By Ja'han Jones Happy Tuesday! Here’s your Tuesday Tech Drop, a curated collection of the past week’s top stories from the intersection of tech and politics. TikTok, in its current state, might be on its last legs in the United States. After a federal judge declined to block a law that would ban the app in the U.S. unless its Chinese owners sell it, TikTok’s legal team petitioned for injunctive relief, asking a federal court to suspend the law until Donald Trump’s administration — and the conservative-heavy Supreme Court — have a chance to look at it. This — paired with a Wall Street Journal report, citing anonymous sources, that TikTok CEO Shou Chew reached out to Elon Musk to make inroads with MAGA last month — suggests that TikTok’s leadership may be taking Trump at his word that he would “save” the app, which has become a hotbed of MAGA disinformation and propaganda in recent years. All this has me thinking about the perverse incentives that could potentially be in play for a social media platform that sees Trump and powerful conservatives as its last hope for survival. Read the Washington Post’s report on TikTok hanging its hopes on Trump and the Supreme Court. U.S. officials are working with officials from numerous other countries to devise ways to curb some of the more dangerous misuses of artificial intelligence technology ... and GOP Texas Sen. Ted Cruz isn’t happy about it. Read my report on Cruz’s letter to the attorney general here . Disinformation expert Kate Starbird, who has come under fire from right-wingers for her work , recently sat for an interview with the outlet Tech Policy to discuss “the differences between the left and right media ecosystems" in the United States and her team’s efforts to study the spread of baseless claims online. Check out the Tech Policy interview . Following an election that, unfortunately, saw candidates and voters turn to podcasters for their political news , the streaming platform Spotify is reportedly planning a podcaster celebration centered around Trump’s inauguration. Read more at Bloomberg . A new study out of the Center for Countering Digital Hate argues that YouTube’s algorithm can steer young girls to harmful content about eating disorders, including videos promoting extreme calorie restriction, emaciated bodies and “meanspo,” or bullying as a way to encourage weight loss. YouTube declined to comment to CBS News when asked about its algorithm’s recommendations, saying it “continually works with mental health experts to refine [its] approach to content recommendations for teens.” Read the Center for Countering Digital Hate’s report . Last week, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced that it intends to build a massive data center in Louisiana to help power its artificial intelligence project. The data center is meant to compete with another data center Elon Musk opened in Tennessee. The centers have raised local concerns over the potential environmental impact and whether the economic impact will benefit neighboring residents. Read The Associate d Press’ report . Trump has tapped right-wing tech oligarch and podcaster David Sacks to lead his administration’s artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency policy. There’s ample reason for concern about potential conflicts of interest. Read my blog to learn more about Sacks here . Federal officials said at least eight American telecommunications companies, including AT&T, Verizon and Lumen technologies, were hit by a Chinese hacking campaign that got access to call records and, in some cases, specific phone calls. The feds don’t think the hackers have been booted from these companies’ systems yet. Read NBC News’ report . Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwab is suing Amazon over allegations the commerce platform and delivery company is excluding two largely Black zip codes from its Prime delivery service. Amazon called the claims “categorically false.” Read NBC’s Washington affiliate’s reporting . Ja'han Jones is The ReidOut Blog writer. He's a futurist and multimedia producer focused on culture and politics. His previous projects include "Black Hair Defined" and the "Black Obituary Project."Nordstrom stock soars to 52-week high, hits $24.96
Unrealistic pressure steals childhood: OmarHow you’ve been making mashed potatoes TOTALLY wrong – stop boiling them in water if you want it extra creamyPelicans hope rare three-day break between games can rejuvenate fortunes
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Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has set his sights on automatic qualification to the last 16 of the Champions League after a 3-2 win at RB Leipzig. Ross Barkley’s 85th-minute goal gave them victory in Germany after goals from John McGinn and Jhon Duran early in each half were cancelled out by Lois Openda and Christoph Baumgartner. That sent them up to third in the new league phase of the competition ahead of Wednesday’s games and with matches against Monaco and Celtic to come, Villa have an excellent chance of finishing in the top eight. Job done... in the end 😅 #RBLAVL #UCL pic.twitter.com/PRD1Hi1Q3A — Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 10, 2024 That would mean they would avoid a play-off round to make it through to the last 16 and Emery says that is the target. “Today was key. Juventus at home, we were thinking more to win but in the end we accepted the draw because it was important for a point to be more or less in the top 24,” he told Amazon Prime. “Today was a match we were thinking at the beginning was key to be a contender to be in the top eight with the last two matches to be played. “It is going to be difficult and we have to get some more points but we now have the possibility to achieve this option. “We are going to enjoy and try to get top eight but we have to be happy because we are in the top 24 and maybe even the top 16. “We weren’t contenders in the beginning to get there but now we have to accept it.” Leipzig, who are flying high near the top of the Bundesliga, are out after losing all six matches. They did pose a threat to Villa, who inflicted some of their own problems on themselves, notably a rare gaffe from goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez for Openda’s equaliser. But Emery was happy with his side’s performance. “I try to enjoy and always we want to improve and sometimes it is hard but today the team were performing well, playing seriously and I was enjoying it,” he added. “We tried to overcome the mistakes we made and we did. More or less we were playing consistently. One mistake and they score but then we played very well. “Champions League is very difficult and we have to expect that every team playing at home are feeling strong. We played with consistency and domination.”
