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☆ Nikki Haley town hall: What to watch for
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-04 | by ( Gregory Krieg | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Nikki Haley entered the Republican primary in February with a call for “generational change.” But her message has largely been drowned out by former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Here are four things to watch for:What kind of abortion law does Haley want? We’re not even close to that on the Republican or Democratic side,” Haley recently told CBS News. “Why try and divide people further?”During her time as governor of the Palmetto State, Haley signed a 20-week abortion ban. Late last month, Republican Gov.

Persons: Nikki Haley, Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Haley, upend Trump, Joe Biden, Haley’s, Trump, Mike Pence, Chris Christie, I’m, We’re, ” Haley, Henry McMaster, Marjorie Dannenfelser, Susan B, Anthony Pro, ” Dannenfelser, “, Biden, ”, DeSantis, Vladimir Putin’s, MAGA, –, influencer Dylan Mulvaney, Bud Light, Mulvaney, Will Haley Organizations: CNN, Former South Carolina Gov, Republican, Florida Gov, Trump, Republican Party, United Nations, New, New Jersey Gov, Democratic, CBS News, Palmetto State, Republican Gov, America, Confederate, Capitol, Conservative Political, Conference, Social Security, GOP, Medicare, Fox News Locations: Iowa, New Jersey, Washington, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin’s Russia, South Carolina

☆ Biden’s Debt Deal Strategy: Win in the Fine Print
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Jim Tankersley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Mr. Biden had insisted for months that he would not negotiate over raising the borrowing limit. But privately, many aides had been planning on talks all along — though they refused to admit those talks were linked to the debt limit. The Biden team reasoned that it would have to negotiate fiscal issues this year anyway, both on appropriations bills and on programs like food stamps that are included in a regularly reauthorized farm bill. It featured work requirements and measures to speed fossil fuel projects, and it raised the debt limit for one year. Mr. Biden, under fire from business groups and others who feared the standoff could result in the United States running out of money before the debt limit was raised, soon agreed to designate a team of negotiators.

Persons: Biden, Lael Brainard, Janet L, McCarthy, Young, Michael Linden, Louisa Terrell, Ricchetti Organizations: Biden, National Economic Council, Social Security, White House Locations: United States

Ambassador and South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Haley has walked a long and windy road when it comes to her one-time boss, former President Donald Trump. DeSantis’ announcement nears: NBC News’ Dasha Burns reports that Florida Republican Gov. And the New York Times reports DeSantis has been telling donors that out of the three “credible” candidates for president (Trump, himself and President Biden), only he and Biden can win. Raising eyebrows: Virginia GOP Gov.

☆ LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman takes another dig at Elon Musk for proposing a pause on AI development
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Reid Hoffman took a dig at Elon Musk over his stance on AI in a Milken Institute talk this week. Musk has signed a letter backing an AI development pause, but also wants to make a ChatGPT rival. Hoffman said, "Elon, while signing that letter, is trying to hire a whole team and stand up an AI effort." Elon Musk has some incongruous views on AI development, and LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman pointed that out in a recent talk. On CNBC's "Squawk Box" last month, Hoffman said he disliked the idea of pressing pause on AI and criticized Musk over his stance on AI development.

☆ As Broadway Rebounds, ‘Some Like It Hot’ Gets 13 Tony Nominations
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Michael Paulson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The nominations for “Ain’t No Mo’” were especially striking given that the show struggled to find an audience and closed early. “I’m just so elated, I can barely find the words,” said Cooper, who was nominated both as writer and actor. He is now 85 years old, and “Leopoldstadt” is his 19th production on Broadway. Stoppard said he was proud of the nomination, but sorry the play had come to seem so timely at a moment of rising concern about antisemitism. “Nobody wants society to be divided,” he said in an interview, “and I like to think ‘Leopoldstadt’ works against a sense of human beings dividing up and confronting each other.”

☆ Benioff vs. Benioff
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Ashley Stewart | Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +29 min

Within Salesforce, Benioff riffs are at times met with backlash from an angry workforce. "You're not going to fire your family during times of need," a former Salesforce executive told Insider. "I don't think they understand Ohana," Benioff told Insider. "Look, we have to be the example of stakeholder capitalism," Benioff told Insider. A 'New Day' at Salesforce"I use the Japanese principle of shoshin, beginner's mind," Benioff told Insider in a phone interview in March.

