"As
part of Merry Main Street's festive celebration of the season, Mesa
will light the Hanukkah Menorah on Sunday, Dec. 18 at 6:30 p.m. in front
of Mesa's Mural, located at 47 W. Main St. Rabbi Laib Blotner with
Chabad-Lubavitch in Mesa will join Mayor John Giles for a brief ceremony
that will feature the lighting of candles and the singing of three
Hanukkah songs to celebrate the Festival of Lights.
"We live in a
diverse city with a wide range of cultural backgrounds that engages and
strengthens our community," said Mayor John Giles. "Celebrating
Hanukkah as part of Merry Main Street is a great example of the
welcoming spirit of Mesa during a very special time of the year."
The 12-foot-tall Mesa Menorah will be on display for the eight nights of Hanukkah that will conclude on Dec. 26.
Merry Main Street continues in downtown Mesa with numerous activities
and events through Jan. 7. The Winter Wonderland Ice Rink will be open
daily, except Dec. 25. Other activities include Bingles, the Gnome on
the Roam; Holiday Happenings at the MAC (Mesa Arts Center): visits from
Santa on Fridays and Saturdays through Dec. 24; Jack Frost's Food Truck
Forest on Fridays and Saturdays at Pioneer Park and the Mesa Temple
Christmas Lights through Dec. 31.
For a complete list of Merry Main Street activities, including dates and times, visit www.merrymainst.com.
Merry Main Street is sponsored by the City of Mesa, Mesa Parks and
Recreation, Downtown Mesa Association, Visit Mesa, Mesa Chamber of
Commerce, AMR, Benedictine University, Boeing, Caliber, Nesbitt
Contracting, Cox Communications, Sloan Park, SRP, Delta Hotels, Hunter
Contracting, Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, Mesa Water and Valley Metro."
Dow Falls Nearly 300 Points As Economy Enters ‘Stronger Downturn’ And $4 Trillion Options Expiration Fuels Major Volatility
Jonathan Ponciano
4 - 5 minutes
Topline
"The stock market fell for a third-straight session on Friday after
manufacturing data added to concerns the economy is headed into a
recession—steepening losses that have pushed major indexes to the lowest
level in more than a month amid volatility stemming from a swath of
options set to imminently expire.
Key Facts
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed nearly 282 points, or 0.9%,
to 32,920 on Friday, while the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq
similarly fell to one-month lows, dipping 1.1% and 1%, respectively.
Losses intensified after S&P Global reported
private-sector firms are ending the year in a "stronger downturn as
demand weakness and price pressures bite," with new export orders in
December falling for a seventh-month straight and new business across
the private sector tanking at the fastest pace since May 2020.
The data "confirmed Wall Street's fears that the economy is quickly
headed towards a recession," Oanda analyst Ed Moya said Friday, noting
manufacturing activity has tumbled to a 31-month low and positing the
deterioration will continue next year as high interest rates, which make
borrowing more spending and thereby slow the economy, remain in restrictive territory.
Officials have done little to quell those fears: On Friday, New York Federal Reserve President John Williams told
Bloomberg Television stubborn inflation will likely warrant higher
interest rates for some time, potentially even "higher than what
[officials] have written down."
In an email, LPL Financial chief strategist Quincy Krosby said
approximately $4 trillion worth of options that could expire in Friday's
session are further exacerbating market sentiment, effectively forcing
investors to either double-down on risky bets or unwind their
positions–the perfect recipe for volatility.
Friday marked a quarterly event in which vast swaths of options
trades are set to expire at once—typically driving up market volume,
notes Krosby, as quantitative trading firms and hedge funds placing
massive market-moving bets are forced to reconsider those positions.
Crucial Quote
"Markets are largely abandoning hope" that easing price pressures
will convince central bank officials their job in taming inflation is
done, says analyst Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge Media. He notes
the pessimism will likely continue over the coming weeks, with the next
consumer price index report not slated for release until January 12.
Contra
Though she acknowledges expected stock-market volatility could
continue into the first quarter, Laffer Tengler Investments CEO Nancy
Tengler says she believes it's now time to start buying stocks during
the selloff. She points to waning inflation as a looming benefit for
stocks, and she points out stocks in 1982—another period plagued by high
inflation—started rising again a few months before the Fed changed its
hawkish tone on interest rate hikes. After that, they recouped all their
losses in just three months, Tengler notes.
Key Background
Stocks have struggled since the Fed started raising rates in March.
