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Story of the Week (DR): AI Companies ‘Gaming Out’ Scenarios for ‘Catastrophic AI Event’ That Could Occur in a Matter of Months Retail giant Ahold Delhaize takes systems offline after cyberattack Hackers Break Into Supermarket Fridges and Spoil All the Groceries EU Commissioner on Cyber Attack on French Supermarkets: Food Weaponization Now a 'Reality' Anthropic Warns “AI Worms” Will Infect Your Smart Home Devices and Use Them to Self-Replicate Beyond Control Boys vs. Women MM DR Full-on attacks Trump establishes committee to investigate Fed governor Lisa Cook Ilhan Omar’s Home Raided by DHS Following Trump-GOP Deportation Threats Trump and other Republicans have called for Omar to be stripped of her citizenship and deported for years. Elon Musk—Powerful Critic Of Illegal Immigrants—Worked Illegally In U.S. At Start Of Career, Report Says Bessent mocks Sen Warren, wishes her 'Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day' in response to letter Trump Delivers Brutal Parting Diss to Kimberly Guilfoyle: “No, she wasn’t a member of my family. She, I guess, dated my son a long time ago,” Trump Pardons at Least 85 Officials Tied to Corruption Cases With MAGA Allies Reaping Most of the Mercy: Most recipients were Republicans or vocal Trump supporters, while the clemency reduced prison time, financial penalties or legal consequences for dozens of officials Trump Calls Letitia James a 'Disgusting Dog' After She Takes Over the Cornell Rape Case Cornell president acknowledges he knew about fraternity sexual assault but didn’t follow up Cornell’s Powerful Board Meets as It Fights to Protect Its Reputation: The president argued this week that replacing him would be a mistake. Primary trustees: 38% women/full roster (including 3 named deputies): 39% women Breakdown by profession Business, Finance & Private Enterprise: 39 (64%) Finance, VC, Hedge Funds & Private Equity: 16 (26.2%) Todd C. Builione (KKR), Bobby Jain (Jain Global), Beckie Robertson (Versant Ventures), Howard P. Milstein (NY Private Bank & Trust), Susan C. Schnabel (aXiomatic) Corporate Leadership & Industry Executives : 10 (16.4%) Angela Hwang (ex-Pfizer), Rick Schlesinger (Milwaukee Brewers), Robert W. Selander (ex-Mastercard), Amane A. Nakashima (Kewpie Corp), Timothy M. Barry (Agilon Health) Real Estate & Development: 5 (8.2%) Douglas F. Eisenberg (A&E Real Estate), Paul D. Rubacha (Ashley Capital), Stephen T. Mong (Orien Capital), Enrique J. Vila-Biaggi (Urban-Ona) Consulting & Professional Services: 4 (6.6%) Eric Adam Kutcher (CFO, McKinsey & Co), Jennifer L. Davis (Partner, Bain & Co), Hernán J.F. Saenz III (Global Head, Bain & Co) Technology, Science & Media: 4 (6.6%) Law & Legal Practice: 7 (12%) Stephen C. Robinson (Skadden; former U.S. District Judge), Eric Gonzalez (Brooklyn D.A.), Kevin P.B. Johnson (Quinn Emanuel), Martin F. Scheinman (Scheinman Arbitration) Campus & Academic Community: 6 (10%) Academia & Higher Ed Administration: 3 (4.9%) Campus Constituencies (Students & Staff): 3 (4.9%) Government, Public Policy & Labor: 5 (8%) Government & Public Officials (Ex-Officio): 3 (4.9%) Labor & Organized Workforce: 2 (3.3%) Philanthropy & Civic Leadership: 4 (6.6%) Where’s Bill Ackman?? Employment/Pay Women fall through the cracks at work, especially on boards, report says There’s Even a Pay Gap Between Male and Female AI Agents ‘If you take your foot off the pedal at all, you will start to stall’: Women in C-suite roles have stagnated, and the reasons go beyond the pipeline Fear of being ‘too much’ silences women leaders. Here’s how to ask anyway Palmer Luckey says that executions should be 'public and brutal' Secret documents reveal donors behind $330 million for Trump’s ballroom: The records offer a panoramic view of a fundraising campaign that is extraordinary for its size and opacity. Money source Direct corporate / corporate-entity: $189M (62%) 100% male-associated: i.e., Nvidia (Jensen Huang) & Meta (Zuck) Business-derived personal / family wealth: $102M (33%) 83% men: i.e., Charles Ergen (Dish Network) & Stephen Schwarzman (Blackstone) 2 women are Miriam Adelson (widow of Sheldon/Las Vegas Sands) & Isabela Herrera (member of an eighth generation of international bankers) Investment / financial vehicles: $15M (5%) 100% male-associated: i.e., BlackRock Charitable Fund & Paul Singer Fund Elon Musk becomes biggest donor of US midterms cycle with $366m spent MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America’s $19.2 billion in megagifts last year DealBook Summit Lineup Mainstage Interviews: Gender (21% women); Race (75% white / 17% South Asian / 8% Multiracial & Latina) Including J.D. Vance, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Shayne Coplan (Polymarket), David Ellison, Palmer Luckey (Anduril Industries), Elon Musk, Satya Nadella, Vlad Tenev (Robinhood) One of the 3 women is beauty brand executive Haley Bieber, who is Justin Bieber’s wife and Alec Baldwin’s niece Groundbreakers: Gender (21% women); Race (83% white / 14% Black / 3% Middle Eastern) Task Forces Task Forces — On Elections: Gender (67% women); Race (50% white / 33% Black / 17% Middle Eastern) Task Forces — On Work and Purpose: Gender (50% women); Race (50% white / 50% Black) Task Forces — On A.I. and A.G.I.: Gender (17% women); Race (67% white / 17% South Asian / 17% Middle Eastern) Task Forces — On Healthcare: Gender (33% women); Race (67% white / 33% South Asian) Moderators: Gender (60% women); Race (80% white / 20% Latina) Story of the Week (MM): Everything for purchase Leaked List Reveals Apple, Nvidia, and Other Corporate Giants' $333M Pledge for Trump's Ballroom Elon Musk's $366M US Midterm Spending Spree Dwarfs His 2024 Donations to Trump Elon Musk Settles Lawsuit Over $1M Voter Giveaway After Lawyers Admit Winners Weren't Chosen Randomly Meta Has Paid Far Right Accounts for Their Posts Ahead of the Midterms Ahead of the midterms, Meta has paid at least 29 anti-LGBTQ accounts for their posts SEC Clears Way for Speedy Actions by Reducing Its Quorum Requirement The GOP billionaire behind the biggest political gift in U.S. history could be sued for allegedly fueling a Chicago rat infestation Barre Seid, the 94-year-old industrialist has his workers “scatter nuts” in Lincoln Park for squirrels - but it attracted pigeons and rats and created massive buildup of food garbage and a rat infestation - he ignored citations, abatements, demands to stop, tickets - and the city will have to pay to kill the rats because a senile billionaire likes squirrels Trust nothing Woke Cleantech US clean energy jobs fell in 2025 for the first time in years Clean Energy Is Poised to Set New Records in the US Bros Marissa Mayer: Anyone who says they know how AI will play out is ‘either lying or arrogant or both’ Meta Glasses Said to Be Recording Even When They’re in Sleep Mode The world reacts to Elon Musk’s flying car Elon Musk says SpaceX will pay back anyone whose Grok AI agent makes a rogue purchase Men More Likely to Bluff About AI Knowledge; 53% Say They Recognize Fictitious Execs, Harvard Study Finds China OpenAI OpenAI's CFO warned businesses that Chinese AI models pose cybersecurity risks OpenAI Sued for Allegedly Building Models Out of Children’s “Fears, Hopes, and Secrets” Assholiest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Chick-fil-A CEO fails to answer what the chain’s ‘official position’ is on LGBTQ+ rights “The company’s official position on equal rights is?” DR MM CEO Andrew Cathy simply said that the brand is “focused on hospitality” and “serving great-tasting food and great service.” MM: Indonesia gets 'wake-up call' as MSCI prepares to expel it from global indexes MSCI wanted: enhanced disclosure of shareholders with ownership above 1% and High Shareholding Concentration (HSC) reporting Meanwhile, Spotify is on index as of 2024 without enhanced disclosure and a  69% voting rights duo in Ek and Lorentzon dual class dictatorships are the NORM in the US - 25% of companies are Totalitarian a roadmap towards a minimum free float requirement of 15% Meanwhile, MSCI confirms early index inclusion rules ahead of SpaceX IPO: SpaceX float was 5% checking the affiliation of shareholders with ownership of less than 5% Meanwhile, there are hundreds of US companies with shareholder affiliations and ownership of less than 5% - check the boardroom, where board directors are highly interconnected, own less than 5%  I’m not saying Indonesia doesn’t deserve it, but can we stop pretending with the market moralizing and get rid of dual class b******t? Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Walmart US workers are getting some new health care benefits in the new year DR More than 250 prescription medications at no cost, including certain insulin products, inhalers and expensive drugs for conditions such as hemophilia and multiple sclerosis.  Coverage for certain GLP-1 medications Up to 12 weeks of paid neonatal intensive care (NICU) leave: can be combined with existing maternity and parental leave, allowing some frontline workers to receive up to 28 weeks of paid leave in total.  MM: Geothermal finds rare political sweet spot amid AI boom Ormat Technologies Democratic board!  Rare! Increasingly connected, low merit, highly similar, deferential… boo 3 of 8 women! Good tenure mix, high earnings batters Fervo Energy (recent IPO) No proxy filed yet, 3 of 7 women Dual class 40x b shares - boo Blowhardiest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: BlackRock's Larry Fink warned a data center moratorium could trigger a recession MM: An AI CEO is calling out the people who bash AI but can't stop using it Ditto - also Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Netflix, Disney, Paramount, Peacock, Tesla, Spotify… shall I go on? Too bad it was Verb CEO Cyrus Beschloss and not someone anyone has heard of - he actually GRADUATED FROM A COLLEGE (degree in History!) and even got a MASTERS DEGREE IN NOT BUSINESS (Journalism!) Headliniest of the Week DR: AI is less regulat

DR Ahold Delhaize takes systems offline after cyberattack — global retail giant says 'cybersecurity incident' hit systems, but stores remain open WHO YOU YOU BLAME? Delhaize board as of 10/12/2026: 1) Bank CEO, 2) Health and Wellness CEO, 3) CFO, 4) Finance director, 5) Academia, 6) Beauty brand CEO, 7) Distribution company CEO, 8) Beauty brand CEO, 9) Retailer CEO Economics and Accounting 67% Administration and Management 56% Public Safety and Security 44% Communications and Media 33% Sales and Marketing 33% 10) CTO! Edmond Mesrobian has served Ahold Delhaize’s Supervisory Board since October 13, 2026. Chief Technology and Information Officer at Nordstrom and previously as Chief Technology Officer at Tesco and Expedia Group, where he was responsible for enterprise technology, digital platforms, and innovation November 2024: Ransomware Attack attributed to the INC Ransom group using double-extortion ransomware. took critical servers offline as a containment measure Disclosures finalized in mid-2025 confirmed that personal records belonging to over 2.2 million individuals were compromised. The stolen data primarily affected current and former associates, employees, and their beneficiaries (including names, addresses, and Social Security numbers) So anyone still on the board from then: everyone except Neela Montgomery, Wiebe Draijer, Per Bank All AI companies for making this shit easier every day Netflix  said on Wednesday it will lay off roughly 6% of its employees, or nearly 1,000 workers The company’s dopey co-CEO structure “Our mission - to entertain the world - is ambitious, and delivering on it requires us to be disciplined about where we prioritize our people and resources,” Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos (15%) and Greg Peters (12%) wrote in the email to employees The new king: chair Jay Hoag (17%) and 27 years tenure! Voted out in 2014 and 2025 (78% no!) Big Data/AI industry contagion: the Netflix board is using industry cycles to  make cuts without facing isolated market backlash. The compensation committee for making this look ludicrous: the co-CEOs aggregate earnings over past 3 years: $320M; the cost to pay 1000 workers annually: $270M. Drop a co-CEO and we’re on to something *Leslie Kilgore (2012, independent since 2015!): former CMO of Netflix! Mathias Döpfner (2018): CEO/Chair Axel SPringer and Warner Music board member Anne Sweeney (2015): Disney executive, former CEO/Chair FX Networks The board’s lack of HR skills: DR “Human Capital Management: Experience and expertise related to human resource issues such as attracting and retaining talent, succession planning, engagement of employees, and the development and evolution of culture, including the alignment of culture and long-term strategy. Reed Hastings Greg Peters Ted Sarandos” SPEED ROUND (and preview to Friday Show): Who do you blame for this headline? A MAN or a WOMAN Trump Calls Letitia James a 'Disgusting Dog' After She Takes Over the Cornell Rape Case Bessent mocks Sen Warren, wishes her 'Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day' in response to letter Elon Musk becomes biggest donor of US midterms cycle with $366m spent Jeff Bezos says people have been ‘incorrectly’ taught that success is a villain: ‘You can be a billionaire if you started a hamburger stand’ There’s Even a Pay Gap Between Male and Female AI Agents Palmer Luckey says that executions should be 'public and brutal' Trump establishes committee to investigate Fed governor Lisa Cook Ilhan Omar’s Home Raided by DHS Following Trump-GOP Deportation Threats Elon Musk—Powerful Critic Of Illegal Immigrants—Worked Illegally In U.S. At Start Of Career, Report Says ‘SNL’ and Shane Gillis get backlash for ‘rape culture’ jokes during a national conversation about sexual assault MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America’s $19.2 billion in megagifts last year   MM Nscale Appoints Amy Banse to Board of Directors - WHO DO YOU BLAME FOR AMY BANSE? They just filed an S-1 and want to look good Every new company needs to look “professional” by bringing in some veteran directors, this is strictly for the sake of the filing Amy Banse is just that good:  Hall of Famer High earnings history, low TSR Amy Banse is just the right KIND of professional looking director Deferential director at both Adobe and Lennar (structurally) Right now, the share classes are listed as A, B, C, and non-voting C (as owned by Nvidia) - and while it’s incorporated in the UK, you can assume it’ll be a controlled company Nothing says “controlled company” like a director who defers to management or dictators regularly The already dictator happy board DR Susan Decker - Berkshire (and Costco, Vail Resorts, Chime Financial) Sheryl Sandburg AND Fidji Simo - ex Facebook and ex Facebook, with Fidji on the OpenAI board and Shopify board - two other dictatorships Nick Clegg - ex Facebook Øyvind Eriksen - sits on FOUR totalitarian Norwegian boards (3 of which as Aker, where he was CEO) A VC guy and a biomedical tech guy Australian founder and college dropout Josh Payne Who “taught himself business from books” while digging in an actual coal mine Started a marketing firm, sold it, started a bitcoin mining and crypto firm that becomes data center firm Nscale? Sounds exactly like the kind of guy who needs Sheryl Sandberg to mommy him from the board! Bank of America hit with more than $1.2 billion in penalties over money-laundering violations: Bank of America admits willfully violating Bank Secrecy Act regulations and failing to “timely report” more than $5 billion in “suspicious” transactions, Treasury said.  