>>22103759

Popes twitter handle is @Pontifex.

pontifex (noun) · pontifices (plural noun)

(in ancient Rome) a member of the principal college of priests.

>>22103789

Is it normal to use a title for a priest from Ancient Rome?

Children carry out surge of contract killings as Swedish gangs exploit loophole in the law

Fernando, a hitman for a Swedish narcotics gang, checks his phone as it pings with his latest orders: collect the guns, go to the target’s front door and fire until he runs out of bullets.

“Yeah, I understand brother,” he replies casually. He collects two pistols, a Kalashnikov rifle and an accomplice, before hurrying to their target in a suburb of Stockholm.

But this is no ordinary gang hit. Fernando is 14, a teenage assassin who was playing a Fifa video game in his youth club when the orders arrived by text.

He is one among dozens of child contract killers in Sweden, recruited by gang middle-men on social media who pay as much as 150,000 kroner (£13,000) per job.

The number of murder cases involving child suspects in Sweden, which has the highest per capita rate of gun violence in the EU, has exploded over the past year. The figures rose from 31 counts in the first eight months of 2023 to 102 in the same period of this year, according to Sweden’s prosecution authority.

Swedish prosecutors and police say the use of children, many of them from an impoverished or foreign background, to commit murders on that scale is unprecedented. One recent case involved a boy of just 11 years old.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/children-carry-surge-contract-killings-150000981.html

Iran's Parliament Passes Strict 'Chastity and Hijab' Law

The Islamic Republic's Parliament has officially passed the "Chastity and Hijab" law, a 74-article piece of legislation that imposes severe penalties for hijab violations. The law is set to be implemented on December 13.

The law establishes a complex system of fines and restrictions targeting what it defines as improper dress for both men and women.

Under Article 49, individuals violating dress codes will face escalating financial penalties. Initial offenses will incur fines ranging from 20 million ($285) to 80 million ($1,140) tomans, while subsequent violations will attract higher fines, between 80 million and 165 million ($2,350) tomans.

Those unable to pay these fines will encounter significant service restrictions, including impediments to passport renewal, vehicle registration, obtaining country exit permits, releasing impounded vehicles, and acquiring or renewing driving licenses.

The law defines improper dress for women as clothing that exposes areas below the neck, above the ankles, or above the wrists, or clothing that "tempts" others.

Citizens are encouraged to report violations through the police’s public reporting system.

Business owners also face substantial penalties for promoting attire considered inappropriate by the law. A first offense could result in a maximum Grade 3 fine or the payment of two months’ business profit.

A second offense escalates to a maximum Grade 2 fine or four months’ business profit. A third offense compounds these penalties with a Grade 5 imprisonment sentence, potentially accompanied by travel bans and advertising restrictions.

The legislation mandates immediate detention for individuals deemed "nude" in public spaces.

A controversial aspect of the law is its extensive surveillance provision, which allows footage from various government agencies, including the Ministry of Intelligence and the Ministry of Defense, to identify individuals opposing the mandatory hijab.

https://iranwire.com/en/women/136665-irans-parliament-passes-strict-chastity-and-hijab-law/

Helene victims are still homeless in North Carolina

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWGtfqpreJ8

BlackRock expanding in private credit, buys HPS Investment Partners for $12 billion

BlackRock said Tuesday it will acquire HPS Investment Partners for $12 billion in stock, as the world’s largest asset manager looks to grow its presence in the highly popular private credit space.

“We have always sought to position ourselves ahead of our clients’ needs. Together with the scale, capabilities, and expertise of the HPS team, BlackRock will deliver clients solutions that seamlessly blend public and private,” CEO Larry Fink said in a statement.

The deal, which is expected to close in mid-2025, comes during a boom for the private credit space. Comparable publicly traded companies to HPS such as Blue Owl Capital and Ares are up 54.6% and 46%, respectively, for 2024. Those gains are well ahead of BlackRock’s 25.7% year-to-date gain.

The transaction also creates “an integrated private credit franchise” with about $220 billion in assets, per BlackRock. HPS manages about $148 billion in assets. BlackRock oversees $11.5 trillion as of the third quarter.

Sources told CNBC that HPS first sought to go public, which caught BlackRock’s attention as it looks to grow its alternative assets business. BlackRock earlier this year announced it would acquire Global Infrastructure Partners and private market data provider Preqin for $12.5 billion and $3.2 billion, respectively.

The deal is also expected to raise BlackRock’s private market AUM and management fees by 40% and roughly 35%, respectively.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/03/blackrock-expanding-in-private-credit-buys-hps-investment-partners-for-12-billion.html

Ivanka Trump puts on a very busty display while surfing on a fun-filled family vacation

Ivanka Trump has once again flaunted her enviable physique while surfing on a fun-filled family vacation.

The mom-of-three took to her Instagram Story to boast her jaw-dropping figure after DailyMail.com detailed her strict workout regime.

While on an adventure with her family, Ivanka showcased her playful side as she jumped in the water and began surfing.

The 42-year-old, who will soon be First Daughter once again thanks to dad Donald Trump's presidential election win, shared a clip of her riding the waves on a FlowRider - a 40-foot-long surf stimulator.

And while her skills were impressive, all eyes were on her natural beauty as she wowed in a black one-piece.

Ivanka's ensemble featured splashes of white fabric that accentuated her full bust and long legs

After boasting her athletic talents, the mom - who has taken several steps to distance herself from her father's political spotlight - shared the other fun parts of her getaway with her followers.

She also shared that her son, Joseph, 11, took a swing at the surf stimulator and had plenty of fun while riding the waves.

Joseph flashed the camera a big smile as he laid on his stomach while on a mini surf board.

In another snap, Ivanka posed alongside a flamingo and grinned from ear-to-ear.

She captioned the snapshot: 'Photobombing a flamingo.'

Although her trip looked to be plenty of fun, the mom captured the attention of fans because of incredible figure.

Following many questions about her workout routine and how fans could mirror her physique, Ivanka's personal trainer, Sandy Brockman, exclusively revealed to DailyMail.com which workouts Ivanka does while at the gym.

The blonde beauty then echoed the thoughts of her trainer as she revealed that perfecting your form before adding any weight is 'essential' as she stunned in a slew of figure-hugging workout outfits.

Ivanka admitted that she has shifted to weightlifting and resistance training after having 'primarily focused' on 'cardio and yoga' for the majority of her life.

The mom revealed she does '10 reps' of the movement before moving onto the next.

Back squats, which are also known as barbells, are performed by standing with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a weighted barbell on your upper back and squatting.

The second workout that helps Ivanka stay in perfect shape is Barbell Deadlifts.

She noted that she uses 85LBS for this workout, which she does 'eight reps' of.

Deadlifts are one of the most functional and basic exercises, and it sees you bending down, picking up a weight bar and lifting it back up.

Ivanka then works on giving her arms a burn by doing '15 reps' of TRX, which sees her pulling a rope that weighs her 'bodyweight.'

She continues to sculpt her arms by performing Lat Pull Downs, which sees her pulling weights down towards her body.

The blonde beauty reveals she does 10 reps of Lat Pull Downs and lifts 70LBS.

Lastly, the mom works on her glute and leg muscles by performing a curtsy squat with a resistance band on.

While holding a 20LB weight in one hand and donning a resistance band, Ivanka squats with one leg in a curtsy fashion and then switches legs.

The blonde beauty revealed she does a total of 10 reps on each side.

In the caption section, she admitted that she finishes off her workout with about '10 minutes' of sprints.

Ivanka and Jared Kushner relocated to Florida with children Arabella, 12, Joseph, nine, and Theodore, eight, after Trump left office in January 2021.

It was a change of pace for the incumbent First Daughter, who was heavily involved in Trump's first term in the White House.

And, Ivanka wasn't at Mar-a-Lago in November 2022 when the former President announced he would seek another term in the White House.

She had an office in the West Wing and frequently represented the administration both at home and abroad.

