Kevin McCarthy to Retire, World’s Tiniest Electric Vehicle, and a Rare Orange Aurora
RJ Hamster
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2023
Good Morning! On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. President Franklin Roosevelt, calling it a date “that will live in infamy,” declared war on Japan in one of his most memorable short speeches. (Hear it here)
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Rep. Kevin McCarthy, ousted from his role as House Speaker in October, said Wednesday he would retire from Congress at the end of the year. He was first elected in 2006.
His departure, coupled with the expulsion of Rep. George Santos this week, will shrink the small GOP majority in the House, at least temporarily. McCarthy’s California district is expected to re-elect a Republican.
McCarthy doesn’t hide his hostility towards the eight Republicans who engineered the vote to oust him and says he plans to remain active behind the scenes in GOP politics.
TV Legend Norman Lear Dies at 101
Norman Lear, the legendary TV producer responsible for “All in the Family,” “The Jeffersons,” “Maude,” and many other shows, died Tuesday at the age of 101.
Lear had a huge influence on TV culture through the 1970s and ‘80s, and he’s credited with bringing real-world relevance to sitcoms, beginning with “All in the Family,” which tackled topical and often controversial issues every week.
Lear’s shows were often ahead of their time. He parodied soap operas with “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” and talk shows with “Fernwood 2 Night.” Here’s a look at his career through photos.
AI Offers Jimmy Stewart’s Voice
An AI-generated version of movie legend Jimmy Stewart will narrate bedtime stories for insomniacs on Calm, a sleep-aid and meditation app. A sample of the first one, “It’s a Wonderful Sleep Story,” can be heard here.
The app offers a variety of celebrity hosts reading their sleepy-time tales, but Stewart is its first famously soothing voice resurrected by AI. Calm used a company named Respeecher to recreate the voice.
Calm is explicit that they have the approval of Stewart’s family and estate and adhere to “high ethical standards” in recreating voices. The app is a subscription service for $6.99 a month; learn how it works here.
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➤ President Biden used fake email aliases and private email addresses hundreds of times while vice president to communicate with Hunter Biden and Hunter’s business partners, according to House investigators. (More)
➤ Senator John Fetterman sent embattled Senator Bob Menendez a custom-ordered video from former Rep. George Santos, sarcastically encouraging him to ignore “the haters” that want to get him in trouble. Santos now records video messages on a platform called Cameo for a fee. (See Video)
➤ The U.S. has charged four Russian soldiers with war crimes for abducting and torturing an American citizen in Ukraine. It’s the first time the Justice Department has used the U.S. war crimes statute. (More)
➤ Senate GOP leaders say they’ll block any legislation including Ukraine aid if the bill doesn’t include their desired immigration and asylum reforms. (More)
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➤ The semi-finals of the NBA’s in-season tournament take place today, with the Indiana Pacers taking on the Milwaukee Bucks at 5 p.m. ET, followed by the New Orleans Pelicans vs. the Los Angeles Lakers at 9 p.m. The finals are on Saturday. (More)
<span” data-token-index=”0″>➤ <strong”><span”>Golf balls </span”><span”><span”>will be adjusted so they can’t be hit as far, golf’s ruling authorities announced. The change will be implemented in 2028, and it could reduce professional drive distances by 10-15 yards. (More)</span”><span” data-token-index=”0″>
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➤ The Belmont Stakes will move to Saratoga Race Course in 2024 for the Triple Crown finale while the Belmont Park racecourse undergoes a massive renovation. (More)
Market Report 12/6/23
▼
NASDAQ
Natl. Assoc. of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations
14,146.71
-0.58%
▼
SPX
S&P 500
4,549.34
-0.39%
▼
DJI
Dow Jones Industrial Average
36,054.43
-0.19%
▼
BTC
Bitcoin
$43,977.0
-0.31%
▼
ASAN
Asana Inc
$19.42
-16.69%
➤ Big Stock Move: Asana stock dropped 17% Wednesday despite beating quarterly revenue expectations due to difficulties with longer-term renewals and customer retention. (More)
➤ Fiat will begin selling its tiny 500e electric vehicle in the U.S. next year at less than $35,000. The car weighs only 3,000 pounds, the lightest in the category, and has a range of only 150 miles. (See Photos)
➤ McDonald’s announced plans to open 8,000 new restaurants and add 100 million members to its loyalty program by 2027, a major expansion that will add billions to its capital expenditures. (More)
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➤ A rarely-seen orange aurora, which technically shouldn’t even exist, was spotted in the U.K. after a solar storm hit Earth. Auroras have been more vivid and widespread globally for several weeks. (See Photos)
➤ Google launched Gemini, a new AI product that’s trained to behave in human-like ways. Gemini will be offered in multiple versions and incorporated into Bard, Google’s AI-powered chatbot. (More)
➤ The U.S. government announced a $3 billion grant to help build a planned high-speed train between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. If completed, the 218-mile trip would take less than three hours. (More)
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➤ Americans will spend an average of $975 on holiday gifts this year, up $100 from last year and the highest in a Gallup survey since 1999. (See Chart)
➤ A growing share of U.S. adults is getting its news from TikTok, up from 3% in 2020 to 14% this year, according to Pew Research. Among adults under 30, the percentage is 32%. (See Survey)
➤ Nikki Haley leads President Biden in a head-to-head election matchup by 4 points, according to a new Messenger/Harris poll, which shows Gov. Ron DeSantis trailing Biden. Trump leads Biden by a 7-point margin in the poll. (More)
➤ The suspect in a shooting Wednesday at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, was found dead 40 minutes after the initial alert. Three people were killed in the attack, and one is being treated for injuries. (More)
➤ Taylor Swift was named TIME’s “Person of the Year,” beating King Charles III, Open AI CEO Sam Altman, and even Barbie. Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy was the 2022 person of the year. (More)
➤ National Geographic published its 29 best photos of more than 2 million shot by its photographers in 2023. The collection is for subscribers only, but some are available to view. (See Images)