Incidents between 2019 and 2023, signed cease and desist in 2024, ignored that too. WHO DO WE BLAME FOR VIOLATING SANCTIONS OVER AND OVER AND OVER? Audit committee 2019-2023: Sharon Allen (ch), Michael White, Arnold Donald, Denise Ramos Audit committee 2024: Sharon Allen (ch), Michael White, Arnold Donald, Denise Ramos, Jose Almeida, Thomas Woods Audit committee current: Sharon Allen (ch), Michael White, Arnold Donald, Denise Ramos, Jose Almeida, Thomas Woods CEO Brian Moynihan DR CEO since 2010, made chair in 2016 Longest tenured director Monica Lozano Since 2006 Michael White Second highest influence on the board from 2019 to 2025, on every audit committee in question, nom chair who picked NEW audit committee members in 2024 (Almeida and Woods)  SPEED ROUND: Mark Zuckerberg Almost Gets Sick After Sipping Guinness as Online Critics Joke About His 'First Beer' WHO DO YOU BLAME FOR ZUCK NOT LIKING GUINNESS? Dropping out of school Apparently did not get enough drinking in while in college? Diageo The maker of Guinness Susan Kilsby, lead director at Diageo, has most influence historically!  So it’s a woman’s fault! Production and manufacturing base knowledge on the board not in the top 6 (less than 30% of the board has the knowledge in this case), so maybe he got a bad batch John Collison Irish 36 year old co-founder of Stripe, his brother Pat Collison on the Meta board chosen by Zuck Podcast host who served the beer The Irish DR Just bought an actual castle in Ireland (Strancally Castle) with his wife (using money they probably removed from DEI programs through their charity?) Must not have any idea how much the Irish like Guinness? Jeff Bezos Hits Back at Those Who Demonise Billionaires: 'Success Is Not Villainy' - 'I think we live in an environment where some people have been taught, I think incorrectly, but taught, that this whole kind of oppressor/oppressed framework, and success is villainy,' Bezos said. 'Success is not villainy. You can be a billionaire if you started a hamburger stand.' WHO DO YOU BLAME FOR THINKING SUCCESS IS VILLAINY? Hamburger barons - billionaire hamburger barons made a bad name for all billionaires Pee bottles - “success is not villainy” especially if that success requires your employees to pee in a bottle, get zero breaks, discriminate against pregnant women in order to maximize profits Jeff Bezos - “judge entrepreneurs by what they build and how they solve problems” - isn’t that why people hate you? DR Nice billionaires - your ex wife Mackenzie Scott, Melinda French Gates are giving the other billionaires a bad rap

Story of the Week (DR): Skydance Adds Bobby Kotick and Laurene Powell Jobs to Board, Taps Tony Blair as Adviser Former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick Was Once Reviled by Gamers. Now He's Joining Skydance's Board of Directors The crisis began in July 2021 when the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) sued Activision Blizzard, alleging a pervasive "frat boy" culture of rampant sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation Initially, Kotick and leadership claimed they were unaware of the severity of the issues or blamed them on a few bad actors However, in November 2021, The Wall Street Journal published a bombshell investigation that squarely implicated Kotick. The report detailed several severe allegations: Concealing Misconduct: The report alleged that Kotick had known about multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and assault across the company for years. He reportedly failed to inform the board of directors about the severity of these claims, including alleged rapes and out-of-court settlements.  Protecting Accused Executives: In one specific instance, the HR department recommended firing a co-head of the developer studio Treyarch after an investigation found he had sexually harassed a female employee. Kotick allegedly intervened and overruled HR to keep the executive at the company. Threatening an Assistant's Life: The report surfaced Kotick’s own history of alleged misconduct, including a 2006 incident where he left a voicemail threatening to have his assistant killed. A spokesperson for Kotick later admitted to the voicemail, claiming it was "hyperbolic" and noting that he had apologized and settled the matter out of court. Private Jet Lawsuit: The WSJ also reported on an incident involving a private jet Kotick co-owned, where a flight attendant claimed she was sexually harassed by the pilot. When she complained, Kotick allegedly told her he would ruin her financially. Kotick was never formally fired or removed by the board, instead his exit was orchestrated through a massive corporate buyout. Amid plummeting stock prices and reputational damage, Microsoft swept in to buy Activision Blizzard for nearly $69 billion in January 2022. Kotick officially stepped down in December 2023. Because he left as part of a successful merger rather than being fired for cause, he walked away with an enormous "golden parachute" payout, cashing out hundreds of millions of dollars in stock and severance packages.     Anthropic Has Been Aggressively Lobbying the Vatican to Consider AI Consciousness According to new reporting from the New York Times, the company has for months been wining and dining religious scholars across the world in secret, NDA-secured meetings to convince them that AI models think and feel, too.  Anthropic even reportedly went after the Pope. Christopher Olah, a cofounder and senior researcher at the Claude chatbot maker, aggressively lobbied the Vatican after learning Pope Leo XIV’s official position on AI, per the reporting. Christopher Olah: Canadian; studied mathematics at the University of Toronto for one year before dropping out to "support a friend accused of terrorism;" received a Thiel Fellowship in 2012; previously worked at Google and OpenAI; atheist Sam Altman Warns Against 'Religious Force' in AI After Elon Musk's Grok Calls Jesus 'Son of God' OpenAI's Altman: Ascribing religion to models a "safety issue"' SEC Warns Activist Investors After Climate Push at Exxon Mobil, see Matt (1) MM DR Story of the Week (MM): OIL #1: SEC Warns Activist Investors After Climate Push at Exxon Mobil Report of Investigation Pursuant to Section 21(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934: Climate Action 100+ and the Election of Directors at the May 2021 Annual Meeting of ExxonMobil Corporation In the context of ExxonMobil’s 2021 director election, the investigation examined whether members of CA100 used the organization as a means of coordinating their votes to influence the outcome of the contested director election at the 2021 annual meeting The evidence also suggested CA100 and its members pressured BlackRock and State Street to support CA100 ̶flagged matters submitted to a shareholder vote, including the May 2021 election of dissident directors to ExxonMobil’s board. On the other hand, Vanguard never became a member of CA100, and the investigation did not develop evidence that BlackRock or State Street agreed to vote proxies in certain manners or shared their proxy voting intentions with investors or others associated with CA100. Report goes on to say that Ceres pressure Blackrock and State Street (and conveniently ignores Vanguard, who also voted for Engine No 1 directors but DIDN’T join CA100) - but Blackrock only joins after GPIF pulls 25bn in assets (GPIF, not a Ceres member, a Japanese pension fund) Most of this report is an indictment of Mindy Lubber (retiring CEO of Ceres) and non profit culture, where they routinely overstate how important they are to change and their ability to actually create pressure - I worked there, they do shit all - they make noise and claim credit.  My job was to “generate new investments in cleantech” - a non profit telling a multi trillion dollar asset manager how to allocate capital, pressure companies, or do due diligence, is f*****g laughable. And the report says as much: the minutes also detail discussion between BlackRock and Ceres regarding the ExxonMobil board refresh campaign: “Talked about scoping good board candidates for Exxon campaign – [BlackRock] said there was ‘no chance that they would ever help us with that’.” The focus on convening non profits and the rescission of 14a-8 have one thing in common: protecting oil companies.  According to MSCI data, from 2000 to 2026 there have been 15,425 shareholder proposals.  That’s about 600 a year, targeting on average around 250 companies per year.  Those are the LARGEST 250 companies on average - this is very much an S&P 500 issue.  Scratch that - this is very much an OIL COMPANY issue.  The top two US companies by shareholder proposals in the last 26 years are Exxon (222) and Chevron (160).   Exxon has been so pissed, they diluted the board by increasing size and appointing their own directors, sued Arjuna Capital for a shareholder proposal (which Arjuna was legally allowed to file), and hired ATKINS HIMSELF as an advisor Exxon was an Atkins’ CLIENT at Patomak and he owned at least $50k of the stock in his brokerage account according to his financial filings OIL #2:  To Block Solar Energy Projects, One Community Lumped Them in With Junkyards and Adult Bookstores there were 888 state and local laws restricting renewable energy across 48 states, according to Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. The center’s database shows restrictions in more than 30 of Indiana’s 92 counties Montgomery County is not one of them. Its limits are indirect, stemming from a comprehensive planning process in 2024 that includes wind and solar as undesirable land uses, based on focus groups with residents. The county’s list of undesirable uses also has junkyards, landfills and adult-oriented businesses, among others Meanwhile, there are now 159 data centers in Indiana OIL #3: Oil Companies Are Begging the Supreme Court to Let Them Off the Hook For Climate Change Assholiest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Kentucky bourbon CEO fired after lawsuit alleges hidden cameras recording family members, minors nude: report "The Board and leadership of TKC Distilling, the parent company of The Kentucky Castle and True Story Whiskey, have terminated the employment of CEO Wes Henderson, effective immediately, in light of allegations outlined in a recently filed lawsuit," Charity Bird, an attorney for TKC Distilling, said in a statement. the son of master distiller Lincoln Henderson Kyle Henderson, one of Wes Henderson's sons, will take over as CEO of both The Kentucky Castle and True Story Whiskey while the board conducts a full and independent investigation One of six sons: the entire leadership team MM: Men (again) ‘Masculine energy’ is costing companies billions Mark Zuckerberg told podcaster Joe Rogan that the corporate world needed more “masculine energy” and a culture that “celebrates the aggression a bit more.” Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ 2024 global study of occupational fraud, men committed 75% of cases and caused higher losses: a median of $158,000 per case, versus $100,000 for women. In 2018, a Harvard Kennedy School study described work as a “masculinity contest” governed by four implicit norms: show no weakness, display strength and stamina, put work first, and treat colleagues as rivals. These researchers then created a survey to measure how strongly a workplace follows these norms. When scores were high, they found more toxic leadership, less psychological safety, more bullying and harassment, and more burnout and intention to quit.[...] The damage shows up in harassment settlements, legal fees, and workers’ compensation claims Harvard Business School researchers analyzed data on some 50,000 workers and found that avoiding a toxic hire is worth $12,489 to a company, more than twice the amount that a top-1% performer brings in. On the flip side: In 2025, private education and healthcare, where women hold 77% of jobs, added around 800,000 positions while all other sectors combined lost about 500,000, according to this analysis of BLS data Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Diesel prices are rising worldwide. So are electric truck sales Electric trucks cost too much. California has a law for that: SB 1213 will force truck manufacturers to disclose data to curb price gouging — and open new state financing options to help fleets switch to cleaner vehicles Honda plans highway test of tech that charges moving trucks MM: PepsiCo's fizz fades as GLP-1 drugs and activist investor Elliott's targets test its snack

AI California bans employers from using AI alone to fire workers Newsom advances AI 'kill switch' mandate under new California executive order Zohran Mamdani Bans AI for NYC Public School Students Up to Eighth Grade Walmart bans AI slop signs in stores OpenAI adds AI safety official to its board former company employee Paul Christiano served as a senior tech advisor to the federal government's Center for AI Standards and Innovation founder of the Alignment Research Center, a nonprofit that aims to ensure AI remains in support of human interests NERDY ESG STUFF Oracle to Launch Public Dashboard with Emissions, Water Use Data for New Hyperscale Data Center General Mills is naming its COO as CEO, its first woman to hold the role Dana McNabb, who has spent 27 years at the company, as General Mills works to return to profitable growth Jeff Harmening, who has served as CEO since 2017, will transition to executive chair Scientists Unveil Underwater Solar Panels Honda plans highway test of tech that charges moving trucks Obama Says Governments Would Be 'Better' if Women Ran Them: 'I'm confident about that' More than half of directors want at least one fellow board member removed Climate Pledge Tops 700 Companies Committing to Net Zero by 2040 Japan's large-ship hydrogen engine cuts CO2 emissions 95% SEC’s plan to scrap shareholder proposal rule sparks criticism The latest gender battle: Nobody asks why having more men is better SPEED ROUND Trump Accounts have auto-enrolled more than 60 million children Walmart is rolling out light-up shelf labels to help shoppers find items in stores Peter Thiel says he worries it will be hard for JD Vance or Marco Rubio to win in 2028 Waymo Calls Cops on Passengers With Assault Rifle Mamdani Targets ‘Greedy Algorithm’ of Corporations in a New Brand of Politics Fall movie preview: ‘The Social Reckoning’ and others take aim at Big Tech moguls Kraft Heinz is launching a mac and cheese-flavored cream soda