It was seemingly confirmed that the blonde beauty was bidding adieu to a life of politics after her father regained his seat in the White House.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-14150497/ivanka-trump-surfing-swimsuit-instagram-bust-figure.html

Jamie Raskin (officially) launches bid to replace Nadler

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) launched a challenge to top House Judiciary Democrat Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) on Monday afternoon in a letter to Democratic colleagues.

The bid sets up a generational clash for the leadership of one of the most high-profile congressional panels as Democrats look to build a bulwark against Donald Trump’s presidency.

“After a week consulting most of our Colleagues and engaging in serious introspection about where we are, I am running today to be your Ranking Member on the House Judiciary Committee in the 119th Congress," Raskin wrote. "This is where we will wage our front-line defense of the freedoms and rights of the people, the integrity of the Department of Justice and the FBI, and the security of our most precious birthright possessions: the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the rule of law, and democracy itself."

Raskin, a constitutional scholar, rose to prominence as a manager of then-President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial and as a member of the Jan. 6 select committee. He has relished his role as the top Democrat on the Oversight panel during the current Congress, sparring with the Republican majority as they investigated President Joe Biden. Some Democrats have privately pushed him to run amid questions about Nadler's ability to stand up to Trump on the prominent panel.

His decision to run also comes amid a generational shift on other House panels. Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who'd faced a competitive challenge to lead the Natural Resources committee, announced Monday he would not run again as the panel's top Democrat. And Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.), who's faced questions about his ability to lead the Agriculture committee amid struggles with his health, faces challenges from Reps. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) and Jim Costa (D-Calif.).

Nadler, a veteran New York Democrat and the dean of the state’s House delegation, has been the top Democrat on the Judiciary panel since 2017. He served as a manager of Trump’s first impeachment. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, though Nadler has been actively running for reelection on the panel.

Raskin’s bid for Judiciary could also kick off a scramble for ranking member of the Oversight Committee if he wins the race for the leadership position. Among those who could mount bids to succeed him are Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), the current vice ranking member, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.).

House Democrats’ steering and policy committee will hold secret ballot elections to recommend panel leaders to the full caucus in the coming weeks, and that panel’s membership is expected to be decided as soon as this week.

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/12/02/congress/raskin-running-for-top-judiciary-dem-seat-00192159

Hunter Biden can no longer plead the 5th before Congress — Buried lede from Tom Cotton

Hunter Biden's pardon is the latest in a long list of controversial White House immunity decisions.

Still, President Joe Biden's unconditional, full absolution of his son is different in one unprecedented way: No commander-in-chief has ever granted clemency to his child, according to experts.

While former President Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother, Roger Clinton Jr., of a drug conviction on his last day in office in 2001 and President-elect Donald Trump did the same for his daughter Ivanka's father-in-law, Charles Kushner, of tax evasion and witness tampering convictions in the final days of his first term, Biden has broken new ground in presidential pardon history, experts told ABC News.

"This is a first," said Jeffrey Crouch, an assistant professor of American politics at American University and author of the book "The Presidential Pardon Power." "In terms of the legal side of things, the president has the power to grant clemency to just about anybody he wants."

What is a presidential pardon?

Under a section called the "Commander-in-chief clause," Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution says the president "shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment."

"The idea is that it's a check on decisions of the federal judiciary and the president is entrusted with this responsibility," Crouch told ABC News. "And the reason the President has the responsibility is because the framers of the constitution decided that the president should have this ability. It should be virtually unchecked and it should be part of the system of separated powers and checks and balances, and that the president should be able to unilaterally decide whether to shorten someone's punishment or to offer them a full pardon, or some variation of the options that are available."

Crouch said the only limit placed on a president's pardon power is that it must pertain to crimes committed against the United States, meaning only federal offenses.

"If someone commits a state offense, the state will have its own process that the person will need to go through, whether it's a parole board or a governor or whatever the case might be," Crouch said.

Hunter Biden pleaded guilty over the summer to federal charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2020. In a separate case, he was convicted of making false statements on a federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives form when he purchased a handgun in 2018 and said he was not using drugs at that time.

Hunter Biden was scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 12 in the federal gun case in Delaware and on Dec. 16 in the tax evasion case in California.

Due to the pardons his father issued on Sunday, both convictions are expected to be thrown out.

President Biden issued the pardons despite repeatedly making public statements that he would not interfere with justice. In a statement, he called the prosecution of his son "a miscarriage of justice" by his own Department of Justice.

"From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department's decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted," Biden wrote.

He added, "Here's the truth: I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice – and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision."

A presidential pardon can't be overturned

The president's decision to pardon his son immediately provoked a backlash from Republicans and Democrats, who viewed it as an abuse of executive branch power and pointed out that arguments the president made of his son being the target of political prosecution are the same ones rejected by the courts handling his cases. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump called the pardon "an abuse and miscarriage of Justice."

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, condemned the pardon in an interview Monday on Fox News and issued a warning to President Biden.

"Joe Biden may come to regret this decision because, having given his son a blanket pardon of 11 years to include the time when Joe Biden was vice president, Hunter Biden now can't plead the fifth if he appears before Congress or appears before a grand jury," Cotton said.

He added, "He has to testify about exactly what he was up to, for instance, when he was traveling to China on Air Force Two and meeting with Chinese communist princelings, or why being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to sit on a Ukrainian energy company's board for which he had no qualifications. So, that may be one unintended consequence of the pardon that Joe Biden didn't fully think through."

The full pardon is not just for Hunter Biden's recent convictions but covers any crime he may have committed over a nearly 11-year span from Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2024.

"It's critical," Kim Wehle, a law professor and ABC News contributor, said of the time frame covered in the pardon.

She noted that Trump has picked Kash Patel as FBI director and Pam Bondi as Attorney General.

"These folks have publicly stated that they're on board with using the Justice Department as a mechanism of vengeance and retribution. So the breadth of that pardon suggests that President Biden understands that without that, Hunter Biden could be targeted for a vindictive prosecution," said Wehle, the author of "Pardon Power: How the Pardon System Works — And Why."

"He faced jail time with these two convictions and Donald Trump will be in charge of the federal Bureau of Prisons, so he would be in charge of Hunter Biden's day-to-day life," Wehle said. "I can understand why a president would not want his son to be put through that moving forward."

Crouch described the pardon as "extraordinarily broad" and said there are similarities to the pardon President Gerald Ford granted President Richard Nixon in 1974.

"It was not necessarily tied to specific offenses. It was tied to a time range and it covered Nixon's entire presidency," Crouch said. "So any federal offenses that Nixon committed or may have committed during his presidency were covered and the language of the Hunter Biden pardon seems a bit similar to that in terms of its breadth."

Asked if a presidential pardon can be overturned, Crouch said, "It's not possible." He said even the U.S. Supreme Court would not have a say in Hunter Biden's pardon.

Crouch said the closest a pardon has come to being overturned occurred in 2008 when then-President George W. Bush pardoned New York developer Isaac Robert Toussie for fraudulently obtaining federally insured mortgages. After facing criticism that Toussie's father was a big Republican donor, Bush took back the pardon, claiming it hadn't been completed.

"You can stop something that hasn't been completed, but you can't take back a pardon that's been completed," Crouch said. "And the Hunter Biden language in the pardon suggests any and all federal offenses is pretty broad and there's no taking that back."

Office of the Pardon Attorney

Crouch said most modern presidents have relied on the Office of the Pardon Attorney in the Department of Justice to investigate requests for pardons, but are not obligated to do so.

"It's designed to handle the bureaucratic side of that process, to take some of the burden off the president individually, and, frankly, to give the president someone to blame when things go awry. That's how most modern presidents approach clemency," Crouch said.

Biden didn't go through the Office of the Pardon Attorney before deciding to pardon his son. The president made the decision after discussing it with his family during their time together in Nantucket for Thanksgiving, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News on Monday.

During Trump's first term, according to Crouch, he used the Office of the Pardon Attorney roughly 25 times for his 238 clemency grants.

"He had an internal process where, according to reporters, he would hear something on television, or someone would talk with him, or he'd read something, and those are the cases that would be considered for clemency," Crouch said of Trump.

