Thursday, August 3, 2023

8/3 WAKE-UP CALL: Top Banker..Fiscal Downgrade Doesn't Really Matter

The Fitch Ratings downgrade of the United States’ long-term credit rating ultimately doesn’t matter, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told CNBC on Wednesday. “It doesn’t really matter that much” because it’s the market, not rating agencies, that determines borrowing costs, Dimon told CNBC’s Leslie Picker. Still, it’s “ridiculous” that other countries have higher credit ratings than the U.S. when they depend on the stability created by the U.S. and its military, Dimon added. “To have them be triple-A and not America is kind of ridiculous,” Dimon said. “It’s still the most prosperous nation on the planet, it’s the most secure nation on the planet.” Fitch downgraded the country’s rating to AA+ from AAA on Tuesday, pointing to “expected fiscal deterioration over the next three years,” an erosion of governance and a growing general debt burden.

➤TRUMP WOES DEEPEN:  Donald Trump’s legal woes may have deepened, but his political standing in the GOP remains high. Core Republican voters and key lawmakers are again sticking by the former president, who was indicted yesterday on charges that he was responsible for efforts to reverse his 2020 election defeat and then prompting the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. However, the new indictment divided the GOP field running against Trump for the party’s 2024 presidential nomination; he is the current front-runner. On social media, Trump said the case was a “pathetic attempt” by the Justice Department to interfere with the 2024 election. He is scheduled to appear tomorrow in federal court in Washington.

➤TRUMP TO APPEAR IN COURT TODAY: Donald Trump is expected to appear in court in Washington, D.C., today to answer criminal charges related to his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. During the court appearance, federal prosecutors will outline the four counts of conspiracy and obstruction they have brought against the former president. The judge is expected to set bail conditions. It will be Trump’s third appearance in a courtroom as a criminal defendant since he left office. He is expected to arrive at the federal courthouse to be booked at about 3 p.m. Eastern time today. Separately, two supporters of the former president have been charged in Michigan with tampering with voting machines. The two are accused of seizing five vote tabulating machines from three counties and taking them to a hotel room, where they were broken into for “tests.” They did not have a court order or permission from the Michigan secretary of state’s office to remove the machines.


➤FOX URGES TRUMP TO DEBATE: Shortly after learning he was being indicted a third time, former President Donald Trump had a private dinner with the top leadership at Fox News as they lobbied him to attend the first Republican presidential primary debate this month, three people familiar with the event said. The dinner with Trump, Fox News President Jay Wallace and the network’s CEO, Suzanne Scott, was held in a private dining room at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, according to two of the people familiar with the event. The dinner was scheduled before the indictment news. Trump has been vocal about probably skipping the first debate, which Fox News is hosting with the Republican National Committee on Aug. 23 in Milwaukee, as well as the second, planned for September at the Reagan Presidential Library in California. But he has also made clear to several people in private conversations that he hasn’t closed the door on participating in the first one. 

➤DeSANTIS SAYS HE WOULD DEBATE NEWSOM: DeSantis, who is currently in the running for the Republican presidential nomination, told Fox News' Sean Hannity that he would be willing to debate Democrat Newsom live on air. The debate between the two Governors first came about in June when Hannity interviewed Newsom who said he would do a three hour debate with DeSantis. In response, DeSantis confirmed he would be 'game' for the debate. In a letter offering a formal debate, Newsom's team have set out rules for the debate. It states: 'This event will be marketed as a Red v. Blue debate that is focused on the impact of representation at the state level. 'This will be a 90 minute debate in studio, aired by Fox News. The moderator will be Sean Hannity. There will be no live audience.'

