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☆ More Visible L.G.B.T. People Isn’t A Curiosity or Crisis — It’s Normal - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Jane Coaston | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Then, he said, there was an idea that “a certain amount of gender transgression was spectacular. As long as it’s still in that realm, it’s OK and it’s entertainment.” But he told me that when L.G.B.T. But the vast majority of people are straight and cisgender, and the vast majority will no doubt be so in the future. There’s been an objective increase in the number of visible L.G.B.T. There is no maximum number of people on earth who can be trans before we face civilizational ruin or planetary collapse.

Persons: K.J, Rawson, he’d, “, Hugh Ryan, Ryan, ”, Isaac Schorr, There’s Organizations: Northeastern University, Transgender

A reckoning for Lina KhanA federal judge’s decision to let Microsoft close its $70 billion takeover of the video game maker Activision Blizzard didn’t just represent a win for the tech giant. Microsoft is close to clinching the deal. In her 53-page ruling, Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley wrote that the F.T.C. had failed to show that Microsoft buying the maker of Call of Duty would substantially reduce competition in the video game market. That means the Activision deal, the largest tech acquisition ever, could close as soon as next week.

Persons: Lina Khan, Jacqueline Scott Corley Organizations: Microsoft, Activision, Britain’s, Authority

☆ Wagner boss Prigozhin says Russia's 'evil' defense ministry 'must be stopped' in latest shocking provocation
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

In response, the warlord called Russia's defense ministry "evil" and said it "must be stopped." He accused Russia's defense ministry of carrying out the attack, in which he claimed a "huge amount" of his mercenaries were killed; these claims could not be immediately confirmed, and Russia's ministry of defense countered that they are lies. Russia's defense ministry denied Prigozhin's accusations. "All the messages and videos speaded in social networks on behalf of E. Prigozhin about the alleged 'strike of the Russian Ministry of Defense against the 'rear camps of the Wagner PMC' are untrue and are an informational provocation," Russia's defense ministry said on Telegram. Prigozhin has frequently ripped into Russian military leadership, issuing shocking threats, scathing statements, and expletive-filled tirades over Moscow's consistent battlefield failures and incompetence.

Persons: Wagner, Prigozhin, —, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Vladimir Putin, Russia's, Friday's Organizations: Service, Group, Wagner, Wagner Group, Russian Ministry of Defense, Wagner PMC, Armed Forces, Russian Federation, Mercenaries, Bakhmut Locations: Russia, Russian, Moscow, Ukraine

☆ Microsoft's blockbuster Activision deal may be doomed. But the tech giant's future is still bright
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Microsoft 's (MSFT) proposed blockbuster acquisition of video-game publisher Activision Blizzard (ATVI) may be doomed thanks to British regulators. The U.K.'s top antitrust body — the Competition and Markets Authority — said Wednesday that it opposes Microsoft's $69 billion bid because of competition concerns in the budding cloud gaming market. Microsoft's multipart gaming business includes Xbox consoles, cloud-based Xbox Game Pass service and in-house titles, such as the long-running "Halo" series. The CMA's opposition centered on competition concerns in the burgeoning world of cloud gaming, which Jefferies analysts estimate is less than 2% of the overall gaming market. Cloud gaming enables players to, essentially, stream video games without having to buy a physical console.

☆ Wind and solar power generators wait in yearslong lines to put clean electricity on the grid, then face huge interconnection fees they can't afford
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +18 min

The local utility in charge of overseeing the interconnection process told Pine Gate it would be more than $30 million. Pine Gate had to terminate the project because it couldn't afford the new fees, its vice president of regulatory affairs, Brett White, told CNBC. "Those projects ended up withdrawing from the queue or terminating, because they don't pencil anymore," White told CNBC. "There is Texas, and then there's the rest of the country with respects to interconnection," White of Pine Gate told CNBC. And that means getting those engineers out of some of the rote manual data entry and into the actual analysis," White told CNBC.

☆ Inside Nike: Sources share claims of sexism, cheating, abuse at the world's wokest brand
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Joshua Hunt | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +51 min

The conservative blowback came as no surprise to Parker, who told Nike's board of directors to expect some short-term backlash. In late 2014, the BBC sent a film crew to Portland to interview several former Oregon Project employees. "He would be at the side of the track calling out runners' splits but wouldn't call Kara's out," Adam Goucher told me. When people asked why she left the Oregon Project, she said it was a "personal decision." "I don't think it has anything to do with who the CEO is," Goucher told me.

☆ What do AI art generators think a CEO looks like? Most of the time a white guy
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

New research suggests that AI image generators reflect racial and gender bias in their outputs. AI tool DALL-E 2 was found to link white men with 'CEO' or 'director' 97% of the time. The study found 97% of DALL-E 2's images of positions of authority — like "CEO" or "director" — depicted white men. These biases can have real-world consequences now that image companies are launching their own generative AI tools, per the researchers. Even though AI companies have made efforts to "debias" their tools, "they have yet to be extensively tested," Luccioni said.

