Alameda-Backed ‘Samcoins’ CEO Alex Grebnev Sued by CoinTelegraph Owner Gregory Fishman

The feature will be a part of Twitter’s already existing Twitter Blue subscription Twitter is launching a new subscription service for $7.99 a month that allows users to verify their accounts, the company announced in Apple’s app store on Saturday. The feature will be a part of Twitter’s already existing Twitter Blue subscription, which is currently $4.99 and offers paid users additional services. While it’s not clear when the new subscription model will go live, the company said users will be able to receive a blue check mark, “just like the celebrities, companies and politicians you already follow.” Twitter’s old verification program launched in 2009, amid pressure to authenticate accounts of public figures and agencies to protect the public. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bulls***,” tweeted Musk on Nov. 1. “Power to the people! Blue for $8/month.” Here’s what to know: What does the new subscription include? Outside the blue check mark, those who opt-in for the new service will also experience half of the ads and be able to post longer videos on the platform, according to the announcement. There isn’t a ton of information available about the updated subscription service, but Musk tweeted on Nov. 5 that current verified users should expect to lose their blue check mark a couple of months after the program rolls out if they choose not to pay the fee. The announcement did not share whether users will still have to authenticate their identity, or if they will simply receive a verification symbol regardless. Twitter products team manager Esther Crawford tweeted that the newest Twitter Blue is not live just yet. Android users also do not have access to this new feature. No launch date has been officially announced, though some speculate that it might go live starting Nov. 7. Twitter Blue was previously described as a monthly subscription “that gives the most engaged people on Twitter exclusive access to premium features.” This includes features like editing a tweet, which launched for Twitter Blue users in October. It is currently available in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. What are some of the criticisms? Critics of the verification subscription plan argue that it takes away from the original intent behind the blue check, which helps users identify if they are receiving information from a reliable source. Musk said in a tweet Saturday that accounts that attempt to impersonate previously verified profiles on the platform would be suspended. Some also argue the company’s newest verification plan puts much at risk in an era of online misinformation, especially as Election Day occurs the day after the program’s suspected launch. Journalists, political scientists and politicians, among others, expressed their concerns about the change online. “[My] main concern w/ the new Twitter Blue offering is the verified logo has been a marker of trust I.e., ‘we’ve confirmed the person is who they say they are,’” tweeted former United States Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Chris Krebs. “Now it’s ‘we’re taking their $ & their word for it.’ On the cusp of election where source of info is critical, [this is] a major risk.” Twitter’s previous verification process launched over a decade ago after a number of celebrity impersonation accounts flocked online. Changes began after the company was sued by Tony La Russa, then manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, in 2009 after an account with his name posted insensitive comments online, the New York Times reports. The platform then experimented with a way to verify the accounts of public figures and agencies that were the most at-risk of impersonation. The old verification system had its issues as well, however. In August 2021, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy said that he was not the owner of the verified account under his name, according to the Times. Musk has added to the controversy, tweeting in support of rumors that Twitter employees were selling verifications for thousands of dollars. Users also fear that substantial layoffs at the company could impact content moderation, though Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of safety and integrity, said the content moderation team was least affected by the recent job cuts, AP reports. “With early voting underway in the US, our efforts on election integrity — including harmful misinformation that can suppress the vote and combatting state-backed information operations — remain a top priority,” Roth tweeted......»»

