- Will America Ever Have a Woman President? (Politico) "The highest glass ceiling remains firmly in place, and President Donald Trump’s theatrically alpha-male leadership style has made a crack seem even more remote."
- It Might Be a While Until There’s a Female President (Wired) "...the frenzy among pundits to explain Donald Trump’s victory has obscured another, equally important question—why Clinton lost, and the role that being a woman played in that loss."
BUSINESS:
- Jeff Bezos Sells $1.1 Billion Amazon Shares With Stock at Record (Bloomberg) "The sale represented 1.3 percent of his holding and leaves Bezos with a 16.4 percent stake in the retailer. The world’s richest man said in April he would sell $1 billion a year in Amazon stock to fund Blue Origin LLC, the rocket company fueling his dream of sending people into space."
- After a Tax Crackdown, Apple Found a New Shelter for Its Profits (NYT) "Tim Cook was angry. 'We pay all the taxes we owe, every single dollar, Mr. Cook declared at the hearing. 'We don’t depend on tax gimmicks,' he went on. 'We don’t stash money on some Caribbean island.' True enough. The island Apple would soon rely on was in the English Channel." and Apple had five burning questions about the best tax haven for its billions (Quartz) "All five questions seem to show a concern with secrecy, the ability to not pay taxes, and the stability of any tax-avoiding arrangement."
- It Might Be a While Until There’s a Female President (Wired) "...the frenzy among pundits to explain Donald Trump’s victory has obscured another, equally important question—why Clinton lost, and the role that being a woman played in that loss."
BUSINESS:
- Jeff Bezos Sells $1.1 Billion Amazon Shares With Stock at Record (Bloomberg) "The sale represented 1.3 percent of his holding and leaves Bezos with a 16.4 percent stake in the retailer. The world’s richest man said in April he would sell $1 billion a year in Amazon stock to fund Blue Origin LLC, the rocket company fueling his dream of sending people into space."
- After a Tax Crackdown, Apple Found a New Shelter for Its Profits (NYT) "Tim Cook was angry. 'We pay all the taxes we owe, every single dollar, Mr. Cook declared at the hearing. 'We don’t depend on tax gimmicks,' he went on. 'We don’t stash money on some Caribbean island.' True enough. The island Apple would soon rely on was in the English Channel." and Apple had five burning questions about the best tax haven for its billions (Quartz) "All five questions seem to show a concern with secrecy, the ability to not pay taxes, and the stability of any tax-avoiding arrangement."
- Trump Is Leaving Japan Empty-Handed on Trade (Bloomberg) "...throughout Trump’s two-day visit, Abe publicly ducked any talk of major trade concessions even though Trump kept bringing it up. 'Right now our trade with Japan is not fair and it isn’t open,' Trump told business leaders in Tokyo Monday. But Abe hasn’t forgotten that it was Trump who pulled out of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact... Abe spent significant political capital to back the deal... Japanese officials...say the TPP would’ve helped narrow the trade gap."
NEWS:
- Our political parties can’t save themselves (WaPo) "Where does this leave us at Year One of the Trump era? With two very sick political parties that have a monopoly on political power and little prospect for reform and recovery. The stakes are quite high. If America really develops a political competition between ethno-nationalism and identity socialism, it will mean we are a nation in decline — likely to leave pressing problems (educational failure, unconstrained debt, a flawed criminal-justice system) unconfronted. Likely to forfeit global leadership, undermine world markets and cede to others the mantle of stability and firm purpose."
- President Is Losing Support in ‘Trump Counties,’ a WSJ/NBC News Poll Finds (WSJ- Paywall) "... support for Donald Trump is eroding in counties that were most responsible for his election, as disapproval of his performance in loyalist precincts reaches 50%, surpassing the 48% who approve."
- The Trump Administration’s Looming Political Crisis (New Yorker) "It requires fortitude to accept the likelihood that the Trump Presidency is about to become more eventful still. The investigations into Vladimir Putin’s interference in the 2016 election, and the possibility that Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia, are intensifying. The accusation that Russian covert operations influenced the Presidential vote clearly drives Trump to distraction. He has repeatedly denied that his campaign collaborated with Russia, and he insists that Putin’s activity contributed nothing to his victory. Yet the latest revelations do not bode well for the President. In all probability, the country’s most dangerous trials during the Trump Administration lie ahead."
- Is Tom Cotton the Future of Trumpism? (New Yorker) "If Rand Paul is the leading Republican isolationist in the Senate, Cotton, in short order, has become heir to the opposing wing of the Party, the one associated with Senator John McCain... For the moment, at least, Cotton appears to be a hybrid of insurgent and old guard, who can play successfully to the warring constituencies of the Republican Party. As [Steve] Bannon put it, 'How many guys in town can give a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations and also get kudos in the pages of Breitbart? The answer is, one guy.'"
- Military Is Overhauling Its Retirement Systems (NYT) "Beginning in January, the military is switching from just a traditional pension system, in which retirees receive a monthly check for life based on their pay and years of service, to one that also includes investment accounts, like those commonly available to civilian workers. The new 'blended' system is based, in part, on recommendations by the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission."
