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☆ Billionaire Investor Buys Epstein’s Private Islands for $60 Million
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Matthew Goldstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A billionaire investor with ties to the U.S. Virgin Islands paid $60 million to buy Jeffrey Epstein’s island residences off the coast of St. Thomas — closing another chapter in the financial dealings of the disgraced financier who died by suicide in 2019 in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. The investor, Stephen Deckoff, paid roughly 50 percent less than the price Mr. Epstein’s estate listed for the two private islands last year. A portion of the sale proceeds will go toward a $105 million settlement that Mr. Epstein’s estate reached last year with the government of the U.S. territory in the Caribbean. Mr. Deckoff, in a news release, said he planned to build a 25-room resort on the islands. A lawyer for Mr. Epstein’s estate confirmed the sale but declined to comment further.

☆ Surprises, snubs and a watershed moment that wasn’t.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Scott Heller | Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Not everyone can wake up to good news on Tony nominations morning. Then again, with a panel of voters often un-wowed by celebrity, the roster typically turns up left-field choices and anoints young talent. But the Tony committee gave the show’s team something to laugh about, lavishing six nominations, including two for Cooper himself: best play and best featured actor in a play. Cooper, who portrayed a saucy airline hostess named Peaches, gave it his all, onstage and off: When the show’s sudden closing was first announced, he took to Instagram to rally audiences. Yet Tony voters passed on nominating Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan for their sexy, impassioned portrayals of a fraying couple in 1960s Greenwich Village.

☆ Jeffrey Epstein’s Private Calendar: CIA Director William Burns, Goldman Sachs’s Top Lawyer, Noam Chomsky
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Khadeeja Safdar | David Benoit | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The nation’s spy chief, a longtime college president and top women in finance. The circle of people who associated with Jeffrey Epstein years after he was a convicted sex offender is wider than previously reported, according to a trove of documents that include his schedules. William Burns , director of the Central Intelligence Agency since 2021, had three meetings scheduled with Epstein in 2014, when he was deputy secretary of state, the documents show. They first met in Washington and then Mr. Burns visited Epstein’s townhouse in Manhattan.

☆ Mother’s Day Gift Guide: Whimsical Martini Glasses, Scented Ceramics and More
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Ella Quittner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Just before I gave birth, a friend sent me a copy of “Operating Instructions” (1993), the writer Anne Lamott’s diary of her first year as a mother. A week or so later I began to read it very slowly, so that my son would be around the same age as Lamott’s was when she wrote each entry (also, I didn’t have a lot of free time). A handful of newish books each address the conflicts between motherhood and creative work in different ways. The realities of motherhood often feel impossible to articulate; other people’s attempts to do so are among the best gifts I could imagine. Pretty PotsA Dutch Oven to Brighten the Kitchen

☆ Black hole image captures jet of material launching into space
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

But a black hole can also send powerful jets of material blasting across space and beyond its home galaxy. Previous observations have shown the jet and black hole separately, including the first direct image of a black hole, released in 2019. Astronomers believe that more material is falling toward the black hole in the new image, which is why the ring looks bigger. Studying black holesRecently, astronomers also used machine learning to release a cleaner, sharper version of the original M87 black hole image from 2019. The central region is darker and larger, surrounded by a bright ring as hot gas falls into the black hole.

☆ #MeToo Meets Donald Trump in Court - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Deborah Tuerkheimer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

To many women, Mr. Trump has come to represent male sexual entitlement. When she heard the tape, Ms. Ross told me, “I didn’t just hear Donald Trump. Her depiction of Mr. Trump may also be bolstered by the “Access Hollywood” tape, which the judge has allowed as evidence along with the testimony of two women who have accused Mr. Trump of nonconsensual sex acts, allegations that Mr. Trump has denied. Like most accusers, Ms. Carroll will need to overcome formidable barriers to belief. Since Mr. Trump is anticipated not to testify at trial, his case is likely to hinge on attacking Ms. Carroll’s own account.