☆ Bartenders Are Giving Blue Cocktails the Green Light
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Robert Simonson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At Rolo’s, a restaurant in Ridgewood, Queens, the bar director Tony Milici recently flirted with the idea of putting a blue drink on the cocktail menu. The result was Sacrebleu, a blue riff on the gin fizz, made with rum, velvet falernum and blue curaçao. “I slept just fine knowing I made the Ramos gin fizz blue,” he said. Craft cocktail bartenders have seemingly gotten over any high-minded reservations about blue drinks, as they’ve begun slowly appearing across menus in the past few years. They have even produced a few quasi-famous new drinks, such as the Gun Metal Blue, at Porchlight in Manhattan, made with the citrus-based liqueur blue curaçao, like most blue drinks.

☆ Walmart sells Bonobos to WHP Global and Express in $75 million deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Gabrielle Fonrouge | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Walmart has sold menswear brand Bonobos to brand management firm WHP Global and Express in a $75 million deal announced Thursday. WHP, which took a 60% stake in Express in December, will acquire the Bonobos brand for $50 million, the company said in a news release. In a statement, a Walmart spokesperson said the company decided "it's the right time to sell Bonobos" after nearly six years. Last February, Bonobos launched Bonobos Fielder – a more affordable riff on the original brand that sold athleisure on its website, Walmart.com and select Walmart stores. Bonobos CEO John Hutchinson will become brand president of Bonobos and report to Baxter after the deal closes.

☆ How to get over writer's block, unlock your creativity, and brainstorm great ideas
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Cindy Perman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

Whether you're trying your hand at a screenplay like Charlie or brainstorming ideas for an upcoming meeting, there are a few things you can do to unlock your creativity and get the ideas flowing. Sometimes, connecting with someone else is the catalyst that unlocks our own creativity and gets the ideas flowing. "However, I find that once I just start, it creates momentum, because then I have something to work with, and the ideas start to flow and with progress comes confidence!" In her book "Bird by Bird," on the art of writing, Lamott describes the SFD this way: All good writers write them. A former colleague and I used to joke that our ideas were so good, it was bigger than a brainstorm.

☆ In praise of American finance’s regulatory mess
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( John Foley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

NEW YORK, March 9 (Reuters Breakingviews) - There are many issues on which China and the United States are far apart. The People’s Republic this week proposed combining financial regulatory functions into a new super watchdog to govern its financial sector more effectively. China’s proposed new National Financial Regulatory Administration is roughly in this mold. Since 2008, officials in Beijing have criticized the United States’ financial excesses and its “warped conception” of financial discipline. The new National Financial Regulatory Administration would sit directly under the State Council, which serves as China’s cabinet.

☆ Google just developed an AI model that creates music from text prompts — but the company won't be releasing it anytime soon
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Bethany Biron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Google announced it developed an AI bot that generates music based on text descriptions. The tech giant is ramping up its AI efforts after issuing a "code red" following the explosion of ChatGPT. In a research paper published Thursday, Google researchers described MusicLM as "a model generating high-fidelity music from text descriptions such as 'a calming violin melody backed by a distorted guitar riff.'" Per the study, identifiable existing songs were found in approximately 1% of examples, pointing to potential copyright infringement. The study also notes the technology's existing limitations, including the use of negations and temporal ordering used in text prompts, as well as vocal quality.

☆ ‘Sonic Logos’ Struggle to Get Heard at U.S. Checkouts
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Katie Deighton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +8 min

A spokeswoman for American Express said the company’s sonic logo plays on marketing channels such as brand videos, but not at any credit-card terminals. PREVIEWPayments firms say sonic logos at cash registers can also communicate to customers that they are transacting with a trusted merchant, making the sounds akin to the stickers of credit-card logos that often appear in store windows. Visa’s spokeswoman said the company doesn’t share figures on how many businesses play its sonic logo due to the complexity of tracking rollouts. To that suggestion, Mastercard said the value of sonic logos for merchants “comes in through consumer trust and reassurance.” Visa declined to comment. But some retailers want no part of sonic logos.