According to Goldman Sachs, 2022 is likely to end up as the sixth-most
volatile year since the Great Depression. After surging nearly 27% in
2021, the S&P is down nearly 20% this year, and the Nasdaq has
tumbled 32%."
Nobel Prize-Winning Economics Professor Faces Harassment Inquiry
Eric Fan, David Kocieniewski
1 minute
Half
a dozen former students allege Philip Dybvig sexually harassed them.
His lawyer denies he has ever had any improper physical or verbal
interactions with students.
Philip Dybvig after being awarded the Nobel Prize in Stockholm on Dec. 10.
Photographer: Christine Olsson/AFP/Getty Images
'Nobel
laureate Philip Dybvig is facing an inquiry by Washington University in
St. Louis about allegations of sexual harassment by a former student.
Dybvig, who has been a banking and finance professor at the university since 1990 and won this year’s economics prize
for his research on bank panics, was questioned by the university’s
Title IX office in recent weeks, his lawyer, Andrew Miltenberg, told
Bloomberg News."
How a Cocaine-Smuggling Cartel Infiltrated the World’s Biggest Shipping Company
Lauren Etter, Michael Riley
1 minute
Illustration: Viktor Hachmang for Bloomberg Businessweek
"As MSC grew into a dominant force in global trade, it also became a prime drug-trafficking conduit for Balkan gangs.
In the summer of 2019, Claudio Bozzo, chief operating officer of MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co.,
flew 4,000 miles from Geneva to Washington, DC, for a meeting with US
Customs and Border Protection. He’d been sent by MSC’s owner, a
secretive 82-year-old billionaire named Gianluigi Aponte, to contain a crisis."
Joe Manchin Meant to Make Electric Car Tax Credits Hard to Get
Gabrielle Coppola
1 minute
"Attempts
by the likes of Rivian and Hyundai to make incentives more
accessible leads the West Virginia Democrat to repeat himself.
West Virginia’s Democrat Senator Joe Manchin.
Photographer: Gaelen Morse/Bloomberg
Stay on top of the auto industry’s transformation by signing up for Bloomberg’s Hyperdrive newsletter here.
US
Senator Joe Manchin hasn’t minced words about where he stands on tax
credits for electric vehicles. Throwing thousands of dollars at
consumers was “ludicrous,” he said, when car buyers already were on waiting lists to purchase them, and not enough were being manufactured in America."
5 days ago · Dec 13 (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat who chairs the chamber's energy panel, asked the Treasury Department on Tuesday not ...
5 days ago · WASHINGTON — Sen. Joe Manchin is urging the U.S. Treasury Department to prevent companies from using loopholes to bypass stringent eligibility
Congress passes $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, $12500 EV tax credit still awaits passage electrek.co › 2021/11/06 › congress-pass... Nov 6, 2021 · House Speaker Nancy Pelosi began Friday's congressional session with plans to vote on the $1.75 trillion “Build Back Better Act” and the $12,500 ... Manchin Urges Treasury to Block 'Loopholes' in EV Tax Credits www.aiada.org › news › first-up › manc... 4 days ago · Sen. Joe Manchin is urging the U.S. Treasury Department to prevent companies from using loopholes to bypass stringent eligibility rules in the ...
Exclusive: White House, Energy Dept. to announce ‘innovation agenda’
The White House and the Energy Department on
Wednesday will announce new commitments as part of a “rapid innovation
agenda” aimed at electrifying homes, businesses and transportation,
according to details shared exclusively with The Climate 202.
The announcements, to be made during the White House Electrification Summit,
are part of the Biden administration’s broader efforts to combat
climate change and lower energy costs for American households. They
include:
Thirty-five utilities will commit to sharing real-time power outage data with the Outage Data Initiative Nationwide.
The move to make the data public is meant to help existing emergency
response efforts and identify areas that need investment to improve
reliability. With the new commitments, ODIN will now include 100
utilities across 45 states and Puerto Rico, covering more than 43
million customers.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will
announce a funding opportunity aimed at helping industrial facilities
increase the adoption of on-site green technologies, such as heat pumps
and battery storage.
Energy’s Building Technologies Office will unveil the Home Electrification Prize,
which will fund innovative solutions to retrofit homes in communities
that have been historically overburdened by pollution caused by the
burning of fossil fuels.
That office will also
announce a funding opportunity that will provide up to $45 million for
the development and demonstration of technologies that can significantly
advance building decarbonization.