Spooky Torts: The 2022 List Of Litigation Horrors Authored by Jonathan Turley, Here is my annual list of Halloween torts and crimes. Halloween of course remains a holiday seemingly designed for personal injury lawyers around the world and this year’s additions show why. Halloween has everything for a torts-filled holiday: battery, trespass, defamation, nuisance, product liability and more. Particularly with the recent tragedy in South Korea, our annual listing is not intended to belittle the serious losses that can occur on this and other holidays. However, my students and I often discuss the remarkably wide range of torts that comes with All Hallow’s Eve. So, with no further ado, here is this year’s updated list of actual cases related to Halloween. In October 2021, Danielle Thomas, former exotic dancer known as “Pole Assassin” (and the girlfriend of Texas special teams coach Jeff Banks), found herself embroiled in a Halloween tort after the monkey previously used in her act bit a wandering child at the house of horror she created for Halloween. Thomas considers the monkey Gia to be her “emotional support animal.” Thomas goes all out for the holiday and converted her home into a house of horrors, including a maze. She said that the area with Gia was closed off and, as for petting, “no one is allowed to touch her!”  She publicly insisted “No one was viciously attack this a lie, a whole lie! She was not apart of any haunted house, the kid did not have permission to be on the other side of my property!” She even posted a walk-through video of the scene to show the steps that a child would have to take to get to the monkey. Don’t worry folks I got the #MonkeyGate video pic.twitter.com/TAy6leBqDS — Christian Sykes (@ctsykes13) November 2, 2021 She insists in the video that she knows all of the governing legal rules and shows the path in detail. It is not helpful on the defense side: it is not a long path and easy to see how a child might get lost. She later deleted her account (likely after her attorney regained consciousness). The case raises an array of torts including animal liability, licensee liability, negligence, and attractive nuisance claims. In 2022, we often added conversion to the usual torts where multiple versions of the new giant skeleton were stolen, including one particularly ham-handed effort in Austin, Texas caught on video tape: * * * In Berea, Ohio, the promoters of the 7 Floors of Hell haunted house at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds appreciate realism but one employee took it a bit too far. An actor brandished this real bowie knife as a prop while pretending to stab an 11-year-old boy’s foot. He then stabbed him. The accident occurred when the actor, 22, approached the boy and stabbed at the ground as a scare tactic. He got too close and accidentally cut through the child’s shoe, piercing a toe. The injury was not serious since the boy was treated at the scene and continued through the haunted house. The case raises an interesting question of “respondeat superior” for the negligent acts by employees in the course of employment. The question is what is in the scope of employment.  The question is often whether an employee was on a “detour” or “frolic.”  A detour can be outside of an employer’s policies or guidelines but will be the basis for liability as sufficiently related to the employment.  A frolic is a more serious deviation where the employee is acting in his own capacity or for his own interests. In this case, the actor was clearly within his scope of employment in trying to scare the visitors. However, he admitted that he bought the knife in his personal capacity and agreed it “was not a good idea” to use it at the haunted house, according to FOX 8. That still does not negate the negligence — both direct and vicarious liability. There was a failure to monitor employees and safeguard the scene. His negligence is also likely attributable to the employer. Finally, this would constitute battery as a reckless, though unintended, act. * * * In 2020, parents in Indiana were given a warning in a Facebook post that the Indiana State Police seized holiday edibles featuring packaging that resembles that of actual name brands — but with the word “medicated” printed on the wrapper along with cannabis symbols. The packaging makes it easy for homeowners to confuse packages and give out drugged candy.  Indeed, last year, two children were given THC-infused gummies while trick-or-treating, according to police in Waterford, Conn.. Such candies include the main active ingredient linked to the psychedelic effects of cannabis – the plant from which marijuana is derived. Even an accidental distribution of such infused candies would constitute child endangerment and be subject to both negligence and strict liability actions in torts. * * * I previously have written how the fear of razor blades in apples appears an urban legend. Well, give it enough time and someone will prove you wrong. That is the allegation of Waterbury, Connecticut police who say that Jason A. Racz, 37, put razor blades in candy bags of at least two trick-or-treaters. Racz’ razor defense may not be particularly convincing to the average juror. According to police, “Racz explained that the razor blades were accidentally spilled or put into the candy bowl he used to hand out candy from.” However, police noted that he “provided no explanation as to how the razor blades were handed out to the children along with the candy.” The charge was brought soon after Halloween in 2019. Racz is now charged with risk of injury to a minor, reckless endangerment and interfering with a police officer. He could also be charged with battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress, but it is not clear if any children were injured. *  *  * Steven Novak, an artist from Dallas, Texas, believes that Halloween should be a bit more than a traditional plastic pumpkin and a smiling ghost.  Police were called to his home in Texas over a possible murder. They found a dummy impaled on a chainsaw with fake blood; another dummy hanging from his roof; a wheelbarrow full of fake dismembered body parts and other gory scenes.  Neighbors called the display too traumatizing.  Police responded by taking pictures for their families. A tort action for intentional infliction of emotional distress is likely to fail. There must be not just outrageous conduct but conduct intended to cause severe emotional distress. Courts regularly exclude injuries associated with the exercise of free speech or artistic expression . . . even when accompanied by buckets of fake blood. *  *  * The Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom in Pennsylvania tells customers that, if they come to their Halloween Haunt, “Fear is waiting for you.” In 2019, a new case was filed by Shannon Sacco and her daughter over injuries sustained from “unreasonable scaring.” They are seeking $150,000. The Allentown Morning Call reported that “M.S.” went with friends to the amusement park and was immediately approached by costumed characters. She said that she told them that she did not want to be scared and backed away. A little further on into the park however a costumed employee allegedly ran up behind her and shouted loudly. The startled girl fell forward and suffered what were serious but unspecified injuries. She alleges ongoing medical issues and inability to return to fully functioning activities. The lawsuit also alleges that the park failed to inform Sacco or her daughter that they could buy a glow-in-the-dark “No Boo” necklace to ward off costumed employees. The obvious issue beyond the alleged negligence of the Park is the plaintiffs’ own conduct. Pennsylvania is a comparative negligence state so contributory negligence by the plaintiffs would not be a bar to recovery. See Pennsylvania General Assembly Statute §7102. However, it is a modified comparative negligence state so they must show that they are 50 percent or less at fault. If they are found 51 percent at fault, they are barred entirely from recovery. Even if they can recover, their damages are reduced by the percentage of their own fault in going to a park during a Halloween-themed event. *  *  * In 2019, there is a rare public petition to shutdown a haunted house that has been declared to be a “torture chamber.” The move to “shut down McKamey Manor” that has been signed by thousands who believe Russ McKamey, the owner of McKamey Manor, has made his house so scary that it constitutes torture, including an allegation of waterboarding of visitors. The haunted house requires participants to get a doctor’s note and sign a 40-page waiver before they enter. People are seeking the closure of the houses located in Summertown, Tennessee and Huntsville, Alabama. McKamey insists that it is just a “crazy haunted house” and stops well short of the legal-definition of torture. The question is whether consent vitiates any extreme frights or contacts. He is also clear in both the waiver and the website that the house is an “extreme haunted attraction” for legal adults who “must be in GREAT HEALTH to participate.” Not only do people enter with full knowledge but there is no charge. McKamey owns five dogs and only requires a bag of dog food for entry. Presumably the food is cursed. *  *  * An earlier case was recently made public from an accident on October 15, 2011 in San Diego. Scott Griffin and friends went to the Haunted Trail in San Diego. The ticket warns of “high-impact scares” along a mile path with actors brandishing weapons and scary items. Griffen, 44, and his friends went on the trail and were going out of what they thought was an exit. Suddenly an actor jumped out as part of what the attraction called “the Carrie effect” of a last minute scare. While Griffen said that he tried to back away, the actor followed him with a running chain saw. He fell backwards and injured his wrists. The 2013 lawsuit against the Haunted Hotel, Inc., in the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego, alleged negligence and assault. However, Superior Court Judge Katherine Bacal granted a motion to dismiss based on assumption of the risk. She noted that Griffin “was still within the scare experience that he purchased.” After all, “Who would want to go to a haunted house that is not scary?” Griffen then appealed and the attorney for the Haunted Hotel quoted Hunter S. Thompson: “Buy the ticket, take the ride.” Again, the court agreed. In upholding the lower court, Justice Gilbert Nares wrote, “Being chased within the physical confines of the Haunted Trail by a chain saw–carrying maniac is a fundamental part and inherent risk of this amusement. Griffin voluntarily paid money to experience it.” *  *  * In 2018, a case emerged in Madison, Tennessee from the Nashville Nightmare Haunted House.   James “Jay” Yochim and three of his pals went to the attraction composed of  four separate haunted houses, an escape room, carnival games and food vendors.  In the attraction, people are chased by characters with chainsaws and other weapons.  They were not surprised therefore when a man believed to be an employee in a Halloween costume handed Tawnya Greenfield a knife and told her to stab Yochim.  She did and thought it was all pretend until blood started to pour from Yochim’s arm. The knife was real and the man was heard apologizing “I didn’t know my knife was that sharp.” It is not clear how even stabbing with a dull knife would be considered safe. The attraction issued a statement: “As we have continued to review the information, we believe that an employee was involved in some way, and he has been placed on leave until we can determine his involvement. We are going over all of our safety protocols with all of our staff again, as the safety and security of all of our patrons is always our main concern. We have not been contacted by the police, but we will cooperate fully with any official investigation.” The next scary moment is likely to be in the form of a torts complaint.  Negligence against the company under respondeat superior is an obvious start. There is also a novel battery charge where he could claim that he was stabbed by trickery or deceit of a third person. There are also premises liability issues for invitees.  As for Greenfield, she claims to have lacked consent due to a misrepresentation.  She could be charged with negligence or a recklessness-based theory of battery, though that seems less likely.  Finally, there is an interesting possible claim of negligent infliction of emotional distress in being tricked or misled into stabbing an individual. *  *  * Last year, a 21-year-old man surnamed Cheung was killed by a moving coffin in a haunted house in Hong Kong’s Ocean Park.   The attraction is called “Buried Alive” and involves hopping into coffins for a downward slide into a dark and scary space. The ride promises to provide people with the “experience of being buried alive alone, before fighting their way out of their dark and eerie grave.” Cheung took a wrong turn and went backstage — only to be hit by one of the metal coffins.  The hit in the head killed Cheung who was found later in the haunted house. While there is no word of a tort lawsuit (and tort actions are rarer in Hong Kong), the case is typical of Halloween torts involving haunted houses.  The decor often emphasizes spooky and dark environs which both encourage terror and torts among the participants.  In this case, an obvious claim could be made that it is negligence to allow such easy access to the operational area of the coffin ride — particularly in a dark space.  As a business invitee, Cheung would have a strong case in the United States. *  *  * A previous addition to the Spooky torts was the odd case of Assistant Prosecutor Chris White. White clearly does not like spiders, even fake ones. That much was clear given his response to finding fake spiders scattered around the West Virginia office for Halloween. White pulled a gun and threatened to shoot the fake spiders, explaining that he is “deathly afraid of spiders.” It appears that his arachnophobia (fear of spiders) was not matched by a hoplophobia (fear of firearms). The other employees were reportedly shaken up and Logan County Prosecuting Attorney John Bennett later suspended White. Bennett said “He said they had spiders everyplace and he said he told them it wasn’t funny, and he couldn’t stand them, and he did indeed get a gun out. It had no clip in it, of course they wouldn’t know that, I wouldn’t either if I looked at it, to tell you the truth.” It is not clear how White thought threatening the decorative spiders would keep them at bay or whether he was trying to deter those who sought to deck out the office in a Halloween theme. He was not charged by his colleagues with a crime but was suspended for his conduct. This is not our first interaction with White. He was the prosecutor in the controversial (and in my view groundless) prosecution of Jared Marcum, who was arrested after wearing a NRA tee shirt to school. *  *  * Another new case from the last year involves a murder. Donnie Cochenour Jr., 27, got a seasonal break (at least temporarily) on detecting his alleged murder of Rebecca J. Cade, 31. Cade’s body was left hanging on a fence and was mistaken by neighbors as a Halloween decoration. The “decoration” was found by a man walking his dog and reported by construction workers. A large rock was found with blood on it nearby. Donnie Cochenour Jr., 27, was later arrested and ordered held on $2 million bond after he pleaded not guilty to murder. Cade apparently had known Cochenour since he was a child — a relationship going back 20 years. Cochenour reportedly admitted that they had a physical altercation in the field. Police found a blood trail that indicates that Cade was running from Cochenour and tried to climb the fence in an attempt to get away. She was found hanging from her sleeve and is believed to have died on the fence from blunt force trauma to the head and neck. Her body exhibited “defensive wounds.” When police arrested Cochenour, they found blood on is clothing. *  *  * In 2015, federal and state governments were cracking down on cosmetic contact lenses to give people spooky eyes. Owners and operators of 10 Southern California businesses were criminally charged in federal court with illegally selling cosmetic contact lenses without prescriptions. Some of the products that were purchased in connection with this investigation were contaminated with dangerous pathogens that can cause eye injury, blindness and loss of the eye. The products are likely to result in a slew of product liability actions. *  *  * Another 2015 case reflects that the scariest part of shopping for Halloween costumes or decorations may be the trip to the Party Store. Shanisha L. Saulsberry sued U.S. Toy Company, Inc. after she was injured shopping for Halloween costumes and a store rack fell on her. The jury awarded Saulsberry $7,216.00 for economic damages. She appealed the damages after evidence of her injuries were kept out of the trial by the court. However, the Missouri appellate court affirmed the ruling. *  *  * The case of Castiglione v. James F. Q., 115 A.D.3d 696, shows a classic Halloween tort. The lawsuit alleged that, on Halloween 2007, the defendant’s son threw an egg which hit the plaintiff’s daughter in the eye, causing her injuries. The plaintiff also brought criminal charges against the defendant’s son arising from this incident and the defendant’s son pleaded guilty to assault in the third degree (Penal Law § 120.00 [2]). However, at his deposition, the defendant’s son denied throwing the egg which allegedly struck the plaintiff’s daughter. Because of the age of the accused, the case turned on the youthful offender statute (CPL art 720) that provides special measures for persons found to be youthful offenders which provides “Except where specifically required or permitted by statute or upon specific authorization of the court, all official records and papers, whether on file with the court, a police agency or the division of criminal justice services, relating to a case involving a youth who has been adjudicated a youthful offender, are confidential and may not be made available to any person or public or private agency [with certain exceptions not relevant here]” (CPL 720.35 [2]). This covers both the physical documents constituting the official record and the information contained within those documents. Thus, in relation to the Halloween egging, the boy was protected from having to disclose information or answer questions regarding the facts underlying the adjudication *  *  * We discussed the perils of pranks and “jump frights,” particularly with people who do not necessarily consent. In the case of Christian Faith Benge, there appears to have been consent in visiting a haunted house. The sophomore from New Miami High School in Ohio died from a prior medical condition at the at Land of Illusion haunted house. She was halfway through the house with about 100 friends and family members when she collapsed. She had an enlarged heart four times its normal size. She also was born with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, which prevents the lungs from developing normally. This added stress to the heart. In such a case, consent and comparative negligence issues effectively bar recovery in most cases. It is a terrible loss of a wonderful young lady. However, some fatalities do not always come with liability and this appears such a case. Source: Journal News *  *  * As discussed earlier, In Franklin County, Tennessee, children may want to avoid the house of Dale Bryant Farris, 65, this Halloween . . . or houses near him. Bryant was arrested after shooting a 15-year-old boy who was with kids toilet-papering their principal’s front yard. Bryant came out of his house a couple of houses down from the home of Principal Ken Bishop and allegedly fired at least two blasts — one hitting a 15-year-old boy in the right foot, inner left knee, right palm, right thigh and right side of his torso above the waistline. Tennessee is a Castle Doctrine state and we have seen past cases like the notorious Tom Horn case in Texas where homeowners claimed the right to shoot intruders on the property of their neighbors. It is not clear if Bryant will argue that he was trying to stop intruders under the law, but it does not appear a good fit with the purpose or language of the law. Farris faces a charge of aggravated assault and another of reckless endangerment. He could also face civil liability from the boy’s family. This would include assault and battery. There is a privilege of both self-defense and defense of others. This privilege included reasonable mistaken self-defense or defense of others. This would not fit such a claim since he effectively pursued the boys by going to a neighbor’s property and there was no appearance of a threat or weapon since they were only armed with toilet paper. The good news is that Farris can now discard the need for a costume. He can go as himself at Halloween . . . as soon as he is out of jail. *  *  * As shown below, Halloween nooses have a bad record at parties. In 2012, a club called Pink Punters had a decorative noose that it had used for a number of years that allowed party goers to take pictures as a hanging victim on Halloween. Of course, you guessed it. A 25-year old man was found hanging from the noose in an accidental self-lynching at the nightclub in England. The case would appear easy to defend in light of the assumption of the risk and patent danger. The noose did not actually tighten around necks. Moreover, this is England where tort claims can be more challenging. In the United States, however, there would remain the question of a foreseeable accident in light of the fact that patrons are drinking heavily and drugs are often present at nightclubs. Since patrons are known to put their heads in the noose, the combination is intoxication and a noose is not a particularly good mix. *  *  * Grant v. Grant. A potential criminal and tort case comes to us from Pennsylvania where, at a family Halloween bonfire, Janet Grant spotted a skunk and told her son Thomas Grant to fetch a shotgun and shoot it. When he returned, Janet Grant shined a flashlight on the animal while her son shot it. It was only then that they discovered that Thomas Grant had just shot his eight-year-old cousin in her black and white Halloween costume. What is amazing is that authorities say that they are considering possible animal gaming charges. Fortunately, the little girl survived with a wound to the shoulder and abdomen. The police in Beaver County have not brought charges and alcohol does not appear to have been a factor. Putting aside the family connection (which presumably makes the likelihood of a lawsuit unlikely), there is a basis for both battery and negligence in such a wounding. With children in the area, the discharge of the firearm would seem pretty unreasonable even with the effort to illuminate “the animal.” Moreover, this would have to have been a pretty large skunk to be the size of an eight-year-old child. Just for the record, the average weight of a standard spotted skunk in that area is a little over 1 pound. The biggest skunk is a hog-nosed skunk that can reach up to 18 pounds. *  *  * We also have a potential duel case out of Aiken, South Carolina from one year ago. A 10-year-old Aiken trick-or-treater pulled a gun on a woman who joked that she wanted take his candy on Halloween. Police found that his brother, also ten, had his own weapon. The 28-year-old woman said that she merely joked with a group of 10 or so kids that she wanted their candy when the ten-year-old pulled out a 9 mm handgun and said “no you’re not.” While the magazine was not in the gun, he had a fully loaded magazine in his possession. His brother had the second gun. Both appear to have belonged to their grandfather. The children were released to their parents and surprisingly there is no mention of charges against the grandfather. While the guns appear to have been taken without his permission, it shows great negligence in the handling and storage of the guns. What would be interesting is a torts lawsuit by the woman for assault against the grandfather. The actions of third parties often cut off liability as a matter of proximate causation, though courts have held that you can be liable for creating circumstances where crimes or intentional torts are foreseeable. For example, a landlord was held liable in for crimes committed in his building in Kline v. 1500 Massachusetts Avenue. Here the grandfather’s negligence led to the use of the guns by these children. While a lawsuit is unlikely, it would certainly be an interesting — and not unwarranted — claim. *  *  * Tauton High School District The Massachusetts case of Smith v. Taunton High School involves a Halloween prank gone bad. A teacher at Taunton High School asked a 15-year-old student to answer a knock on the classroom door. The boy was startled when he came face to face with a man in a mask and carrying what appeared to be a running chainsaw. The student fell back, tripped and fractured a kneecap. His family is now suing though the state cap on such lawsuits is $100,000. Dussault said the family is preparing a lawsuit, but is exploring ways to avoid a trial and do better than the $100,000 cap when suing city employees. This could make for an interesting case, but would be better for the Plaintiffs as a bench versus a jury trial. Many jurors are likely to view this as simply an attempt at good fun by the teacher and an unforeseeable accident. Source: CBS *  *  * In Florida, a woman has sued for defamation, harassment and emotional distress after her neighbor set up decorations that included an insane asylum sign that pointed to her yard and a fake tombstone with an inscription she viewed as a reference to her single status. It read, “At 48 she had no mate no date/ It’s no debate she looks 88.” This could be a wonderful example of an opinion defense to defamation. As for emotional distress, I think the cause of the distress pre-dates Halloween. *  *  * Pieczonka v. Great America (2012) A family is suing Great America for a tort in 2011 at Great Falls. Father Marian Pieczonka alleged in his complaint that his young daughter Natalie was at the park in Gurnee, Illinois for the Halloween-themed Fright Fest when a park employee dressed in costume jumped out of a port-a-potty and shot her with a squirt gun. He then reported chased the screaming girl until she fell and suffered injuries involving scrapes and bruises. The lawsuit alleges negligence in encouraging employees to chase patrons given the tripping hazards. They are asking $30,000 in the one count complaint but could face assumption or comparative negligence questions, particularly in knowingly attending an event called “Fright Fest” where employees were known to jump out at patrons. *  *  * A lawsuit appears inevitable after a tragic accident in St. Louis where a 17-year-old girl is in a critical condition after she became tangled in a noose at a Halloween haunted house called Creepyworld. The girl was working as an actress at the attraction and was found unconscious. What is particularly chilling is that people appeared to have walked by her hanging in the house and thought she was a realistic prop. Notably, the attraction had people walk through to check on the well-being of actors and she was discovered but not for some time after the accident. She is in critical condition. Creepyworld employs 100 people and can expect a negligence lawsuit. *  *  * Rabindranath v. Wallace (2010) Peter Wallace, 24, was returning on a train with fellow Hiberinian soccer fans in England — many dressed in costumes (which the English call “fancy dress.”) One man was dressed as a sheep and Wallace thought it was funny to constantly flick his lighter near the cotton balls covering his body — until he burst into flames. Friends then made the matter worse by trying to douse the flames but throwing alcohol on the flaming man-sheep. Even worse, the victim Arjuna Rabindranath, 24, is an Aberdeen soccer fan. Rabindranath’s costume was composed of a white tracksuit and cotton wool. Outcome: Wallace is the heir to a large farm estate and agreed to pay damages to the victim, who experienced extensive burns. What is fascinating is the causation issue. Here, Wallace clearly caused the initial injury which was then made worse by the world’s most dim-witted rescue attempt in the use of alcohol to douse a fire. In the United States, the original tortfeasor is liable for such injuries caused by negligent rescues. Indeed, he is liable for injured rescuers. The rescuers can also be sued in most states. However, many areas of Europe have good Samaritan laws protecting such rescuers. Notably, Wallace had a previous football-related conviction which was dealt with by a fine. In this latest case, he agreed to pay 25,000 in compensation. The case is obviously similar to one of our prior Halloween winners below: Ferlito v. Johnson & Johnson *  *  * Perper v. Forum Novelties (2010) Sherri Perper, 56, of Queens, New York has filed a personal injury lawsuit due to defective shoes allegedly acquired from Forum Novelties. The shoes were over-sized clown shoes that she was wearing as part of her Halloween costume in 2008. She tripped and fell. She is reportedly claiming that the shoes were dangerous. While “open and obvious” is no longer an absolute defense in such products cases, such arguments may still be made to counter claims of defective products. In most jurisdictions, you must show that the product is more dangerous than the expectations of the ordinary consumer. It is hard to see how Perper could be surprised that it is a bit difficult to walk in over-sized shoes. Then there is the problem of assumption of the risk. *  *  * Dickson v. Hustonville Haunted House and Greg Walker (2009) Glenda Dickson, 51, broke four vertebrae in her back when she fell out of a second story window left open at the Hustonville Haunted House, owned by Greg Walker. Dickson was in a room called “The Crying Lady in the Bed” when one of the actors came up behind the group and started screaming. Everyone jumped in fright and Dickson jumped back through an open window that was covered with a sheet — a remarkably negligent act by the haunted house operator. She landed on a fire escape and then fell down some stairs. *  *  * Maryland v. Janik (2009) Sgt. Eric Janik, 37, went to a haunted house called the House of Screams with friends and when confronted by a character dressed as Leatherface with a chainsaw (sans the chain, of course), Janik pulled out his service weapon and pointed it at the man, who immediately dropped character, dropped the chainsaw, and ran like a bat out of Halloween Hell. Outcome: Janik is charged with assault and reckless endangerment for his actions. Charges pending. *  *  * Patrick v. South Carolina (2009) Quentin Patrick, 22, an ex-convict in Sumter, South Carolina shot and killed a trick-or-treater T.J. Darrisaw who came to his home on Halloween — spraying nearly 30 rounds with an assault rifle from inside his home after hearing a knock on the door. T.J.’s 9-year- old brother, Ahmadre Darrisaw, and their father, Freddie Grinnell, were injured but were released after being treated at a hospital. Patrick left his porch light on — a general signal for kids that the house was open for trick and treating. The boy’s mother and toddler sibling were in the car. Patrick emptied the AK-47 — shooting at least 29 times through his front door, walls and windows after hearing the knock. He said that he had been previously robbed. That may be so, but it is unclear what an ex-con was doing with a gun, let alone an AK-47. OUTCOME: Charges pending for murder. *  *  * Kentucky v. Watkins (2008) As a Halloween prank, restaurant manager Joe Watkins of the Chicken Ranch in Paris, Kentucky thought it was funny to lie in a pool of blood on the floor. After seeing Watkins on the floor, the woman went screaming from the restaurant to report the murder. Watkins said that the prank was for another employee and that he tried to call the woman back on her cell phone. OUTCOME: Under Kentucky law, a person can be charged with a false police report, even if he is not the one who filed it. The police charged Watkins for causing the woman to file the report — a highly questionable charge. *  *  * Mays v. Gretna Athletic Boosters␣95-717 (La.App. 5 Cir. 01/17/96) “Defendant operated a haunted house at Mel Ott Playground in Gretna to raise money for athletic programs. The haunted house was constructed of 2×4s and black visqueen. There were numerous cubbyholes where “scary” exhibits were displayed. One booster club member was stationed at the entrance and one at the exit. Approximately eighteen people participated in the haunted house by working the exhibits inside. Near and along the entrance of the haunted house was a bathroom building constructed of cinder blocks. Black visqueen covered this wall. Plaintiff and her daughter’s friend, about 10 years old, entered the haunted house on October 29, 1988. It was nighttime and was dark inside. Plaintiff testified someone jumped out and hollered, scaring the child into running. Plaintiff was also frightened and began to run. She ran directly into the visqueen-covered cinder block wall. There was no lighting in that part of the haunted house. Plaintiff hit the wall face first and began bleeding profusely from her nose. She testified two surgeries were required to repair her nose.” OUTCOME: In order to get the proper effect, haunted houses are dark and contain scary and/or shocking exhibits. Patrons in a Halloween haunted house are expected to be surprised, startled and scared by the exhibits but the operator does not have a duty to guard against patrons reacting in bizarre, frightened and unpredictable ways. Operators are duty bound to protect patrons only from unreasonably dangerous conditions, not from every conceivable danger. As found by the Trial Court, defendant met this duty by constructing the haunted house with rooms of adequate size and providing adequate personnel and supervision for patrons entering the house. Defendant’s duty did not extend to protecting plaintiff from running in a dark room into a wall. Our review of the entire record herein does not reveal manifest error committed by the Trial Court or that the Trial Court’s decision was clearly wrong. Plaintiff has not shown the haunted house was unreasonably dangerous or that defendant’s actions were unreasonable. Thus, the Trial Court judgment must be affirmed. *  *  * Powell v. Jacor Communications␣ UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT 320 F.3d 599 (6th Cir.2003) “On October 15, 1999, Powell visited a Halloween season haunted house in Lexington, Kentucky that was owned and operated by Jacor. She was allegedly hit in the head with an unidentified object by a person she claims was dressed as a ghost. Powell was knocked unconscious and injured. She contends that she suffered a concussion and was put on bed rest and given medications by emergency-room physicians. Powell further claims that she now suffers from several neuropsychological disorders as a result of the incident.” OUTCOME: Reversed dismissal on the basis of tolling of statute of limitations. *  *  * Kansas City Light & Power Company v. Trimble␣ 315 Mo. 32; 285 S.W. 455 (1926) Excerpt: “A shapely pole to which, twenty-two feet from the ground is attached a non-insulated electric wire . . Upon a shapely pole were standard steps eighteen inches apart; about seventeen feet from the ground were telephone wires, and five feet above them was a non-insulated electric light wire. On Halloween, about nine o’clock, a bright fourteen-year-old boy and two companions met close to the pole, and some girls dressed as clowns came down the street. As they came near the boy, saying, “Who dares me to walk the wire?” began climbing the pole, using the steps, and ascended to the telephone cables, and thereupon his companions warned him about the live wire and told him to come down. He crawled upon the telephone cables to a distance of about ten feet from the pole, and when he reached that point a companion again warned him of the live wire over his head, and threatened to throw a rock at him and knock him off if he did not come down. Whereupon he turned about and crawled back to the pole, and there raised himself to a standing position, and then his foot slipped, and involuntarily he threw up his arm, his hand clutched the live wire, and he was shocked to death.” OUTCOME: Frankly, I am not sure why the pole was so “shapely” but the result was disappointing for the plaintiffs. Kansas City Light & Power Company v. Trimble: The court held that the appellate court extended the attractive nuisance doctrine beyond the court’s ruling decisions. The court held that appellate court’s opinion on the contributory negligence doctrine conflicted with the court’s ruling decisions. The court held that the administrator’s case should never have been submitted to the jury. The court quashed the appellate opinion. “To my mind it is inconceivable that a bright, intelligent boy, doing well in school, past fourteen years of age and living in the city, would not understand and appreciate the fact that it would be dangerous to come in contact with an electric wire, and that he was undertaking a dangerous feat in climbing up the pole; but even if it may be said that men might differ on that proposition, still in this case he was warned of the wire and of the danger on account of the wire and that, too, before he had reached a situation where there was any occasion or necessity of clutching the wire to avoid a fall. Not only was he twice warned but he was repeatedly told and urged to come down.” *  *  * Purtell v. Mason␣ 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49064 (E.D. Ill. 2006) “The Purtells filed the present lawsuit against Defendant Village of Bloomingdale Police Officer Bruce Mason after he requested that they remove certain Halloween tombstone “decorations” from their property. Evidence presented at trial revealed that the Purtells placed the tombstones referring to their neighbors in their front yard facing the street. The tombstones specifically referred to their neighbors, who saw the language on the tombstones. For instance, the tombstone that referred to the Purtells’ neighbor James Garbarz stated: Here Lies Jimmy, The OlDe Towne IdioT MeAn As sin even withouT his Gin No LonGer Does He wear That sTupiD Old Grin . . . Oh no, noT where they’ve sent Him! The tombstone referring to the Purtells’ neighbor Betty Garbarz read: BeTTe wAsN’T ReADy, BuT here she Lies Ever since that night she DieD. 12 feet Deep in this trench . . . Still wasn’T Deep enough For that wenches Stench! In addition, the Purtells placed a Halloween tombstone in their yard concerning their neighbor Diane Lesner stating: Dyean was Known for Lying So She was fried. Now underneath these daises is where she goes crazy!! Moreover, the jury heard testimony that Diane Lesner, James Garbarz, and Betty Garbarz were upset because their names appeared on the tombstones. Betty Garbarz testified that she was so upset by the language on the tombstones that she contacted the Village of Bloomingdale Police Department. She further testified that she never had any doubt that the “Bette” tombstone referred to her. After seeing the tombstones, she stated that she was ashamed and humiliated, but did not talk to Jeffrey Purtell about them because she was afraid of him. Defense counsel also presented evidence that the neighbors thought the language on the tombstones constituted threats and that they were alarmed and disturbed by their names being on the tombstones. James Garbarz testified that he interpreted the “Jimmy” tombstone as a threat and told the police that he felt threatened by the tombstone. He also testified that he had concerns about his safety and what Jeffrey Purtell might do to him.” OUTCOME: The court denied the homeowners’ post-trial motion for judgment as a matter of law pursuant to and motion for a new trial. Viewing the evidence and all reasonable inferences in a light most favorable to Officer Mason, a rational jury could conclude that the language on the tombstones constituted threats, that the neighbors were afraid of Jeffrey Purtell, and that they feared for their safety. As such the Court will not disturb the jury’s conclusion that the tombstones constituted fighting words — “those which by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace.” *  *  * Goodwin v. Walmart 2001 Ark. App. LEXIS 78 “On October 12, 1993, Randall Goodwin went to a Wal-Mart store located on 6th Street in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He entered through the front door and walked toward the sporting goods department. In route, he turned down an aisle known as the seasonal aisle. At that time, it was stocked with items for Halloween. This aisle could be observed from the cash registers. Mr. Goodwin took only a few steps down the aisle when he allegedly stepped on a wig and fell, landing on his right hip. As a result of the fall, Mr. Goodwin suffered severe physical injury to his back, including a ruptured disk. Kelly Evans, an employee for appellee, was standing at the end of her check-out stand when Mr. Goodwin approached her and informed her that he had fallen on an item in the seasonal aisle. She stated that she “saw what he was talking about.” OUTCOME: Judgment affirmed because the pleadings, depositions, and related summary judgment evidence did not show that there was any genuine issue of material fact as appellant customer did not establish a plastic bag containing the Halloween wig which allegedly caused him to slip and fall was on the floor as the result of appellee’s negligence or it had been on the floor for such a period of time that appellee knew or should have known about it. *  *  * Eversole v. Wasson␣ 80 Ill. App. 3d 94 (Ill. 1980) Excerpt: “The following allegations of count I, directed against defendant Wasson, were incorporated in count II against the school district: (1) plaintiff was a student at Villa Grove High School which was controlled and administered by the defendant school district, (2) defendant Wasson was employed by the school district as a teacher at the high school, (3) on November 1, 1978, at approximately 12:30 p.m., Wasson was at the high school in his regular capacity as a teacher and plaintiff was attending a regularly scheduled class, (4) Wasson sought and received permission from another teacher to take plaintiff from that teacher’s class and talk to him in the hallway, (5) once in the hallway, Wasson accused plaintiff of being one of several students he believed had smashed Wasson’s Halloween pumpkin at Wasson’s home, (6) without provocation from plaintiff, Wasson berated plaintiff, called him vile names, and threatened him with physical violence while shaking his fist in plaintiff’s face which placed plaintiff in fear of bodily injury, (7) Wasson then struck plaintiff about the head and face with both an open hand and a closed fist and shook and shoved him violently, (8) as a result, plaintiff was bruised about the head, neck, and shoulders; experienced pain and suffering in his head, body, and limbs; and became emotionally distraught causing his school performance and participation to be adversely affected . . .” OUTCOME: The court affirmed that portion of the lower court’s order that dismissed the count against the school district and reversed that portion of the lower court’s order that entered a judgment in bar of action as to this count. The court remanded the case to the lower court with directions to allow the student to replead his count against the school district. *  *  * Holman v. Illinois 47 Ill. Ct. Cl. 372 (1995) “The Claimant was attending a Halloween party at the Illinois State Museum with her grandson on October 26, 1990. The party had been advertised locally in the newspaper and through flier advertisements. The advertisement requested that children be accompanied by an adult, to come in costume and to bring a flashlight. The museum had set up different display rooms to hand out candy to the children and give the appearance of a “haunted house.” The Claimant entered the Discovery Room with her grandson. Under normal conditions the room is arranged with tables and low-seated benches for children to use in the museum’s regular displays. These tables and benches had been moved into the upper-right-hand corner of the Discovery Room next to the wall. In the middle of the room, there was a “slime pot” display where the children received the Halloween treat. The overhead fluorescent lights were turned off; however, the track lights on the left side of the room were turned on and dim. The track lights on the right side of the room near the tables and benches were not lit. The room was dark enough that the children’s flashlights could be clearly seen. There were approximately 40-50 people in the room at the time of the accident. The Claimant entered the room with her grandson. They proceeded in the direction of the pot in the middle of the room to see what was going in the pot. Her grandson then ran around the pot to the right corner toward the wall. As the Claimant followed, she tripped over the corner of a bench stored in that section of the room. She fell, making contact with the left corner of the bench. She experienced great pain in her upper left arm. The staff helped her to her feet. Her father was called and she went to the emergency room. Claimant has testified that she did not see the low-seating bench because it was so dimly lit in the Discovery Room. The Claimant was treated at the emergency room, where she was diagnosed with a fracture of the proximal humeral head of her left arm as a result of the fall. Claimant returned home, but was unable to work for 12 to 13 weeks.” OUTCOME: “The Claimant has met her burden of proof. She has shown by a preponderance of the evidence that the State acted negligently in placing furnishings in a dimly-lit room where visitors could not know of their location. The State did not exercise its duty of reasonable care. For the foregoing reasons, the Claimant is granted an award of $20,000.” *  *  * Ferlito v. Johnson & Johnson 771 F. Supp. 196 “Plaintiffs Susan and Frank Ferlito, husband and wife, attended a Halloween party in 1984 dressed as Mary (Mrs. Ferlito) and her little lamb (Mr. Ferlito). Mrs. Ferlito had constructed a lamb costume for her husband by gluing cotton batting manufactured by defendant Johnson & Johnson Products (“JJP”) to a suit of long underwear. She had also used defendant’s product to fashion a headpiece, complete with ears. The costume covered Mr. Ferlito from his head to his ankles, except for his face and hands, which were blackened with Halloween paint. At the party Mr. Ferlito attempted to light his cigarette by using a butane lighter. The flame passed close to his left arm, and the cotton batting on his left sleeve ignited. Plaintiffs sued defendant for injuries they suffered from burns which covered approximately one-third of Mr. Ferlito’s body.” OUTCOME: Ferlito v. Johnson & Johnson: Plaintiffs repeatedly stated in their response brief that plaintiff Susan Ferlito testified that “she would never again use cotton batting to make a costume.” Plaintiffs’ Answer to Defendant JJP’s Motion for J.N.O.V., pp. 1, 3, 4, 5. However, a review of the trial transcript reveals that plaintiff Susan Ferlito never testified that she would never again use cotton batting to make a costume. More importantly, the transcript contains no statement by plaintiff Susan Ferlito that a flammability warning on defendant JJP’s product would have dissuaded her from using the cotton batting to construct the costume in the first place. At oral argument counsel for plaintiffs conceded that there was no testimony during the trial that either plaintiff Susan Ferlito or her husband, plaintiff Frank J. Ferlito, would  have acted any different if there had been a flammability warning on the product’s package. The absence of such testimony is fatal to plaintiffs’ case; for without it, plaintiffs have failed to prove proximate cause, one of the essential elements of their negligence claim. In addition, both plaintiffs testified that they knew that cotton batting burns when it is exposed to flame. Susan Ferlito testified that she knew at the time she purchased the cotton batting that it would burn if exposed to an open flame. Frank Ferlito testified that he knew at the time he appeared at the Halloween party that cotton batting would burn if exposed to an open flame. His additional testimony that he would not have intentionally put a flame to the cotton batting shows that he recognized the risk of injury of which he claims JJP should have warned. Because both plaintiffs were already aware of the danger, a warning by JJP would have been superfluous. Therefore, a reasonable jury could not have found that JJP’s failure to provide a warning was a proximate cause of plaintiffs’ injuries. The evidence in this case clearly demonstrated that neither the use to which plaintiffs put JJP’s product nor the injuries arising from that use were foreseeable. But in Trivino v. Jamesway Corporation, the following result: The mother purchased cosmetic puffs and pajamas from the retailer. The mother glued the puffs onto the pajamas to create a costume for her child. While wearing the costume, the child leaned over the electric stove. The costume caught on fire, injuring the child. Plaintiffs brought a personal injury action against the retailer. The retailer filed a third party complaint against the manufacturer of the puffs, and the puff manufacturer filed a fourth party complaint against the manufacturer of the fibers used in the puffs. The retailer filed a motion for partial summary judgment as to plaintiffs’ cause of action for failure to warn. The trial court granted the motion and dismissed the actions against the manufacturers. On appeal, the court modified the judgment, holding that the mother’s use of the puffs was not unforeseeable as a matter of law and was a question for the jury. The court held that because the puffs were not made of cotton, as thought by the mother, there were fact issues as to the puffs’ flammability and defendants’ duty to warn. The court held that there was no prejudice to the retailer in permitting plaintiffs to amend their bill of particulars. OUTCOME: The court modified the trial court’s judgment to grant plaintiffs’ motion to amend their bill of particulars, deny the retailer’s motion for summary judgment, and reinstate the third party actions against the manufacturers. Tyler Durden Mon, 10/31/2022 - 19:05.....»»

The company said it does not agree with the decision by its parent Unilever A new agreement in Israel will put Ben & Jerry’s ice cream back on shelves in annexed east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank despite the ice cream maker’s protest of Israeli policies, according to Unilever, the company that owns the brand. The Vermont company, which has long backed liberal causes, said it does not agree with the decision, and it’s unclear if the product—which would only be sold with Hebrew and Arabic labeling—would have the same appeal to customers. We are aware of the Unilever announcement. While our parent company has taken this decision, we do not agree with it. (🧵1/3) — Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys) June 29, 2022 Israel hailed the move as a victory in its ongoing campaign against the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. BDS aims to bring economic pressure to bear on Israel over its military occupation of lands the Palestinians want for a future state. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Unilever, which acquired Ben & Jerry’s in 2000 but distanced itself from the ice cream maker’s decision last year to halt sales in the territories, said Wednesday that it had sold its business interest in Israel to a local company that would sell Ben & Jerry’s ice cream under its Hebrew and Arabic name throughout Israel and the West Bank. When Ben & Jerry’s was sold, the companies agreed that the ice cream maker’s independent board would be free to pursue its social mission, including longstanding support for liberal causes, including racial justice, climate action, LGBTQ rights and campaign finance reform. But Unilever would have the final word on financial and operational decisions. Unilever said it has “used the opportunity of the past year to listen to perspectives on this complex and sensitive matter and believes this is the best outcome for Ben & Jerry’s in Israel.” In its statement, Unilever reiterated that it does not support the BDS movement. It said it was “very proud” of its business in Israel, where it employs around 2,000 people and has four manufacturing plants. Unilever sold the business to Avi Zinger, the owner of Israel-based American Quality Products Ltd, who had sued Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s in March in a U.S. federal court over the termination of their business relationship, saying it violated U.S. and Israeli law. Zinger’s legal team said the decision by Unilever was part of a settlement. He thanked Unilever for resolving the matter and for the “strong and principled stand” it has taken against BDS. “There is no place for discrimination in the commercial sale of ice cream,” Zinger said. Ben & Jerry’s said that its parent company had taken the decision. “We do not agree with it,” the ice cream maker said on its Twitter account, adding that it would no longer profit from sales of its products in Israel. “We continue to believe it is inconsistent with Ben & Jerry’s values for our ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” it added. Omar Shakir, the director of Human Rights Watch for Israel and the Palestinian territories, said Unilever sought to undermine Ben & Jerry’s “principled decision” to avoid complicity in Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights, which his organization says amount to apartheid, an allegation Israel adamantly rejects. “It won’t succeed: Ben & Jerry’s won’t be doing business in illegal settlements. What comes next may look and taste similar, but, without Ben & Jerry’s recognized social justice values, it’s just a pint of ice cream.” Israel hailed the decision and thanked governors and other elected officials in the United States and elsewhere for supporting its campaign against BDS. It said Unilever consulted its Foreign Ministry throughout the process. “Antisemitism will not defeat us, not even when it comes to ice-cream,” Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said. “We will fight delegitimization and the BDS campaign in every arena, whether in the public square, in the economic sphere or in the moral realm.” BDS, an umbrella group supported by virtually all of Palestinian civil society, presents itself as a non-violent protest movement modeled on the boycott campaign against apartheid South Africa. It does not adopt an official position on how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should be resolved, and it officially rejects antisemitism. Israel views BDS as an assault on its very legitimacy, in part because of extreme views held by some of its supporters. Israel also points to the group’s support for a right of return for millions of Palestinian refugees — which would spell the end of Israel as a Jewish-majority state — and BDS leaders’ refusal to endorse a two-state solution to the conflict. Ben & Jerry’s decision was not a full boycott, and appeared to be aimed at Israel’s settlement enterprise. Some 700,000 Jewish settlers live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, which Israel annexed and considers part of its capital. Israel captured both territories in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want them to be part of their future state. Most of the international community views the settlements as a violation of international law. The Palestinians consider them the main obstacle to peace because they absorb and divide up the land on which a future Palestinian state would be established. Every Israeli government has expanded settlements, including during the height of the peace process in the 1990s......»»