☆ Opinion: Nuclear power is a vital part of climate change solution
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Opinion Don Lincoln | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Last week, Germany closed its last three nuclear power plants, becoming nuclear free for the first time in 62 years. Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, many countries began phasing out nuclear power plants, citing issues of nuclear safety and long-term storage of nuclear waste. Would not generating that power from carbon-free nuclear power plants be preferable? In the US, the regulatory process involved in building a nuclear power plant is slow and obstructive. In addition, modern nuclear power plant designs generate less waste than earlier designs and further improvements should be pursued.

Washington CNN —Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday that he will follow precedent for replacing Sen. Dianne Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee if she resigns, signaling a willingness to vote to replace the California Democrat if she left the chamber altogether. She has asked to be “temporarily” replaced on the Senate Judiciary Committee while she is recovering but remains committed to returning to Washington. “As to Sen. Feinstein, she is a wonderful person. I hope she comes back,” the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee added. I think the Republican Party will be in good standing to oppose late-term abortion.”Graham’s comments highlight the difficulty that Republicans have had navigating the abortion issue.

☆ Face to Face With Culture’s ‘Monsters’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Alexandra Jacobs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The stoops of brownstone Brooklyn, on which residents routinely leave freebies for passers-by, are a reliable metric of current literary tastes — and distastes. Nearby, someone had huffily discarded a copy of Mario Batali’s “Molto Italiano.” My shelf of scandal was getting more stuffed than one of his delectable vongole origanate. And she nonetheless wants to find a way to reconcile her appreciation of great art with the real-life misdeeds of its creators. Expanding on a popular essay published in The Paris Review a month after the exposure of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual predation, “Monsters” sustains an essayistic, sometimes aphoristic tone throughout 250-odd pages. Dotted with details of her particular milieu — the ferryboat, the crepe shop, the rock show that leaves glitter in the eyelashes — “Monsters” is part memoir, part treatise and all treat.

☆ Democrats’ Numbers Problem
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden and Senate Democrats have a numbers problem. But Senator Dianne Feinstein’s failing health has frozen the Senate Judiciary Committee, the group that must consider any judicial nominees before the full Senate votes on them. Biden and other Democrats had hoped for the appointment of judges — both to federal trial courts (known as District Courts) and to appeals courts (known as Circuit Courts) — to be a major accomplishment this year. That plan is now in doubt because Democrats do not have the votes to confirm judges without Feinstein. Instead, about 20 Biden nominees are in limbo, and 9 percent of District Court and Circuit Court judgeships remain vacant.

CNN —Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has returned to the Senate following a period of recovery in the wake of a fall. McConnell was at the Capitol on Friday, but Monday marks the GOP Senate leader’s first day back in session. I look forward to returning in person to the Senate soon.”Earlier this year, McConnell became the longest-serving party leader in Senate history. During his absence, Senate Republicans who spoke with the McConnell said he was itching to get back to the chamber. 2 Senate Republican, Minority Whip John Thune, noted that he was “anxious” to return, and Texas Senator John Cornyn told reporters that McConnell was “chomping at the bit” to come back to the Capitol.

☆ Opinion: Top secrets come spilling out
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Richard Galant | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +16 min

We’re looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets. Writing for CNN Opinion, Rep. Justin Pearson noted, “This should be a chastening moment for revanchist forces in Tennessee’s legislature and across the country. Over the long haul, the undemocratic machinations employed to oust us from office are destined to fail. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once famously said that the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice. “As a Jewish historian,” Perry wrote, “I worry about the tension between preserving the memory of past hardships while not locking our entire history into a tale of oppression.

☆ First photo of a black hole resembles 'skinny' doughnut
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —The first photo ever taken of a black hole looks a little sharper now. The central region is darker and larger, surrounded by a bright ring as hot gas falls into the black hole in the new image. The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, called EHT, is a global network of telescopes that captured the first photograph of a black hole. Computers using PRIMO analyzed more than 30,000 high-resolution simulated images of black holes to pick out common structural details. But if heated materials in the form of plasma surround the black hole and emit light, the event horizon could be visible.

