It’s a daunting reality for Democrats: Republican Donald Trump's support has grown broadly since he last sought the presidency. In his defeat of Democrat Kamala Harris , Trump won a bigger percentage of the vote in each one of the 50 states, and Washington, D.C., than he did four years ago. He won more actual votes than in 2020 in 40 states, according to an Associated Press analysis. Certainly, Harris’ more than 7 million vote decline from President Joe Biden’s 2020 total was a factor in her loss, especially in swing-state metropolitan areas that have been the party’s winning electoral strongholds. But, despite national turnout that was lower than in the high-enthusiasm 2020 election, Trump received 2.5 million more votes than he did four years ago. He swept the seven most competitive states to win a convincing Electoral College victory, becoming the first Republican nominee in 20 years to win a majority of the popular vote. Trump cut into places where Harris needed to overperform to win a close election. Now Democrats are weighing how to regain traction ahead of the midterm elections in two years, when control of Congress will again be up for grabs and dozens of governors elected. There were some notable pieces to how Trump's victory came together: Though Trump improved across the map, his gains were particularly noteworthy in urban counties home to the cities of Detroit, Milwaukee and Philadelphia, electoral engines that stalled for Harris in industrial swing states Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Harris fell more than 50,000 votes — and 5 percentage points — short of Biden's total in Wayne County, Michigan, which makes up the lion's share of the Detroit metro area. She was almost 36,000 votes off Biden's mark in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, and about 1,000 short in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. It wasn't only Harris' shortfall that helped Trump carry the states, a trio that Democrats had collectively carried in six of the seven previous elections before Nov. 5. Trump added to his 2020 totals in all three metro counties, netting more than 24,000 votes in Wayne County, more than 11,000 in Philadelphia County and almost 4,000 in Milwaukee County. It’s not yet possible to determine whether Harris fell short of Biden’s performance because Biden voters stayed home or switched their vote to Trump — or how some combination of the two produced the rightward drift evident in each of these states. Harris advertised heavily and campaigned regularly in each, and made Milwaukee County her first stop as a candidate with a rally in July. These swings alone were not the difference in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, but her weaker performance than Biden across the three metros helped Trump, who held on to big 2020 margins in the three states' broad rural areas and improved or held steady in populous suburbs. Trump's team and outside groups supporting him knew from their data that he was making inroads with Black voters, particularly Black men younger than 50, more concentrated in these urban areas that have been key to Democratic victories. When James Blair, Trump's political director, saw results coming in from Philadelphia on election night, he knew Trump had cut into the more predominantly Black precincts, a gain that would echo in Wayne and Milwaukee counties. “The data made clear there was an opportunity there,” Blair said. AP VoteCast, a nationwide survey of more than 120,000 voters, found Trump won a larger share of Black and Latino voters than he did in 2020, and most notably among men under age 45. Democrats won Senate races in Michigan and Wisconsin but lost in Pennsylvania. In 2026, they will be defending governorships in all three states and a Senate seat in Michigan. Despite the burst of enthusiasm Harris' candidacy created among the Democratic base when she entered the race in July, she ended up receiving fewer votes than Biden in three of the seven states where she campaigned almost exclusively. In Arizona, she received about 90,000 fewer votes than Biden. She received about 67,000 fewer in Michigan and 39,000 fewer in Pennsylvania. In four others — Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Wisconsin — Harris won more votes than Biden did. But Trump's support grew by more — in some states, significantly more. That dynamic is glaring in Georgia, where Harris received almost 73,000 more votes than Biden did when he very narrowly carried the state. But Trump added more than 200,000 to his 2020 total, en route to winning Georgia by roughly 2 percentage points. In Wisconsin, Trump's team reacted to slippage it saw in GOP-leaning counties in suburban Milwaukee by targeting once-Democratic-leaning, working-class areas, where Trump made notable gains. In the three largest suburban Milwaukee counties — Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha — which have formed the backbone of GOP victories for decades, Harris performed better than Biden did in 2020. She also gained more votes than Trump gained over 2020, though he still won the counties. That made Trump's focus on Rock County, a blue-collar area in south central Wisconsin, critical. Trump received 3,084 more votes in Rock County, home of the former automotive manufacturing city of Janesville, than he did in 2020, while Harris underperformed Biden's 2020 total by seven votes. That helped Trump offset Harris' improvement in Milwaukee's suburbs. The focus speaks to the strength Trump has had and continued to grow with middle-income, non-college educated voters, the Trump campaign's senior data analyst Tim Saler said. “If you're going to have to lean into working-class voters, they are particularly strong in Wisconsin,” Saler said. “We saw huge shifts from 2020 to 2024 in our favor.” Of the seven most competitive states, Arizona saw the smallest increase in the number of votes cast in the presidential contest — slightly more than 4,000 votes, in a state with more than 3.3 million ballots cast. That was despite nearly 30 campaign visits to Arizona by Trump, Harris and their running mates and more than $432 million spent on advertising by the campaigns and allied outside groups, according to the ad-monitoring firm AdImpact. Arizona, alone of the seven swing states, saw Harris fall short of Biden across small, midsize and large counties. In the other six states, she was able to hold on in at least one of these categories. Even more telling, it is also the only swing state where Trump improved his margin in every single county. While turnout in Maricopa County, Arizona's most populous as the home to Phoenix, dipped slightly from 2020 — by 14,199 votes, a tiny change in a county where more than 2 million people voted — Trump gained almost 56,000 more votes than four years ago. Meanwhile, Harris fell more than 60,000 votes short of Biden's total, contributing to a shift significant enough to swing the county and state to Trump, who lost Arizona by fewer than 11,000 votes in 2020. The biggest leaps to the right weren't taking place exclusively among Republican-leaning counties, but also among the most Democratic-leaning counties in the states. Michigan's Wayne County swung 9 points toward Trump, tying the more Republican-leaning Antrim County for the largest movement in the state. AP VoteCast found that voters were most likely to say the economy was the most important issue facing the country in 2024, followed by immigration. Trump supporters were more motivated by economic issues and immigration than Harris', the survey showed. “It’s still all about the economy," said North Carolina Democratic strategist Morgan Jackson, a senior adviser to Democrat Josh Stein, who won North Carolina’s governorship on Nov. 5 as Trump also carried the state. “Democrats have to embrace an economic message that actually works for real people and talk about it in the kind of terms that people get, rather than giving them a dissertation of economic policy,” he said. Governor’s elections in 2026 give Democrats a chance to test their understanding and messaging on the issue, said Democratic pollster Margie Omero, whose firm has advised Wisconsin’s Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in the past and winning Arizona Senate candidate Ruben Gallego this year. “So there’s an opportunity to really make sure people, who governors have a connection to, are feeling some specificity and clarity with the Democratic economic message,” Omero said.
Woodward's EVP and COO sells $3.18 million in stock
