuff, and everyday life” (www.babylonbee.com/about). This fabricated quote stems from an article by The Babylon Bee.

☆ SpaceX's Starship mega-rocket was too powerful for its own good
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Chris Panella | Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Rocks and other debris fly around remote cameras as SpaceX’s Starship lifts off atop its Super Heavy booster for the first time. Starship was too strong for its launchpadA field of debris surrounds Starship's launchpad after the rocket's launch blew up concrete beneath it. Debris litters the Starship launchpad, with damaged fuel tanks visible in the background. PATRICK T. FALLON / Contributor / Getty ImagesThere were no injuries related to the Starship launch, according to the FAA. In addition to the mishap investigation, SpaceX must request a modification to its launch license in order to fly another Starship.

☆ AOC celebrates as Tucker Carlson is ousted from Fox News: 'Couldn't have happened to a better guy'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Natalie Musumeci | Madison Hall | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez celebrated Tucker Carlson's bombshell ousting at Fox News. "Couldn't have happened to a better guy," Ocasio-Cortez said in a video posted to her Instagram. Still, Ocasio-Cortez said she is wary that Carlson will bounce back. Fox News announced it had parted ways with Carlson, the network's top host, on Monday. Several prominent right-wing personalities, such as Glenn Beck and Matt Walsh, voiced their displeasure and shock about Carlson's firing on Twitter on Monday.

☆ Even Republican senators aren't sold on the GOP plan to fight over the debt ceiling again in a year
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Kevin McCarthy plans to have the House vote on his debt ceiling bill on Wednesday. Other House GOP lawmakers wanted to see stricter work requirements for welfare programs in the legislation. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's proposal would only raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion, or until March 31, 2024 — whichever comes first. Ensuring another debt ceiling fight just months before next year's elections is reportedly drawing some ire, or at least headaches, from fellow Republicans. "The American people expect and deserve serious, sensible action to address our soaring national debt," McCarthy and other GOP leaders said in a statement on the legislation.

☆ AOC says that the Supreme Court could strike down student-loan forgiveness, but that doesn't mean 'all is lost' with debt relief
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision in June on Biden's student-debt relief plan. It depends on the grounds of the ruling and if the court leaves room for an alternate route, AOC said. After Biden announced the relief in August, two conservative-backed lawsuits paused the implementation of the plan in November, and the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the cases in February. The grounds/rationale for the ruling," Ocasio-Cortez wrote on her Instagram story on Sunday in response to a question on the topic. "If the court rules against Biden's loan program, I STILL don't think all is lost," she continued.

☆ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says Marjorie Taylor Greene is the Republican who's really in charge of the party and McCarthy is doing her bidding
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

She said that Greene was actually more powerful than House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. "Every time something irks her, she communicates that McCarthy is doing her bidding," said Ocasio-Cortez of Greene. "Speaker McCarthy, in order to become Speaker, had to cut some deals we still don't know the details on. "I think you've got Marjorie Taylor Greene running the caucus." I think that Speaker McCarthy is stuck between having to please the most racist and heinous elements of his party with having to maintain a majority.

☆ SpaceX Starship explosion spread particulate matter for miles
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Lora Kolodny | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Of primary concern is the large amount of sand- and ash-like particulate matter and heavier debris kicked up by the launch. Images captured during the test flight show that the SpaceX launch pad also exploded, with concrete chunks from it flying in multiple directions leaving behind a giant crater underneath. That would translate to a one-square-mile debris field, with debris emanating about three-quarters of a mile away from the site, he said, referencing SpaceX environmental site assessment documents that are public record. Health concernsThe impacts of particulate emissions from the SpaceX launch won't be understood until samples are evaluated and the debris field measured comprehensively. Margolis and Cortez both noted that roads had been damaged, with gates and cordons closed immediately following the SpaceX Starship test flight.

☆ The guy AOC crushed in her first election is back on the Hill — and this time he's trying to save TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

TikTok has hired Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's predecessor to lobby on Capitol Hill. Former Rep. Joe Crowley reportedly helped TikTok's CEO set up meetings with lawmakers in DC. Ocasio-Cortez has come out against banning TikTok, breaking with the Biden administration. But this time, Crowley finds himself on the same side as Ocasio-Cortez, who recently announced her opposition to banning TikTok. The Trump administration similarly called for TikTok to be sold to an American buyer and former President Donald Trump signed an executive order in 2020 banning TikTok.

