The Economist
The optics of the two presidents, Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelensky, walking side-by-side in Kyiv certainly offered a strong counterbalance to those urging Ukraine to concede territory. Read more: https://econ.st/3Idb6g9
Image credit: AFP
Michael Cohen Accuses Trump of Expansive Pattern of Lies and Criminality
By PETER BAKER and NICHOLAS FANDOS
Mr. Cohen, the president’s former lawyer, said he had lied to Congress to protect President Trump. “I am not protecting Mr. Trump anymore,” Mr. Cohen said.
Hold Your Noses! The World’s Most Ancient Cheese Found in Egyptian Tomb
A chemical scientist discovered the most ancient solid cheese ever found inside the tomb of Ptahmes, mayor of Memphis in Egypt during the 13th century BCE.
Danone is rejecting the Anglo-Saxon idea that a firm exists primarily to maximise the welfare of its owners
ECONOMIST.COM
Does Emmanuel Faber's radical approach towards capitalism hold water?
"People are walking out of brands they've been consuming for decades"
Obama Sets Expansive Goal for Jobs
President-elect Barack Obama is developing a plan to create or preserve 2.5 million jobs over the next two years by spending billions of dollars to rebuild roads and bridges, modernize public schools, and construct wind farms and other alternative sources of energy.
(By Lori Montgomery, The Washington Post)
Video: Nigel Kennedy's New CD Crosses Borders
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:
British violinist Nigel Kennedy is one of the great mavericks of the classical music scene and has played a major role in drawing in the younger generation by mixing styles. His newest CD is a bold combination of sounds.
"Any move that might bring him more money or, now, more power, Trump will make – regardless of the ethics or the optics or the damage to his reputation. He is shameless."
Robert Reich
ince Melissa McCarthy's instantly classic portrayal of White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on last weekend’s "Saturday Night Live” (if you’re among the few who hasn’t yet seen it, click below), I haven’t been able to watch Spicer without laughing.
Apparently Trump isn’t laughing, though. According to a Trump ally quoted in Politico, Trump "doesn't like his people to look weak."
But it’s not just weakness. For all his alpha male swagger, Trump is particularly sensitive to attacks by women -- from Megyn Kelly’s questions during the debates, to the millions who marched the day after his inauguration, to Meryl Streep's take-down at the recent Golden Globes. Women seem to get under Trump’s thin skin. And Trump’s counterattacks -- mocking their looks, claiming they're "overrated," suggesting they have their periods – make him seem even weirder than usual.
I hear Rosie O'Donnell, Trump’s longtime nemesis, has volunteered to play Steve Bannon on SNL. Go for it, Rosie.
When it comes to bullies, satire is the best disinfectant. For alpha male bullies, satire by a woman is sheer poison.
What do you think?
Sean Spicer Press Conference (Melissa McCarthy) - SNL
White House press secretary Sean Spicer (Melissa McCarthy) and secretary of education nominee Betsy DeVos (Kate McKinnon) take questions…
YOUTUBE.COM
"First, there was the unseemly haste. May’s eagerness to be the first foreign leader to shake that short-fingered hand, the scramble to catch up with Nigel Farage and Michael Gove, gave off a strong whiff of desperation.
That is a scent Trump understands. What he lacks in book smarts, he makes up for in alpha male gamesmanship."
Never mind the optics, Theresa May’s US dash was mortifying
Sure, it went fine – Trump managed not to drop any bombshells. But this hasty visit smacks of desperation
THEGUARDIAN.COM|由 JONATHAN FREEDLAND 上傳
And while Band, a longtime aide to Bill Clinton, never worked for State, he also held multiple roles within the Clintons' orbit. As Eric Lichtblau of The New York Timesrecently explained it to NPR:
"He is a personal assistant to Bill Clinton. He ran a consulting company that paid Bill Clinton a lot of money until 2012. He is also the head of Clinton's Global Initiative which gets together muckety mucks from all over the world for big charity events, and he's with the Clinton Foundation. So to figure out at any one time which hat someone like Doug Band is wearing when he communicates with aides to Hillary Clinton is a bit of a puzzle."
There's no question the optics are bad for Clinton and the Clinton Foundation. But no proof has emerged that any official favors — regulations, government contracts, international deals — were curried in exchange for donations or pledges.
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Nose_gunner
A nose gunner or front gunner is a crewman on a military aircraft who operates a machine gun or autocannon turret in the front, or "nose", of the airplane.
