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Trump's trial: A 'freak show' on the outside and solemn on the inside 2024-04-15 21:37:00+00:00 - Inside a courthouse nestled between Tribeca and Chinatown on Monday morning, former President Donald Trump's lawyers argued with the district attorney's office over procedures for a hush-money case that could send an ex-commander in chief to prison for the first time in American history. New York state Judge Juan Merchan advised lawyers that he was getting a little annoyed by the "minutiae." With a pool of 500 prospective jurors waiting, he wanted to get started with the process of picking 12. Merchan also delivered Trump his "Parker warnings," among them that he could be jailed for contempt if he is absent without leave at any point during the trial. Trump, betraying little emotion, said he understood. Outside, in a sun-filled park across the street, peculiarity reigned over pedantry. A smattering of pro-Trump demonstrators — some wearing costumes, others carrying signs, one temporarily lowering the top of her dinosaur-themed one-piece before writhing on the ground in performative ecstasy — lent their support to Trump, the former president and presumptive Republican nominee. The presence of high-profile gawkers accentuated the carnival-like nature of the gathering: "The Daily Show's" Jordan Klepper, former Republican gubernatorial candidate Andrew Giuliani and filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi, a daughter of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "I never miss a freak show," said the younger Pelosi, a longtime resident of nearby Greenwich Village. The unlikely tandem of Klepper and Giuliani provided a clear window into a series of truths about this trial: The charges are at once the least consequential of those pending against Trump and as fundamental to democracy as the question of whether special treatment — either targeting or protection — can be avoided in the case of such a powerful figure. Sensing an opportunity, Giuliani, the son of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, agreed to talk on camera with Klepper, a master of man-on-the-street interviews that leave the subjects looking foolish. After all, the coin of the realm in Trump's domain is defending the big guy in tough, televised interviews. But the younger Giuliani, a Trump White House official in his own right, was worried enough about the outcome — and aware enough of the art of video editing — that he asked an associate to make his own recording of the full interview. Additional cameras seldom provide additional protection, and this case was no exception. Pelosi couldn’t help but watch the scene unfold. Klepper wasn't interested in the high-stakes trial inside. Many Democrats are more exercised about the other charges Trump faces — he has been indicted in federal and Georgia courts for efforts to overturn the 2020 election and in another federal court over allegations that he illegally retained classified documents. What Klepper wanted to know — with Giuliani amounting to a stand-in for his father — was whether Trump's rhetoric would lead to violence. Trump recently said in a fundraising email that "all hell" would break loose at his trial. Before the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, Trump told supporters that "if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” Giuliani noted that the crowd outside the courthouse was definitively peaceful. Then, he went further. "I was in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, as well," he said. "I was with President Trump. I remember him talking about peacefully protesting." That was the gotcha moment Klepper was waiting for. "Some people were talking about peaceful protest," Klepper said. "Some people also on Jan. 6 were talking about ‘trial by combat.’ Do you know anybody who was talking about that?" It was Rudy Giuliani who had called for "trial by combat" at the Trump rally preceding the sacking of the Capitol. His son declined to identify him. The interview turned more, well, combative after that. "Oh, funny guy," Andrew Giuliani said with disdain. "Let’s get a brain in there." Almost lost in the exchange was the message Giuliani wanted to deliver: that Democrats are trying to take Trump "off the campaign trail," which amounts to "the death of our constitutional republic." Like most satire, Klepper's interview was revealing. It was a reminder that the hush money trial has much less to do with whether Trump is fit to serve as president than the election interference and classified documents cases — even though it carries with it the grave potential consequence of a major-party nominee's being convicted of a crime during the stretch run of a presidential campaign. Trump's critics argue that his push to silence porn actress Stormy Daniels amounts to an illegal benefit to his own 2016 campaign. He shouldn't be above the law, they contend, just as his allies argue he has been unjustly targeted for political purposes. The spur-of-the-moment on-camera exchange between Giuliani and Klepper, two figures deeply engaged with American politics, also reflected and underscored the degree to which the right and left talk past each other. Neither suggested that the trial is important because it will determine whether Trump committed crimes. Klepper tried to sidestep that question. Giuliani used the trial as a foil for the argument that Trump is being persecuted. It could be easy to forget, amid the onlookers, that the jurors will render a decision as simple and prosaic as whether one man broke the law by falsifying documents and as consequential as whether a former president, and current candidate, should be held accountable. Republican strategist Matthew Bartlett, who wasn't at the trial, said the political landscape may not change based on the outcome. "At the end of the day, I'm not sure this trial about a transaction from 2016 will have a superseding effect on what voters want for policy and a vision for the future of the country," he said. Outside the first day of the trial smacked of a Ringling Bros. production. Inside the courtroom, just across Centre Street, the solemn nature of the work ahead was evident. When the first group of 96 prospective jurors passed through metal detectors and into the courtroom around 2:30 p.m., filling every available seat, Trump twisted his neck to take a look. He later stood and turned to acknowledge them when he was named as the defendant. At times during the lengthy proceedings, he suggested uninterest or exhaustion by closing his eyes. Most of the jurors sat quietly and expressionless. Merchan emphasized his desire to shield their identities from the public, going so far as to warn the rival legal teams not to reproduce lists of their names. More than half of them were dismissed when they raised their hands to say they couldn’t be impartial in the trial. One dismissed prospective juror was overheard in a hallway saying, "I just couldn't do it." Finding 12 adults with no particular feelings about Donald J. Trump and with the will to sit through a multiweek trial is no easy feat. That process will continue inside Merchan's court. For the rest of the world, the "freak show" rolls along on the outside.
