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Strip casino project proposing new 2,000-seat live entertainment venue
Hard Rock is doubling down on its commitment to live entertainment at its $4 billion Strip resort project.
Comcast's Sky Reaches Terms to Acquire ITV's Media & Entertainment Unit for $2 Billion
The deal, which includes ITV's linear channels and ITVX streaming platform, could be announced in the next two weeks, according to Reuters
Comcast’s Sky Reaches Terms to Acquire ITV’s Media & Entertainment Unit for $2 Billion
The deal, which includes ITV's linear channels and ITVX streaming platform, could be announced in the next two weeks, according to Reuters
Poppi founder speaks about building a billion-dollar soda business
Allison Ellsworth, the founder of the viral soda brand Poppi, sits down with NBC News' Savannah Sellers to discuss how she turned a personal health issue into a billion-dollar cultural phenomenon.
Comcast's Sky to Buy ITV's Media and Entertainment Unit for $2.1 Billion
Comcast-owned Sky Group has reportedly agreed to acquire the media and entertainment business unit of U.K.-based ITV for $2.1 billion. The deal is expected to be officially announced in two weeks. Satellite operator Sky will absorb ITV’s broadcast network, linear free-to-air channels, and the ITVX subscription streaming service with 900,000 paid subscribers and 16.4 million … Continue reading "Comcast’s Sky to Buy ITV’s Media and Entertainment Unit for $2.1 Billion"
Their Family Business Went From Bankruptcy to a $4 Billion Snack Empire: Inside Jack Link’s Wild Entrepreneurial Ride
Meat, risk, and NASCAR — here's how Jack Link's CEO Troy Link has grown his family business into a global phenomenon.
'This is the next jump in technology': World's first sub-1nm chip keeps Moore's Law alive a little longer
IBM's NanoStack architecture has helped scientists cram 100 billion transistors onto a computer chip, delivering 50% better performance and consuming 70% less energy than the current generation.
Scientists discover how a single cell builds a brain with 170 billion cells
How does a single cell build a brain with billions of precisely organized neurons? Researchers suggest that brain cells use their lineage—their cellular family tree—as a kind of positional map. Cells that come from the same ancestor stay near one another, helping the brain organize itself without relying solely on chemical signals.
Merck Expands Life Science Leadership with Planned $11.3 Billion Bio-Techne Acquisition
Merck Expands Life Science Leadership with Planned $11.3 Billion Bio-Techne Acquisition
Could the history of Mars be set in stone? Meteorite discovery may offer clues to Red Planet's past
Garnet found in a 4.4-billion-year-old meteorite gives potential insight into the history, development and geological processes of Mars.
Germany's Merck to buy Bio-Techne for $11.3 billion
Merck KGaA has agreed to acquire biotech firm Bio-Techne for $11.3 billion, the German science and healthcare firm said in a statement on Thursday.
Germany’s Merck to Buy Bio-Techne for $11 Billion
Merck KGaA offered $73 a share in cash to buy Bio-Techne, representing a 24% premium to the U.S. lab-tools supplier’s closing price Wednesday.
Prosus Investment Values Health Insurer Alan at $6.3 Billion
Prosus—the largest shareholder in Tencent Holdings and owner of food-delivery company Just Eat Takeaway—is investing €400 million in Alan.
Walmart’s $1.4 billion Vibe.co deal is a direct shot at Amazon’s booming ad business
With a $1.4 billion deal for Vibe.co, Walmart is aiming to capture the ad dollars of smaller brands.
Micron and Qualcomm forecasts ignite $400 billion AI chip stock rally
Shares of chipmakers surged late on Wednesday, adding over $400 billion in market value after strong forecasts from Micron Technology and Qualcomm breathed fresh life into Wall Street's recently waning AI stock rally.
White House asks Congress for $88 billion for Iran war
The request mostly includes money for the Pentagon, with $67 billion going toward replenishing the military’s stocks of munitions and the cost of sending so many forces to the Middle East.
Irene Pritzker buys Crowns’ Streeterville condo for $5.5 million
A member of the Pritzker family has emerged as the buyer of billionaire philanthropists Lester and Renee Crown’s longtime condominium at the Water Tower Residences in Streeterville.