- Why It’s Too Soon to Predict What the Tax Changes Will Mean for You (NYT) "...we should express great skepticism toward anyone who claims to know how this tax bill will evolve, and how any bill would actually change our behavior and our financial lives. I count at least six major areas of uncertainty." and In GOP plan, taxes go down for most Americans, but wealthy get the biggest cut (WaPo) "House Republicans' tax bill would increase taxes for 12 percent of Americans next year, according to a new report from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. The vast majority of Americans would get a tax cut if the bill becomes law, TPC found, but the rich would benefit the most."
TECHNOLOGY:
- How to Spring Clean Your Digital Clutter to Protect Yourself (Wired) "Clean up your digital junk. ...holding on to accounts and files that you don't actually want anymore needlessly exposes you to all sorts of risks. Destroy old CDs, thumb drives, and external hard drives you don't need anymore. Sort through your desktop and clean out your documents folder. Get into applications, Internet services, and the cloud. The most important account to consider is your email, the central data hub of your online life. Look for apps you don't use anymore and shut them down."
- Congress Assigned a Lot of Homework to Facebook, Twitter, Google (Bloomberg) "The companies’ lawyers didn’t have answers at the ready for some of the queries, and offered to follow up with the members’ staff."
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- Presidential Limo Guns It Around Corner In Attempt To Toss Robert Mueller From Roof (Onion) "Witnesses at the scene said the 73-year-old former FBI director—who is leading the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia—relentlessly pursued the presidential limo on foot and eventually heaved himself up onto the car, trying to question the commander in chief about his contacts with foreign entities known to have interfered in the 2016 election."
TODAY'S SONG:
- Kids (OneRepublic)
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NEWS:
- Our political parties can’t save themselves (WaPo) "Where does this leave us at Year One of the Trump era? With two very sick political parties that have a monopoly on political power and little prospect for reform and recovery. The stakes are quite high. If America really develops a political competition between ethno-nationalism and identity socialism, it will mean we are a nation in decline — likely to leave pressing problems (educational failure, unconstrained debt, a flawed criminal-justice system) unconfronted. Likely to forfeit global leadership, undermine world markets and cede to others the mantle of stability and firm purpose."
- President Is Losing Support in ‘Trump Counties,’ a WSJ/NBC News Poll Finds (WSJ- Paywall) "... support for Donald Trump is eroding in counties that were most responsible for his election, as disapproval of his performance in loyalist precincts reaches 50%, surpassing the 48% who approve."
- The Trump Administration’s Looming Political Crisis (New Yorker) "It requires fortitude to accept the likelihood that the Trump Presidency is about to become more eventful still. The investigations into Vladimir Putin’s interference in the 2016 election, and the possibility that Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia, are intensifying. The accusation that Russian covert operations influenced the Presidential vote clearly drives Trump to distraction. He has repeatedly denied that his campaign collaborated with Russia, and he insists that Putin’s activity contributed nothing to his victory. Yet the latest revelations do not bode well for the President. In all probability, the country’s most dangerous trials during the Trump Administration lie ahead."
- Is Tom Cotton the Future of Trumpism? (New Yorker) "If Rand Paul is the leading Republican isolationist in the Senate, Cotton, in short order, has become heir to the opposing wing of the Party, the one associated with Senator John McCain... For the moment, at least, Cotton appears to be a hybrid of insurgent and old guard, who can play successfully to the warring constituencies of the Republican Party. As [Steve] Bannon put it, 'How many guys in town can give a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations and also get kudos in the pages of Breitbart? The answer is, one guy.'"
- Military Is Overhauling Its Retirement Systems (NYT) "Beginning in January, the military is switching from just a traditional pension system, in which retirees receive a monthly check for life based on their pay and years of service, to one that also includes investment accounts, like those commonly available to civilian workers. The new 'blended' system is based, in part, on recommendations by the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission."
- Why It’s Too Soon to Predict What the Tax Changes Will Mean for You (NYT) "...we should express great skepticism toward anyone who claims to know how this tax bill will evolve, and how any bill would actually change our behavior and our financial lives. I count at least six major areas of uncertainty." and In GOP plan, taxes go down for most Americans, but wealthy get the biggest cut (WaPo) "House Republicans' tax bill would increase taxes for 12 percent of Americans next year, according to a new report from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. The vast majority of Americans would get a tax cut if the bill becomes law, TPC found, but the rich would benefit the most."
TECHNOLOGY:
- How to Spring Clean Your Digital Clutter to Protect Yourself (Wired) "Clean up your digital junk. ...holding on to accounts and files that you don't actually want anymore needlessly exposes you to all sorts of risks. Destroy old CDs, thumb drives, and external hard drives you don't need anymore. Sort through your desktop and clean out your documents folder. Get into applications, Internet services, and the cloud. The most important account to consider is your email, the central data hub of your online life. Look for apps you don't use anymore and shut them down."
- Congress Assigned a Lot of Homework to Facebook, Twitter, Google (Bloomberg) "The companies’ lawyers didn’t have answers at the ready for some of the queries, and offered to follow up with the members’ staff."
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- Presidential Limo Guns It Around Corner In Attempt To Toss Robert Mueller From Roof (Onion) "Witnesses at the scene said the 73-year-old former FBI director—who is leading the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia—relentlessly pursued the presidential limo on foot and eventually heaved himself up onto the car, trying to question the commander in chief about his contacts with foreign entities known to have interfered in the 2016 election."
- Kids (OneRepublic)
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