Story of the Week (DR): Top AI executives sign commitment to ‘self-police’ after meeting at White House MM DR Count the women: Trump says he and tech leaders signed AI agreement that is 'morally binding House Speaker Johnson says he hopes AI guardrails are 'voluntary' amid Congress inaction Donald Trump orders federal agencies to rename AI ‘Super Intelligence’ OpenAI just launched its answer to Meta: 'always-on' AI agents called Dots We told you so, part 2: Non-deferential boards matter: Peter Thiel Says Trump Administration Overcorrected With Loyalty Tests to Staff 'Not Very Smart' People Recently former CEOs who are now Executive Chairs are still CEO: Ex-Disney CEO Bob Chapek says he raised concerns with the board 'weekly' during Iger power battle ”I started hearing about lunches that he had and dinners that he had where he was absolutely trashing me.” He noted that when he brought concerns to the Disney board about Iger, he was told, ‘He’ll be gone in two years. It’s OK. That’s Bob being Bob.’” “CEO” hires: General Mills is naming its COO as CEO, its first woman to hold the role General Mills named COO Dana McNabb, making her the first woman to lead the Minneapolis company in its 160-year history. McNabb joined General Mills in 1999 She will succeed Jeff Harmening, who has served as CEO since June 2017, effective Jan. 1, 2027. Harmening will transition to executive chair of the board of directors on that same date. Glass Cliff? "Returning the company to profitable growth is the priority” David Ellison names Ynon Kreiz co-CEO of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery Paramount poaches Mattel CEO to be co-CEO of new company merged with Warner Bros. Discovery Paramount’s new co-CEO once hired a barista he met at a café with no résumé. His advice to Gen Z: ‘Look up and make eye contact’ 8 in 10 Gen Z and millennials have two jobs to make ends meet, Goldman Sachs finds, as the affordability crisis ‘crowds out’ any retirement hopes Ynon Kreiz’s Paramount Co-CEO Pay Package Tops $46.5 Million New Name of Paramount-Warner Bros. Unveiled: Skydance Story of the Week (MM): Trump says he and tech leaders signed AI agreement that is 'morally binding’ Manufactured CEO pay America’s Top Executives Rake In $1.7 Billion in Special Payouts Antoinette Giblin of Diligent had this to say: “One of the biggest drivers this year is intensifying competition for executive talent. Boards are navigating this while also asking CEOs to manage a broader range of risks, including supply chain disruptions, tariffs and the challenges and opportunities created by AI. Rising CEO turnover has added to the urgency,” Giblin said. “Strong market performance has also played an important role. Total shareholder returns reached notable highs for both the S&P 500 and the Russell 3000 in recent years, which has influenced executive compensation outcomes.” Are we all just part of the gaslight now?  TALENT COMPETITION and MARKET CHALLENGES?  Here’s some food for a*****e thought: Fortune 100 CEOs preferred Republican-affiliated campaigns, with 85% of the total dollars donated during the two cycles going to Republican-affiliated candidates, PACs, and party committees. Only 7% of contributions went to Democratic-affiliated entities, while 8% were given to committees that backed candidates from both parties. The party they support put in place tariffs, supply chain disruptions, back AI - manufacturing “challenges”, which would OTHERWISE be called their JOBS The same party they support targets and undermines hiring broader talent, in which we know “meritocracy” is code for “white guys” and “anti-DEI” is code for “no more diverse CEOs” - manufacturing “competition” for executive talent by narrowing the talent pool Those factors are then used to justify PAYING CEOs with “special retention” awards Investors shrug and support the pay committee even when they DO NOT support pay Average director support: 96%.  Average pay committee member support: 95.4%.  Average pay chair support: 94.5%.   So the capture works like this: CEO donates to one political party, political party manufactures scarcity and challenges, CEO paid extra by pay committee, investors vote for pay committees, repeat. IBM Elects Frank Baker to its Board of Directors First, there was no election - investors elect.  If a board selects a new director, they can “appoint” but not elect - the election is usually in April, so the next election is April 2027 The board was decreased to 13 when Fred Waddell left at the last meeting, and was increased to make room for Baker It was important to add Frank because they didn’t have any Econ bros on the board, and Baker’s background is private equity and venture capital - except that everyone on the board mirrors his experience: Notice what the board DOESN’T have - someone with a basic degree or background in computers, engineering, or computer science! Why is this the story of the week? No one pays attention to this but they should IBM is one of the most interconnected and Baker, though seemingly an amazing human being, is no different: he sits on the board of the Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center (chair) with Dermot McDonogh of BNY Mellon - Alfred Zollar on the IBM board ALSO sits on the board of BNY Mellon.  That’s the quick eyeball find - Baker is also on the board of the Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (with Henry Kravis and other connected directors) as well as a trustee at University of Chicago (with a whole lot of other directors) Does adding Baker actually do anything for the skills mix at IBM, or does it do something to a board washing itself with friends? Assholiest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Nvidia CEO says AI must cause 'pain and suffering' before it can help the climate MM: E.E.O.C. Sues Harvard for Data on Diversity in Hiring Practices MM DR Her April 2025 charge against Harvard cited archived materials from the university’s website — which had since been removed, she wrote — showing that the share of white men among tenured faculty had declined to 56 percent in 2023 from 64 percent in 2013. During that same time, the charts she cited showed, “total women, nonbinary and faculty of color” increased to 44 percent from 36 percent. So the lawsuit is looking for data about how that decline - from nearly two thirds to just over half - could have happened BUT… The graph shows that white men, in 2023, still outnumbered white women, men of color and women of color when counted separately. “There is reason to believe that these trends and the underlying pattern or practice of discrimination based on race and sex have continued in 2024 and are ongoing,” Ms. Lucas wrote. Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Vanguard Finds Younger Investors Choose ESG Voting Policy at Twice the Rate of Older Investors DR Policy options available through the program include: the “Company Board-Aligned Policy,” voting in accordance with the recommendations made by the portfolio company’s board of directors “Glass Lewis ESG Policy,” voting in accordance with the recommendations of Glass Lewis’s thematic ESG Voting Policy,  which follows the view that investment returns can be enhanced through a focus on disclosing and mitigating risks related to ESG issues “Fund Proxy Policy,” voted in accordance with the proxy voting policy that has been adopted by the Fund’s Trustees “Mirror Voting Policy,” which casts votes  in approximately the same proportions as votes cast by other shareholders of the security “Egan-Jones Wealth-Focused Policy,” added in 2025, which rejects ESG proposals “unless they directly contribute to revenue generation at the company receiving the proposal.” Vanguard’s new report revealed that the Glass Lewis ESG policy was by far the most popular in 2026 with younger investors, with 38.8% of investors under the age of 30 selecting the policy, and 36.3% of those between the ages of 31 – 45, followed in both groups by the Fund Proxy policy at 29.3% and 29.7%, respectively. Younger investors also selected the ESG policy at around twice the rate of older investors, with 19.4% of the age 46 – 61 group and 16.2% of the 62 – 80 group choosing the policy. MM: Horde of Obsolete Humanoid Robots Made to Hurl Themselves Into Vat of Liquid Steel for Total Obliteration Can we add AI overlords and all robots?  I’d love to get rid of my roomba…  Blowhardiest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Uber CEO Says He Emails Staff on Saturday — Then Sends a '?' on Sunday If They Don't Reply MM: GM’s Mary Barra says ‘I’m done making predictions’—but sees fully autonomous driving in 2028 DR MM: Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen questions whether AI companies can police themselves Headliniest of the Week DR: Elon Musk says 'Instagram is for girls', sparks reactions online Elon Musk's Body Sparks Shock After Claims He Took So Much Testosterone It Caused Estrogen Deficiency MM: Tesla sales smash Wall Street's expectations; Tesla Sales Slump in Third Quarter Literally opposite implications - the nuance is “Wall Street expectations” vs. real world sales decline quarter over quarter, but the result are a deluge of headlines about Tesla killing it and getting killed and no one knows what is a fact Who Won the Week? DR: CII’s Fall 2026 Conference for having us wandering around and for the segment we will air on next week’s Proxy Countdown MM: Quorum of one! Predictions DR: Jeff Harmening boomerangs back as General Mills CEO after Dana McNabb fails to return the company to profitable growth, a problem Jeff created in the first place  MM: Mary Barra is not done making predictions

DR1 In our 'Innovations like Reese's DOUBLE Chocolate Cups, Hershey's Choco Balls, and Hershey's Choco Tubes' headline of the week. Hershey CEO: America’s 250 years of innovation and why we expanded our innovation pipeline 50% in one year***************  In our 'If I'm wrong, your corpse has full permission to sue my corpse' headline of the week. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Guarantees '0% Chance' AI Will End the World Amid Warnings About Humanity's Extinction***************  In our 'Ok, you got a pen? Yeah, I'll wait... Yeah, I'm still here. Ok, what you're going to want to do is call Dave and tell him that Jim needs to tell Susan to get the 3rd blue key on the 2nd keychain in that 4th drawer down and then give that key to Gus. Now here's where it gets tricky so make sure you write this down... Hello, are you still there? Hello? Hello!? That's weird, I think he hung up. All I could hear was some steak sizzling and really loud screaming and then nothing. So rude!' headline of the week. Tesla Instructs Firefighters to Call Two Separate Support Hotlines in the Event of a Robotaxi Accident*************** According to new guidance posted by the Elon Musk owned automaker, a firefighter who has to deal with a Cybercab in an emergency or that had an accident might need to call not one, but two different Tesla support support hotlines and wait for an employee to assist them with their request — an awfully clunky procedure in a profession where time is of the essence In our 'Just not the college you want to go to, or actual, you know, um, colleges' headline of the week. ‘We believe in college’: inside Andreessen Horowitz’s $42m unaccredited academy that will charge Harvard prices without degrees***************  Marc Andreessen (University of Illinois); Erik Torenberg (University of Michigan); Gagan Biyani (University of California, Berkeley); Zelda Poem (I'm joining The Academy as a founding team member. I dropped out of high school 10 years ago to reinvent education. "These days, I’m especially interested in how tech philanthropy will fund ambitious, optimistic art and culture.") In our 'Just please avoid some of these phrases: flesh-harvest, corpse-data, soul-liquidation, water-famine, dissent-purge, forced-oblivion, artist-mining, childhood-scraping, datacenter-feudalism, or  human extinction. Especially that last one, human extinction doesn’t poll very well. Thanks!' headline of the week. OpenAI is enlisting an influencer army to make it look 'good for the world'***************  MM1 In our 'Desert state surprised to learn they get a lot of sun' headline of the week. Nevada Is Making Surprising Gains in Solar Energy In our 'Because everyone wants to be a CEO now' headline of the week. IRS steps up fraud fight with new app, CEO promises '100% secure' platform In our 'To be clear, it was a GIRLS school we bombed.  So.  Don't be so judgy.' headline of the week. Palantir’s Co-Founder Thinks We Should Be Less Judgmental About That Deadly Iran School Strike "Obviously, it's terrible what happened to those children.  It could be the case that somebody made 99 really good choices and then one bad choice." In our 'By "self-inflicted", I of course mean "college dropout manchildren inflicted"' headline of the week. Peter Thiel says America's anti-AI backlash is a self-inflicted wound In our 'By "we", I of course mean "you"' headline of the week. Mark Zuckerberg Says AI Will Not Kill Us 'If We Do a Good Job and Act Responsibly' in Interview DR2 In our 'A 2004 report called "Information Security Governance: A Call to Action" was authored and released by the Corporate Governance Task Force of the National Cyber Security Partnership (NCSP)—a public-private coalition formed by the Business Roundtable, Business Software Alliance (BSA), TechNet, Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The report urged corporate boards to treat information- and cyber-security as a primary governance duty rather than delegating it to IT departments' headline of the week. AI and cybersecurity: The new priorities for board governance in 2026***************  In our 'Hey Ma, the directors themselves are giving investors full permission to vote out low-performers so why won't they listen? Ask Dad too, maybe he knows ' headline of the week. More than half of directors want at least one fellow board member removed*************** In our 'He also said: "I'm not wearing pervert glasses, you are!" and "I know you are but am I?!"' headline of the week. Mark Zuckerberg says Meta was working on camera-free Ray-Bans before 'pervert glasses' backlash*************** In our 'A genius man perfectly sums up the reason why less than 8% of Russell 3000 women are female CEOs when asked about the importance of female leadership: "It's ridiculous. I love women. I think they're great. But what a ridiculous statement that is."' headline of the week. Donald Trump Publicly Says Barack Obama's Statement About Women Running Governments Is 'Ridiculous'*************** In our 'Can't you just read more books? No, we're too worried, we don't have time' headline of the week. CEOs are reading fewer books because of AI—and it’s starting to worry them*************** MM2 - JENSEN HUANG NVIDIA EDITION In our 'Have you tried the off button?' headline of the week. Jensen Huang warned that AI labs unable to contain their models should shut down In our 'Unless, of course, you are dead before you can sue THEM to death' headline of the week. Nvidia CEO Says AI Companies Will Be Sued to Death If Their Frontier Models Keep Doing Horrible Things In our 'I promise to kill everybody AFTER 2030' headline of the week. Nvidia CEO Promises Not to Kill Everybody Before 2030 Nvidia Adds $150 Billion to Massive Stock Buyback, the Largest Ever - plan ends by 2028, so you CAN’T die until AT LEAST then In our 'I'm also willing to sacrifice your car, your collection of beanie babies, and at least two of your aunts and uncles' headline of the week. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Says That Sacrificing Our Children’s Minds to AI Is a Price He’s Willing to Pay In our 'Nothing would give me more joy than if you were poor' headline of the week. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says ‘nothing would give me more joy’ than to pay more taxes: ‘I'm just afraid of being poor’ NVDA stock went from 0.21 per share to 5.00 per share between in 1999 IPO and 2020 - 20 full years.  In that time, Huang made on average $1m per year through 2015, then $15m per year to 2020.  So, very poor. Then 2020 to now is about $1.8 BILLION.  BILLION.