Nasa rover detects potential signatures of ancient microbial life on Mars
Perseverance identifies organic carbon molecules in rocks on riverbed that carried water billions of years ago
10 SoCal residents arrested in health care fraud takedown
The U.S. Department of Justice launched its massive 2026 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, charging 455 individuals nationwide over $6.5 billion in fraudulent claims.
USPS tells Congress it needs cash rescue amid broken business model
Postmaster General David Steiner told a Senate committee the agency has amassed nearly $31 billion in cumulative defaults and could run out of cash by year's end
455 people including doctors charged in historic $6.5B health care schemes
Over 450 people, including 90 medical professionals, are facing charges in global health care fraud schemes totaling $6.5 billion.
Federal officials plan to offload some warehouses purchased for immigrant detention
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is retreating from a plan to use warehouses to hold up to 10,000 people on a single site, dropping a key piece of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s $38-billion plan to rapidly expand detention capacity this year.
OpenAI Touts Progress in 19-Week-Old Ad Business
OpenAI is promoting progress in what it expects to become a $100 billion ad business. The artificial intelligence (AI) startup is making its inaugural
How a $0 co-pay saves billions
Bringing down drug costs is the first step to improve health care affordability.
How to bet responsibly during the World Cup
With billions of more dollars and dozens of more games, this World Cup will be a bookmaker bonanza. Here's how to keep yourself safe while wagering.
Dozens in Florida among hundreds charged in a DOJ crackdown on healthcare fraud
The two-week operation uncovered more than $6.5 billion in false claims submitted to insurers, according to the Department of Justice. Nearly two dozen arrests were made by state authorities.
Online Entertainment Market
Online Entertainment Market size is expected to be worth around USD 2,058.30 Billion by 2035 from USD 604.7 Billion in 2025, at a CAGR of 13.30%
Two in Hawaii charged in nationwide health care fraud, opioid crackdown
The Department of Justice charged 455 health care professionals nationwide — including two in Hawaiʻi — in alleged fraud and opioid schemes totaling $6.5 billion.
Bill Gates: Jeffrey Epstein used billionaire connections to get to me
Bill Gates told Congress that Jeffrey Epstein wormed his way into his life with "veiled threats" to disclose extramarital affairs.
Ari Emanuel Is in Talks to Buy ATG Entertainment, FT Reports
Hollywood superagent Ari Emanuel is in advanced talks to buy the theater group ATG Entertainment Ltd. for £4.5 billion ($5.9 billion), the Financial Times reported.
Earth’s oldest asteroid impact struck 3 billion years ago
While scientists are revising the timeline at Australia's North Pole Dome, it's still our oldest known crater.
The Purpose Pivot: Activating Business Strategies to Reshape Systems
Our Purpose Pivot series continues with Ravneeta Consul ’06. As chief operating officer of Undue Medical Debt, Consul works on one of the most widespread and least visible financial burdens in the United States. The national nonprofit has abolished more than 40 billion dollars of medical debt for 27 million people across all 50 states, while also working to change how the system itself is understood and addressed.
Trump administration charges 455 people, including doctors, with $6.5 billion in healthcare fraud
In the Trump administration’s latest effort to crack down on fraud, the Justice Department on Tuesday unveiled charges against 455 people for their alleged participation in healthcare fraud and opioid abuse schemes.