☆ JPMorgan executives knew of Epstein sex abuse claims, court filing alleges
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Lauren Del Valle | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —A new court filing alleges JPMorgan Chase executives were aware of sex abuse and trafficking allegations against its then-client Jeffrey Epstein, several years before the financial institution cut ties. The new complaint against JP Morgan, filed Wednesday, comes days after its CEO Jamie Dimon sat down with CNN’s Poppy Harlow in an exclusive interview. A JP Morgan spokesperson declined to comment to CNN about the newly filed complaint, which was part of the lawsuit filed in December. Attorneys for JP Morgan have denied the allegations. High level bank officials also met about Epstein’s account and the allegations against him as far back as 2008, according to the court filing.

☆ That Famous Black Hole Just Got Even Darker
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Dennis Overbye | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Four years ago, astronomers released the first ever image of a black hole: a reddish, puffy doughnut of light surrounding an empty, dark hole in the center of the giant galaxy M87, which lies 55 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. The image made visible what astronomers, and the rest of us, had only been able to imagine: a celestial entity so massive that its gravity warped space-time, drawing matter, energy and even light into its bottomless vortex. The image was released on April 10, 2019, by an astronomy squad called the Event Horizon Telescope, so named for the boundary of no return around a black hole. The new image, they say, will sharpen constraints on how well the black hole in M87 fits with Einstein’s general theory of relativity, which first predicted the existence of black holes. Dr. Medeiros and her colleagues published the new image on Thursday in Astrophysical Journal Letters.

☆ JPMorgan Internally Flagged Epstein’s Large Withdrawals Years Before His 2008 Conviction, Lawsuit Alleges
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Khadeeja Safdar | David Benoit | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/jpmorgan-flagged-epsteins-large-withdrawals-years-before-his-2008-conviction-lawsuit-alleges-a69ce636

☆ Factbox: Winners at the 2023 Olivier Awards
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Marie-Louise Gumuchian | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/5] Jodie Comer poses with the award for Best Actress for "Prima Facie" at the Olivier Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Britain, April 2, 2023. REUTERS/May JamesLONDON, April 2 (Reuters) - The Olivier Awards for theatre were handed out in London on Sunday, with "My Neighbour Totoro" winning the most prizes. Below is a list of winners in the key categories. BEST NEW PLAY"Prima Facie"BEST NEW MUSICAL"Standing at the Sky’s Edge"BEST MUSICAL REVIVALRodgers & Hammerstein’s "Oklahoma!" BEST REVIVAL"A Streetcar Named Desire"BEST ENTERTAINMENT OR COMEDY PLAY"My Neighbour Totoro"BEST ACTRESSJodie Comer, "Prima Facie"BEST ACTORPaul Mescal, "A Streetcar Named Desire"BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICALKatie Brayben, "Tammy Faye"BEST ACTOR IN A MUSICALArthur Darvill, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s "Oklahoma!"

☆ Jeffrey Epstein: JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank ordered to face lawsuits over ties to financier
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank must face lawsuits that accuse them of enabling Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking, a US judge said Monday. Rakoff’s decision gives the plaintiffs a chance to prove another claim: that JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank (DB)knowingly benefited from involvement in Epstein’s sex trafficking. JPMorgan spokeswoman Trish Wexler and Deutsche Bank spokesman Dylan Riddle declined to comment on Rakoff’s ruling. ‘Landmark decision’Epstein had been a client of JPMorgan from 2000 to 2013, and Deutsche Bank from 2013 to 2018. In the Deutsche Bank case, the plaintiff, also known as Jane Doe 1, said Epstein sexually abused her from 2003 to 2018.

☆ Here's why Bernstein’s Stacy Rasgon thinks Nvidia looks better long-term
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailHere's why Bernstein’s Stacy Rasgon thinks Nvidia looks better long-termStacy Rasgon, Bernstein Research senior analyst, joins ‘Closing Bell’ to weigh in on semiconductors and why he feels good about Nvidia long-term.

