fortune--2020-10-30--How WFH has affected employees with disabilities

Broadside writer Kristine Gill talks to employees with disabilities about how working from home has leveled the playing field yet exacerbated certain challenges. Then, scroll on for job opportunities from Bank of America, Disney, Facebook and more.
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For many employees with illnesses and disabilities, remote work has been an accommodation they’ve sought and been declined. But when the world transitioned to virtual work in the blink of an eye in March, employers and employees alike saw how the arrangement could work and benefit all parties.
This month, I spoke to employers and employees who say working from home has leveled the playing field in some surprising ways. As the world tiptoes toward normalcy, I asked what they want to do after this work-from-home experiment ends.
“The culture of remote work is here to stay forever, which is great for the disabilities community and women in general,” says Jessica Tuman, vice president of Voya Cares at Voya Financial.
Communicate.
Mavis Bryant had worked for the Children’s Home Society nonprofit for several years when she began developing health problems. The worst came about two years after a car crash, when doctors realized her heart was only working at 15% capacity.
“I didn’t even know I had heart problems,” said the 50-year-old, who has since been diagnosed with congestive heart failure, kidney disease and diabetes.
Bryant felt lucky. Her employer allowed her to take time off to get her health under control. Then last year, they allowed her to begin working part-time, including several days a week from home.
“It was a blessing,” she said. “I get shortness of breath. There’s just a lot of moving around when you’re in the office to meet with families who come in to visit.”
So when the rest of her workplace went remote in March, Bryant was already in a position to succeed. Now, her clients are conducting meetings and visits virtually and Bryant is not at a disadvantage as she works from her living room on her laptop.
“It’s been really good to work from home,” Bryant says.
Bryant credits her employer with making the switch simple. As a nonprofit with a mission aimed at helping families, the company was well-poised to help one of its own. Her advice for anyone coming to work with a health condition: Communicate with your employer, ask for a new part-time or work from home arrangement, and to try to take things slowly.
Lauren Appelbaum had been working as vice president of communications for the nonprofit RespectAbility for a few years when she acquired her disability. Appelbaum had a fall that resulted in Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, a disorder causing severe pain. She soon learned she couldn’t type for extended periods of time, lacked strength in her right arm and leg, and had trouble getting comfortable at her desk.
“Like anyone who acquires a disability, it was trial and error,” she says. “And it’s important to have an employer who can do that trial and error with you.”
In the beginning, Appelbaum was attending physical therapy and multiple doctors visits and benefited from a flexible schedule.
“I was still able to continue a full-time schedule, but I may have done it on different hours—at night from home or on the weekend,” she says.
Communicating that was key as Appelbaum learned what worked for her situation. Luckily, Appelbaum’s workplace was not only willing to help its own employees, but it’s also their mission to help those with disabilities thrive in society.
Undo your biases.
For some employees with disabilities, the WFH option is not on the table. Tuman blames unconscious bias and the false idea that working from home means working less.
“We’ve trained hiring managers on how to overcome these biases in the interview process,” says Tuman. Her company works to create supportive workplaces for individuals with disabilities and special needs and their caregivers. Tuman suggests bringing in an expert to train your hiring managers. Some suggest using AI to eliminate or reduce hiring bias. The Harvard Business Review suggests a method of grouping applicants by their qualifications so hiring managers focus on credentials rather than race. The American Bar Association has suggestions pertaining specifically to hiring bias for those with disabilities.
Appelbaum names several factors at play when an employer feels wary about hiring someone with disabilities.
“There’s a fear that it’s going to cost money and that if an employer lets someone with a disability go for any reason, that employee will sue the company,” Appelbaum says. “Of course, that’s not true. We want to be treated like any other employee with high expectations.”
Tuman encourages employers to hire within the disabilities community.
“We have research that shows people with disabilities are more loyal in their jobs, they stay longer in their roles, and they outperform their counterparts,” she says. Last year, an American Association of People with Disabilities study of 140 companies showed that companies offering the most inclusive working environment did better than their peers.
Recognize the unforeseen benefits.
Tuman has noticed some silver linings as folks work from home. To the relief of many employees with disabilities, for instance, they don’t have to commute.
Such was the case for Bryan Bridges-Limon, who was born with a hearing impairment. As a teen, he also lost part of his leg to cancer. Switching to remote work meant more comfortable footwear for around the house, less movement around the office, and less taxing meetings.
“On Zoom, people tend to talk one person at a time, so it’s easier for me to follow those meetings,” he says. “I can be on Zoom all day without getting tired the way I do at these in-person meetings.”
When Bridges-Limon lost his job as a digital marketing executive in April, he also found he felt more confident in job interviews conducted over video calls. He wasn’t walking into the interview room with a pronounced limp and he could more easily hear the interviewer by upping the volume on his computer. Most didn’t even notice his cochlear implant on their screen.
“There was a lot less of that implicit bias,” he says. “It didn’t seem to play a role at all.”
In the past, he had little or no flexibility with remote work. But now, he feels more optimistic about that option going forward.
“To be honest, I would not want a permanent work-from-home situation. Part of that is because I have two kids and my husband is working from home as well,” he said. “But I would like the flexibility to work from home sometimes. I do think this will potentially carry through when all this is over.”