DOJ unveils charges for $6.5 billion in health fraud schemes
The Department of Justice (DOJ) unveiled on Tuesday charges against more than 450 defendants for alleged health care fraud totaling over $6.5 billion in false claims, as part of the Trump administr…
Roku May Help Fox Avoid Aggregeddon
(Welcome to the “Most Important Story of the Week”, my bi-weekly strategy column analyzing the most important (but often not buzziest) news story of the last two weeks. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. Please subscribe.) Scrolling through links over the last week, I stumbled across this fun headline: Wow. Formula 1 (the sport, not the docu-series) is the perfect “dog not barking”. As a reminder, each week in my Streaming Ratings Report, I call out the shows that miss every viewership chart. I dub them “dogs not barking”—like the Sherlock Holmes mystery—because without any data, we forget they even exist. This is in contrast to something like, say, a film flop—cough The Mandalorian and Grogu cough—where even underperforming at the box office is widely discussed here, there and everywhere. In the US, Formula 1 is now in “no public viewership data, so not discussed” territory. After moving to Apple TV from its former home of ESPN, basically no one talks about it. Apple did publish an initial, unsourced, unsubstantiated, (dare I say unserious) datecdote claiming more folks are watching Formula 1 on Apple than ESPN, but we haven’t gotten any updates since. This stands in contrast to when the sport streamed on ESPN, and ESPN PR provided weekly viewership figures. Formula 1 was, at best, a niche sport in America—averaging 1.3 million viewers in the Big Data Plus era—but now it’s basically anonymous. (And yeah, after moving to Apple, I very, very, very much doubt its ratings increased.) Unfortunately, that story isn’t quite big enough to warrant a section in today’s “Most Important Story of the Week” column, but I wanted to call it out, because otherwise, no one else will! Certainly, no one will write articles about the silence/ratings decline, unlike when they wrote breathless articles connecting the rise in viewership to Netflix’s Drive to Survive, including Reuters just last month. (This is a topic I’ve tried to provide a moderate/nuanced/non-hyped take since 2022.) Anyway, on to this week’s issue. I was a bit worried I didn’t have a juicy topic, then the Murdochs went out and did their Murdoch thing: buying Roku. So that’s the story of the week, and it happens to touch on quite a few themes of the streaming wars and the disruption therein. I’ll cover that, plus why more consolidation in Hollywood media looks likely, more good news on the Hollywood labor front, whether we’ll see an uptick in production in Los Angeles, some Broadway and theme park news, cellphone prices going up in the third world (and possibly everywhere), and more. Subscribe Most Important Story of the Week - Another Big Media & Entertainment Merger The story of the week is clearly Fox is buying Roku for $22 billion. I read a lot of good strategy takes on why Fox bought this streaming TV device maker—and I’ll have mine below—but what fascinates me more is how this deal connects to quite a few themes of the streaming wars, linking to everything from the pace of M&A to “aggregeddon” to Netflix’s recent M&A actions/inactions to the shift to advertising from pure play streaming and more. The only topic I can’t really connect it to is my old theory, “never bet against Rupert Murdoch” because he isn’t the one who did this deal; his son Lachlan inked it. (Do I think he provided advice, even at his 95 years of age? Sure.) That plus I have one additional piece of strategy for all entertainment players, inspired by this deal. So let’s dive into all those topics, starting with why I like this deal. Roku is a Great M&A Buy
Lead Maine petitions DHHS to adopt new Medicaid rules
Libby emphasized that neither initiative would cut benefits or eligibility for MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid program that spends more than $1.4 billion a year and serves 400,000 Mainers.
Women’s Sports Top 10
#1 71% increase in women’s sports minutes viewed from 2022 to 2025 with over 46 billion minutes of women’s...
Vanderbilt Health lands three of 35 Susan G. Komen research grants
Komen is the largest nonprofit funder of breast cancer research outside of the U.S. government, having invested more than $1.1 billion in research since its founding.
455 people charged in alleged $6.5B health care fraud schemes: DOJ
The DOJ announced criminal charges against 455 people accused of participating in health care fraud schemes involving more than $6.5 billion in false claims.
Exclusive | Justice Department Unveils $6.5 Billion Healthcare Fraud Crackdown
Prosecutors are expected to charge around 450 defendants in alleged fraud spanning Medicaid and hospice care.
I'm a billionaire founder and father of 5. I parent them differently.
Zynga founder Mark Pincus says giving children agency, responsibility, and room for eccentricity matters more than achievement.
Pentagon asks Congress for roughly $80 billion to cover cost of Iran war
The request adds to an already sizable military spending boost sought by President Donald Trump.
Stada Weighs €6 Billion Takeover of CVC-Backed Cooper Consumer Health
Stada is exploring a potential purchase of Cooper Consumer Health from its private equity owners, people familiar with the matter said, as it hunts for acquisitions on the back of record profits.
Pentagon seeks $80 billion from Congress for Iran war
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he's expecting a supplemental spending request from the administration
Cadence raises $100 million to automate chronic disease care with regulated AI
Digital health startup Cadence has raised $100 million at a $1.23 billion valuation to expand its chronic disease management program.
AI's new power brokers: CFOs
As companies pour billions into AI, CFOs are the gatekeepers of one of corporate America's biggest spending booms.
