Sun: Withdraw or Die. Either One is OK With Me

Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter (into Agreements With Ye)

Adidas is being sued by investors who claim the firm knew about Kanye West's problematic behaviour years before it ended their partnership.

Investors allege Adidas failed to limit financial losses and take precautionary measures to minimise their exposure.

The sportswear giant ended its collaboration with the designer and rapper, who is known as Ye, last year following antisemitic comments.

In response, Adidas said: "We outright reject these unfounded claims."

It added it "will take all necessary measures to vigorously defend ourselves against them".

West is not party to the lawsuit. The rapper designed a line of hugely successful trainers under the Yeezy brand for Adidas.

Abandon Meat, All Ye Who Enter

Ye ran his private Christian school with all kinds of peculiar rules, including providing only sushi for lunch and not having classes on the second floor because he was "afraid of stairs," two former teachers said Thursday.

The teachers made the allegations in a lawsuit Los Angeles County Superior Court, claiming they were wrongfully terminated by Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, from his now-shuttered Donda Academy in Simi Valley.

In addition to the employment allegations, plaintiffs Cecilia Hailey and Chekarey Byers painted a troubling picture of life inside Donda Academy.

School doors were locked from the outside, lunches were always sushi, no forks or other utensils were allowed, students had to sit on the floor during lunch, no cleaning services or school nurses were employed, and medications on campus either were unsecured or had expired, the plaintiffs said.

All classes were on the first floor because “he was reportedly afraid of stairs,” according to the civil complaint.

Laying the Wood

Headlining the after-dinner entertainment was Daily Show correspondent Roy Wood Jr, who gleefully mocked Biden, 80, for running for a second term, which could mean Biden would still be president at age 86.

Wood noted recent angry protests in France against raising the retirement age.

“They rioted because they didn’t want to work until 64. Meanwhile, in America, we have an 80-year-old man begging us for four more years of work,” he joked.

Wood ripped on Clarence Thomas as he emphasized that billionaires like Crow “always come up with something new to buy.”

“This man bought a Supreme Court justice. Do you understand how rich you have to be to buy a Supreme — a Black one on top of that. There’s only two in stock and Harlan Crow owns half the inventory,” joked Wood.

This Would Be Entertaining if the Consequences Were Not so Dire

Republicans in the House seem content to play into Biden’s hands. Slashing popular federal programs and risking a default on government borrowing and the economic calamity that could occur are the kind of reckless politics that Biden would be happy to run against. White House officials and their outside allies have worked assiduously to shape this narrative throughout the early months of this year.

This puts House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in an increasingly difficult position. He managed to satisfy just enough Republicans in his conference to pass the debt and budget measure. Now he faces what will probably be a more difficult job of finding the formula to avoid default, extracting some concession from Biden and the Democrats who control the Senate, and then trying to sell that measure to his recalcitrant conference.

Another way to think about the ongoing debate is through the broader lens of the economy’s role in the 2024 election. The president wants the strongest possible economy in 2024. He needs that to bolster claims that he has been a careful and responsible steward in the face of various obstacles — and more successful at managing the economy than his predecessor.

This DIDN'T Happen This Week

CLAIM: Dr. Anthony Fauci “admitted” in a recent interview that face masks were a “failure.”

THE FACTS: Social media posts are misrepresenting what Fauci said about masks and COVID-19 and omitting part of his response. The nation’s former top infectious disease expert said mask initiatives may have a small impact at the community level, but in the following sentence he said he believes a properly worn, high-quality mask can be effective protection for an individual.
___
CLAIM: The maker of Bud Light is going bankrupt as it faces ongoing backlash over a marketing campaign featuring a transgender social media personality.

THE FACTS: A spokesperson for Anheuser-Busch InBev, the company behind Bud Light, said there’s “no truth” to the claim the beer maker is on the verge of financial ruin. Industry experts note the company remains financially sound, with billions of dollars in assets and a rising stock market price. Sales of Bud Light have ebbed in recent weeks, but not to the drastic level claimed by online critics.
__
CLAIM: A new law in Kansas authorizes genital inspections of children in order to play sports.

THE FACTS: The law, which bars transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports from kindergarten through college, doesn’t mention anything about genital inspections. It remains unclear how the law will be enforced in different age groups.
__

CLAIM: BlackRock has a substantial stake in both Dominion Voting Systems and Fox Corporation, so Dominion’s lawsuit against Fox was really BlackRock suing itself.

THE FACTS: While BlackRock does own non-voting shares in Fox Corporation, it doesn’t have any in Dominion Voting Systems, both the investment firm and the voting machine company confirmed. Posts are misrepresenting shares that BlackRock owns in an unrelated energy company also named Dominion. “

DeathSentence Finds London a Bit of a Sticky Wicket

The undeclared but likely contender for the GOP crown, Ron DeSantis, took a global road trip, ostensibly to promote Florida’s trade. In reality, he was attempting to burnish his statesman cred for an anticipated presidential campaign. It did not go well. After visiting Japan, South Korea, and Israel, Ron’s last stop was the UK.

British PM Rishi Sunak bailed on meeting Florida’s Governor, claiming he had a ‘previous engagement.’ Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch could not come up with an excuse in time, so they had the opportunity to see a truly grim politician up close.

The reports of the meeting were sparse and anodyne. A government official said Badenoch, a rising star in the Conservative Party, and DeSantis had a “fruitful” conversation and that the pair “got on well.” For anyone unfamiliar with British English, that translates as “nothing got done.”

Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis failed to impress British business chiefs at a high-profile London event Friday in a tired performance described variously as “horrendous,” “low-wattage” and “like the end of an overseas trip.”

One U.K. business figure said DeSantis “looked bored” and “stared at his feet” as he met with titans of British industry.

Who Goofed?  Well, You Did.

After the failure of Silicon Valley Bank in March, Senate Banking Committee member Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) asked on the Senate floor, “Where were the regulators?”

On Friday, the regulators responded ― with a reminder that Kennedy and other lawmakers told them to go easy on institutions like Silicon Valley Bank.

In a lengthy and highly anticipated report, the Federal Reserve accepted some blame for the bank’s failure, but also noted that thanks to a law Congress passed in 2018, “a shift in the stance of supervisory policy impeded effective supervision by reducing standards, increasing complexity, and promoting a less assertive supervisory approach.”

They Smell Bad and Are REALLY Loud. (I Am Not Talking About My Neighbors)

Your lawn may be the next climate change battleground. And parks. And playgrounds.

Regulators and clean-air advocates are increasingly eyeing the pollution emitted by small gasoline engines used to power lawn mowers and leaf blowers as they seek to blunt climate change. Advocates say using a commercial gas leaf blower for an hour produces emissions equal to driving from Denver to Los Angeles.

Among cities and states with bans or limits: California; Burlington, Vermont; Vancouver, Canada; and Washington, D.C.

While many critics first attacked the small engines for the noise they make, experts say these small, two-stroke engines release shockingly large amounts of pollution – two problems that modern and increasingly affordable electric-powered equipment solves.

The absence of noisy leaf blowers is already being felt in Washington. "You used to hear them all day, everywhere you went. And now you don't," said Susan Orlins, who helped pass D.C.'s toughest-in-the-nation ban on gas-powered leaf blowers.