Doug Goist, a program manager with Workforce Development, agrees.
“This is bringing about a complete rethinking of new employment options that can become available for the nearly 49 million Americans with disabilities, and that would be a tremendous positive to emerge from this pandemic,” he says.
Provide for accommodations.
“Some homes may not be as customized to meet needs to allow for setting up a good space to work, which has also created problems for many,” says Kevin Hancock, an author and CEO of Hancock Lumber.
Hancock has spasmodic dysphonia, which makes it difficult to speak. He points out that others with disabilities might find it hard to communicate remotely or have trouble adapting to sudden change.
“I hope that disabled employees feel a newfound sense of power to brainstorm ideas and become their own leader in creating change in their workplaces,” he says.
Ron Wiener is the CEO of iMovR, which sells standing desks. The company has seen a massive uptick in sales since workers began reporting from home. Wiener believes the new popularity will bolster the idea that standing desks and ergonomic workstations are a must for all employees, and especially those with physical handicaps.
“Way back when, most employers required a note from a chiropractor for a standing desk,” he says. “Now it’s a given.”
Wiener also believes that, as problems such as back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and circulatory issues increase among sedentary office workers, employers will see the benefit of heading off these preventative issues for employees.
He says employers are footing the bill in most cases.
“At most companies, the investment in ergonomic accommodation is a ‘no brainer’ when the cost of a typical workman’s comp or OSHA claim can be $15K-$30K per incident resulting from improper ergonomics. But they’re used to thinking only of offices on their own campuses as being under their liability veil,” he says. “Now with millions of workers being ordered to work from home, that liability veil, and indeed the concern for these employees’ health and productivity, has to include home offices.”
Not long after Appelbaum began working from home in March, she asked for and received a standing desk for her home office. Her employer was happy to pay, and the desk has helped to support her right arm as she types. While she hadn’t anticipated needing one, Appelbaum says that many employees needing accommodations are well aware of the tools they’ll require and have used them for some time.
“I’ve had a few fellows with low vision who are video editors, and one showed me the free tools she used to be able to do her job and do it well,” she says. “It’s important when you’re in a position of hiring to not let your own biases influence what you think others can do.”
Learn lessons for the future.
Many people, Appelbaum points out, have had to avoid grocery stores where it can be difficult for them to social distance. But this past spring, a food stamps law that prevented users from ordering food online was updated, allowing them to purchase their food safely. (Appelbaum’s company RespectAbility helped to push for that change.)
Tuman says changes are also being made to certain benefits packages for employees with disabilities. She encourages everyone to review their current benefits packages, Family Medical Leave Act policies, and telemedicine offerings. Many changes also apply to employees caring for or homeschooling children with disabilities.
Tuman hopes that many of these changes will be here to stay. And she hopes that employers will begin to understand that working from home is a flexible alternative for all employees.
“It really opens the doors for hiring managers to hire within the disability community. It’s just a rich source of talent that’s been overlooked,” she says. “I think it’s just eye-opening for us to see that we can all work from home and be productive.”
Appelbaum agrees. She pointed out that when a mother carrying her infant fell and died on the steps of a New York City subway last summer, the community rallied for the installation of elevators, a request many disabled commuters had repeatedly made in vain.
“This is really an example of what we call universal design. Elevators are going to work for everyone; they’re helpful for people who can’t walk up and down stairs, cyclists, or mothers with strollers,” she says. “You know, text messaging was originally designed for people who are deaf to communicate with. We need to stop thinking about these changes as accommodations and start thinking about them as universal design.”
And the sooner these changes take place, the better. Appelbaum points to a study that shows nearly 23 percent of working adults would benefit from some kind of workplace accommodation and that nearly half of the adults in need of such accommodation aren’t getting it.
“It’s my hope that employees who need work-from-home accommodations will be able to request and receive it even after the pandemic is behind us,” she says.
— Kristine Gill
Making money moves
American Airlines is hiring an Executive Assistant based in Miami, Fla.
Bank of America is hiring an Attorney for Regulatory Inquiries based in Charlotte, North Carolina or Boston, Mass.
Disney is hiring a Senior Financial Reporting Analyst based in Glendale, Calif.
Facebook is hiring a Motion Designer for Instagram based in San Francisco, Calif.
General Motors is hiring a Creative Designer for Advanced Mobility & Design based in Warren, Mich.
Kroger is hiring a Transportation Logistics Coordinator based in Nashville, Tenn.
McKesson is hiring an Assistant Director of Operations based in Chicago, Ill.
Tractor Supply is hiring a Director of Loyalty Marketing based in Brentwood, Tenn.
Verizon is hiring a Technology Auditor based in Ashburn, Va.
Walmart is hiring a Data Scientist based in Sunnyvale, Calif.
Events and other opportunities
Nov. 5: Women in Technology will host a Fall 2020 Job Fair virtually.
Nov. 5-7: Harvard Medical School will host a Career Advancement and Leadership Skills for Women in Healthcare event online.
Nov. 9-12: Linkage will host a Women in Leadership Institute: Virtual Experience.
Nov. 16-20: The Women of Silicon Valley's Women in Tech World Series will take place virtually.
Dec. 8: The annual Women in Negotiation Summit will be held virtually. The daylong event empowers women through negotiation-skills building.
March 2021: Florida International University will host the Power Up Women's Leadership Conference. Location TBD.
Sept. 24-25, 2021: The Women in Medicine Summit is scheduled to take place. Location TBD.
Want to share a hiring or networking opportunity from your organization or elsewhere, or just have feedback about The Broadside? Email Kristine Gill.