Patti Astor, Doyenne of New York’s Avant-Garde Scene, Dies at 74 2024-04-15 21:35:20.628000+00:00 - Patti Astor, the downtown Manhattan “It” girl, indie film star and co-founder of Fun Gallery, the scruffy East Village storefront space that in the early 1980s nurtured young graffiti artists like Futura2000, Zephyr, Lee Quinones, Lady Pink and Fab 5 Freddy, as well as showcasing artists like Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf and Jean-Michel Basquiat, died on April 9 at her home in Hermosa Beach, Calif. She was 74. Her death was confirmed by Richard Roth, a friend. No cause was given. With her platinum hair, raspy voice and glamorous ’50s-style dresses, Ms. Astor was a formidable presence among the music, film and art makers who gathered at the Mudd Club in TriBeCa. In the summer of 1981, one of her nightclub buddies, Bill Stelling, told her that he had rented a small storefront on East 11th Street with the thought of turning it into a gallery. Did she know any artists? “Yeah,” she said, “I know a few.” The place was just eight by 25 feet, and the idea was to make a gallery by artists, for artists. They had no money and no art experience, but they had a lot of creative friends. The first show there was an exhibition of pencil drawings by Steven Kramer, Ms. Astor’s husband at the time; all 20 of the pieces sold, at $50 each, which seemed like a promising beginning. Mr. Scharf, who had already turned all of the appliances at Ms. Astor’s home into his signature outer-space critters, was offered the next show. He was also given the opportunity to name the place for its duration.
Mike Johnson needs to admit he doesn't have a real majority in the House 2024-04-15 21:31:54+00:00 - House Speaker Mike Johnson’s tightrope walk took on a new level of difficulty over the weekend, as Israel faced down a retaliatory attack from Iran. While the flurry of Iranian drones and cruise missiles were almost entirely intercepted, the attack highlighted the lack of progress in the House on a supplemental funding bill that would provide U.S. military assistance to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. Johnson, R-La., reiterated Sunday that he would not be putting the bill — which already passed with bipartisan support in the Senate — on the House floor for a vote. Instead, he still prefers to try to cobble together a package more amenable to his mercurial caucus. I appreciate that Johnson has at least finally begun to embrace the need for Ukraine funding, despite the opposition of some of his more hard-line members. But the speaker needs to acknowledge the uncomfortable reality of his tenure: While on paper Johnson leads a Republican majority, in practice, he oversees a coalition government in all but name. These splinter Republicans are in effect a third-party of their own that Johnson must negotiate with when drafting legislation. As of Monday, there were 218 Republicans in the House and 213 Democrats, with four open seats due to resignations. If all members are present and voting, losing only three GOP members’ support in the face of a united Democratic caucus can kill a bill or motion. And as we’ve seen for the last 15 months, there are enough members in the GOP’s far-right faction who routinely stand in the way of passing what would normally be considered party-line votes. These splinter Republicans — most of whom are aligned with the House Freedom Caucus — are in effect a third-party of their own that Johnson must negotiate with when drafting legislation. It’s a dynamic that has seen more “party unity” votes go down in flames for the GOP than any House majority since 1982, according to an analysis from CQ Roll Call. The dysfunction has affected Republicans leaders’ ability to pass routine bills to fund the government, let alone even conservative bills that have no chance of clearing the Democratic-controlled Senate and President Joe Biden signing them into law. The concession from Johnson’s predecessor, former Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to stack the House Rules Committee with three hard-line conservatives — to mollify the hard right — has made the process even more difficult. The committee, which the speaker ostensibly controls, has instead become a sticking point as bills deemed not conservative enough risk stalling out. Even those rules that have made it out of committee haven’t been sure to pass, a situation that was nearly unthinkable in other recent congresses. The majority is expected to provide the votes necessary to pass rules, which set the terms of debate and bring legislation to the front of the queue, with the minority united in opposition. Instead, we’ve seen seven rules votes fail during the 118th Congress, breaking the record set during Newt Gingrich’s second term as speaker in 1999. As a result, Johnson, like McCarthy before him, has leaned on motions to “suspend the rules,” bypassing the Rules Committee to bring legislation directly to the floor. Normally that process is used for noncontroversial bills with overwhelming bipartisan support and few dissenters. But it’s how the House finally managed to pass appropriations for the current fiscal year in March after multiple continuing resolutions, which also required suspending the rules to prevent government shutdowns. But because those votes require the support of two-thirds of members to pass, instead of a simple majority, Johnson has repeatedly relied heavily on