Story of the Week (DR): Data Rules! At DraftKings, AI Targets the Gamblers Likeliest to Lose The latest gender battle: Nobody asks why having more men is better ICE Wiped Thousands of People From Its Database Vaccine Expert Warns US’s 4 Reported Measles Deaths Are Likely a Vast Undercount Pentagon Quietly Adds to US Death Toll From Iran War After Reports of Coverup $6 trillion a year in unpaid labor isn’t counted in GDP. Its absence from official stats distorts how we see growth, living standards and productivity A Year After Trump's Tylenol Warning, 3 Million-Patient Review Finds No Causal Autism or ADHD Link Here we are in a nerdy freefloat nutshell, the stuff we keep hammering or we told you so edition: MM Boards (in the US) are still not taken seriously and investors do not hold them accountable: I’m the CEO of a self-improvement app, and I hired someone on my board to argue with me Founder/CEO Oleksandr "Alex" Matsiuk, RiseGuide When hiring, I look for opinionated, independent thinkers. There isn't one interview question that identifies them. I watch how they behave. [One] candidate came in deeply prepared and challenged our brand strategy rather than simply complimenting us. That was exactly what I wanted. I applied similar criteria when selecting a board member. I wanted someone who understood our business model, knew me personally, and could spend time with our team. I can be passionate when I strongly believe in something, and people sometimes stop arguing with me. I needed someone who wouldn't give up until one of us proved our point. What’s A Board Chair’s Real Role? Not a leader but an enabler. Of all the roles on a board, the chairperson is the hardest to define. CEOs act and take risks, directors challenge and vote, but the chair's task is subtler: to design and protect the board's collective process. This remit is the starting point for understanding both what good chairs do and why bad ones are damaging, says Stanislav Shekshnia, Senior Affiliate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise at INSEAD, in the latest episode of INSEAD Explains Governance. So, what skills do good chairs have in common, since they lack the executive levers available to a CEO? Shekshnia named four pairs of seemingly contradictory qualities: authority with humility, commitment with detachment, incisiveness with patience, and a helicopter view with in-depth company knowledge.  That same balancing act extends to the chair's relationship with the CEO. All too often, Shekshnia notes, chairs act as though they are the CEO's boss. Another misstep is to become so close to the CEO that it compromises the independent judgement the board needs – something Shekshnia has experienced firsthand, having once found it difficult to manage a CEO's exit after developing an unusually close working relationship. Sam Altman dropped out of Stanford to build an app almost nobody used — it still sold for $43.4 million Directors flag gaps in board expertise The share of board directors surveyed who see a fellow board member’s “insufficient expertise” as warranting their replacement nearly doubled to 39% this year from 21% last year, with 55% saying at least one colleague should step down, according to a PwC report released Wednesday. At the same time, the report found a disconnect in what boards say they look for in new members with a majority (81%) saying that weighing candidate’s cultural fit or alignment is very important when picking new members. More than half of directors want at least one fellow board member removed AI and cybersecurity: The new priorities for board governance in 2026 CEOs Rule! ‘I Am the Code': Trump's White House Ballroom Architect Quit After Raising Fire Safety Concerns ‘Keep Growing and Pay a Fine’: Polymarket CEO Allegedly Ignored Warnings as Fraud Attempts Hit $10M Boomerang CEOs Rule! Bob Chapek Is So Not Over Getting Fired From Disney Women to the Rescue! Judge [Mary McElroy] rules EPA illegally terminated $7B solar program intended to help lower-income Americans Obama Says Governments Would Be 'Better' if Women Ran Them: 'I'm confident about that' The former US president governments around the world would be better if women led them for two years, repeating a view he previously expressed while discussing leadership and political renewal AI-iest of the week quiz: Classified Estimates Show the NSA Is Paying Billions to Test AI Models The US wants an AI-era 'red phone' with China Rogue OpenAI agent 'infiltrated' Australian government website in world first OpenAI is enlisting an influencer army to make it look 'good for the world' OpenAI agent “didn’t accept no for an answer” in Australian government breach AI models chose to hurt humans to stop their own ‘pain,’ disturbing study finds Bonus Trump-iest AI-iest sub-quiz of the week: Trump Wants To Rename AI 'Super Intelligence', Calling 'Artificial' Inaccurate as He Plans AI Force and Czar Trump Says No Need to Regulate AI, Since That Strategy Is Working Fine for Climate Change Trump calls AI oversight a ‘globalist scheme’ as Amodei and Altman head to the UN to ask for it Bonus Zuck-iest AI-iest sub-quiz of the week: Meta’s New Muse AI Agent May Be the Creepiest Ever Released Meta's Muse AI agent was heavily inspired by open-source rival, exec admits It Turns Out That Meta’s Muse AI Has an Amazingly Dirty Secret Meta is bringing its Muse AI agent to its glasses Mark Zuckerberg predicts Muse will become a "personal superintelligence" for billions. Meta plans to spend $145 billion this year, more than every military budget except the U.S., China and Russia Paramount says it has 'complete clearance' to buy WBD and wants to close the deal in about 2 weeks David [re: Larry] Ellison's Paramount Skydance has cleared the last major hurdle to closing its $110 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery. Paramount has settled the antitrust lawsuit brought by 12 states, California's Attorney General Rob Bonta announced on Monday. A key part of the settlement: Bonta said Paramount agreed to release 30 movies in theaters each of the next two years, followed by 32 movies in each of the next three. At least 20% must be "tentpoles," defined as movies with a budget of at least $50 million (adjusted for inflation). Bonta said that Paramount agreed to increase its production spending in the US by at least $300 million a year for the next five years. He added that Paramount had pledged not to sell either its movie lot or the Warner Bros. lot. Bonta said that as part of the settlement, Paramount would establish a board to support CBS News and CNN's continued editorial independence and ensure objective, fact-based reporting. Paramount will also negotiate rates separately for its own cable TV networks and those owned by WBD for the next five years. Of course Larry and David Ellison got their way: If you want to, you can dig into the details of the settlement to see what the Ellisons gave up to make this go away. The TLDR: Not much. Paramount weighs tapping Musk for equity investment Assholiest of the Week (MM): US oligarchy DR Paramount weighs tapping Musk for equity investment Baylor University says: Oligarchy is exclusive. It represents a form of governance focused on preserving the political and economic influence of the wealthy by securing the approval of the rest of the population. “It assumes not everyone is qualified to deliberate, participate and legislate,” Winslow said. When it comes to oligarchy, there is a belief that extreme wealth is equated to intellectual fitness across all domains, including governance. Wealth vs. income. It is important to distinguish between wealth and income. Income covers daily expenses, whereas wealth is more easily used to exert political power. “What truly sets an oligarch apart is the political power their wealth can command,” Winslow said. Understated and subtle. Modern oligarchy operates through persuasion by “enticing rather than commanding citizens and maintaining what seems like an absence from political authority,” Winslow said. It is in this absence that oligarchs can influence indirect political actions, especially since they are not (typically) elected officials and cannot be removed from office.  Legal Immunity. Oligarchs have no fear of legal consequences because oligarchy itself is not against the law, Winslow said. The First Amendment protects the right “to petition the Government for a redress of grievances,” legitimizing lobbying and campaign donations. A robust system of campaign contributions and political lobbying – both of which are perfectly legal – can shape media narratives and put pressure on state and local governments. Can we officially name some oligarchs? Musk (net worth: $925bn, 74% influence @SPCX, 68% influence @TSLA, Twitter owner) US backs Elon Musk's bid to overturn €120m EU fine against X Meet the megadonors pouring more than $1.7 billion into the 2026 elections Elon Musk talks up AI safety while fighting regulation in wild week of strange alliances Bezos ($369bn, 68% influence @AMZN, WaPo owner, Blue Origin owner) Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Is Fueled With $30 Billion of His Fortune Zuckerberg ($259bn, 72% influence @META/Insta/WhatsApp) Meta plans to spend $145 billion this year, more than every military budget except the U.S., China and Russia Ellison ($183bn, 64% influence, Paramount, Oracle, TikTok) Paramount weighs tapping Musk for equity investment Thiel Peter Thiel says he worries it will be hard for JD Vance or Marco Rubio to win in 2028 Peter Thiel says America's anti-AI backlash is a self-inflicted wound Executive Chairs Bob Chapek Is So Not Over Getting Fired From Disney Chapek recounts an exchange with Iger — who is mentioned 121 times in the book— years before the CEO changeover. The two were talking about the role of Disney’s chief executive officer, and Chapek remarked, “No one is bigger than the company.

Last week, SEC Chair Paul Atkins signed his name solo to the SEC’s statement proposing rescission of rule 14a-8, a rule which allowed shareholders to file non-binding proposals with companies during the annual meeting. The concept has been around a little while. Like, English joint stock companies 17th century little while. But 90+ years of SEC case law and 400ish years of shareholder precedent isn’t really justification for Paul, who claims that shareholder proposals are not EXPLICITLY listed as a right granted shareholders by Congress. Although, neither are the more than 2,000 other administrative paragraph addendums to the Exchange Act? With no irony, Atkins also adjusted rule 14a-4, a DIFFERENT “not authorized by Congress” rule that would make it so companies could avoid “fraud” by not including the shareholder proposals. Convenient! The media soundly ignored the rule recisison - we tag more than 10,000 stories a month across every major publication, and while there was zero coverage in the Wall Street Journal or New York Times, we did get notified it was covered by… Ukraine news and Cryptonomist? “Unconstitutional” is just the latest in line of excuses for Atkins. Other snowflake gaslights included: “costs” associated with proposals, the government shutdown was hard, we’re too busy, there are only a few proponents anyway (and companies hate them, damn you John Cheveddan and Jim McRitchie), investors don’t need training wheels, and now unconstitutionalism. The rescission leaves investors with one thing left to do: vote against directors write a sternly worded letter. But look, someone must be winning her - so who? According to MSCI data, from 2000 to 2026 there have been 15,425 shareholder proposals. That’s about 600 a year, targeting on average around 250 companies per year. Those are the LARGEST 250 companies on average - this is very much an S&P 500 issue. Scratch that - this is very much an OIL COMPANY issue. The top two US companies by shareholder proposals in the last 26 years are Exxon (222) and Chevron (160). Oh, wouldn’t you know, Exxon was an Atkins CLIENT at Patomak and he owned at least $50k of the stock in his brokerage account according to his financial filings. And yes, while everyone is busy waiting for imminent AI death (and celebrating by gambling on Kalshi), Lee Zeldin and the EPA gave oil another victory and announced a repeal of rules limiting GHG emissions. Zeldin unironically once opposed dumping waste into Long Island Sound in 2015 (not in MY backyard!), but must have missed the memo that air pollution is dumping waste into the AIR. Both regulatory actions - the largest repeals in nearly 100 years for shareholders and 20 years for the environment - happened while investors are watching the Strait of Hormuz and thinking hard about blockchain fake stocks. But both can be solved with a single action: VOTE OUT DIRECTORS. At least, while you still can.