fortune--2020-10-30--Trump TikTok restrictions blocked by judge in win for users

This data scientist ’ s model shows Biden is still a 3-to-1 favorite to win—but he ’ s fading in @ @ @

A federal judge in Pennsylvania blocked a broad set of government restrictions designed to curb the use of the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok in the U.S.
U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone issued a temporary injunction on Friday blocking the TikTok ban in response to a lawsuit filed by a group of plaintiffs who use TikTok to make a living. The proposed rules, scheduled to go into effect Nov. 12, would forbid companies from providing the underlying web services that make the app accessible in the U.S.
The U.S. contends that TikTok is a national security threat because its ownership by Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd. gives the Chinese government access to the personal data of millions of Americans. President Donald Trump has demanded that ByteDance find an American buyer for TikTok, and the company is seeking U.S. approval for a deal to sell a stake in the app to Oracle Corp. and Walmart Inc. The administration has cited similar concerns in trying to ban another Chinese app, WeChat, and that move has also been blocked by a U.S. judge.
In Friday’s ruling, Beetlestone said the TikTok prohibitions likely exceed the government’s authority under the emergency powers act it has repeatedly invoked to justify the ban. She also wrote that the ban would cause “irreparable harm” to the TikTok users who sought the injunction, shutting down their “influencing activities.”
“Plaintiffs will lose the ability to engage with their millions of followers on TikTok, and the related brand sponsorships,” she wrote. The judge had previously ruled against the app users in September in an earlier phase of their case.
The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
A federal judge in Washington previously blocked a separate portion of Trump’s ban that would have gone into effect in September and prevented TikTok from being downloaded from app stores.
In that case, lawyers for TikTok are also seeking to block the broader Nov. 12 prohibitions. In a filing on Friday, TikTok’s legal team argued that the ban exceeded the government’s authority, and cited the ruling in Pennsylvania.


