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Calista241's JournalBetter.com CEO is taking time off after laying off 900 employees via Zoom
Source: CNN
Better.com CEO Vishal Garg, who laid off 900 employees over a Zoom meeting that lasted less than three minutes, is taking time off from the company, Vice reported.
"If you're on this call, you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off," Garg said on the December 1 webinar. "Your employment here is terminated, effective immediately," he told them.
Garg's leave is also effective immediately, according to a Friday email from the company's board of directors. Day-to-day operations will be taken over by the company's CFO, Kevin Ryan. Better.com added that it is hiring a third party firm to do a "leadership and cultural assessment," whose recommendations "will be taken into account to build a long-term sustainable and positive culture at Better."
CNN Business has viewed the email and has asked Better.com for comment.
"The recommendations of this assessment will be taken into account to build a long-term sustainable and positive culture at Better," the email said.
The online mortgage company's mass layoff affected about 9% of its staff. Just days later, three of the company's top communications executives resigned, according to multiple media reports.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/10/business/better-com-ceo-vishal-garg-time-off/index.html
POLITICS CNN host Chris Cuomo used his media sources to find out info on brother Andrew's accusers,
Source: CNBC
CNN host Chris Cuomo used his sources in the media world to seek information on women who accused his brother Andrew Cuomo, then the governor of New York, of sexual harassment, according to documents released Monday by the New York Attorney General’s Office.
While Chris Cuomo has previously acknowledged advising his brother and his team on the response to the scandals, the records show that his role in helping the then-governor was much larger and more intimate than previously known.
Chris Cuomo was actively in touch with Melissa DeRosa, who was the then-governor’s top aide, about incoming media reports that detailed alleged sexual harassment by Andrew Cuomo, according to exhibits from the Attorney General’s probe and a transcript of his interview with the state’s investigators. He also lobbied to help the governor’s office as it sought to weather the storm of accusations, and he dictated statements for the then-governor to use.
“Please let me help with the prep,” Chris Cuomo said to DeRosa in one message in early March. Then, three days after the New York Times reported in March about how Andrew Cuomo attempted to kiss a woman, Anna Ruch, in an unwanted advance at a wedding, Chris Cuomo texted DeRosa: “I have a lead on the wedding girl.”
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/29/cnn-host-chris-cuomo-used-sources-to-find-info-on-andrew-cuomo-accusers-records.html
Manchin may delay Biden social spending plan over inflation
Source: Axios
Red-hot inflation data validates the instinct of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to punt President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda until next year — potentially killing a quick deal on the $1.75 trillion package, people familiar with the matter tell Axios.
Why it matters: The data released Wednesday set the president and White House staff scrambling. Slowing down work on the massive tax-and-spending plan is against the fervent desire of the administration and House progressives.
With a limited number of legislative days left in the year, Manchin is content to focus on the issues that need to be addressed, Axios is told. They include funding the government, raising the debt ceiling and passing the National Defense Authorization Act.
Manchin, like a group of House moderates, also wants to see a Congressional Budget Office analysis of the true cost of each of Biden’s proposed programs, as well as the tax proposals to fund them.
Read more: https://www.axios.com/manchin-chill-bbb-6b58cd70-6c07-40f9-af4e-c944a7b3a39d.html
GOP billionaire Ken Langone says he will hold a fundraiser for Democrat Joe Manchin, who has worked
Source: CNBC
Republican billionaire Ken Langone says he plans to host a fundraiser for Sen. Joe Manchin after the conservative West Virginia Democrat blocked key elements of President Joe Biden’s agenda.
The comments came as Democrats in Congress continue to hash out major parts of Biden’s economic plans, namely social safety net spending and plans to battle climate change.
Langone, in an interview Wednesday with CNBC’s “Squawk Box”, praised Manchin for his “guts and courage” and explained that he was set to raise money for him. Manchin is up for reelection in 2024.
“I don’t see leadership any place in this country. Thank God for Joe Manchin,” Langone said.
“I’m going to have one of the biggest fundraisers I’ve ever had for him. He’s special. He’s precious. He’s a great American,” he added. Langone has never contributed to one of Manchin’s campaigns, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/10/republican-billionaire-ken-langone-says-he-will-hold-fundraiser-for-joe-manchin.html
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema takes victory lap after Congress passes physical infrastructure bill
Source: Arizona Republic
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema took a victory lap Monday, saying the $1.2 trillion physical infrastructure bill passed by the House of Representatives is evidence her approach to bipartisan legislating is backed by the American public.
The package, which delivers key components of President Joe Biden’s agenda, makes historic investments in the nation’s deteriorating roads, bridges, airports, water systems and ports-of-entry, and will expand access to broadband internet in urban centers and far-flung areas of the state and across the nation left behind in the 21st century.
Sinema, D-Ariz., co-brokered the deal in the Senate with Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, in a process that began more than eight months ago in the basement of the Capitol, where she, Portman and staffers huddled with what she called their “nerdy” spreadsheets and a long list of goals.
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After the holidays, Sinema said she anticipates employing the same bipartisan across-the-aisle approach with the “Gang of 10” senators to move on other key issues, from immigration reform to hiking the federal minimum wage.