Democrats to provide the votes necessary to perform routine government functions. It’s an untenable situation under Congress’ current structures and processes, one that the Ukraine and Israel funding question only exacerbates for Johnson. Countries with multiparty legislatures, like the United Kingdom, can sometimes have hung parliaments where no one party holds enough seats to govern solo. In those cases, the party with the largest plurality may seek to ally with a smaller party to cobble together a minority government, like when the U.K.'s Conservative Party negotiated an agreement with the Northern Ireland-based Democratic Unionist Party in 2017. This all means that, unlike in all but the most fragile coalition governments, Johnson is forced to try to placate not one but two minority factions. Under the terms of such “confidence and supply” agreements, the smaller party agrees to provide the votes to elect a prime minister, then later help to ward off votes of no-confidence that could topple the government and support the basic task of funding the government. Democrats reluctantly find themselves in a remarkably similar place with Johnson, as he faces a potential “motion to vacate the chair” over Ukraine aid that would put his speakership up to a vote. When faced with the same motion, McCarthy was doomed because Democrats lined up with a small handful of rebel Republicans to support their bid to remove him. There is no formal power-sharing agreement between the speaker and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries or the kind of shift in House rules that the New York Democrat proposed during the period of chaos after McCarthy’s ouster last year. Despite that, his caucus has still routinely put up the numbers needed to fund the government when it was clear the GOP couldn’t even pass its own spending bills. It remains to be seen whether Johnson putting up a clean Ukraine bill for an up-or-down vote would be enough to see Jeffries greenlight Democrats to save him from a Republican-led coup. But Johnson might prefer if Democrats didn’t come to his defense. Rescuing Johnson would “cut the legs out from under him,” as The New York Times’ Catie Edmondson recently put it. “He would be viewed as the speaker only because the opposition party decided to save him.” That would render him radioactive to many House Republicans who’d otherwise support him but fear the wrath of the MAGA attacks that would follow. The very right-wing support that saw him gain the votes needed to unite the caucus and become speaker would be lost, even after his recent trip to Mar-a-Lago to kowtow to former President Donald Trump. This all means that, unlike in all but the most fragile coalition governments, Johnson is forced to try to placate not one but two minority factions. That one of them is almost as large as his entire caucus doesn’t matter under the House’s majority-takes-all rules. Something is going to have to give here: Johnson can accept reality and lean into the fact that only the Democrats can help him get critical bills over the line, or he can remain loyal in the eyes of the far right in the name of preventing a revolt. Only one of those options, though, sees him in a position to make a real difference in how the country is governed.
NASA is asking for help to retrieve Mars samples that could be the first evidence of alien life 2024-04-15 21:26:43+00:00 - NASA's Perseverance Mars rover is collecting samples that could be evidence of ancient alien life. But NASA's Mars Sample Return mission to bring them to Earth will now cost $11 billion and take two decades. NASA is scrapping that plan now and asking companies for a better idea. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . You can opt-out at any time. Advertisement NASA bit off more than it could chew when it sent the Perseverance rover to Mars to collect samples. The $2.4 billion mission landed the rover in Jezero Crater, the site of an ancient lake. It's the ideal spot to search for the fossils of Martian microbes that may have existed when the planet was lush with lakes and rivers. Perseverance's main mission is to collect samples of the rock and sediment along the lake bed and the crater rim, in hopes of finding a sign that life once thrived on the red planet. The rover has done a fine job — so far it's secured 24 samples — but NASA no longer knows how it's going to bring them to Earth for analysis. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in .
Humane's AI Pin got trashed by a YouTuber, and it sparked a firestorm over whether that's fair 2024-04-15 21:19:00+00:00 - YouTube tech reviewer Marques Brownlee gave a scathing review of Humane's new AI pin. One Humane staffer conceded the feedback was "honest" and "solid." Some X users said Brownlee's review would mark a death knell for the company. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . You can opt-out at any time. Advertisement Marques Brownlee, the massively influential YouTube tech reviewer whose channel moniker is MKBHD, delivered a scathing review of Humane's new AI Pin Monday, which he titled "The Worst Product I've Ever Reviewed… For Now." While one Humane employee took the feedback in stride, the video sparked a firestorm on X, with one detractor calling it "almost unethical" for Brownlee to have posted the review given his vast influence and ability to dent an emerging company. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in .