fortune--2020-10-30--GM poaches Delta CFO Paul Jacobson

GM poaches Delta CFO Paul Jacobson

General Motors has hired Delta Air Lines’ chief financial officer to become its next CFO, convincing Paul Jacobson to trade the struggling aviation industry for the slightly less struggling auto business.
Jacobson, 48, will become GM’s CFO on December 1, according to a press release Friday afternoon. He will replace Dhivya Suryadevara, a star executive who unexpectedly left GM in August to become CFO at payments company Stripe.
A longtime Delta executive who became CFO in 2012, Jacobson was already planning to leave the company early this year. He announced his retirement in February, before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down most air travel and flattened the airline industry, but rescinded that retirement in April, at the request of CEO Ed Bastian.
Jacobson “has worked tirelessly throughout this year to save costs and protect our future, and I appreciate his leadership through some of the darkest days of Delta’s history,” Bastian said in a press release Friday.
Delta lost $5.4 billion in the third quarter, as airlines continue to struggle with a steep dropoff in domestic and especially international travel as well as the expiration of their federal stimulus aid.
But Jacobson won’t be escaping the impact of the pandemic—or other crises—in his new role. General Motors’ second-quarter revenue fell 53% year-over-year, as the automaker shut down its assembly lines and burned through more than $9 billion in cash. More recently, CEO Mary Barra has also seen her plans to acquire a stake in electric truck startup Nikola complicated by allegations of fraud. The Detroit automaker will report third-quarter earnings next week.


fortune--2020-10-30--Apple starts selling its Apple One subscription bundles. Here’s how much they cost

Apple rolled out monthly subscription plans on Friday that give customers several of its services like Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, and Apple Arcade for one discounted price.
The bundles, announced last month and called Apple One, give subscribers a $6 to $25 per month savings over buying the services separately.
The cheapest plan, which costs $15, gives customers Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade, and 50 GB of iCloud storage.
The family plan for $20 spreads the subscriptions to an entire family and increases the iCloud storage to 200 GB.
The $30 premium plan adds Apple News Plus, Fitness Plus, and 2 TB of storage, plus the services available through the cheaper lineups.
All the Apple One subscriptions are available through the App Store, for iPhones and iPads.
The two lower-priced plans are available worldwide, but the premium tier is only offered in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.
Apple’s fitness service, a library of recorded exercise classes, isn’t yet available in a bundles, but it will be by year end, the company said.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has emphasized increasing the company’s subscription revenue. In the last quarter, Apple brought in $14.5 billion from so-called subscription services, up 16% from the same period last year. Although the bundles offer some savings, Apple is betting customers will spend more overall by signing up for the bundles.
This week, Cook was how the loss of a mobile search deal with Google may impact Apple’s finances. The antitrust lawsuit filed against Google this month says that the deal, in which Google pays Apple billions of dollars to be the default search service on iPhones, is illegal. Cook replied that Apple’s service revenue was growing strongly and suggested it could offset losing the Google deal.


fortune--2020-10-30--The S&P 500 could ‘easily’ dip into a correction before the election on Tuesday