Crouch said the Office of the Pardon Attorney rarely recommends granting pardons.

Can a president pardon himself?

During Trump's first term as president, he posted on social media, "As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong?"

Crouch said that while legal scholars have debated whether a president can pardon himself, the question remains unsettled.

"The answer is nobody knows until somebody tries it. It's not really clear what would happen," Crouch said.

Asked if Biden could pardon Trump before leaving office, Couch said, "Biden can pardon anyone he would like."

"The question is what would be the benefit to doing that? It would be highly controversial," Crouch said. "And so when you look at highly controversial cases, you've got to think about why would the president do this?"

Other questionable presidential pardons

Crouch said there have been other controversial presidential pardons made in recent history.

Besides pardoning his brother, former President Clinton caused a firestorm in 1999 when he commuted the sentences of 16 members of the FALN, a Puerto Rican paramilitary organization that set offer bombs in the United States, mostly in New York and Chicago. Clinton agreed to grant the FALN members clemency in exchange for them renouncing violence.

In the last days of his presidency in 2001, Clinton pardoned financier and fugitive Marc Rich, whose ex-wife participated in Clinton's presidential campaigns and was a major donor to his presidential library. One of the critics to publicly condemn the Rich pardon was none other than then-Sen. Joe Biden.

"I think either the president had an incredible lapse in memory or was brain-dead when he did that one. I mean, I just think it's totally indefensible," Biden said in a Feb. 11, 2001, Fox News Sunday interview.

In 2007, then-President George W. Bush commuted the 31-month federal sentence for Scooter Libby, former chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, who was convicted of obstruction of justice, perjury and making false statements stemming from a White House leak that criminally exposed the covert identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson. Trump later granted Libby a full pardon.

In 1992, Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush, pardoned Caspar Weinberger, the former Secretary of Defense, and five others, absolving them from any further punishment for their illegal dealings in the Reagan-era Iran-Contra scandal. Critics argued that Bush Sr. granted the pardons at a time when he was a lame-duck president with no political consequences.

In 2017, Trump pardoned former Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was charged with criminal contempt of court for disobeying a federal judge's order to stop racially profiling in detaining individuals suspected of being in the country illegally. Trump also pardoned in 2020, former Gen. Michael Flynn, his first national security advisor, who was convicted of lying to FBI agents as part of special counsel Robert Muller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

"There's no limit on the number of pardons that a president can give," Crouch said. "The president can pardon as many people or as few people as you would like. He can do it at any time he would like."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/hunter-biden-pardon-sparks-backlash-020927165.html

Capitol Police arrest Morelle staffer after finding ammunition

A staffer who works for New York Rep. Joseph D. Morelle, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, was arrested on the Capitol campus Monday morning after a bag search turned up magazines and ammunition, according to Capitol Police.

Michael Hopkins, 38, was stopped at an entrance to the Cannon House Office Building after putting his bag through security, police said in a statement.

“USCP officers noticed what appeared to be ammunition on the x-ray screen. After a hand search of the bag, officers found four ammunition magazines and eleven rounds of ammunition,” the statement said. “The staffer told the officers that he forgot the ammunition was in the bag.”

“He is facing charges for unlawful possession of ammunition, including one charge for possession of a high-capacity magazine,” the statement continued.

Hopkins is no longer employed in Morelle’s office “effective immediately,” according to a Monday afternoon statement from Chief of Staff Jo Stiles.

The Administration Committee has oversight over House operations and Capitol security, including jurisdiction over legislative branch support agencies like the Capitol Police.

Hopkins joined Morelle’s personal office as communications director this fall and prior to that was a founding partner at Northern Starr Strategies, according to his LinkedIn.

The incident comes amid continuing scrutiny of campus security, as law enforcement agencies prepare for the next Congress and the presidential inauguration in January. It follows an unrelated arrest on Election Day, when a Michigan man tried to enter the Capitol Visitor Center with a flare gun, torch light and bottles of fuel, according to police.

In an earlier incident in 2021, a staffer with the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer made it through Capitol security with a loaded handgun. The building was placed on lockdown and the man was apprehended 12 minutes later, Capitol Police said at the time.

https://rollcall.com/2024/12/02/capitol-police-arrest-morelle-staffer-after-finding-ammunition/

Inside Elon Musk’s plans for a private preschool in Texas, which just got a permit to open and where children will learn to sweep, draw, and explore

Elon Musk’s pre-kindergarten Montessori school in Texas can now open its doors.

The school, which has been in the works since last year, received its initial permit from the Texas childcare regulator on Thursday, according to the agency, paving the way for Elon Musk to start building out ambitious, STEM-focused education plans that could eventually entail multiple independent K–12 schools and even a college within the state.

The Montessori school—dubbed “Ad Astra” (Latin for “to the stars”) in a nod to Musk’s plans for interplanetary travel—is located about 40 minutes from Austin, in Bastrop county, where several Musk companies have operations. The independent school in Bastrop may eventually enroll up to 54 students in upper and lower elementary grades, with a dedicated faculty and an overarching mission to provide a learning facility “dedicated to STEM education at the highest levels,” according to documents of a Musk-funded nonprofit reviewed by Fortune.

The first Ad Astra pupils in Bastrop will be between 3 and 6 years old and attend a pre-kindergarten school that focuses on exploration and on tasks like coloring, collage making, and studying maps and globes.

The school experienced some initial application snafus and inspection delays, but after passing an inspection earlier this month, Ad Astra obtained its initial state permit on Nov. 14 and is now considered a licensed childcare program, according to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which regulates childcare centers in the state. The Ad Astra preschool can enroll nearly two dozen children, according to the agency, though it appears to only be expecting 16 initially, according to application documents the school submitted to the state that were obtained by Fortune via a Freedom of Information Act request.

The Bastrop Ad Astra is Musk’s second major attempt to push into education. An earlier Ad Astra school was conceived roughly a decade ago when Musk approached his son’s then fourth-grade teacher about starting a school for his own kids and those of SpaceX employees. The school opened in 2014, but after Musk’s children graduated, Ad Astra and its faculty spun out into an independent remote-only school called Astra Nova in 2020, according to an interview the cofounder gave in 2021. The nonprofit entity that ran Ad Astra sold the mobile home, furniture, workforce and intellectual property to SpaceX, according to nonprofit filings. In 2018, a new school called Discovery started operating on the SpaceX campus, run by a company called Xplor Education that simultaneously operates a Montessori school in Hawaii.

This time around, Musk’s school plans seem more grand. The Musk Foundation set aside nearly $100 million via a nonprofit called the X Foundation that will build the initial primary and secondary school, and eventually open a university should all go well, according to the nonprofit’s filings. Ad Astra is the latest branch in a sprawling assortment of businesses and projects connected to Musk, the world's richest person, who was recently appointed by President-elect Donald Trump to oversee a new "Department of Government Efficiency."

Work and play

For now, Musk is starting small—in a white farmhouse with a long porch off a busy farm-to-market road in Bastrop County, Tex.—one street over from where some of Musk’s company facilities reside and where the new headquarters of X (the social media site formerly known as Twitter that Musk acquired for $44 billion in 2022) will be constructed.

The Ad Astra pre-K school will be run by the CEO of Xplor Education, Greg Marick, according to the preschool’s state application, and three other faculty members had been hired as of this past summer. And its approach to learning will revolve around exploration, with toddlers learning how to button things, color and draw, collage, construct words, and study globes and maps. Outside, there is a basketball court, and toddlers will be able to play with tricycles and balls, according to the documents. The curriculum itself—which entails periods for “work” and “play” and has children learning to sweep, to apologize to others, and to “solve a conflict”—is inspired by the work of Alfred Adler and Rudolf Dreikurs, two psychologists and educators, to “teach young people to become responsible, respectful, and resourceful members of our community,” according to Ad Astra’s permit application. As a Montessori school, the school will likely also emphasize self-directed learning, hands-on experiences, and collaborative play. It’s unclear whether any of Musk’s six youngest children—who are under the age of 5 and who reportedly live in a Musk compound in nearby Austin, according to the Wall Street Journal—will be attending.

