Cemeteries, CEOs, Sedition, Solar Power, & Steph Curry
August 30, 2024
Hello, readers – happy Friday! Today, we’ll be talking about the cemetery incident, CEOs, a typhoon, sedition, regulating AI, solar power, and Steph Curry’s extension.
Here’s some good news to hold you over through the long weekend: Lego plans to make half the plastic in its bricks from renewable or recycled material rather than fossil fuels by 2026. Also, a 102-year-old British woman has just become the oldest person from the United Kingdom to skydive.
Please note: there will not be Sunday or Monday editions of Daily Pnut this week in honor of the holiday. We’ll be back in your inboxes bright and early on Tuesday morning!
“Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans. It is lovely to be silly at the right moment.” – Horace
Trump Gets Tripped Up
On Monday, former President Donald Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery, meeting with the families of fallen U.S. military service members and laying a wreath at a memorial. The Trump campaign wanted to use the visit as a photo op and filmed a video of Trump honoring the country’s fallen soldiers. Unfortunately for the Don, that’s where the controversy began.
Soon after the visit, NPR reported on a “verbal and physical altercation” that occurred between a member of the Trump campaign and a worker at the cemetery. According to a statement from the U.S. Army released yesterday, Trump campaign staffers “were made aware of federal laws” that prevent political activities on cemetery grounds by an employee. “An ANC employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside,” said the Army in a stinging statement. “This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked.”
Trump’s campaign has clapped back with a combative response: “For a despicable individual to physically prevent President Trump’s team from accompanying him to this solemn event is a disgrace and does not deserve to represent the hollowed [sic] grounds of Arlington National Cemetery. Whoever this individual is spreading these lies are dishonoring the men and women of our armed forces, and they are disrespecting everyone who paid the price for defending our country,” said one campaign manager. Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung claims he has footage of an employee “physically blocking” members of the Trump campaign, but has yet to share it.
Leadership, Efficiency, And… Stock Buybacks?
According to a report by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), the CEOs of some of the biggest firms in the U.S. – which also happen to have some of the lowest-paid employees – are more “focused on their own personal short-term windfall” than building their businesses or helping their workers gain financial security.
The report says that, between 2019 and 2023, the 100 largest firms on the S&P 500 with the lowest median worker pay spent over $522 billion on stock buybacks. That money, according to the IPS, could have been spent on employees instead. With the amount Lowes spent ($42.6 billion) returning money to investors, the company could have paid its 285,000 employees a $29,865 bonus every year for five years; Home Depot ($37.2 billion) could have given its 463,100 employees an annual $16,071 bonus over the same period.
In a scathing summary, one of the authors of the report said, “They’ve blown over half a trillion dollars, these 100 companies, on really what amounts to a financial scam to inflate CEO pay while many of their workers were struggling to put food on the table.”
Shanshan Shan’t Be Ignored
- Japan is bracing for a massive storm system. Tropical Storm (formerly Typhoon) Shanshan was brewing over the Kyushu region of southwest Japan for a few days, but has begun moving northeast towards Tokyo. Millions of people have been ordered to evacuate in the storm’s path as it brings gusts of up to 63 mph and record amounts of rainfall.
- Toyota, Honda, and Nissan have all shut down operations at their factories in the path of the storm, and the country’s Shinkansen bullet train service has suspended service in affected areas. Some parts of Kyushu saw up to 2.6 feet of rain in 48 hours, and over 100,000 households in the area were left without power late yesterday. “This is one of the biggest typhoons in recent years, for a prefecture that experiences many typhoons every year,” said one local official. Luckily for the people of Tokyo, the storm seems to have lost power as it makes its way inland, and is now “just” a tropical storm.
Stand News Takes The Stand
- Two Hong Kong journalists have been found guilty of conspiring to publish and reproduce seditious publications. The trial marks Hong Kong’s first-ever case involving members of the press since the British handed over their former colony in 1997, and represents a test of media freedoms following a crackdown on the mass pro-democracy demonstrations held in 2019.
- The two journalists on trial were former “Stand News” editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen and former acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam. They both face two years in prison and a fine of 5,000 Hong Kong dollars (about $640) for Stand News’ criticism of Hong Kong’s government policies as the city tried to crack down on dissent following the protests.