➤RUSSIANS DIG-IN IN: Russian forces have made no headway along the front lines, but are entrenched in heavily mined areas they control, making it difficult for Ukrainian troops to move east and south, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday. Russian accounts of the fighting on the frontline said 12 Ukrainian attacks had been repelled in Donetsk region - a focal point of Russian advances for months. Much of Russian military activity focused on air attacks that damaged grain infrastructure in Ukraine's Danube port of Izmail. Russia's Defence Ministry also said its forces had destroyed a Ukrainian naval drone that tried to attack a Russian warship escorting a civilian vessel in the Black Sea.


Ukrainian forces launched a drive in June to retake occupied areas and have been pressing southward toward the Sea of Azov to sever a land bridge between occupied eastern Ukraine and the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula. Kyiv also says it has retaken areas near Bakhmut, an eastern city seized by Russian forces in May after months of battles.

➤UAW DOUBLES DOWN ON DEMANDS: The United Auto Workers said car companies’ costly EV transition won’t change its demands. The union wants wage increases and job security, as labor talks with General Motors, Ford and Jeep-maker Stellantis get under way in Detroit. Auto executives would like flexibility to shift more factory work to EVs, a potential threat to unionized jobs. UAW President Shawn Fain shared 10 core demands during a Facebook livestream, an unusually public reveal that marked a widening gulf between the two sides. The current contract expires Sept. 14, and analysts have said the risk of a strike is high.

➤CANADA'S FIRST COUPLE SEPARATE: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie said on Wednesday they were separating in an unexpected announcement that appeared to mark the end of the couple's 18-year high-profile marriage. The couple had talked frankly in the past about difficulties in their relationship and in recent years were seen less often together in public. Trudeau, 51, and Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, 48, were married in May 2005 and have three children, aged 15, 14 and nine. On their anniversary in 2020, he described her as "my rock, my partner, and my best friend." The couple made the announcement a week after Trudeau unveiled a massive cabinet shuffle in a bid to boost the fortunes of his Liberal Party, which is trailing in the polls. Aides said he was determined to lead the Liberals into the next election, which must be held by October 2025.

➤LIZZO CALLED 'BULLY': Director Sophia Nahli Allison has branded Lizzo a 'narcissistic bully' as she doubled down on the singer's 'toxic' behavior in her latest post. Allison, an Oscar-nominated filmmaker, shed more light about what she allegedly experienced while working with Lizzo on a documentary back in 2019. The director first came forward yesterday in a post made in light of a lawsuit filed by three former backup dancers, which accused Lizzo of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment.

➤ACTRESS SUES CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY: Leah Remini has accused the Church of Scientology of creating hundreds of fake websites and social media accounts designed to smear her. She has launched legal proceedings in California. Remini, 53, accuses them of a campaign of harassment that caused intense financial and emotional damage. She says the Church of Scientology embarks on a campaign of 'wartime propaganda' to discredit those who criticize them. She claims Scientologists are told to 'start feeding lurid, blood, sex, crime actual evidence on the attackers to the press' and 'make it rough, rough on attackers all the way'. The Church is yet to respond to her claims.

➤SWIFT URGED TO P-P L-A CONCERTS: California’s lieutenant governor and other elected officials on Tuesday urged Taylor Swift to postpone her Los Angeles concerts as a way to stand in solidarity with striking hotel workers. Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis and dozens of state and local politicians signed an open letter telling Swift that her tour makes the region’s hotels money, with some properties “doubling and tripling what they charge because you are coming.” Meanwhile, the letter said, many housekeepers and other hotel workers can’t afford to live close to their jobs and some sleep in their cars and risk losing their homes.

TMZ Composite 8/3/23
➤TAYLOR SWIFT AWARDS $55M IN BONUS MONEY TO TOUR CREW: Swift's tour, which has generated millions of dollars in revenue and has been credited in boosting the country's economy, wraps up in Los Angeles next week, as Swift begins a six-night stint at SoFi Stadium on Thursday. Before taking her show international, Swift gifted her entire staff with millions of dollars in bonuses. Sources confirmed to People magazine that Swift's gift amounted to approximately $55 million and was extended to all members of her crew, including technicians, riggers, caterers and dancers. TMZ was first to report.

