Economy
Kurdish forces backed by US strike deal with Syria’s Assad, in major shift in 8-year war (TS)
In discontinuing that approach, the Trump administration has effectively ceded influence in northern Syria to Assad and his allies and raised the specter of a resurgent ISIS. Over recent days, Kurdish authorities have reported the escape of hundreds of ISIS family members from a camp in northern Syria, and warned that ISIS militants held in prisons could be next to go if fighting with Turkish forces continues to escalate.
Is Amazon Unstoppable? (jdargis)
As Freed learned, it was also fine to stumble at Amazon, as long as the experience yielded strategic insight. After overseeing the Kindle, Freed was asked to help lead a team developing the company’s first smartphone. Bezos had become enamored of a sophisticated display that approximated 3-D. For four years, Freed oversaw a group that grew to a thousand employees, and spent more than a hundred million dollars. But when the Amazon Fire Phone was released, in 2014, it was a flop. No matter: when Freed had presented an early prototype of the phone’s software to Bezos, he’d shown him how it included voice recognition that could hear, and then play, any popular song whose title a user said aloud. “I can ask for any song?” Bezos asked. “What about ‘Hotel California’?” The tune began playing. “This is fantastic,” he said.
5 prominent U.S. companies are most at fault for the earnings recession (Thomas R.)
Boeing swung to a steep loss in the second quarter due to the grounding of its 737 Max jets for safety reasons, after two deadly crashes. In addition to taking a financial hit as those planes went out of service, the company announced that it would incur greater production costs for these aircraft. Boeing ultimately reported a net loss of $3.3 billion in the second quarter after it posted a $1.9 billion profit a year earlier, making it the biggest contributor to the decline in the second quarter.
BREAKING: Hunter Biden Stepping Down From Chinese Firm Following Trump Criticism (Thomas R.)
While the statement included the usual denials of anything improper, the act of stepping down is a stunning acknowledgment of the liability the publicity has had on Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign. Seeing as Joe Biden is currently not in government, it’s curious why the announcement was not that Hunter would resign from the board if Joe Biden wins the presidency. Clearly, the Biden campaign knows that Hunter Biden’s shady business dealings are a huge problem for them going forward and hopes this will stop the bleeding, and help Biden re-secure his frontrunner status.
Trump’s Trillion-Dollar Hit to Homeowners (tmn)
Lamle starts with the premise that homebuyers have typically figured out how much house they can afford by calculating how much they can spend on a down payment and monthly mortgage payment, adjusting the latter by the amount they’d save via the tax deduction for mortgage interest and real estate taxes. His model figures out how much prices would have to drop for the same monthly payment to cover a given house now that this notional buyer can’t take advantage of the real estate tax deduction and might not be able to take full advantage of the mortgage interest deduction.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection could not be reached for comment late Monday. Officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed in a statement to The Post on Tuesday that the family is being held at the Leesport facility but disputed their claims of mistreatment. The center, the statement said, “provides a safe and humane environment for families as they go through the immigration process.”
California Becomes First U.S. State To Mandate Later School Start Times (Thomas R.)
Most of California’s public schools will need to delay their start times under the new law, according to a legislative analysis prepared this year. About 50% will need to increase their start times by 30 minutes or less; while 25% of schools will need to push it back by 31 to 60 minutes, the analysis said.
So-called “zero periods,” or classes offered before the start of a regular school day, will not be impacted by the legislation. Rural school districts are also exempt from the law.
Fur Is Officially Banned in California (tmn)
“California is a leader when it comes to animal welfare and today that leadership includes banning the sale of fur,” Governor Newsom said in a statement. “But we are doing more than that. We are making a statement to the world that beautiful wild animals like bears and tigers have no place on trapeze wires or jumping through flames. Just YouTube the videos showing the cruel way these animals — often stripped from their mothers as babies — are trained to do dangerous tricks. It’s deeply disturbing.”
Humans Will Never Live on Another Planet, Nobel Laureate Says. Here’s Why. (Thomas R.)
All of the known exoplanets, or planets outside of our solar system, are too far away to feasibly travel to, he said. “Even in the very optimistic case of a livable planet that is not too far, say a few dozen light years, which is not a lot, it’s in the neighbourhood, the time to go there is considerable,” he added.
Harley-Davidson pulls plug temporarily on electric motorcycle production (Thomas R.)
Direct-current charging stations at Harley dealerships can reload the bike’s battery in about an hour, according to the Journal.
Harley is facing an aging problem among its core group of riders, so the company is introducing new models of bikes and looking abroad.
Californians Learning That Solar Panels Don’t Work in Blackouts (Thomas R.)
That’s because most panels are designed to supply power to the grid — not directly to houses. During the heat of the day, solar systems can crank out more juice than a home can handle. Conversely, they don’t produce power at all at night. So systems are tied into the grid, and the vast majority aren’t working this week as PG&E Corp. cuts power to much of Northern California to prevent wildfires.
Here’s why PG&E doesn’t put more power lines underground (Thomas R.)
Despite the astronomical price tag, critics say money shouldn’t matter when safety and lives are on the line. There’s also a lot of bad blood built up between the utility company and Californians: In the aftermath of the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion that killed eight, news broke that PG&E diverted over $100 million in safety money for other purposes, including bonuses for executives.
Experts are increasingly concerned about the consequences of thawing permafrost that is located both beneath land and water in the planet’s coldest regions. Last week, the Washington Post reported on “stunning and dramatic” scenes from a region of Eastern Siberia where “sections of many older, wooden buildings already sag toward the ground—rendered uninhabitable by the unevenly thawing earth,” and “rivers are rising and running faster,” sweeping away entire neighborhoods.
Police ban Extinction Rebellion protests from whole of London (tmn)
“It’s all peaceful. People for the most part are being given the opportunity to move their possessions. But obviously there are a lot of people who have had stuff here who are not actually on site, hence the marquees are full of people’s gear and other people are trying to get it to safety. The police are for the most part watching over that operation.”
Gold & Silver
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