How billionaire John Morgan starts every day reviewing numbers in bed
Billionaire entrepreneur John Morgan shares why his hobby is "hunting money," why he never eats lunch alone, and why he'll never retire.
Virginia legislators advance $205 billion budget including new tax on data centers
Virginia legislators approved a two-year, $205 billion budget proposal to fund healthcare and public education, provide 4% teacher raises and a 3.5% pay bump to state employees, establish a retail weed marketplace and hedge against decreased federal dollars.
Pentagon seeks $80 billion from Congress for Iran war
The Pentagon has told lawmakers it needs roughly $80 billion, mostly to cover the cost of the war in Iran
Interstellar comet may be oldest object seen in our solar system, research finds
Observations suggest comet spent billions of years on ‘vast unimaginable trajectories’ around our galaxy
Trump delays billions in HHS grants with political review
The Trump administration is holding up billions in grant funding because of a new political review process that goes up through Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the White House.
PWHL adds Kilmer Sports Ventures, Ilitch Companies as first outside investors
Just one month after completing its third season, the Professional Women’s Hockey League has added its first outside investment, the league announced on Monday morning. Kilmer Sports Ventures, which is led by Toronto businessman Larry Tanenbaum, and Ilitch Companies, the parent company of the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings and MLB’s Tigers, have joined the league as partners. Since its inception, the league has operated under a single-entity ownership model, meaning Mark Walter — the billionaire owner
Earth’s mantle may be hiding an ocean’s worth of water 410 miles down - Futura-Sciences
An estimated 4.4 billion years ago, a series of planetary collisions delivered the vast majority of Earth’s water budget to a world whose surface was still a bubbling, glowing ocean of molten rock. As this global magma ocean slowly cooled and crystallized over millions of years into the planet’s first...
SpaceX launches notes offering, discloses $100.8 billion cash balance
SpaceX said on Monday it launched an offering of senior unsecured notes and disclosed that it held about $100.8 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of June 19.
California is getting ready to increase a health insurance tax. Will it affect your premium?
Legislators approved a redesigned health tax that shifts more cost onto privately insured Californians to help preserve billions in federal Medi-Cal funding.
Trump’s Iran agreement embraces sanctions relief, a policy he and his team once denounced
For years, President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance argued against deals that provided financial concessions to Iran, saying that giving the regime money fuels terror. But now the agreement they’ve reached to end the war with Tehran is poised to hand the regime billions.
Global entertainment revenues to reach $4.2 trillion by 2030 as advertising powers industry growth
The global media industry is on course to generate US$4.2 trillion in annual revenues by 2030, according to the latest forecasts. The sector will add around US$600 billion in new revenue over the n…
Santander Equips All Workers With AI and Seeks $1.15 Billion Business Value
Santander is extending artificial intelligence (AI) tools to all its employees as it works toward its goal of generating over 1 billion euros (about $1.15
Sports is the Gulf's favorite soft power play. The World Cup is a hard test. - Live Updates
Middle Eastern petrostates have poured billions into the game. Their national teams are struggling to keep up.
Billionaire fires back at Mamdani, says business leaders must 'fight for their city'
Citadel founder Ken Griffin urges New York business leaders to speak up against Mayor Zohran Mamdani's tax proposals, warning the city risks losing talent.
Billionaire fires back at Mamdani, says business leaders must 'fight for their city'
Citadel founder Ken Griffin urges New York business leaders to speak up against Mayor Zohran Mamdani's tax proposals, warning the city risks losing talent.
How the WNBA went from survival mode to a billion-dollar future
As the WNBA celebrates its 30th anniversary, the once-fledgling league has evolved from its 1997 launch into a global fixture in women’s sports.
Retailers are making billions selling ads, not just products
For decades, retailers made money the old-fashioned way: Buying merchandise and selling it for more than they paid.
Billionaire Warren Buffett Disciple Warns: Don’t Quit Your Job To Start A New Business, Do This Instead
Billionaire investor Mohnish Pabrai has built a reputation for borrowing the best ideas from Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, then applying them with ruthless simplicity. On a recent appearance on Big Deal with Codie Sanchez, he turned that same lens on a piece of conventional wisdom that gets repeated in nearly every startup pitch deck ... Billionaire Warren Buffett Disciple Warns: Don’t Quit Your Job To Start A New Business, Do This Instead
Iranian Guard’s business empire to win big if U.S. sanctions lifted
As the two sides eye a deal to end the war that could unlock billions of dollars for Iran, the elite Revolutionary Guard is poised to be one of the biggest beneficiaries.