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Buckle up, investors: it might be a rough few days.
The S&P 500 “could easily dip into correction territory on Monday, it wouldn’t be surprising if that happened,” says Randy Frederick, Charles Schwab’s vice president of trading and derivatives. The S&P 500 would need to touch 3,222 points to register a 10% correction from its previous high on Sept. 2. On Friday, the index closed down 1.2% at 3,269.96, about 1.4% above correction territory.
To be sure, it’s been a rocky week in the markets heading into Election Day on Nov. 3: With the Dow down 6.5% for the week (and S&P 500 down 5.6%), markets just booked their worst one-week drop since the throes of the pandemic back in March.
Up until recent weeks, markets had felt more comfortable that there wouldn’t be a contested election, Schwab’s Frederick suggests, but now, it looks as if some investors believe the race is tighter. With conflicting views in the markets, Frederick says he’s seeing a mixed bag of signals, and there could be moves up or down.
“The indicators I follow are just all over the map, I can’t remember the last time there was such huge disagreement,” he tells Fortune. “I’ve got some indicators showing me very strong bullish signs, I’ve got some showing me very strong bearish signs, and some that are showing things they typically don’t show unless there’s high volatility expected. When you get a mix like that, about all you can say is that we know there’s going to be movement, we just don’t know which direction.”
The one thing investors can count on in the next few days? “Things are not going to be calm and lazy and quiet,” suggests Frederick.
Strategists like Frederick are watching options and the VIX, or fear gauge, noting that the open interest put/call ratio for the VIX was at its highest level since March on Friday. However, he notes index options (which typically show more institutional activity) might be signaling some hedging for the downside going on.
To be sure, with the election a mere two trading days away, investors are antsy, and some market observers are trying to read the tea leaves: Only twice have markets shed more than 3% in a day within six days of an election (as the S&P 500 and Dow both did on Thursday), and both times the incumbent lost, LPL’s Ryan Detrick pointed out Thursday.
Add to that a disappointing day on Friday for tech stocks following big earnings from the likes of Apple and Facebook, which dragged the tech-heavy Nasdaq nearly 2.5% lower on Friday.
Markets overall have become increasingly anxious in the past week or two as talks of a stimulus deal before the election fizzled out, and more concerning still, cases of the coronavirus in the U.S. and worldwide continue to rise, sparking fears of further restrictions (some countries have already begun another round of lockdowns).
Indeed, absent last-minute jitters over the election, the uptick in the virus cases this week has been “the biggest catalyst for the downside moves,” says Frederick.
Still, strategists like LPL’s Jeff Buchbinder argue we’ll see a rally after election once a clear winner is named—”Whether it’s Biden or Trump, we think that clarity will help,” he tells Fortune.