Tucker Carlson's journey from prep school provocateur to Fox News flamethrower, according to his friends and former classmates. Tucker Carlson during a CNN National Town Meeting on coverage of the White House sex scandal, on January 28, 1998.Richard Ellis/Getty Images Tucker Carlson is remembered as a provocateur and gleeful contrarian by those who knew him in his early days. His bohemian artist mother abandoned her young family and cut Tucker and his brother out of her will. At a Rhode Island prep school and at Trinity College, classmates remember him as a skilled debater who could both amuse and infuriate his audiences. On Oct. 29, 1984, New York police killed an elderly Black woman named Eleanor Bumpurs in her own home. Bumpers, who lived in a public housing complex in the Bronx, had fallen four months behind on her rent. When officials from the city housing authority tried to evict her, she refused, and they called the police. Five officers responded by storming into her apartment. Bumpurs, who had a history of mental illness, grabbed a butcher knife as two officers pushed her against a wall with their plastic shields and a metal pole. A third officer fired two shots from his 12-gauge shotgun, striking Bumpurs in her hand and chest.Eleanor Bumpurs' death dominated the city's news for two months and led the NYPD to revise its guidelines for responding to emotionally disturbed individuals.At St. George's prep school, some 175 miles away in Rhode Island, the incident deeply haunted Richard Wayner. He was one of the school's few Black students and had grown up in a residential tower not far from where Bumpurs had lived. He earned straight As and was so admired that in 1984 his peers elected him senior prefect, the prep equivalent of student body president, making him the first Black class leader in the school's 125-year history. Harvard soon beckoned.Wayner was frustrated with how the St. George's community seemed to ignore the conversations about racial justice that were happening outside the cloistered confines of Aquidneck Island. It bothered Wayne that almost no one at St. George's seemed to know anything about Bumpurs' killing. "You had your crew, you put your head down, and you tried to get through three or four years of prep school with your psyche intact," Wayner said of those days.As senior prefect, one of the duties was to deliver an address each week at the mandatory Sunday chapel service. One Sunday, perched from the chapel podium, Wayner described the shooting as a sea of white faces stared back at him. He concluded with the words: "Does anyone think that woman deserved to die?"Near the front of the chapel, a single hand went up for a few brief seconds. It was Tucker Carlson.Eleanor Bumpurs was shot and killed by the New York Police Department on October 29, 1984APThen a sophomore, Tucker had a reputation as a gleeful contrarian – an indefatigable debater and verbal jouster who, according to some, could also be a bit of a jerk. "Tucker was just sort of fearless," said Ian Toll, a St. George's alumnus who would go on to be a military historian. "Whether it was a legitimate shooting may have been a point of debate but the fact was that Tucker was an underclassmen and the culture was to defer to the seniors." Wayner himself never saw Tucker's hand go up, and the two kept in touch over the years. (Note on style: Tucker Carlson and the members of his family are referred to here by their first names to avoid confusion.)  Four decades later, glimmers of that prep school provocateur appear on Tucker's Prime Time show on Fox, which garners an average of between 3 to 4 million viewers a night. His furrowed visage and spoiling-for-a-fight demeanor are all too familiar to those who have known him for decades. In the words of Roger Stone, a Republican political operative, frequent guest, and longtime friend of Tucker's: "Tucker Carlson is the single most influential conservative journalist in America… It is his courage and his willingness to talk about issues that no one else is willing to cover that has led to this development."Tucker's name has even been floated as a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2024. "I mean, I guess if, like, I was the last person on earth, I could do it. But, I mean, it seems pretty unlikely that I would be that guy." he said on the "Ruthless" podcast in June, dismissing this possibility.Tucker's four decades in Washington, and his transition from conservative magazine writer to right-wing television pundit, have been well documented. But less well known are his early years and how they shaped him: his bohemian artist mother, who abandoned her young family and cut Tucker and his brother out of her will; the Rhode Island prep school where he met his future spouse; and his formation into a contrarian debater who could both amuse and infuriate his audience with his attention-getting tactics.Tucker declined to participate in an interview with Insider, saying in a statement. "Your level of interest in the boring details of my life is creepy as hell, and also pathetic," he wrote. "You owe it to yourself and the country to do something useful with your talents. Please reassess."California roots Tucker Carlson's West Coast roots burrow as deep as a giant redwood. He was born in San Francisco in May 1969 as the excesses of the Sixties peaked and the conservative backlash to the counterculture and the Civil Rights movement started to take shape. Tucker's mother, Lisa McNear Lombardi, born in San Francisco in 1945, came from one of the state's storied frontier families. Lisa's mother, Mary Nickel James, was a cattle baron heiress. Her great-great-grandfather had owned 3 million acres of ranchland, making him among the largest landowners west of the Mississippi. Her father Oliver Lombardi was an insurance broker and descendant of Italian-speaking Swiss immigrants. Lisa enrolled at UC Berkeley, where she majored in architecture. She met Richard Carlson, a San Francisco TV journalist from a considerably less prosperous background, while still in college. Lisa and Richard eloped in Reno, Nevada in 1967. The couple didn't notify Lisa's mother, who was traveling in Europe with her new husband at the time. "Family members have been unable to locate them to reveal the nuptials," a gossip item published in the San Francisco Examiner dished.Tucker arrived two years later. A second son, Buckley, was born two years after that. As Richard's career began to flourish, the family moved first to Los Angeles and then, in 1975, to La Jolla, a moneyed, beach-front enclave about 12 miles north of San Diego. When Lisa and Richard divorced a year later, in 1976, Richard got full custody of their sons, then 6 and 4. According to three of Tucker's childhood classmates, Lisa disappeared from her sons' lives. They don't recall Tucker talking about her, or seeing her at school events. Marc Sterne, Tucker's boarding school roommate who went on to be executive producer of the Tony Kornheiser Show, says the two didn't talk much about Tucker's relationship with his mother and he got the impression that Tucker and Richard were exceptionally close. When Sterne's own parents split up that year, he said Tucker was supportive and understanding. Lisa spent the next two decades as an artist – moving first to Los Angeles, where she befriended the painter David Hockney, and later split her time between France and South Carolina with her husband, British painter Michael Vaughan. In 1979, Richard Carlson married Patricia Swanson, heiress to the Swanson frozen foods empire that perfected the frozen Salisbury steak for hassle-free dinners. She soon legally adopted Tucker and Buckley.  When Lisa died in 2011, her estate was initially divided equally between Tucker, his brother Buckley, and Vaughan. But in 2013, Vaughan's daughter from another marriage found a one-page handwritten document in Lisa's art studio in France that left her assets to her surviving husband with an addendum that stated, "I leave my sons Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson and Buckley Swanson Peck Carlson one dollar each." A protracted battle over Lombardi's estate involving Vaughan and the Carlson brothers wound up in probate court. The Carlsons asserted the will was forged but a forensic witness determined that Lisa had written the note. The case eventually went to the California Appellate Court, which allowed the Carlson brothers to keep their shares in 2019."Lisa was basically sort of a hippie and a free spirit," said one attorney who  represented the Vaughan family and recalled having conversations about the case. "She was very liberal and she did not agree with Tucker's politics. But she stuck the will in the book, everyone forgot about it, and then she passed away."In a 2017 interview with The New Yorker, Tucker described the dissolution of his family as a "totally bizarre situation — which I never talk about, because it was actually not really part of my life at all." Several pieces of art produced by Tucker's mother, Lisa Lombardi, and her then-partner Mo Mcdermott in the home of a California collector.Ted Soqui for InsiderLisa When Lisa left her husband and two young sons, she was escaping suburban family life in favor of the more bohemian existence as an artist. One of Tucker and Buckley's former teachers said their mother's absence "left some sour grapes." "I felt they sided with the father," Rusty Rushton, a former St. George's English teacher said. After the divorce, Lisa returned to Los Angeles and tried to break into the city's thriving contemporary art scene. She befriended Mo McDermott, an LA-based British sculptor, model, and longtime assistant to David Hockney, one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. A few years before he met Lisa, the scene was captured in Jack Hazan's 1974 groundbreaking documentary "A Bigger Splash," which followed Hockney and his coterie of gay male friends idly lounging around the pool in his Hollywood Hills home."When love goes wrong, there's more than two people who suffer," said McDermott, playing a slightly exaggerated version of himself, in a voiceover in the documentary.Lisa and McDermott became a couple and Lisa won admission into Hockney's entourage. Hockney lived a far more reclusive lifestyle than his pop art compatriot Andy Warhol but some four dozen or so artists, photographers, and writers regularly passed through his properties."She was more like a hippie, arty kind of person. I couldn't ever imagine her being a mother," said Joan Quinn, the then-West Coast editor of Andy Warhol's Interview Magazine, who knew Lisa during those years and still owns several of her works. "She was very nervous all the time… She was ill-content."The pair were often seen at Hockney's Hollywood Hills home and at Friday night gallery openings on La Cienega Boulevard. They collaborated on playful, large-scale wood sculptures of animals, vegetables, and trees. A handful of their pieces could be seen around Hockney's hillside ranch."Hockney had me over to meet them. He wanted a gallery to handle their work," said Molly Barnes, who owns a gallery in West Hollywood and gave the pair shows in 1983 and 1984. "They were brilliant and David loved Mo. He thought they were the best artists around.""She was quiet and intellectual and somewhat withdrawn," Barnes said. "She had come from a lot of money and that reflected on her personality. She wasn't a snob in any way but she had the manners of a private school girl and someone who was fighting the establishment."A sculpture by Tucker's mother, Lisa Lombardi, and her then-partner Mo Mcdermott in the home of a California collector.Ted Soqui for InsiderNone of them recall Lisa discussing her two sons. McDermott died in 1988. After his death, Hockney discovered that McDermott had been stealing drawings from him and selling them. Hockney said the betrayal helped bring on a heart attack. "I believe I had a broken heart," Hockney told The Guardian in 1995. (Hockney did not answer multiple inquiries about Lisa or McDermott.)In 1987, Lisa met Vaughan, one of Hockney's peers in the British art scene known as the "Bradford Mafia." They married in February 1989 and for years afterward they lived in homes in the Pyrenees of southwest France and South Carolina's Sea Islands.Lisa continued to make art, primarily oversized, wooden sculptures of everyday household items like peeled lemons and dice, but she exhibited her work infrequently. She died of cancer in 2011, at which point Carlson was a decade into his media career and a regular contributor on Fox News. Richard In contrast to Lisa's privileged upbringing, Richard's childhood was full of loss. Richard's mother was a 15-year-old high school girl who had starved herself during her pregnancy, and he was born with a condition called rickets. Six weeks later, his mother left him at an orphanage in Boston called The Home for Little Wanderers. Richard's father, who was 18, tried to convince her to kidnap the infant and marry him, but she refused. He shot and killed himself two blocks from her home.A Massachusetts couple fostered Richard for two years until he was adopted by a wool broker and his wife, which he described in a 2009 reflection for the Washington Post. His adoptive parents died when he was still a teenager and Richard was sent to the Naval Academy Preparatory School. He later enlisted in the Marines and enrolled in an ROTC program at the University of Mississippi to pay for college.In 1962, Richard developed an itch for journalism while working as a cop in Ocean City, Maryland at the age of 21, and the future NBC political correspondent Catherine Mackin, helped him get a copy boy job at the Los Angeles Times. Richard moved to San Francisco three years later and his career blossomed. He started producing television news features with his friend, Lance Brisson, the son of actress Rosalind Russell. They filmed migrant farm workers in the Imperial Valley living in cardboard abodes in 110 degree weather, traipsed the Sierra Nevada mountains to visit a hermit, and covered the Zodiac Killer and Bay Area riots (during one demonstration in 1966, they sent television feeds from their car where they trapped for four hours  and a crowd roughed up Brisson, which required four stitches under his left eye). Another time, they rented a helicopter in search of a Soviet trawler but they had to jump into the Pacific Ocean when the chopper ran low on fuel near the shore and crashed.In 1969, Richard and Brisson co-wrote an article for Look Magazine that claimed San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto had mafia ties. Alioto sued the magazine's owner for libel and won a $350,000 judgment when a judge determined the article's allegations were made with "actual malice" and "reckless disregard for whether they were true or not." (Richard was not a defendant in the case and has stood by his story. Brisson declined an interview.)Richard moved back to Los Angeles to join KABC's investigative team two years later. One series of stories that delved into a three-wheeled sports car called the Dale and the fraudulent marketing practices of its founder, Geraldine Elizabeth Carmichael, won a Peabody award in 1975. The series also outed Carmichael as a transgender woman. (Richard's role in Carmichael's downfall was explored in the HBO documentary "The Lady and the Dale.") Soon after arriving as an anchor for KFMB-TV, San Diego's CBS affiliate, Richard ran a story revealing that tennis pro Renee Richards, who had just won a tournament at the La Jolla Tennis Club, was a transgender woman."I said, 'You can't do this. I am a private person,'" Richards, who years later would advise Caitlyn Jenner about her transition, urged the television journalist to drop his story, according to a 2015 interview. "His reply? 'Dr. Richards, you were a private person until you won that tournament yesterday.'" By the time he left the anchor chair in 1977 to take a public relations job with San Diego Savings and Loan, Richard had soured on journalism. "I have seen a lot of arrogance and hypocrisy in the press and I don't like it," he told San Diego Magazine in 1977. "Television news is insipid, sophomoric, and superficial… There are so many things I think are important and interesting but the media can be counted on to do handstands on that kind of scandal and sexual sensation."Years later, Richard said that he never tried to encourage his eldest son in politics or journalism, but that Tucker had a clear interest in both from an early age. "I never thought he was going to be a reporter or a writer. I never encouraged him to do that," Richard told CSPAN of his eldest son in 2006. "I actually attempted not to encourage him politically, either. I decided those are the things that should be left up to them."A LaJolla, California post card.Found Image Holdings/Corbis via Getty ImagesA La Jolla childhoodAfter the divorce, Richard and his boys stayed in La Jolla in a house overlooking the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club. Friends of Tucker's would later say that the trauma of their mother's absence brought the three of them closer together.  "They both really admired their dad. He was a great source of wisdom. He's one of the great raconteurs you'll ever meet. They loved that glow that came from him," said Sterne, Tucker's boarding school roommate. "They both looked up to him, it was clear from my eyes."In an essay included in his book "The Long Slide: Thirty Years in American Journalism," Tucker described Richard as a kind parent who imbued family outings with a deeper message.One of Tucker's earliest memories, he writes, was from just after the divorce, when Tucker was seven and Buckley was five: the brothers gripping the edge of a luggage rack on the roof of his family's 1976 Ford Country Squire station wagon, while their father gunned the engine down a dirt road."I've sometimes wondered what car surfing was meant to teach us," Tucker wrote. "Was he trying to instill in us a proper sense of fatalism, the acknowledgement that there is only so much in life you can control? Or was it a lesson about the importance of risk?... Unless you're willing to ride the roof of a speeding station wagon, in other words, you're probably not going to leave your mark on the world."More often, the boys were left unsupervised and found their own trouble. Tucker once took a supermarket shopping cart and raced it down a hill in front of their house with Buckley in its basket. The cart tipped over, leaving Buckley with a bloody nose. He also recalled building makeshift hand grenades with hydrochloric acid and aluminum foil – using a recipe from their father's copy of "The Anarchist Cookbook"  and tossing them onto a nearby golf course."No one I know had a father like mine," Tucker wrote. "My father was funnier and more outrageous, more creative  and less willing to conform, than anyone I knew or have known since. My brother and I had the best time growing up."Richard sent Tucker to La Jolla Country Day, an upscale, largely white private school with a reputation as one of the best in Southern California, for elementary and middle school. In his book, "Ship of Fools: How a Selfish Ruling Class Is Bringing America to the Brink of Revolution," Tucker described his first grade teacher Marianna Raymond as "a living parody of earth-mother liberalism" who "wore long Indian-print skirts," and sobbed at her desk over the world's unfairness. "As a conservative, I had contempt for the whiny mawkishness of liberals. Stop blubbering and teach us to read. That was my position," he wrote. "Mrs. Raymond never did teach us; my father had to hire a tutor to get me through phonics.""I beg to differ," Raymond countered in an interview, saying that she was also Tucker's tutor during the summer after first grade and was even hired again. "I'm a great teacher. I'm sure he liked me." For her part, she remembered Tucker as a fair-haired tot who was "very sweet" and "very polite." (When The Washington Post reached out her her, she said Carlson's characterization had been "shocking.")  Friends from La Jolla remember that Tucker loved swimming the mile-and-a-half distance between La Jolla Shores Park and La Jolla Cove, jumping off cliffs that jut out into the Pacific Ocean, riffing on the drums, and playing Atari and BB gun games at the mall with his friends. "He was a happy kid. We were young, so we used to go to the beach. We did normal kid stuff," said Richard Borkum, a friend who is now a San Diego-based attorney. When they weren't at the beach or the mall, Borkum and another friend, Javier Susteata, would hang out at the Carlson home listening to The Who, AC/DC, and other classic rock bands. Borkum said the adults at the Carlson household largely left them alone. "I'm Jewish and Javier was Mexican and I'm not sure they were too happy we were going to their house," Borkum said.Another friend, Warren Barrett, remembers jamming with Tucker and going snow camping at Big Bear and snorkeling off Catalina Island with him in middle school."Tucker and I literally ate lunch together every day for two years," Barrett said. "He was completely the opposite of now. He was a cool southern California surfer kid. He was the nicest guy, played drums, and had a bunch of friends. And then something must have happened in his life that turned him into this evil diabolical shithead he is today."LaJolla is a upscale beach community outside of San Diego. Carlson and his family moved their in 1975.Slim Aarons/Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesSan Diego's next mayorRichard, meanwhile, was exploring a second career in public service. By 1980, he had risen to vice president of a bank headed by Gordon Luce, a California Republican power broker and former Reagan cabinet official. The following year, Richard's public profile got a boost when he tangled with another veteran television journalist, CBS's Mike Wallace. The 60 Minutes star had interviewed Richard for a story about low-income Californians who faced foreclosures from the bank after borrowing money to buy air conditioners without realizing they put their homes up for collateral. Richard had his own film crew tape the interview, and caught Wallace saying that people who had been defrauded were "probably too busy eating their watermelon and tacos." The remark made national headlines and Wallace was forced to apologize.Pete Wilson, the U.S. Senator and former San Diego mayor, encouraged Richard to run for office. In 1984, Richard entered the race to challenge San Diego Mayor Roger Hedgecock's re-election. "He was a very well-regarded guy," Hedgecock told Insider. "He had an almost Walter Cronkite-like appearance, but because he was in local news he was all about not offending anybody. He didn't have particularly strong views. He was nice looking, articulate, and made good appearances, but what he had to say was not particularly memorable other than he wanted me out of office."Sometimes Tucker tagged along for campaign events. "He would always show up in a sport coat, slacks and a bowtie and I thought that's really nice clothing for someone who is a kid," Hedgecock remembers. He was a very polite young man who didn't say much."Five days before voters went to the polls, Hedgecock went on trial for 15 counts of conspiracy and perjury, an issue that Richard highlighted in his television campaign ads. Richard still lost to Hedgecock 58 to 42 percent despite pouring nearly $800,000 into the race and outspending Hedgecock two to one. (Hedgecock was found guilty of violating campaign finance laws and resigned from office in 1985 but his convictions were overturned on appeal five years later.)People are seen near a beach in La Jolla, California, on April 15, 2020.Gregory Bull/AP PhotoPrep school In the fall of 1983, a teenaged Tucker traded one idyllic beachfront community for another.At 14, Tucker moved across the country to Middletown, Rhode Island, to attend St. George's School. (Buckley would follow him two years later.) The 125-year-old boarding school sits atop a hill overlooking the majestic Atlantic Ocean, and is on the other side of Aquidneck Island where Richard Carlson went to naval school. The private school was known as a repository for children of wealthy East Coast families who were not as academically inclined as those who attended Exeter or Andover. Its campus had dorms named after titans of industry, verdant athletic fields, and a white-sand beach.Senators Claiborne Pell and Prescott Bush graduated, as did Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, and poet Ogden Nash. Tucker's class included "Modern Family" actor Julie Bowen; Dede Gardner, the two-time Oscar-winning producer of "12 Years a Slave" and "Moonlight"; and former DC Entertainment president Diane Nelson. Billy Bush – "Extra" host, and cousin to George W. Bush – was three years behind him.Tuition at St. George's cost $13,000 per year in the 1980s (it's now up to $67,000 for boarding school students) and student schedules were tightly regimented with breakfast, classes, athletics, dinner, and study hall encompassing each day. Students were required to take religion classes, and attend chapel twice a week. Faculty and staff would canvass the dorms on Thursdays and Sundays to ensure no one skipped the Episcopal service. Tucker impressed his new chums as an hyper-articulate merrymaker who frequently challenged upperclassmen who enforced dorm rules and the school's liberal faculty members."He was kind of a California surfer kid. He was funny, very intelligent, and genuinely well-liked," said Bryce Traister, who was one year ahead of Tucker and is now a professor at the University of British Columbia. "There were people who didn't like Tucker because they thought he was a bullshitter but he was very charming. He was a rascal and a fast-talker, as full of shit as he is today."Back then Tucker was an iconoclast more in the mold of Ferris Bueller than preppy neocon Alex P. Keaton, even if his wardrobe resembled the "Family Ties" star. Students were required to wear jackets, ties, and khakis, although most came to class disheveled. Tucker wore well-tailored coats and chinos, pairing his outfit with a ribbon-banded watch and colorful bowtie which would later become his signature. "He was always a very sharp dresser. He had a great rack of ties. He always knew how to tie a bowtie but he didn't exclusively wear a bowtie," said Sterne, Tucker's freshman year roommate. "He always had great clothes. It was a lot of Brooks Brothers." Their crew crew held court in each others' dorm rooms at Auchincloss, the freshman hall, kicking around a Hacky Sack and playing soccer, talking about Adolph Huxley, George Orwell, and Hemingway, and dancing to Tom Petty, the Grateful Dead, and U2 on the campus lawn. Televisions weren't allowed so students listened to their Sony Walkman swapping cassette recordings of live concerts. Tucker introduced several bands to his friends."He loved classic rock and he was and still is a big fan of Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead," said Sterne, who saw a Dead show with Tucker at RFK Stadium in 1986.Sometimes the clique got slices at Aquidneck Pizza and played arcade games in town, hung out in history instructor William Schenck's office, and smoked pot and Marlborough Red cigarettes on a porch in the main building's common room that faced the ocean, according to multiple sources. When the school administrators banned smoking indoors the following year so they congregated behind the dumpster behind the dining hall. Vodka (often the brand Popov) mixed with Kool-Aid was the drink of choice and students stockpiled bottles under their beds.Tucker was an enthusiastic drinker, half a dozen classmates recall. In his book, "The Long Slide," Tucker credits Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" for enticing him to try drugs in 10th grade, The experience gave him "double vision and a headache." By the time he got to college, Tucker writes, "I switched to beer."By the late 1990s Tucker stopped smoking. He eventually cut alcohol too in 2002 after drinking so much while covering George W. Bush in New Hampshire during the 2000 primary that he accidentally got on the wrong plane, according to a friend.Most of Tucker's fellow students remember him best as a skilled speaker."He was always eager to take the less palatable side of the argument and argue that side," said Mahlon Stewart, who attended prep school and college with Tucker and is now a geriatric specialist at Columbia University. "Back then it was comedic. I thought it was an act.""His confidence was just amazing. He could just put out some positions and be willing to argue anything no matter how outlandish," Keller Kimbrough, a former classmate who's now a professor at the University of Colorado. "We were talking about politics and religion one time Tucker pulled this card out of his wallet and said, 'Well actually I'm an ordained minister, I'm an authority on the subject.' This was a stunt. He could literally play the religion card." "When he got the job at Fox I just thought 'Wow that's perfect for him, that's exactly what he can do.'"Their dorm room discourses were never serious. Tucker would pick a side in a debate between whether the color red or blue were better, and the crowd would erupt whenever he made a good point, friends said.  "Even at age 15 he was verbally dexterous and a great debater," Ian Toll said. "His conservative politics was fully formed even back then. He believed in strong defense and minimal government."His teachers saw a pupil who was primed for law school."Language and speaking came naturally to him. He took pleasure in it," said Rusty Rushton, Tucker's former English teacher. Tucker's politics, though, "seemed fluid to me," Rushton said. "I don't think of him as a deeply ensconced ideologue."He ditched soccer after sophomore year to act in a school theater production of Ayn Rand's courtroom thriller "Night of January 16th" (Julie Bowen starred as the prosecuting attorney. Tucker played a juror). But Tucker found his voice in competitive debate when he eventually joined the school's debate club. The team traveled to other private school campuses to compete against schools like Andover, Exeter, and Roxbury Latin in tournaments."He won some debate and basically did a victory lap afterward and got in the face of all the faculty there," one alum from a rival school who debated against Tucker said. "After defeating the student team, he started challenging the faculty, and said, 'Do any of you want to take me on? Are any of you capable of debating me?'"SusieIn the fall of Tucker's sophomore year, a new headmaster arrived at St. George's, Rev. George Andrews II. Andrews' daughter, Susie – who Tucker would eventually marry – was in Tucker's class. According to school tradition, a rotating group of underclassmen was charged with serving their classmates dinner and, one night in late September, Tucker and Susie had the shift at the same time. "They were sitting at a table at the far end of Queen Hall just leaning in, talking to each other," Sterne recalled. "You could see the sparks flying, which was cool."Susie floated between the school's friend groups easily. When she was seen mingling with Tucker, some questioned what she saw in him."People were saying, 'Come on Susie, why are you dating Tucker?' He's such a loser slacker and she was so sweet," Traister said. The pair started dating at the age of 15 and quickly became inseparable. Tucker gained notoriety on campus for repeatedly sneaking into Susie's room on the second floor of Memorial Schoolhouse, the school's stately administrative office that housed the headmaster's quarters. He had less time for his dumpster buddies now that the couple hung out on the campus lawn, attended chapel and an interdenominational campus ministry organization called FOCUS. His senior yearbook included a photo of Tucker squinting in concern to a classmate, with the caption "What do you mean you told Susie?While Susie was universally liked within the St. George's community, her father was polarizing.Andrews led the school during a turbulent period – it was later revealed – when its choirmaster Franklin Coleman was accused of abusing or having inappropriate conduct with at least 10 male students, according to an independent investigation by the law firm Foley Hoag in 2016. (Two attorneys representing several victims said 40 alumni contacted them with credible accounts of molestation and rape accusations at the hands of St. George's employees between 1974 and 2004 after a 2015 school-issued report detailed 26 accounts of abuse in the 1970s and 1980s. (Coleman was never criminally charged and he has not responded to Insider's attempts to reach him.) Over his eight-year tenure as school music director, from 1980 to 1988, Coleman invited groups of boys to his apartment for private parties. Sometimes he shared alcohol and pot with some of them, gave them back and neck rubs, showed pornographic videos, traveled with them on choral trips and stayed in their hotel rooms, and appeared nude around some of them, the report found. Several of Tucker's classmates and former faculty said they had no reason to believe he would have been aware of the accusations. "There were rumors circulating wildly that Coleman was bad news. The idea was he would cultivate relationships with young men," Ian Toll, a St. George's alum, said. "Anyone who was there at that time would have likely been aware of those rumors."Andrews told Foley Hoag investigators he was not aware of any complaints about Coleman until May 1988 (by then, Tucker had finished his freshman year in college) when school psychiatrist Peter Kosseff wrote a report detailing a firsthand account of misconduct. But Andrews acknowledged to investigators the school could have been aware of "prior questionable conduct" before then, the report said. Andrews fired Coleman in May 1988 after the school confronted Coleman with allegations of misconduct and he did not deny them. According to the investigation, Andrews told students Coleman resigned due to "emotional stress" and that he had the "highest regard and respect for him." On the advice of a school attorney, Andrews did not report the music teacher to child protective services. He also knew that his faculty dean wrote Coleman a letter of recommendation for a job at another school, according to investigators. Andrews left the school a few weeks after Coleman departed. By September 1989, he was named headmaster at St. Andrew's School in Boca Raton, Florida which he led for 18 years. (Andrews declined to speak about Tucker or his tenure at either school.) St. George's, meanwhile, reached an undisclosed settlement with up to 30 abuse survivors in 2016. Coleman found work as a choir director at Tampa Preparatory School in Tampa Bay, Florida before he retired in 2008. Tucker Carlson attended St. George’s School, a boarding school starting at age 14.Dina Rudick/The Boston Globe via Getty ImagesTrinity In the fall of 1987, Tucker enrolled at Trinity College in Hartford, CT, where Rev. Andrews had also attended.Nearly two-thirds of Trinity's student body back then originated from private schools and many came from wealthy backgrounds. Tuition in 1987 cost $11,700 plus an additional $3,720 for room and board—around $27,839 in today's dollars."When the Gulf War broke out" in 1990, one Trinity alum who knew Tucker recalled, "there was a big plywood sign in front of the student center that read, 'Blood for Oil,' and someone else threw a bucket of paint on it."The posh campus was situated in the middle of Hartford, Connecticut, the state's capital and one of its poorest cities. Discussions about race and inequality were sometimes at the forefront of campus politics, but many students avoided engaging in them entirely."There were issues about whether black students should only date other black students, that kind of thing," said Kathleen Werthman, a classmate of Tucker's who now works at a Florida nonprofit for people with disabilities. "My sophomore year, for new students, they had a speaker talking about racism, and one of the students said, 'I never met a black student, how are you supposed to talk to them?' And the idea that only white people can be racist was challenged too."Susie was at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tennessee. His brother remained in Rhode Island and other prep school friends had fanned out across the East Coast. Tucker moved into a four-bedroom dormitory overlooking the main quad. One suitemate, Neil Patel, was an economics major from Massachusetts who played intramural softball. (They would co-found the Daily Caller together two decades years later.) Other roommates played on the varsity soccer team and they formed a tight-knit group."I remember being struck by him. He was the same way he is now," said Rev. Billy Cerveny, a college friend of Tucker's who's now a pastor at Redbird Nashville. "He was a force of nature. He had a sense of presence and gravitas. You might get into an argument with him, but you end up loving the guy."Tucker often went out of his way to amuse his friends. Once during the spring semester, several activists set up a podium and microphone beneath his dorm window to protest the CIA's on-campus recruitment visits. The demonstration was open-mic so Tucker went up to the stage and told the crowd of about 15 people, "I think you're all a bunch of greasy chicken fuckers.""I think people laughed. He did," Cerveny said. "There was always a small collection of people any time there was an issue who tried to stir the pot in that way. Some people were dismissive and other people loved it, thinking 'Oh we're getting a fight here.'"As a sophomore, Tucker and his friends moved into a dingy three-story house on Crescent Street on the edge of the campus. He ditched his tailored jackets, khakis, and bowties for oversized Levi jeans, t-shirts, and untucked oxford shirts. Tucker commandeered a low-ceilinged room above the front porch with so many windows he had to hang up tapestries to keep out the sun. The tiny alcove had barely enough space for an eight-foot futon and several bookshelves Tucker built himself stacked with books he collected. Friends remember Tucker receiving an 8-by-10 manilla envelope that his father sent through the mail once or twice a month containing dozens of articles from newspapers and magazines.One of Tucker's friends, Cerveny, remembered stopping by Richard's home in Washington, D.C. and finding evidence of his hobbies, including the world's second largest collection of walking sticks."His house was filled with rare canes he collected from all over the world," Cerveny said. "The hallways had really amazing rows of canes hung on hooks that were specially made to mount these things on the house. One used to be a functional shotgun, another one was made out of a giraffe. His dad would pull out newspaper clippings of WWII Navy aircraft carriers. It changed the way I thought about a lot of things. I had never seen anything like that. Who collects canes?"During sophomore year, Tucker's friends decided to rush Delta Phi, a well-to-do fraternity also known as St. Elmo's. The Greek scene had a large presence on campus — about 20 percent of men joined them even though Trinity was a liberal arts school — and St. Elmo's had a reputation as freewheeling scamps. Once a year, a St. Elmo's brother would ride his motorcycle naked through the campus cafeteria. (Faculty voted in 1992 to abolish Greek life saying they were sexist and racist, and school administrators instead forced fraternities to become co-ed.)But Tucker refused to come aboard. Some classmates thought it was because he didn't want to be hazed."Tucker was not a joiner like that," Mahlon Stewart said. "He wouldn't have set himself up for whatever humiliation would have been involved. He would not have put up with that." But Cerveny, who pledged the fraternity, said it was a matter of faith."I remember explicitly him saying 'Look, I want to focus on what my faith is about and I thought this would be a big distraction,'" Cerveny said. "But he was very much in the mix with us. When we moved to a fraternity house [on Broad Street], we asked him to live with us."Tucker occasionally dropped in on his friends' fraternity events and occasionally brought Susie when she visited or Buckley when he drifted into town. Other times they hung out at Baker's Cafe on New Britain Avenue. Mostly Tucker stayed in his room."He was basically a hermit. It wasn't like he was going to a ton of parties" one Trinity St. Elmo's brother said. "He was not a part of the organizational effort of throwing big parties, or encouraging me to join the fraternity." Susie, who didn't drink or smoke, was a moderating influence. "Tucker and Susie had their moral compass pointing north even back then," Sterne said. "Tucker's faith was not something he was focused on in his early years but when he met Susie and he became close to her family, that started to blossom and grow in him. Now it's a huge part of his life."By the time his crew moved to another house on Broad Street, they each acquired vintage motorcycles and tinkered with them in their garage. Tucker owned a 1968 flathead Harley Davidson that barely ran and relied on a red Jeep 4X4 to transport friends around town (the Volkswagen van he had freshman year blew up). He smoked Camel unfiltered cigarettes, sipped bourbon, and occasionally brewed beer in the basement, including a batch he named "Coal Porter," according to GQ.When he wasn't reading outside of his courses or tinkering with his carburetor, Tucker took classes in the humanities and ultimately majored in history. Tucker dabbled in other fields including Russian history, Jewish history, Women's Studies, and Religious Studies, sitting in the back of lecture halls with his friends. Ron Kiener, who taught an introductory level course in Judaism, recalled Tucker performing "poorly" but earning a credit. "He did not get a stellar grade from me," Kiener said. "Based on what he says now he surely didn't get very much out of my courses."But Leslie Desmangles, who led courses in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Myth, Rite, and Sacrament, said Tucker was engaged and likely did just enough to pass his courses even if he wasn't very studious or vocal in class discussions."He was interested in understanding the nature of religious belief and studying different cultures and religions but I'm not sure if he had an interest in diversity," Desmangles said. "He was genuinely interested in ritual since a lot of the Episcopal church is highly ritualistic."Tucker's fascination with religion extended to his extracurricular activities too. He and several friends joined Christian Fellowship, a Bible study group that met weekly and helped the school chaplain lead Sunday services. Some members even volunteered with ConnPIRG, a student advocacy group on hunger and environmental issues, and traveled to Washington D.C. to protest the Gulf War. But Tucker steered clear of campus activism. He spent his free time reading and seeing Blues Traveler, Widespread Panic, and Sting perform when they came through Connecticut. Sometimes he skipped school to follow his favorite band, the Grateful Dead, on tour.He took an interest in Central American politics too. At the end of freshman year, Tucker and Patel traveled to Nicaragua. "We did not have a place to stay or any set plans," Tucker told the Trinity Tripod, his college paper, in March 1990. "It was very spontaneous. We are both extremely political and we felt that getting to know the country and some of its citizens would give us a better perspective on the situation." In February 1990, Tucker returned with three friends to Managua for 10 days to observe Nicaragua's elections. The National Opposition Union's Violetta Chamoro, which was backed by the U.S. government, defeated the leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front Daniel Ortega who had been in power since 1979. A month later Tucker and his classmate Jennifer Barr, who was separately in Nicaragua to observe elections and distribute medical supplies to the Sandinistas, shared their perspectives about their visits to a small crowd at the Faculty Club for the school's Latin America Week. Tucker thought press coverage of the election was too left-leaning and criticized the media for skewing a conservative victory, according to Barr."I don't think it was necessarily true," Barr said. "He was dismissive [about my views]. I did get a sense that he believed in what he was saying, and it was very different from my experience and my understanding of the race."Tucker's stance on U.S. politics at the time was less didactic. As the 1992 presidential election loomed his senior year, Tucker touted the independent candidacy of Ross Perot, a Texas business magnate, to his friends although it did not appear that Tucker was an ardent supporter."Tucker would go on and on about how Ross Perot was the answer to this or that, as a joke, and every one would participate" one St. Elmo's brother said. "He liked the way Ross Perot was basically throwing a wrench into the system. He wasn't a serious Ross Perot proponent. He was cheering on somebody who was screwing up the system."In Tucker's college yearbook, below his tousle-haired, bowtie wearing thumbnail photo, was a list of his extra-curricular activities: "History; Christian Fellowship 1 2 3 4, Jesse Helms Foundation, Dan White Society." Neither of the latter two – named, respectively, after the ultra-conservative North Carolina Senator, and a San Francisco supervisor who assassinated Harvey Milk in 1978 – ever existed. Tucker admired Helms for being a "bull in the china shop" of Congress, one classmate said. Some friends believed Tucker slipped in the off-color references as a lark."It's like a joke you and a friend would put in a series of anagrams that only you and two friends would remember and no one else would," the St. Elmo's friend said. "It's so niche that only someone like Tucker is thinking things like that or would even know the name of the person who killed Harvey Milk. He paid attention to things like that."Others claimed Tucker was the victim of a prank."It would not at all surprise me if one of the other guys in the [fraternity] house filled it in for him, and not just an inside joke, but pegging him with something that he got grief for," another close friend said. Protesters rally against Fox News outside the Fox News headquarters at the News Corporation building, March 13, 2019 in New York City.Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesAn outsider among insidersBy the spring of 1991, Tucker's academic performance had caught up with him. He had accumulated a 1.9 grade point average and may have finished with a 2.1 GPA, according to one faculty member who viewed a copy of his transcript. Tucker would eventually graduate from Trinity a year late. Falling behind was not uncommon. About 80 percent of Trinity students completed their degrees in four years, according to Trinity College records. (A Trinity spokeswoman would not comment on Tucker's transcript due to FERPA laws, which protect student privacy.Tucker's post-collegiate plans fell through too. Tucker applied to the CIA that spring. The spy agency passed."He mentioned that he had applied and they rejected him because of his drug use," another college friend said, while declining to be named. "He was too honest on his application. I also probably should say I don't know whether he was telling the truth or not." Once the school year was over, Tucker and Neil Patel hit the road on a cross-country motorcycle ride. After that: Washington DC.  Tucker's family left Southern California for Georgetown after President Reagan named his father head of Voice of America. In June 1991, President George H.W. Bush appointed Richard ambassador to the Seychelles and the Carlson family upgraded to a nicer house in Georgetown with a pool in the basement. That summer, with Tucker's father and stepmother often out of town, the Carlson household was the center of Tucker's social lives, the place they retired to after a night drinking at Georgetown college dive bars like Charing Cross and Third Edition, and pubs like Martin's Tavern and The Tombs, immortalized in St. Elmo's Fire. In August, Tucker and Susie got married in St. George's chapel and held a reception at the Clambake Club of Newport, overlooking the Narragansett Bay. Back in Washington, Tucker's prep school, college, and his father's Washington-based networks began to mesh. Tucker took a $14,000-a-year job as an assistant editor and fact checker of Policy Review, a quarterly journal published at the time by the Heritage Foundation, the nation's leading conservative think tank. For the next three decades, Tucker thrived in the Beltway: He joined The Weekly Standard and wrote for several magazines before appearing on cable news networks as a right-of-center analyst and host at CNN, PBS, and MSNBC. His father embarked on a third career as a television executive where he ran the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and his brother became a political operative and a pollster. By the time Tucker reached the core of the conservative media sphere, a slot on Fox News's primetime opinion lineup, he shed friends from his youth who couldn't grapple with the hard-right turn he veered once he became the face of the network.One friend was not surprised with Tucker's act. In the spring of 2016, during the heat of Donald Trump's presidential campaign against Hilary Clinton and a few months before "Tucker Carlson Tonight" premiered on Fox, Tucker had lunch with his old prep school classmate Richard Wayner who made the speech about Eleanor Bumpurs all those years ago. Wayner believed Tucker's gesture from his pew was never serious. "As a 9th or 10th grader in a chapel full of people in a conversation, he was trying to get attention," Wayner said.The two stayed in touch over the years and Tucker at one point suggested he write a handful of pieces for the Daily Caller, the conservative news and opinion site that Tucker co-founded and ran in the 2010s. As they settled into their table at a Midtown Manhattan steakhouse, the two chatted about Wayner's experience on the board of St. George's (which Susie was about to join) and their respective careers. Tucker was floating around at Fox, and Wayner, now an investor and former Goldman Sachs investment banker, said the conversation drifted toward salaries."He was asking, 'How much do you make on Wall Street' and was like, 'Wow, Wall Street guys make a lot.'" Wayner said. When they left the restaurant and headed back toward the Fox News headquarters, several people recognized Tucker on the street even though he had jettisoned his trademark bowtie years ago. Wayner saw Tucker making the pragmatic decision to follow a business model that has made his conservative media counterparts a lot of money."I don't think he has a mission. I don't think he has a plan," Wayner said. "Where he is right now is about as great as whatever he thought he could be.""Tucker knows better. He does. He can get some attention, money, or both." he added. "To me, that's a shame. Because he knows better." Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Ohanian and Williams are already co-owners of the National Women's Soccer League Los Angeles team, Angel City FC. Alexis Ohanian and Serena Williams attend The 2023 Met Gala.Cindy Ord/Getty Images Alexis Ohanian and the Williams sisters have bought another sports team to bring to Los Angeles. It's the first team for TGL, a new pro golf league established by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.  Ohanian and wife, Serena Williams, already co-own Angel City FC, a women's soccer team.  Add another Los Angeles sports team to the list: The Los Angeles Golf Club. In a city with two teams in each of the major professional sports leagues – the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and MLS — Reddit cofounder and founder of the venture capital firm Seven Seven Six, Alexis Ohanian, and his former tennis superstar wife, Serena Williams, are giving Angeleno sports fans a new club to cheer on.The couple, along with Williams' sister Venus, have bought the first golf team for TGL, a new league developed by golf greats, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. Ohanian and the Williams sisters are the first to buy a TGL golf league team. Ohanian and Williams are making a name for themselves in the Los Angeles sports scene. Ohanian is already the principal owner and founding investor of LA's National Women's Soccer League team, Angel City FC. Williams and a host of celebrities like Eva Longoria, Jessica Chastain, and Christina Aguilera are also investors in the football club. "We see tremendous opportunities to leverage technology to bring golf closer to its fans and to provide an immersive and interactive experience that will captivate both seasoned golf enthusiasts and new fans," Ohanian said in a press release.Through her namesake VC firm, Serena Ventures, Williams has invested in a few sports-centric startups like Athletic Club Momento, a soccer-focused auction house that looks for match-worn shirts from players to auction off to fans, and OpenSponsorship, a digital marketplace that finds sponsorship for pro sports teams.Alexis Ohanian said in a tweet that their daughter Olympia is also a co-owner of the new golf team. He and Serena Williams are now expecting their second child.Charles Krupa/APTGL, the golf league, is the brainchild of TMRW Sports Group (pronounced as Tomorrow Sports) in partnership with the PGA Tour. Woods and McIlroy cofounded the company along with sports executive Mike McCarley, who helmed NBC Sports' golf division and was president of the Golf Channel. The golf league will feature six teams of three PGA Tour players including Woods, McIIroy, Justin Thomas, and Jon Rahm, this year's winner of the Masters. The 15 regular-season Monday night matches are scheduled to begin in January 2024, and interested viewers will be able to watch all the golf shots live on TV during a two-hour primetime TV broadcast. And what the league says will set it apart is its tech-enabled, "virtual" golf venue built in Palm Beach, Florida. The teams will compete in a sort of fancy golf simulator where pro players, and not retired grandpas, play.A rendering of the TGL golf league venue in Florida.TGLEarlier this week, the PGA Tour shocked the sports world by merging with rival Saudi Arabia-backed league, LIV Golf. The emergence of LIV in the past year and a half created riffs among pro golf players, who criticized pros like Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka for leaving the PGA Tour to join LIV for a chance to win larger prizes than they could ever earn on the PGA Tour circuit. And the PGA Tour suspended those defecting players, which caused a stream of litigation.There's still quite a bit of confusion and head-scratching after the merger's announcement. Many are still curious about how it came about and why. Though it appears LIV Golf's status has been rising in recent months, buoyed by recent strong performances by Brooks Koepka, a player who signed with the organization and tied for second at the Masters and won the PGA Championship this year. Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Supreme Court Overrules Local Governments For Seizing Homes Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The U.S. Supreme Court reversed court rulings in which local governments seized two homes over unpaid tax debts and kept sale proceeds that far exceeded the tax owed. The Supreme Court held a special sitting on Sept. 30, 2022, for the formal investiture ceremony of Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. (Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States/Getty Images) Critics call the practice “home equity theft.” The case came after Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), which represented the homeowners in both cases, released a report late last year saying that 12 states and the District of Columbia allow local governments and private investors to seize dramatically more than what is owed from homeowners who fall behind on property tax payments. PLF is a national nonprofit public interest law firm that takes on governmental overreach. The U.S. Supreme Court released unsigned orders (pdf) on June 5 summarily reversing two rulings of the Supreme Court of Nebraska. The nation’s highest court did not explain why it was issuing the orders. No justices dissented. The judgments of the Supreme Court of Nebraska were vacated and the cases remanded to that court “for further consideration in light” of the U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling in Tyler v. Hennepin County on May 25. In that decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Minnesota county wronged a 94-year-old grandmother when it forced the sale of her condominium over an unpaid tax debt and kept the sale proceeds that far exceeded the tax she owed. Geraldine Tyler owned a modest one-bedroom condominium in Hennepin County, but after she was harassed and frightened near her home, she moved to a new apartment in a safer neighborhood. The rent on her new apartment stretched her resources and she fell into arrears on her condo’s property tax bills, accumulating about $2,300 in taxes owed, along with $12,700 in penalties, interest, and costs. The county seized Tyler’s condo, valued at $93,000, and sold it for just $40,000. Instead of keeping the $15,000 it was owed, the county retained the full $40,000, amounting to a windfall of $25,000. Tyler sued, arguing that the government violated the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment by seizing property in excess of the debt. Her lawsuit was rejected by the courts, including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, which found that the legal forfeiture of the property extinguished the owner’s property interest. But the county went too far in keeping the windfall, the U.S. Supreme Court held. The principle that a government is not allowed to take from a taxpayer more than she owes is based in English law and goes back at least as far as the Magna Carta of 1215. And Supreme Court precedents have long recognized that a taxpayer is entitled to the surplus in excess of the debt owed, the court stated at the time. “The Takings Clause ‘was designed to bar Government from forcing some people alone to bear public burdens which, in all fairness and justice, should be borne by the public as a whole,’” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court. “A taxpayer who loses her $40,000 house to the State to fulfill a $15,000 tax debt has made a far greater contribution to the public fisc than she owed.” On June 5, the U.S. Supreme Court simultaneously granted the petitions of Kevin and Terry Fair and Sandra Nieveen seeking review while skipping over the oral argument phase when the merits of the case would have been considered. Some lawyers call this process GVR, which stands for grant, vacate, and remand. Critics say this process is part of the so-called shadow docket, which they say lacks transparency. In Fair v. Continental Resources (court file 22-160), Kevin and Terry Fair’s $60,000 home was taken by Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska, and Continental Resources for a $5,200 tax debt, according to the Fairs’ petition. Under the state’s tax foreclosure statute, the county extinguished the couple’s interest in the home by conveying full title to Continental without holding an auction and without any opportunity for the couple to recover their equity. Read more here... Tyler Durden Tue, 06/06/2023 - 23:25.....»»