Read more: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2021/11/08/sem-kyrsten-sinema-takes-victory-lap-after-infrastructure-bill-passes/6342340001/
Bombshell report shows Colorado Gov. Jared Polis avoided paying taxes
Source: Axios
Colorado's Democratic Gov. Jared Polis is under fire after a new trove of documents revealed he used loopholes to avoid paying federal income taxes for years.
Driving the news: A ProPublica report published Thursday found Polis, a tech entrepreneur and former congressman, used donations and financial arrangements to get out of paying federal income taxes in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
Of note: His wealth reached an estimated $306 million in 2017, and he was ranked the third-wealthiest member of the U.S. House.
From 2010 to 2018, Polis' tax rate was just 8.2% even though his income averaged $1.5 million during that period. The rate is far below the 19% level owed by an average worker, the investigative news outlet wrote.
Read more: https://www.axios.com/local/denver/2021/11/05/propublica-colorado-gov-jared-polis-avoided-paying-taxes
"Anti-CRT" school board candidates are winning
Source: Axios
A new PAC focused on electing conservative candidates to public school boards — by raising fears about how racism is taught — won three-fourths of its 58 races across seven states on Tuesday.
Why it matters: Those wins for the 1776 Project PAC, and Glenn Youngkin's gubernatorial victory in Virginia, underscore the political potency of culture wars and COVID-related issues in schools this year — and how GOP candidates are seeking to ride the trend to new majorities.
Founder Ryan Girdusky told Axios: "My PAC is campaigning on behalf of everyday moms and dads who want to have better access to their children's education."
But, but, but: School officials are concerned there's been intense hype and misinformation around the U.S. about what's actually being taught in most schools.
They also worry politicization of school boards is sometimes translating to violence against teachers, and poorly informed decision-making.
By the numbers: Thirteen Pennsylvania school board candidates backed by the group won their races, along with 11 in Colorado, nine in Kansas, four in New Jersey, three in Virginia and two each in Ohio and Minnesota.
Read more: https://www.axios.com/anti-crt-school-board-candidates-are-winning-6dea8064-0526-469e-96fc-08d68dee31fe.html
Russia will react to attempts to break 'strategic parity' -Putin
Source: Reuters
Russia will react to other countries' attempts to break "strategic parity," President Vladimir Putin said on Monday, referring to the global missile defence system being deployed by the United States and its allies.
Russia is concerned that an efficient missile defence will allow its Western adversaries to abandon the mutual assured defence doctrine that has for decades prevented nuclear superpowers from attacking each other.
"We know very well that some of our foreign counterparts will not stop trying to break this parity, including by means of deploying elements of global missile defence in close proximity to our borders," Putin said at a meeting with military leadership and defence contractors.
"We cannot ignore those threats to Russia's security and will adequately react to them," he said.
Putin also said the participation of U.S. navy command ship Mount Whitney in NATO drills in the Black Sea was part of a trend toward greater Western military activity near Russia's borders.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-will-react-attempts-break-strategic-parity-putin-2021-11-01/
Says the country that just put the Poseidon nuclear powered and nuclear armed autonomous torpedo into service. The Poseidon has a cobalt salted warhead designed to obliterate 200ish miles of coastline, and poison it for a hundred years. There is no real defense to this torpedo, which can function at very high speeds and in very, very deep water.
Cotton tells Garland: 'Thank God you're not on the Supreme Court'
Source: The Hill
Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday clashed with Republican senators over the Justice Department's efforts to crack down on violent threats against school boards, with one GOP member telling the former judge, "Thank God you're not on the Supreme Court."
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) made the remark during a heated exchange in which the senator tried to tie the Justice Department's new school board policy to an incident in Loudoun County, Va., where a teenager was accused of sexually assaulting a fellow student in a school bathroom.
"This testimony, your directive, your performance is shameful," Cotton said. "Thank God, you're not on the Supreme Court. You should resign in disgrace, judge."
Cotton's remark came during an oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Garland faced repeated attacks from Republicans over the memo that was issued earlier this month offering federal assistance to schools and local law enforcement amid a rise in violent threats against education officials and teachers.
Read more: https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/578715-cotton-tells-garland-thank-god-youre-not-on-the-supreme-court
Exclusive: Company says it will put Trump back online
Source: Axios
RightForge, an internet infrastructure company that courts conservatives, will host former President Trump's new social media platform, CEO Martín Avila told Axios on Monday.
Why it matters: By relying on a web hosting service that won't cut ties over controversial comments, Trump's new platform could avoid the problems conservative network Parler faced when Amazon pulled its web services following the Capitol insurrection.
Yes, but: Representatives affiliated with the Trump network declined to comment on whether RightForge is their provider, and Trump's business deals are notoriously messy and full of reversals.
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Avila said RightForge spent 2021 building a global network in response to the de-platforming of Trump and Parler, and the Trump team approached the company over the summer.
"If you believe that the president should be de-platformed, we believe that you're not really interested in living in a free country," Avila told Axios. "And that's really what we're all about is making sure that America stays true to its core ideas, and that the marketplace of ideas stays open."
Read more: https://www.axios.com/trump-social-network-host-rightforge-c5c83181-db9f-4936-854b-1bf8942dfe17.html
This is the best thing that could happen to us IMO. Trump is his own worst enemy, and the more he's out there, the more people will remember that they hate him.
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