#yes hi I would like to talk about the American Sycamore

[tricornonthecob]

flats, bg, color fixing, and fx noodling

flats only.

[bigyack-com]

Bloomberg’s Bruising Debate Dents His Odds

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A no good, very bad night for Bloomberg

Mike Bloomberg has spent over $400 million during his ascent in the polls for the Democratic nomination. But money apparently couldn’t save the billionaire from a widely panned performance at last night’s presidential debate. It was like “the gap between an influencer marketing campaign and putting an actual product in front of reviewers,” as Nilay Patel of The Verge put it. (As a professional tech reviewer, he knows what he’s talking about.)Mr. Bloomberg didn’t seem prepared. “His meek rebuttals seemed to inspire a wider reckoning among his peers, who slashed and bickered with an eagerness the race had not seen before,” Matt Flegenheimer of the NYT writes. He did get in a jab at Senator Bernie Sanders, though: “What a wonderful country we have. The best-known socialist in the country happens to be a millionaire with three houses. What did I miss here?”How the other candidates whacked Mr. Bloomberg:• Senator Elizabeth Warren: “I’d like to talk about who we’re running against: a billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse-faced lesbians, and no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump.”• Joe Biden: “The fact of the matter is, he has not managed his city very — very well when he was there. He didn’t get a lot done.”• Pete Buttigieg: “Most Americans don’t see where they fit if they’ve got to choose between a socialist who thinks that capitalism is the root of all evil and a billionaire who thinks that money ought to be the root of all power.”• Senator Amy Klobuchar: “I don’t think you look at Donald Trump and say, ‘We need someone richer in the White House.’”A hot topic was the issue of nondisclosure agreements that some former female employees of Bloomberg L.P. signed after accusing Mr. Bloomberg of harassment and discrimination. Mr. Bloomberg refused to release those women from the N.D.A.s, calling them “consensual” — then appeared flustered by further attacks by Ms. Warren and others.Prediction markets quickly soured on Mr. Bloomberg’s performance. His odds of securing the Democratic nomination have tumbled about 10 percentage points in 24 hours, to about 19 percent, according to ElectionBettingOdds.com.Our favorite snark from Twitter comes from @IvanTheK, with one for the Bloomberg terminal users: “Team Bloomberg right now: ”The takeaway: “There was little in the debate to suggest that Mr. Sanders, the national front-runner and the favorite to win Nevada’s caucuses on Saturday, had been knocked off balance,” Alex Burns and Jonathan Martin of the NYT write.

End of an era for Les Wexner and Victoria’s Secret

The longest-serving C.E.O. in the S&P 500 will step down after selling a majority stake in Victoria’s Secret, the WSJ reports. The deal between Mr. Wexner’s L Brands and the private equity group Sycamore Partners would value the lingerie company at $1.1 billion, the NYT writes.Mr. Wexner bought Victoria’s Secret for $1 million in 1982. It now accounts for more than half of revenue at L Brands, which the 82-year-old billionaire has run for the past 57 years. Mr. Wexner will remain on the L Brands board and retain his stakes in both Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works, which will be what’s left in the L Brands empire. (When Mr. Wexner steps down, Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett becomes the longest-serving blue-chip C.E.O., at 50 years.)The retail tycoon’s long tenure ends under a cloud, with the NYT revealing a culture of misogyny, bullying and harassment at Victoria’s Secret and increased scrutiny over Mr. Wexner’s deep ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. From its peak in 2015, L Brands’ market value has fallen by about 75 percent as Victoria’s Secret has struggled to adjust to changing trends in fashion, especially notions of female beauty and representation in advertising.

An unexpected choice for UBS’s new boss

Ralph Hamers of the Dutch bank ING has been named the next C.E.O. of the Swiss banking giant, replacing Sergio Ermotti. Although it was an open secret that UBS was looking for Mr. Ermotti’s successor, Mr. Hamers was not at the top of market watchers’ shortlist.What’s the plan now? Mr. Hamers has spent nearly 30 years at ING, and as chief was credited with a digital transformation of the predominantly retail-focused bank. UBS is a different beast, relying much more on its high-touch wealth management operations. It’s not hard to imagine that Mr. Hamers’ cost-cutting at ING could come to bear at UBS, which has recently struggled to keep its spending in check.Mixed signals from the markets: The share prices of both UBS and ING were up on the news.