In practice, it’s likely that Ad Astra may look rather similar to Hala Kahiki Montessori School of Lāna‘i, the Hawaii school that is also operated by Xplor Education. Some of Ad Astra’s enrollment application questions are near-identical to those of Hala Kahiki, and Ad Astra’s permit application seems to erroneously refer to the school as Hala Kahiki in at least one instance, when it says that students will work with local elders and professionals to “learn about the island community.”

It’s unclear how much parents will pay for their children to attend the Bastrop Ad Astra school. The tuition at the Hala Kahiki Montessori School is $968 per month, according to the school’s website.

In the X Foundation documents that describe the Ad Astra school in Bastrop, the plan calls for the lower and upper elementary school to expand beyond an initial 54-student capacity “based on the needs of the local community and on a timeline that provides for quality education and overall experience.” The school could also include distance learners, according to the document, which in one instance misspelled Bastrop as Bastop.

Musk’s name is nowhere on the application materials themselves, though the Tesla and SpaceX CEO’s fingerprints are all over the new school project. The X Foundation, which is funded by the Musk Foundation, owns the property the school sits on, and describes plans for the project in filings. Ad Astra’s initial state application was submitted by Jared Birchall, Musk’s financial advisor and longtime confidant. And Xplor Education, which is behind the “Discovery Preschool” near SpaceX’s campus in Hawthorne, Calif., has listed job postings for the new Bastrop school and has a “coming soon” page for Ad Astra on its website.

Musk and Birchall did not respond to a request for comment. When reached by Fortune, Marick said he was not authorized to speak with reporters and declined to comment.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/inside-elon-musk-plans-private-004159755.html

TD Bank’s $3 Billion Money-Laundering Scandal Exposed—Fueled by DEI Failures

We received a tip exposing the truth behind TD Bank’s $3B money laundering scandal: systemic incompetence driven by DEI culture. The bank’s cultural priorities crippled its ability to enforce the law, and hundreds of millions were laundered for drug cartels.

The tip reveals details about TD Bank’s failure to monitor $168M laundered by a China-linked drug cartel. This failure resulted in one of the largest banking fines ever imposed: $3 billion. But the real story is how DEI priorities trumped competency at every level, enabling the disaster.

• $375K cash deposit at one branch, followed by $290K at another nearby.

• Internal messages by employees suspected with a high degree of confidence the accounts were laundering money.

• Internal reporting mechanisms flagged it over and over, but TD Bank’s leadership ignored it.

This negligence led employees to file formal reports on the cartel’s suspicious transactions. In January 2020, a report warned of “extremely large amounts of cash, possibly money laundering.”

These reports went to one executive: Identified in the DOJ documents as “Individual Two.” His excuse for not acting? He didn’t bother reading them.

So, why was this “Individual Two” in charge? This executive was also the chair of TD Bank’s Diversity Leadership Team and may have prioritized DEI initiatives over core responsibilities. In a public interview, Individual Two said that a typical day included a call with TD’s Inclusion & Diversity team.

TD Bank, by its own admission, embedded DEI into “every aspect” of their business, from workplace policies to operations. In 2023, TD celebrated 11 years on Diversity Inc.’s “Top Companies” list. Their institutional focus was on lists and awards, while fraud prevention responsibilities were neglected.

The DOJ is tasked with cleaning up TD Bank’s failures, but the solution seems to double down on the same broken priorities. The plea deal requires an independent monitor, but in paragraph 28, it states that “Monitor selections shall be made in keeping with the Department’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.”

TD Bank funneled at least $168 million to a China-linked drug cartel, poisoning American communities and destroying families, simply because it cared more about diversity awards than competency. The DOJ’s response is to force more DEI.

The TD scandal is a warning about the DEI-induced competency crisis that is the decline of our institutions.

https://x.com/WokeHotlineUSA/status/1862570851402432832

Kevin O'Leary talks about stock markets and Trump's tariffs on Canada

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWtvCU2koTM

Trump says he'll attend Notre Dame Cathedral reopening celebration in Paris this weekend

NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump will attend the reopening celebration for Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris this weekend, his first foreign trip since the election.

The cathedral is set to reopen Saturday after more than five years of reconstruction following a devastating fire in 2019 that engulfed and nearly destroyed the soaring Paris landmark. The ceremonies being held Saturday and Sunday will be high-security affairs, with about 50 heads of state and government expected to attend.

Trump announced that he will be among them in a post on his Truth Social site Monday evening.

“It is an honor to announce that I will be traveling to Paris, France, on Saturday to attend the re-opening of the Magnificent and Historic Notre Dame Cathedral, which has been fully restored after a devastating fire five years ago,” he wrote. “President Emmanuel Macron has done a wonderful job ensuring that Notre Dame has been restored to its full level of glory, and even more so. It will be a very special day for all!”

The trip will be Trump's first abroad since he won November's presidential election. He traveled to Scotland and Ireland in May 2023, as a candidate, to visit his local golf courses.

Trump was president in 2019 when a massive fire engulfed Notre Dame, collapsing its spire and threatening to destroy one of the world’s greatest architectural treasures, known for its mesmerizing stained glass.

Trump watched the inferno in horror, along with the rest of the world.

“So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris,” he wrote on what was then named Twitter, offering his advice to the city.

"Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!” he wrote.

French officials appeared to respond shortly after, noting that “All means” were being used to extinguish the flames, "except for water-bombing aircrafts which, if used, could lead to the collapse of the entire structure of the cathedral.”

Trump also spoke with Macron and Pope Francis at the time to offer his condolences and said he had offered them “the help of our great experts on renovation and construction.”

Trump and Macron have had a complicated relationship.

During Trump's first term in office, Macron proved to be among the world leaders most adept at managing the American president's whims as he tried to develop a personal connection built in no small part on flattery.

Macron was the guest of honor at Trump's first state dinner and Trump traveled to France several times. But the relationship soured as Trump’s term progressed and Macron criticized him for questioning the need for NATO and raising doubts about America’s commitment to the mutual-defense pact.

As he ran for a second term this year, Trump often mocked Macron on the campaign trail, imitating his accent and threatening to impose steep tariffs on wine and champagne bottles shipped to the U.S. if France tried to tax American companies.

After Trump won another term last month, Macron rushed to win favor with the president-elect. He was among the first global leaders to congratulate Trump — even before The Associated Press called the race in his favor — and beat UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to the punch in delivering a congratulatory phone call.

"Congratulations, President @realDonaldTrump,” Macron posted on X early on Nov 6. “Ready to work together as we did for four years. With your convictions and mine. With respect and ambition. For more peace and prosperity.”

Macron and other European leaders are trying to persuade Trump not to abandon America’s support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s nearly three-year invasion. European leaders hope to convince Trump that a victory by Russia would be viewed as a defeat for the U.S. — and for the incoming president, by extension — hoping to sell him on the need to pursue an end to the war more favorable to Kyiv than he might otherwise seek.

Trump over the weekend announced that he intends to nominate real estate developer Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to serve as ambassador to France. The elder Kushner was pardoned by Trump in December 2020 after pleading guilty years earlier to tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations.

The reopening of Notre Dame will be an elaborate, multi-day celebration, beginning Saturday.

Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich will preside at a reopening service that afternoon, banging on Notre Dame’s shuttered doors with his staff to reopen them, according to the cathedral's website.

The archbishop will also symbolically reawaken Notre Dame’s thunderous grand organ. The fire that melted the cathedral’s lead roofing coated the huge instrument in toxic dust. Its 8,000 pipes have been painstakingly disassembled, cleaned and retuned.

Macron will attend and address the VIP guests.

After the service, opera singers Pretty Yende, from South Africa, and Julie Fuchs, from France; Chinese pianist Lang Lang; Paris-born cellist Yo-Yo Ma; Benin-born singer Angelique Kidjo; Lebanese singer Hiba Tawaji and others will perform at a concert Saturday evening, according to the show’s broadcaster, France Télévisions.