NASA is seeking a faster, cheaper way to bring Mars samples to Earth 2024-04-15 21:09:44+00:00 - CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s plan to bring samples from Mars back to Earth is on hold until there’s a faster, cheaper way, space agency officials said Monday. Retrieving Mars soil and rocks has been on NASA’s to-do list for decades, but the date kept moving forward, as costs ballooned. A recent independent review put the total cost at $8 billion to $11 billion, with an arrival date of 2040, about a decade later than advertised. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said that’s too much and too late. He’s asking private industry and the space agency’s centers to come up with other options to revamp the project. With NASA facing across-the-board budget cuts, he wants to avoid gutting other science projects to finance the Mars sample project. “We want to get every new and fresh idea that we can,” he said at a news conference. NASA’s rover Perseverance already has gathered 24 core samples in tubes since landing in 2021 at Mars’ Jezero Crater, an ancient river delta. The goal is more than 30 samples to scour for possible signs of ancient Martian life. The space agency wants to get at least some of the collected samples to Earth sometime in the 2030s for no more than the $7 billion. That would require a spacecraft that goes to Mars to get the tubes and launches off the planet. Then it must rendezvous with yet another spacecraft that would bring the samples to Earth. NASA’s science mission chief, Nicky Fox, refused to speculate at the news conference when the samples might arrive at Earth, given a new program and timeline, or even how many samples might be returned. That information will be included in any proposals, she said. “We’ve never launched from another planet, and that’s actually what makes Mars sample return such a challenging and interesting mission,” Fox said. Scientists are eager to analyze pristine samples from Mars in their own labs, far superior to the kind of rudimentary testing done by spacecraft at the red planet. It will take such in-depth testing to confirm any evidence of microscopic life dating back billions of years when water flowed on the planet, according to NASA. The samples will help NASA decide where astronauts go on Mars in the 2040s, Nelson said. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, had been in charge of the sample project. It was hit by hundreds of layoffs earlier this year due to all the budget cutbacks. Nelson is seeking ideas from across the space agency, with the revamped program more spread out. NASA hopes to receive any ideas by late fall. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Photos show Israel's F-35I Adir stealth fighter jets used to defend against Iranian missiles 2024-04-15 21:03:24+00:00 - The ongoing war in Gaza has prompted new scrutiny of US military aid to Israel. An Israeli soldier sits inside an F-35I fighter jet after it landed in Israel at Nevatim Airbase. Amir Cohen/Reuters The October 7 terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas killed around 1,200 Israelis and captured over 240. Around 129 hostages remain in Gaza, though it is unknown how many are still alive. Israel's counteroffensive airstrikes and military actions in Gaza have resulted in over 33,000 Palestinian fatalities, including around 14,500 children, according to figures provided to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs by the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza. The IDF reports that 13,000 of these fatalities were Hamas militants. According to the UNRWA, over 1.7 million Gazans have been displaced and 1.1 million are at risk of "catastrophic levels of food insecurity." The devastating human toll of the war in Gaza with US-funded planes like the F-35I has prompted new scrutiny of US aid to Israel, with some lawmakers in Congress raising the possibility of conditioning military and economic aid.
A former Facebook exec said he regrets not defending ousted Oculus cofounder Palmer Luckey from a 'witch hunt.' Drama ensued. 2024-04-15 20:58:08+00:00 - By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . You can opt-out at any time. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview John Carmack, a key player in Meta's venture into virtual reality, is coming to the defense of Oculus founder Palmer Luckey — about eight years after the tech giant fired him amid scrutiny surrounding Luckey's political donations in 2016. And Carmack's comments then sparked some seemingly defensive responses from Facebook owner Meta's current CTO and then from Luckey himself. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. In a series of X posts on Saturday, Carmack expressed his regret about "not doing more to support and defend" Luckey, who was ousted from Facebook in 2016 after the company received backlash over his donations to an anti-Hillary Clinton political group. I regret not doing more to support and defend @PalmerLuckey at Facebook. We were in different states and divisions, and I was largely out of the political loop, but when I became aware of the situation I should have made a clear and open statement of opposition to the witch hunt.… https://t.co/OTXBBnkK0p — John Carmack (@ID_AA_Carmack) April 13, 2024 "We were in different states and divisions, and I was largely out of the political loop, but when I became aware of the situation I should have made a clear and open statement of opposition to the witch hunt," Carmack wrote. Advertisement According to Carmack, things could've gone differently if Luckey had a "unified front of Oculus founders behind him." Carmack and Luckey joined Facebook after it acquired Oculus, the VR company founded by Luckey in 2012, for $2 billion in 2014. Although he conceded that he couldn't confirm that the firing had anything to do with Luckey's political ties, Carmack cited "hysterical internal employee pressure" as the reason he believed it happened, and said that "politics were openly present" at Facebook. Luckey's ouster happened in 2016, the year of the Hillary Clinton-Donald Trump presidential election. He had hit headlines for donating $10,000 to an anti-Clinton political group, stoking anger among some members of the tech community during the heated election. Related stories Upon his exit, Luckey negotiated a payout of at least $100 million from the company, according to The Wall Street Journal. He and his lawyer reportedly argued that Meta violated a California law by firing Luckey. Since then, he's gone on to work on defense startup Anduril, which he founded in 2017. Advertisement The comments from Carmack — who left his position at Meta in 2022 and who has been openly critical of its VR efforts — then caught the attention of current Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth, who first joined the company during its early days nearly 20 years ago. "The culture has changed a lot since you left (internal discussions have to be work focused)," Bosworth replied on X. He went on to say that he had "absolutely no idea" about Palmer's politics now or then but "defended him publicly inside the company when people were agitating around them." But that appeared to draw the attention — and ire — of Luckey himself. "Great story to tell now that I have dragged myself back to relevance, but you aren't credible," he replied to Bosworth. Advertisement "You publicly told everyone my departure had nothing to do with politics, which is absolutely insane and obviously contradicted by reams of internal communications. It is like saying the sky is green." "Don't try to play the apolitical hero here," Luckey said to Bosworth. "Not claiming to be apolitical," Bosworth replied. "I certainly have my own politics probably different than yours, but internally at the time I certainly was clear I thought no employment consequences should come from someone's political beliefs." Meta previously told WSJ that Palmer's departure was "unequivocally" not due to his political views. But Luckey, who Forbes has declared a billionaire, wasn't soothed by that. Advertisement "I am down to throw it all out there. We can make everything public and let people judge for themselves. Just say the word," he replied on X. "I'm not the one with anything to lose so I don't think that's my call to make," responded Bosworth. Watch this space. Business Insider reached out to representatives of Bosworth, Carmack, and Luckey but didn't receive an immediate response.