District leaders celebrate strides in local and minority business contracting
Through the D.C. Community Anchor Partnership, 17 major institutions have spent more than $1.5 billion with D.C.-based businesses, including nearly $1 billion with minority-owned firms. The initiative’s leaders say it is reshaping how large institutions approach contracting by connecting them with local businesses and building capacity for long-term growth.
Amazon Will Make Billions on Prime Day. For Small Businesses, the Math Doesn't Always Add Up
Prime Day boosts Amazon’s gains while putting intense pressure on sellers to cut prices, absorb costs, and take on most of the risk.
MUSC Health passes $10B budget, reflecting growth in drugs and population
Medical University of South Carolina and its hospitals and physicians will have a budget that tops $10 billion next fiscal year, driven by the cost of drugs and a growing population in the state.
The Sun may not engulf Earth after all, scientists say
Need some good news on a Friday after a long week?Don't worry: this is not expected to happen for another five billion years, long after all life on Earth has been wiped out.
More than 1 billion barrels of oil have gone missing
The good news: The Strait of Hormuz is open again, after Iran and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding this week.
Tech entrepreneur Dug Song helps Michigan's future business founders
After selling a cybersecurity company for billions, the son of a Korean immigrant has focused on making it easier for those who follow.
Accenture Just Had Its Worst Day in Years. Is AI Coming for the Consulting Business?
The consulting giant posted solid results, yet a cautious outlook and a multibillion-dollar acquisition bet sent its stock to the lowest level in years.
Parts of Trump’s Iran deal sharply criticized by some key Republicans
GOP senators criticized provisions including the lifting of U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil exports and a plan to set up a $300 billion fund meant to rebuild the country.
Exclusive | Pentagon Tells Lawmakers It Needs $80 Billion for Iran War and Other Bills
Military officials say the services could run out of money for operations this summer unless Congress passes a new wartime spending bill.
Microsoft (MSFT) Is Building A Billion Dollar AI Business In China
Microsoft (NasdaqGS:MSFT) is building a large AI and cloud business in China, supplying OpenAI models through Azure to major local technology companies. ByteDance is reported to spend over US$1b annually on Microsoft AI and cloud services, with Ant Group, Meituan, and Tencent also using Microsoft models. Microsoft has emerged as a key provider of OpenAI technology in China at a time when several US competitors are not active in the region. For investors watching Microsoft, this growing AI...
Paulson Wins $47 Million in Arbitration With Ex-Business Partner
John Paulson was awarded more than $47 million by an arbitrator who found that the billionaire’s former Puerto Rico business partner cheated him on one investment and usurped him on another.
Sports betting is changing the game for Colorado’s fans and athletes as big money adds new pressures
Since 2020, Colorado’s gamblers have wagered $28.4 billion on sports bets, averaging $418.7 million monthly. All that money is changing games for both fans and athletes.
California wealth tax sparks debate among billionaires, voters
A wealth tax proposal in California is running into left-leaning resistance, with critics arguing it's not a stable revenue source.
Prediction markets are skeptical of California's billionaire tax
Kalshi and Polymarket bettors are unsure if California Gov. Gavin Newsom can prevent a proposed billionaire tax from reaching voters.
California's billionaire tax qualifies for the November election but faces stiff political pressure
Loss of another Seattle-area billionaire? Valve’s Gabe Newell is reported buyer of Florida estate
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the video game developer is the buyer of a waterfront estate north of Miami.
It’s official: California voters will weigh a one-time billionaire tax
The measure’s spot on the ballot ensures a brutal and expensive campaign that will coincide with voters’ deciding control of Congress and the governorship.
California lawmakers to vote on tax increases affecting health insurance and digital software
California lawmakers are set to vote tomorrow on two tax increases, including higher taxes on health plans and a new sales tax on digital software, which are expected to raise billions annually for state programs.
Georgia Republicans choose Collins for Senate and Jackson for governor, a mixed result for Trump
Georgia Republicans delivered a split decision for Donald Trump in Tuesday runoffs, opting for the president’s preferred U.S. Senate candidate but rejecting his choice for governor in favor of a billionaire first-time candidate who spent freely from his personal fortune to win the nomination.