“We want to get the word out about the tremendous benefits of electrification,” Sally Benson, deputy director for energy in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy,
told The Climate 202, adding that the new initiatives are part of a
larger plan to accelerate implementation of the bipartisan
infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act.
Granholm, senior White House adviser John Podesta, OSTP Director Arati Prabhakar and White House National Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi are expected to deliver remarks at the summit, along with Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Reps. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) and Sean Casten (D-Ill.).
On the Hill
Schumer tees up vote on Manchin’s permitting amendment to NDAA
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday said the Senate will vote on the controversial bill from Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) that would speed up the approval process for new energy projects as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act,Rachel Frazin reports for the Hill.
However, it appears unlikely that Manchin’s amendment will garner the 60 votes needed for approval because it faces steep opposition from
Senate Republicans, even though conservatives have long called for
streamlining the permitting process for energy infrastructure.
Lawmakers
have twice shot down Manchin’s permitting bill since September, most
recently when the House decided not to include the legislation in the
defense bill because of concerns from liberal Democrats.
"No matter where you travel in Utah, you’ll
find some reference to a beehive. There are dozens of businesses,
parks, and attractions that incorporate the word beehive into their name
or decor around the state. While many Utahns are aware that our great
state is nicknamed the Beehive State, many individuals do not know how
this name came to be. Here’s more behind the reason Utah is named the
Beehive State:
It is easy to assume that Utah is called the Beehive State
due to its honey production. Utah is a leading producer of honey with
thousands of pounds produced in the state every single year. In fact,
the Honey Bee is even the state’s official insect.
However, the real reason Utah is called the Beehive State
is a little more complicated. ✓ The beehive is a symbol used by several
religions and has particular roots in the state’s dominant religion, The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
✓ After the pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley in the
late 1840s, Brigham Young, president of the church at the time, wanted
to name the new territory "Deseret." This word means honeybee in The
Book of Mormon, a scripture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints.
Bees also symbolize hard work, industry, and community.
They must work together to thrive and that’s exactly what the pioneers
had to do when entering the Salt Lake Valley in the 1800s.
>> However, when Utah became an official state in 1896, congress favored the name Utah after the Ute Tribe.
Despite being called Utah, the beehive continued to play
an important part of the state and was placed on the state flag. It is
the official emblem of the state and in 1959, the beehive became the
official symbol of Utah.
In fact, when visiting the Utah State Capitol Building,
you’ll see two large beehive sculptures located near the Grand Staircase
on the south side of the building.
Now, the next time you see this important symbol, you’ll
remember our Utah history and the importance of industry, community, and
hard work — the qualities that make our great state flourish.
Pictured above is The Beehive House in Salt Lake City. This is was one of the official residences of Brigham Young. . ."
✓ Digital World shares fell 4% in pre-market trading Friday to about
$19.20—steepening a decline that has seen the stock lose more than 80%
of its value since an all-time high of more than $100 in March.
Digital World isn't alone among SPACs struggling to close a deal after
the economy descended into a bear market this year. Earlier this month,
nearly $11 billion worth of SPAC deals were called
off on the same day. Completed SPAC deals this year through September
totaled about $39 billion—down nearly 90% from $341 billion over the
same period last year, according to law firm White & Case.
More Trouble For Trump’s Truth Social: Three Execs
Abruptly Depart SPAC As Lingering Investigations And Market Chaos
Imperil Deal
Jonathan Ponciano
4 minutes
Updated Dec 16, 2022, 11:42am EST
Topline
Digital World Acquisition Corp., the special-purpose acquisition
company picked to take former President Donald Trump's social media
company public, unveiled a series of high-level departures on Friday
since the end of last month—deepening potential worries for the firm as
it struggles to finalize a deal amid regulatory investigations and
broader market chaos.
Key Facts
In a regulatory filing released
Friday morning, Digital World announced board member Rodrigo Veloso and
chief financial officer Lee Jacobson sent letters of resignation to the
company on December 9, while board member Luiz Philippe Braganza
informed the firm of his departure on November 28.
The company did not immediately respond to Forbes' request
for comment, but the filing states the resignations did not result from
any disagreement with the firm on matters related to operations,
policies or practices.
The slew of resignations come after another board member, Justin Shaner, abruptly resigned in early November—just days
before the company held a crucial meeting to see whether shareholders
would approve a measure to extend an early December deadline to complete
the acquisition of Truth Social.
Shareholders ultimately approved the measure in a vote, giving the
SPAC an opportunity to extend the deadline until September—which would
be nearly two years after the company originally announced its deal to acquire Truth Social.