Hyatt is set to use modular tiny homes as hotel rooms at a new all-inclusive Caribbean resort — see inside 2024-04-15 20:57:09+00:00 - Hyatt is expanding one of its family-friendly all-inclusive resorts with an adults-only section. The expanded property is set to use modular, tiny home-sized units as hotel rooms. The 52 units are scheduled to open in June at Hyatt's Dreams Curaçao resort in the Caribbean. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . You can opt-out at any time. Advertisement Tiny homes have been popping up everywhere, from backyards in California to entire neighborhoods in Florida. Soon, they'll be dropped onto the sunny and sandy beaches of tourist-beloved Curaçao in the Caribbean — not as housing, but as hotel rooms. Hyatt is expanding its all-inclusive Dreams resort on the Caribbean island. But instead of building another typical highrise hotel, the hospitality giant is taking a page out of the glamping resort playbook with plans to deploy 52 tiny home-sized modular units as hotel rooms, set to open in June.
15 successful people who wake up before 6 a.m. 2024-04-15 20:55:33+00:00 - Successful people across industries are known for waking up early. They also practice other healthy habits like exercise and meditation. Apple CEO Tim Cook wakes up between 4 and 5 a.m. and starts his day by answering emails. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . You can opt-out at any time. Advertisement There are two types of people in the world: those who welcome the morning sunshine and those who try to snooze it into oblivion. People like Issa Rae and Tim Cook belong to the former category, crafting tailored morning routines that begin while their peers are still dreaming. Some of the benefits of waking up early include higher levels of energy and mental clarity, a higher likeliness to succeed, and, for women, a decreased risk of developing mental health conditions like anxiety and depression, Business Insider reported in 2019. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in .
E.V. Sales Are Slowing. Tesla’s Are Slumping. 2024-04-15 20:52:44+00:00 - As sales of Teslas drop and demand for electric vehicles cools — even as more models enter the market — an increasing number of automakers are competing for a slice of a shrinking pie. Nearly 269,000 electric vehicles were sold in the United States in the first three months of this year, according to Kelley Blue Book. That was a 2.6 percent increase from the same period last year, but a 7.3 decrease from the final quarter of 2023. And amid the quarter-to-quarter slowdown in the industry, Tesla’s market share has fallen from 62 percent at the start of 2023 to 51 percent now. Elon Musk told employees on Monday that Tesla would cut 10 percent of its work force. Investors, in turn, have been spooked: Tesla’s stock price has dropped over 30 percent this year, erasing billions of dollars in market capitalization.
Nike draws heat over skimpy U.S. women's track and field uniforms for Paris Olympics 2024-04-15 20:41:00+00:00 - Artistic swimming Olympian heads to Paris after scary pool incident Artistic swimming Olympian heads to Paris after scary pool incident 03:49 Nike is defending its design of uniforms for the women's track and field team representing the U.S. at the Paris 2024 Olympics, which have spurred criticism from some female athletes and revived debate over sexism in sports. The outfits, which Nike unveiled at a special event in Paris and were first posted by digital media company Citius Mag, have a high-cut leg that that barely covers their display mannequin's groin area. The male version, by contrast, provides significantly more coverage. Commenting on Citius Mag's post, steeplechase competitor and Olympian Colleen Quigley wrote, "I mean I still wanna make the team but…." Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, also a track and field competitor weighed in too, writing, "I'm someone's mom, I can't be exposing myself in such ways." Added Paralympian and track and field athlete Jaleen Roberts, "This mannequin is standing still and everything's showing...imagine mid flight." Nike defended the look, saying it had solicited input from Olympic athletes in designing its lineup of uniforms for both the men's and women's teams headed to Paris this summer. For the track and field kits, Nike Chief Innovation Officer John Hoke said in a statement that the company offers athletes "a range of silhouettes tailored for various sport disciplines, body types and sizes, prioritizing performance and maximum breathability." Male and female track and field athletes have a dozen competition styles to chose from, Nike added, explaining that "athletes can choose outfits that match their style and personal preference without sacrificing comfort during the games in Paris." The company also said it will offer tailoring options. USA Track and Field said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch that it has worked with Nike to ensure that competitors had uniform options. "USATF is also aware that Nike consulted with athletes throughout the design process to ensure that all athletes are comfortable and that the uniforms are well-suited for their respective events," the organization said, adding that the unitard that has drawn fire is just one option athletes can choose from. Nike also recently made waves for another uniform design. Its new Major League Baseball uniforms, which the company said is made from a "breathable, lightweight, high-performance fabric," are transparent enough that the jerseys' tags are visible when tucked into the pants' waistbands. And gray-colored uniforms, made from the same fabric, don't match the pants when they become soaked with sweat. Nike told The Athletic it is testing different fabrics to remedy the issue, but it's unclear if updated outfits will be issued this season.