On Sunday morning, the Paris archbishop will lead an inaugural Mass and consecration of the new altar.

Nearly 170 bishops from France and other countries will join the celebration, along with priests from all 106 parishes in the Paris diocese. The Mass will be followed by a “fraternal buffet” for the needy.

Ile de la Cité, where the cathedral sits in the middle of the River Seine, will be blocked off to tourists for the events. A public viewing area with room for 40,000 spectators will be set up along the Seine’s southern bank.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-says-hell-attend-notre-005203195.html

Jay Z’s marijuana company goes from $575 million in cash to ‘death spiral'

Jay-Z’s cannabis brand looked timeless as soon as it launched in 2020. The billionaire rapper, legal name Shawn Carter, rolled out his Monogram line of luxury joints and cannabis flower with a photo shoot at the famous Frank Sinatra house in Palm Springs. Models elegantly smoked joints in front of mid-century pool furniture, as if the brand had been around for decades. Glowing profiles in GQ, Vogue and Vanity Fair soon followed.

Four years later, it looks like this splashy celebrity cannabis brand has already disappeared.

Monogram’s website lists nine retailers where it says its products are for sale — eight in California and one in Arizona — but none include the brand’s products on their online menus. The parent company behind Monogram, confusingly called The Parent Company, hasn’t fared any better. The conglomerate originally hit California’s market with $575 million in cash and plans to take over the entire industry, but after burning through half a billion dollars, it has merged into another company, which itself appears to be in financial trouble.

This downfall did not surprise Seth Yakatan, a cannabis investor and adviser to many California pot companies. He told SFGATE that The Parent Company was spending “mind-boggling” amounts of money during its brief time and that Jay-Z’s pricey Monogram products failed to live up to the hype.

A representative for Monogram declined to comment for this story, but it appears the brand is the latest hyped-up celebrity pot brand to wither away in California’s punishing legal weed market.

‘We’re going to dominate’

Monogram’s launch was one of the biggest weed business news stories of 2020. Jay-Z was the marquee name behind The Parent Company, usually shortened to TPCO, a merger of three existing cannabis corporations. The firm went public in 2020 with a special-purpose acquisition company, a type of stock market fundraising scheme that allowed investors to quickly raise large sums of money. TPCO held 20 different retail brands, multiple grow houses and a network of retail stores in California.

The company’s executives said success was all but guaranteed. “We’re going to dominate and consolidate the market. … It will be hard for any smaller player to compete with us,” bragged TPCO board member Michael Aurbach to an industry outlet that November, saying the company had $575 million in cash. The sum was far more than any other company in the state, according to Aurbach.

Jay-Z was named a C-suite executive (the chief visionary officer) at TPCO, and his Monogram brand was the company’s luxury offering, selling pre-rolled joints and cannabis flower in sleek black packaging at extravagant prices. A single joint cost $50; joints from other companies often sell for $5 each.

Monogram justified these prices by saying its joints were hand-rolled with premium flower, but GQ said the joint failed to stay lit for “more than a few seconds,” a bad sign for even a $1 joint.

Yakatan, the longtime cannabis investor, said reviews for the so-called luxury cannabis were universally negative.

“Like many other things we’ve seen in cannabis surrounding rappers, the hype hasn’t met the reality. Monogram was supposed to be an ultra-premium product, and I don't know anyone who tried it and thought it was anything more than mid-tier,” Yakatan said.

‘Debt death spiral’

TPCO expected to be making $334 million in revenue within a year of its formation, according to its SPAC listing, but those sky-high earnings failed to ever materialize. Instead, the company seems to have become ensnarled like so many others in California’s troubled pot market, where high taxes, competition from the illicit market and free-falling wholesale prices have forced thousands of businesses to go under.

In 2022, TPCO reported an astounding $587 million net loss, apparently because it overvalued some of the brands it had purchased, and its stock price subsequently tumbled. A year later, TPCO was forced to merge with yet another California cannabis company named Gold Flora to stay alive. TPCO took a 49% share of the newly formed corporation, meaning the formerly braggadocious TPCO was now a minority owner in its own company.

Jay-Z and Monogram also appear to have parted ways with TPCO. In December 2022, Monogram officially separated from TPCO and is now owned by a separate limited liability company, according to Gold Flora’s stock filings, although Gold Flora still has the exclusive rights to sell the brand’s products within California. Gold Flora did not return multiple requests for comment from SFGATE, and it’s not clear when Gold Flora stopped selling the brand.

Gold Flora itself appears to be on life support. The company posted over $56 million in losses so far this year, according to Green Market Report, and currently has $63.5 million more in debt than it has assets. Coastal Sun, a Santa Cruz cannabis farm, sued Gold Flora earlier this month for $202,000, alleging that Gold Flora has not paid its bills. Darren Story, the chief financial officer of Coastal Sun, said in a LinkedIn post that Gold Flora appears to be in a “debt death spiral.”

The poor financial prospects at Gold Flora left Green Market Report asking how long until the company joins “the conga line into receivership and bankruptcy.” It’s a brutal question for a company that once counted $575 million in its bank account and the world’s most famous rapper as its chief visionary officer.

https://www.sfgate.com/cannabis/article/jay-z-linked-california-pot-company-19941342.php

The Stakes of the Supreme Court’s Major Trans Rights Case

When the Supreme Court hears U.S. v. Skrmetti on Dec. 4, trans youth and LGBTQ+ advocates across the country will be watching with bated breath.

The case, which centers on a Tennessee law, will allow the U.S. Supreme Court Justices to decide whether gender-affirming-care bans for minors are unconstitutional under the basis of sex discrimination.

It’s the first major trans rights case to reach the nation’s highest court after statehouses have passed scores of anti-trans laws in recent years restricting transgender Americans’ ability to use the bathrooms of their choice, play on women’s sports teams, and access certain kinds of health care.

“The central arguments are about not just the legitimacy of trans healthcare, but about, in some sense, the legitimacy of trans people as members of civic life and public life,” Chase Strangio, co-Director for Transgender Justice with the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project who is arguing for the plaintiffs in this case, told TIME.

Tennessee’s law Senate Bill 1 (SB1), which the Biden Administration, a doctor, and three families challenged, prohibits doctors from prescribing pharmaceutical and surgical care for transgender minors that are looking to gender transition. Tennessee is home to more than 3,000 transgender adolescents, and across the U.S. there are some 300,000 transgender youth aged 13 to 17, according to UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute.

Gender-affirming care refers to the social, psychological, and medical care prescribed to trans individuals to support their gender identity when it conflicts with the sex they were assigned at birth. The type of care a minor receives varies from child to child, but the Association of American Medical Colleges says gender-affirming care includes counseling on changes in a child’s social expression (like name changes or hairstyle), puberty blockers, hormone therapy, or surgery—though research from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found minimal to no use of gender-affirming surgeries on transgender and gender diverse minors in the U.S. Decisions on the type of gender-affirming care a minor patient receives require consultation between a parent and doctor. Twenty-four states passed gender-affirming care bans for minors, though some are not currently in effect, according to the Movement Advancement Project. Other states, including Florida, have ongoing litigation challenging care restrictions for transgender adults.

What the Supreme Court Justices decide will have significant ramifications for trans youth in Tennessee and beyond—and the stakes could extend to trans adults as well, says Human Right Campaign (HRC) senior director of litigation Cynthia Weaver. “Certainly, how the Court comes out in this Skrmetti case will have some impact on laws that further restrict care for adults,” she says. “It may also encourage or discourage other states to contemplate further restrictions on adult care.”

What the case is about

In U.S. v. Skrmetti, the Supreme Court will decide whether Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth violates the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.

The case was filed in 2023 on behalf of Dr. Susan Lacy, a medical doctor, Samantha and Brian Williams of Nashville, Tenn. and their teenage transgender daughter, and two other anonymous families. The Biden Administration is also a party in the case in support of plaintiffs.