☆ AOC says Republicans are 'too much of a mess' to negotiate with Democrats on the budget and debt ceiling: 'Negotiating with that is like trying to nail jello to a tree'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Kevin McCarthy unveiled his bill to raise the debt ceiling this week, but it faces pushback from some Republicans. "Republicans are too much of a mess right now to do so," she wrote. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez answering a question about debt ceiling negotiations on her Instagram story. "Republicans are too much of a mess right now to do so," she wrote in response to a question on the topic on her Instagram story. And the president is still not budging — he's continuing to push for a clean debt ceiling increase.

☆ Bed Bath & Beyond stiffed thousands of workers on severance pay
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Bed Bath & Beyond has been on bankruptcy watch and has been closing hundreds of stores since late 2022. Toys "R" Us and other chains that filed for bankruptcy have been criticized for failing to pay workers severance. There is no federal requirement for severance pay, although some collective bargaining agreements with unions cover severance agreements. At Bed Bath & Beyond, CEO Sue Gove is eligible for $7.1 million in severance pay and former Bed Bath & Beyond CEO Mark Tritton is suing the company for $6.8 million in unpaid severance. ‘This was our reward’Some Bed Bath & Beyond employees recently laid off in other states did not receive severance pay either, as first reported by Bloomberg.

☆ Clarence Thomas inspires pizza chain promo deal that made 'every pie on sale, just like' the Supreme Court Justice following report he accepted vacations from GOP donor
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A ProPublica report last week revealed Justice Thomas accepted lavish vacations from a GOP donor. A Washington DC-based pizza chain emailed customers with a reference to Thomas accepting the vacations to promote a sale, Fox reported. The &pizza chain often uses its social media accounts to post memes related to politics and popular culture. "Every pie on sale, Just like Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas," it reportedly read. Two weeks prior to their Thomas-themed sale, &pizza Instagram account published a photo of Donald Trump captioned, "Today's weather forecast: Stormy."

☆ How to watch today's hybrid solar eclipse — the rarest type of eclipse — even if you don't live near Australia where it's happening
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Chris Panella | Jessica Orwig | Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A rare hybrid solar eclipse will occur over the South Pacific today and won't happen again until 2031. Hybrid solar eclipses are the rarest type of eclipse and look different depending on your location. During a hybrid eclipse observers can see both a total and annular eclipse. kdshutterman / Getty ImagesA hybrid solar eclipse is a rare type of eclipse that changes depending on where you're watching it. The last time a hybrid solar eclipse occured was 2013 over some regions in the northern Atlantic Ocean and Africa.

☆ Who won the Fox-Dominion case? Lawyers and an obscure private-equity fund
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

That remains true in the case of Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems, which averted a trial with an 11th-hour deal Tuesday. Money aside, Fox had to acknowledge the court’s ruling that “certain claims about Dominion” that Fox perpetuated on-air were in fact false. The Neutral-to-Positive Winner: Dominion Voting SystemsFor more than two years, Dominion spent untold amounts of money building a defamation case against one of the most popular TV networks on the planet. Davida Brook, left, Justin Nelson, second from left, and Stephen Shackelford, attorneys for Dominion Voting Systems, exit the New Castle County Courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware, on Tuesday. But for a company that’s valued somewhere between $30 million and $80 million, it’s quite a deal.

☆ Ramit Sethi: Avoid these 3 toxic money beliefs to build wealth
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Anthony Cortez | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailRamit Sethi: Avoid these 3 toxic money beliefs to build wealthRamit Sethi, self-made millionaire and star of the new Netflix show "How To Get Rich," lists three toxic money beliefs that could be holding you back from wealth creation.

☆ Elon Musk says news organizations should only tweet 10 stories a day, after he tweeted more than 100 times over the weekend
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk said on Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" that news organizations should limit tweets. During the interview, Musk discussed his decision to remove The New York Times' blue tick on Twitter. Carlson asked Musk about a tweet at the time in which he described the Times' feed as "the Twitter equivalent of diarrhea." According to the social-media tracker Socialblade, the newspaper tweeted an average of 110 times a day over the last two weeks. Last month, Musk overtook Barack Obama to become the most-followed account on Twitter, five months after buying the company.

☆ Fox News settles Dominion's defamation lawsuit for $787.5 million over election conspiracy theories just as the trial is about to start
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Fox News settled Dominion's defamation lawsuit over election conspiracy theories for $787.5 million. WILMINGTON, Delaware — Fox News settled Dominion Voting Systems's blockbuster defamation lawsuit just as it was about to go to trial, agreeing to pay it $787.5 million. In a press conference after Davis announced the settlement, Dominion CEO John Poulos criticized Fox for broadcasting lies about the company. Dominion first filed its lawsuit against Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corp., in March 2021. Representatives of Fox News arrive at the justice center for the Dominion Voting Systems' defamation lawsuit against Fox News, in Wilmington, Delaware.

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