The PGA Tour and rival LIV Golf have announced a merger of the two big-money golf tours, ending some bitter words and nasty lawsuits. The PGA Tour has agreed to merge its professional golfers’ tour with Saudi-backed LIV Golf. The agreement marks the end of a two-year battle between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf that attracted some of the world’s top pros, including new PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka, with lucrative deals that are rumored to have reached nine digits. (These are the worst blunders in sports history.) LIV Golf is backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), and its nearly bottomless well of black gold. LIV sued the PGA for monopolistic behavior last year. The PGA countersued, claiming that LIV illegally enticed players to break their contracts with the older tour by throwing money at the PGA Tour pros. The suits were tentatively set to go to trial next year. The agreement, which is basically a framework with few details, still has to be approved by the PGA Tour’s policy board. Then the details have to be pounded out. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan commented in a memo to players reviewed by CNBC: There is much work to do to get us from a framework agreement to a definitive agreement, but one thing is obvious: through this transformational agreement and with PIF’s collaborative investment, the immeasurable strength of the PGA Tour’s history, legacy and pro-competitive model not only remains intact, but is supercharged for the future. The New York Times reported that Monahan will become the commissioner of the yet-to-be-named tour and that Yasir al-Rumayyan, PIF’s governor, will become its chair. The PGA Tour’s European offspring, the DP Tour, is included in the agreement. ALSO READ: Best Sports Movies Based on True Events wallst_recirc_link_tracking_init( "878562968647f691ef01b2", "text" ); The PIF is reportedly ready to commit billions of dollars to the new tour entity. Al-Rumayyan told CNBC’s David Faber Tuesday morning, “Whatever it takes that’s … what we’re committed for.” Sponsored: Tips for Investing A financial advisor can help you understand the advantages and disadvantages of investment properties. Finding a qualified financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to three financial advisors who serve your area, and you can interview your advisor matches at no cost to decide which one is right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now. Investing in real estate can diversify your portfolio. But expanding your horizons may add additional costs. If you’re an investor looking to minimize expenses, consider checking out online brokerages. They often offer low investment fees, helping you maximize your profit......»»