Tennessee’s Senate Bill 1 (SB1) prohibits doctors from prescribing certain types of treatment for transgender minors, including puberty blockers and hormones. Minors who are seeking that same medication “for other medical purposes,” the state said in a brief, are permitted to take that medication. “The legislature determines that medical procedures that alter a minor's hormonal balance, remove a minor's sex organs, or otherwise change a minor's physical appearance are harmful to a minor when these medical procedures are performed for the purpose of enabling a minor to identify with,” a gender identity different from the minor’s sex at birth, to “protect the health and welfare of minors,” SB1 says.

The plaintiffs, however, argue that Tennessee’s law violates the Equal Protection Clause, because it bans medical treatment in what they say are “explicitly sex-based terms,” according to their brief.

The Supreme Court will need to decide what level of scrutiny is applicable for Tennessee’s gender-affirming care ban. Respondents believe SB1 should be subject to rational basis review. Laws that do not discriminate against people based on their sex, gender, or other protected class have to pass the rational basis test. “[It] basically means that they have to be rationally related to a legitimate government interest,” says UCLA Law School professor emeritus Eugene Volokh. Volokh uses state laws regulating medical marijuana as an example. “If a state wants to say, ‘We don't want to allow marijuana even for medical purposes, because we think that, on balance, marijuana doesn't have sufficient medical benefits to outweigh the harms that it can cause,’ that's a rational decision for a state,” he says.

The plaintiffs, on the other hand, are arguing for a higher bar for the law to meet, which would make it harder for Tennessee to justify the ban. Under heightened scrutiny, the Supreme Court would have to analyze the laws the state is passing under a more careful review because they would impact a particular population based on a protected characteristic: race, sex, religion, etc.

The District Court applied heightened scrutiny to the case and enjoined the law, but the Sixth Circuit disagreed and applied a rational basis test, which allowed the law to stand. That decision was appealed up to the Supreme Court.

There’s also an important precedent that may affect this case. In 2020’s Bostock v. Clayton County, which concerned a plaintiff who was fired after expressing interest in a work gay softball league, and R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which was heard alongside Bostock and involved a woman who was fired for being transgender, the Supreme Court ruled in plaintiffs’ favor. It was the first time the Supreme Court found that sex discrimination protections extended to sexuality and gender identity. If the Court rules in favor of the plaintiffs in Skrmetti, it would reaffirm that position.

Potential impacts of the ruling

The Supreme Court could rule in a number of different ways.

It could find that SB1 violates the Constitution and overturn the ban, which would be a win for LGBTQ+ advocates. Or it could hand down a narrow ruling that would determine the level of scrutiny that applies but send the case back to a lower court to apply that standard. It could instead find that gender-affirming care bans for minors should only receive a rational basis review, which would likely leave the law in place and also affect laws restricting gender affirming care for adult patients, and healthcare more broadly. “There's potential, because this is a sex-based argument, for this court to say, ‘Actually, we don't really think that differentiation based on sex deserves any heightened protection.’ And so that could also alter any other types of cases that are broad based on sex discrimination, beyond transgender people,” says Ulrich.

The incoming Trump Administration could also affect the case. The United States is a party in this case, because the Biden Administration sided with the plaintiffs. But “most people expect that the federal government, once the administration changes, will change their position and switch to supporting Tennessee's law,” says Ulrich.

Experts are mixed on what effect that could have. Weaver says that with oral arguments already in motion, and the independence of the Supreme Court from other branches of government, there should be no impact. But Ulrich says it is possible the Court could decide to take on a new hearing to see whether they want to accept the petition from the ACLU and Lambda Legal, who are representing plaintiffs.

No matter the outcome, the Supreme Court is set to weigh in on one of the most contentious issues in the country. Transgender rights have become a potent political talking point, and about 50% of Americans believe changing their gender is morally wrong, per a June 2024 Gallup report. But only 34% are in favor of banning gender-affirming-care for transgender minors, the same poll found.

Medical providers are largely in support of this type of care. Every major medical and mental health association in the U.S. has espoused the benefits of gender-affirming-care on the mental health of transgender youth, per GLAAD. A peer-reviewed study published in the journal Nature Human Behavior found that when anti-transgender laws are passed, suicide attempts by trans and nonbinary minors increase anywhere from 7 to 72%.

“Looking at the LGBTQ+ movement broadly as it relates to gay and lesbian people versus where we are with trans people, I think this is really an inflection point,” Strangio said. “It's not just affecting trans people, it'll affect all LGBTQ people. It'll affect all people who experience gender-based discrimination.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/stakes-supreme-court-major-trans-212204300.html

Harvey Weinstein hospitalized after 'alarming blood test' as rep confirms leukemia diagnosis

Harvey Weinstein was rushed back to Bellevue Hospital after receiving an "alarming blood test" as his rep confirmed the former film producer had been diagnosed with leukemia.

"Harvey Weinstein, who has been suffering from a lack of adequate medical care and enduring deplorable and inhumane conditions on Rikers Island, has been transported to Bellevue Hospital for emergent treatment due to an alarming blood test result that requires immediate medical attention," his attorney, Imran H. Ansari, told Fox News Digital in a statement.

"It is expected that he will remain there until his condition stabilizes. His deprivation of care is not only medical malpractice, but a violation of his constitutional rights."

Weinstein's representative, Juda Engelmayer, confirmed the disgraced movie mogul has been diagnosed with leukemia.

"Mr. Weinstein, who is suffering from a number of illnesses, including leukemia, has been deprived the medical attention that someone in his medical state deserves, prisoner or not. In many ways, this mistreatment constitutes cruel and unusual punishment," he told Fox News Digital in a statement.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Rikers Island for comment.

Weinstein's team has been adamant about his declining health in recent months, claiming he is "basically getting no treatment" for his various medical issues.

"All I can tell you is he is not getting the treatment he deserves," Weinstein's lawyer, Arthur Aidala, said after a court hearing in July. "He needs some relief. We are very confident of the outcome of this trial… he will get acquitted. There is a lot of light at the end of the tunnel for Mr. Weinstein."

A New York appeals court overturned Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction this past April, ordering a new trial in a stunning reversal of a landmark #MeToo case.

In a 4-3 decision, the court found that Weinstein's trial judge allowed prosecutors to call women who said Weinstein had assaulted them to testify, even though their accusations did not specifically relate to the entertainment mogul's charges.

Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison after being convicted in February 2020 of forcing oral sex on TV and film production assistant Mimi Haley in 2006 and third-degree rape of hairstylist Jessica Mann in 2013.

He was acquitted of first-degree rape and two counts of predatory sexual assault from actor Annabella Sciorra’s allegations of rape in the 1990s. Weinstein has denied ever engaging in non-consensual sex.

Weinstein's lawyer first filed an appeal in his New York case in January 2023. The appeal, filed by Aidala, claimed the entertainment mogul didn't receive a "fair trial."

"Harvey is innocent and never should have been convicted or even tried for these allegations," Weinstein's representative told Fox News Digital at the time. "The trial failed at objectivity from the minute former Judge Burke berated Harvey, asking him if he wanted to spend the rest of his life in prison over the use of a cellphone that occurred before the judge ever entered the courtroom or began the day's proceedings.

"Burke was rejected from the bench as a result, and the case should have been, too. From the lies a juror told to private lawyers representing non-case-related complainants acting as prosecutorial surrogates, as we were often gagged, the jury was steered in a direction they never would have gone in if it were honest."

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/harvey-weinstein-hospitalized-after-alarming-blood-test-rep-confirms-leukemia-diagnosis

Charges laid after Australia's largest ever cocaine bust

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VtU-5yAbKM

Scott Presler: We are just getting started in Pennsylvania

https://x.com/EarlyVoteAction/status/1863583903065489598

US sees surge in Indian immigrants at border with Canada

Attempted border crossings by illegal immigrants from Indian nationals have surged at the U.S. border with Canada in recent years.

Nearly 44,000 Indian nationals attempted to cross the U.S.-Canadian border illegally in fiscal 2024, up from about 30,000 in fiscal 2023 and 17,331 in fiscal 2022, according to the most recent numbers from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection data portal.