The White House sees no problem with monopolies

Having a few big companies dominating markets isn’t necessarily a bad thing, according to the Trump administration, Jim Tankersley of the NYT reports:In their annual Economic Report of the President, released on Thursday, Mr. Trump and his advisers effectively dismiss an emerging line of economic research that finds large American companies increasingly dominate industries like telecommunications and tech, stifling competition and hurting consumers.Yes, but: The administration is nonetheless looking into whether tech companies are too big, though that may be driven by settling political scores instead of purely economic concerns.

The E.U. sees many problems with monopolies

Officials in Brussels yesterday unveiled proposals to gain “technological sovereignty,” as policymakers in Europe fear that their economies are becoming overly reliant on “gatekeeper” tech companies based elsewhere (mainly the U.S.).A key passage in the report suggests an expansive view of antitrust policy that could make life difficult for many U.S. tech giants:Competition policy alone cannot address all the systemic problems that may arise in the platform economy. Based on the single market logic, additional rules may be needed to ensure contestability, fairness and innovation and the possibility of market entry, as well as public interests that go beyond competition or economic considerations.Further reading: This being the E.U., the policy plan is spread across a convoluted array of reports, factsheets and communiqués. Politico has a useful summary.

The speed read

Deals• Alstom and Bombardier are trying to shield their train merger from the political turmoil that sank Alstom’s previous deal with Siemens. (Bloomberg)• Chinese conglomerate HNA is reportedly in talks for a state bailout, which could involve selling off its airline assets. (Bloomberg)• Forever 21’s deal to sell itself to its two biggest landlords is official. (Reuters)• Founders Fund, the venture capital firm co-founded by Peter Thiel, has raised $3 billion for its latest funds. (Axios)• The political comms firm SKDKnickerbocker plans to announce this morning that it has acquired Sloane Communications, a financial P.R. shop. “This is our first (not last) acquisition,” the SKDK chief Josh Isay tells us.Politics and policy• The White House conceded yesterday that the trade war had hurt U.S. economic growth. (Bloomberg)• Boeing has pushed Washington State lawmakers to end tax breaks for the plane maker to avoid international trade sanctions. (NYT)• The Fed flagged the coronavirus outbreak as an economic risk at its meeting last month. (NYT)• How the pharmaceutical industry lost some of its pull in Washington. (WSJ)Tech• Some Oracle employees are planning a walkout today over the company’s founder, Larry Ellison, hosting a fund-raiser for President Trump. (Business Insider)• Google reportedly plans to end E.U. data protection practices for British users post-Brexit. (Reuters)• The first wave of next-generation 5G wireless networks will probably cover only a quarter of the world’s population, according to McKinsey. (Fortune)• MGM Resorts said that it suffered a data breach last year, but that customers’ financial data was not exposed. (NYT)Best of the rest• Some companies have stopped hiring smokers. (FT)• Want to buy one of WeWork’s Gulfstream jets? It’s on the market. (Business Insider)• Jho Low, the fugitive financier at the heart of the 1MDB fraud scandal, was reportedly spotted recently in Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. (Bloomberg)• Hate corporate buzzwords? “Take a deep dive” into this article and let’s “touch base” later. (The Atlantic)We’d love your feedback. Please email thoughts and suggestions to business@nytimes.com. Read the full article

[alolatrainersemina]

So for your AU if Maxie's a kitsune and Archie's a kappa, what creatures would the other Team Bosses be?

