BlueWaveNeverEnd
BlueWaveNeverEnd's JournalRobinson, Stein in statistical dead heat in NC governor's race, plurality oppose completely eliminating DEI
The CJ poll also queried voter attitudes on a range of hot-button topics. One of those is the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion — or DEI — agenda. A plurality of voters, 39%, oppose completely eliminating DEI from policy handbooks, while a similar portion support removing it, 35%.
More than half of voters believe the state is taxing too much, and 41% would like to see a rule passed to return any state budget surplus to taxpayers. Seventeen percent would like to use the surplus to expand the state budget, and 16% would prefer that lawmakers save the money for future emergencies.
https://www.carolinajournal.com/robinson-stein-in-statistical-dead-heat-in-nc-governors-race/
CEO of Fat Brands (Johnny Rockets, Fatburger) took $47 million in sham loans, not planning to pay them back
Fat Brands stock craters after company, chair Andy Wiederhorn charged in $47 million 'sham' loan scheme
Fat Brands and its chair Andy Wiederhorn were indicted for a "sham" loan scheme that netted him $47 million.
Wiederhorn, 58, stepped down as CEO last year following the company's disclosure that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating him.
Fat Brands' portfolio includes Fatburger, Johnny Rockets and Twin Peaks.
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As chief executive of Fat Brands, Wiederhorn, 58, allegedly directed the company to loan its own funds to him, with no intention of ever paying the "sham" loans back, according to the indictment.
The SEC alleges that Wiederhorn then used the cash to pay for private jets, first-class airfare, luxury vacations, mortgage and rent payments, plus nearly $700,000 in "shopping and jewelry."
Wiederhorn stepped down as CEO last year, following the company's disclosure that the SEC was investigating him. In February, Fat Brands disclosed it had received a Wells notice from the agency, meaning the SEC was planning to take action against it.
Wiederhorn's alleged fraud accounted for roughly 44% of Fat Brands' revenue between 2017 and 2021, which meant the company often was not able to pay its bills. In those situations, Wiederhorn would allegedly redirect funds from credit cards paid for by Fat Brands back to the company with assistance from his son Thayer, who was then the company's chief marketing officer and is now its chief operating officer.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/fat-brands-stock-craters-after-company-chair-andy-wiederhorn-charged-in-47-million-sham-loan-scheme/ar-BB1maCda37
Target stores to pull way back on its Pride Merch this year.
https://www.newser.com/story/350190/target-makes-a-change-on-its-pride-month-merch.htmlTarget Makes a Change on Its Pride Month Merch
The backlash last June against Target's offerings for Pride month, featuring various LGBTQ+-themed products, took a toll on the its bottom line, leading to its first quarterly drop in sales in six years. Now, with this year's Pride month right around the corner, the retail giant says it will be offering Pride merch in "select" locations only, based on "historical sales performance," reports USA Today. The products Target will carry for Pride month—everything from adult apparel to home goods and snacks—were decided upon "based on guest insights and consumer research," the company says in a statement.
Although a Target rep wouldn't confirm to the AP exactly how many of its 2,000 or so stores would decline to display Pride month products, sources tell Bloomberg that it will affect about half of the company's locations in the US. For those stores that do continue to sell Pride merch, the collections will be smaller than in the past, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The entire collection will be available online, the retailer says.
When right-wing activists put together boycotts last summer over the Pride month lineup, Target, which has been featuring Pride month merch for a decade, temporarily pulled some of the products or moved them to less-visible areas, citing threats to its employees. One product that proved especially controversial were bathing suits made for transgender adults. That, in turn, created a counter-backlash from LGBTQ+ supporters who said the company was caving to bigotry.
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Target, for its part, last year acknowledged that the backlash led to lower sales, but called it "a signal for us to pause, adapt, and learn so that our future approach to
Clarence Thomas decries Washington as 'hideous' and pushes back on 'nastiness' of critics, "bomb your good reputatio
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas repeatedly pushed back on his critics during remarks Friday at a judicial conference in Alabama, lamenting what he described as the “nastiness” and “lies” directed at him and calling Washington a “hideous place.”
Asked whether his jurisprudence required a degree of courage, Thomas said he didn’t view himself as courageous – particularly when compared with servicemembers, and firefighters and people who defuse bombs. Thomas said he was simply doing his job.
“Being in Washington, you have to get used to particularly people who are reckless,” Thomas, a conservative and the court’s most senior associate justice, said. “They don’t bomb you, necessarily, but they bomb your reputation or your good name or your honor. And that’s not a crime but they can do as much harm that way.”
Speaking at the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals conference in Point Clear, Alabama, Thomas argued that it would be a disservice to those soldiers and first responders “not to sit at my desk and make decisions with a lifetime appointment that we know are the right decisions.”
Thomas, while not speaking directly to a series of reports about ethics that have plagued him for months, repeatedly returned to his critics without prompting from US District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, who moderated the discussion.
“My wife and I, the last two or three years, it’s been – just the nastiness and the lies – it’s just incredible,” Thomas said.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/10/politics/clarence-thomas-pushes-back-critics/index.html
Neom's planners are reportedly worried people won't want to live at the bottom of a 1,640-foot horizontal skyscraper
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/neom-s-planners-are-reportedly-worried-people-won-t-want-to-live-at-the-bottom-of-a-1-640-foot-horizontal-skyscraper/ar-BB1m9k9A
Neom planners are worried about The Line as costs skyrocket, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Planners are reportedly concerned the horizontal skyscraper's design might not appeal to some people.