Commodities weekly: Copper rises on China optimism; OPEC delay signals crude weaknessThe United States Postal Service might have found a way to unite a nation bitterly divided after this month's election: It will release a Betty White stamp. The beloved actor known for roles in "The Golden Girls," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "Boston Legal" and others will be on a 2025 Forever stamp, USPS announced this past week. White died in late December 2021 , less than three weeks before her 100th birthday. The Postal Service hasn't announced a release date for the stamp. Betty White speaks Sept. 17, 2018, at the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. “An icon of American television, Betty White (1922–2021) shared her wit and warmth with viewers for seven decades,” the Postal Service said in announcing the stamp, which depicts a smiling White based on a 2010 photograph by celebrity photographer Kwaku Alston . “The comedic actor, who gained younger generations of fans as she entered her 90s, was also revered as a compassionate advocate for animals.” Boston-based artist Dale Stephanos created the digital illustration from Alston's photo. "I'd love to send a letter back to my 18-year-old self with this stamp on it and tell him that everything is going to be OK," Stephanos posted on Facebook . Regardless of personal politics, self-proclaimed supporters of Republican President-elect Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris reacted with delight on social media. "Betty White was my hero, all of my life! I actually had a doll when I was a little girl I named Betty White," one Trump supporter posted on X , formerly Twitter. “Something to make this awful week a little better: We’re getting a Betty White stamp,” a pro-Harris X account posted. White combined a wholesome image with a flare for bawdy jokes . Her television career began in the early 1950s and exploded as she aged. “The only SNL host I ever saw get a standing ovation at the after party," Seth Meyers posted on Twitter after her death. "A party at which she ordered a vodka and a hotdog and stayed til the bitter end.” Allen Ludden and his wife Betty White, who love to play games, continue a two year gin rummy battle in which she's ahead by a cumulative 6,000 points in Westchester, N.Y. on April 29, 1965. They do it professionally on TV. He's the master of ceremonies on "Password," and she makes frequent guest appearances on game shows. They play games to relax at home. (AP Photo/Bob Wands) Allen Ludden and his wife Betty White admire magnolia blossoms on the lawn of their country home in Westchester, N.Y. on May 14, 1965. (AP Photo/Bob Wands) Actress Betty White in 1965. (AP Photo) Betty White shares a moment backstage at the 28th annual Emmy Awards with Ted Knight after they each won an Emmy for their supporting roles in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." On the series Miss White played Sue Ann Nivens while Knight played newscaster Ted Baxter. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon) LOS ANGELES, CA - MAY 17, 1976: (L-R) "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" co-stars - Ed Asner, Betty White, Mary Tyler Moore and Ted Knight - all won awards at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences 28th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards held at the Shubert Theatre on May 17, 1976 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by TVA/PictureGroup/Invision for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences/AP Images) Actress Betty White with Ted Knight at the Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, Sept. 13, 1981. (AP Photo/Randy Rasmussen) Betty White and Anson Williams don't seem to faze Buckeye, a St. Bernard, during an awards ceremony during which Williams was honored by the Los Angeles Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals as a friend and lover of animals. Ms. White presented a humanitarian plaque to Williams at the event, which was held in Hollywood, California, Friday, May 1, 1982. (AP Photo/Marc Karody) Actress Betty White with actor John Hillerman arriving at Emmy Awards, Sept. 22, 1985 in Pasadena, California. (AP Photo/LIU) Actresses Betty White Ludden, left, and Mary Tyler Moore, right, smile at each other in Los Angeles, Friday, June 22, 1985 during Annual Meeting of Morris Animal Foundation, at which Ludden announced her retirement as President of the animal health group, held at the Sheraton Universal Hotel in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) These four veteran actresses from the television series "The Golden Girls" shown during a break in taping Dec. 25, 1985 in Hollywood. From left are, Estelle Getty, Rue McClanahan, Bea Arthur and Betty White. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) Actress Betty White poses in Los Angeles, Ca. in June, 1986. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon) Betty White stands backstage at the NBC TV Bob Hope "I Love Lucy" special on Sept. 16, 1989. (AP Photo/Djansezian) Michael J. Fox and Betty White, winners of Emmys for best actor and actress in a comedy series, stand backstage at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California, Sunday, Sept. 21, 1986 after receiving their honors. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac) Comedienne Betty White places her hand on the star that was presented posthumously to her husband, Allen Ludden, during ceremonies inducting him into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Thursday, March 31, 1988. Ludden was honored with the 1,868th star of the famed walkway — between those of White and Tyrone Power. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) Estelle Getty, who plays Sophia, poses with her new husband, who plays Max, and the other "Golden Girls" after taping of episode on Friday, night, Nov. 5,1988 in Hollywood. Left to right are Rue McCLanahan (Blanche), Getty, Gilford, Bea Arthur (Dorothy) and Betty White. (AP Photo/Ira Mark Gostin) Former cast members of the Mary Tyler Moore Show, sans Mary Tyler Moore, are reunited for the Museum of Television and Radio's 9th annual Television Festival in Los Angeles Saturday, March 21, 1992. From left are Gavin MacLeod, Valerie Harper, Cloris Leachman, Betty White and Ed Asner. (AP Photo/Craig Fujii) Actress Betty White, left, writer/producer David E. Kelley, actress Bridget Fonda, and actor Oliver Platt pose at the premiere of their movie "Lake Placid," Wednesday night, July 14, 1999, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Betty White, from "Golden Girls," and Mr. T, Lawrence Tureaud, from "The A Team," pose for photographers at NBC's 75th Anniversary Party, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2002, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Rene Macura) Actors Betty White, left, Georgia Engel, second left, Gavin MacLeod, center, Valerie Harper, second right, and John Amos pose for photographers during arrivals at CBS's 75th anniversary celebration Sunday, Nov. 2, 2003, in New York. (AP Photo/Louis Lanzano) Actress Betty White laughs as an African eagle roosts overhead at the Los Angeles Zoo Monday, Feb. 20, 2006, in Los Angeles, where White was honored as Ambassador to the Animals by the city for her decades of dedication to the humane treatment of animals. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) Betty White poses for photographers on the red carpet before Comedy Central's "Roast of William Shatner," Sunday, Aug. 13, 2006, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Rene Macura) Betty White arrives at the 34th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, on Friday, June 15, 2007. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Beatrice Arthur, left, Betty White, center, and Rue McClanahan, of the Golden Girls, arrive at the TV Land Awards on Sunday June 8, 2008 in Santa Monica, Calif. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles) Actor Henry Winkler, center, is seen Beatrice Arthur, right, and Betty White at the TV Land Awards on Sunday June 8, 2008 in Santa Monica, Calif. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles) In this Nov. 24, 2009 file photo, actress Betty White poses for a portrait following her appearance on the television talk show "In the House," in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File) Actress Betty White poses for a portrait on the set of the television show "Hot in Cleveland" in Studio City section of Los Angeles on Wednesday, June 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles) Actress Betty White is seen on stage at the Teen Choice Awards on Sunday, Aug. 8, 2010 in Universal City, Calif. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles) Betty White, a cast member in "You Again," poses with fans holding Betty White masks at the premiere of the film in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2010. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) Actress Betty White wears a U.S. Forest Ranger hat after being named an Honorary Forest Ranger by the US Forest Service, at the Kennedy Center in Washington Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2010. White has stated in numerous interviews that her first ambition as a young girl was "to become a forest ranger, but they didn't allow women to do that back then". (AP Photo/Cliff Owen) Betty White, left, Bradley Cooper and Scarlett Johansson arrive at the MTV Movie Awards in Universal City, Calif., on Sunday, June 6, 2010. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles) Betty White, left, Kristen Bell, center, and Jamie Lee Curtis, cast members in "You Again," pose together at the premiere of the film in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2010. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) Betty White, left, accepts the Life Achievement Award from Sandra Bullock at the 16th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Saturday, Jan. 23, 2010, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) From left, actresses Betty White, Wendie Malick, Valerie Bertinelli, and Jane Leeves pose for a portrait on the set of the television show "Hot in Cleveland" in Studio City section of Los Angeles on Wednesday, June 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles) Alec Baldwin, left, and Betty White are seen on stage at the 17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, Jan. 30, 2011 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Betty White attends a book signing for her book 'If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won't)' at Barnes & Noble in New York, Friday, May 6, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes) Actress Betty White attends a press conference prior to the taping of "Betty White's 90th Birthday: A Tribute To America's Golden Girl" on Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Vince Bucci) Actress Betty White arrives on a white pony as she is honored at a Friars Club Roast sponsored by Godiva, Wednesday, May 16, 2012 at the Sheraton Hotel in New York. (AP Photo/Starpix, Marion Curtis) Betty White, at left, attends her wax figure unveiling at Madame Tussauds on Monday, June 4, 2012 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Katy Winn/Invision/AP) From left, Sgt. 1st Class Chuck Shuck, Actress Betty White and The 2012 American Hero Dog Gabe pose during 2012 American Humane Association Hero Dog Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012, in Los Angeles, Calif. (Photo by Ryan Miller/Invision/AP) Betty White and Cloris Leachman onstage at the 24th Annual GLAAD Media Awards at the JW Marriott on Saturday, April 20, 2013 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Todd Williamson/Invision/AP) Ellen DeGeneres, left, presents Betty White with the award for favorite TV icon at the People's Choice Awards at the Nokia Theatre on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Betty White, left, speaks at the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards on Monday, Sept. 17, 2018, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Looking on from right are Alec Baldwin and Kate McKinnon. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly!Check out a full Iowa scouting report that examines the Hawkeyes' offensive and defensive statistics and more ahead of their game against Nebraska. * * * Record: 7-4 Offensive yards per play: 5.7 (73rd nationally) Defensive yards per play: 5.0 (34th) Turnover margin: +11 (T-8th) Penalty yards per game: 29.7 (3rd) New Big Ten, same Iowa. The Hawkeyes have continued to play solid football in Kirk Ferentz's 26th season at the helm, hanging their hat on playing defense and running the football. They lost to the two currently ranked teams they've played and had a couple unexpected road shortcomings, but remain 5-1 at home with a number of decisive victories in conference play. Type: Run-heavy Coordinator: Tim Lester Letting go of Brian Ferentz and bringing in Lester in the offseason has paid dividends for the Hawkeyes already. The Iowa offense has returned to being a respectable unit, its 29.4 points per game ranking 55th nationally. Even with inconsistent health and quality at quarterback, an outstanding ground game has helped lead the team to some blowout wins. Type: 4-2-5 Coordinator: Phil Parker After fielding top-five units the past two years, Parker's defense has seen a slight drop. The Hawkeyes allow 17.7 points per game, fifth in the Big Ten and 12th nationally. Of course, that's still a pretty good number from the accomplished Iowa coordinator, but Michigan State and UCLA were able to break through enough for wins despite not having inspiring offensive attacks. Kaleb Johnson, running back: The nation's second-leading rusher behind Boise State's Ashton Jeanty, no Big Ten back has been in the same realm of total production as Johnson has in 2024. He's already broken Iowa's single-season rushing touchdown record and is third on the program's list for yards on the ground in a season. Jay Higgins, linebacker: Leads Iowa in total tackles (106), interceptions (4) and forced fumbles (2), while ranking third on the team in pass breakups (5). The fifth-year linebacker has done a bit of everything for the Hawkeyes. "Their players are waving at our guys — ‘Hey, have a good Christmas!’ — that was painful. That was really painful. So I don’t doubt that our guys will be ready. But their guys will be ready. It really just comes down to football." — Nebraska coach Matt Rhule on the team's loss to Iowa in 2023 "This back is fantastic, he makes people miss, and he can burst and go the distance... [Iowa's] doing a really good job, and they’ve run some people off the field just by running the football down their throat." — Nebraska coach Matt Rhule on Iowa's run game "First start as our quarterback... He played with a lot of poise, good awareness out there, made the plays we were hoping we'd make and made good decisions most importantly and protected the football." — Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz on quarterback Jackson Stratton's performance against Maryland 227: Pass attempts by Iowa this year, the least in the Big Ten. Michigan is next with 50 more. 14: Iowa's increase in points per game from last season to this one — from 15.4 to 29.4. 24: Punts downed inside the opponent's 20-yard line by Iowa, the most in the Big Ten. Aug. 31 Illinois State, W 40-0 Sept. 7 Iowa State, L 20-19 Sept. 14 Troy, W 38-21 Sept. 21 at Minnesota, W 31-14 Oct. 5 at Ohio State, L 35-7 Oct. 12 Washington, W 40-16 Oct. 19 at Michigan State, L 32-20 Oct. 26 Northwestern, W 40-14 Nov. 2 Wisconsin, W 42-10 Nov. 8 at UCLA, L 20-17 Nov. 23 at Maryland, W 29-13 Nov. 29 Nebraska Get local news delivered to your inbox!
It’s a daunting reality for Democrats: Republican Donald Trump's support has grown broadly since he last sought the presidency. In his defeat of Democrat Kamala Harris , Trump won a bigger percentage of the vote in each one of the 50 states, and Washington, D.C., than he did four years ago. He won more actual votes than in 2020 in 40 states, according to an Associated Press analysis. Certainly, Harris’ more than 7 million vote decline from President Joe Biden’s 2020 total was a factor in her loss, especially in swing-state metropolitan areas that have been the party’s winning electoral strongholds. But, despite national turnout that was lower than in the high-enthusiasm 2020 election, Trump received 2.5 million more votes than he did four years ago. He swept the seven most competitive states to win a convincing Electoral College victory, becoming the first Republican nominee in 20 years to win a majority of the popular vote. Trump cut into places where Harris needed to overperform to win a close election. Now Democrats are weighing how to regain traction ahead of the midterm elections in two years, when control of Congress will again be up for grabs and dozens of governors elected. There were some notable pieces to how Trump's victory came together: Though Trump improved across the map, his gains were particularly noteworthy in urban counties home to the cities of Detroit, Milwaukee and Philadelphia, electoral engines that stalled for Harris in industrial swing states Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Harris fell more than 50,000 votes — and 5 percentage points — short of Biden's total in Wayne County, Michigan, which makes up the lion's share of the Detroit metro area. She was almost 36,000 votes off Biden's mark in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, and about 1,000 short in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. It wasn't only Harris' shortfall that helped Trump carry the states, a trio that Democrats had collectively carried in six of the seven previous elections before Nov. 5. Trump added to his 2020 totals in all three metro counties, netting more than 24,000 votes in Wayne County, more than 11,000 in Philadelphia County and almost 4,000 in Milwaukee County. It’s not yet possible to determine whether Harris fell short of Biden’s performance because Biden voters stayed home or switched their vote to Trump — or how some combination of the two produced the rightward drift evident in