Justice Department sues New York over Medicaid home care ‘fraud scheme’
The Justice Department is suing the New York State Department of Health, the state’s Medicaid director and a company operating a $10 billion home health prog…
This $91 Billion Fintech Startup Is Laying Off 10% of Workers Even Though the Business 'Has Never Been Stronger'
Here’s why layoffs happened anyway, despite business being strong.
Billionaire Valve Boss Gabe Newell Buys Florida Super Mansion With Its Own Underground Tunnel for $70.8 Million
Gabe Newell has splashed out $70.8 million on a Florida super mansion that comes with its own tunnel to the sea.
‘Stop the Billionaire Takeover’ Lays Out Finances Behind SF Politics
Ahead of the June 2 election, about 45 people gathered at the Ortega Branch Library on May 13 to hear a presentation on what organizers called a billionaire takeover of local elections.
Trump wins two, loses one: Georgia billionaire delivers rare blow to endorsement machine
Trump-backed candidates won two of three key GOP runoffs in Georgia and Alabama, but lost the gubernatorial race to billionaire Rick Jackson.
Georgia runoffs 2026: Rick Jackson topples Burt Jones, wins GOP nod for governor
The billionaire healthcare executive won despite President Donald Trump and Gov. Brian Kemp endorsing his opponent.
Billionaire Rick Jackson defeats Trump-backed Burt Jones for the GOP nomination in Georgia governor’s race
NBC News projects that Jackson has won the primary runoff and will move on to the general election in the battleground state against Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms.
U.S. Sues N.Y. State Over Troubled $11 Billion Home Health Care Program
The Justice Department accused officials of failing to police a vendor it said had siphoned off millions of dollars. A spokeswoman for Gov. Kathy Hochul called the suit an attempt to weaponize the justice system.
US Sues New York Health Officials Over Alleged Fraud in Medicaid Homecare Program
By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK, June 16 (Reuters) - The Trump administration sued top New York health officials on Tuesday over an alleged scheme to rig the bidding process for managing the state's estimated $10 billion Medicaid homecare program, harming patients and caregivers as well as ...
California Business Groups Oppose Reckless Billionaires’ Tax
or Immediate Release Contact: John Myers john.myers@calchamber.com | press@calchamber.com (June 16, 2026) Sacramento, CA – The California Chamber of
A graduated tax plan could undercut Colorado’s business competitiveness, analysis warns
A proposal to move Colorado to a graduated income tax — taxing individuals and businesses at different rates based on their earnings — could generate more than $2 billion in its first year, but it may also weaken the state’s business climate, according to a new analysis from the Common Sense Institute. Initiative No. 195, […]
Evers celebrates record-breaking tourism year at bike shop in West Bend
The annual report, released earlier this month, showed the state generated $27 billion in economic impact.
Merchants of Doubt and the attacks on Extreme Event Attribution science
Last week, I attended a meeting at Columbia University on attribution science and climate law, hosted by the Sabin Center. It was a fantastic event, bringing together scientists and legal experts working at the intersection of extreme event attribution and climate law. Subscribe For those unfamiliar with it, extreme event attribution attempts to quantify the contribution of climate change to an extreme event. For example, several groups analyzed the impact of climate change on Hurricane Harvey’s enormous rainfall totals over Houston, Texas and they found that climate change increased rainfall by 15 to 38%. One thing that came up again and again was how terrified fossil-fuel interests are of extreme event attribution science. They are acutely aware that this research could land them in court. And losing those cases would leave them legally liable for billions of dollars in climate damages. Because the legal stakes are so high, the blowback has turned ugly. I spoke with several scientists at the meeting who are facing ongoing harassment over their work. This blowback is a coordinated campaign to make the entire field look suspect. The goal is to create the impression that attribution science is too uncertain, too political, or too conflicted to be useful in court or in public policy. The strategy is not based on actual science or evidence of misconduct, but on the generation of doubt. The new Merchants of Doubt We’ve seen this before. In fact, not that long ago: We only have to go back a year to the Department of Energy (DOE) Climate Working Group (CWG) report to see an example of using doubt as the tool to push back against well-established science. This strategy is laid out in an email from a member of the CWG, Dr. Roy Spencer, that was released during litigation over the Climate Working Group process. The key quote is: About all I can hope is that what we write will provide sufficient “reasonable scientific doubt” regarding the science claims in the 2009 TSD [technical support document], based