More Mixed Nuts
- Ukraine army says U.S.-made F-16 fighter jet crashes, killing pilot (CBS)
- Dead fish flood Greece port city Volos, turning off tourists (NBC)
- ‘Chill out,’ Australian PM says after he is caught on camera joking with US official (Guardian)
- Brazil top court threatens to suspend X operations in latest twist of ongoing feud (NBC)
- Yemen’s Houthi rebel video shows they planted bombs on tanker now threatening Red Sea oil spill (AP)
Middle East Mixed Nuts
- Israel kills a top militant in its deadliest West Bank raids since the Gaza war began (AP)
- Israel, Hamas agree to zoned three-day pauses for Gaza polio vaccinations, WHO says (NBC)
- The U.S. urges major changes to Israel’s evacuations in Gaza, a leaked memo says (NPR)
- World Food Programme halts movement in Gaza after repeated gunfire strikes aid vehicle (CNN)
Gotta Regulate In The Golden State
- California’s state assembly (barely) passed a bill Wednesday that will establish safety measures for artificial intelligence. The legislation will require companies to test their models and publicly disclose safety protocols to prevent the models from being manipulated. Gov. Gavin Newsom has until the end of next month to sign it, but he hasn’t made his position on the bill known.
- The bill targets systems that require more than $100 million in data to train, a threshold that hasn’t yet been hit. Regardless, OpenAI, Google, and Meta fiercely opposed the bill (Elon Musk, notably, put his support behind the bill), arguing that regulations should be decided by the federal government. California is home to 35 of the top 50 AI companies in the world.
A Bright Bit Of News
- The Biden administration announced yesterday that it finalized a plan to expand solar energy on federal land. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s plan identified 31 million acres across Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming.
- The areas have high solar potential and won’t interfere with wildlife or plant habitats, making it easier to get permits. “We’ve been really pushing ourselves to use our executive authority wherever possible to improve the federal permitting process,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Natalie Quillian said in an interview.
More Nuts In America
- Justice Department watchdog finds flaws in FBI’s reporting of sex crimes against children (AP)
- Bryan Kohberger: Idaho murder suspect wants trial moved out of county (CNN)
- Officials probe death of Wells Fargo employee found dead in her cubicle 4 days after last scanning into work (NBC)
- High winds, possibly from a tornado, derail 43 train cars in North Dakota (ABC)
- Sarah Palin granted new defamation trial against New York Times (Axios)
- Meet the think tank planning a second Trump administration. (It’s not Project 2025.) (Politico)
It’s Still Steph’s Kitchen
- Steph Curry is back for another year! The Golden State Warriors point guard has signed a one-year, $62.6 million extension to his contract with the Dubs, according to his agent, Jeff Austin. The extension means he’ll be with the Warriors through at least the 2026-27 season, during which he’ll turn 39.
- “I’ve always said I want to be a Warrior for life,” Curry said in an interview earlier this summer. “At this stage in my career, I feel like that’s possible.” The new extension will bring that hope closer to reality, adding another year to his current four-year, $215.4 million contract. That deal was signed in 2021 and had two years remaining.
- Heading into the upcoming NBA season, the Warriors will increasingly rely on the 36-year-old to lead the team. To kick off the offseason, Klay Thompson, his splash brother-in-arms, left the Warriors after 13 seasons, and the team is looking to rebuild around younger talent including Jonathan Kuminga, Brandin Podziemski, and Buddy Hield. In a packed Western Conference, it’s not clear that the Dubs will have all the firepower needed to make a deep playoff run, but maybe Steph has a little more magic in store for the NBA.
More Loose Nuts
- ‘World’s largest’ piracy ring Fmovies shut down by police in Vietnam (Guardian)
- Shohei Ohtani’s dog Decoy throws perfect first pitch at Dodgers game (NBC)
- Major Sites Are Saying No to Apple’s AI Scraping (Wired)
- At least 20 new species identified in recently discovered underwater ecosystem (ABC)
- Prehistoric sea cow was eaten by a croc and a shark, newly discovered fossil reveals (CNN)
Team Thoughts
Kayli – I often find myself driving through parts of Colorado and wondering why they aren’t being used for solar power. I’m glad I wasn’t alone in that opinion!
Marcus – Klay’s contract with the Mavs ends at the same time as Steph’s extension. Hopefully they can both retire with the Warriors, even if they’re just riding the bench on a minimum.