Examples · WWII examples
hold waterの意味や使い方 (1) 〈容器などが〉水を漏らさない.(2) [通例否定文で] 〈理論などが〉筋道が立つ, 完璧(かんぺき)である.用例That alibi won't hold water. そのアリバイはくずれる
Hold nose - Idioms by The Free Dictionary
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/hold+nose
このページを訳す
hold one's nose. 1. Lit. to use one's fingers to keep one's nose closed to avoid a bad smell or to keep water out. The kid held his nose and jumped off the dock into the lake. 2. Fig. to attempt to ignore something unpleasant, illegal, or "rotten.このページを訳す
The final decades of the twentieth century saw advances in optical technologies that tremendously expanded the human view of the universe ...
optics
Pronunciation: /ˈɒptɪks/
PLURAL NOUN
[ USUALLY TREATED AS SINGULAR]
expanse
noun [C]
a large, open area of land, sea or sky:
She gazed at the immense expanse of the sea.
vast expanses of sand and pine
expansive
adjective
covering a large area:
There was an expansive view from the window.
"All this is mine, " she said with an expansive (= using big movements) arm gesture.
expansive
adjective FORMAL
very happy to talk to people in a friendly way:
He was in an expansive mood on the night of the party.
讀WSJ 一則新聞* (詳後)
AT&T is studying a bid for satellite providers EchoStar or DirecTV in a bid to fend off cable operators, but investors are likely to focus on the cost of any such deal.
這dish 既是指"菜肴"(投資項目)又指 "衛星信號接收圓盤"(Electronics. A dish antenna.)
不過 這本辭典這方面弱
maverick noun [C]
a person who thinks and acts in an independent way, often behaving differently from the expected or usual way:
a political maverick
He was considered as something of a maverick in the publishing world.
dish
━━ n. 深皿; 料理; 一皿（の分量）; （the ～es） 食器類; 皿形（の物）; パラボラアンテナ; 〔話〕 かわいい［魅力的な］女［男］.
dish of gossip うわさ話.━━ v. 皿に盛る; 皿形にする［なる］; 中をくぼます; 〔英話〕 だめにする, くじく.
dish it out 〔話〕 しかる; いじめる. dish out 〔話〕 盛り分ける; 配る, 与える; （助言，批判などを）押し付ける. dish up 皿に盛る; 〔話〕 （話などを）持ち出す.
dish・cloth 皿洗い［皿ふき］用ふきん.dishcloth gourd 【植】ヘチマ.
dish・ful ━━ n. 皿1杯（の分量）. dish・pan 皿洗いばち［ボール］. dish・rag ＝dishcloth. dish towel 〔米〕 ふきん. dish・washer 皿洗い器［人］; 【鳥】セキレイの一種; 【鳥】ヒタキの一種 ((豪州産)). dish・water （食器を洗った後の）洗い水 (taste like ～water 味が薄すぎる）.dishwater blond 〔米話〕 くすんだ色のブロンド.
dish・y ━━ a. 〔英俗〕 いかす, 性的魅力のある.我又從The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
學到dish的一日常用語
Informal. Idle talk; gossip: “plenty of dish about her tattoos, her plastic surgeries, and her ever-younger inamorati” (Louise Kennedy).
這或許與下述說法相關
dish (SPOIL REPUTATION)
dish the dirt to tell people unpleasant or shocking personal information about someone:
She agreed to dish the dirt on her ex-husband for a fee of fifty thousand pounds.
AT&T進軍衛星電視業如箭在弦
美
國電話電報公司(AT&T Inc.)覬覦衛星電視市場已經好幾年了﹐一直想著能將這一行業內兩大企業中的一家收歸麾下。現在﹐隨著電話行業整合的大體完成﹐AT&T似乎準備動手了。投資者對此應保持警覺。
據 知情人士說﹐AT&T一直在諮詢華盛頓的律師們﹐想瞭解它收購EchoStar Communications Corp.或DirecTV Group Inc.的交易獲得政府批准需花上多長時間。這些人士說﹐如果AT&T真的出價收購這兩大衛星電視服務提供商中的一家﹐它可能會將時間選在年底前 ﹐以便這一合併交易能在美國本屆政府任期結束前獲得聯邦反壟斷官員的批准。
有關出價收購的最終決定尚未作出。AT&T甚至還沒拿定主意究竟要收購哪家衛星電視公司﹐不過收購EchoStar的難度要小些﹐因為它的所有權結構不那麼複雜。而這兩家衛星電視公司是否樂於被AT&T收購還是件說不準的事。
但預計AT&T的股東和其他投資者會重點關注的是這一收購交易可能高達300億至400億美元的成本﹐以及該公司在去年收購南貝爾公司(BellSouth Corp.)後還有多大餘力再進行一次收購。具體收購成本將取決於收購目標是誰。 .....