The billionaire will host a call with the Democratic nominee hopeful just weeks after a call with Florida Gov. Ron De Santis suffered glitches. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will talk to Elon Musk in a Twitter Spaces call.David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images Elon Musk is ready for another conversation with a presidential hopeful. On Monday the billionaire will host anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on a Twitter Spaces call.  It comes just weeks after Republican candidate Ron DeSantis suffered an embarrassing campaign launch on Twitter.  Elon Musk will host outspoken anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr in a virtual call on Twitter as he prepares to take-on President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination for the 2024 election — weeks after Ron DeSantis' catastrophic campaign launch on the platform.The billionaire Twitter owner will talk to Kennedy — nephew of late president John F. Kennedy — on Monday in a Twitter Spaces event titled "Reclaiming Democracy," marking his second conversation with a presidential candidate on the platform.The Democratic hopeful has proven to be a controversial figure in recent years, becoming a prominent anti-vaccine campaigner during the COVID-19 pandemic who has likened Anthony Fauci to Adolf Hitler. He has also repeatedly shared false claims about vaccines on his Instagram, which was suspended in 2021, but has since been reinstated.Kennedy has been backed by a small number of notable figures in the tech industry such as Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey, who tweeted a Fox News clip on Sunday of challenger arguing that he could beat Donald Trump and DeSantis in next year's election.The conversation comes just weeks after Florida Gov. DeSantis took to Twitter to announce his presidential run in an audio call hosted by Musk and longtime ally David Saacks, which the Twitter owner called "the top story on Earth."The online event, which was marred by technical glitches that delayed its start by more than 30 minutes, saw DeSantis launch into a lengthy tirade on free speech, with calls to replace "the woke mind virus with reality, facts, and enduring principles."Kennedy has made similar statements on free speech, suggesting that a "censorship-industrial complex" exists that acts as an "incredibly sophisticated system of information control." Twitter sent an automated response to Insider's request for comment. Representatives of Kennedy did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment sent outside regular business hours. Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Banned By Major Social Media Site, Campaign Pages Blocked Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Twitter owner Elon Musk invited Democrat presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for a discussion on his Twitter Spaces after Kennedy said his campaign was suspended by Meta-owned Instagram. “Interesting… when we use our TeamKennedy email address to set up @instagram accounts we get an automatic 180-day ban. Can anyone guess why that’s happening?” he wrote on Twitter. An accompanying image shows that Instagram said it “suspended” his “Team Kennedy” account and that there “are 180 days remaining to disagree” with the company’s decision. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. attends Keep it Clean to benefit Waterkeeper Alliance in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 1, 2018. (John Sciulli/Getty Images for Waterkeeper Alliance) In response to his post, Musk wrote: “Would you like to do a Spaces discussion with me next week?” Kennedy agreed, saying he would do it Monday at 2 p.m. ET. Hours later, Kennedy wrote that Instagram “still hasn’t reinstated my account, which was banned years ago with more than 900k followers.” He argued that “to silence a major political candidate is profoundly undemocratic.” “Social media is the modern equivalent of the town square,” the candidate, who is the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, wrote. “How can democracy function if only some candidates have access to it?” The Epoch Times approached Instagram for comment. Interesting… when we use our TeamKennedy email address to set up @instagram accounts we get an automatic 180-day ban. Can anyone guess why that’s happening? pic.twitter.com/0G8oRnoXTv — Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) June 2, 2023 It’s not the first time that either Facebook or Instagram has taken action against Kennedy. In 2021, Instagram banned him from posting claims about vaccine safety and COVID-19. After he was banned by the platform, Kennedy said that his Instagram posts raised legitimate concerns about vaccines and were backed by research. His account was banned just days after Facebook and Instagram announced they would block the spread of what they described as misinformation about vaccines, including research saying the shots cause autism, are dangerous, or are ineffective. “This kind of censorship is counterproductive if our objective is a safe and effective vaccine supply,” he said at the time. Read more here... Tyler Durden Sat, 06/03/2023 - 20:30.....»»