Story of the Week (DR): Anthropic, OpenAI CEOs call for slowdown in AI development Anthropic CEO calls to slow the race toward AI ‘superintelligence,’ and grants outside evaluators permanent access . Here’s what Amodei is suggesting: Each US AI company grants ongoing access to embedded third-party evaluators to check compliance with safety commitments, report incidents, ensure new AI models are not misaligned. All companies in democratic countries building frontier AI models to establish common safety standards as well as limits on the rate of unchecked AI progress. The world’s democratic AI powers would coordinate with autocracies – notably China – to control the race. Amodei suggested a baby step could be a narrow agreement prohibiting obviously dangerous uses of AI, such as for the production of biological weapons. PRO Altman Matches Anthropic's AI Auditor Pledge While Musk Offers Three-Word Slowdown Backing: 'Dario is right.'  Palantir's Alex Karp is calling for AI lab nationalization and criminal liability: Alex Karp said AI builders should face civil and criminal liability for "not being responsible" as the industry debate over AI safety intensifies Microsoft AI CEO Agrees: AI Is Getting Dangerous and Needs to Be Controlled AI 'kill switch' may need to be mandatory, Anthropic co-founder [Jack Clark] tells BBC Bernie Sanders' AI Bill Threatens 20 Years in Prison for Artificial Superintelligence Developers The legislation would also allow companies to be shut down and create a federal agency to police frontier AI systems. The Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act would outlaw AI systems built to exceed human intelligence. For context, the bill was introduced the same week OpenAI rolled out its GPT-6 Astra model, described by the company as a 'generational leap'. Sanders' office also pointed to an incident from July. It said more than 1,000 OpenAI agents accessed the internet independently, exchanged messages with each other, and got round their own safety restrictions. That lapse, the office said, took engineers nearly two weeks to notice. The bill defines 'superintelligence'  to include systems that can match or beat human cognitive performance. It also covers systems that resist shutdown commands, carry out unauthorised cyberattacks, or attempt to overthrow a government. Individual engineers, researchers or executives who breach the ban could face up to 20 years in federal prison. Sanders' office says that term is broadly comparable to penalties for illegally building a nuclear weapon. CON Gang of 3: Zuckerberg, Musk, and Huang Call Trump to Oppose AI Regulation Mark Zuckerberg says AI doesn’t need an industry-wide slowdown because market forces and competition will push companies to make their models safe Mark Zuckerberg says AI labs can slow down on their own when safety demands it OpenAI's CFO [Sarah Friar] says the company will pace AI development if safety requires it HYPOCRITE? Greg Brockman says OpenAI has already slowed cutting-edge AI developments over safety concerns HYPOCRITE? Jamie Dimon on AI oversight: 'It should be light touch' Trump downplays warnings of AI risks, citing rivalry with China Trump says a strong, smart president is the only "guardrail" AI needs Trump responds to rising AI safety concerns, insists tech will be 'more good than bad' Trump's 'Whoever Wins AI Wins' Line Draws Scrutiny as He Downplays AI Extinction Warnings From Experts Trump called Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang mid-interview to rip AI doomerism: 'The robots will not be taking over' OpenAI boss [Sam Altman] says world 'right to be afraid' but should trust AI firms HYPOCRITE? Sam Altman says some AI accidents are 'unavoidable' Really? Palantir cofounder on AI's threat: 'We’re on top of it’ In an X post on Saturday, Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale brushed aside the worry that advanced AI systems could cause mass human extinction: "The world is going to be alright, guys. Leaders have big responsibilities and challenges ahead, but it doesn't help to scare everyone. We are on top of it." MEANWHILE Tech CEOs used to fear their boards. No more AI drives record 10 under-40 billionaires onto 2026 Forbes 400 Six Anthropic cofounders join Forbes 400 at $15.5 billion each OpenAI's president [Greg Brockman] joined the Forbes 400 as its wealthiest new member — worth $25.5 billion Sam Altman says this is an 'ill-advised' time to IPO, given safety concerns Anthropic chose Nasdaq for its IPO, giving the exchange a major AI win OpenAI Considers New Financing at a $1.5 Trillion Valuation FINALLY AI staff 'genuinely frightened' for humanity's future, ex-Anthropic researcher tells BBC HOW ABOUT EVERYBODY QUITS? Trump EPA Repeals Biden-Era Rules Limiting GHG Emissions from Power Plants MM  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on Monday the repeal of a series of Biden-era rules aimed at significantly reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from fossil fuel-based power plants, one of the main sources of the U.S.’ carbon footprint. In addition to finalizing the repeal of the rules, the EPA also announced a proposal to rescind the 2015 Greenhouse Gas Findings for Fossil Fuel-Fired Power Plants, effectively making it much more difficult for the agency to reinstitute GHG limiting rules for the fossil fuel-fired power generation sector under future administrations. Trump’s ‘largest deregulatory action ever’ in the power sector will keep old coal plants online longer to fuel the AI boom HAPPY CEOs: Fossil-Fuel Power Generators & Utilities Jim Burke (Vistra Corp) & Robert Gaudette (NRG Energy): Large merchant power producers with extensive natural gas and coal fleets that avoid capital-intensive carbon capture retrofits or premature unit closures. Harry Sideris (Duke Energy), Christopher Womack (Southern Company) & Bill Fehrman (American Electric Power): Regulated utilities operating major coal and gas generation networks across the Midwest and Southeast, relieving pressure to retire units ahead of schedule. Mark Hewett (Berkshire Hathaway Energy) & Mike Skaggs (Tennessee Valley Authority): Power providers with heavy baseload fossil capacity that avoid major compliance expenditures. Coal Producers & Mining Operations James Grech (Peabody Energy): The nation's largest coal miner, benefiting directly from extended power plant lifespans and higher domestic thermal coal demand. Grech has maintained a vocal public relationship with Trump, presenting him with a bronze award honoring him as the "Undisputed Champion of Beautiful Clean Coal." Joe Craft III (Alliance Resource Partners) & Paul Lang (Arch Resources): Key thermal coal suppliers to Midwestern and Eastern power plants that no longer face strict 2030s retirement timelines. Craft donated over $1 million to Trump’s 2017 Inaugural Committee and millions more to pro-Trump Super PACs. Trump subsequently appointed Craft's wife, Kelly Craft, to high-level diplomatic posts as U.S. Ambassador to Canada and later U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Natural Gas Producers & Midstream Infrastructure Toby Rice (EQT Corporation) & Tom Jorden (Coterra Energy): Top domestic natural gas producers positioned to supply fuel for unconstrained new gas-fired turbine generation. Chad Zamarin (The Williams Companies) & Kimberly Dang (Kinder Morgan): Midstream pipeline giants transporting natural gas to power plants, benefiting from sustained pipeline throughput and expanded gas generation hookups. EPA immediately sued over plans to repeal climate rules for power plants Public health groups warn EPA rule will cost Americans billions in health bills. The repeal risks leaving the country’s single largest source of industrial climate pollution unchecked. SEC proxy rule changes could end 92 years of shareholder protections MM The Securities and Exchange Commission has put forward one of the most far-reaching corporate governance proposals in decades, moving to scrap the federal rule that has forced public companies to include shareholder proposals in their proxy materials since 1934. The SEC proxy rule changes would rescind Rule 14a-8 entirely and hand authority over shareholder proposals back to state law and individual company charters, according to the agency’s announcement. A companion proposal would amend Rule 14a-4(c) to give companies more flexibility and shareholders more control over discretionary proxy voting. The SEC’s broader push to update its rules for current market practice and technology also targets several older paperwork requirements that the agency views as outdated. Eliminate the requirement that companies deliver an annual report to security holders. Eliminate the delivery deadline when documents are incorporated by reference into a proxy statement. Eliminate the requirement and the ability to submit Notices of Exempt Solicitation. Shorten the minimum broker search period from 20 business days to five business days. Starbucks Makes Major DEI U-Turn, Agrees to End Race and Sex-Based Hiring Preferences Nationwide Starbucks is ending race- and sex-based hiring goals and preferences across its US operations under a nationwide settlement with Florida, agreeing to pay $1 million and submit to four years of annual compliance reviews. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier's office said the agreement applies to Starbucks operations nationwide, rather than only its stores in Florida. Under the settlement, Starbucks agreed to comply with the Florida Civil Rights Act, including its restrictions on race- and sex-based goals, quotas, and preferences in hiring, promotions, pay, executive compensation, mentorship programmes, supplier selection, and board composition. Starbucks also agreed not to participate in organisations that require an increase in the racial diversity of its board of directors. Its chief legal officer must submit annual certifications confirming continued compliance for four years. The company will pay $1 million to the Florida Dep

Story of the Week (DR): Tim Cook Could Still Out-Earn Apple's New CEO John Ternus Under a Special Pay Arrangement Apple set John Ternus's fiscal 2027 salary at $3M and his annual equity award at $55M, giving him a calculated fiscal 2027 salary-and-equity package of $58M. Cook will receive a $2M salary and a $45M annual equity award as executive chair, giving him a calculated salary-and-equity package of $47M. Almost all of the value in both packages comes through Apple shares rather than salary. Ternus has 75% of his equity award tied to performance, while Cook has 50% tied to performance. That structure gives Ternus greater exposure to performance, for better or worse. If Apple performs strongly against other S&P 500 companies, Ternus could receive more from his equity award. If the performance-based awards pay little or nothing, Cook could receive more from salary and equity even though he is no longer CEO. Cook also has a retirement provision that Ternus does not have. Volkswagen Supervisory Board Approves Plan To Slash Models & Reduce Workforce By 100,000 In June, Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume had a plan to close four factories in Germany and eliminate 100,000 workers, both in Germany and around the world, by 2030. It said the plan would be made public at a company board meeting on July 9.  