fortune--2020-10-30--How the National Guard could play a role in the election

Federal laws and long-standing custom generally leave the U.S. military out of the election process. But President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated warnings about widespread voting irregularities have raised questions about a possible military role.
If any element of the military were to get involved, it would likely be the National Guard under state control. These citizen soldiers could help state or local law enforcement with any major election-related violence. But the Guard’s more likely roles will be less visible — filling in as poll workers, out of uniform, and providing cybersecurity expertise in monitoring potential intrusions into election systems.
Unlike regular active-duty military, the Guard answers to its state’s governor, not the president. Under limited circumstances, Trump could federalize them, but in that case, they would generally be barred from doing law enforcement.
A look at the potential National Guard role in the election:
What might the National Guard do?
Governors could activate the Guard to help with security in the event of violence. That happened this week in Pennsylvania amid demonstrations over the police killing of Walter Wallace Jr. in Philadelphia. The mayor’s office said the city requested that the Pennsylvania National Guard help with “the current situation and election preparation.”
In some states, Guard members in civilian clothes were used as poll workers during primary elections because of shortages caused by the pandemic. The Guard in New Jersey is helping with balloting now, and other states including Wisconsin say they may use the Guard at the polls.
Stephen Dycus, professor emeritus at Vermont Law School, said states can, if necessary, deploy uniformed Guard troops to help keep order at the polls. But, he said, “there’s a very fine line between protection and intimidation. So any activity that is designed to intimidate voters or suppress voting violates federal election laws.”
In preparation for any emergencies, including civil unrest surrounding the election, the National Guard has already designated military police units in two states to serve as rapid-reaction forces. According to the Guard, about 600 troops — 300 in both Alabama and Arizona — will be ready to deploy within 24 hours if requested by a governor in another state. National Guard leaders have bought additional protective equipment and have increased troop training on proper procedures during protests.
Could Trump federalize the Guard?
Federal law permits a president to federalize the Guard under very limited circumstances, including when he is “unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.” This language may be open to interpretation, but in the context of next week’s election, it appears to allow federalization only if there is a fundamental breakdown in state and local officials’ ability to conduct voting and vote counting.
If the president federalizes Guard troops, they are then under his control, not the governor’s. And the president can order them into a state without the governor’s permission.
William Banks, professor at Syracuse University College of Law, said that sending uniformed troops to the polls, including the Guard, would be unwise.
“The overriding point is that we don’t want the military involved in our civilian affairs. It just cuts against the grain of our history, our conditions, our values, our laws,” he said.
What about active-duty military?
Senior military and defense leaders have said repeatedly that they believe there is no role for America’s active-duty troops in an election.
Legal experts say two laws expressly forbid the use of active-duty or federalized National Guard troops at the polls. Banks said one law criminalizes the use of military at the polls unless it is “necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States.” A second law prohibits any voting interference or intimidation at the polls by armed forces.
Under the Posse Comitatus Act, active-duty troops cannot be used for civil law enforcement. A president can, in extreme cases, invoke the rarely used Insurrection Act to use the military for law enforcement. If Trump were to invoke the Insurrection Act in a situation short of an extreme emergency, he might face resistance from Pentagon leaders and could also face a swift court challenge.
During civil unrest in June, Trump considered invoking that act to use active-duty troops for law enforcement. Military leaders were opposed; it never happened.
Dycus said the Insurrection Act can be used only if civil law enforcement can’t handle the problem. And Banks said the president would first have to issue a proclamation calling for the violence to stop.
What are states planning?
Many states say they have no plans to activate their Guard for election duties, while a few have already done so. Army Brig. Gen. Robyn Blader, an assistant adjutant general with the Wisconsin National Guard, said Wednesday that state officials had made no decision on whether to use Guard members as poll workers, which they did in three elections this year because of COVID-19 problems.
Maj. Gen. Daryl L. Bohac, who as Nebraska’s adjutant general is the head of its National Guard, told reporters his state sees no prospect of Guard forces being federalized during the election. He said governors are already considering contingencies, “and they would be the focal point for any use of National Guard for any civil unrest or disturbance following the election.”
In Delaware and Washington state, Guard members will provide election-related cybersecurity assistance. In Tennessee, the Guard is opening drill facilities in rural areas for use as polling stations, but the Guard will play no direct role.
And in Ohio, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine says he’ll do what’s needed.
“I will not hesitate if a mayor requests that help,” he said, adding that if law enforcement asks for help, “we’ll have that discussion, and then we can certainly deploy the National Guard. We hope that that’s not necessary.”


fortune--2020-10-30--The stock market has made its final prediction: Joe Biden will win the presidential election

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Even when the polls were wrong in 2016, the stock market’s time-tested “presidential predictor” was right about who would win the election: The S&P 500’s 2.2% decline in the three months leading up to November four years ago signaled that the incumbent party in the White House—the Democrats—would be replaced.
In other words, the stock market predicted Donald Trump would defeat Hillary Clinton despite polls to the contrary.
Now, the same stock market indicator—which is dependent upon S&P 500 performance for the three months from August through the end of October—has finalized its prediction. With the S&P 500 down slightly (just 0.6%) over that period on the last trading day of October, the stock market’s presidential predictor, as it’s known by market analysts, is officially signaling that Joe Biden will win the election.
Though the dip is minor, the negative S&P 500 performance over those three months indicates that the incumbent party—in other words, President Trump—will be voted out of the White House and replaced with a Democrat.
The pattern has held true for almost a century, since 1928, according to Sam Stovall, the chief investment strategist of CFRA who has long tracked the S&P 500. Since 1944, negative performance by the stock index over the key time frame has correctly predicted a changeover in the presidential party 88% of the time (see chart below). Only once has it been wrong, in 1956. (Meanwhile, positive performance by the S&P 500 in that time period has indicated reelection of the party in the White House 82% of the time.)
While there is no proven explanation for why the stock market has such a high batting average when it comes to the winner of the presidential election, analysts theorize that it likely has to do with uncertainty around the future. Investors tend to sell stocks when it’s unclear how events will play out—just see earlier this year when the coronavirus plunged the world into chaos and caused a bear market. Therefore, the thinking goes, the selloff may reveal uncertainty about how a President from a new political party will shape policy in the coming years.
Even though the S&P 500’s decline is small over the relevant prediction period, it can still be right: In the 2000 election when George W. Bush defeated Al Gore (who was then the incumbent party, following Democrat Bill Clinton), the S&P 500 was down just 0.1% from August through October, according to CFRA. Of course, the 2000 election was notoriously close, with a highly contested result that was ultimately decided by the Supreme Court—something that many politicos are already expecting could happen with this year’s election, given the unprecedented nature of the pandemic and changed voting protocols.
Still, cautions Stovall, “the presidential predictor implies, but does not guarantee, a Biden victory.”
Whether the predictor will succeed in 2020, investors and voters will have to wait until at least Election Day on Nov. 3 (or likely longer) to find out. But no matter what happens next week, stocks have officially sealed their prediction.