The full list of major US companies slashing staff this year, from Tesla to Google and Apple 2024-04-15 20:38:27+00:00 - Last year's job cuts weren't the end of layoffs. Further reductions have begun in 2024. Companies like Tesla, Google, Microsoft, Nike, and Amazon have announced plans for cuts this year. See the full list of corporations reducing their worker numbers in 2024. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . You can opt-out at any time. Advertisement A slew of companies across the tech, media, finance, and retail industries made significant cuts to staff in 2023. Tech titans like IBM, Google, Microsoft, finance giants like Goldman Sachs, and manufacturers like Dow all announced layoffs. This year is looking grim too. And it's only April. Nearly 40% of business leaders surveyed by ResumeBuilder think layoffs are likely at their companies this year, and about half say their companies will implement a hiring freeze. ResumeBuilder talked to about 900 leaders at organizations with more than 10 employees. Half of those surveyed cited concerns about a recession as a reason. Another major factor is artificial intelligence. Around four in 10 respondents said they'll conduct layoffs as they replace workers with AI. Dropbox, Google, and IBM have already announced job cuts related to AI. Advertisement Here are the dozens of companies with job cuts planned or already underway in 2024.
NPR C.E.O. Faces Criticism Over Tweets Supporting Progressive Causes 2024-04-15 20:13:34+00:00 - Katherine Maher, the chief executive of NPR, is facing online criticism for years-old social media posts criticizing former President Donald J. Trump and embracing liberal causes. The posts, published on the social media platform Twitter, which is now called X, were written before she was named chief executive of NPR in January. They resurfaced this week after an essay by an NPR staff member who argued that the broadcaster’s leaders had allowed liberal bias to taint its coverage. “Also, Donald Trump is a racist,” read one of Ms. Maher’s posts in 2018, which has since been deleted. Another post, from November 2020, shows Ms. Maher wearing a hat with the logo for the Biden presidential campaign. “Had a dream where Kamala and I were on a road trip in an unspecified location, sampling and comparing nuts and baklava from roadside stands,” Ms. Maher wrote, an apparent reference to Vice President Kamala Harris. “Woke up very hungry.”
A Cybertruck owner says his accelerator got stuck while he was driving 2024-04-15 19:46:00+00:00 - A federal vehicle safety regulator says it has contacted Tesla after a Cybertruck owner went viral over the weekend with claims that his accelerator pedal got stuck while he was driving the vehicle. On Thursday, Jose Martinez said he was driving his new Tesla Cybertruck on his local drag strip in Southern California when the car started accelerating on its own. He said he put his foot firmly on the brake, stopped the car and realized that a rubber cover attached to the accelerator had come loose, pinning the pedal down. He said he had the car for six days total. Over the weekend, Martinez heard that some Cybertruck deliveries had been paused, he said in a phone interview with NBC News. On Sunday morning, he made a TikTok showing the issue with his accelerator. As of Monday afternoon, Martinez’s video has been viewed almost 2 million times on TikTok and almost 6 million times on X, the social media website purchased and renamed from Twitter by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. “The moment I let go of the brake, it would lurch forward at full throttle again,” Martinez told NBC News. “I had space where I could figure out what was going on. It wasn’t a situation where there were cars in front of me or a building or a tree.” Various Tesla news sources have reported at least a weeklong pause in some Cybertruck deliveries related to an accelerator issue. Cybertruck enthusiasts on an owners forum have described getting calls alerting them to delays on their deliveries for an unknown amount of time related to an accelerator issue. Tesla has not announced any official recall or pause and did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In Martinez’s case, he said he found he could continue driving the Cybertruck without the accelerator cover. He said he plans to fiddle around with it more during his next day off from working in car sales. Before the incident, Martinez said he drove the Cybertruck for more than 2,000 miles, in a trip to San Francisco and back. “Other than this, it’s a pretty solidly-built car,” Martinez said. “I know saying ‘Other than this’ makes it sound like it’s not major, and it is.” “Because it is such a massive car, and it’s got such a great amount of power, I do feel like things in regard to safety definitely need to be a priority in getting it addressed and fixed,” he added. A spokesperson for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which tracks recalls, investigations and complaints, said in a statement to CNBC that "NHTSA is aware of this issue and is in contact with the manufacturer to gather additional information." Tesla previously initiated a voluntary recall of its vehicles in January 2024, including the Cybertruck, in order to make the font size on their touchscreens more readable. In December, the NHTSA told CNBC that it contacted Tesla after a YouTube car reviewer claimed that the sharp edges on the Cybertruck cut his hand. Previously, safety experts have raised concerns about the car’s speed, weight and sharp edges. The first car accident involving a Cybertruck was reported in California in December. A Toyota Corolla crashed into a Cybertruck, and while the Tesla driver sustained a minor injury, the Corolla appeared to be much more damaged than the Cybertruck in photos. At least one anonymous person previously posted on a Cybertruck owners forum about an issue with their accelerator and brake, saying they crashed