each of these states. Harris advertised heavily and campaigned regularly in each, and made Milwaukee County her first stop as a candidate with a rally in July. These swings alone were not the difference in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, but her weaker performance than Biden across the three metros helped Trump, who held on to big 2020 margins in the three states' broad rural areas and improved or held steady in populous suburbs. Trump's team and outside groups supporting him knew from their data that he was making inroads with Black voters, particularly Black men younger than 50, more concentrated in these urban areas that have been key to Democratic victories. When James Blair, Trump's political director, saw results coming in from Philadelphia on election night, he knew Trump had cut into the more predominantly Black precincts, a gain that would echo in Wayne and Milwaukee counties. “The data made clear there was an opportunity there,” Blair said. AP VoteCast, a nationwide survey of more than 120,000 voters, found Trump won a larger share of Black and Latino voters than he did in 2020, and most notably among men under age 45. Democrats won Senate races in Michigan and Wisconsin but lost in Pennsylvania. In 2026, they will be defending governorships in all three states and a Senate seat in Michigan. Despite the burst of enthusiasm Harris' candidacy created among the Democratic base when she entered the race in July, she ended up receiving fewer votes than Biden in three of the seven states where she campaigned almost exclusively. In Arizona, she received about 90,000 fewer votes than Biden. She received about 67,000 fewer in Michigan and 39,000 fewer in Pennsylvania. In four others — Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Wisconsin — Harris won more votes than Biden did. But Trump's support grew by more — in some states, significantly more. That dynamic is glaring in Georgia, where Harris received almost 73,000 more votes than Biden did when he very narrowly carried the state. But Trump added more than 200,000 to his 2020 total, en route to winning Georgia by roughly 2 percentage points. In Wisconsin, Trump's team reacted to slippage it saw in GOP-leaning counties in suburban Milwaukee by targeting once-Democratic-leaning, working-class areas, where Trump made notable gains. In the three largest suburban Milwaukee counties — Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha — which have formed the backbone of GOP victories for decades, Harris performed better than Biden did in 2020. She also gained more votes than Trump gained over 2020, though he still won the counties. That made Trump's focus on Rock County, a blue-collar area in south central Wisconsin, critical. Trump received 3,084 more votes in Rock County, home of the former automotive manufacturing city of Janesville, than he did in 2020, while Harris underperformed Biden's 2020 total by seven votes. That helped Trump offset Harris' improvement in Milwaukee's suburbs. The focus speaks to the strength Trump has had and continued to grow with middle-income, non-college educated voters, the Trump campaign's senior data analyst Tim Saler said. “If you're going to have to lean into working-class voters, they are particularly strong in Wisconsin,” Saler said. “We saw huge shifts from 2020 to 2024 in our favor.” Of the seven most competitive states, Arizona saw the smallest increase in the number of votes cast in the presidential contest — slightly more than 4,000 votes, in a state with more than 3.3 million ballots cast. That was despite nearly 30 campaign visits to Arizona by Trump, Harris and their running mates and more than $432 million spent on advertising by the campaigns and allied outside groups, according to the ad-monitoring firm AdImpact. Arizona, alone of the seven swing states, saw Harris fall short of Biden across small, midsize and large counties. In the other six states, she was able to hold on in at least one of these categories. Even more telling, it is also the only swing state where Trump improved his margin in every single county. While turnout in Maricopa County, Arizona's most populous as the home to Phoenix, dipped slightly from 2020 — by 14,199 votes, a tiny change in a county where more than 2 million people voted — Trump gained almost 56,000 more votes than four years ago. Meanwhile, Harris fell more than 60,000 votes short of Biden's total, contributing to a shift significant enough to swing the county and state to Trump, who lost Arizona by fewer than 11,000 votes in 2020. The biggest leaps to the right weren't taking place exclusively among Republican-leaning counties, but also among the most Democratic-leaning counties in the states. Michigan's Wayne County swung 9 points toward Trump, tying the more Republican-leaning Antrim County for the largest movement in the state. AP VoteCast found that voters were most likely to say the economy was the most important issue facing the country in 2024, followed by immigration. Trump supporters were more motivated by economic issues and immigration than Harris', the survey showed. “It’s still all about the economy," said North Carolina Democratic strategist Morgan Jackson, a senior adviser to Democrat Josh Stein, who won North Carolina’s governorship on Nov. 5 as Trump also carried the state. “Democrats have to embrace an economic message that actually works for real people and talk about it in the kind of terms that people get, rather than giving them a dissertation of economic policy,” he said. Governor’s elections in 2026 give Democrats a chance to test their understanding and messaging on the issue, said Democratic pollster Margie Omero, whose firm has advised Wisconsin’s Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in the past and winning Arizona Senate candidate Ruben Gallego this year. “So there’s an opportunity to really make sure people, who governors have a connection to, are feeling some specificity and clarity with the Democratic economic message,” Omero said. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Get local news delivered to your inbox!
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle plan to 'fight deportation' in battle with Donald TrumpShares of omni-channel retailer Kohl’s ($KSS) tumbled over 16% on Tuesday after the firm’s third-quarter earnings fell short of Wall Street estimates, hurt by weak sales in apparel and footwear businesses. Net sales decreased 8.8% year-over-year (YoY) to $3.5 billion, missing an analyst estimate of $3.65 billion. Earnings per share came in at $0.20 versus an estimate of $0.31. Net income fell 63% YoY to $22 million during the quarter. CEO Tom Kingsbury said although the firm had a strong collective performance across its key growth areas, including Sephora, home decor, gifting, and impulse, and also benefited from the opening of Babies “R” Us shops in 200 stores, these were unable to offset the declines in the core business. “We are not satisfied with our performance in 2024 and are taking aggressive action to reverse the sales declines. We must execute at a higher level and ensure we are putting the customer first in everything we do. We are approaching our financial outlook for the year more conservatively given the third quarter underperformance and our expectation for a highly competitive holiday season,” Kingsbury continued. The company lowered its guidance for the full-year, now expecting net sales to decline 7% to 8% compared to an earlier guidance of a decrease of 4% to 6%. Comparable sales are expected to decrease 6%-7% versus an earlier forecast of 3%-5%. Kohl’s also brought down its earnings expectations and now see diluted EPS in the range of $1.20 to $1.50 compared to a previous forecast of $1.75 to $2.25. Despite the disappointing earnings and guidance, retail sentiment on Stocktwits jumped into the ‘extremely bullish’ territory (93/100), accompanied by significant retail chatter. The upbeat retail sentiment follows the company announcing its leadership transition. CEO Tom Kingsbury will be stepping down on Jan. 15, with retail veteran Ashley Buchanan taking over the firm’s reins. Kingsbury will stay on in an advisory role to the new chief executive and will retain his position on the board through his retirement in May 2025, after which the size of the board will be reduced by one. This is reportedly the firm’s third CEO since 2018. Buchanan has been the CEO and President of Michaels Companies since 2020 and prior to that, has held various executive roles at Walmart, Sam's Club, Dell and Accenture. Meanwhile, shares of Kohl’s have lost over 45% on a year-to-date basis. For updates and corrections email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com. Cover Five: What to make of wild week around Nebraska football, and 5 biggest impact signees Georgia pro-EU protesters defiant as thousands rally for 11th day Cancer – (21st June to 22nd