(I finally got to talk to him and stuff)(Incoming long post!)So initially we were gonna go Asian creatures

Cyrus → nekomata, SPE Maxie → Shuten DojiDilemma: Who the hell is Ibaraki DojiIt’s definitely not SPE Archie (but Me: I want to see Archie crossdress fkajnbkjbnjkbnbb)

And then we were stuck on LysandreStraw: He’s a foreigner though(if → first four regions = Japanese)Straw: Wait, if Ghetsis is from Unova American then would he be Cthulhu or something???Straw: (Native weird creatures and stuff)Me: Holy shit Cthulhu goodMe: This is really good…Me: What is Sakaki (Giovanni) thenMe: Ebisu??Straw: Ebisu hhhhhhMe: Money is everything!! Straw: “Silver: I reject my deity PAPA!!”(yes, this is a JoJo reference)

(Ebisu is fortune god)(Gio deserves god status)

Me: And then it’s Hawaii and French myths…Straw: Guzma is probably a normal humanStraw: He wakes up one day and finds the world around him weirdMe: Then what is LusamineStraw: This is a good question(nationality = ???)

Me: Sycamore is definitely a Fairy thoughStraw: Fairy +1Me: But what is Lys(we’re back to this question again)Straw: I feel like he’s some kind of beastMe: Werewolf? Corresponds to him in game tooMe: You know, how he appears to be a good person even though his design and quotes scream Villain to the players but actually wants to destroy the worldMe: And werewolves are French (European in general)Straw: Then I choose you [werewolf]! (pokemon reference)Me: And you know how werewolves appear to be human in the day and go crazy under a full moon and stuffStraw: He’s crazy even when not under a full moon

Me: Lusamine thoughStraw: Jellyfish monster (no)Me: What about Lillie and Gladion…Straw: Her hair thoughMe: But then what the hell does that make the WormholeMe: Gensokyo?????Straw: Gensokyo hhhhhhhh(hhhhh = hahahaha in Chinese netspeak)(Also, Touhou reference)

Me: No but setting it to Gensokyo is weirdMe: I feel like she’s a human who could see all the paranormal activity and stuffMe: Magician or sthStraw: Jellyfish monster witch?Me: Why does it always have to be the jellyfish monster hhhhhhhhStraw: Because First Impressions! (Who even has jellyfish first impressions)Me: A jellyfish monster who’s learned sorcery (what), duels w/ Kitsune Maxie’s sorcery (danmaku)(Yet another Touhou reference)

And that’s pretty much it

Sorry for taking this long…but this is the overall discussion and I hope you enjoy this yuuuuge post, anon!

[mastcomm]

DealBook: Bloomberg’s Bruising Debate Dents His Odds

Good morning. (Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.)

A no good, very bad night for Bloomberg

Mike Bloomberg has spent over $400 million during his ascent in the polls for the Democratic nomination. But money apparently couldn’t save the billionaire from a widely panned performance at last night’s presidential debate. It was like “the gap between an influencer marketing campaign and putting an actual product in front of reviewers,” as Nilay Patel of The Verge put it. (As a professional tech reviewer, he knows what he’s talking about.)

Mr. Bloomberg didn’t seem prepared. “His meek rebuttals seemed to inspire a wider reckoning among his peers, who slashed and bickered with an eagerness the race had not seen before,” Matt Flegenheimer of the NYT writes. He did get in a jab at Senator Bernie Sanders, though: “What a wonderful country we have. The best-known socialist in the country happens to be a millionaire with three houses. What did I miss here?”

How the other candidates whacked Mr. Bloomberg:

• Senator Elizabeth Warren: “I’d like to talk about who we’re running against: a billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse-faced lesbians, and no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump.”

• Joe Biden: “The fact of the matter is, he has not managed his city very — very well when he was there. He didn’t get a lot done.”

• Pete Buttigieg: “Most Americans don’t see where they fit if they’ve got to choose between a socialist who thinks that capitalism is the root of all evil and a billionaire who thinks that money ought to be the root of all power.”

• Senator Amy Klobuchar: “I don’t think you look at Donald Trump and say, ‘We need someone richer in the White House.’”