Indian nationals were the most commonly encountered nationality at the northern border among those tracked last fiscal year, representing roughly 22% of the 198,929 total land border encounters at the U.S.-Canada border in fiscal 2024.

The latest numbers come as President-elect Trump prepares to take office for a second time, with renewed promises of border security being one of the former president’s favorite selling points on the campaign trail.

Trump met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida on Friday, with Trump saying the two leaders had a "very productive" conversation, including talks about border security.

"We discussed many important topics that will require both countries to work together to address, like the fentanyl and drug crisis that has decimated so many lives as a result of illegal immigration, fair trade deals that do not jeopardize American workers and the massive trade deficit the U.S. has with Canada," Trump wrote on Truth Social Saturday.

"I made it very clear that the United States will no longer sit idly by as our citizens become victims to the scourge of this drug epidemic, caused mainly by the drug cartels, and fentanyl pouring in from China. Too much death and hardship!"

The Canadian government has already moved to stiffen its border policies amid strained relations with the U.S., according to a September Financial Times report, starting with a rollback of its permissive worker visa program.

"U.S. lawmakers are calling to harden the northern border with Canada because of the fears of illegal migration from Canada," Glenn Cowan, the founder and chief executive of the security company One9, told the Financial Times. "Stemming the flow of these visas will bolster U.S. relations."

That work could become more important as the Canadian government prepares to once again work with Trump, who in the past has threatened to impose tariffs on both Canada and Mexico.

Trump did not say on Saturday whether such tariffs were still on the table after his talks with Trudeau, though he made clear the two leaders also discussed energy, trade and relations in the Arctic.

"All are vital issues that I will be addressing on my first days back in office, and before," Trump said.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-sees-surge-indian-immigrants-201802307.html

Elon Musk asks court to block OpenAI from converting to a for-profit

Elon Musk is asking a federal court to stop OpenAI from converting into a fully for-profit business.

Attorneys representing Musk, his AI startup xAI, and former OpenAI board member Shivon Zilis filed for a preliminary injunction against OpenAI on Friday. The injunction would also stop OpenAI from allegedly requiring its investors to refrain from funding competitors, including xAI and others.

The latest court filings represent an escalation in the legal feud between Musk, OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, as well as other long-involved parties and backers including tech investor Reid Hoffman and Microsoft

.

Musk had originally sued OpenAI in March 2024 in a San Francisco state court, before withdrawing that complaint and refiling several months later in federal court. Attorneys for Musk in the federal suit, led by Marc Toberoff in Los Angeles, argued in their complaint that OpenAI has violated federal racketeering, or RICO, laws.

In mid-November, they expanded their complaint to include allegations that Microsoft and OpenAI had violated antitrust laws when the Chat GPT-maker allegedly asked investors to agree to not invest in rival companies, including Musk’s newest startup, xAI.

Microsoft declined to comment.

In their motion for preliminary injunction, attorneys for Musk argue that OpenAI should be prohibited from “benefitting from wrongfully obtained competitively sensitive information or coordination via the Microsoft-OpenAI board interlocks.”

“Elon’s fourth attempt, which again recycles the same baseless complaints, continues to be utterly without merit,” an OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement.

OpenAI has emerged as one of the biggest startups in recent years, with ChatGPT becoming a major hit that has helped usher massive corporate enthusiasm over AI and related large language models.

Since Musk announced xAI’s debut in July 2023, his newer AI business has released its Grok chatbot and is raising up to $6 billion at a $50 billion valuation, in part to buy 100,000 Nvidia

chips, CNBC reported earlier this month.

“Microsoft and OpenAI now seek to cement this dominance by cutting off competitors’ access to investment capital (a group boycott), while continuing to benefit from years’ worth of shared competitively sensitive information during generative AI’s formative years,” the lawyers wrote in the filing.

The attorneys wrote that the terms OpenAI asked investors to agree to amounted to a “group boycott” that “blocks xAI’s access to essential investment capital.”

The lawyers later added that OpenAI “cannot lumber about the marketplace as a Frankenstein, stitched together from whichever corporate forms serve the pecuniary interests of Microsoft.”

In July, Microsoft gave up its observer seat on OpenAI’s board, although CNBC reported that the Federal Trade Commission would continue to monitor the influence of two companies over the AI industry.

FTC Chair Linda Khan announced at the beginning of the year that the federal agency would initiate a “market inquiry into the investments and partnerships being formed between AI developers and major cloud service providers.” Some of the companies that the FTC mentioned as part of the study included OpenAI, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and Anthropic.

In the filing, attorneys for Musk also argue that OpenAI should be prohibited from “benefitting from wrongfully obtained competitively sensitive information or coordination via the Microsoft-OpenAI board interlocks.”

OpenAI originally debuted in 2015 as a non-profit and then in 2019, converted into a so-called capped-profit model, in which the OpenAI non-profit was the governing entity for its for-profit subsidiary. It’s in the process of being converted into a fully for-profit public benefit corporation that could make it more attractive to investors. The restructuring plan would also allow OpenAI to retain its non-profit status as a separate entity, CNBC previously reported.

Microsoft has invested nearly $14 billion in OpenAI but revealed in October as part of its fiscal first-quarter earnings report that it would record a $1.5 billion loss in the current period largely due to an expected loss from OpenAI.

In October, OpenAI closed a major funding round that valued the startup at $157 billion. Thrive Capital led the financing while investors, including Microsoft and Nvidia, also participated.

OpenAI has faced increasing competition from startups such as xAI, Anthropic and tech giants such as Google

. The generative AI market is predicted to top $1 trillion in revenue within a decade, and business spending on generative AI surged 500% this year, according to recent data from Menlo Ventures.

CNBC reached out to attorneys for Musk on Saturday. They did not respond to requests for comment.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/30/elon-musk-asks-court-to-block-openai-from-converting-to-a-for-profit.html

Coinbase policy chief expects speedy approval of crypto laws following Trump’s victory

LONDON — Coinbase’s top policy executive expects the United States to rapidly regulate the cryptocurrency industry once Donald Trump becomes president.

Faryar Shirzad, chief policy officer at Coinbase, told CNBC he sees crypto legislation making its way through Congress “fairly quickly” after the Republican president-elect — who ran on a notoriously pro-crypto policy platform — enters the White House.

The Republican Party also secured a governing trifecta, gaining control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. This, Shirzad suggested, should make the process of approving crypto laws even smoother.

“We have the most pro-crypto Congress ever [in] history, we have an extraordinarily pro-crypto president coming into office,” Shirzad told CNBC last week at an event organized by the U.K. division of Coinbase-backed advocacy group Stand With Crypto.

“I think the combination should finally allow the 50 million Americans who own crypto to have their interests and voice heard in policy.”

His comments come as two key pieces of crypto-related legislation make their way through Congress.

One is the Republican-sponsored Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, which aims to establish a legal framework for digital assets. That bill passed in the House of Representatives earlier this year.

The other is the Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act, a bill that seeks to establish a regulatory regime to license issuers of stablecoins — tokens that are pegged to the value of fiat currencies like the dollar. The stablecoin bill has not yet passed a House vote.

Shirzad told CNBC he’s “optimistic” the legislation will get passed, but noted there’s only a “small” chance the crypto legislation is considered in the so-called “lame duck” post-election period.

Even if Congress doesn’t give the crypto laws a green light this year, Shirzad expects “significant movement and hopefully passage of both market structure legislation and stablecoin legislation” in 2025.

Crypto’s lobbying power

Trump’s election win marked a major victory for the crypto industry — but it also highlighted the power of the crypto lobbying machine.

Crypto-related political action committees (PACs) — organizations that pool together donations from members to fund campaigns — and other groups tied to the industry raised more than $245 million, according to Federal Election Commission data.

Meanwhile, the Coinbase-backed Stand With Crypto Alliance developed a grading system to determine how for or against crypto House and Senate candidates were. Almost 300 pro-crypto lawmakers will take seats in the House and Senate, according to Stand With Crypto.