July) Daily Horoscope Prediction says, Consider new opportunities to grow The sincerity in the love life will bring in good results. Do not compromise on principles in the professional life. Normal health is good along with finance. The love relationship will be joyous today, and at the office, you’ll receive opportunities to grow. Handle wealth diligently today. Consider a balanced professional and personal life. Cancer Love Horoscope Today Be fair in love today. Minor issues may come up but they won’t be serious. Handle them diligently. Some females may prefer spending more time with their lover. Do not get into arguments and also ensure you both indulge in activities that are exciting. Single Cancer females may get a proposal from someone whom they have known for a long time. This may be a surprise but the love life will get stronger with time. Marriage is also in the cards. Cancer Career Horoscope Today Continue the discipline at work. There may be work pressure in the office but you will be able to overcome it and would succeed in accomplishing projects, winning accolades. Students will clear examinations while entrepreneurs will be successful in gaining new contracts. If you are keen to start a partnership, pick the day as you will see good results sooner. Those of you who have been working closely in self-employment will earn good returns today. Cancer Money Horoscope Today There will be prosperity but ensure you have control over the expenditure. Some females will inherit a part of the family property while previous investments may not give the expected results. Be careful about monetary investments including speculative business and stock. However, a mutual fund is the safe option today. Resolve all financial issues with the siblings. Those who want to settle a financial dispute can pick the first part of the day. Cancer Health Horoscope Today Do not compromise on health. Start the day early with exercise and also have a balanced diet rich in proteins and nutrients. Those who have diabetes or liver-related ailments need to be careful in the second part of the day. Senior natives must also ensure that all medicines are taken on time. Be careful while taking part in adventure sports including mountain biking and hiking. Cancer Sign Attributes Strength: Intuitive, Practical, Kind, Energetic, Artsy, Dedicated, Benevolent, Caring Weakness: Insatiable, Possessive, Prudish Symbol: Crab Element: Water Body Part: Stomach & Breast Sign Ruler: Moon Lucky Day: Monday Lucky Color: White Lucky Number: 2 Lucky Stone: Pearl Cancer Sign Compatibility Chart Natural affinity: Taurus, Virgo, Scorpio, Pisces Good compatibility: Cancer, Capricorn Fair compatibility: Gemini, Leo, Sagittarius, Aquarius Less compatibility: Aries, Libra By: Dr. J. N. Pandey Vedic Astrology & Vastu Expert Website: www.astrologerjnpandey.com E-mail: djnpandey@gmail.com Phone: 91-9811107060 (WhatsApp Only)There’s only one more episode of as we know it remaining. The currently airing season 5B was announced to be the final season in the Paramount Network flagship series. But since then, with fan-favorite stars and has been in talks, leaving the state of TV’s No. 1 series up in the air. But if one thing is for certain, next week is sure to define the legacy of the Yellowstone ranch at the heart of the show. Related Stories The penultimate episode that aired on Sunday, “Give the World Away,” was written by co-creator and directed by executive producer Michael Friedman. The , who recurs on the series as Texas horse trainer Travis. This week, Sheridan returned as Travis when he received a visit from Beth Dutton (Reilly) at his Texas ranch (which was filmed at Sheridan’s real-life Bosque Ranch). Beth wants to ensure that Travis is doing right by the Yellowstone, and the visit from the daughter of (departed star ) brings viewers into Travis’ world where he hosts strip poker games that include his girlfriend, played by guest star , shows off his horse-riding prowess and, in the end, delivers Beth and the Yellowstone the big, fat check the struggling ranch needed. “It was wonderful to see Taylor have fun in a way that is such an incorporation of life imitating, art imitating life in terms of it being shot in a place that he has built,” executive producer Christina Voros, who directed the four earlier episodes of season 5B, tells of the visit to Bosque Ranch. Voros also adds that Hadid, who now lives in Texas, was the only person eyed for the role to play his onscreen girlfriend. “[Taylor is] known as this writer of these great American Western TV sagas, but he’s also a cowboy and a tremendous horseman, and spends as much time doing that part of his personality and his life as he does writing the stories about that.” Below in a chat with , Voros talks more about Sheridan’s onscreen cowboy sendoff, reveals how they filmed those huge Yellowstone ranch scenes while avoiding any big spoilers leaking, and unpacks the Dutton family chess moves made this episode to tease how they will come together in the end: “It all makes sense looking backwards. But looking forward, you never would have seen it coming.” *** I was there a lot, mostly because we were getting so close to the end and everyone wanted to be there as much as possible. Michael Friedman is a dear friend and a tremendous director; he’s been part of Taylor [Sheridan]’s close, creative family from the very beginning. He’s been involved in the show since the first season and has been a producer and post-production guru/storyteller through all of Taylor’s shows. He started producing this past year on [Sheridan shows] and , and then did this episode of . It was such a wonderful homecoming to have him directing since he’s been part of the show’s DNA from the very beginning. It was a little hectic [for me when filming], because we were cross-boarding. Because I had directed the first four episodes, I hadn’t had any time to get ahead of stuff that was coming because we didn’t really shoot things in order; Michael did this episode, and then we still had parts of episodes 509, 510 and 511 that we still had to shoot. So I was able to use this as a little bit of prep time but I wanted to be on set as much as possible, partially because it was such a wonderful, full-circle moment with Michael and also because it’s such a magnificent centerpiece of the season. The elements of [this episode] 513 are everything that draws people to . It’s big, it’s cinematic. It’s horses. It’s emotion. It’s all of the poetry that the show has become known for really beautifully showcased. This was one of the big examples. There are elements throughout the season, like in Jamie’s [ ] world where there are press conferences where that also came into play. But yes, this was the biggest swing we took at asking: How do we bring in all the wonderful background performers that we really need to be able to tell these stories, and how do we do it in a way where no one is going home at night and accidentally let it slip about something they saw on set? So Michael and his first AD on the episode, Kristina Massie, did a really remarkable job in terms of finding the ways to divert the attention of folks who were coming in for background, and it had more to do with strategy in how it was shot. They were very smart about what absolutely had to be done in front of hundreds of extras and what could be shot in such a way where, when it’s cut together, it would feel like all of those people were there, but in fact, at that moment, they were not. This is probably the shining example of the lengths that everyone went through, and Michael and Kristina making sure that the secrets to the story stayed locked. That had to do with what the production sound sounds like in the show versus what it sounded like when it was being recorded, and not allowing the extras to hear everything that was being said. I believe there was also an alternate script that was used in some of the wider shots that was absent of information. Then in the closer coverage, they recorded the real track. For Colby’s, we called it “Colby’s arrival.” And for Sarah’s, it was “Sarah arrives.” We continued working with the term “arrival,” because it’s so innocuous that you could read it on a call sheet and no one would ever think that there was anything wrong. In the show, Travis runs Bosque Ranch, which is Taylor’s ranch in Weatherford, Texas. I actually wasn’t there when they filmed those scenes. A couple of those scenes were the very last scenes [filmed] of the show. They were shot in August and I was already prepping on [the ]. But as far as the role of Travis, it was wonderful to see Taylor — again, in a full-circle moment — have fun in a way that is such an incorporation of life imitating, art imitating life in terms of it being shot in a place that he has built. He’s known as this writer of these great American Western TV sagas, but he’s also a cowboy and a tremendous