A hot topic was the issue of nondisclosure agreements that some former female employees of Bloomberg L.P. signed after accusing Mr. Bloomberg of harassment and discrimination. Mr. Bloomberg refused to release those women from the N.D.A.s, calling them “consensual” — then appeared flustered by further attacks by Ms. Warren and others.

Prediction markets quickly soured on Mr. Bloomberg’s performance. His odds of securing the Democratic nomination have tumbled about 10 percentage points in 24 hours, to about 19 percent, according to ElectionBettingOdds.com.

Our favorite snark from Twitter comes from @IvanTheK, with one for the Bloomberg terminal users: “Team Bloomberg right now: ”

The takeaway: “There was little in the debate to suggest that Mr. Sanders, the national front-runner and the favorite to win Nevada’s caucuses on Saturday, had been knocked off balance,” Alex Burns and Jonathan Martin of the NYT write.

____________________________

Today’s DealBook Briefing was written by Andrew Ross Sorkin in New York and Michael J. de la Merced and Jason Karaian in London.

____________________________

End of an era for Les Wexner and Victoria’s Secret

The longest-serving C.E.O. in the S&P 500 will step down after selling a majority stake in Victoria’s Secret, the WSJ reports. The deal between Mr. Wexner’s L Brands and the private equity group Sycamore Partners would value the lingerie company at $1.1 billion, the NYT writes.

Mr. Wexner bought Victoria’s Secret for $1 million in 1982. It now accounts for more than half of revenue at L Brands, which the 82-year-old billionaire has run for the past 57 years. Mr. Wexner will remain on the L Brands board and retain his stakes in both Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works, which will be what’s left in the L Brands empire. (When Mr. Wexner steps down, Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett becomes the longest-serving blue-chip C.E.O., at 50 years.)

The retail tycoon’s long tenure ends under a cloud, with the NYT revealing a culture of misogyny, bullying and harassment at Victoria’s Secret and increased scrutiny over Mr. Wexner’s deep ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. From its peak in 2015, L Brands’ market value has fallen by about 75 percent as Victoria’s Secret has struggled to adjust to changing trends in fashion, especially notions of female beauty and representation in advertising.

An unexpected choice for UBS’s new boss

Ralph Hamers of the Dutch bank ING has been named the next C.E.O. of the Swiss banking giant, replacing Sergio Ermotti. Although it was an open secret that UBS was looking for Mr. Ermotti’s successor, Mr. Hamers was not at the top of market watchers’ shortlist.

What’s the plan now? Mr. Hamers has spent nearly 30 years at ING, and as chief was credited with a digital transformation of the predominantly retail-focused bank. UBS is a different beast, relying much more on its high-touch wealth management operations. It’s not hard to imagine that Mr. Hamers’ cost-cutting at ING could come to bear at UBS, which has recently struggled to keep its spending in check.

Mixed signals from the markets: The share prices of both UBS and ING were up on the news.

The White House sees no problem with monopolies

Having a few big companies dominating markets isn’t necessarily a bad thing, according to the Trump administration, Jim Tankersley of the NYT reports:

In their annual Economic Report of the President, released on Thursday, Mr. Trump and his advisers effectively dismiss an emerging line of economic research that finds large American companies increasingly dominate industries like telecommunications and tech, stifling competition and hurting consumers.

Yes, but: The administration is nonetheless looking into whether tech companies are too big, though that may be driven by settling political scores instead of purely economic concerns.

The E.U. sees many problems with monopolies

Officials in Brussels yesterday unveiled proposals to gain “technological sovereignty,” as policymakers in Europe fear that their economies are becoming overly reliant on “gatekeeper” tech companies based elsewhere (mainly the U.S.).

A key passage in the report suggests an expansive view of antitrust policy that could make life difficult for many U.S. tech giants:

Competition policy alone cannot address all the systemic problems that may arise in the platform economy. Based on the single market logic, additional rules may be needed to ensure contestability, fairness and innovation and the possibility of market entry, as well as public interests that go beyond competition or economic considerations.

Further reading: This being the E.U., the policy plan is spread across a convoluted array of reports, factsheets and communiqués. Politico has a useful summary.