into a pole. NBC News could not contact the user or independently verify their story. Other forum members cast doubt on their story and have expressed skepticism about Martinez’s TikTok. The Cybertruck has been marketed as extremely durable and high-performing, generating intense interest and scrutiny of the vehicle and its rollout. During the Cybertruck’s launch event in 2019, the car’s “unbreakable” glass window shattered. Still, the car quickly became a status symbol and object of cultural hype, and numerous examples of Cybertrucks on the road have made a splash on social media. Some celebrities, like Kim Kardashian, have flaunted them. In January, there were more than 2 million reservations to potentially order the Cybertruck, according to Barron's. “Four years ago, I was sitting at the computer watching the reveal,” Martinez said. “I thought it looked cool, so I put the deposit down that same night.” But Martinez said he isn’t a Tesla “fanboy,” adding, “My perception of Elon Musk a few years ago, versus my perception of him now, has changed.” Martinez’s video and the reported delays come at a tumultuous time for Tesla. Musk announced Monday morning that Tesla would be laying off more than 10% of its global headcount. In an email sent to the company, obtained by CNBC and NBC News, Musk wrote: “Over the years, we have grown rapidly with multiple factories scaling around the globe. With this rapid growth there has been duplication of roles and job functions in certain areas. As we prepare the company for our next phase of growth, it is extremely important to look at every aspect of the company for cost reductions and increasing productivity.”
Barbie craze extends to summer grilling with Heinz Classic "Barbiecue" Sauce 2024-04-15 19:46:00+00:00 - Taking a cue from its blockbuster brand, Mattel is partnering with Kraft Heinz Co. to create "Barbiecue" sauce. Colored Barbie pink, the condiment is being offered by Kraft in the United Kingdom, beginning with a limited-edition sale of 5,000 bottles online starting today. The online promotion will be followed by a nationwide run at Tesco supermarkets later in the week and then via a UK delivery service in the middle of May, the food producer and Mattel announced on Monday. Bottles of the sauce, which gets its pink hue from beetroot extract, will be available across Spain on April 25. Heinz alluded to the condiment in an Instagram post in August, pairing a bottle of the Barbiecue sauce with Tomato "Kenchup," and asking if the company should "make this dream team a reality." Barbie-themed products have been in heavy demand since the "Barbie" film's release in July 2023.
Americans think they need almost $1.5 million to retire. Experts say to focus on another number instead 2024-04-15 19:38:00+00:00 - Aleksandarnakic | E+ | Getty Images When it comes to retirement, Americans have a new number in mind — $1.46 million — for how much they think they will need to live comfortably, according to new research from Northwestern Mutual. That estimate is up 53% since 2020, when Americans said they would need $951,000, as the cost of living has surged in recent years. It is also up 15% from last year, when respondents said they would need $1.27 million. For many savers, that goal may sound daunting, particularly as U.S. adults have an average of $88,400 currently saved toward retirement, the study found. Likewise, a recent CNBC survey showed that 53% of Americans feel like they are behind on their retirement savings. However, experts say having a "magic number" in mind should not be a priority when planning for your retirement. "The number isn't the emphasis," said John Roland, a certified financial planner and private wealth advisor at Northwestern Mutual's Beyond Financial Advisors. "That retirement number is really just a starting point for a broader conversation on how to make clear, competent decisions in that phase of your financial life when you're distributing money versus when you're accumulating money," he said. Fidelity Investments, the nation's largest provider of 401(k) savings plans, has moved away from providing broad estimates for what is needed to retire, said Rita Assaf, vice president of retirement products at Fidelity. "There is no one size fits all," Assaf said. She said your income likely differs from other people's. Other factors — such as how much of your income you hope to replace in retirement, where you plan to live, the lifestyle you plan to have, your health-care costs, and longevity — will all impact the actual number you will need. "It really depends on your personal situation," Assaf said. "We do think having a retirement plan helps with that, but it's got to be a personal retirement plan." The number experts say to focus on Financial advisors agree that having a high savings rate, along with appropriate asset allocations, is one of the most significant components of building wealth. That's the number to focus on, they say. Fidelity provides a framework for evaluating your retirement savings progress based on your age. The framework includes saving your salary by age 30, which then increases to twice your salary by age 35, three times by 40 and continues to go up until the goal of 10 times by age 67. "That may or may not be feasible depending on where you're at," Assaf said of the savings goals. "But it just gives an easier view of what to do." The framework assumes that the investor will start saving at age 25 and save 15% annually. watch now Recent retirement research from Vanguard recommends that workers ramp up their annual retirement savings rate to 12% to 15% of their incomes and invest in an appropriate asset mix for their ages. Doing so can help improve their sustainable investment rate — the highest level of pre-retirement income they can replace. "I would much rather have clients that save 15% of their income and get a 5% rate of return than save 1% of their income and get a 15% rate of return," Roland said.