horseman, and spends as much time doing that part of his personality and his life as he does writing the stories about that. So it was kind of wonderful to see the collision of the fictional world he’s created with the actual world he’s created as himself and as a man and as a horseman. To see those two things braided together was really fun. It all comes back to his sort of obsessions with authenticity. You can’t teach an actor to get on a horse and do magnificent things on horseback. He’s a firm believer that there are more cowboys who can act than there are actors who can cowboy. So he’s given roles to so many people. You see it in the Four Sixes work [on ]: Dusty Burson is a tremendous cowboy and a pretty decent actor; Kory Pounds is an incredible cowboy, and a pretty decent actor! He’s done this with my husband [Jason Owen], who has been a wrangler on the show for many years. Taylor gave him a part as a detective — he’s the sidekick to the main detective. So he is the detective in the opening of the who shows Kayce (Luke Grimes) where John Dutton (Kevin Costner) has been shot. One of the consistent things about Taylor is that he understands how fun it is to be a part of something like this. I think he’s looking for opportunities to bring on some of these cowboys because they are who they are, and you can’t get more authentic than that. But it’s also really fun to say, “Let’s give [ actor] Cole Palfreyman, another one of the wranglers and horseman that Taylor has worked with for years, a part on [Sheridan’s Paramount+ series] .” He does that a lot. I remember back in season four during COVID, there were a lot of crew members he gave parts to. My key grip for years, Craig Sullivan, was cast as a glass repair guy. He’s done it from the very beginning and I think in an episode like this, there’s even more reason to cast the people you know as horsemen as horsemen. All I know is that when that part was cast it wasn’t like there were casting teams. By the time I knew it was cast, we knew it was her. So I don’t know when that decision was made, but again, it goes back to sort of keeping it in this family. She was great, and also could not be a lovelier human being. You bring in someone who is a celebrity in their own right and sometimes you are just floored with how marvelously kind and down to earth they really are, and she was really that. That’s a hard question, because the story is the story and the scripts are the scripts. I think one of the things Taylor does, and has done from the beginning of the show, is that there are issues with characters and thoughts that come up and whether they are red herrings or whether they are part of a shorter storytelling element versus a longer one, it happens organically. Going from season to season, the writing comes through him and out onto the page. It’s not something that has been strategically plotted out on Excel spreadsheets from the beginning. So I think every season what the story is and what the threat is and what the drama is, is coming out of the characters themselves as he writes him. This season is not about Jamie as a father; this season is about Jamie as a son. Jamie is usually the smartest guy in the room, and I think he has succeeded in staying afloat through all of these ups and downs, and potential near-finalities of his life as a politician, by the insight of, in many cases, the women around him. The people who have believed in him at times when he hasn’t believed in himself. But ultimately, he is a master spokesperson. He is a master at rhetoric. Once he knows what to run with, he’s very good at spinning that web, and he’s always been good at spinning that web. So I think what you see here is an example of finding that lifeline and spinning something very elaborate out of it that may give him the room to pull himself from a place that we didn’t think he had a lifeline from. This hasn’t historically been a show about happy endings ( ), but also, Taylor has taken and he has turned it into an intergenerational story. There are complexities that exist by virtue of doing that that I think make the world of the Dutton story so much richer and more interesting. ( ) I think it’s hard to say how much to read into it because there are so many threads dangled between these worlds that one could follow the path of. So I think the context of , within the historical saga that Taylor has been creating, is sort of the centerpiece. But the storylines are extending from it in many different ways. You many have stumped me! I think what you are feeling about it all seeming to happen so fast and how we’re at the final episode is testament to how many different ways things could go. I also think it’s testament to how much there is to wait for in the finale. Crafting a final episode to a six-season arc is something really difficult to do, and I think what people have to look forward to, in some ways, is that as much ground is covered in the finale as it has been the moments leading up to it. It has that kind of weight and complexity that a story like this deserves to go out with. I was surprised and I didn’t see it coming. I may have said this in one of our earlier interviews, but I think the conclusion to any great story is both surprising and inevitable, but you don’t realize it was inevitable until you get there. It all makes sense looking backward. But looking forward, you never would have seen it coming. That’s the magic place in storytelling and I think Taylor has done that with the finale. When I read the script, it took my breath away. And I’m someone who has been living in this world since season one. I know the characters intimately, I know the creator well, I know the story better than any story in my life, and I was sort of kicking myself that I didn’t see it coming. But, I didn’t see it coming. Let’s talk about Luke for a second. Because I think you are right: I think this season for him was magnificent. I think what Taylor wrote for him was magnificent, but I also think that Kayce has been the quiet hero in his father’s shadows from the very beginning. And there’s something that’s happened this season, that we talked about earlier, where in the absence of the patriarch everyone has to step up. And in the absence of Kevin [Costner], the rest of the cast really had a large stage to fill, and they did such a phenomenal job stepping in to fill that space, and Luke especially. So much was weighed on his shoulders this season ,and to be able to step into that and carry the story and the legacy in the way that he has, it’s been beautiful to watch. The burden from a performance standpoint that he has shouldered — he has done it so deftly and effortlessly — it’s a profound, profound performance from him this season and I love that people are in love with where his character has gone this season, because I am too. You’re going to have to watch next week. *** Yellowstone This story was published as part of Billboard’s music technology newsletter ‘Machine Learnings.’ Sign up for ‘Machine Learnings,’ and Billboard’s other newsletters, here . Let’s get the news out of the way: on Monday (Nov. 24) Drake initiated legal action against Universal Music Group — the parent company of his record label — and Spotify over allegations that the two companies conspired to artificially inflate the popularity of Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us.” This, he says, was done through a variety of allegedly illegal promotional methods, like UMG — which also is the parent company to Kendrick’s label — accepting a royalty reduction in exchange for boosting streams; payola via independent radio promotions; and paid but undisclosed influencer campaigns. (For their part, Universal called these claims “ offensive and untrue .”) Longtime readers of Machine Learnings know that most of the topics presented in Drake’s case are ones we’ve covered extensively in this newsletter. I don’t take the issues of streaming fraud and shady digital marketing tactics lightly, and if these allegations are true, it would be a bombshell that one of the world’s biggest artists called out the world’s largest music company for partaking in it. (And trust me, I’d be all over reporting that!) But while Drake’s allegations could still hold some merit, this particular court document seems to be backed up with questionable evidence and — it seems — some level of misunderstanding about the way music promotion works today. So let’s break it down. Here are a few key quotes from Monday’s court document, with commentary. “In his memo to staff reflecting on the highlights of 2021, the CEO of UMG, Lucian Grainge, remarked on it being ‘harder than ever for artists to break through the noise: sixty thousand songs are added to Spotify every day. ’” Maybe I’m splitting hairs by pointing this out, but I find this to be a strange way to begin laying out these allegations. Why are they citing highlights from 