💡INCANDESCENTS OFF, LEDs ON: After 16 years of bipartisan discussion, the incandescent lightbulb ban is now in effect. The effort to phase out incandescents began under President George W. Bush in 2007 and has since been altered by multiple presidential administrations. The policy establishes a new minimum energy-efficiency standard of 45 lumens per watt. Traditional incandescent lightbulbs provide just 15 lumens per watt, while LED lights can measure at 70 to 100 lumens per watt. But if you still have a bunch of the old bulbs, you don't have to toss them out! The ban is on the manufacture and sale of new bulbs, not the use of them, so you can keep using existing bulbs in your lamps as long as they still work. 

⚾MLB YANKEES 7 RAYS 2: Giancarlo Stanton homered and drove in four runs to lead Gerrit Cole and the New York Yankees past the Tampa Bay Rays 7-2 on Wednesday night, preventing a three-game sweep. Cole (10-2) recovered from a rocky start and beat Shane McClanahan (11-2) in a marquee matchup of All-Star aces. New York scored five times in the third inning, highlighted by rookie Anthony Volpe's two-run homer and Stanton's three-run shot. 'He's a nasty pitcher,' Stanton said of McClanahan. 'So you've got to square the ball up and make sure we're swinging at our pitch and not let him dictate at-bats.' Stanton added a run-scoring single in the seventh to match his season high for RBIs. He also had four on July 15 in Colorado.

⚾PADRES 11, ROCKIES 1: Gary Sánchez homered twice and drove in four runs, Fernando Tatis Jr. hit his 100th career home run and Juan Soto went deep for the third time in two days as the San Diego Padres beat the Colorado Rockies 11-1 on Wednesday. Sánchez had two of his three hits in San Diego'ss seven-run ninth inning. Ha-Seong Kim homered leading off the game and Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a towering three-run homer to help the new-look Padres win for the fifth time in six games. San Diego traded for five players before the Tuesday deadline to help with a playoff push in the final two months of the season.

⚾ROYALS 4, METS 0: Cole Ragans pitched out of trouble for six spotless innings and Kansas City earned its fifth consecutive victory, extending its longest winning streak in more than two years. Michael Massey hit a two-run double off rookie Kodai Senga in the first. Drew Waters homered late and threw out a runner at the plate from right field. Called up from the minors earlier in the day, Ragans (3-3) struck out eight in his first win with the Royals. The left-hander allowed seven hits and walked one in his second start for Kansas City since being acquired June 30 from Texas.


⚾MLB SCORES:

  • Marlins 9 Phillies 8
  • Braves 12 Angels 5
  • Tigers 6 Pirates 3
  • Nationals 3 Brewers 2
  • Astros 3 Guardians 2
  • Mariners 6 Red Sox 3
  • Blues Jays 4 Orioles 1
  • Cardinals 7 Twins 3
  • Rangers 11 White Sox 1
  • Cubs 16 Reds 6
  • Giants 4 D-Backs 2
  • Dodgers 10 Athletics 1



🏈BIG 10 MAY SOON BE BIG 18 OR 20: The Big Ten is considering expanding its athletic conference membership to 18 or even 20 teams, according to a report in Yahoo Sports. The idea is said to be in the early planning stages. The conference would be looking at teams now affiliated with the Pac-12.

⚾YANKEES’ DOMINGO GERMAN IN REHAB: New York Yankees pitcher Domingo German is undergoing treatment for alcohol abuse and is not expected to play again this season, the team announced. German is officially on the restricted list until he completes treatment. German pitched the 24th perfect game in major league history on June 28 in a game against the Oakland Athletics. He turns 31 tomorrow.

⚽SWEDEN WILL TAKE ON USWNT: The Swedish team will face the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team this Sunday morning. Sweden’s team ensured their spot in the Sunday match by defeating Argentina’s team 2-0 and clinching Group G.



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