Last month, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler announced that he will step down on Jan. 20, the date of Trump’s inauguration. Trump had long promised to replace Gensler, who has taken an aggressive approach to crypto oversight in his time as SEC chair.

Shirzad said he can’t predict who Trump’s SEC pick will be, but said the president-elect is “very good in picking people who share his vision, and he had a very comprehensive platform on crypto.”

“I think as long as he picks somebody who’s a change agent and who shares his shares his vision, I think it’ll be good for the U.S., good for society, good for the people that own crypto,” he added.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/02/coinbase-policy-chief-us-can-adopt-crypto-regulation-quickly-now.html

Nissan 'on the brink of collapse' as official claims company has 'just 12 months to survive'

Car manufacturing giant Nissan could be on the brink of collapse with only 12 months to survive, it has been warned.

The Japanese auto firm which employs 7,000 people in the UK and 17,000 in the US has embarked on a huge cost-cutting programme after suffering heavy losses.

Nissan said last month it would axe 9,000 jobs and 20 per cent of its global manufacturing capacity, as it scrambles to reduce costs by $2.6billion (£2billion) in the current fiscal year amid a sales slump in China and the US, its two biggest markets.

Chief executive Makoto Uchida is taking a 50 per cent pay cut and it has now been reported that chief financial officer Stephen Ma is stepping down.

But insiders fear the moves may not be enough as Nissan struggles to stay competitive with rivals who have pushed ahead more successfully with popular hybrid cars.

The warnings come as a strategic deal signed with competitors Mitsubishi and Renault back in 1999, covering European, Japanese and US markets, could be ending.

Two anonymous 'senior officials' at Nissan have been quoted by the Financial Times as saying that Renault is now looking at reducing its financial stake in Nissan.

That could leave Nissan requiring cash backing from the Japanese or US governments over the next year to remain in business, according to the report.

The company risks running up its largest-ever debt by 2026, potentially owing as much as $5.6billion (£4.4billion), it is suggested.

The firm's worldwide sales slumped by 3.8 per cent to 1.59million vehicles in the first half of the current financial year, largely driven by a 14.3 per cent fall in China.

Nissan has around 7,000 employees in the UK, including 6,000 at the country’s largest car-making plant in Sunderland.

The Financial Times quoted a 'senior official' at Nissan as saying: 'We have 12 or 14 months to survive. This is going to be tough. And in the end, we need Japan and the US to be generating cash.'

Nissan's head of manufacturing Hideyuki Sakamoto told a news conference last month: 'Globally, we currently have 25 vehicle production lines. Our current plan is to reduce the operational maximum capacity of these 25 lines by 20 per cent.

'One specific method for this is to change the line speed and shift patterns, thereby increasing the efficiency of operational personnel.'

And CEO Mr Uchida told reporters: 'This has been a lesson learned and we have not been able to keep up with the times.

'We weren’t able to foresee that hybrid electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids would be so popular.'

There have been suggestions that Nissan could strengthen ties with Japan's second largest car marker Honda, which could buy a stake in the smaller firm - though sources described this as a 'last resort'.

Toyota is the largest car maker in both Japan and the world, responsible for about 10million vehicles each year - compared to Nissan's 3.4million.

MailOnline has approached Nissan for comment on the latest reports.

Meanwhile, Nissan also last month called for urgent action to avoid car makers being penalised for the slowdown in electric vehicle sales in the UK which the firm blamed on outdated targets in the country's Zero Emissions Vehicles Mandate.

The mandate forces firms to increase the proportion of EVs they sell each year until a total ban on new petrol and diesel motors in 2030.

This year, EVs must make up 22 per cent of a firm’s car sales and 10 per cent of van sales, with the threshold rising annually and makers facing a £15,000 fine for every sale beyond it.

Labour’s 2030 target is five years earlier than that set by former Tory prime minister Rishi Sunak.

And Nissan said that missing the target would lead to significant fines for manufacturers unless credits are purchased from EV-only brands - none of which manufacture in the UK.

The firm called for more flexibility on borrowing credits from future years and a two-year monitoring period for 2024 and 2025 instead of possible fines for car makers.

Guillaume Cartier, chairman of the Nissan Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania region, said: 'It risks undermining the business case for manufacturing cars in the UK, and the viability of thousands of jobs and billions of pounds in investment.

'We now need to see urgent action from the Government by the end of the year to avoid a potentially irreversible impact.'

Manufacturers say they support Net Zero but a lack of demand for EVs has left firms struggling to make the investment, with many motorists said to have been put off by high prices and a lack of charging points.

Lisa Brankin, the chairman and managing director of Ford UK, last week called for the Government to urgently introduce 'incentives' such as tax breaks to convince drivers to switch away from petrol and diesel.

She said: 'As an industry we have repeatedly said that we support the Government's trajectory and we support the ambition that the Government has set out, it's just that there isn't customer demand.'

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has voiced fears that the pace of the transition could hit car makers as demand for zero-emission vehicles 'failed to meet ambition'.

The organisation forecasts a slowdown in consumer demand meant EV sales would only reach 18.5 per cent of the total market, against the 2024 ZEV Mandate target of 22 per cent.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said the Government would ensure 'proper support' for the car industry as it phases out sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles.

She told broadcasters last week: 'We are committed to the 2030 target for phasing out the purchase of new petrol and diesel cars, but it is really important within that to make sure that we get the balance right and have proper support for the automotive sector, for the car industry in Britain.

'We have just launched a consultation to look at the plans that we inherited from the previous government which would have meant fines for businesses that didn't sell a proportion of electric vehicles, because we want to keep investment, we want to keep jobs in Britain.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14145267/car-manufacturer-collapse-financial-bankruptcy-report.html

Trump threatens 100% tariff on the BRIC bloc of nations if they act to undermine US dollar

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday threatened 100% tariffs against a bloc of nine nations if they act to undermine the U.S. dollar.

His threat was directed at countries in the so-called BRIC alliance, which consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia have applied to become members and several other countries have expressed interest in joining.

While the U.S. dollar is by far the most-used currency in global business and has survived past challenges to its preeminence, members of the alliance and other developing nations say they are fed up with America’s dominance of the global financial system.

The dollar represents roughly 58% of the world’s foreign exchange reserves, according to the IMF and major commodities like oil are still primarily bought and sold using dollars. The dollar's dominance is threatened, however, with BRICS' growing share of GDP and the alliance's intent to trade in non-dollar currencies — a process known as de-dollarization.

Trump, in a Truth Social post, said: “We require a commitment from these Countries that they will neither create a new BRICS Currency, nor back any other Currency to replace the mighty U.S. Dollar or, they will face 100% Tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. Economy."

At a summit of BRIC nations in October, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the U.S. of “weaponizing” the dollar and described it as a “big mistake.”

“It’s not us who refuse to use the dollar,” Putin said at the time. “But if they don’t let us work, what can we do? We are forced to search for alternatives.”

Russia has specifically pushed for the creation of a new payment system that would offer an alternative to the global bank messaging network, SWIFT, and allow Moscow to dodge Western sanctions and trade with partners.

Trump said there is "no chance" BRIC will replace the U.S. dollar in global trade and any country that tries to make that happen "should wave goodbye to America.”

Research shows that the U.S. dollar's role as the primary global reserve currency is not threatened in the near future.

An Atlantic Council model that assesses the dollar’s place as the primary global reserve currency states the dollar is “secure in the near and medium term” and continues to dominate other currencies.

Trump's latest tariff threat comes after he threatened to slap 25% tariffs on everything imported from Mexico and Canada, and an additional 10% tax on goods from China, as a way to force the countries to do more to halt the flow of illegal immigration and drugs into the U.S.

He has since held a call with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who said Thursday she is confident that a tariff war with the United States can be averted. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau returned home Saturday after meeting Trump, without assurances the president-elect will back away from threatened tariffs on Canada.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-threatens-100-tariff-bric-190819520.html

>>22104053

This akshually you?

What in tarnations