2021 when we get updates every year about how many songs are added to Spotify on a daily basis? It would have been far more effective to start by including the 2023 stat: 120,000 songs are uploaded to Spotify each day, according to Luminate. Or, if they want to keep the quote from Grainge in, why not tack that current number on to the end? Throughout this document, it seems like Drake’s team is missing key, up-to-date information on the ways songs are released and marketed today. This is surprising, given Drake is one of the most successful artists in the world and one who often makes savvy marketing and business decisions. One of those marketing tactics that immediately comes to mind is when Drake graced the cover of a ton of Spotify playlists during the release of his album Scorpion in 2018 to raise awareness, and streams, for the project. It was so over the top that Billboard reported at the time that some fans were calling for Spotify to provide refunds because they were seeing too much Drake. “On information and belief, UMG charged Spotify licensing rates 30 percent lower than its usual licensing rates for “Not Like Us” in exchange for Spotify affirmatively recommending the Song to users who are searching for other unrelated songs and artists. Neither UMG nor Spotify disclosed that Spotify had received compensation of any kind in exchange for recommending the Song.” Rather than some nefarious back room deal, this sounds like Drake’s lawyers are referring to Spotify’s Discovery Mode feature , which is used by a wide array of labels and artists and is practically never disclosed. According to an article from Spotify’s support team, artists who want a song to receive an additional algorithmic boost on the platform can opt in to Discovery Mode which “doesn’t require an upfront budget” and instead takes a “30% commission... to recording royalties generated from all streams of selected songs in Discovery Mode contexts.” When Spotify debuted this feature in November 2020, it immediately drew controversy. In June 2021 , Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Hank Johnson Jr. (D-GA) sent a letter to Spotify’s CEO/founder Daniel Ek voicing worries that the feature “may set in motion a ‘race to the bottom’ in which artists and labels feel compelled to accept lower royalties as a necessary way to break through an extremely crowded and competitive music environment.” Again, in March 2022 , Reps. Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY), Judy Chu (D-CA) and Tony Cardenas (D-CA) — co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Multicultural Media — expressed concerns that Discovery Mode “lack[ed] transparency” for both artists and consumers. The representatives then asked the company to publish “on a monthly basis the name of every track enrolled in the program” and the agreed-upon discounted royalty rate for each, calling Discovery Mode “a serious risk for musicians.” That said, it’s not clear if “Not Like Us” was part of Spotify’s Discovery Mode program, and historically, Universal Music Group has not been known to use the feature for any of its frontline releases — including any Kendrick Lamar or Drake songs. “UMG, directly or through Interscope, also conspired with and paid currently unknown parties to use ‘bots’ to artificially inflate the spread of ‘Not Like Us’ and deceive consumers into believing the Song was more popular than it was in reality... One individual unknown to Petitioner revealed publicly on a popular podcast that Mr. Kendrick Lamar Duckworth’s ‘label’ (i.e., Interscope) paid him via third parties to use ‘bots’ to achieve 30,000,000 streams on Spotify in the first days of the release of ‘Not Like Us’” If this is true, this is streaming fraud and would be a serious offense. Just a few months ago, a man named Michael Anthony Smith was indicted by federal prosecutors on charges of wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy for allegedly using bots to boost the streams of his catalog and to help him siphon $10 million out of the royalty pool. But the evidence here is sketchy. Drake’s lawyers admit that the “individual” who was allegedly solicited to artificially drive up Kendrick’s streams is “unknown to [Drake]” but that this anonymous person went on DJ Akademiks ’ podcast to talk about this alleged scheme. DJ Akademiks is a podcaster who is known to be close with Drake, and he has played a significant role in backing up Drake during the beef earlier this year . Even if this ended up being true, which seems like a stretch, it feels quite biased. “While historically payola has been thought of in terms of paying radio stations to play songs, in February 2020, the Federal Trade Commission released guidance stating that ‘by paying an influencer to pretend that their endorsement or review is untainted by a financial relationship, this is illegal payola.’ On information and belief, UMG employed a similar scheme by paying social media influencers to promote and endorse the Song and Video. For example, Petitioner understands that UMG paid the popular NFR Podcast — which has nearly 300,000 subscribers on YouTube and over 330,000 followers on X — to promote ‘Not Like Us’” Drake’s team is citing a quote from February 2020 by the FTC that has been removed from the agency’s website. I do not know if that means it is no longer their current rule, or if there was another reason. What I do know is that just a few months ago, I wrote a story on the topic of influencers receiving undisclosed payments to play songs in the background of TikTok videos. I went into the reporting believing, as Drake’s team seems to, that this was definitely against FTC guidelines, but the FTC told me that wasn’t necessarily the case. “While we can’t comment on any particular example, that practice seems somewhat analogous to a product placement,” the FTC told me. “When there are songs playing in the backgrounds of videos, there are no objective claims made about the songs. The video creator may be communicating implicitly that they like the song, but viewers can judge the song themselves when they listen to it playing in the video. For these reasons, it may not be necessary for a video to disclose that the content creator was compensated for using a particular song in the background in the video.” Some of the examples from NFR that Drake cites here are not exactly the same type of pay-to-play content I researched for my story, but I could see these examples being acceptable by the FTC based on what they told me. One example of UMG’s alleged influencer payola cited by Drake’s lawyers was a tweet by NFR that says that Kendrick Lamar’s new music video was released. Another was NFR saying “Kids rapping Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ word for word at a birthday party.” Another: “Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ becomes the FASTEST rap song to reach 300M Spotify streams.” All three of these examples are objective statements about one of the biggest artists in the world. Referring back to the statement I got from the FTC, “There are no objective claims made about the songs...viewers can judge the songs themselves.” (I say all this while also acknowledging that some of the other examples listed might be in more of a gray area with the FTC). The practice of paying influencers to post about new songs is nothing new, and one major label marketer told me he estimated “75% of popular songs on TikTok started with a creator marketing campaign.” According to digital marketing experts, influencer campaigns have been the go-to marketing strategy at every major label since TikTok took off in 2020. With that in mind, it is hard for me to imagine that Drake’s team has never run a similar campaign for any of his own viral hits, which would undermine his entire argument. “Streaming and licensing is a zero-sum game. Every time a song ‘breaks through,’ it means another artist does not. UMG’s choice to saturate the music market with ‘Not Like Us’ comes at the expense of its other artists, like Drake. As Drake is Petitioner’s sole owner, and Petitioner owns the copyright to Drake’s entire catalogue, Petitioner suffered economic harm as a result of UMG’s scheme.” I find this to be a strange claim — that if Kendrick’s song streams well it directly takes away from Drake or other artists. It feels like a stretch to blame Kendrick for other artists not succeeding with their songs at the same time. I imagine Drake faced more “economic harm” from the reputational damage this song did to him (by calling him a “pedophile”) than it did by being a “zero-sum” streaming game. Plus, with UMG the parent company distributing both artists — and thus making money from their success — it makes no business sense for them to be deliberately harming his career and prospects. This zero-sum claim seems to be what he’s getting at in his second legal filing , released Tuesday (Nov. 