Digital World shares fell 4% in pre-market trading Friday to about
$19.20—steepening a decline that has seen the stock lose more than 80%
of its value since an all-time high of more than $100 in March.
Key Background
Last October, Digital World announced plans to acquire Truth Social,
the social app Trump launched last year to court conservative
supporters, but the firm has struggled to make progress amid a slew of
regulatory investigations into the matter. Both federal prosecutors and
regulators—including the Securities and Exchange Commission—are probing
the deal for alleged misrepresentations and certain transactions between
Truth Social's Trump-owned parent and Digital World. When asked at a
conference last month about the uncertain timeline for the proposed
merger, Digital World CEO Patrick Orlando simply said the firm
"[doesn't] have an update" on the regulatory review. On Thursday, Trump
revealed Truth Social's latest "major announcement"—a line of $99
non-fungible tokens, which themselves have struggled to renew traction
amid a steep market downturn.
Tangent
Digital World isn't alone among SPACs struggling to close a deal
after the economy descended into a bear market this year. Earlier this
month, nearly $11 billion worth of SPAC deals were called
off on the same day. Completed SPAC deals this year through September
totaled about $39 billion—down nearly 90% from $341 billion over the
same period last year, according to law firm White & Case."
In
the wake of the FBI’s search of former President Donald Trump’s
residence, some users of the social media platform he helped start urged
people to respond with violence.
Before 42-year-old Ricky Shiffer made his fatal attempt to breach an FBI office in Cincinnati,
an account in his name posted a “call to arms” on the site, Truth
Social, and told people to “get whatever you need to be ready for
combat.” A letter that the House Committee on Oversight and Reform sent
to Truth Social on Aug. 19 expressed concern over other posts, including
one that said “F--- the Feds! The Second Amendment is not about
shooting deer! Lock and load!” and another calling on people to “Arm
yourselves! We are about to enter into Civil War!”
The letter, addressed to former Republican Representative Devin Nunes, the chief executive officer of Trump Media & Technology Group,
the parent of Truth Social, demanded information about what criteria
the platform uses to decide which content should be removed and the
resources it dedicated to content moderation. It also asked how many
threats against federal law enforcement it had identified since the
Mar-a-Lago search and how many of those posts were removed or reported
to authorities. The committee made similar inquiries to Meta Platforms, Twitter, TikTok, and other social media companies.
A person holds a sign outside Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 8.
Photographer: Marco Bello/Reuters
Founded by Trump after his ouster from Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot
at the US Capitol, Truth Social has promised to be a place where its
users can say whatever they please. When it launched in Apple’s App
Store in February, the site joined an increasingly crowded field of “alternative tech” platforms catering to right-wing users, including Gettr, Parler, and Gab.
The app has been downloaded about 3.2 million
times, trailing far behind Parler and Gettr, according to estimates from
Sensor Tower, a firm that tracks app data. (Sensor Tower couldn’t
provide estimates for Gab, which isn’t available in the App Store or
Google Play Store.) But downloads have increased precipitously since the
search of Trump’s home, illustrating how much Truth Social and its
peers thrive on political conflict.
There’s been a noticeable intensification in
violent rhetoric on all these services since the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago
search, says Josephine Lukito, an assistant professor at the University
of Texas at Austin. “The FBI raid has increased this need to take
action” in users’ minds, she says. “The discourse has ramped up—the
level of frustration has ramped up.”
That Truth
Social would take a more tolerant view toward speech that mainstream
social networks consider beyond the pale is to be expected—that’s
essentially why it exists. More surprising is how aggressive it’s become
at filtering other kinds of posts. In an Aug. 2 report,
Cheyenne Hunt-Majer, a fellow for the consumer advocacy group Public
Citizen, wrote that she shared a post on Truth Social containing the
phrase “abortion is healthcare,” only to find it was rendered
essentially invisible on the site, a process sometimes referred to as
shadow-banning. Hunt-Majer wrote that the post reappeared after a TikTok
video she made about the incident went viral. But another one of her
Truth Social posts—this one reading, “If you don’t own a uterus and know
everything about women’s health, you have NO right to regulate abortion
or birth control”—never showed up on her profile or in her feed.
Several Truth Social users have also reported that their accounts were permanently suspended after they posted about the hearings of a House committee investigating the assault on the Capitol. In a statement given to the Washington Times, a spokesperson for the platform said the allegations were “transparently stupid.” . . . READ MORE
()
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