The first 1.5 miles of the megaproject could cost more than $100 billion.
The cost of Saudi Arabia's Neom project seems to be spiraling — and that's not the only issue concerning planners.
According to The Wall Street Journal, they're concerned that The Line's vertical city concept will not appeal to some potential residents, given the levels of natural light likely to reach the lower levels of the parallel structures.
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Even architects working on The Line have questioned the feasibility of the project.
Last year, British architect Peter Cook, who is involved in the project, called the city an "amazing absurdity," adding that the proposed height was "a bit stupid and unreasonable" in comments reported by the Architects Journal.
Ann Coulter tells Ramaswamy she wont vote for him 'because you're Indian', "core national identity" is WASP
video belowMr Ramaswamy welcomed Ms Coulter by telling her that he is a fan.
She replied that he is “bright and articulate” and notes that she wouldn’t be “allowed” to say that to him, if he was “an American Black.”
She goes on to say that, even though she agreed with him more than most other GOP primary candidates, she would not have voted for him to be president because he is Indian.
She said: “I agreed with many, many things you said during your campaign, in fact probably more than most other candidates when you were running for president. But I still would not have voted for you because you’re an Indian.”
She then claimed that the “core national identity” in the United States is a “WASP” - a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant.
“[That] doesn’t mean we can’t take anyone else in—a Sri Lankan, a Japanese, or an Indian—but the core around which the nation’s values are formed is the WASP”, she continued.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ann-coulter-tells-vivek-ramaswamy-she-would-never-vote-for-him-because-you-re-indian/ar-BB1m7lj2
https://twitter.com/james_jinnette1/status/1788254223915745573
Surveillance video allegedly shows Picataway fire chief vandalizing sports car, facing criminal charges
Fresh Off Defeat in Speaker Fight, Greene Relishes the Chaos She Wrought
Fresh Off Defeat in Speaker Fight, Greene Relishes the Chaos She WroughtThe hard-right congresswoman from Georgia failed spectacularly in her bid to depose Speaker Mike Johnson. But for a figure who sees her power in creating chaos, the loss was the point.
“I’m thrilled with the whole thing,” Ms. Greene said of her failed attempt to oust the House speaker. “Even the booing from both sides, I fully expected it. My district is thrilled.” Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York Times
If Ms. Greene’s goals in Congress were to chair a powerful committee or to build up political capital to drive major policy initiatives — or if she had to worry about drawing a political challenger — this all would constitute a major problem for her. But those have never been the incentives that have driven the gentle lady from Georgia, whose congressional career has been defined by delighting her base and stoking anger on the right more than legislative achievement or political pragmatism.
Ms. Greene hails from a blood-red district where 68 percent of voters supported former President Donald J. Trump in 2020, allowing her to operate with relative impunity in Congress, without fear of a challenge from the right or left. She has further insulated herself politically by donating vast sums to electing Republicans to the House, quietly backing her colleagues even as she picks fights many of them would rather avoid.
So even as it became clear over the last week that she would fail in her quest to depose the speaker, Ms. Greene saw an upside in insisting on the exercise. A vote would offer concrete proof that Mr. Johnson had made himself beholden to the Democrats — a dynamic that has been clear for months as he has partnered with them to pass a host of major bills, including one to send aid to Ukraine — and that many Republicans were going along with what she regarded as a betrayal of the party’s principles.
“I’m thrilled with the whole thing,” Ms. Greene said in an interview on Thursday, sounding upbeat after her spectacular defeat. “Even the booing from both sides — I fully expected it.”
Even if Ms. Greene felt defeated or isolated, she would be exceedingly unlikely to acknowledge it. Her power derives in large part from her irrepressible attitude and her Trumpian instinct to double down rather than retreat in the face of failure.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/09/us/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-johnson.html
Florida HBCU backs away from dubious $237M donation.. donor's business seems too small for such a large donation
TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Florida A&M University is putting an announced $237 million donation from a Texas hemp farming executive “on hold,” as the media and school leaders raise questions about the value and source of the money.
President Larry Robinson announced the decision at an emergency meeting Thursday of FAMU’s fundraising foundation. Board members expressed grave reservations about the donation, which drew national attention as one of the largest ever for one of the country's historically Black colleges and universities.
The gift, which according to an agreement released by the school came in the form of millions of shares of stock, has already been transferred to FAMU, school officials said, so it’s unclear exactly how the university will move forward.
“With regards to the gift and the processing of it and so forth, in terms of future processing, we’ve already decided it’s in our best interest to put that on hold,” Robinson said during the meeting.
The alleged windfall donation to FAMU came from Batterson Farms Corporation's Gregory Gerami and the Isaac Batterson Family 7th Trust and would’ve almost tripled the school’s endowment, helping students and faculty for generations. But after the announcement was made — with major fanfare during a Saturday commencement ceremony — skepticism quickly quelled the celebration.
For one, Batterson Farms Corporation appears to be a relatively small outfit based in Texas selling hydroponic hemp farm products, leading some to question how its stocks could be worth millions. The doubts have been heightened by reports about Gerami’s past dealings, including a $95 million donation to Coastal Carolina University in 2020 that was terminated by school officials only weeks after it was publicly announced.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/florida-hbcu-backs-away-from-dubious-237m-donation/ar-BB1m83VY?
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