Dish On AT&T's Satellite Plans
AT&T Inc. has been circling the satellite-television sector for several years, contemplating a bid for one of the two major players. Now, with consolidation in the telephone industry mostly done, AT&T appears to be getting ready to swoop in.
Investors should be wary.
AT&T has been consulting lawyers in Washington about how long it would take to get government approval to purchase either EchoStar Communications Corp. or DirecTV Group Inc., people familiar with the matter said. If it does make a bid for one of the satellite providers, AT&T could unveil the offer before year's end in hopes of getting federal antitrust officials to approve the combination before a new administration takes over, these people say.
A final decision on a bid hasn't been made. AT&T hasn't even decided which satellite-TV firm to go after, although a purchase of EchoStar, of Englewood, Colo., could be easier to undertake because it has a less-complicated ownership situation. There also isn't any guarantee that either company would be available.
But what AT&T shareholders and other investors are likely to focus on is the potential cost of a deal -- between $30 billion and $40 billion, depending on the target -- and the San Antonio telecommunications giant's ability to absorb another acquisition after last year's purchase of BellSouth Corp.
'It would create uncertainty,' said John Krause, a stock-research analyst at Thrivent Investment Management of Minneapolis, which owns 2.4 million shares of AT&T. He doesn't rate AT&T's shares.
That could be bad news for AT&T stock, which is currently trading near a 52-week intraday high of $42.97. In 4 p.m. composite trading yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange, AT&T's shares were up 85 cents, or 2.1%, to $42.02, giving the company a market value of $256.28 billion. The shares are trading at about 21 times per-share earnings for the past 12 months.
The stock's rise came after AT&T reported strong third-quarter earnings yesterday, with net income rising 41% to $3.06 billion and revenue jumping 93% to $30.13 billion. Last year's figures don't include results from BellSouth and its 40% stake in Cingular Wireless, which AT&T took full control of with its acquisition of BellSouth late last year. AT&T added two million new wireless customers in the quarter, bringing its total to 65.7 million. It said it sold 1.4 million Apple Inc. iPhones since the launch of the device in late June.
AT&T Chief Financial Officer Rick Lindner declined to comment about potential acquisitions. EchoStar and DirecTV also declined to comment.
Talk about AT&T's interest in a satellite-TV firm has swirled for several years, as the company, like rival Verizon Communications Inc., has made a big push into offering television service to counter cable-TV operators' push into phone service. AT&T announced that through the third quarter, it had signed up 126,000 subscribers for its 'U-verse' TV service, which uses Internet-based technology. The company says it will offer U-verse to 18 million homes by the end of next year, a project estimated to cost $6.5 billion.
A satellite deal would give AT&T a way of fending off rival cable operators luring customers with low-priced bundles of phone, TV and high-speed Internet services. A purchase also would allow AT&T to negotiate less expensive content deals for its TV service. And it would save AT&T the cost of rolling out U-verse in certain parts of the company's expansive territory where laying the fiber optics is expensive.
Still, the premium AT&T would have to pay to land a satellite concern may offset those cost savings. Of the two satellite firms, DirecTV, which has 16.3 million customers in the U.S., versus EchoStar's 13.6 million, would be cheapest as measured by a multiple of its earnings. DirecTV, of El Segundo, Calif., has a market value of about $30 billion, roughly 21 times earnings for the past 12 months.
But DirecTV would be a complicated acquisition. John Malone's Liberty Media Corp. late last year agreed to buy News Corp.'s 38.5% stake in DirecTV, although the deal has yet to be approved by regulators. (News Corp. has agreed to acquire Dow Jones & Co., the publisher of The Wall Street Journal.)
Acquiring all of DirecTV would likely require spending as much as $40 billion, analysts speculate, the equivalent of more than 26 times earnings. Liberty would also have to hold on to about 25% of the company for several years for tax reasons. A Liberty representative declined to comment on whether the company would be interested in selling.
EchoStar would require AT&T to negotiate with the satellite company's chief executive and controlling shareholder, Charlie Ergen. Some analysts and industry officials are skeptical that Mr. Ergen, renowned as a maverick and often stubborn manager, would sell the company he founded. To get his agreement may require AT&T to offer a big price, perhaps as much as $30 billion, analysts estimate, about 45 times its earnings over the past 12 months, according to Capital IQ.
Still, EchoStar makes sense in a number of ways. AT&T already has an investment in Echostar -- it put $500 million into the satellite firm in 2003. The two are partners in offering 'Homezone,' a service using a television set-top box that blends satellite TV with on-demand movies and other services off the Internet. A deal also would be simplified if EchoStar goes ahead with its recently announced plan to separate its satellite-television business, known as Dish Network, from businesses such as its set-top-box maker.
