Today’s posts that caught my eye:
Majorities in every generation favor ethical consumerism, but Gen Z is the least enthused.
The threat of cuts to U.S. defense spending has emerged as a flashpoint in House Republicans' first week in the majority, widening the GOP's isolationist fault line and exposing the fragility of Kevin McCarthy's young speakership.
Sketchy iOS app “ChatGPT Chat GPT AI With GPT-3”, which is not affiliated with OpenAI, is selling subscriptions and has been a top paid App Store app for days.
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The World
White House under pressure to expel Jair Bolsonaro after Brazil riots: Joe Biden condemned violent riots in Brazil as the White House faced calls from Congress to expel Jair Bolsonaro, the Latin American country’s former president, from the US, where he has been staying since leaving office. Several Democratic lawmakers have called for the former Brazilian president to be removed from the US. (Financial Times)
Bolsonaro went to a hospital in Orlando with intestinal pains related to a stabbing he suffered during the 2018 election campaign, his wife, Michelle, said on Instagram. His doctor said he has an intestinal blockage that was not serious and would likely not need surgery. (Reuters)
Biden to host Brazilian President Lula in February following storming of government buildings. (Reuters)
The protestors communicated using coded messages on Telegram. (BBC)
Questions have been raised over the extent to which police tried to stop them. (Economist)
Nearly 90% of people in Henan, China's third most populous province, have now been infected with Covid, local health officials say. Provincial official Kan Quancheng revealed the figure - amounting to about 88.5 million people. (BBC News)
North Korean drone may have imaged South's presidential office: South Korea's National Intelligence Service said it could not rule out the possibility that the drone -- one of five that crossed into the South on Dec. 26 -- was conducting reconnaissance. Although no classified information was stolen, Pyongyang has demonstrated the ease with which drone cameras could capture information about important security facilities. (Nikkei Asia Review)
Finns pay €200 to write anti-Russian messages on Ukrainian shells: SignMyRocket.com, a non-profit organization that raises funds for the Ukrainian armed forces by allowing supporters to sponsor munitions, said Finland had emerged as its biggest source of donations after the US. (The Times)
Iran's judiciary has sentenced three more anti-government protesters to death on charges of "waging war on God", defying growing international criticism over its fierce crackdown on demonstrators. Iran hanged two other men on Saturday, one of them a karate champion with several national titles, in its attempts to stamp out demonstrations, which have slowed considerably since it began carrying out executions within weeks of arrests. (Reuters)
Unpacking the House GOP's new rules: A handy guide to the changes. (Politico)
PAYGO vs. CUTGO: Republicans have killed Democrats’ “pay-as-you-go” rule, often shorthanded as PAYGO. It had required legislation that would add to the deficit to be offset with tax increases or spending cuts.
Supermajority on taxes: House Republicans’ historically slim majority will, in its rules package, constrain itself severely on tax rate increases — requiring a three-fifths supermajority vote to pass any.
Goodbye, ‘Gephardt Rule’: The package purges the Democrats’ so-called “Gephardt rule,” which had allowed the House to automatically send a measure extending the debt limit to the Senate when it adopts a budget resolution. That maneuver had been used to let the House avoid a direct vote on lifting the debt ceiling.
Hello, ‘Holman Rule’: Republicans have revived the “Holman rule” originated in the 19th century that allows Congress to amend spending bills with the intent of salary reduction or employee termination, or cutting a specific program.
Committee oversight: To make good on their pledges of more federal government accountability, Republicans are requiring every committee to submit a plan for authorization and oversight to the Oversight and House Administration Committees by March 1.
The threat of cuts to U.S. defense spending has emerged as a flashpoint in House Republicans' first week in the majority, widening the GOP's isolationist fault line and exposing the fragility of Kevin McCarthy's young speakership. Eager to capitalize on the GOP's internal strife, the White House press office blasted out the WSJ op-ed and a statement that called defense cuts "senseless and out of line with our national security needs." (Axios)
Justice Dept. reviewing classified documents found in Biden’s post-VP office. (Washington Post)
The hole in the Earth’s ozone layer, once the most feared environmental peril facing humanity, is set to be completely healed over most of the world within two decades following decisive action by governments to phase out ozone-depleting substances, a new UN assessment has found. (The Guardian)
Climate change and the loss of archaeological sites and landscapes: Climate change is affecting archaeological sites and landscapes around the world. Increased rainfall, more frequent extreme weather events, higher temperatures and rising seas not only create new risks but also exacerbate existing vulnerabilities and threats. Building on an earlier Antiquity article that explored climate change and arctic archaeology, this special section provides a global perspective on the impact of climate change on archaeological sites and landscapes and how archaeologists and cultural heritage managers are responding. The changes can be summarized as follows: increasing temperatures affecting high latitudes more than tropical and subtropical regions; changes in total precipitation and precipitation patterns; and an increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, such as storms, heavy precipitation and heatwaves. (Antiquity)
Economy