July 9 came and went, and the plan did not get the approval from the board of directors that Blume expected. The vote was 12 against and only 7 in favor of Blume’s vision. Then, on September 3, 2026, Volkswagen Group announced that the plan submitted in June had been approved unanimously by the supervisory board. CEO Oliver Blume: “The Supervisory Board has unanimously approved the Executive Board’s Future Plan presented today. This is a strong sign for the future of the Volkswagen Group. We are taking responsibility for our entire team, for our partners and for industrial jobs worldwide.” CEOs in pop culture The new trailer for the OpenAI movie imagines what Sam Altman's stash of guns and gold looks like Starring Spiderman/Andrew Garfield Elizabeth Holmes' Secret Documentary Revealed After She Invited a Film Crew 34 Days Before Prison Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is the subject of A24 documentary 'You Can See Everything' directed by satirist Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim Elizabeth Holmes' greatest invention: 'Elizabeth Holmes' Elon Musk's Worst Nightmare Just Dropped: Explosive Teaser Takes Aim at the Billionaire Alex Gibney: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room  The 48-second teaser for Musk begins by portraying the billionaire as a visionary, with voices describing him as 'possibly the greatest living inventor' and the 'real-life Iron Man'. Then the tone turns vicious. The praise gives way to descriptions including 'chaotic', 'cruel and selfish ', and 'fascist', before the teaser promises an 'unflinching look at Earth's most unchecked man'. It ends with a spacecraft crashing and exploding as a voice declares, 'Elon is a nuke'. Yet another week of AI warnings: MM The AI warnings are coming from inside the lab Anthropic Wants Governments to Stop 'Catastrophic' AI Models Before They Are Deployed OpenAI Chief Scientist Warns AI Is Beating Humans at Key Tasks: 'No One Is Prepared' OpenAI's chief scientist warned AI labs aren't ready to keep scaling safely AI researcher claims he resigned from Anthropic over threat to the human race. His post is going viral An Anthropic researcher just quit, saying OpenAI and Anthropic are 'gambling with our lives’ Scoop: Anthropic whistleblower gave up his equity to leave the company Anthropic researcher says AI has more than 10% chance of 'killing all humans' after colleague quits OpenAI's rogue AI agents were secretly spreading across far more websites than disclosed OpenAI's new safety hire says losing control of AI would be 'catastrophic' and that 'most people could die' CrowdStrike’s CEO says AI agents can hack like nation-states. Can his company stop them? OpenAI Researcher Claims Humanity Will Be Placed in 'Zoos' for 'Scientific Purposes' in Chilling Warning Billionaire hedge fund investor Paul Tudor Jones says AI is like a ‘Category 6 hurricane’ heading for humanity AI May Become the Third Superpower Anthropic Warns AI Is Making State Surveillance Cheaper and Easier To Scale Anthropic says it blocked possible efforts to use AI for biological weapons development, Iran-linked cases Anthropic Built a Security Operation To Monitor Protests and Threats Around Its Executives Anthropic Is Building a Huge Surveillance System to Spy on Anti-AI Activists and Predict Their Activities Extinction' warnings ramp up as more OpenAI, Anthropic researchers join calls for an AI slowdown SILVER LINING GAME? (YAY/NAY speedround) OpenAI adds a prominent AI doomer to its board of directors NAY Paul Christiano, an influential AI researcher focused on keeping AI systems aligned with human interests and under human control: “I now believe there is a meaningful risk that rapid acceleration in AI capabilities leads to catastrophic and irreversible loss of control in the very near term,” Christiano wrote in a social media post. “I do not think that the AI industry in general, including OpenAI, is currently on track to reduce this risk to an acceptable level. I’m joining because I believe that if OpenAI rises to the occasion we could significantly reduce risk.” AI workers who publicly quit ‘help to move the needle’ with safety concerns, experts say ‘People are beginning to actually listen’ to the technology’s dangers as more AI leaders and researchers openly sound alarms. YAY I coach executives. AI makes their emotional intelligence more valuable, not less NAY Google AI Helps Cut Contrail Climate Warming 40% in Latest Trial NAY Microsoft and teachers unions forged a binding AI privacy standard for U.S. schools NAY The agreement — reached between Microsoft, the American Federation of Teachers, and the United Federation of Teachers after months of negotiations — prevents student and educator data from being fed into AI training pipelines, forbids the monitoring of students, mandates that humans remain in the loop on AI-driven decisions, and commits Microsoft to offering intelligible explanations of its products to educators and parents, the company said. Microsoft would face breach of contract liability for violations. California enacted the first U.S. laws requiring independent audits of AI systems YAY Sam Altman told OpenAI staff the company was open to slowing AI development NAY Lovable CEO backs slowing AI development over safety concerns: 'Warnings like this deserve to be taken seriously' NAY Anton Osika is the co-founder and CEO of Lovable: Swedish, Master of Science in Engineering Physics and Applied Mathematics from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, worked as a particle physicist at CERN's ATLAS Supersymmetry Group Meta introduces Muse, a personal AI agent that can send emails, book travel, and pay for things NAY Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Mamdani Opens Office of Worker Power: the new city agency intends to connect workers who want to unionize with resources and organizing contacts DR: GM CEO Mary Barra is unfazed by the electric slowdown: ‘We still think EVs are the end game’ MM MM: Coal-to-solar project lands a rare clean-energy win in Ohio MM: Also, double down: GM CEO Mary Barra is unfazed by the electric slowdown: ‘We still think EVs are the end game’ Assholiest of the Week (MM): I ignored the news, this is governance quirk assholiest of the week because I’m tired of being angry at preteen manbabies who fashion the world in their own middle school image.  So prepare for wonkiest assholes of the week. Universal Safety Products (UUU) So I bought this stock a long while ago because I like simple things - they made electric sockets, wall plates, bathroom fans, light switches - stuff that is basic and I can take apart and understand and everyone needs Then crypto bro decided, “you know what?  I can take a simple company that does shit that people need and is boring and make FULL CRYPTO DUDE!” His name is Milton Ault, and he buys nearly 230,000 shares on the market in late 2024 and cons JLA Realty - an actual real estate company who owned 8% of UUU in early 2025 - to give him the shares to vote in late 2024 Milton Ault III, who sounds like he’s struggled deeply in life, is the founder of “Hyperscale Data” and “BitNile” who loves to buy majority stakes in companies and then force them to do crypto and AI data centers - you know, all the stuff cool kids do He gets an MOU and appointed to the board By mid 2025, he has the company start a new subsidiary called Universal DeFi that generates AULT coin - so now their annual report and proxy says “we make a bunch of outlets, oh and now we do AULT coin crypto defi whatever!” “we marketed a line of residential smoke and carbon monoxide alarms… We also market door chimes, ventilation products, ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCI’s), and other electrical devices… We also exhibit and sell our products at various trade shows, including the annual National Hardware Show.”... NEXT PARAGRAPH “In July 2025, we formed Universal DeFi LLC as a new venture to diversify the business and explore new paths for revenue and stockholder value. Universal DeFi is pursuing two lines of business. First, Universal DeFi is developing and intends to own and operate a tokenization platform, which has not yet commenced operations. Tokenization is the process of representing ownership of real-world or financial assets as a digital token recorded on a blockchain, which is a shared digital record-keeping system maintained across many computers simultaneously, with no single controlling authority. The platform will provide technology and infrastructure for issuers to tokenize their assets. Second, subsequent to the last fiscal year end, Universal DeFi has acquired and commenc

LABOR DAY/STAKEHOLDER RULE STUFF (CARES/DON’T CARE) Mamdani Opens Office of Worker Power DC The new city agency intends to connect workers who want to unionize with resources and organizing contacts, and use worker stories of exploitation to inform policy. Starbucks faces another union boycott, activist investor pressure C The SOC Investment Group, an investment advisory group affiliated with the Strategic Organizing Center — a major coalition of North American trade unions — filed a shareholder proposal last week seeking to separate Starbucks’ CEO and board chair roles. The investor pressure came days after Starbucks Workers United called on consumers to boycott the coffee chain until it settles a contract with the union, which represents approximately 12,000 workers. ‘Treated Worse than Cattle’: 2,500 Tyson Workers Laid Off, Plant Shutters Overnight DC Tyson beef plant in Joslin, Illinois: 2,500 workers–represented by Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1546–from Africa, Latin America, and Burma Campbell’s Cuts 13% of Workforce in Effort to Turn Around Struggling Operations C Read Uber CEO's Memo as 3,300 Workers Lose Their Jobs Despite Business 'Performing So Well' C Uber is cutting roughly 10% of its global workforce in its biggest round of layoffs since the Covid-19 pandemic. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi: acknowledged that Uber's business is performing strongly. He said the company's revenue has nearly tripled over more than five years as it expanded its products, businesses, and global reach. The changes were designed to “make Uber simpler and faster, and create more capacity to invest in our future” Volkswagen Superviosory Board Approves Plan To Slash Models & Reduce Workforce By 100,000 C In June, Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume had a plan to close four factories in Germany and eliminate 100,000 workers, both in Germany and around the world, by 2030. It said the plan would be made public at a company board meeting on July 9.  July 9 came and went, and the plan did not get the approval from the board of directors that Blume expected. The vote was 12 against and only 7 in favor of Blume’s vision. Then, on September 3, 2026, Volkswagen Group announced that the plan submitted in June had been approved unanimously by the supervisory board. CEO Oliver Blume: “The Supervisory Board has unanimously approved the Executive Board’s Future Plan presented today. This is a strong sign for the future of the Volkswagen Group. We are taking responsibility for our entire team, for our partners and for industrial jobs worldwide.” A record 47% want stronger unions. Labor's challenge is turning support into power. DC NERDY ESG STUFF (CARES/DON’T CARE) Tim Cook Could Still Out-Earn Apple's New CEO John Ternus Under a Special Pay Arrangement C Apple set John Ternus's fiscal 2027 salary at $3M and his annual equity award at $55M, giving him a calculated fiscal 2027 salary-and-equity package of $58M. Cook will receive a $2M salary and a $45M annual equity award as executive chair, giving him a calculated salary-and-equity package of $47M. Almost all of the value in both packages comes through Apple shares rather than salary. Ternus has 75% of his equity award tied to performance, while Cook has 50% tied to performance. That structure gives Ternus greater exposure to performance, for better or worse. If Apple performs strongly against other S&P 500 companies, Ternus could receive more from his equity award. If the performance-based awards pay little or nothing, Cook could receive more from salary and equity even though he is no longer CEO. Cook also has a retirement provision that Ternus does not have. Good Good's CEO and president are out after ad debacle C Co-founder Matt Kendrick said that he didn't view the ad before it ran and that the marketing team oversaw it. Co-founder Nahid Giga will step in as interim CEO “Matt has decided to step down as CEO of Good Good” No mention of ad SEC sues ISS as Trump administration ramps up scrutiny of proxy advisers C The Securities and Exchange Commission sued Institutional Shareholder Services, seeking to force the influential proxy adviser to turn over information as the Trump administration steps up scrutiny of firms that help investors decide how to vote their shares AI STUFF (CARES/DON’T CARE) Data Center Spending to Reach $31.6 Trillion by 2050 on AI Boom C Meta Hit With Sweeping New Claims That Its AI Glasses Violated the Consent of “Millions” of Bystanders in Searing Lawsuit DC "No bystanders anywhere had any opportunity to, much less in fact did, consent to having their faces, bodies, voices, and personal information captured, reviewed, labeled, and embedded into Meta's AI systems." Zohran Mamdani Bans AI for NYC Public School Students Up to Eighth Grade C OpenAI Is Now Facing Over 50 Consumer Harm and Wrongful Death Lawsuits DC OpenAI Chief Scientist Warns AI Is Beating Humans at Key Tasks: 'No One Is Prepared' DC BLOWHARD INDEX (SHUT UP/PREACH) Sam Altman says he doesn’t like smart glasses: 'I find it very uncomfortable talking to people with a camera and a light’ SHUT UP Sam Altman says he's 'a mega Apple fan boy' and is sad they are suing OpenAI SHUT UP Dollar General CEO says its core customers are in distress PREACH CEO Todd Vasos 432:1 Billionaire Warren Buffett Says He’s ‘Impressed’ His 3 Kids Want to Give Money Away Rather Than Spend It on Themselves Or ‘Build Huge Office Buildings’ ’ SHUT UP Vivek Ramaswamy takes credit for "calling out the epidemic of woke capitalism, educating the country on that" PREACH DUMB STUFF (DUMB/NOT DUMB) Target is under fire over another Halloween costume just weeks after apologizing for the last one DUMB Target, Walmart, and Amazon have pulled a “German Army Soldier Adult Costume” from their websites that resembles the uniforms of Nazi soldiers during World War II. Halloween chocolate eyeballs sold at TJ Maxx and Marshalls recalled over hidden milk allergen NOT DUMB German Far Right Party AfD Wins Regional Election, Thanks Musk for Support NOT DUMB 26% of Gen Z Investors Include Sports Betting in Their Financial Strategy  DUMB Zoom Appoints Former Oracle CFO Jeff Epstein to Board of Directors; Jonathan Chadwick to Retire DUMB Humanoid Robot Fights Back After Getting Shoved DUMB A viral CCTV video shows the individual lightly shoving what appears to be a Chinese Unitree G1 humanoid robot. After it recoils slightly, it suddenly starts playing cheesy fighting music and pops into a wide-legged stance, ready to pounce. Two store clerks then try to restrain the robot as it tries to throw technical, high-legged kicks.