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Many of us dream of retirement: Traveling, visiting family and friends, having more control over our daily choices and schedules. But what happens when those dreams are suddenly shattered by a sudden injury, unplanned move, or loss of a job? Margaret (Maggie) Combs experienced the shattering of her dreams more than nine years ago due to an injury that took her health, her job, her home, and forced her into a nursing facility at age 64. A former speech pathologist, she suddenly found herself living in a shared room, far away from former friends, and subject to the schedules of others. She admits to being “frightened beyond her imagination,” feeling isolated, and barely coping after a near death health scare. Her reaction: A deep depression. Medical intervention helped. It did not relieve the ache and pain of dreams and a life lost. Like flowers, people need to bloom, but how does one do that when they are in rocky soil? The National Council for Aging in their publication, “Aging Mastery Playbook,” cites six critical components of healthy living. Three of them were missing in Maggie’s life: Connections and Community, Creativity and Learning, and Legacy and Purpose. Without them, she was struggling to find ways to adjust to her “new normal.” She felt lost, invisible, and out of control. Enter the Quilters. One of the volunteers for Maggie’s living facility also happened to be the president of the Columbia River Gorge Quilters’ Guild. She invited Maggie to visit a guild meeting to “get outside.” Although she had only done a “bit of sewing” growing up, Maggie accepted the invitation. Nervous about being around “such amazing quilters,” she tried to hang out on the edges. However, quilters are notorious for being social. Maggie suddenly found herself surrounded by a group of people who immediately accepted her and made her feel welcome. She left with donations of fabric, a loaned sewing machine that allowed her to hand control the sewing speed rather than use a foot pedal (Maggie uses a wheelchair for mobility), and a pattern for a 9-patch block. Lessons followed, and she started by making simple blocks with squares and triangles. Craft-based activities can help people improve their mental health. Research shows that working with bright colors is psychologically uplifting. Quilting is a challenging craft, requiring concentration and mastery of new skills. Quilters often find themselves “lost in the flow” while working, leading to reduced anxiety and helping with pain management. Quilting is also a “group activity” with quilters meeting frequently to work on projects, share skills, take classes, and have fun. “Quilting saved my life,” Maggie tells folks. “Without it, I do not know if I would even be here.” She has found quilting to be stimulating and enjoys finding quilting related websites and online ideas. She has made new friends who stop by regularly to visit. She attends monthly sewing sessions, guild classes, and volunteers at the guild’s annual fall quilt show. She especially enjoys getting “lost” in her hobby, forgetting where she lives and the many restrictions on her life. Perhaps the biggest “save” was Maggie finding a purpose. When the COVID pandemic hit in 2020, Maggie went into high gear, making more than 1,000 cloth masks that were dispersed to the facility residents and staff, schools, and doctor ‘s offices. The facility business manager collected donated fabric and orders for Maggie’s masks. One doctor told Maggie that she had likely saved more than 100 lives by providing cloth masks before PPE was readily available. Post pandemic, Maggie has returned to making quilts for her family and for guild charity projects. She spends her days learning new skills, looking for new patterns, organizing her “stash,” and planning her new projects. She has a goal for making sure everyone at her living facility has a wheelchair quilt and plans to host sewing sessions on site. She now has her own larger sewing machine. Staff and visitors often poke their heads in to peek at Maggie’s latest sewing project. “Create with the heart, build with the mind,” is a quote by Chris Jami. It is never too late to learn to express yourself creatively and keep your mind active. It is essential for living and aging well. Start today — create! About the author In this installment of Through the Eyes of an Elder, Kim Vogel interviews Maggie Combs. Vogel lives in Hood River and volunteers as the Long-Term Care Ombudsman for facilities in Hood River County and The Oregon Veteran’s home in The Dalles. A retired public educator, she has been quilting for more than 45 years. “Through the Eyes of an Elder” “Through the Eyes of an Elder” is contributed monthly by the Aging in the Gorge Alliance. Its purpose is to enhance understanding and appreciation for Mid-Columbia’s older adults, their loved ones, and caregivers. Email suggestions for