Dionne Searcey / Dana Cimilluca
Investors should be wary.
AT&T has been consulting lawyers in Washington about how long it would take to get government approval to purchase either EchoStar Communications Corp. or DirecTV Group Inc., people familiar with the matter said. If it does make a bid for one of the satellite providers, AT&T could unveil the offer before year's end in hopes of getting federal antitrust officials to approve the combination before a new administration takes over, these people say.
A final decision on a bid hasn't been made. AT&T hasn't even decided which satellite-TV firm to go after, although a purchase of EchoStar, of Englewood, Colo., could be easier to undertake because it has a less-complicated ownership situation. There also isn't any guarantee that either company would be available.
But what AT&T shareholders and other investors are likely to focus on is the potential cost of a deal -- between $30 billion and $40 billion, depending on the target -- and the San Antonio telecommunications giant's ability to absorb another acquisition after last year's purchase of BellSouth Corp.
'It would create uncertainty,' said John Krause, a stock-research analyst at Thrivent Investment Management of Minneapolis, which owns 2.4 million shares of AT&T. He doesn't rate AT&T's shares.
That could be bad news for AT&T stock, which is currently trading near a 52-week intraday high of $42.97. In 4 p.m. composite trading yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange, AT&T's shares were up 85 cents, or 2.1%, to $42.02, giving the company a market value of $256.28 billion. The shares are trading at about 21 times per-share earnings for the past 12 months.
The stock's rise came after AT&T reported strong third-quarter earnings yesterday, with net income rising 41% to $3.06 billion and revenue jumping 93% to $30.13 billion. Last year's figures don't include results from BellSouth and its 40% stake in Cingular Wireless, which AT&T took full control of with its acquisition of BellSouth late last year. AT&T added two million new wireless customers in the quarter, bringing its total to 65.7 million. It said it sold 1.4 million Apple Inc. iPhones since the launch of the device in late June.
AT&T Chief Financial Officer Rick Lindner declined to comment about potential acquisitions. EchoStar and DirecTV also declined to comment.
Talk about AT&T's interest in a satellite-TV firm has swirled for several years, as the company, like rival Verizon Communications Inc., has made a big push into offering television service to counter cable-TV operators' push into phone service. AT&T announced that through the third quarter, it had signed up 126,000 subscribers for its 'U-verse' TV service, which uses Internet-based technology. The company says it will offer U-verse to 18 million homes by the end of next year, a project estimated to cost $6.5 billion.
A satellite deal would give AT&T a way of fending off rival cable operators luring customers with low-priced bundles of phone, TV and high-speed Internet services. A purchase also would allow AT&T to negotiate less expensive content deals for its TV service. And it would save AT&T the cost of rolling out U-verse in certain parts of the company's expansive territory where laying the fiber optics is expensive.
Still, the premium AT&T would have to pay to land a satellite concern may offset those cost savings. Of the two satellite firms, DirecTV, which has 16.3 million customers in the U.S., versus EchoStar's 13.6 million, would be cheapest as measured by a multiple of its earnings. DirecTV, of El Segundo, Calif., has a market value of about $30 billion, roughly 21 times earnings for the past 12 months.
But DirecTV would be a complicated acquisition. John Malone's Liberty Media Corp. late last year agreed to buy News Corp.'s 38.5% stake in DirecTV, although the deal has yet to be approved by regulators. (News Corp. has agreed to acquire Dow Jones & Co., the publisher of The Wall Street Journal.)
Acquiring all of DirecTV would likely require spending as much as $40 billion, analysts speculate, the equivalent of more than 26 times earnings. Liberty would also have to hold on to about 25% of the company for several years for tax reasons. A Liberty representative declined to comment on whether the company would be interested in selling.
EchoStar would require AT&T to negotiate with the satellite company's chief executive and controlling shareholder, Charlie Ergen. Some analysts and industry officials are skeptical that Mr. Ergen, renowned as a maverick and often stubborn manager, would sell the company he founded. To get his agreement may require AT&T to offer a big price, perhaps as much as $30 billion, analysts estimate, about 45 times its earnings over the past 12 months, according to Capital IQ.
Still, EchoStar makes sense in a number of ways. AT&T already has an investment in Echostar -- it put $500 million into the satellite firm in 2003. The two are partners in offering 'Homezone,' a service using a television set-top box that blends satellite TV with on-demand movies and other services off the Internet. A deal also would be simplified if EchoStar goes ahead with its recently announced plan to separate its satellite-television business, known as Dish Network, from businesses such as its set-top-box maker.
Dionne Searcey / Dana Cimilluca
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