fortune--2020-10-30--Democrats have a once-in-a-generation opportunity in Texas

On the heels of new polls and a $6 million investment in Texas by Biden’s campaign, a seven-figure investment from Michael Bloomberg, and a flurry of closing-days trips to Texas by vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris and key Biden campaign surrogates, much attention is being paid to the prospect of Vice President Biden winning this major emerging battleground at the top of the ticket.
Exciting as this may be for Democrats who have long dreamed of turning America’s second-largest state purple, far less attention has been paid to the fact that Democrats are also within striking distance of establishing a majority in the Texas state House of Representatives this year for the first time since 2002. Flipping the Texas House would have tremendous implications for the future of the Democratic Party and the future of American politics.
Democrats now have a once-a-generation opportunity in Texas to stop Republicans from gerrymandering and suppressing votes in one of the biggest battleground states in the country. The Texas House is considered the crown jewel of the 2021 redistricting process, with nearly 40 congressional seats at stake. While Democrats can’t flip the Texas Senate this year, because only 16 of the 31 seats are up for election, winning the House would ensure that decisions about Texas’s political future would be made with bipartisan input.
If Democrats win control of the Texas House, they will not only have a seat at the table in drawing maps for dozens of congressional districts, but they will also be able to stop the GOP from continuing to pass laws for voter suppression. In the midst of a global pandemic, Texas has had some of the most restrictive laws for mail-in ballots. They also have eliminated all but one drop-off location for mail-in ballots per county, placing an extreme burden on voters given concerns about U.S. Postal Service budget cuts and delays.
The path to victory is clear: After flipping 12 seats in the 2018 midterms, Democrats need only nine more seats to take a majority in the 150-seat chamber. A Democratic majority cuts across a set of about 18 races where Democrats came close but lost in 2018, including nine Republican-held seats in districts that were won by Beto O’Rourke at the top of the ticket.
The shift away from Republicans in Texas has been dramatic over the course of the last decade. Mitt Romney won Texas by 16 points in 2012; Donald Trump won by nine points in 2016. And as of the latest polling averages from 538, Trump is up now by just 1.5 points, statistically tied with Biden. Looking down the ballot, the last generic state House ballot showed Democrats up by 4 points. This is exactly the electoral environment in which Democrats can flip competitive seats.
Democrats’ momentum comes after years of a transforming landscape on the ground in Texas, creating favorable conditions for Democratic candidates. Census data highlights increased ethnic diversity and population growth, particularly in the suburbs. Although suburbs have historically been Republican territory, since the 1980s, growing Latinx and Asian-American/Pacific Islander populations have slowly paved the way for Democrats in the suburbs of Dallas and Houston to gain political influence.
In addition to the diversification of the suburbs, a growing constituency of traditionally Republican voters have been fleeing Donald Trump’s Republican Party, so much so that GOP Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen was caught on tape admitting that “Trump is killing us in the suburbs.” Given these shifts, on top of state Republicans’ blatant mishandling of the pandemic, and the subsequent economic fallout, we could very well now be in the middle of a perfect storm that ends decades of Republican control of Texas.
In the midst of this perfect storm, we’ve seen Democrats begin to win the money game in this final stretch, putting them in position to take control of the state House come Nov. 3. Our team at Forward Majority is spending more money in Texas than any other state in the country, a total of over $12 million across 18 races in the battle to help flip the state House. On top of that, the Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee had a record-breaking quarter, with an unprecedented $3.6 million haul from July to September, all going toward flipping key battleground districts. And as of the latest filing, Democratic challengers in the most competitive pickup races have seen a fundraising surge, out-raising their Republican opponents this last quarter, a stark contrast to the past few election cycles where entrenched Republican incumbents have out-raised their Democratic challengers in key districts by as much as 20 to 1.
This is a remarkable improvement over 2018 and includes a dramatic increase in grass-roots donations. Individual contributions to Democrats are up 86%, while Republicans have experienced a 27% decline, according to campaign filings. For example, in a key district in the San Antonio area, Democratic candidate Celina Montoya had nearly 15,000 individual donations to her campaign, while her opponent, Republican incumbent Steve Allison, had only about 300.
As we approach redistricting in 2021, the time is now. With Joe Biden’s strength at the top of the ticket, a once-in-a-generation electoral environment for Democrats, and a dramatic improvement in fundraising, the Texas House is imminently winnable. Republicans have long understood the strategic value of power in state legislatures, and now Democrats are bringing the energy and the resources to wrangle the gavel in the Texas House and transform our political landscape, and our democracy, for decades to come.
Vicky Hausman is a founder and co-CEO of Forward Majority, an organization focused on winning power for Democrats in state legislatures to address voter suppression and gerrymandering. A strategist and entrepreneur, Vicky has spent her career at the intersection of business, social justice, and politics.