☆ DeSantis strips Disney World of its self-governing power in Florida: 'There's a new sheriff in town'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

DeSantis has officially stripped Disney World of its self-governing status. DeSantis appointed political allies to the board, which have to be approved by the Florida Senate. Ron DeSantis abolished Walt Disney World's special authority on Monday, nearly 11 months after the company spoke out publicly against his controversial education agenda. Under the new law, board members cannot be employees, owners, or operators at Disney World. DeSantis said several times during the press conference that Disney World now had to follow the same rules as other Florida theme parks.

☆ An architect of the law Biden is using to cancel student debt reiterates that it 'could hardly be clearer' that the loan forgiveness is legal
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

He argued that it "could hardly be clearer" that the HEROES Act permits broad loan forgiveness. Miller wrote in a Wednesday opinion piece in The Washington Post that Biden's loan forgiveness falls exactly within what the law permits. "That language could hardly be clearer," Miller wrote. "Sure, Congress could have gone farther by requiring the Education Department to relieve student debt," Miller said. We will continue to defend our legal authority to provide the debt relief working and middle-class families clearly need and deserve."

☆ Pence said he disagreed with DeSantis over Disney battle, breaking with the Florida governor ahead of possible 2024 matchup
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Pence and DeSantis are presumed to be seeing the 2024 GOP nomination for president. Pence drew a distinction with DeSantis on Wednesday over how he handled Disney. Under a new bill that's before DeSantis, the governor will have the power to appoint a state-run board. DeSantis didn't mention during his stumping that he married his wife, Casey DeSantis, at Disney World in 2009, a fact Insider was first to report. DeSantis' battles against big corporations go beyond Disney.

☆ Why it's so hard to build new electrical transmission lines in the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

Building new transmission lines in the U.S. takes so long — if they are built at all — that electrical transmission has become a roadblock for deploying clean energy. Energy companies that build new transmission lines need to get a return on their investment, explains James McCalley, an electrical engineering professor at Iowa State University. "Someone that benefits more frequent transmission line will pay more than someone who benefits less from a transmission line." transmission lines, energy grid, clean energyGreat River Energy and Minnesota Power are in the early stages of building a 150-mile, 345 kilovolt transmission line from northern to central Minnesota. Engaging with all members of the respective community is a necessary part of any successful transmission line build out, Patel and Johnson both say.

☆ Over half of the House GOP and nearly all Senate Republicans signed briefs urging the Supreme Court to block Biden's student-loan forgiveness
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

On Friday, 128 of the 222 House Republicans signed onto an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to block student-debt relief. They both argued that Biden doesn't have the authority to cancel student debt using the HEROES Act of 2003. On Friday, 128 House Republicans signed onto an amicus curiae brief urging the nation's highest court to block Biden's plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student debt for federal borrowers. That's just over half of the GOP composition in the House, with 222 Republicans holding a slim majority in that chamber. Both of the briefs argued that the HEROES Act does not allow for broad loan forgiveness, which a series of other conservative groups reiterated in their own briefs filed to the Supreme Court this week.

☆ Morgan Stanley hit bankers with up to $1 mln in penalties for messaging breaches - FT
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 26 (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley (MS.N) has hit financial penalties on employees using messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and others for official business, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. Morgan Stanley did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside business hours. The move comes after the lender had agreed to pay $200 million to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2021 to resolve probes into employee communications on messaging platforms that had not been approved by the company. In 2020, Morgan Stanley had fired two top executives due to the unauthorized use of WhatsApp to discuss work matters. Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra EluriOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

NEW YORK, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley (MS.N) has imposed financial penalties on employees who used messaging platforms such as WhatsApp for company business, according to two sources familiar with the situation. The amounts were determined by factors such as the number of messages sent, seniority and whether the employees had already received warnings, according to one source familiar with the matter. The SEC has been looking into whether lenders have been keeping a track of employees' digital communications. Financial firms are also scouring employees' phones and personal computers in a widespread effort to demonstrate to regulators that they are punishing breaches of communications policies, the source said. In 2020, two senior Morgan Stanley executives left the bank after unauthorized use of WhatsApp to discuss work matters.

☆ Some crypto backers are purposely taking a 'very dangerous path,' EU regulator says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Silvia Amaro | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS — Some market players are purposely avoiding regulation in the crypto space, the EU's top regulator told CNBC as she called for a global approach to protect retail investors. The European Union agreed in June on the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation. However, she added that some crypto players are choosing to, and are fundamentally against, stricter rules. "Some of those who were involved in crypto, from the very outset, were doing it because they didn't want to be part of the regulated, managed system. Recent crises in the crypto world have clearly exposed the risks for consumers.

☆ Putin's war in Ukraine looks more and more like a failure. Past Russian leaders haven't survived similar mistakes.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Joy Neumeyer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Instead, Russia's failing war effort has raised doubts about Putin's hold on power. For now, Putin looks secure, but past Russian leaders have suffered at home for blunders abroad. By the following summer, the Germans had taken huge swathes of Russian-controlled territory and a million Russian soldiers were dead. Captured Russian soldiers after the defeat at Tannenberg, in present-day Poland, on August 30, 1914. After an ineffectual troop surge, Gorbachev gave up on trying to improve the situation, and the last Soviet troops left Afghanistan in February 1989.

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