The speed read

Deals

• Alstom and Bombardier are trying to shield their train merger from the political turmoil that sank Alstom’s previous deal with Siemens. (Bloomberg)

• Chinese conglomerate HNA is reportedly in talks for a state bailout, which could involve selling off its airline assets. (Bloomberg)

• Forever 21’s deal to sell itself to its two biggest landlords is official. (Reuters)

• Founders Fund, the venture capital firm co-founded by Peter Thiel, has raised $3 billion for its latest funds. (Axios)

• The political comms firm SKDKnickerbocker plans to announce this morning that it has acquired Sloane Communications, a financial P.R. shop. “This is our first (not last) acquisition,” the SKDK chief Josh Isay tells us.

Politics and policy

• The White House conceded yesterday that the trade war had hurt U.S. economic growth. (Bloomberg)

• Boeing has pushed Washington State lawmakers to end tax breaks for the plane maker to avoid international trade sanctions. (NYT)

• The Fed flagged the coronavirus outbreak as an economic risk at its meeting last month. (NYT)

• How the pharmaceutical industry lost some of its pull in Washington. (WSJ)

Tech

• Some Oracle employees are planning a walkout today over the company’s founder, Larry Ellison, hosting a fund-raiser for President Trump. (Business Insider)

• Google reportedly plans to end E.U. data protection practices for British users post-Brexit. (Reuters)

• The first wave of next-generation 5G wireless networks will probably cover only a quarter of the world’s population, according to McKinsey. (Fortune)

• MGM Resorts said that it suffered a data breach last year, but that customers’ financial data was not exposed. (NYT)

Best of the rest

• Some companies have stopped hiring smokers. (FT)

• Want to buy one of WeWork’s Gulfstream jets? It’s on the market. (Business Insider)

• Jho Low, the fugitive financier at the center of the 1MDB fraud scandal, was reportedly spotted recently in Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. (Bloomberg)

• Hate corporate buzzwords? “Take a deep dive” into this article and let’s “touch base” later. (The Atlantic)

Thanks for reading! We’ll see you tomorrow.

We’d love your feedback. Please email thoughts and suggestions to business@nytimes.com.

from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/business/dealbook-bloombergs-bruising-debate-dents-his-odds/

[sarahstreep7]