☆ Inflation cooling is good economic news. It might not feel like it
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Zachary B. Wolf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Stocks, which had risen on the “inflation is cooling” news Tuesday, were down Wednesday on the “Fed is not convinced” development. GOP leader Kevin McCarthy is trying to find the votes to become speaker, and adding a spending fight to his plate would get messy quickly. But the spending fight loomsNone of the disagreements over spending are going away. Inflation moved the electionThe difference between 7.1% month-over-month inflation and 7.7% inflation in October may not feel like much on the micro level to Americans who are paying 49% more for eggs this year than they were last year. “In the coming decade, they’re going to be fighting hard to get inflation down.”In the meantime, cooling inflation might be praised by policymakers, but it could rub everyone else the wrong way, especially if an economic slowdown starts to feel like a recession.

☆ Did That Hit Arrive in 2022 or 1987? This Year, It Was Hard to Tell.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Jon Caramanica | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +12 min

Turns out it’s the same sample, a sleight of ear designed to trigger warm nostalgia, and also maybe a little confusion. Even its video is optimized for recognition, with Santana doing the same stomp Beyoncé does in hers, in an almost identical outfit. Throughout 2022, that gambit has been deployed again and again — by pop singers and rappers, established stars and newbies. Here, old songs — hip-hop classics, pop novelties and more — are scrunched and stretched sometimes to the point of absurdity. These songs are concessions that say the quiet part out loud — everyone has always been borrowing voraciously, from everyone else, constantly.

☆ Apple employees remain split on decision to fire exec who joked about fondling 'big-breasted women' in viral TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Bethany Biron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Apple staffers appear to have mixed reactions to the firing of former executive, Tony Blevins. The tech giant terminated Blevins in response to brash comments he made in a viral TikTok. While some staffers were surprised by his termination, others told the Journal the decision was important to enforce inclusion and prevent discrimination at Apple. "We all know the old adage 'loose lips sink ships,'" Diane Gottsman, an etiquette expert and founder of the Protocol School of Texas, told Insider in September. After he was fired, company executives still planned a going-away party for him — a move Blevins told the Journal he felt was "hypocritical" after firing him.

☆ After final Trump-backed midterm loss, Senate Republicans bemoan weak nominees
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( David Morgan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

"You have to have candidates that appeal to the general public," Republican Senator Mike Rounds told reporters. Trump's party succeeded in winning a House majority, but by a smaller margin than it had expected. "Candidates matter, and I think we've lost two or three or four races we didn't have to lose this year," Republican Senator Roy Blunt told reporters. "We just need to be able to be aggressive," said Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis. The former football star had support on the campaign trail from prominent Senate Republicans including Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham and Rick Scott, who chairs the Senate Republican campaign arm.

☆ The divorce lawyer who's represented Johnny Depp, Kim K, and Angelina Jolie charges $1,000 an hour and says tough love is how she gets things done
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Mark Ellwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Laura Wasser is a divorce lawyer whose clients have included Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. "You'd go to someone's bar mitzvah and say, 'You're Dennis Wasser's daughter,' and they'd say, 'You're at that table,' according to whether my dad had represented the mom or the dad," she said. She'd majored in rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley, and realized quickly that what she'd loved most about those studies was vital in divorce cases, as was her age and gender. She's a spokesperson for Divorce.com, the do-it-yourself split site, as its chief of divorce evolution and has hosted several podcasts, including "All's Fair with Laura Wasser" and "Divorce Sucks! With Laura Wasser," where one guest was the Kardashian momager and matriarch Kris Jenner.

☆ Morning Bid: Shot across the bow
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The euro lost 1.5 cents as the news from Poland unfolded but has regained all of that since. European bourses have been less quick to rebound and remain in the red, with aerospace and defence stock outperforming. "Tighter money has not yet constrained business activity enough to seriously dent inflation," Bostic wrote on the Atlanta Fed's website. U.S. attention will turn to retail sales on Wednesday as October data is due for release alongside industry readings. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Dave Chappelle, hosting NBC's "Saturday Night Live" for the third time, kicked off the show with a roughly 15-minute monologue that tackled hip-hop artist Ye's antisemitic comments, the midterm elections and former President Donald Trump's political appeal. Chappelle mocked Ye as well as Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving, who posted a link to an antisemitic movie on Twitter. "I've been to Hollywood, and this is just what I saw: It's a lot of Jews, like a lot," Chappelle said to laughter. In recent years, Chappelle has attracted intense scrutiny for his public comments about transgender people, particularly after Netflix released his most recent stand-up special, "The Closer." Four days later, Chappelle was physically attacked onstage at the Hollywood Bowl, charged and tackled by a man carrying a replica gun.