The DeSantis administration wanted Judge Walker off the case, saying he couldn't be impartial. That was ultimately not why he stepped back. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis got married at Disney World in 2009.Joe Raedle/Getty Images and AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images Obama-nominated Judge Mark Walker recused himself from the Disney lawsuit. He said a relative held stock in Disney and that he couldn't rule impartially.  Judge Allen Winsor, a Trump nominee, will take his place.  The federal judge assigned to hear Walt Disney Parks and Resorts' lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has recused himself from the case, citing potential financial conflicts of interest. The judge, Mark Walker, wrote in court documents that "a relative within the third degree" held 30 shares of The Walt Disney Co. stock, and that the shares could be affected by the outcome of the lawsuit. Walker learned of the conflict last week, he said. The judge didn't specify who the relative was, but a "third degree" relative could refer to a cousin, great-grandparent, great-aunt or uncle, or a half-aunt or uncle. The case will now go before Judge Allen Winsor, a nominee of President Donald Trump — who is challenging DeSantis for the 2024 nomination for president. Winsor was solicitor general of Florida under former state Attorney General Pam Bondi, who later would go on to defend Trump during his first impeachment trial. The DeSantis administration had requested Walker recuse himself in the case, saying that he couldn't be impartial because of comments he made about Disney in other, unrelated cases. Walker denied that specific request, calling it "meritless" and accusing DeSantis of "rank judge-shopping," but he still disqualified himself from hearing Disney's lawsuit over the ethical conflict.Walker was appointed by former President Barack Obama and previously blocked a DeSantis-backed law that restricted how workplaces instituted diversity, equity, and inclusion trainings. In an April interview with the British newspaper The Telegraph, DeSantis accused Disney of "forum shopping" for a judge "who rules against us all the time" because the entertainment company didn't file its lawsuit in state court. Instead, Disney sued DeSantis in the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida in April, while he was on an international trade mission, alleging that he tried to "weaponize government power" over the company when it threatened to work to repeal a law that sets strict limitations on how and when LGBTQ topics can be taught in public schools. The suit accuses DeSantis and his office of engaging in "a targeted campaign of government retaliation" against Disney that was "orchestrated at every step by Governor DeSantis as punishment for Disney's protected speech." The company warned that the actions of the governor "threatens Disney's business operations, jeopardizes its economic future in the region, and violates its constitutional rights."Walt Disney Co., the parent company of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, is headquartered in Burbank, California, but the company holds powerful sway in Florida through Walt Disney World, which has roughly 70,000 employees and is the state's biggest tourist attraction. The lawsuit move by the company, which just laid off 7,000 employees, was an escalation after DeSantis threatened changes to Disney's special tax district, with help from both the Florida legislature and a board he appointed to oversee the district. The governor even floated the idea of building a state prison on bordering land, as well as higher taxes, more regulations, building workforce affordable housing, and exploring the sale of utilities the district owns. The board counter-sued Disney in state court, asking the 9th Judicial Circuit in Central Florida to render "void and unenforceable"a loophole Disney created to maintain control of its land, calling it "riddled with procedural and substantive defects." Neither a representative for the board, the governor's office, nor Disney immediately responded to a request for comment from Insider. This is a breaking news story that will be updated. Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Futures Rise After House Passes Debt Deal, Europe Boosted By Weaker Inflation US futures edged higher after the House passed a deal to avert a US default (with more Democrats voting for the "McCarthy" deal than Republicans) and Fed officials hinted at a pause in interest-rate hikes. Globally, the Caixin China PMIs beat expectations (not to be confused with the catastrophic official PMI print) and Euro Area CPI printed dovishly, aiding a global risk-on tone. As of 7:45am ET, S&P 500 futures added 0.2% and were again trading right around 4,200 ironclad resistance, while Nasdaq 100 contracts were 0.1% higher. The Dollar slumped to a three day low as the euro rallied after data showed underlying inflation in the euro zone dipped by more than expected in May, though that may not stop the European Central Bank from raising rates. Treasury yields edged higher, mirroring moves in Europe and the UK. Gold and Bitcoin fell, while oil climbed for the first time in three days. Today’s macro data focus includes ADP, Jobless Claims, ISM-Mfg, and Construction Spending. As the market moves past the debt ceiling, the focus shifts to the Fed and the macro narrative. In premarket trading, a rally in companies exposed to the development of artificial intelligence-related products continued to cool in US premarket trading. Software maker C3.ai Inc. plunged as much as 22% after a disappointing sales outlook. Nvidia, whose meteoric rise had fueled the rally, was steady after losing some ground on Wednesday. Among other individual movers, Salesforce Inc. slumped abut 6% after it gave a lackluster outlook for future sales. Advance Auto Parts Inc. extended a decline after cutting earnings and sales guidance. Here are some other notable premarket movers: Alteryx rises 5.6% in premarket trading as BofA moves to buy from neutral in note, citing three reasons supporting its upgrade for the software company. Chewy shares jump 16% in US premarket trading as analysts said the online pet supplies retailer topped expectations across the board, with a beat on its key customer metric the highlight. Lucid shares drop 8% in US premarket trading, after the electric-vehicle maker said it’s raising about $3 billion in a common stock offering, with the majority of the money coming from its Saudi owners. The fundraising reduces expectations for Lucid to go private anytime soon, Bloomberg Intelligence notes. Nordstrom shares rallied as much as 7.8% in premarket trading, after the department-store chain reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue and profit. Analysts were optimistic about the improvements at the retailer’s off-price Rack stores. Okta shares fall as much as 19% in premarket trading on Thursday, after the application software company reported its first- quarter results and analysts noted weakness in the outlook for current remaining-performance obligations (cRPO) as a concern. Salesforce shares fall as much as 6% in premarket trading, after the software company reported its first-quarter results and gave a forecast showing the company isn’t growing as fast as it used to. Analysts noted, in particular, the slowdown in contracted sales. Veeva Systems quarterly results beat expectations, with the application software firm’s billings a beat. Notably, analysts said it appears to be navigating well through the macro weakness which had impacted its peers. Veeva shares rose 7.1% in after-hours trading. Passage of the debt-ceiling deal struck by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden means the bill will be sent to the Senate where it will be promptly signed well before the June 5 default deadline. The signs of optimism were helped along by comments from Fed officials who backed the possibility of holding rates unchanged the next meeting, and some encouraging economic data out of China. “Finally, some good news is driving today’s optimism,” said Ludovica Scotto di Perta,  a structured-product specialist at Swissquote Bank SA. “US raising the debt ceiling and sentiment that the Fed will pause are boosting risk appetite. It might only be temporary but we will take anything at this point.” “A June swoon may be in the cards as the S&P 500 struggles to clear key resistance at 4,200,” said Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist at LPL Financial. “While a deal in Washington could be a catalyst for a breakout, overbought conditions in the technology sector and mega-cap space — the primary drivers of this year’s market advance — could make this a high hurdle for the market to clear on a near-term basis, especially without broader participation.” Meanwhile, hopes for a Fed pause were partly pared back after Wednesday’s JOLTS jobs report for April showed more than 10 million openings, the highest in three months and above consensus estimates. But Fed Governor Philip Jefferson said the central bank is inclined to keep interest rates steady in June to assess the economic outlook. His remarks were echoed by Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, who said, “I think we can take a bit of a skip for a meeting.” Attention turns next to US jobless claims data due later Thursday, before Friday’s nonfarm payrolls. European stocks rose amid a wider risk-on sentiment after the House passed debt limit deal, and were on course to snap a three-day losing streak after US lawmakers took a step closer to averting a default. The Stoxx 600 is up 0.7% with media, banks and carmakers among the leading performers as data showed euro-area inflation slowed more than analysts’ estimates in May. Adnoc Logistics & Services, the maritime logistics unit of Abu Dhabi’s main energy company, soared as much as 52% on its debut after a hugely oversubscribed initial public offering. Airbus SE gained after Reuters reported a rise in aircraft deliveries. Here are the most notable European movers: Neste shares gain as much as 4.4% after being raised to buy from neutral at UBS, with the broker more optimistic on the outlook for renewable fuel products beyond the key Swedish market Recordati gains as much as 5% and leads gains on Italy’s FTSE MIB benchmark, after Equita added the Italian drugmaker to its best picks selection, citing better-than-expected 1Q results Johnson Matthey rises as much as 2.1% after Bloomberg reported the British industrial conglomerate is planning the sale of its medical device components business Wolters Kluwer rises as much as 4.1%, after BNP Paribas Exane raises its recommendation to outperform, seeing professional information providers such as Wolter Kluweras potential AI winners Lonza gains 1.6%, after the drug-ingredient supplier announced its acquisition of early stage biotech Synaffix. Morgan Stanley welcomes the move, saying it gains access to ADC technology ITM Power rises as much as 4.4%, after the clean-fuel firm said it is making good progress against its 12-month plan, with net cash set to be ahead of guidance and the adjusted Ebitda loss within Remy Cointreau trades flat, having initially jumped as much as 6%, after the French distiller reported FY current operating income that beat estimates Dr. Martens slumps 14% at the open after the bootmaker’s FY profit missed expectations. Morgan Stanley analysts called the sales forecast “ambitious,” while RBC sees double-digit downgrades ahead Auto Trader shares slip as much as 2.5%, with analysts predicting limited changes to consensus estimates following results and guidance that largely matched expectations Pennon shares fall as much as 2.3% as worries over the ongoing Ofwat investigation into sewage pollution overshadow the utility’s EPS beat, with Jefferies flagging lack of detail in the guidance Earlier in the session, most Asian benchmarks rose, though gains in Chinese stocks faded as investors studied mixed readings on the country’s manufacturing activity. Caixin manufacturing data for May showed an expansion, exceeding forecasts for a small contraction. The numbers followed official figures Wednesday that showed a further contraction in activity. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. shrugged off the early indecision and were boosted after the Chinese Caixin Manufacturing PMI data partially atoned for yesterday’s weak official PMI readings. Japan's Nikkei 225 was marginally supported by data releases including business capex which grew at its fastest pace since Q3 2016 and with Japanese firms logging their largest recurring profits for Q1. Australia's ASX 200 was choppy in early trade but ultimately gained after stronger-than-expected capital expenditure and the improvement in Chinese Caixin PMI. Key stock gauges in India fell for a second day, led by losses in financial services and communication companies. The S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.3% to 62,428.54 in Mumbai, while the NSE Nifty 50 Index declined 0.3% to 18,487.75. The MSCI Asia-Pacific index climbed 0.4% for the day. Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Bank index were the worst performing sectoral indexes falling 0.6% and 0.8%, respectively.  Out of 30 shares in the Sensex index, 18 rose, while 12 fell. In FX, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index is flat while the Swiss franc has outperformed its G-10 peers slightly. The Norwegian krone is the worst performer, falling 0.8% versus the greenback. Crude futures decline with WTI falling 0.3% to trade near $67.90. Spot gold falls 0.2% to around $1,958. Bitcoin drops 0.7%. The euro rallied against the dollar after data showed underlying inflation in the euro zone dipped by more than expected in May, though that may not stop the European Central Bank from raising rates. European Central Bank Governing Council member Olli Rehn said the bank won’t contemplate lowering borrowing costs before core consumer-price growth slows in a continuous manner. In rates, treasuries are lower with US 10-year yields rising 3bps, while two-year borrowing costs climb 4bps as stock futures partly bounce from Wednesday’s drop. 2s10s, 5s30s spreads are flatter by 1bp and 1.8bp on the day while 10-year yields are around 3.67%, cheaper by 2.5bp and lagging bunds and gilts by 0.5bp and 1.5bp in the sector. Bunds and gilts are also in the red with the former showing little reaction to data showing a larger than expected slowdown in euro-area inflation.  US session focus turns to data, including ADP employment, jobless claims and ISM manufacturing. Fed’s Harker also due to speak after urging a June pause Wednesday.   In commodities, WTI futures lower by 0.75% on the day. Industrial metals climbed from six-month lows, led by copper and nickel. China’s sluggish economy has been a key driver of weakness demand for raw materials.   Bitcoin is softer on the session, though only incrementally so, and remains in close proximity to the USD 27k mark which itself is towards the mid-point of sub-1k parameters. To the day ahead now, and the data highlights include the flash CPI release from the Euro Area for May, as well as the unemployment rate for April. Otherwise in the US, there’s the ISM manufacturing release for May, the ADP’s report of private payrolls for May, and the weekly initial jobless claims. In addition, there’s the global manufacturing PMIs for May, along with April data on German retail sales and UK mortgage approvals. From central banks, we’ll hear from ECB President Lagarde, the ECB’s Knot and Villeroy, as well as the Fed’s Harker. The ECB will also be releasing the account of their May meeting. Market Snapshot S&P 500 futures up 0.2% to 4,197.25 MXAP up 0.3% to 158.90 MXAPJ little changed at 501.17 Nikkei up 0.8% to 31,148.01 Topix up 0.9% to 2,149.29 Hang Seng Index little changed at 18,216.91 Shanghai Composite little changed at 3,204.64 Sensex little changed at 62,620.45 Australia S&P/ASX 200 up 0.3% to 7,110.81 Kospi down 0.3% to 2,569.17 STOXX Europe 600 up 0.9% to 455.89 German 10Y yield little changed at 2.30% Euro down 0.1% to $1.0675 Brent Futures up 0.3% to $72.81/bbl Gold spot down 0.4% to $1,955.07 U.S. Dollar Index little changed at 104.39 Top Overnight News China’s Caixin manufacturing PMI for May came in at 50.9, up from 49.5 in April and ahead of the Street’s 49.5 forecast. RTRS China has only modestly expanded its energy ties w/Russia, suggesting Xi is cautious about embracing Moscow as Putin becomes a larger int’l pariah. SCMP The ECB has gone through most of its monetary policy tightening to bring inflation back to its medium-term target of 2%, though the cycle is not quite over yet, ECB Vice-President Luis de Guindos said on Thursday. RTRS The head of UK chip designer Arm met Chinese officials in Beijing on Monday as the group sought to resolve issues over its plan to sell shares in New York. While Arm has tried to wash its hands of its problematic Chinese joint venture, Beijing has so far refused to process paperwork confirming the transfer of its stake to owner SoftBank. FT A rare ECB warning about the bond market risk of a Bank of Japan policy change comes at a time when Japanese outflows from the region are already at record levels. Investors from the Asian nation offloaded 5.4 trillion yen ($38.7 billion) of European bonds in 2022, the most according to Bloomberg-compiled data going back to 2005. While Japanese funds have been net buyers so far this year, they’ve spent a mere 81 billion yen on purchases — the lowest amount for a first quarter in six years. BBG Eurozone CPI for May undershot the Street, coming in at +6.1% Y/Y on the headline (down from +7% in April and below the Street’s +6.3% forecast) and +5.3% core (down from +5.6% in April and below the Street’s +5.5% forecast). BBG The debt ceiling bill passed the House by an overwhelming amount Wed night (the final vote was 314-117, including 149-71 for Republicans and 165-46 for Democrats). NYT Federal Reserve officials signaled they are increasingly likely to hold interest rates steady at their June meeting before preparing to raise them again later this summer. WSJ US crude stockpiles rebounded 5.2 million barrels last week after a big drop in the prior period, the API is said to have reported. Stocks at Cushing rose for a sixth week. More oil: OPEC+ faces a divided market when it meets this weekend. The group has never cut within three months of similar action. BBG Overseas sales of U.S. oil and refined products have surged. Exports of crude have jumped twelve-fold since December 2015, when Washington nixed crude-export restrictions...(WSJ) A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk Asia-Pac stocks were mostly positive after the US House passed the debt ceiling bill to avert a default which now moves to the Senate and with sentiment helped by the surprise expansion in Chinese Caixin Manufacturing PMI. ASX 200 was choppy in early trade but ultimately gained after stronger-than-expected capital expenditure and the improvement in Chinese Caixin PMI. Nikkei 225 was marginally supported by data releases including business capex which grew at its fastest pace since Q3 2016 and with Japanese firms logging their largest recurring profits for Q1. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. shrugged off the early indecision and were boosted after the Chinese Caixin Manufacturing PMI data partially atoned for yesterday’s weak official PMI readings. Top Asian News US official said fewer US companies are applying to export sensitive tech to China amid growing government scrutiny of the flow of goods to the country, especially those with potential military applications, according to WSJ. Taiwan's government said it expects to sign the first deal under the new trade talks framework with the US on Thursday, according to Reuters. European bourses are firmer across the board, Euro Stoxx 50 +1.0%, as sentiment continues to improve after the US House vote and strong Chinese Caixin PMI. Note, limited sustained reaction was seen following the EZ Flash PMIs given they very much chime with the skew from the regional metrics released in recent sessions. Sectors are predominantly firmer with Energy outperforming after recent marked pressure while Real Estate names lag across the region. Stateside, futures are essentially flat as we await the debt ceiling's progression into the Senate and particularly the prospect of amendments sending it back to the House, ES +0.2%. Nvidia (NVDA) CEO is to meet TSMC (2330 TT/TSM) and Foxconn (2354 TT) executives on Friday; adds that TSMC has immense capacity and incredible agility. Top European News ECB's Lagarde says today inflation is too high and is set to remain so for too long; we will keep moving forward – determined and undeterred – until we see inflation returning to our 2% medium-term target in a timely manner. Speech published after the EZ CPI print. ECB's Rehn says core inflation must slow for the ECB to consider easing. Monetary policy journey has not concluded yet. Remarks made before the EZ CPI print ECB's de Guindos says recent data on inflation are positive, still far from the inflation target. Still someway to go on rates Remarks made before the EZ CPI print ECB's Knot says there is a need to reconsider which banks should be considered systemic, time to reconsider liquidity buffers after the SVB collapse. BoE Monthly Decision Maker Panel data - May 2023: 1-year ahead CPI inflation expectations ticked up to 5.9%, up from 5.6% in April. FX Buck bases after downside in wake of Fed's Harker and Jefferson backing June FOMC rate skip, DXY sits tight within 104.150-500 confines ahead of more NFP proxies, final US manufacturing PMI and ISM. Yen retreats towards 140.00 vs Dollar as UST-JGB differentials widen. Euro capped just shy of 1.0700 and raft of upside option expiries against the Greenback amidst mixed EZ data and manufacturing PMIs. Aussie underpinned around 0.6500 vs Buck after stronger than expected Capex, but Yuan remains week sub-7.1000 on US-China angst rather than 50+ Caixin Chinese PMI. PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.0965 vs exp. 7.0964 (prev. 7.0821) Fixed Income Bonds retreat after pre-month end squeeze awaiting Senate debt ceiling passage, a busy June 1st US agenda and NFP on Friday. Bunds, Gilts and T-note are all underwater within 136.17-135.60, 96.74-34 and 114-16/01 respective ranges. French OATs and Spanish Bonos soft in the wake of multi-tranche issuance. Commodities WTI and Brent are incrementally firmer though off earlier best levels which occurred around the Chinese Caixin PMI overnight; since, specifics have been limited as we approach the weekend OPEC+ gathering and after multiple sessions of pronounced pressure. Industrial metals benefit from the mentioned Chinese data while spot gold is little changed but has been on a slight upward trajectory towards the neutral mark in recent trade. US Private Inventory (bbls): Crude +5.2mln (exp. -1.4mln), Cushing +1.8mln, Gasoline +1.9mln (exp. -0.5mln), Distillate +1.8mln (exp. +0.9mln). Russian plans to halve subsidies for oil refiners may be postponed until September, according to Interfax citing sources. However, the Russian Finance Ministry said no final decision on oil and gas sector subsidies has been taken yet. Geopolitics US Defence Secretary Austin told Japanese Defence Minister Hamada that he looks forward to deeper cooperation between the US-Japan alliance and with South Korea and Australia, while he stated that North Korea's launch was dangerous, destabilising and violates international law, according to Reuters. North Korean leader Kim's sister said no one can deny their right to launch a satellite and vowed to ramp up military surveillance efforts, while she added that North Korea's spy satellite will soon enter orbit to perform its mission and that North Korea will do everything to enhance its war deterrence. Kim also stated that North Korea should work harder to develop reconnaissance tools and the Foreign Ministry urged the US to halt joint military drills, according to KCNA. NATO SecGen Stoltenberg says all allies agree that Ukraine will become a member of the alliance and that Russia does not have a veto on enlargement. Will speak with Turkey soon about Sweden's accession. US Event Calendar 07:30: May Challenger Job Cuts 287%, YoY, prior 175.9% 08:15: May ADP Employment Change, est. 170,000, prior 296,000 08:30: 1Q Unit Labor Costs, est. 6.0%, prior 6.3% 1Q Nonfarm Productivity, est. -2.4%, prior -2.7% 08:30: May Initial Jobless Claims, est. 235,000, prior 229,000 May Continuing Claims, est. 1.8m, prior 1.79m 09:45: May S&P Global US Manufacturing PM, est. 48.5, prior 48.5 10:00: May ISM Manufacturing, est. 47.0, prior 47.1 10:00: April Construction Spending MoM, est. 0.2%, prior 0.3% DB's Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap   Welcome to June and another day I feel blessed that I have a job as half term sees the family going to a heaving Harry Potter World today. I’ve tried to read the first book three times and the movies several times more. I don’t see what all the fuss is about. My wife and the three kids on the other hand are obsessed. So it’s a good division of time today. Back here in Muggle Land, since it’s the start of the month, we’ll shortly be releasing our monthly performance review of how different assets fared in May. Overall it was an eventful time, starting off with the closure of First Republic Bank and renewed concerns about financial turmoil. We then had another set of rate hikes from the Fed and ECB, negotiations around the US debt ceiling, serious excitement about AI, along with some increasingly downbeat data releases outside the US. With all said and done, that left most assets negative for the month, with losses across equities, bonds and commodities, despite a few key outperformers like tech stocks. See the full review in your inboxes shortly. The main news last night came from the House of Representatives, which voted 314-117 in favour of sending the debt ceiling bill over to the Senate. The bill as currently written would suspend the debt ceiling until January 1 2025, with federal spending capped until 2025. In terms of timing for the Senate vote, Senator Thune noted that the deal could pass the upper chamber by Friday night. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that spending will have to reduce $64 billion in the next budget, as both parties still have to negotiate a separate spending package by the end of September. That vote in the House took place after US markets had closed, as a downbeat risk session helped the S&P 500 shed -0.61%. Those losses were driven by several factors, but the biggest was a succession of data releases that all raised fears of an upcoming recession. For instance in the US, the MNI Chicago PMI for May came in beneath every economists’ expectation at 40.4 (vs. 47.3 expected), and that followed on the heels of the weaker-than-expected China PMIs earlier. As we'll see later the Caixin PMI this morning actually unexpectedly rose so a complicated picture is emerging. The complications were present yesterday as well as the JOLTS job openings report for April, contained more bad news from the Fed’s perspective. The main headline was a big increase in job openings, which unexpectedly rose to a three-month high of 10.103m (vs. 9.4m expected), and the previous month’s openings were revised up as well. In turn, this meant that the ratio of vacancies per unemployed people went back up to 1.79, having been at a 16-month low the month before. So that’s further evidence that the US labour market remains very tight by historic standards. The release meant that investors initially dialled up the chances of another rate hike from the Fed in two weeks, with fed futures pricing in a 70% chance of a hike shortly after the JOLTS release. However comments from policy voters Philadelphia Fed President Harker and Fed Governor Jefferson – who recently was nominated to be Fed vice chair – caused investors to cut their bets for a rate hike this month down to a 33% chance from 59% the day before. That is the lowest chances since May 25. Governor Jefferson noted that, “skipping a rate hike at a coming meeting would allow the Committee to see more data before making decisions about the extent of additional policy firming.” President Harker noted that he was “definitely in the camp of thinking about skipping any increase at this meeting,” before adding that “If we’re going to go into a period where we need to do more tightening, we can do that every other meeting.” Investors still expect another rate hike this cycle as fed futures are pricing in a 83% chance of a rate hike through the July meeting, but after the comments yesterday it is clear that there is more weight on July over June. Treasuries rallied with 10yr yields down -4.4bps, as investors focused on the more negative longer-term outlook, which was seen as raising the likelihood of rate cuts further out. This morning in Asia 10yr yields (+2.29 bps) have reversed around half of yesterday's gains, trading at 3.67% as we go to print. Outside of the Fed-speak yesterday there was also the release of the Fed’s Beige book which indicated that while the economy was indeed slowing as hiring and inflation eased, there was still signs that the economy remained too hot. The Fed’s report said that while employment increased in most districts, it was “at a slower pace than in previous reports.” Similarly, the report noted “prices rose moderately over the reporting period, though the rate of increase slowed in many districts.” The Fed’s report also pointed to growing divides as “high inflation and the end of Covid-19 benefits continued to stress the budgets of low- and moderate-income households, driving increased demand for social services, including food and housing”. All together the report based on anecdotal data from the 12 regional banks seems in-line with the broader economic data that shows while the economy is slowing at the margins, inflation appears to be settling above the Fed’s target with core services inflation the root cause. Overall sentiment landed on the negative side with equities and other risk assets like HY credit and oil struggling. For instance, the S&P 500 (-0.61%) posted its biggest decline in a week as the more cyclical sectors led the decline and defensives like telecoms (+1.5%), utilities (+1.0%), and healthcare (+0.9%) rallied. Over in Europe, the losses were more severe and the STOXX 600 (-1.07%) closed at a 2-month low, with others including the DAX (-1.54%) and the FTSE MIB (-1.97%) losing significant ground as well. Even tech stocks (one of the few to post gains in May) pared back some of their recent advance, with the NASDAQ (-0.63%), FANG+ (-0.92%), and the Philadelphia Semiconductor (-2.71%) indices all lower. Even Nvidia fell -5.7%, it's biggest fall since January 30th. Whilst European equities were a significant underperformer, there was a major rally among their sovereign bonds after the German and French CPI prints came in beneath expectations. In Germany, CPI fell to +6.3% in May using the EU-harmonised measure (vs. +6.7% expected), which was the lowest since February 2022. And in France, it fell to +6.0% (vs. +6.4% expected), which was the lowest since May 2022. That raised hopes for the Euro Area-wide print that’s out today, and yields on 10yr bunds (-6.0bps), OATs (-5.8bps) and BTPs (-7.0bps) all moved lower on the day. The only exception to this inflation pattern was in Italy, where CPI only fell back to +8.1% (vs. +7.5% expected). With those inflation prints in hand, investors moved to slightly dial back the amount of rate hikes expected over the coming months. Significantly, overnight index swaps are now pricing in slightly fewer than 50bps more hikes, suggesting at least some doubt about whether the ECB will go on to deliver a move beyond the one that’s widely anticipated in two weeks from now. In the meantime, there were also some fresh tailwinds on inflation from commodity prices, with Brent crude oil (-1.20%) losing further ground to close at $72.66/bbl. Asian equity markets are broadly trading higher this morning after the debt ceiling bill was cleared in the US House of Representatives and on better China data (see below). Risk appetite across the region has solidified with the Hang Seng (+1.02%) leading gains and rebounding from near a six-month low on expectations of a Chinese stimulus to revive growth. Stocks in mainland China are also trading in the green with the CSI (+0.64%) and the Shanghai Composite (+0.37%) nudging higher. Elsewhere, the Nikkei (+0.29%) held on to its gains while the KOSPI (-0.22%) is slightly down so far in the session. In overnight trading, US equity futures are fluctuating with those on the S&P 500 (+0.04%) just above flat while those tied to the NASDAQ 100 (-0.15%) are inching lower. Early morning data showed that China’s factory activity bounced back to expansionary territory in May as the latest Caixin manufacturing PMI rose to 50.9 in May from 49.5 in April, contradicting the official PMI data yesterday that showed further deterioration in factory activity for May. Separately in Japan, factory activity expanded for the first time since October 2022 after the final estimate of the au Jibun Bank manufacturing PMI stood at 50.6 in May from the prior month’s reading of 49.5. Wrapping up the data over the last 24 hours and another release yesterday came from Germany, where unemployment rose by +9k in May (vs. +13.5k expected). That left the unemployment rate at 5.6% as expected. Elsewhere, Italy’s economy grew by more than expected in Q1, with the latest estimate revised up a tenth from the initial reading to +0.6%. To the day ahead now, and the data highlights include the flash CPI release from the Euro Area for May, as well as the unemployment rate for April. Otherwise in the US, there’s the ISM manufacturing release for May, the ADP’s report of private payrolls for May, and the weekly initial jobless claims. In addition, there’s the global manufacturing PMIs for May, along with April data on German retail sales and UK mortgage approvals. From central banks, we’ll hear from ECB President Lagarde, the ECB’s Knot and Villeroy, as well as the Fed’s Harker. The ECB will also be releasing the account of their May meeting. Tyler Durden Thu, 06/01/2023 - 08:03.....»»

The U.S.-listed shares of Diageo PLC DEOUK:DGE slid 1.4% toward a 7-month low in midday trading Wednesday, after The Wall Street Journal reported that Sean “Diddy” Combs sued the U.K.-based spirits, wine and beer company for neglecting the DeLeón tequila brand they co-won. Music mogul Combs also accused Jack Daniels, Smirnoff and Guinness brand parent of racial discrimination, the WSJ report said, saying in a court filing that Diageo had referred to DeLeón as a Black brand. The court filing says that Diageo has neglected DeLeón while spending significant resources to market other tequilas, including the George Clooney-backed Casamigos which Diageo bought in 2017 for up to $1 billion, the WSJ report said. Diageo’s stock has lost 5.8% year to date, while shares of rival Constellation Brands Inc. have gained 3.6% and the S&P 500 has advanced 8.7%.Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news......»»

The lawsuit alleges that a mall owner and other staff at a property company used investor money to fund their "unbelievably lavish lifestyle." The lawsuit alleges that Jonathan Larmore splashed out on a Gulfstream G400.aviation-images.com/Universal Images Group via Getty Images An Illinois mall owner is being sued by his investors over mismanagement of funds. The investors say the mall owner used their cash to fund his life of luxury.  It also alleges that investors haven't received dividend payments since 2019. Investors are suing the owner of a mall in Illinois, accusing him of using their cash to splash out on jets, luxury properties, and a lavish birthday party for his dog.The lawsuit, which was first reported by Bloomberg, alleges that Jonathan Larmore, and other staff at Arciterra – a property company that owned Belleville Crossing mall in Belleville, Illinois – had breached their duties when they transferred some of the investors' money to themselves "to fund their unbelievably lavish lifestyle."None of the company's more than 2,000 investors have received dividend payments since August 2019, and some haven't received payments since 2011, it said. Meanwhile, Larmore, his wife, and his mother collectively own approximately 12 houses throughout the US, including two recently remodeled "at tremendous expense" and four on an exclusive lake in Indiana. They also own a Cessna Citation jet, a Gulfstream G400, and have bought multiple cars and boats – including a $250,000 wake surf boat and a $2.5 million motor yacht, the plaintiffs said. "They frequently throw lavish parties costing six figures. In the summer of 2022, they threw such a six-figure party, flying in friends and family on their private aircraft. One such party was to celebrate the birthday of their Boston Terrier, Spike," they added.Insider contacted Arciterra and Jonathan Larmore via LinkedIn for comment but did not immediately hear back. Arciterra says that it owns more than 80 properties in 24 states and has raised approximately $187 million in capital from outside investors. Bloomberg reported that Arciterra has recently been sued by construction companies, a commercial cleaner, and the city of Milwaukee.Belleville Crossing mall was one of its properties. The plaintiffs say that because the owners diverted company assets, they failed to pay necessary vendors and allowed the Belleville Crossing mall to fall into "a state of disrepair.""Tenants complain of three-foot-tall weeds in planting beds, over-flowing and accumulating trash throughout the property, roof leaks not being addressed allowing ongoing water penetration damage as well as the complete absence of snow and ice removal," they said. The mall was ultimately sold to an investor in a tax lien sale in November 2022 "due to Defendants' failure to timely pay property taxes," they added.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

This week, three top companies with stocks rated Buy across Wall Street are expected to lift the dividends they pay to shareholders, showing that they are doing well and have the earnings and cash flow strength to increase their payouts. After years of a low interest rate environment, which has been trending higher over the past 12 months, many investors have turned to equities not only for the growth potential but also for solid and dependable dividends that help to provide a passive income stream. What this equates to is total return, which is one of the most powerful investment strategies going. While interest rates have risen, these companies still make sense for investors looking for solid growth and income potential. We like to remind readers about the impact total return has on portfolios because it is one of the best ways to help improve the chances for overall investing success. Again, total return is the combined increase in a stock’s value plus dividends. For instance, if you buy a stock at $20 that pays a 3% dividend, and it goes up to $22 in a year, your total return is 13%: 10% for the increase in stock price and 3% for the dividends paid. Three top companies that are Wall Street favorites are expected to raise their dividends this week. So we screened our 24/7 Wall St. research universe and found that all are rated Buy at some of the top firms on Wall Street. While it is always possible that not all of them do raise their dividends, top analysts expect them to, given past increases in each firm’s dividend payouts. It is important to remember that no single analyst report should be used as a sole basis for any buying or selling decision. Alexandria Real Estate Equities This top stock has backed up nicely over the past few months and is offering a nice entry point. Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. (NYSE: ARE) is the longest-tenured and pioneering owner, operator and developer uniquely focused on collaborative life science, technology and agtech campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations. The trusted partner to approximately 1,000 tenants, Alexandria has a total market capitalization of $35 billion and an asset base in North America of 74.6 million square feet (SF) as of December 31, 2022, which includes 41.8 million RSF of operating properties and 5.6 million RSF of Class A properties undergoing construction, 9.9 million RSF of near-term and intermediate-term development and redevelopment projects, and 17.3 million SF of future development projects. Alexandria has a longstanding and proven track record of developing Class A properties that provide innovative tenants with highly dynamic and collaborative environments that enhance their ability to successfully recruit and retain world-class talent and inspire productivity, efficiency, creativity and success. 24/7 Wall St. 5 Very Well Known Buy-Rated Stocks Under $10 Could Explode Higher This Summer wallst_recirc_link_tracking_init( "856149022647603201db1b", "graphic" ); Founded in 1994, Alexandria pioneered this niche and has since established a significant market presence in key locations, including greater Boston, San Francisco, New York City, San Diego, Seattle, Maryland and the Research Triangle. Alexandria has a longstanding and proven track record of developing Class A properties clustered in urban science and technology campuses that provide innovative tenants with highly dynamic and collaborative environments that enhance their ability to successfully recruit and retain world-class talent and inspire productivity, efficiency, creativity and success. Sponsored: Tips for Investing A financial advisor can help you understand the advantages and disadvantages of investment properties. Finding a qualified financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to three financial advisors who serve your area, and you can interview your advisor matches at no cost to decide which one is right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now. Investing in real estate can diversify your portfolio. But expanding your horizons may add additional costs. If you’re an investor looking to minimize expenses, consider checking out online brokerages. They often offer low investment fees, helping you maximize your profit......»»