Trump gag order hearing to be held by Judge Merchan next week 2024-04-15 19:34:33+00:00 - Donald Trump’s criminal court appearance has so far consisted mostly of pretrial legal discussions before getting to jury selection. Among the issues raised Monday by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office was Trump’s alleged violation of the gag order before jury selection even started. The prosecution asked Judge Juan Merchan for sanctions of $1,000 each for three Trump social media posts allegedly attacking Michael Cohen and others; for him to tell Trump to take down the posts in question; and for Trump to be reminded that another such post could result in jail time. Merchan said he would hear arguments on the subject next Tuesday, April 23. Of course, Trump was already on notice that violating the gag order could result in imprisonment. Of course, Trump was already on notice that violating the gag order could result in imprisonment. Plus, he was fined multiple times in his civil fraud case for violating a gag order there. So it doesn’t seem that relatively low-level fines would do much to deter Trump. And now, whatever comes of these latest alleged violations won’t be sorted out until next week at the earliest, saying nothing of whatever additional potential violations come in the meantime. So the requested sanctions themselves, even if granted, are relatively weak, and Trump won’t immediately be held to account for them, if ever. In any event, this sets up a crucial decision for Merchan to make early in the trial, in addition to the more typical legal issues that will arise. How the judge handles the gag order matter could set the tone for how the trial moves forward from there. Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for weekly updates on the top legal stories, including news from the Supreme Court, the Donald Trump cases and more.
The pilots union at American Airlines says it’s seeing more safety and maintenance issues 2024-04-15 19:25:39+00:00 - DALLAS (AP) — The pilots union at American Airlines says there has been “a significant spike” in safety issues at the airline, including fewer routine aircraft inspections and shorter test flights on planes returning from major maintenance work. The union also says it has seen incidents in which tools were left in wheel wells and items were left in the sterile area around planes parked at airport gates. A spokesman said Monday that union officials have raised their concerns with senior managers at the airline and were encouraged by the company’s response. American, which is based in Fort Worth, Texas, said it has an industry-leading safety management system. An airline spokesperson said American is in regular contact with regulators and unions “to further bolster our strong safety record and enhance our ever-evolving safety culture.” Dennis Tajer, a pilot and spokesman for the union, said the union spoke recently with senior management, “and management’s initial response to our request was encouraging. We fully intend to do everything we can to assure that American maintains strong margins of safety.” The Federal Aviation Administration declined to comment directly on the union’s allegations or whether the agency has increased its oversight of American as a result. In a statement, an FAA spokesperson said airlines required to have systems for identifying potential hazards before they become serious problems. The safety committee of the Allied Pilots Association said in an email to members Saturday that the union “has been tracking a significant spike in safety- and maintenance-related problems in our operation.” The union said American has increased the time between routine inspections on planes. It also said American has ended overnight maintenance checks unless a plane is written up for special attention or due for scheduled maintenance and now does “abbreviated” test flights on planes returning to service after major maintenance checks or long-term storage. The union asked its members to report any safety or maintenance problems. “We all understand that aviation accidents are the result of a chain of events — often a series of errors — and catching just one of those errors could prevent a tragedy,” the union said in the email.
How Trump and Mike Johnson’s election voting attack echoes America’s racist past 2024-04-15 19:22:41+00:00 - Listening to Mike Johnson and Donald Trump's fearmongering news conference about noncitizens voting in federal elections Friday, I was reminded of the long history of anti-immigrant rhetoric in the United States. As Paul Waldman explained for MSNBC last week, it’s already illegal — and incredibly rare — for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. The press conference appeared to me to uncomfortably echo the arguments of the white nationalist "great replacement theory," which holds that Democrats and others are allowing minorities into the country in order to somehow win political power. The rhetoric used by the former Republican president and the current House speaker about throngs of violent “illegals” entering the country at Democrats’ urging — and potentially casting unlawful ballots in the upcoming election — took me back to a more distant past: a century ago. Specifically, a 1926 essay on the need to protect “Americanism” from “aliens" by Hiram Evans, a dentist-turned-Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Evans wrote that he believed in "America for Americans," defining the latter quite narrowly. He argued that the country's "pioneer stock" should be kept from intermarriage with nonwhites and claimed that nonwhite immigrants did not — indeed, could not — understand the American spirit: Americanism, to the Klansman, is a thing of the spirit, a purpose and a point of view, that can only come through instinctive racial understanding. It has, to be sure, certain defined principles, but he does not believe that many aliens understand those principles, even when they use our words in talking about them. It’s not hard to see the parallels between the rhetoric Evans espoused in the early 1900s and some of the anti-immigration rhetoric you hear in America today. Today, conservatives routinely accuse President Biden and his administration of “treasonous” behavior while spreading lies about immigrants entering the United States to vote illegally and commit violent crime. Trump has claimed immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of our country and has portrayed them as disease-ridden. This rhetoric is bad enough to come from anyone, but it's especially troubling coming from the highest echelons of one of the country's two major parties. It's easy to tune out and dismiss Trump's latest routine, but when you hear the historical echoes, it should make you worry about the future of the country.