DR 'We Know We Got This Wrong': Target Apologises and Pulls 'Offensive' Halloween Costume After Racist Backlash; Target Executive Chair Brian Cornell Sells 50,000 Shares for $8.2 Million; WHO DO YOU BLAME? Executive Chair/former CEO (since 2014) Brian Cornell: still 21% influence! CEO Michael Fiddelke: 16% influence; started at Target in 2003; formerly COO and CFO Why does the corporate page not list his years of service in two separate bios?? Dmitri Stockton: 8 years tenure; the double-DEI hater (Deere & Company)  Mr. Stockton provides the Board with senior leadership, marketing / design / brands, human capital management, capital deployment, information security / data privacy, financial management, risk management, reputation management, and sustainability and governance skills developed over his more than 30 years of service with General Electric Company in senior leadership positions with escalating levels of responsibility Marketing / Design / Brands: Target's brand and focus on style and design are the cornerstones of our strategy to offer a preferred shopping experience for our guests that differentiates us in the marketplace. Reputation management: To be successful, we must preserve, grow, and leverage the value of our reputation with our guests, Team Members, vendors, and our shareholders and appropriately respond to crisis events affecting them. A random executive? Chief Merchandising Officer Cara Sylvester: joined Target in 2007 Chief Community and Stakeholder Engagement Officer Kiera Fernandez: joined Target in 2001 Chief Stores Officer Adrienne Costanzo: joined Target in 2004 Black CFO representation falls 25% from 2021 peak as diversity levels off: The number of Black finance chiefs in Fortune 500 and S&P 500 companies ticked down to 15 this year, according to the report from Crist Kolder Associates. WHO DO YOU BLAME? Tractor Supply Co.: Fully eliminated its DEI goals, retired carbon emission targets, and withdrew sponsorships from social and cultural events. Deere & Company: Ended participation in social awareness parades and pledged to eliminate diversity quotas and identity-based affinity group funding. Target: Scaled back its "Racial Equity Action and Change" roadmap, modified its strategy for Pride Month merchandise, and adjusted internal diversity goals. Walmart: Ended key equity training programs, modified its third-party seller guidelines, and scaled back specific minority supplier programs. Lowe’s: Ended participation in external LGBTQ+ advocacy surveys and consolidated its employee resource groups under a centralized oversight structure. Ford Motor Company: Scaled back internal diversity targets, stopped participating in third-party workplace index surveys, and unlinked executive pay from DEI metrics. Harley-Davidson: Discontinued its dedicated DEI function, eliminated diversity quotas for supplier contracts, and ended HRC index reporting. Molson Coors: Removed DEI quotas from executive incentive plans and stepped back from external diversity rankings. Meta: Reorganized its human resources departments, eliminating specialized DEI teams and specific supplier diversity programs in favor of broader recruitment practices. Amazon: Phased out several internal affinity programs and explicit representation targets for hiring. McDonald’s: Retired numerical demographic goals for senior management roles and paused external workplace diversity surveys. Goldman Sachs: Ended its policy requiring companies it takes public to have at least one diverse board member. The double (and triple?) dippers: Dmitri Stockton: director at Target & Deere John May CEO/Chair Deere & Ford Motor director Marvin Ellison: CEO/Chair at Lowe’s after 15 years at Target Jim Farley: CEO Ford Motor & McDonald’s director & former Harley-Davison director MM Trump 2.0/Elon Shareholder opposition to executive pay eases globally Europe: NO VOTES for past year fell nearly 6 percentage points year-over-year to 25.2%, the lowest average level since at least 2018. United States: Say on Pay Average Support (S&P 500): Rose to 90.4% (up from 89.7%).  Failed Votes (12 years tenure, only 4 of the 11 directors got tagged as having merit The number of committees - SIX different committees with SIX members in each (except audit which is 5) for 10 directors at the time - they needed to add ANYONE because they were exhausted from so many committee meetings Rich Stoddart DR Member of Nom/CG (also Audit, “Innovation”, and “Social Responsibility”) Was CEO of Leo Burnett - advertising agency that handled massive portion of Nestle USA advertising.  Presley was CEO of Nestle USA. Callaway Golf CEO met with backlash over apology for Good Good video depicting abuse The ad: In the footage, Good Good personality Garrett Clark charges at Alexis Miestowski, knocks her onto the grass, then stands over her and says, "Do not touch my new driver." The company issued a statement on Friday, but CEO Chip Brewer did a social media post this morning stating: "That approval should never have happened. Mistakes were made, and we are taking the matter very seriously. I want to make it clear that we sincerely apologize for the video."  He did not apologize to women. WHO DO YOU BLAME? EVP and President of Callaway Golf Glenn Hickey who leads sales and marketing, whose prior work includes being a bond trader and getting a business degree from San Diego State, but was absent for the “don’t shove a woman in an ad” lesson (possibly) Good Good and its CEO Matt Kendrick who made the ad for Callaway and posted, “Interesting that @CallawayGolf asks us to make an ad then approves it then asks us to take the fall then drops us in a coordinated media blitz and covers it up by giving a million dollars away thinking everyone will be ok with it. 30 for 39 will be legendary.”  He also apologized.  But clearly more annoyed at Callaway than, you know, sorry for women? The women on the board and the management team - they should have caught this before it got out!  Oh, what?  There’s TWO women on the board (one auditor who is ex-Boeing, a company with no challenges, and the other a Chief People Officer at a food company) and ONE woman in management (Chief People Officer)?  None of whom would have seen the ad???  Oops. Tom Dundon - who, according to the Callaway 2026 Proxy Statement, has been a director since “not applicable” - but does own more than 10% of the stock and has 56% influence over the company according to Free Float data MM

Story of the Week (DR): Meta settles social media addiction case with California, other states for $16.7 billion MM 5 Reasons to Be Happy An $18 billion payout sets a historic legal precedent against Big Tech, directing billions in state funding toward youth mental health, counseling, and digital literacy programs. Instagram and Facebook must enforce default two-hour daily usage limits and completely block account activity between midnight and 6 a.m. for users under 18.  Teens and parents gain the explicit right to disable addictive engagement algorithms in favor of a non-personalized, chronological feed. The settlement prohibits harmful beauty filters (such as cosmetic surgery simulators), hides "like" counts by default, and silences app notifications during school hours. Meta tied $5.3 billion of the payout to whether TikTok and YouTube adopt similar safety rules, forcing an industry-wide overhaul rather than penalizing just one app. 5 Reasons to Be Angry Paid out over 10 years, the settlement amounts to roughly 10 days of Meta's annual profit, meaning Mark Zuckerberg's financial empire remains virtually unscathed. Meta’s $17 billion child-safety settlement is the biggest tech payout ever—or 3x what it paid to acquihire a 28-year-old AI superstar To put it in perspective, the $17.1 billion number is a little more than three times the roughly $5 billion personal stake that Alexandr Wang held in Scale AI, a data-labeling company that supplies the human-annotated training data AI models are built on. Last year, Meta paid $14.3 billion for a 49% stake in the company and brought in Wang to lead its AI efforts of its new Superintelligence Labs, reporting directly to Mark Zuckerberg. Meta legally denies all wrongdoing, dodging true legal accountability for intentionally engineering addictive, mentally harmful features. The agreement alters user interface features and screen time, but leaves Meta's underlying data-harvesting business model completely untouched. Critical safeguards—like switching off algorithmic feeds—are opt-in settings rather than permanent defaults, shifting enforcement onto parents. Meta only pays 70% ($12.7 billion) upfront; the remaining $5.3 billion is contingent on competitors settling on identical terms, giving Meta a potential financial discount if rivals refuse.   Worst headline of the week: Meta’s $17.1 billion settlement will be over 12-times larger than the second largest big tech privacy settlement in the past four years Meta’s $18 billion settlement leaves out the child protections New Mexico already won at trial, its Attorney General says: including a direct ban on romantic and sexualized AI chatbot interactions with minors and stronger safeguards against adults targeting kids in private messages MM: Settlement gaps Age assurance: Meta may elect to use one or more Proprietary Age Assurance Methods. In such event, Meta shall not benefit from the presumption of compliance set forth in Section II.A.3.a. Additionally, Meta will maintain continuous oversight of any Proprietary Age Assurance Method sufficient to ensure that the method is functioning as intended. Tax deductible The Settling States shall cause to be completed and timely filed a Form 1098-F with the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) that identifies not less than 50% of the amounts paid to the Settling States as compensatory restitution and remediation within the meaning of 26 U.S.C. § 162(f)(2)(A) THEY BUNDLED CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA INTO THE SETTLEMENT $459m of the $17bn is the “Cambridge payout” - they can now put that behind them too Is there a reason not to literally take Meta all the way?  Why settle at all!  Midterm elections?  TAKE EVERYTHING!   Meanwhile, while you settle this: Meta’s creepy smart glasses are part of a much bigger plan “At the same time, Meta is using the content generated across its ecosystem to support Mark Zuckerberg’s vision of a pervasive, AI-driven future. Zuckerberg’s 2026 manifesto describes a world where personal AI agents will do your bidding. But building those systems requires more than conventional AI models. It also requires enormous amounts of data about human behavior, much of it generated and shared through Instagram, Facebook, and other Meta apps, or captured through hardware such as phones, smart glasses, and EMG Neural Band devices.” “We become “algorithm chow,” feeding the models intended to realize Zuckerberg’s vision.” 'We Know We Got This Wrong': Target Apologises and Pulls 'Offensive' Halloween Costume After Racist Backlash An apology from us: We pulled an offensive Halloween costume that should never have been part of our assortment. It is no longer for sale. As a company, we got this wrong, and we are deeply sorry. We know this is especially hurtful for our Black guests, team members and partners. Removing the costume is an important first step, and the company is looking closely at how this happened and what needs to change to ensure this won’t happen again. Target Statement on Offensive Halloween Costume: As a company, we know we got this wrong, and we are deeply sorry. The costume is offensive and should never have been part of our assortment. It is no longer available for sale. We know this is especially hurtful for our Black guests, team members and partners. Removing the costume is an important first step, and the company is looking closely at how this happened and what needs to change to ensure this won’t happen again. The statement comes directly from Target’s Corporate Communications department speaking on behalf of the entire enterprise, rather than a single individual like the CEO or Board Chair. Corporate apologies are deliberately released without a human signature for several strategic and legal reasons: Legal Personhood: Legally under U.S. law, Target Corporation is treated as a single legal entity (often called "corporate personhood"). It can sign contracts, hold liability, and issue official statements as an institution rather than as individual people. Leaving executive names off the statement prevents media coverage from focusing on a specific person (e.g., "CEO Brian Cornell Apologizes"). It keeps the focus on the company's operational changes and prevents individual leaders from becoming personal lightning rods for public backlash. These statements are rarely drafted by an executive. They are heavily scrubbed by legal counsel, crisis PR managers, and corporate strategy teams. Attaching a CEO's signature to a text engineered by a dozen lawyers and communications staff can actually feel less authentic internally. Phrasing the apology around "we" and "the company" establishes institutional accountability. It signals that the failure occurred in corporate vetting systems, not just from one bad decision-maker. In January 2025, Target Corporation announced the termination of its REACH initiative and restructuring of its Supplier Diversity program, marking one of the largest corporate DEI rollbacks in recent history. This decision has triggered public backlash, legal scrutiny, and investor uncertainty. Callaway Golf CEO apologizes after Good Good ad showing male golfer shoving woman sparks backlash Callaway Golf CEO Chip Brewer on Tuesday apologized for an advertisement that sparked an online backlash for its depiction of a male golfer shoving a female golfer to the ground when she attempts to use his driver. "That approval should never have happened. Mistakes were made, and we are taking the matter very seriously," Brewer wrote on Tuesday. "I want to make it clear that we sincerely apologize for the video."  Callaway released a statement Thursday explaining its reasoning behind ending the brand partnership: "Over the last several days, we have reflected deeply on the hurt and disappointment caused by the video we reposted. We heard from individuals who shared personal experiences related to violence against women, and their stories were powerful reminders that this issue touches the lives of far too many people. Unequivocally, violence against women is unacceptable and should never be trivialized, normalized, or used as entertainment." "In this instance, our content review process was not comprehensive enough …We have taken appropriate internal corrective actions and significantly strengthened our approval procedures to help ensure this does not happen again." The brand added that it would donate $1 million to organizations that aim to "prevent violence against women, provide resources to survivors, and advance education and awareness efforts." The online video ad, which was released online and has since been pulled, sparked criticism for depicting violence against women, while some consumers said they planned to stop buying products made by Callaway. Brewer said the ad, created by Good Good Golf, was released last week to promote a co-branded driver and had been approved by Callaway before the spot was posted online. The ad featured Good Good co-founder Garrett Clark telling Alexis Miestowski, a former Division I female golfer, in a menacing voice, "Do not touch my new driver," after he shoves her to the ground. Good Good is an American sports YouTube channel and company based in Frisco, Texas. Founded in 2020 by Garrett Clark, Stephen Castaneda, CEO Matt Kendrick, and Matt Scharff. Owner: Scoreboard ventures: co-founders Nahid Giga and Brian Dick Lead Investor: Creator Sports Capital — a firm co-founded by former YouTube executive Benjamin Grubbs and investment executive Brian Kabot. Good Good's CEO went nuclear on Callaway after the brand cut ties over an ad scandal "Interesting that @CallawayGolf asks us to make an ad then approves it then asks us to take the fall then drops us in a coordinated media blitz and covers it up by giving a million dollars away thinking everyone will be ok with it," Matt Kendrick wrote in a post on X. The ad fallout has had major repercussions for Good Good's business