A troubling signal from America’s retirement accounts: A record number of American workers cracked into their retirement savings as inflation soared last year, a dangerous sign that the bulwark amassed by households across two stimulus-flush pandemic years is fading. Vanguard, which oversees roughly 5 million retirement accounts, found that a growing number of participants in its employer-sponsored plans were requesting loans or seeking withdrawals as inflation rocketed over the last year. Data from the $7.2 trillion asset management firm found that a record number of savers used their 401(k)s to address immediate emergencies like medical bills or prolonged unemployment. (Politico)
Tokyo core CPI up 4.0% in December, biggest rise since 1982. (Nikkei Asia Review)
Mary Daly becomes latest Fed official to raise prospect of 0.25 point rate rise: San Francisco president of US central bank said ‘case can be made’ for half- or quarter-point increase. (Financial Times)
Texas is projected to have $188.2 billion available in general revenue for funding the business of the state over the 2024-25 biennium — an unprecedented 26% increase from what lawmakers had during the last budget cycle, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar in his biennial revenue estimate to state lawmakers and leaders. It’s far more money than legislators have ever had at their disposal, with an increase in available funds that dwarfs any previous jumps between cycles, thanks largely to a tax-collection windfall that left the state flush with cash, Hegar said. (Texas Tribune)
Britain has become less competitive and less attractive to foreign investors as a result of soaring energy costs and recent political turmoil, manufacturers said in an industry survey. The proportion of manufacturers who think Britain is a competitive location halved to 31% from 63% a year ago. (Reuters)
Disney Requires Workers to Come to Office Four Days a Week, Starting in March: The in-office workweek is one of the most comprehensive return-to-work policies at large U.S. companies since the pandemic. (Wall Street Journal)
UK job recruiters said demand for permanent staff slipped for a third month in December, contracting at the sharpest pace since pandemic lockdowns were in place in early 2021. (Bloomberg)
The Debate Swirling Inside HR Departments: How to Lay Off Workers. When exactly to fire employees, whether to cut once or multiple times and how much severance to offer can vex executives; the Zoom question. (Wall Street Journal)
Majorities in every generation favor ethical consumerism, but Gen Z is the least enthused: The majority of U.S. consumers (59% as of late December) say they want to purchase goods and services from companies that reflect their social values. This includes large — but unequal — shares of each generation, with Gen Z adults the least likely to say so. Gen Z’s differing views become even more noticeable when assessed on a net basis: The share of Gen Zers who say they favor values-based purchasing is only 28 percentage points higher than the share who don’t, compared with differences of 40 and 41 percentage points for baby boomers and millennials, respectively. (Morning Consult)
Technology
North American startup funding tanked further in Q4 North American startup investment fell sharply in 4Q22, closing out 2022 with funding far below the prior year’s record-setting levels. In total, investors put $36.1 billion to work across all stages in Q4. That’s a whopping 63% decline from a year earlier. (Crunchbase)
Microsoft unveils text-to-speech AI model VALL-E, which was trained on English speech data and can simulate a person's voice with three seconds of sample audio. (Ars Technica)
Up until late December 2022, hackers were using a flaw in Experian's site to get anyone's entire credit report using only their name, address, birthday, and SSN. (Krebs on Security)
Sketchy iOS app “ChatGPT Chat GPT AI With GPT-3”, which is not affiliated with OpenAI, is selling subscriptions and has been a top paid App Store app for days. (Macrumors)
Gunnar Wiedenfels, the Warner Bros. Discovery CFO, believes you’re not paying enough for your favorite streaming service. Wiedenfels said streaming services have been priced to to get subscribers at the expense of profitability, describing the approach as a “land grab.” “There’s no doubt that these products are priced way too low,” he said. (Los Angeles Times)
The ‘breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers: A new generation of obesity drugs allows scientists to safely alter weight for the first time. One of the gut hormone-mimicking drugs, tirzepatide, has helped people in trials to lose weight at levels typically achievable only through bariatric surgery. It’s unclear exactly how the drugs work or how long people will need to take the pricey medication to maintain their weight. Critics worry that these drugs could play into some societies’ unhealthy obsession with being thin. (Nature)
Live Event
Today, 6 pm ET: Harvard Science Book Talk: Suzie Sheehy, in conversation with Gregory Kestin, "The Matter of Everything: How Curiosity, Physics, and Improbable Experiments Changed the World". (Harvard University)
Smart Links
Dollar hovers near seven-month lows after jobs data. (Reuters)
Beer Sales Drop as Consumers Balk at Higher Prices. (Wall Street Journal)
UK's first satellite launch fails to make it into orbit. (Deutsche Welle)
KKR Picking Up Manhattan Office Space Vacated by Facebook. (Wall Street Journal)
SEC charges former McDonald’s chief with misleading investors. (Financial Times)
Falling NASA Satellite Sparks Emergency Phone Alert in South Korea. (Bloomberg)
U.S. skier Mikaela Shiffrin ties Lindsey Vonn's record for most alpine World Cup wins. (NPR)
Noma to close in Copenhagen after years as top-ranked restaurant. (Financial Times)
How Often Should You Update Your Profile Photos? (Wired)
Good News
Dunkin' devotee surprised on his 95th birthday. He's been a "regulah" for about 40 years. (WCVB)
If you adopt one of these cats, Frontier Airlines will throw in a free flight, too. (CNN)
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