☆ I'm Conan O'Brien's assistant of 13 years. I nap on the job, expense things I shouldn't, and talk back — and I'll probably work for him forever.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( Eboni Boykin-Patterson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Sona Movsesian was an NBC page and landed her assistant job through an internal recommendation. But at times, I really don't act like it. I'm working with, in my opinion, the funniest person on television, and I'm working on a show that I'm proud of. I think I will be Conan's assistant until he dies — I'm going to ride this wave for as long as I can. Most people don't think of an assistant job in entertainment as a forever-job.

☆ Biden Embarrasses Joe Manchin
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Every so often President Biden blurts out what he really thinks, even if it’s politically or diplomatically embarrassing. He did it again Friday when he said his Administration will shut down coal plants across America. While true, his comment won’t help Democratic Senate candidates or West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin. Mr. Biden’s campaign remarks in Carlsbad, Calif., were supposed to be about the semiconductor bill and his “unity agenda.” But during a riff on Democrats’ tax and climate spending bill, he let slip that “we’re going to be shutting [coal] plants down all across America and having wind and solar.”

☆ If you're not planning to have kids, you can rethink 'the whole foundation' of your financial plan
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Ryan Ermey | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

"Most, if not all, financial rules of thumb assume you have kids," says Jay Zigmont, a certified financial planner and author of "Portraits of Childfree Wealth." Take the possibility of kids out of the equation, and "the whole foundation of your financial plan changes." If you're still aiming for traditional financial landmarks, such as retiring at 65, you may be following someone else's financial "life script" that doesn't match up with your goals, Zigmont says. Here are three strategies Zigmont, who specializes in advising childfree clients, says childfree people can employ, even though they deviate from the standard advice. And to be clear, just because you're not spending your money on children doesn't mean it's OK to abandon core financial principles altogether.

☆ This creator's rice board is a delicious response to the viral butter board trend
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Brahmjot Kaur | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Those viral butter boards are spreading everywhere, but one woman is serving up her own version of the food trend: rice boards. The butter board recipe says to “make a charcuterie board but for butter,” so Kim does the same and adds fried Spam. After her initial rice board went viral, Kim made and posted another — this time inspired by a dish her late mother made her as a child. “Those comments warmed my heart, especially since the second rice board was what my mom used to make for me.”Kim said she loves the support her videos have had but doesn’t know if she’ll be making any more rice board videos. While those might be Kim’s last rice board videos, she said she’s excited to continue making different food content and other viral trends.

☆ Grey Poupon wants in on Olivia Wilde’s salad dressing scandal
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Grey Poupon wants in on Olivia Wilde’s salad dressing scandal. Confused as to why Dijon mustard has entered the celebrity discourse? The anonymous nanny offered private details about Wilde’s alleged romantic relationship with Styles, co-star of Wilde’s recent “Don’t Worry, Darling” film along with Florence Pugh. The nanny said that Wilde angered Sudeikis by preparing a salad for Styles with her ‘special dressing’ in the family kitchen. “Mix 2 tablespoons Grey Poupon mustard with 2 tablespoons good red wine vinegar,” the passage outlined by Wilde reads.

☆ Beyoncé denies claim she misused ‘I’m Too Sexy’ sample
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-08 | by ( Zoe Sottile | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Genre-crossing superstar Beyoncé has denied allegations that she misused a sample of Right Said Fred’s “I’m Too Sexy” on her newest album. Right Said Fred described Beyoncé as “arrogant” in a comment made to the British tabloid The Sun on Tuesday. Fred Fairbrass and Richard Fairbrass of the band Right Said Fred during the ARD TV-Show "Schlagerbooom - Das Internationale Schlagerfest" at Westfalenhalle on November 2, 2019, in Dortmund, Germany. “The comments made by Right Said Fred stating that Beyoncé used ‘I’m Too Sexy’ in ‘Alien Superstar’ without permission are erroneous and incredibly disparaging,” the singer’s representative told Entertainment Weekly on Friday. Additionally, “Alien Superstar” doesn’t use any of the sound recordings from “I’m Too Sexy,” just the composition, according to the statement.

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