Chinese Developers Resorting To "Negative Down Payment" Practices In its attempt to reboot China's real estate property market bubble, which burst spectacularly in late 2021 when most housing developers blew up in the aftermath of Evergrande's historic bankruptcy amid Beijing's ill-fated deleveraging push, and which according to Goldman calculations is the world's largest real estate bubble... ... China's real estate agencies have been quietly resorting to some of the oldest tricks in the US housing bubble book, such as marketing homebuying with "zero down payment" or "negative down payment" so that consumers not only don't need to pay for down payment but also can obtain funds for future renovation, according to media reports. Of course, with Beijing still stuck in some bizarro Schrodinger economic purgatory where the government both wants housing to reclaim its pre-bubble all time highs yet is loath to inject the massive amounts of credit required, the It didn't take long for some local overzealous bureaucrat to spill the beans, and as the Global Times reports, the Shenzhen Real Estate Intermediary Association in South China's Guangdong Province released a notice on Friday, cautioning local agencies to avoid participating in or assisting the illegal practices of "zero down payment" and "negative down payment," which have sparked discussion among homebuyers. One real estate agency based in Shenzhen reportedly was telling clients that if a property is evaluated at 5.7 million yuan ($806,828) the owner would sell it at 5.2 million yuan, the homebuyer could then buy the property in full using a bank loan of 5.7 million yuan while using the remaining 500,000 yuan for renovation, cnr.cn reported. As for the so-called "negative down payment," the report said that it is executed through developers using down payment installments and returning down payment to buyers or setting a relatively high contract price for consumers to apply for a larger bank loan. If the funds returned to the buyer from the developer, or the bank loan secured against the property exceed the original down payment, the a "negative down payment" is "achieved," per the report from cnr.cn. The Shenzhen Real Estate Intermediary Association on Friday issued the reminder to caution the market, stressing that the so-called practices of "zero down payment" and "negative down payment" violate China's financial and credit policies. It warned local agencies and practitioners to strictly abide by the principle that "houses are for living in, not speculation," calling for review and adjustment of agency management and prohibiting any form of participation in similar practices. If local agencies and practitioners are found to have been involved in offering assistance in implementing these illegal practices, the association will immediately report these parties to the competent administrative departments for investigation and punishment in accordance with the law. The so-called "negative down payment" is essentially the creation of a fictitious purchase agreement, which in turn inflates the purchase price of a home in order to fraudulently obtain a larger loan for the down payment, Yan Yuejin, research director at Shanghai-based E-house China R&D Institute, told the Global Times. Yan stressed the importance for financial regulators to monitor the situation, aiming to prevent the emergence of financial instability or financial risk, calling for a greater effort to regulate fraudulent contracts, falsified loan materials, and lax bank audits. Yan also noted that the concept of a "negative down payment" is illegal and comes with high risk. The leverage will be easily raised if a home purchase is not backed by a real down payment, burdening subsequent payment pressure for homebuyers and resulting in a higher risk of mortgage default. Chinese authorities issued a notice in 2017, strictly banning domestic developers and real estate intermediaries to engage in illegal practices such as providing down payment financing or down payment installments. Earlier in May, Huizhou in Guangdong issued a notice to further strengthen regulation and on property sales tackling the aforementioned illegal practices, according to media reports. Tyler Durden Mon, 05/29/2023 - 17:45.....»»

  Brookfield Asset Management’s (US:BAM) real estate subsidiary, Brookfield Property Partners (CA:BPYP-A), recently defaulted on $275 million of CMBS (commercial mortgage-backed securities) underpinning the financing on its 41-story office tower at 725 South Figueroa St. in downtown Los Angeles. It is the second office tower in Los Angeles that Brookfield has defaulted on. So how […]   Brookfield Asset Management’s (US:BAM) real estate subsidiary, Brookfield Property Partners (CA:BPYP-A), recently defaulted on $275 million of CMBS (commercial mortgage-backed securities) underpinning the financing on its 41-story office tower at 725 South Figueroa St. in downtown Los Angeles. It is the second office tower in Los Angeles that Brookfield has defaulted on. So how worried should Brookfield Asset Management shareholders be about the latest development? BAM stock is down almost 31% in the last six months, while the Toronto-traded real estate unit’s preferred shares are down by 6.5%. By comparison, the Vanguard Real Estate ETF (US:VNQ) is down about 8% in the same time. According to CBRE, annual investment volume in commercial real estate fell by 57% to $78 billion in the first quarter. Green Street’s Commercial Property Price Index showed that prices dropped by 15% over the past year as of May, following a peak in Q1 of 2022. Trouble in LA The actual owner of the 920,300 square foot property known as EY Plaza is Brookfield DTLA Fund Office Trust Investor Inc., which is 100% owned by Brookfield DTLA Holdings LLC. It, in turn, is an indirect, partially owned subsidiary of BPY. Brookfield paid $150 million for the 38-year-old office building in 2002. In 2020, it took out a $275 million loan on the property with an October 2022 maturity. The company stopped paying its $305 million in debt on the property in April. Trident Pacific Real Estate was appointed receiver. Colliers was awarded the assignment to lease and manage the building while in receivership. Brookfield sent its 52-story Gas Company Tower into receivership in April after defaulting on $350 million in CMBS loans. The company’s said to have defaulted on $1.1 billion in loans on its LA portfolio. The Los Angeles office market has weakened considerably in the past year. According to Bloomberg, downtown LA office vacancies were 30% at the end of March. Office rents are projected to fall by 55% by 2030. Brookfield has said that most of its properties in Los Angeles and elsewhere are generally Class A buildings with high demand. However, these developments in 2023, with interest rates much higher, suggests that it’s better for Brookfield to walk away from underperforming buildings than find more expensive refinancing. CEO Says ‘All Is Well’ The $20 trillion commercial real estate market is showing cracks in some pockets, Rich Hill, head of real estate strategy and research at Cohen & Steers, said on the Odd Lots podcast on March 17. Higher interest rates are one contributor, but also a lot of commercial office space is still not at pre-Covid capacity levels, putting pressure on income, he said. In Brookfield’s first-quarter 2023 letter to shareholders, CEO Bruce Flatt told shareholders that it wasn’t concerned about the recent problems in LA and Washington, D.C. because those were market-specific issues rather than a prognosis for commercial real estate overall. “When you own 7,000 properties, it is impossible not to make a few mistakes,” Flatt said in a May 11 letter to investors that accompanied first-quarter results. “But we have always prided ourselves on being an extremely responsible borrower, and our reputation in the capital markets sets us apart.” Flatt highlighted that it’d done more than $12 billion in office financings since 2020 with few signs its overall portfolio is in trouble. NY Success Story The New York Fed last month said that ongoing stress in the local commercial real estate sector is still creating economic headwinds for the region as it seems to be making an otherwise-complete recovery from the pandemic, and it’s unclear when or if the sector will return to its prior strength. One of the success stories in the office market is New York City’s Two Manhattan West. Brookfield’s Q1 2023 reported that it had signed more than one million square feet of leases in the soon-to-be-completed office tower at rents 35% higher than One Manhattan West, which was leased up before the pandemic. While it does have an LA problem, until defaults spread to generally considered healthy markets, it doesn’t appear BAM shareholders need to worry about the situation. However, it wouldn’t hurt to pay closer attention to Brookfield’s real estate investments over the next few quarters. Better safe than sorry. This article originally appeared on Fintel Sponsored: Tips for Investing A financial advisor can help you understand the advantages and disadvantages of investment properties. Finding a qualified financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to three financial advisors who serve your area, and you can interview your advisor matches at no cost to decide which one is right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now. Investing in real estate can diversify your portfolio. But expanding your horizons may add additional costs. If you’re an investor looking to minimize expenses, consider checking out online brokerages. They often offer low investment fees, helping you maximize your profit......»»

Supreme Court Sides With 94-Year-Old Woman Whose Home Equity Was Seized By County The Supreme Court on Thursday sided with an 94-year-old Minnesota grandmother who was wronged when her county forced the sale of her condominium over unpaid taxes, and kept the proceeds that far exceeded the taxes she owed - the latest "home equity theft" to make headlines. The case followed a report late last year by the Pacific Legal Foundation which found that 12 states and DC allow local governments and private investors to seize far more than what is owed from homeowners who fall behind on property tax payments. Writing this opinion was Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote in Tyler v. Hennepin County that "The taxpayer must render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, but no more." Christina Martin, an attorney for homeowner Geraldine Tyler, told the court during April 26 oral arguments that local governments shouldn't be able to seize and keep the full value of a home as payment for much smaller property tax debts. Minnesota law allows counties to retain windfalls at the expense of property owners - which between 2014 and 2020 applied to around 1,200 Minnesota residents who lost their homes and all the equity in them, for debts that averaged just 8% of the home's value, according to PLF. Tyler owned a modest one-bedroom condominium in Hennepin County, but after she was harassed and frightened near her home, she moved to a new apartment in a safer neighborhood. The rent on her new apartment stretched her resources and she fell into arrears on her condo’s property tax bills, accumulating about $2,300 in taxes owed, along with $12,700 in penalties, interest, and costs. The county seized Tyler’s condo, valued at $93,000, and sold it for just $40,000. Instead of keeping the $15,000 it was owed, the county retained the full $40,000, amounting to a windfall of $25,000, according to PLF. -Epoch Times Tyler sued, arguing that her Fifth Amendment rights were violated when the government breached the 'Takings Clause.' Her lawsuit was originally rejected by the courts, including the US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, which found the seizure legal. The Supreme Court disagreed, ruling that the principle that Tyler's right not to have her her property seized goes back to English law, and as far back as the Magna Carta of 1215. "The Takings Clause ‘was designed to bar Government from forcing some people alone to bear public burdens which, in all fairness and justice, should be borne by the public as a whole,’" wrote Roberts. "A taxpayer who loses her $40,000 house to the State to fulfill a $15,000 tax debt has made a far greater contribution to the public fisc than she owed." "[I]f a bank forecloses on a home because the homeowner fails to pay the mortgage, the homeowner is entitled to the surplus from the sale." In collecting all other taxes, “Minnesota protects the taxpayer’s right to surplus.” So if a taxpayer falls behind on income tax and the state confiscates and sells the property, state law provides that any surplus must be returned to the owner. The same rule is followed regarding arrears of personal property tax—such as for a car—and real property tax. In Tyler’s case, the “State now makes an exception only for itself, and only for taxes on real property. But ‘property rights cannot be so easily manipulated,’” Roberts wrote, citing Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, a 2021 Supreme Court decision that pitted the property rights of an employer against labor organizing rights. -Epoch Times "Minnesota may not extinguish a property interest that it recognizes everywhere else to avoid paying just compensation when it is the one doing the taking," Roberts wrote. Dan Rogin, Hennepin County assistant administrator and auditor told the Times in an email: "Based on today’s decision which found Minnesota’s law unconstitutional, Minnesota’s property tax forfeiture laws must be revised. Hennepin County will work closely with the Minnesota Legislature to create a process that is consistent with the Supreme Court’s decision." Tyler Durden Fri, 05/26/2023 - 23:40.....»»

Alex Grebnev, CEO of the Maps.me (MAPs) and Oxygen (OXY) cryptocurrency projects closely linked to Sam Bankman-Fried’s failed FTX empire, is being sued by Gregory Fishman, reportedly an owner of crypto news site CoinTelegraph on allegations of fund misappropriation......»»

Alex Grebnev, CEO of the Maps.me (MAPs) and Oxygen (OXY) cryptocurrency projects closely linked to Sam Bankman-Fried’s failed FTX empire, is being sued by Gregory Fishman, reportedly an owner of crypto news site CoinTelegraph on allegations of fund misappropriation......»»