future columns to EyesofanElder@gmail.com .After being listed as the #17 team in the state in the CCCMBCA poll earlier this week, the College of the Redwoods men’s basketball team improved to 5-1 with a 77-67 win over American River College on Thursday to begin the Ed Boyle Invitational tournament in Ukiah. The win moves the Corsairs into the semifinals in the tournament, as they’ll now face Los Medanos on Friday evening for a spot in the championship game on Saturday. Los Medanos is the only team that has beaten CR so far this season, winning 75-70 earlier this month in Napa. “Our guys have been saying for weeks they wanted a rematch against Los Medanos,” Corsairs’ head coach Ryan Bisio said. “And now they got it.” The Corsairs held a 34-30 lead at halftime before the scoring picked up in the second half but CR was able to hold off the now 3-3 Beavers. CR connected on 12 three-pointers in the game, with sophomore forward Brandon Lucas hitting five himself en route to scoring a team-high 19 points in the win. Lucas is averaging 9.8 points per game in his first season with CR. Through six games this year, the Corsairs have had a different leading scorer five different times with freshman forward Houston Klug being the only player to lead CR in multiple games. “Brandon Lucas really showed how much of a matchup nightmare he can be today,” Bisio said. “We went small against their behemoth big man and we ended up ahead in the exchange due to Brandon’s ability as a marksman from deep.” The 5-1 start is an inverse from how the Corsairs began the 2023-2024 season, starting 1-5 before closing the season 18-7. The hot start isn’t the best the Corsairs have seen under Bisio, starting the 2022-2023 season with seven straight wins. “As most folks in Northern California can imagine, traveling through this awful storm to the game was grueling and stressful. Today’s performance was about grittiness – it was never going to look pretty for either team,” Bisio said. “I have tremendous respect for the fight our guys showed in that second half today. American River looks like a playoff team to me, and to beat them when we weren’t playing our best ball is very encouraging.” Los Medanos and College of the Redwoods will tip off at 5:00 p.m. Friday night with the winner advancing to the championship game where they’ll await the winner of the College of the Siskiyous-Mendocino semifinal. Dylan McNeill can be reached at 707-441-0526
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes drifted lower Tuesday in the runup to the highlight of the week for the market, the latest update on inflation that’s coming on Wednesday. The S&P 500 dipped 0.3%, a day after pulling back from its latest all-time high . They’re the first back-to-back losses for the index in nearly a month, as momentum slows following a big rally that has it on track for one of its best years of the millennium . The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 154 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.3%. Tech titan Oracle dragged on the market and sank 6.7% after reporting growth for the latest quarter that fell just short of analysts’ expectations. It was one of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500, even though CEO Safra Catz said the company saw record demand related to artificial-intelligence technology for its cloud infrastructure business, which trains generative AI models. AI has been a big source of growth that’s helped many companies’ stock prices skyrocket. Oracle’s stock had already leaped more than 80% for the year coming into Tuesday, which raised the bar of expectations for its profit report. In the bond market, Treasury yields ticked higher ahead of Wednesday’s report on the inflation that U.S. consumers are feeling. Economists expect it to show similar increases as the month before. Wednesday’s update and a report on Thursday about inflation at the wholesale level will be the final big pieces of data the Federal Reserve will get before its meeting next week, where many investors expect the year’s third cut to interest rates . The Fed has been easing its main interest rate from a two-decade high since September to take pressure off the slowing jobs market, after bringing inflation nearly down to its 2% target. Lower rates would help give support to the economy, but they could also provide more fuel for inflation. Expectations for a series of cuts through next year have been a big reason the S&P 500 has set so many records this year. Trading in the options market suggests traders aren’t expecting a very big move for U.S. stocks following Wednesday’s report, according to strategists at Barclays. But a reading far off expectations in either direction could quickly change that. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.22% from 4.20% late Monday. Even though the Fed has been cutting its main interest rate, mortgage rates have been more stubborn to stay high and have been volatile since the autumn. That has hampered the housing industry, and homebuilder Toll Brothers’ stock fell 6.9% even though it delivered profit and revenue for the latest quarter that topped analysts’ expectations. CEO Douglas Yearley Jr. said the luxury builder has been seeing strong demand since the start of its fiscal year six weeks ago, an encouraging signal as it approaches the beginning of the spring selling season in mid-January. Elsewhere on Wall Street, Alaska Air Group soared 13.2% after raising its forecast for profit in the current quarter. The airline said demand for flying around the holidays has been stronger than expected. It also approved a plan to buy back up to $1 billion of its stock, along with new service from Seattle to Tokyo and Seoul . Boeing climbed 4.5% after saying it’s resuming production of its bestselling plane , the 737 Max, for the first time since 33,000 workers began a seven-week strike that ended in early November. Vail Resorts rose 2.5% after the ski resort operator reported a smaller first-quarter loss than analysts expected in what is traditionally its worst quarter. All told, the S&P 500 fell 17.94 points to 6,034.91. The Dow dipped 154.10 to 44,247.83, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 49.45 to 19,687.24. In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in China after the world’s second-largest economy said its exports rose by less than expected in November. Stocks rose 0.6% in Shanghai but fell 0.5% in Hong Kong. Indexes fell across much of Europe ahead of a meeting this week by the European Central Bank, where the widespread expectation is for another cut in interest rates. AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
Kings look to turn up intensity in matinee vs. Rangersand were home sick. was in the back getting his injured ankle treated. and Jaxson Hayes weren’t healthy enough to participate in a full practice. And still, there was optimism. Friday marked the beginning of a stretch when the truly can unpack and get comfortable, the rigors of the NBA and its travel schedule about to slow down for the longest stretch of their season. Beginning Saturday against Sacramento, 11 of their next 14 games are in Los Angeles. Ten will be at home (one will be the Lakers’ Intuit Dome debut against the Clippers). Heading into Friday’s games around the NBA, the Lakers (17-13) had played a conference-high 17 road games, tied with the Utah Jazz for most in the West. Only the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers had played more road games. “We’ve played together, tried to play the right way,” coach said after practice. “I think our game plan discipline has been really good. So I like where our team is at. I like where our team is trending. I’m going to really like it when we’re completely healthy.” Hachimura and James are questionable for Saturday because of illnesses. Davis also will be listed as questionable because of the ankle injury he suffered in the first quarter on Christmas. He told The Times after the game that he expected to be “fine.” Russell, who missed that win over the Golden State Warriors, was able to take part in the noncontact portions of Friday’s practice with his sprained thumb and seemed on track to return against the Kings (13-18). And Hayes, who has played just once since Nov. 10 because of consecutive injuries to his right ankle, also participated in some noncontact portions of practice. He appears close to returning after Redick termed him “day to day.” Redick said Hayes “moved well” in practice Friday, the Lakers close to adding a dynamic big man back to their bench lineups. “Offensively for us, just the rim running, the pace with which he’s able to get from one action to the next as a big. He’s really good in the half court at screening, rolling, getting back to a second action. And [Russell], with some of the lob stuff, he just, he puts pressure on the rim as a roller,” Redick said of what the Lakers have missed without Hayes. “And then defensively, he had his best stretch for us prior to being injured. He had a four- or five-game stretch where he was great on both ends and he was also crashing. He was getting offensive rebounds for us. So we’ve missed him.” The Lakers don’t have timetables for Christian Wood and Jared Vanderbilt, who both have yet to play this season. However, Redick said he hoped both would be back during this stretch of home games. Asked about potential evaluations of the roster prior to the Feb. 6. trade deadline, Redick said he thinks a complete Lakers roster is good enough to fight. “Rob [Pelinka, GM] and I, we talk all the time, but my focus is on coaching this group and trying to maximize this group,” Redick said. "Frankly, I have belief that when this group is healthy, we can compete. If there’s a move to be made, there’s a move to be made, but I’m focused on this group.” This story originally appeared in .