upon almost 2 decades of new science, to call into question the original reasoning for the EPA Administrator’s decision that CO2 presents a threat to human health and welfare. This statement is strong evidence that at least some members of the committee were working to support a particular policy outcome: revoking the Endangerment Finding. The email also explains how they planned to do it: by attempting to generate “reasonable doubt”. This is going to be hard, Spencer implies. Despite falsely claiming that “2 decades of new science” weakens the case, Spencer explicitly acknowledges that the actual peer-reviewed science of climate change overwhelmingly rejects his position: But if the science argument is decided upon by a vote, or by the number of published citations, we lose the science argument. We can go back even further: This CWG email shares unmistakable DNA with the infamous 1969 tobacco memo that declared: “Doubt is our product, since it is the best means of competing with the ‘body of fact’ that exists in the mind of the general public. It is also the means of establishing a controversy.” The tobacco memo also acknowledges the limit of this strategy: Like the CWG, they knew the science was not on their side. Share The new new Merchants of Doubt The people attacking the IPCC chapter on extreme event attribution are the newest iteration of the Merchants of Doubt. Their goal, like all Merchants before them, is to introduce doubt into the process. Because the report is not even out yet, they cannot attack its conclusions. So they are attacking the authors instead. Here is a press release from the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee: In the letter, the Chairmen express concerns about potential conflicts of interest involving members of the Attribution Committee, stating that “publicly available information suggests a troubling pattern” in which committee members are affiliated with nonprofits that support climate accountability lawsuits, “raising the appearance of impropriety and member bias.” To be clear, this is just innuendo. There is no actual evidence of bias. And given the robust process that these reports go through, including multiple lines of peer review, it seems very unlikely that significant bias can survive into the report. When the report comes out, critics will have the opportunity to make legitimate criticisms of the report — if any exist. If none do, however, they’ll still make criticisms, but they’ll be bogus, simply designed to generate doubt. We’ll see. A note to the press: Fix your frame To any journalists reading this: The public debate over extreme event attribution science is not going away. The science is simply too dangerous to fossil-fuel interests for them to stop fighting it. You very well might be assigned to write an article about this area of research in the future. When you do, do not automatically adopt the framing that climate misinformers want you to use. They want you to frame the story around questions like: Are climate scientists trying to put their thumb on the scale to achieve a predetermined, politically motivated result? Are climate scientists improperly letting their politics invade the science of the IPCC? That frame is a trap. Instead, you need to view this through the historical lens of the Merchants of Doubt. How does the ecosystem of doubt operate? Who funds it? What methods do they use to misrepresent science and slime researchers? What scientific results are they trying to keep people from understanding are legitimate? Ultimately, you instead need to focus your article on the generation of doubt as a way to maintain the fossil fuel industry’s social and legal license to keep burning oil, gas, and coal. If you treat the misinformers’ frame as a legitimate, good-faith scientific critique, you are helping them produce doubt. Don’t do it. Don’t be a Merchant of Doubt. Thanks for reading The Climate Brink! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work. Subscribe other stuff The Staying Curious Substack has an interesting post about the different flavors of climate sensitivity. This is crucial information if you want to understand how scientists think about how much warming the Earth will experience. I’d be grateful if you could hit the like button ❤️ below! It helps more people discover these ideas and lets me know what’s connecting with readers.
Microsoft's cloud infrastructure talks with Oracle collapse, Business Insider reports
June 16 (Reuters) - Microsoft's discussions with Oracle regarding a cloud infrastructure leasing deal, potentially valued at more than $3 billion, have fallen apart due to security and compliance
Microsoft's cloud infrastructure talks with Oracle collapse, Business Insider reports
Microsoft's discussions with Oracle regarding a cloud infrastructure leasing deal, potentially valued at more than $3 billion, have fallen apart due to security and compliance concerns, Business Insider reported on Tuesday.
Pritzker signs nearly $56B budget with new business taxes as he seeks 3rd term
Article Summary Gov. JB Pritzker signed the fiscal year 2027 budget, which totals $55.9 billion, making it the largest in