Seven Republicans, including Trump, have made a White House run official, others are considering jumping in, and some have dropped out. Former President Donald Trump arrives to speak during an event at Mar-a-Lago on November 15, 2022 in Palm Beach, Florida.Joe Raedle/Getty Images Trump, Haley, Ramaswamy, Hutchinson, Elder, Tim Scott, and DeSantis are running for president. Others have been floating the possibility of entering the GOP contest — and some are dropping out. From Pence to Cruz, here's how Republicans are laying the groundwork for presidential runs. Seven Republicans are now running for president in 2024 — at least officially. Embattled former President Donald Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, conservative commentator Larry Elder, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are the candidates who have so far formally announced a 2024 presidential bid.But plenty of others appear to be toying with the same idea.They're doing all the things they're supposed to do to test their chances: Visiting early primary states, writing books, showing up on the Sunday shows, and weighing in publicly on President Joe Biden's policies — and even Trump's latest controversies. The next step will be hiring teams in Iowa and New Hampshire, Doug Heye, a longtime GOP aide and strategist, told Insider."You have got a stable of people who are essentially putting themselves all in the starting gates and all have their own timetable about when and if they decide to run," he said. Over the next few weeks and months, candidates would be floating what Kristin Davison, vice president and general consultant at Axiom Strategies, called "trial balloons" — in which they publicly raise the prospect of a run to see how donors and the press will react. Whoever seizes the nomination will likely face Biden, who made a run official on April 25. But, Heye said, "it's a real possibility" that the GOP lineup will large.The stakes for losing the nomination aren't all bad, even if Republicans might come out of it with an unforgettable Trump nickname. After all, one of the people running for president could get chosen as the running mate or get a seat on the new president's Cabinet.And there are other perks to formally seeking the White House, such as raising one's profile and having a better shot at the presidency during a future cycle. Candidates could also sell a lot more books or leave politics to get a prime TV or radio show. "It's a long, difficult process," Heye said, "and you're more likely to lose than not."Trump's legal, political, and personal liabilities have been piling up for several months, leading many in the GOP to say the party needs not just a fresh face but to be led by a candidate who can actually win. Insider identified 15 people who have or could seek the Republican nomination in 2024. Each will have to effectively answer the "why I'm running for president" question and find their lane in the party, which will inevitably include defining — or redefining — their relationship with Trump. "I don't think you can discount any of them at this point," Heye said. "It's too early to determine who outside of Trump is a frontrunner." And others, like newly minted GOP star Glenn Youngkin, 56, are already bowing out of consideration, with Youngkin telling attendees on May 1 at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California that he still had work to do in Virginia. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has also officially declared he's not seeking the nomination, despite releasing a book and rumblings he was considering a run.Scroll through to see the politicians who have either already declared or are potentially gearing up for run — and who has officially decided not to move forward:Gov. Ron DeSantis of FloridaRepublican gubernatorial candidate for Florida Ron DeSantis speaks during an election night watch party at the Convention Center in Tampa, Florida, on November 8, 2022.Giorgio VIERA / AFP via Getty ImagesDeSantis, 44, made his long-anticipated run official on May 24. The two-term governor of Florida launched his bid to wrest control of the party from Trump in a glitchy interview with Twitter owner Elon Musk that was quickly dubbed a #DeSaster on the now right-leaning platform. DeSantis campaign spokesman Bryan Griffin tried to spin the online debacle — which purportedly attracted roughly half-a-million participants before technical difficulties thinned the audience to around 300,000 — as a groundbreaking achievement. "There was so much enthusiasm for Governor DeSantis' vision for our Great American Comeback that he literally busted up the internet," Griffin boasted on Twitter. Trump, who's been raring to rip his former ally apart, was having none of it. "Tim Scott's Presidential launch, even with the broken microphone (don't pay the contractor, Tim!), was by far the best Presidential launch of the week. Robs was a catastrophe!" the combative former president gloated on his own social media channel. DeSantis deliberately avoided mentioning Trump on Wednesday night, sticking with the talking points about the gubernatorial agenda that's gotten him this far. He famously and unapologetically reopened Florida during the COVID-19 pandemic, before federal health officials said he should. He banned certain teachings on race in workplaces and schools, and flew unsuspecting migrants from Texas to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.DeSantis also signed a contentious parental involvement and sex ed bill into law that critics call "Don't Say Gay." Instead of backing down over the outcry, he worked to punish Disney for threatening to repeal it and then expanded the law. Then there were the historic tax cuts in Florida with promises of more as well as viral videos bashing what he calls the "corporate media." All of these actions have portrayed the governor as a fighter. That's not the only part of his public persona on display. Often in tow is his beautiful, young family. His former newscaster wife, Florida's first lady Casey DeSantis, has been instrumental in his rise. To the New York Post, pictures of the DeSantis family on Election Night was "DeFuture." Others see a conservative JFK. But the politician DeSantis most often gets compared to is Trump. Numerous news profiles have described DeSantis as "Trump without the baggage," or as a more disciplined Trump. Yet after leaning on Trump during his first gubernatorial victory in 2018, DeSantis showed he could win big on his own, scoring a historic, 20-point victory in Florida in November without Trump's endorsement.DeSantis also released his first memoir in February: "The Courage to Be Free: Florida's Blueprint for America's Revival." During the midterms, he extended goodwill to other Republicans by campaigning with them. Back at home, he raked in a record amount of cash for a gubernatorial race. If the GOP primary were decided today, numerous polls show, DeSantis is the only person that gets close to Trump. Trump has nicknamed DeSantis "Ron DeSanctimonious" and threatened to release damaging information about the governor. Sen. Tim Scott of South CarolinaSen. Tim Scott, a Republican of South Carolkina, speaks at a fundraiser in Anderson, South Carolina on August 22, 2022.Meg Kinnard/AP Photo, FileScott, 57, made his run official on May 22. "I am living proof that America is the land of opportunity, not a land of oppression," he said during his formal campaign launch in North Charleston, South Carolina. He'd hinted at a presidential bid during his midterms victory speech, even though he previously said he wouldn't run against Trump. "My grandfather voted for the first man of color to be elected as president of the United States," he said on November 8, referring to the vote his grandfather cast for Obama. "I wish he had lived long enough to see perhaps another man of color elected president of the United States. But this time, let it be a Republican and not just a Democrat. So just know: All things are possible in America."Scott, who previously served in the US House, is the only Black Republican in the Senate. He said his six-year term in the Senate beginning in January would be his last, but he didn't rule out a presidential run. He also released a memoir, "America, a Redemption Story: Choosing Hope, Creating Unity" and is one of the top fundraisers in the Senate — which includes support from small and online donors — even though he defended a safe seat this cycle.Major donors have contributed to Opportunity Matters Fun, a pro-Scott super PAC. In February, he launched a listening tour. Scott was among those leading the push for the successful passage of the bipartisan First Step Act and his measure to create Opportunity Zones that bring private investments into economically distressed communities was part of the 2017 tax reform law. He garnered national interest after delivering the GOP response to Biden's address to Congress in 2021. Afterward, McConnell said the senator represented "the future of the Republican Party." Scott has been open about the racism he has faced over the course of his life. "I get called Uncle Tom and the n-word by progressives, by liberals," he said in response to Biden's address. He has shared that police have pulled him over numerous times, despite him not violating any traffic laws. He sat down with Trump at the White House to discuss systemic racism and publicly called on Trump to call back certain statements he made on race. Haley, who was South Carolina governor at the time, appointed Scott to the Senate in 2013 after the seat opened up. Former UN Ambassador Nikki HaleyFormer UN Ambassador Nikki Haley during a news conference in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, October 26, 2022.Matt Rourke/AP PhotoHaley, 51, made a run official on February 15. During her campaign launch in Charleston, South Carolina, she portrayed herself as a young leader who could win elections. "If you're tired of losing, put your trust in a new generation," she said. Her experiences in public office give her the coveted pairing of having both executive and foreign policy chops, which are often viewed as crucial to the presidency. Aside from Trump and Pence, few other contenders would have such a profile. As a woman of Indian descent, she could also help bring in suburban women voters who graduated from college and expand the GOP coalition among people of color. She embraced her unique background during her campaign kickoff, wearing suffragette white and and calling herself "a brown girl growing up in a black-and-white world." Haley has had a turnaround from last year, when she said she wouldn't run for president if Trump were to seek the White House in 2024. She started our her career working in the private sector, joining her family's clothing business before leading the National Association of Women Business Owners.She served in the South Carolina House for three terms then was the state's governor for six years. In that time Haley delivered the GOP response to Obama's 2016 State of the Union Address.She pushed for the removal of the confederate flag from the South Carolina capitol after a gunman killed nine Black people at Emanuel Church in Charleston. Also as governor, Haley would not support a bill requiring transgender people to use the restroom that corresponded with the gender on their birth certificate. But in 2021 she wrote a commentary in the National Review saying transgender inclusion in sports was an "attack on women's rights."Haley was UN Ambassador under Trump for two years, and successfully pushed for the US to move its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem and defended Trump's decision to do so.In 2019 she published a memoir, "With All Due Respect: Defending America with Grit and Grace." Haley campaigned and fundraised in high-profile races during the 2022 midterms, including in Pennsylvania and Georgia. Haley told the National Republican Committee the day after the January 6 riot that Trump was "badly wrong" in his speech to supporters and that his "actions since Election Day will be judged harshly by history." Tech entrepreneur Vivek RamaswamyRamaswamy founded the biopharmaceutical company Roivant Sciences.Fox NewsRamaswamy, 37, made his run official on February 22. Ramaswamy is an Indian-American tech entrepreneur who co-founded Strive Asset Management and serves as its executive chairman. He also founded the biopharmaceutical company Roivant Sciences."We're in the midst of a national identity crisis. Faith, patriotism & family are disappearing. We embrace one secular religion after another — from wokeism to climatism — to satisfy our deeper need for meaning," he said in a video announcing his campaign. "Yet we cannot even answer what it means to be an American." —Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) February 22, 2023 Ramaswamy wrote "Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam" and "Nation of Victims: Identity Politics, the Death of Merit, and the Path Back to Excellence."The New Yorker nicknamed Ramaswamy the "CEO of Anti-Woke Inc." for his stance against environmental, social, and governance investing.In February, he delivered a speech about ESG at Trump National Doral, near Miami, before the exclusive and influential Council for National Policy at Trump Doral, where DeSantis was also a key speaker. Former Gov. Asa Hutchinson of ArkansasArkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson attends the National Governors Association summer meeting, Friday, July 15, 2022, in Portland, Maine.Robert F. Bukaty/AP PhotoHutchinson, 72, threw his hat into the ring on April 2. He told ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl there would be a full-scale rollout later on in his hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas, but that his mind was made up. "I've traveled the country for six months, I hear people talk about the leadership of our country," Hutchinson said Sunday. "I'm convinced that people want leaders that appeal to the best of America, and not simply appeal to our worst instincts."He also weighed in on Trump's indictment in New York, calling it a "great distraction" that voters need to get past. "We can't set aside what our Constitution requires — which is electing a new leader for our country — just because we have this side controversy and criminal charges that are pending," Hutchinson said, adding, "And so we've got to press on, and the American people are gonna have to separate what the ideas are for our future."Hutchinson hasn't been shy about criticizing Biden or Trump. After Trump's 2024 announcement, he said the former president's "self-indulging message promoting anger has not changed," and also disavowed the Fuentes and Ye meeting at Mar-a-Lago.Hutchinson has taken at least five trips to Iowa through America Strong & Free, the nonprofit of which he's the honorary chairman and spokesperson."I am seriously looking at a run in 2024 because America and the Republican Party are not in the best place," he said in a statement provided to Insider. "I know how to get us back on track both in terms of leadership and facing the challenging issues of border security, increased violent crime, and energy inflation." As governor of Arkansas for eight years, Hutchinson has pushed to make the state a leader in computer science, and signed several tax cuts into law, including lowering the state income tax rate from 7% to 4.9%. Hutchinson also signed bills into law blocking businesses from requiring customers and workers to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination and blocked state and local officials from obligating masks — a move he later said he regretted. He asked state lawmakers to create a carve-out for schools, but the Arkansas House rejected the proposal. While he signed an abortion ban into law in 2019 that took effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, he said on CNN that he personally believes in exceptions for rape and incest."Many out there appreciate a 'consistent conservative,' even one they don't agree with all the time," Hutchinson told Insider. "I am not interested in the 'outrage of the day,' and I am committed to using my consistent conservative principles to guide me and our nation on important policy decisions." Hutchinson began his government career as a US attorney for the Western District of Arkansas under President Ronald Reagan, then went on to serve in the US House for three terms. President George W. Bush tapped him to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, after which he served as undersecretary in the Department of Homeland Security. He has criticized Biden on illegal immigration, inflation, and student-loan forgiveness. He said on CNN that the president's September speech about "MAGA Republicans" and democracy "singled out a segment of Americans and said basically they're our enemy."Hutchinson also has the distinction of being especially press friendly at a time when numerous Republicans have copied Trump's style of lashing out against journalists. "The media plays an important role in our democracy," Hutchinson told Insider. "I've never shied away from tough questions, and I have always been willing to defend my positions and conservative principles with the hard questions coming from the press."Conservative commentator Larry ElderGOP presidential hopeful Larry Elder speaks to guests at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition Spring Kick-Off on April 22, 2023 in Clive, Iowa.Scott Olson/Getty ImagesLarry Elder, 71, made his first presidential bid official on April 20. A conservative talk show personality who led the field of nearly four dozen candidates attempting to replace California Gov. Gavin Newsom during a 2021 recall effort, Elder entered the fray with a "we've got a country to save!" pitch.—Larry Elder (@larryelder) April 21, 2023 "We can enter a new American Golden Age, but we must choose a leader who can bring us there. That's why I'm running for President," Elder said during the rollout of his long shot campaign. A lawyer turned Fox News fixture, Elder's platform mirrors many MAGA grievances: condemning critical race theory and the idea that systemic racism exists, bemoaning immigration at the southern border, demanding school choice to "break the monopoly" of public schools, and branding Democrats as "soft on crime." He also takes frequent swipes at President Joe Biden and routinely engages in "woke" culture war fights on social media. The budding politician, who wrote about his surprise gubernatorial run in "As Goes California: My Mission to Rescue the Golden State and Save the Nation," is no stranger to controversy. His ex-fiancee, Alexandra Datig, accused Elder of flashing a gun at her during an argument while he was under the influence of marijuana. Elder denied it ever happened in a Twitter thread. CNN reported that Elder was accused of sexual harassment twice — allegations Elder also waved off. Former Rep. Liz Cheney of WyomingRep. Liz Cheney, a Republican of Wyoming, campaigned with Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat of Michigan, at an Evening for Patriotism and Bipartisanship event on November 1, 2022 in East Lansing, Michigan.Bill Pugliano/Getty ImagesCheney, 56, is the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney and one of Trump's toughest Republican critics.She voted to impeach Trump after the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, and served as vice chair of the House select committee investigating Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election.Cheney's actions have come at a cost under the heavy weight of Trump's ire. House Republicans punished her by stripping her of her leadership post, and she lost her US House seat to Trump-backed GOP challenger Harriet Hageman during the state's August primary.But she hasn't been deterred. Cheney said on NBC's "Today" that she would do "whatever it takes" to keep Trump out of the White House in 2024, including "thinking about" running for president herself. "I wouldn't be surprised to see her run for president," Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah told Insider in August. Cheney voted with Trump on policy when he was in office, and remains a conservative, telling the Reagan Foundation and Institute in June 2022 that she believes "deeply in the policies of limited government, of low taxes, of a strong national defense." But Cheney said she sees a breaking point with the Republican Party, telling the Texas Tribune Festival in September that she would leave the GOP if Trump became the 2024 nominee.This could mean she'd run for president as an Independent. Already, she has shown she's willing to campaign against Republicans who falsely deny that Biden won the 2020 presidential election.In 2022, Cheney converted her House campaign finance committee into an anti-election denier leadership PAC called The Great Task. The PAC spent $500,000 on a TV ad in Arizona that urged voters to reject Republicans Kari Lake and Mark Finchem, who were running for governor and secretary of state, respectively. During the 2022 midterms, Cheney endorsed incumbent Democratic Reps. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia. Both won their races. "We had to make sure that we prevented election deniers from taking power," she told The Washington Post's Global Women's Summit in November. Many outsiders see long odds for Cheney, though a poll conducted in Utah found she could be a top contender there. Sen. Ted Cruz of TexasSen. Ted Cruz, a Republican of Texas, speaks at a rally for Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker on November 10, 2022 in Canton, Georgia.Megan Varner/Getty ImagesCruz, 52, was the last Republican standing against Trump during the 2016 presidential nomination and had even announced that he'd pick former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina as his running mate. But Cruz — whom Trump nicknamed "Lyin' Ted" — lost following a nasty primary in which Trump levied highly personal attacks against the senator, including disparaging his wife's looks and falsely suggesting that Cruz's father had something to do with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Once Trump was in office, however, Cruz was one of the president's  biggest defenders. He voted to overturn the 2020 election results in Arizona and Pennsylvania and helped to secure Trump's acquittal in his second impeachment trial. In recent months, Cruz has been spending time in New Hampshire and during the midterms campaigned with retired football star Herschel Walker in the Georgia Senate runoff. While in the Senate, Cruz led the successful effort to zero out the unpopular fine on the uninsured created by the Affordable Care Act.More recently, Cruz used Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court confirmation hearing to score points for a potential 2024 run, questioning her about school curriculum on race. Before coming to Congress, Cruz was solicitor general in Texas, a role that involves arguing cases before the Supreme Court. When Insider asked whether Trump's latest missteps had provided an opening for him to jump into the 2024 presidential race, Cruz chuckled a bit before laying out what sounded like a near-term agenda. "I think the Senate is the battleground … and I'm going to do everything I can to lead the fight right here," Cruz told Insider before launching into a tirade about his mounting frustration with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's decision making. He made no specific mention of 2024, but also didn't work in the word "no" anywhere.Cruz told the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas that he'll seek reelection in Texas in 2024 when his term is up, though state law allows him to run for both offices at the same time.Former Gov. Chris Christie of New JerseyFormer New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie speaks at an annual leadership meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition Saturday, November 19, 2022, in Las Vegas.John Locher/AP PhotoChristie, 60, is famously said to have missed his moment for the White House because he didn't run for president when he was getting a lot of attention as New Jersey's governor in 2012, and instead fizzled out in 2016 when faced with Trump and numerous other contenders. But that hasn't stopped him from weighing another go at it. In October, during an appearance on "Real Time with Bill Maher," Christie confirmed that he was considering a 2024 run. Now, New Hampshire Today says an announcement is imminent.Christie wrote a book in 2021, titled "Republican Rescue: Saving the Party From Truth Deniers, Conspiracy Theorists, and the Dangerous Policies of Joe Biden." He served two terms as a Republican governor in a blue state where Democrats controlled the legislature. In that role, he expanded Medicaid under Obamacare and passed bail reform.But he got flak over a handshake with then-President Barack Obama during Hurricane Sandy relief efforts, and was hurt politically after members of his administration created traffic jams on the George Washington Bridge.Christie became a lobbyist in 2020, when he had several healthcare clients but cut ties a year later, according to the lobbying disclosure database, in what could be a sign that he's lining up for a run.   Today, Christie blames Trump for the GOP's losses the last three election cycles and spent months saying Republicans "have to be the party of tomorrow, not the party of yesterday" if they ever want to win another election. His tone on Trump is a stunning turnaround for a man who was one of Trump's closest outside advisors when he was in the White House and was even on the shortlist to be Trump's chief of staff. Christie turned on Trump after January 6, saying the president violated his oath of office. He told The New York Times that Trump's candidacy was "untenable" and that the former president had had "poor judgement" after he dined at Mar-a-Lago with white supremacist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. He also told the Washington Examiner that Republicans "fail the leadership test" when they don't call out Trump. South Dakota Gov. Kristi NoemSouth Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas, Texas, on July 11, 2021.Brandon Bell/Getty ImagesNoem, 51, has been on a Trump-related roller coaster ride as of late. In January 2021, the embattled former president tried to get her to primary fellow South Dakota Sen. John Thune, a lawmaker Trump took to calling a RINO (which stands for "Republican in name only") after Thune balked at his baseless claims of election fraud. Noem bowed out of joining Trump's revenge campaign, opting to focus on her own re-election plans. Once 2022 rolled around, she leaned hard into the GOP culture wars, promising voters that she'd bar transgender athletes from participating in women's sports, stamp out any "critical race theory" instruction in local schools, and decimate any "radical political ideologies" that annoyed her evangelical Christian base.Come July, Noem told CNN she'd be "shocked" if Trump tapped her to be his 2024 running mate. But she didn't rule out sliding into the VP slot — or mounting a challenge of her own. Since winning a second term in November, Noem has started taking on bigger foes, including the People's Republic of China. —Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) November 30, 2022 Her state government-wide ban against the use of social media app TikTok scored her fawning interviews on conservative outlets including Fox News and Newsmax, beaming her into the homes of potential admirers who don't happen to reside in the Mount Rushmore State. Noem seems far less enthusiastic about Trump these days, telling reporters that the twice-impeached, scandal-plagued former president isn't Republicans' "best chance" at retaking the White House in 2024. She issued this prediction just days after Trump announced he was running again.  Former Vice President Mike PenceFormer Vice President Mike Pence speaks at the annual leadership meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition on Friday, November 18, 2022, in Las Vegas.John Locher/AP PhotoPence, 63, has been distancing himself from his former boss, while also promoting his new book, "So Help Me God." He told ABC's "World News Tonight" that Trump "decided to be part of the problem" by not immediately calling off the insurrectionists during the January 6 riot, after he declined to help invalidate Biden's lawful win. Pence also pushed back against Trump on WVOC in South Carolina after he called for terminating the Constitution, and came out forcefully after Trump had dinner with Fuentes."President Trump was wrong to give a white nationalist, an anti-Semite, and a Holocaust denier a seat at the table," he said on November 28. An adviser to the former vice president told Insider that, should Pence decide to run, the team has discussed several policy areas to differentiate himself, including Trump's bipartisan criminal justice reform bill, the First Step Act, and that he'll continue to be "very outspoken on the issue of life."Pence wouldn't have to worry about name ID during a presidential run. Still, his new book and a campaign would allow him to reintroduce himself to voters by talking about his work in the US House and then as governor of Indiana. He already has made numerous trips to early primary states New Hampshire and South Carolina. Further, he'll be able to amplify policies that carried his fingerprints during the Trump administration, including his oversight of the US's pandemic response.Pence was a sought-after midterm surrogate, traveling to dozens of states. In May, he went to Georgia to help incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp beat Trump-backed primary challenger David Perdue.Pence's vision for the future of the party is laid out in his Freedom Agenda and Advancing American Freedom, the nonprofit aligned with him that serves as a type of campaign in waiting. The policies include reducing mail-in voting and implementing universal school choice, which allows public education funds to pay for K-12 students to select alternatives to public schools. While Pence didn't testify before the January 6 select committee, his senior aides including former chief of staff Marc Short and legal advisor J. Michael Luttig walked investigators through some of the scenarios that led up to the attack. In November, Pence said on Fox's "Hannity" that he would make a 2024 decision after discussing it with his family during the holidays. Sen. Marco Rubio of FloridaWilfredo Lee/AP PhotoRubio, 51, has come out hot after cruising to a third term in November, castigating GOP leaders for totally blowing the midterms. "We have a historically unpopular Dem President, record inflation, a violent crime wave & total chaos at the border & not only did we fail to win a majority, we lost a seat. And the Senate GOP response is going to be to make no changes?" Rubio fumed in a December 7 Twitter post. His anger hadn't abated when Insider caught up with him at the US Capitol. "I don't know how you come back from what we have just encountered and conclude that the status quo and business as usual is how we want to proceed," Rubio said of the need for drastic changes within the GOP. While conceding that he doesn't have "all those answers," Rubio suggested that Senate Republicans take a hard look at "the mechanics of elections, policy, the legislative agenda, and all of that." "I think that's something we should all be involved in talking about," Rubio said of the sorely needed soul searching. Rubio, who is of Cuban descent, was speaker of the Florida House before heading to Washington. He has sponsored numerous bills that have become law, including doubling the child tax credit and co-authoring the Paycheck Protection Program that helped keep small businesses afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.On top of that, he's got a powerful perch as the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee. Political operatives have credited him with helping the GOP grow its influence with Hispanic voters, NBC News reported. Asked by Insider whether he had it in him to take another run at the former president after getting clobbered by the insult-flinging Trump in 2016, Rubio said he just really needs to take a breath. "We'll have time over the holidays and into the new year to sort of focus on everything going on in my life and here in the Senate," Rubio told Insider, adding that he hasn't "really focused in on" returning to the presidential proving grounds at the moment. Perhaps voters will learn more about future plans in his forthcoming book, "Decades of Decadence." Miami Mayor Francis SuarezTaylor Hill / Contributor Getty ImagesSuarez, 45, confirmed in October that he's considering a presidential run. By March, he was still deciding, he told the Miami Herald. "It's something that I would consider given the right circumstances and given the right mood of the country," Suarez said at a Punchbowl News event in October. Miami has been getting a lot of attention given the surge of people moving to Florida — and tech companies and crypto startups in particular headed to Miami under Suarez's encouragement. He even told Twitter CEO Elon Musk that he should consider relocating the company's headquarters from San Francisco.Suarez's office sent over a list of accomplishments for the mayor, saying the city was No. 1 in job and wage growth, and had 1.4% unemployment. The Financial Times called Miami "the most important city in America." The mayor made historic increases to the city's police department, increased funding on climate-resistant infrastructure, and passed a rental tax credit for seniors. Suarez didn't vote for Trump during the 2020 election and in the 2018 gubernatorial race in Florida he voted for Democrat Andrew Gillum over DeSantis. He did flip in 2022, voting for DeSantis for reelection, he told Insider. Suarez said Trump has been kind to him. The two spoke at a wedding recently, he said, and Trump told him he was the "hottest politician in America after him.""I don't know if he meant physically hot or if he meant I was getting a lot of buzz," Suarez said. "But he was very nice." Suarez is of Cuban descent and leads the National Conference of Mayors. When asked about how he might stand out in a presidential race, Suarez said he might be able to speak to "a variety of minority communities that are going to be important if Republicans want to grow their base for a generation." Gov. Chris Sununu of New HampshireGov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire.Jon Cherry/Getty Images for ConcordiaSununu, 48, was just reelected to a fourth term in New Hampshire, where governors are reelected every two years and there are no term limits. There's a "61 percent chance" he runs for president, he told Puck last week. Sununu is a centrist Republican who has the distinction of being in favor of abortion rights, at a time when many states are banning abortion. He came close to running for the US Senate in 2022, but told the Washington Examiner that other senators told him their main job was to be a "roadblock" in office — and he wasn't interested in that.Sununu also called Trump "fucking crazy" at the Gridiron dinner, a journalism event. "Let's stop supporting crazy, unelectable candidates in our primaries and start getting behind winners that can close the deal in November," Sununu said in November at Republican Jewish Coalition meeting.He told the Washington Examiner after the midterms that there should be new GOP leadership — not just in the White House but inside the Republican National Committee."Did they achieve on the level of results that we all thought we were going to get?" he asked. "No. So, why would we stick with the same team assuming we're going to get a better result?"Sununu is part of a political dynasty. His father was governor of New Hampshire who then went on to work in the George H.W. Bush administration as chief of staff. His brother was in the US House and US Senate. Out of the Running: Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger of IllinoisRep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., speaks as the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol holds a hearing in Washington, DC, on July 21, 2022.AP Photo/J. Scott ApplewhiteLike Cheney, Kinzinger, 45, spent much of 2022 focused on the January 6 committee and drawing Trump's ire. He was the only other Republican on the House committee investigating the riot, and retired from his seat at the end of the last Congress, after six terms. Kinzinger told HuffPost in April 2022 that he "would love" to run against Trump for the 2024 GOP nomination, but more for the fun of it than to actually win."Even if he crushed me, like in a primary, to be able to stand up and call out the garbage is just a necessary thing, regardless of who it is," he said. "I think it'd be fun."But by January 2023, Kinzinger told CNN's "State of the Union" that he had no intention of running for president. Kinzinger in early 2021 launched his anti-election denier leadership PAC, called Country First. The group launched a nationwide campaign urging voters to reject "extreme" candidates in 2024. Kinzinger sponsored several bills that became law, including measures to prevent opioid addiction and a bill to help veterans with medic training transition to EMT work as civilians. Kinzinger served in the Air Force and remains a pilot in the Air National Guard. Out of the Running: Sen. Josh Hawley of MissouriSenator Josh Hawley (R-MO) speaks during the confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on March 22, 2022.JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)Hawley, 43, won't be seeking the presidency in 2024, he told NBC News in November. But the senator has reached for the spotlight whenever possible while Congress is in session.From famously saluting the January 6 protestors on the day of the violent siege at the Capitol to holding Brown Jackson's feet to the fire as she raced to join the Supreme Court, the first-term lawmaker works to portray himself as the perennial outsider who's only here to shake things up. He's played up the part by voting to overturn the 2020 election results on behalf of MAGA vote-magnet Trump, butting heads with McConnell on the way the upper chamber is run, and blaming short-sighted leaders for running the party into the ground. "When your 'agenda' is cave to Big Pharma on insulin, cave to Schumer on gun control & Green New Deal ('infrastructure'), and tease changes to Social Security and Medicare, you lose," Hawley, bemoaned on Twitter following a demoralizing midterms performance by flawed GOP candidates, which he blamed on "Washington Republicanism." The potential 2024 contender followed up with some suggestions, floating an alternative vision he said would help "unrig the system."   "What are Republicans actually going to do for working people? How about, to start: tougher tariffs on China, reshore American jobs, open up American energy full throttle, 100k new cops on the street," Hawley, who was also Missouri's former attorney general, tossed out on his social media feed. Out of the Running: Former Gov. Larry Hogan of MarylandGov. Larry Hogan of Maryland.Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesEven before the bruising 2022 midterms, Hogan, 66, was warning that Republicans couldn't continue down the path they are on. "I am not about to give up on the Republican party or America," he wrote on Twitter in early December. "None of us can. It's too important."The two-term governor who survived a 2015 cancer scare has been fired up about plotting his next act. But that next act won't be seeking the presidency. "The stakes are too high for me to risk being part of another multicar pileup that could potentially help Mr. Trump recapture the nomination," Hogan wrote in a guest essay for The New York Times. He elaborated about his thinking in a March 5 interview with CBS News, signaling he wouldn't support Trump or DeSantis — the only Republican who polls near Trump. "Right now, you have Trump and DeSantis at the top of the field, soaking up all the oxygen, getting all the attention, and then a whole lot of the rest of us in single digits," Hogan said on CBS. "And the more of them you have, the less chance you have for somebody rising up."Hogan, a centrist Republican, did explore the possibility of running for president, making the rounds in early primary states such as Iowa and New Hampshire. Hogan also scored some face time with GOP mega donors at this year's Republican Jewish Coalition leadership meeting — mentioning to political reporters covering the event that he and other potential 2024 hopefuls were there because "maybe there's a little blood in the water." As governor, Hogan signed a gun control bill into law and has said that while he opposed abortion, he wouldn't move to gut the state's guarantee on reproductive rights. During the COVID-19 pandemic he instituted a statewide mask mandate, then lifted restrictions in May 2021. He billed himself as a "commonsense conservative" who GOP voters sick of losing may want to consider."I think there are 10 people who want to be the next Donald Trump, and I think there may be a different lane," Hogan said while stumping in Manchester, New Hampshire, adding, "I'm going to do everything I can to get the country back on track." He cast a write-in vote for Reagan in the 2020 election and called for Trump to be impeached or resign after January 6. Out of the Running: Former Secretary of State Mike PompeoFormer Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at the annual leadership meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Friday, November 18, 2022, in Las Vegas.John Locher/AP PhotoPompeo, 59, bowed out of contention on April 14, telling his social media followers that putting it all on the line now didn't seem prudent. "The time is not right for me and my family," Pompeo wrote in a formal statement. The former Trump administration official turned critic of the embattled former president did, however, leave the door open to giving public service another go in the future. "There remain many more opportunities for which the timing might be more fitting as presidential leadership becomes even more necessary," he teased. Despite his stature as a former Secretary of State and longtime GOP power player, Pompeo barely registered in 2024 polling while out promoting his book "Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love." In April, he polled at 1% in two separate Morning Consult tracking polls, at 1% in a Reuters/Ipsos poll, and at 2% in a Leger/Canadian Press Poll, according to polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight. He consistently polled in sixth-place or lower in the field.Pompeo represented Kansas in the US Congress and was also a former CIA director under Trump. After the end of the administration, he lost weight, which sparked speculation that he was interested in a White House run.He has openly criticized Biden, including after the president's September speech on protecting democracy. "He essentially said if you're pro-life or you're opposed to a certain set of policies, you're a threat," Pompeo told the New England Council's "Politics and Eggs" breakfast.  Biden, he said at the event, could be summed up as having "woke ideas, weak resolve, and waffling leadership."Trump should not have taken classified documents to Mar-a-Lago, he said, but added that the "raid on Mar-a-Lago was indecent and improper." Pompeo told conservative radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt in November that Trump's announcement wouldn't affect whether he decides to run for president, adding that he'd make a determination in the spring. "We need more seriousness, less noise, and leaders who are looking forward," Pompeo said, "not staring in the rearview mirror claiming victimhood." Out of the Running: Gov. Glenn Youngkin of VirginiaGov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia.AP Photo/Steve Helber, FileYoungkin, 56, bowed out of the 2024 presidential race on May 1, telling attendees at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California that he still had work to do in the Old Dominion. When the Wall Street Journal's Gerard Baker asked Youngkin whether a White House run was in his immediate future, the newly-minted Republican said "No." He added that his near-term goals include preserving GOP control of Virginia's House of Delegates and flipping the state's Democratic-led Senate.  Sticking close to home in the battleground state will give Youngkin a chance to work on playing defense. He tried playing kingmaker in over a dozen 2022 gubernatorial contests and mostly came up short.Youngkin rocketed to stardom in late 2021 by keeping Virginia purplish with his electrifying win over Democratic fixture Terry McAuliffe tried to work that same Trump-light magic into contests all around the country. The result: only four of the 15 Republican gubernatorial candidates Youngkin got involved with won their races. It's unclear whether Youngkin had any effect on the reelection bids of blowout winners like Kemp or Noem.By the same token, it's debatable whether he could have dragged Lake, Michigan's Tudor Dixon, or any of the other 2020 election deniers across the finish line given their full-on embrace of Trumpism. While he remains reluctant to badmouth the embattled former president, Youngkin clinched his 2021 win by keeping Trump at bay while still reaching out to the MAGA base. Trump, on the other hand, has tried to take full credit for Youngkin's win and lashed out at the newcomer for not being more appreciative. Trump's already working on trying to clip a Youngkin presidential bid from ever taking wing, panning him and DeSantis as ingrates who have no chance of beating him. Trump also reverted to his old tricks after the politically damaging 2022 midterms flop, hitting Youngkin with a bizarre, racist rant on Truth Social. Given that Virginia only allows governors to serve non-consecutive terms, it makes sense for Youngkin to seek opportunities elsewhere.The Washington Post reported that Youngkin spent part of his summer huddling with Republican mega donors in New York. And while he remains mum on any official plans for 2024, Politico said Youngkin's putting in place the types of fundraising groups a presidential candidate would want to have at the ready.Youngkin is a former co-CEO of the Carlyle Group. As governor, his first official action was to sign an executive order prohibiting Virginia schools from teaching "critical race theory." More recently, he's been pushing to reimburse individuals and businesses who paid fines for violating state COVID-19 restrictions under his Democratic predecessor.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»