1 - 65 for the ask thing if you wanna

Hi!! Thanks so much for asking!! 65 Questions You Aren't Used To1. Do you ever doubt the existence of others than you? Yes more than I'd like to admit honestly 2. On a scale of 1-5, how afraid of the dark are you? Probably a 3 3. The person you would never want to meet? POTUS 4. What is your favorite word? Hhhmm.. ethereal is a good word.. 5. If you were a type of tree, what would you be? Hmm probably a sycamore tree. 6. When you looked in the mirror this morning what was the first thing you thought? Eww7. What shirt are you wearing? A dark grey tank top.. it's super soft!! 8. What do you label yourself as? Femme lesbian 9. Bright room or dark room? Dark room 10. What were you doing at midnight last night? Reading 11. Favorite age you’ve been so far? Probably the age I am now tbh 12. Who told you they loved you last? Ummm...?? Probably my mom?? I don't even know.. 13. Your worst enemy? Uuumm I don't really have one?? 14. What is your current desktop picture? Don't have a computer.. but my phone background is a picture of Carrie Fisher 15. Do you like someone? Nope 16. The last song you listened to? Killer Queen by Queen 17. You can press a button that will make any one person explode. Who would you blow up? POTUS 18. Who would you really like to just punch in the face? So many people 19. If anyone could be your slave for a day, who would it be and what would they have to do? Uuumm... I dunno who but I'd probably just make them get what ever I wanted.. 20. What is your best physical attribute? (showing said attribute is optional) Um probably my eyes?? (If you wanna see there's lots of pictures on my blog somewhere lol!) 21. If you were the opposite sex for one day, what would you look like and what would you do? Fuck.. umm I'd hope I'd be tall and like somewhat muscular maybe.. I'd probably do the same thing I do now lol! 22. Do you have a secret talent? If yes, what is it? I have the amazing talent of my anxiety making the smallest thing into a huge deal and then avoiding that thing 23. What is one unique thing you’re afraid of? Is being afraid of elevators a unique thing?? 24. You can only have one kind of sandwich. Every sandwich ingredient known to humankind is at your disposal. Um... probably bacon and tomato with mayo.. or just ham and butter.. I'm boring.. 25. You just found $100! How are you going to spend it? Probably on makeup or lush products 26. You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere in the world, but you have to leave immediately. Where are you going to go? New York City 27. An angel appears out of Heaven and offers you a lifetime supply of the alcoholic beverage of your choice. “Be brand-specific” it says. Man! What are you gonna say about that? Even if you don’t drink booze there’s something you can figure out… so what’s it gonna be? Jameson.. either the redbreast 15 or the Midleton very rare 28. You discover a beautiful island upon which you may build your own society. You make the rules. What is the first rule you put into place? No guns 29. What is your favorite expletive? Probably fuck 30. Your house is on fire, holy shit! You have just enough time to run in there and grab ONE inanimate object. Don’t worry, your loved ones and pets have already made it out safely. So what’s the one thing you’re going to save from that blazing inferno? Uuummm... my phone.. unless that's already on me which be real it probably is.. then my blanket 31. You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be? Jeeezzz... probably that time I almost committed suicide and the events leading up to that. 32. You got kicked out of the country for being a time-traveling heathen who sleeps with celebrities and has super-powers. But check out this cool shit… you can move to anywhere else in the world! South Africa 33. The Celestial Gates Of Beyond have opened, much to your surprise because you didn’t think such a thing existed. Death appears. As it turns out, Death is actually a pretty cool entity, and happens to be in a fantastic mood. Death offers to return the friend/family-member/person/etc. of your choice to the living world. Who will you bring back? Carrie Fisher obviously. 34. What was your last dream about? Uuumm... I think there was spiders involved.. I don't dream very often.. 35. Are you a good….[insert anything you’d like here]? Dancer? No I can't dance for my life 36. Have you ever been admitted to the hospital? Yes 37. Have you ever built a snowman? Nope 38. What is the color of your socks? Red with white hearts 39. What type of music do you like? All kinds 40. Do you prefer sunrises or sunsets? Sunsets! 41. What is your favorite milkshake flavor? Mint chocolate chip 42. What football team do you support? (I will answer in terms of American football as well as soccer) I'm not into sports 43. Do you have any scars? Yup 44. What do you want to be when you graduate? I have no idea 45. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? My nose 46. Are you reliable? Not really 47. If you could ask your future self one question, what would it be? Do I have a partner 48. Do you hold grudges? Yes.. sometimes it's really hard though. 49. If you could breed two animals together to defy the laws of nature, what new animal would you create? Umm probably some sort of cat panda 50. What is the most unusual conversation you’ve ever had? Hhhmm.. tbh I don't usually remember conversations ever soo I don't really know.. 51. Are you a good liar? It depends on what I'm lying about.. but I think I'd say yes 52. How long could you go without talking? Um.. I'd like to say a long time but realistically probably not that long53. What has been you worst haircut/style? I haven't really had any bad haircuts/styles 54. Have you ever baked your own cake? Yes55. Can you do any accents other than your own? Not purposefully.. 56. What do you like on your toast? Butter 57. What is the last thing you drew a picture of? A hat with a big bow and flowers 58. What would be you dream car? Something sporty 59. Do you sing in the shower? Or do anything unusual in the shower? Explain. Sing sometimes not usually.. can't say I do anything unusual in the shower.. 60. Do you believe in aliens? Yes not in the traditional way but in a more realistic way I guess 61. Do you often read your horoscope? Hardly ever 62. What is your favorite letter of the alphabet? Probably.. z 63. Which is cooler: dinosaurs or dragons? Dragons! 64. What do you think about babies? Babies are sweet but they grow up..