26). In it, he claims UMG should have stopped Kendrick from releasing a song with “false” claims that defamed his character. “UMG ... could have refused to release or distribute the song or required the offending material to be edited and/or removed,” Drake’s lawyers write in the court document. “But UMG chose to do the opposite. UMG designed, financed and then executed a plan to turn ‘Not Like Us’ into a viral mega-hit with the intent of using the spectacle of harm to Drake and his businesses to drive consumer hysteria and, of course, massive revenues. That plan succeeded, likely beyond UMG’s wildest expectations.” By saying this, Drake is essentially advocating for labels to censor their artists, which is a very slippery slope — I’d wager most people would find it troublesome if a billion-dollar corporation started preemptively censoring art. Not to mention, Drake has levied plenty of his own unsubstantiated claims against Kendrick this year, most notably on also-UMG-released diss track “Family Matters.” The hip-hop industry has fought for years to remind the judicial system in the U.S. that not everything a rapper says in a song is a cold hard fact, and it should not be used as evidence against a rapper in a criminal sense. As top music attorney Dina Lapolt once put it to Variety , “[these] attempts to put all rap lyrics into the categories of historical fact and fiction [are] failing to understand that hip-hop, like most art, is more complex than that... lyrics are not to be taken literally.” CA duped of ₹22 lakhs in online share trading scam Exes Gisele Bündchen and Tom Brady are kicking off their son Benjamin Brady 's birthday celebration with heartwarming messages. The former couple relayed their well-wishes alongside throwback photos of the teen on social media Dec. 8, the day he turned 15. "Happy birthday to the sweetest and funniest boy on earth," Gisele wrote on her Instagram Stories. "You have the biggest heart and it's amazing to see you grow into an incredible young man." The supermodel, who is pregnant with her third child and first with boyfriend Joaquim Valente , shared pics of herself hugging Benjamin alongside a lake and a pic of the boy fishing. Alongside an image of the two holding a chicken together, the 44-year-old added in Portuguese, "I love you lots." On his Instagram , Tom led a birthday tribute carousel to Benjamin with a pic of the two with the retired NFL icon's eldest son John "Jack" Edward Thomas Moynahan , 17—who he shares with ex Bridget Moynahan —at one of Taylor Swift ’s Eras Tour concerts in October. "Happy Birthday Benny!" the seven-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback wrote. "I'm so proud of the young man you are... You’re a student, artist, athlete, musician, and teammate... but most of all you’re the best brother and son anyone could ask for. You pour so much into everything you do, and it shows in the way you inspire others around you." Tom thanked Benjamin "for always making us laugh.... Even when you’re not supposed to!" He added, "I can’t wait to see all the great things you’ll continue to achieve. Dad loves you sooooooooo much!" The 47-year-old also included in his post a photo of Benjamin with his and Gisele's daughter Vivian Brady , who turned 12 three days earlier. The former couple, who divorced in 2022 , had also shared tributes to their daughter on social media . Several days before Vivian's birthday, Gisele had shared pics from her babymoon with Joaquim in Costa Rica . While neither has publicly addressed her pregnancy, she been open about her motherhood and coparenting journeys. Her and Tom's children, Gisele said, get to enjoy " two different worlds ." "Tom has to have time with them, and I have time with them," she explained to Robin Roberts during an Impact x Nightline special in March, "which I think is amazing because they get to really experience more enrichment for their lives." Look back at Tom and his kids' cutest family moments... Gisele Bündchen shared this family photo on Instagram on Tom Brady 's son Jack 's 14th birthday, writing, "Happy birthday Jack! We are all so lucky to have you in our lives. Thank you for being the best big brother in the world. We love you soooo much!" While wearing his Christopher Cloos x Brady sunglasses, Tom celebrates his Super Bowl win with daughter Vivian during the Tampa Bay Buccaneers boat parade. After winning his seventh Super Bowl, the Tampa Bay quarterback celebrated with his daughter Vivian. Tom snuggled with his kids John "Jack" Moynahan (with ex Bridget Moynahan ), Vivian and Benjamin in this adorable photo snapped by Gisele on Father's Day. Brady went from quarterback to coach with his son on the beach, writing on Instagram that he's "#dadsfavoriteworkoutpartner." Gisele shared this adorable photo on Instagram of Tom giving his son a kiss on the forehead. The whole Brady-bünch posed together at the Mercedes-Benz in Atlanta ahead of the Super Bowl LIII, which the Patriots later won . Tom lurked as Pennywise the Dancing Clown in a window behind his family as they celebrate Halloween in 2018. As Tom geared up for another football season, he stopped to give his daughter a little love and clearly this one has her dad's full attention. In July 2018, the Brady bunch headed out of town for a family vacation and they couldn't look any happier on their horseback riding adventure. Tom celebrated Father's Day with a family dinner and lots of silly photos with his younger son, Ben. There's nothing sweeter than seeing the greatest quarterback of all time (he has seven Super Bowl rings) get smothered in love by his three kids. Even though it was springtime, Tom bundled up with Ben for a fun day outside...complete with a little training. Tom Brady as the Easter bunny? Who would've guessed?! The super sweet family was all smiles during one of Brady's episodes of Tom vs. Time . After playing in another Super Bowl, Tom took a little break with his family, complete with burger time and selfies. Even though the Patriots lost the 2018 Super Bowl, Tom had his support squad ready and waiting to cheer him up. Ahead of Super Bowl LII, the Patriots QB posed for pictures with his whole family including Gisele and oldest son Jack, second-born Ben, and daughter Vivian. The New England Patriots quarterback showed his second oldest son a little love on his birthday in December of 2017, writing , "Happy Birthday to the sweetest 8 year old boy a mom and dad could ever ask for! So filled with love and joy! We are so proud of you Benny! And you shine a light that brightens our lives every day! We love you." Vivian was the ultimate sous chef as her dad made her biscuits before Thanksgiving and really, what can't Brady do? The dynamic duo of Tom and Ben spent a November day swinging in a hammock together and we really wish we had some R&R like this in our near future. Leave it to Tom to teach his son more than just football. The Brady crew rolled around in the grass and enjoyed spending time together in June 2017 and it really does look like they are having a blast. Who says you're too old to make funny faces? When the Patriots headed back to Boston for their parade celebration after their 2017 Super Bowl win, Tom brought Ben along for the ride making him the coolest dad around. Winning the Super Bowl in 2017 was great, but getting to celebrate with your daughter on the field is priceless. In 2017, Vivian gave her dad a big good luck kiss before he headed out for a game. Seriously, these two are so stinking cute. Tom's fans span near and far, but his biggest fans are his three kids and their "Brady" jerseys continually make us love them even more as a unit. Decorating the Christmas tree is twice as fun when you have your precious daughter helping you out...especially when she's dressed as a fairy! The football player loves to spend his off time with his adorable kiddos at the beach and we totally approve.As spotted by a Reddit user this weekend, Panic is now selling a macaroni yellow charging brick to go with the yellow cable that comes with the distinctively yellow Playdate. Say yellow again. The good news for anyone who wants a complete set of matching accessories is that it’s only $5 — the bad news is that shipping costs almost double that at its cheapest, so it’s kind of hard to justify buying on its own. AC Adapter $5 at Panic Also note that the 10W power adapter has a USB-A connection so it’ll work with your existing Playdate charging cable, but it’s otherwise kind of behind the times considering the general shift toward the USB-C connection. At the moment, Panic is only selling a version that’s compatible with the 2-prong plug type that’s standard in North America and Japan. It goes without saying that absolutely no one needs this — our Playdates have been charging just fine without it so far — but if you’re already on the site getting a pizza case now that they’re back in stock, then sure, go wild.