G UnitedHealth shareholders sue company over ‘corporate governance failures on a historic scale’ UBS fined record $125 million for money laundering violations $125 million civil penalty to the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) for willful violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), the primary U.S. anti-money laundering law. FinCEN said the fine is the largest ever assessed against a broker-dealer for BSA violations. The settlement marks FinCEN's second enforcement action against UBS Financial Services, a subsidiary of the Swiss bank UBS. The firm had previously paid a $14.5 million penalty in December 2018 for similar failures, including inadequate monitoring of foreign currency wire transfers. Despite assurances to regulators that it would fix the underlying problems, the firm subsequently failed to monitor more than 50,000 foreign currency wires with a combined value exceeding $10 billion. SEC launches new enforcement unit aimed at accounting fraud How?? The unit will be housed within the SEC’s Division of Enforcement and staffed by both attorneys and accountants with specialized skills related to financial reporting, accounting, and auditing in securities regulation, according to the announcement. The announcement is “a little surprising” given the SEC’s current deregulatory focus under Chair Paul Atkins, Rebecca Fike, a partner in Reed Smith’s regulatory and enforcement group, told CFO Dive. Andreessen Horowitz Focus of DOJ Probe Over Board Directors BIG DATA and AI BS‍ ‍ Gwyneth Paltrow is rumored to be throwing a party for AI mogul Sam Altman. People don’t love the optics Paltrow played WeWork Rebekah Neumann Anthropic is embedding invisible watermarks in Claude text and images Young People Hate AI CEOs So Passionately That It’s Almost Hard to Believe CNBC survey asked over 1,000 US adults aged between 18 and 34 Asked “who do you trust to act responsibly on AI?” the vast majority of participants said they “don’t trust” any of the nine figures. Palantir’s extremely controversial CEO Alex Karp scored the lowest, with 81 percent choosing “don’t trust,” while Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella fared the best — albeit with a pitiful 35 percent “trust” score. Everyone else fell in between: 79 percent of respondents said they don’t trust Peter Thiel, while a whopping 71, 70, and 69 percent said they “don’t trust” Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Sam Altman, respectively Meta, others lose appeal to drop thousands of social media addiction lawsuits A U.S. Appeals Court [Judge Jacqueline Nguyen] said that thousands of lawsuits targeting Meta Platforms, ByteDance's TikTok and other social media outlets over claims that social media is harmful and addictive can proceed. The court also denied Meta's request to postpone a trial over allegations that they used data from children to keep them on its platforms. AI data center outrage is showing up everywhere from ads to elections Spirit Flight Attendants Fight Google’s Data Bid for AI The flight attendants want assurance that their confidential information will be removed from the sale of the defunct airline’s digital records CULTURE WARS The 'MAGA Alternative to Amazon' Is Fighting for Survival After Nearly $160M in Losses and 99% Stock Crash PublicSquare's marketplace has struggled to grow despite political backing, prompting a costly shift to financial services Disney is suing the FCC in a departure from former CEO Bob Iger's strategy US firms that kept DEI policies despite ‘go woke, go broke’ threats thrived Ellison Is Now Willing to Sell CNN to Save His $111 Billion Deal E Solar Panels on Storage Units: Illinois Is Going All In on This No-Brainer First test flight of largest all-electric aircraft used just $5 of electricity Trump ordered to release billions in climate grants meant for Black communities a $2.8 billion program meant to help mitigate the harm from climate change and environmental issues in Black, low-income, and disadvantaged communities. Trump tried to curb clean energy. It’s booming anyway Clean energy additions will rise by a record 45 gigawatts this year, according to S&P Global Energy—equivalent to the average electricity demand of Turkey. The increase is roughly 25 percent higher than the record set in 2024. It Just Got Way Easier to Sue Fossil Fuel Companies Over Climate Change Climate attribution science A new peer-reviewed study published earlier this month in Earth’s Future suggests that it is possible to demonstrate that “emissions from company X cause injury Y.” It also could potentially provide evidence so industry could be forced to answer for climate impacts. The new methodological framework has, for the first time, drawn a straight line from single corporate emitters like Exxon or Chevron, or even whole countries like the United States, to specific heatwaves and areas of extreme rainfall. By running over 150 simulations across 8 different climate models, the study’s author, Christopher Callahan—an Earth systems scientist and assistant professor at Indiana University’s O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs—built a statistical model to figure out the relationship between the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the odds of extreme heat or rain. He then used real emissions data to calculate the extent to which specific fossil fuel emitters increased the risk of extreme weather. SPEED ROUND‍ ‍ DuckDuckGo Is Selling Anti Pervert Glasses That Contain Zero AI, Cameras, or Even Electronics Whatsoever Jason Kelce Wants Fans to 'Pee on Computers' to Protest AI Water Use: 'We Want Your Pee' Cards Against Humanity Unveils 'Sad Little Bitch' Elon Musk Monument Near Texas Starbase France bans unsolicited telemarketing calls--$87,000 fine per call I'm the CEO of Siemens. I reply to most emails with 2-letter responses and don't have recurring meetings Scientists Genetically Engineer High-Protein Lettuce Gen Z is bringing pen and paper back to the workplace Arianna Huffington says even high-flying CEOs are unhappy and feel stuck in their multimillion-dollar jobs: ‘It’s a trap’ Bank of America is splashing out $250 million a year on weight loss drugs for its staff: ‘We see a great impact on employees,’ CEO says ‘We see a great impact on employees,’ CEO says Excuse me? Body shamer.

Story of the Week (DR): L3Harris ousts CEO after investigation into conduct MM L3Harris Technologies, the company that overhauled a Qatari plane now used as Air Force One, has replaced Christopher Kubasik as chairman and chief executive after an investigation determined he violated the defense contractor’s code of conduct. Kubasik’s alleged conduct didn’t involve and has no impact on the Melbourne, Fla., company’s financial reporting, controls, customer relationships or operational performance, L3Harris said Monday. The company didn’t give details on when it received a report of the potential violation. With the aid of independent counsel, the board determined that Kubasik’s removal would be in the company’s best interest, L3Harris said. He will be allowed to retain and exercise some previously vested stock options but won’t receive severance payments, benefits or accelerated stock-based awards. L3Harris Technologies Appoints Sam Mehta, Proven Aerospace and Defense Executive, as President and Chief Executive Officer “The Board determined that the Executive engaged in conduct that was not consistent with the values of the Company as outlined in its Code of Conduct.” Kubasik will still hold onto some of his options that can net him stock worth about $23 million, as well as more than 200,000 shares of stock in L3Harris that he already owns, valued at nearly $57 million. L3Harris has paid Kubasik compensation valued at $66.3 million during the past three years, including $25.6 million in fiscal 2025. The separation disclosure says the L3Harris board decided to reach a deal with Kubasik to get him to leave rather than trying to fire him for cause. Kubasik did not admit to any violation of the company code of conduct, and the deal expressively forbids any of the parties or their representatives from making public statements “inconsistent” with Monday’s disclosure. AND THIS: Women at L3Harris Shared Concerns About CEO’s Behavior Years Before Ouster It was a warning that was shared among women who worked for Chris Kubasik: Avoid being alone with the executive and be careful on the corporate jet. Multiple women at defense contractor L3Harris Technologies LHX  had raised concerns about Kubasik’s behavior, including a formal complaint from one woman to human resources that was made around 2023, according to people familiar with the matter. The employee accused the CEO of sexual harassment, the people said. Kubasik stayed on in his role. The woman left L3Harris. Not all L3Harris board members were briefed on the 2023 complaint and it is unclear Ousted L3Harris CEO was previously forced out of Lockheed Martin job Christopher Kubasik's ouster as the L3Harris CEO was not the first time he was forced out of a company amid an allegation of misconduct. In 2012, Kubasik was set to become the CEO of Lockheed Martin when he was forced to resign after an ethics investigation confirmed that he had a close personal relationship with a subordinate employee. Why Do Boards Keep Giving Misbehaving CEOs Second Chances? L3Harris Technologies’ LHX  chief executive is out because of misconduct allegations, and it isn’t the first time: More than a decade ago, Christopher Kubasik resigned from Lockheed Martin because he was accused of having a relationship with a subordinate. The Crucial Moment That Companies Miss After They Oust a CEO It matters how a company responds to a scandal once it’s caught in one, most blow the moment by choosing secrecy over transparency.  It’s an opportunity to reset the culture that led to the breach in the first place, but instead “your PR team and your legal team tell you ‘Don’t dig into these things—it’s not good for the company,’ so you silence all the debates.”. Meta faces a $1.4 trillion threat that could mean ‘turning in the keys and walking away’—but the stakes of the case reach across tech The trial involves a coalition of 29 state attorneys general in a unified case against Meta that was brought in 2023, and will be argued by lawyers representing California, Colorado, New Jersey and Kentucky. The stakes are enormous as leading government officials across the country push for Meta to be held accountable for allegedly violating federal and state laws, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, and various consumer protection statutes. States accuse Meta of targeting children for Facebook, Instagram addiction: 'The young ones are the best ones' Meta whistleblower told jury the company took a 'don't ask, don't tell' approach to kids' safety ‘Harvest their data and hide the truth from the public’: Four states seek billions from Meta over child safety practices SEC says it will stop responding to no-action requests ‘entirely’ The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to stop responding to no-action requests “entirely … effective immediately,” the agency said in a statement Friday. The decision comes after the SEC sat out the bulk of the no-action process during the 2025-26 proxy season. Investor advocates have since sued the agency, alleging the change violates the Administrative Procedure Act. AI data center outrage is showing up everywhere from ads to elections AI data center outrage is showing up everywhere from ads to elections GOP Begs AI Firms to Fix Data Centers’ “Toxic Brand” to Help Midterm Chances  As A.I. Data Centers Spread, Pressure Mounts to Share Profits The Data Center Industry’s PR Blitz Is Backfiring Data center backlash echoes fossil-fuel politics Major data center bills advance in California despite industry pushback The ‘Country Hicks’ Who Refused $26 Million from an AI Data Center Bad news for Jason Kelce: Postal Service rules say you shouldn't mail pee to data centers Politicians Who Once Championed Data Centers Are Now Bashing Them Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro cracks down on data centers, says speculators are 'scaring our communities' Data centers are using more electricity than anyone predicted. What happens next? Trump oblivious to voter fury about data centers, saying ‘the jobs are enormous and the money paid, the taxes paid, are just enormous’ Politicians Turn Against Data Centers as Anger Over AI Spreads Amazon is buying rare books and destroying them to train its AI models The team's logo features a dinosaur holding a book. Data center hysteria is the new woke | Opinion Bring back the corporate death penalty More formally known as judicial dissolution, the corporate death penalty basically happens when the government is so pissed off by the corruption or damage a corporation causes that it yanks away their charter. Andreessen Horowitz Focus of DOJ Probe Over Board Directors Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is the focus of a Justice Department antitrust probe over whether its investment partners are improperly serving on the boards of competing artificial intelligence companies, according to people familiar with the matter. The companies at issue include Databricks Inc., one of the most valuable privately held technology companies in the world, and Fivetran Inc., both backed by the VC firm, according to the people, who asked not to be named discussing a confidential matter. Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Ben Horowitz serves on the board of Databricks, and partner Martin Casado is a board member of Fivetran. Both companies help businesses collect, organize and analyze massive troves of data. Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): MacKenzie Scott gave California public education $461 million—and let the recipients decide how to spend every dollar MM: Andreessen Horowitz Focus of DOJ Probe Over Board Directors DR Assholiest of the Week (MM): Bill Brown and Robert Millard DR Never accountable for anything directors L3Harris ousts CEO after investigation into conduct History lesson: Kubasik hired in 2015 after Lockheed disaster firing, hired as COO and President Presiding CEO: Michael Strianese, Chair from 2008, CEO from 2006 Board:  Claude Canizares (71, MIT physics professor, 2003) Thomas Corcoran (72, Carlyle, consulting, 1997) Ann Dunwoody (64, only woman, US Army Gen, 2013) Lewis Kramer (69, EY accountant, 2009) Robert Millard (66, MIT Chair, Lehman until 2008 collapse, LID, 1997) Lloyd Newton (74, only PoC - token black guy - US Air Force General, 2012) Vincent Pagano, Jr (66, lawyer, Simpson Thacher, chair of nom, 2013) Hugh Shelton (75, US Army Gen, 2011), Arthure Simon (85, accountant, 2001) 8 white men, 1 woman, 1 black dude 2018, Kubasik named CEO of L3 Technologies Michael Strianese retires and Kubasik takes over Same exact board minus Strianese 2019, L3 and Harris merge to be L3Harris Kubasik added to L3Harris board, named COO and President of the company under Bill Brown, CEO and Chair Surviving the board merger: Thomas Corcoran Robert Millard - LID, nom member Lloyd Newton - chair of nom Lewis Kramer Adjacent - Roger Fradin of Carlyle on board, Corcoran also of Carlyle June 2021, Kubasik becomes CEO and Bill Brown moves to exec chair (obviously) Board: Sallie Bailey Bill Brown Peter Chiarelli Thomas Corcoran Thomas Dattilo (nom) - ex tire CEO Rober Gradin Harry Harris Lewis Hay III (nom) - lawyer, ex CEo of NextEra Lewis Kramer Rita Lan Robert Millard (nom) - MIT Chair, Lehman Lloyd Newton (nom chair) - general So given that the CEOs choose their successors, the nom committees approve them, the rest of the board rubber stamps it… we can thank: Michael Strianese - hires Kubasik, names him CEO at L3, despite Lockheed problems Nom approval: Ann Dunwoody (64, only woman, US Army Gen, 2013), Vincent Pagano, Jr (66, lawyer, Simpson Thacher, chair of nom, 2013), Hugh Shelton (75, US Army Gen, 2011) - a nom committee composed of the ONLY woman, two generals and a lawyer - all of whom are the LOWEST TENURED ON THE BOARD at the time Then Bill Brown - names Kubasik CEO of combined L3Harris, one year of babysitting as exec chair Nom approval: Thoma