☆ Fact Check-Google Maps does not show ‘Epstein Island’ as the 2024 Democratic National Convention venue
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Maps entry was manually created by a user and later removed for violating the company’s content policy, a Google spokesperson told Reuters. A tweet shared the screenshot showing Little St. James Island in satellite view with an in-picture caption that read, “Look up Epstein Island on Google Maps right now and you’ll find that the Democrat National Convention is being hosted there” (here). Reuters has previously debunked misleading claims about Little St. James, Epstein’s Caribbean island (here). A search for “Epstein Island” on Google Maps shows Little St. James Island but no longer indicates that DNC 2024 will be held there (here!3m1!1e3). A Google spokesperson told Reuters that an edited Maps entry showing “Epstein Island” as a venue for the 2024 Democratic National Convention was removed for violating platform policy requiring that added information be accurate.

☆ Jamie Dimon throws Jes Staley off the battlements
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Neil Unmack | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Suing former employees – in this case using an archaic-sounding doctrine that brands Staley a “faithless servant” – isn't a great look, but the bank led by Jamie Dimon has more reasons than most to defend itself. His $400 billion firm is being pursued for unspecified damages by a woman who argues that it knew of Epstein’s sex trafficking venture, and is also being sued by the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands. If JPMorgan loses either of the lawsuits in which it is a defendant, it wants Staley to share in the damages. Current or future employees might worry they too could find themselves branded a faithless servant for failing to disclose moral missteps, or having clients who fall from grace. CONTEXT NEWSJPMorgan on March 8 filed a complaint against former executive James “Jes” Staley, for not disclosing his relations with former client and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

☆ Jamie Dimon throws Staley off fortress battlements
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Neil Unmack | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Suing former employees – in this case using an archaic-sounding doctrine that brands Staley a “faithless servant” – isn't a great look, but the bank led by Jamie Dimon has more reasons than most to defend itself. His $400 billion firm is being pursued for unspecified damages by a woman who argues that it knew of Epstein’s sex trafficking venture, and is also being sued by the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands. The bank has delivered a more than 400% total return to shareholders since Dimon took over in 2006, while talking up its “fortress” balance sheet. If JPMorgan loses either of the lawsuits in which it is a defendant, it wants Staley to share in the damages. Current or future employees might worry they too could find themselves branded a faithless servant for failing to disclose moral missteps, or having clients who fall from grace.

☆ JPMorgan Sues Former Executive Jes Staley Over Jeffrey Epstein Ties
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( David Benoit | Khadeeja Safdar | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Jes Staley has maintained he was friendly with Jeffrey Epstein but never knew about his alleged crimes. JPMorgan Chase & Co. sued former executive Jes Staley over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein , revealing that Mr. Staley has been accused of sexual assault. The bank is facing lawsuits from the U.S. Virgin Islands and from an unnamed woman alleging it aided Epstein’s yearslong sex trafficking by allowing him to remain a client and helping him send money to victims.

☆ JPMorgan Chase sues former executive Jes Staley over Jeffrey Epstein relationship
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( David Goldman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

New York CNN —JPMorgan Chase sued former executive James Edward “Jes” Staley, who was largely responsible for JPMorgan’s 15-year financial relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. By suing Staley, JPMorgan brings its former executive and former Barclays CEO into the court case as a defendant. The US Virgin Islands’ suit did not name Staley as a defendant and he has not been charged criminally with any activities related to Epstein. If successful, JPMorgan’s maneuver could make Staley financially responsible if JPMorgan loses its case. Those email exchanges allegedly continued long after Epstein was convicted, the US Virgin Islands government wrote in its complaint.

☆ Three Years Into Covid, We Still Don’t Know How to Talk About It
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Jon Mooallem | Photographs Ashley Gilbertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +53 min

It will play out and reverberate for years or decades, Hagen told me. “The pathological normal,” Hagen calls it: a patchwork of homespun, bespoke realities, each one invested in a different story about what exactly happened when Covid ruptured the story of our lives. garb.”More than once, life seemed to be attaining “an uncanny resemblance to normal life,” as one man put it. But because we don’t totally understand where that experience has delivered us, we don’t know the right gloss to give it. “The days are strange,” one public-school teacher told Milstein toward the end of his first interview, in May 2020.

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