fortune--2020-10-30--Apple has lost $450 billion in value in just a few weeks

When talking about the biggest company in the world, it’s not unusual for there to be eye-popping numbers. But Apple’s latest superlative is not one investors would like to see.
Since becoming the first American company to surpass $2 trillion in market value in August and peaking last month, the iPhone maker has lost $450 billion, wiped out by a 19% slump. The latest bout of selling—a 5.6% drop on Friday—took out more than $120 billion alone. Apple’s now worth $1.85 trillion and still the most valuable U.S. company, but the amount shaved from its ledger since its September peak is more than the entire market cap of Visa, the seventh largest member of the S&P 500, and greater than the value of Thailand’s stock exchange.
The drawdown comes as the tech giant reported iPhone sales that missed analysts’ estimates and gave no forecast for the holiday quarter. Fiscal fourth-quarter revenue from the iPhone was $26.4 billion, compared to expectations of $27.1 billion.
The Nasdaq 100 Index plunged 2.6% on Friday and had its worst week since the coronavirus-induced selloff in March. Disappointing sales forecasts from tech companies like Apple, Twitter and Facebook are sparking worries about further growth potential in the names that led this year’s rebound.


fortune--2020-10-30--Women will decide this election

Women will decide this election

We’re five days away from an election that will determine our country’s future for generations to come. None of us knows what the outcome will be (despite what we might read on Twitter). But what we do know is this: Women will decide this election.
Despite being left out of the Constitution, women—and women of color in particular—have been at the forefront of defending our democracy from the very beginning. The 2016 election was another inflection point in our country’s history, with Hillary Clinton’s heartbreaking loss to Donald Trump galvanizing women like never before. Millions took to the streets the day after Inauguration Day in the largest political demonstration in the history of our country. From women lawyers who provided support at airports in the wake of the Muslim ban and flocked to the border in droves to help asylum seekers, to the survivors of sexual assault who bravely spoke out against the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh (including Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, to Congress), to the tidal wave of diverse women elected to office in 2018, women are the most powerful political force in America.
At Supermajority, a women’s advocacy organization working to mobilize millions of women into political action, we believe that when we bring women together across race, age, geography, and background, they can change the direction of this country. And that’s exactly what’s happening right now.
Over the past seven months, women—especially women of color—have kept America running. They’re essential workers putting their bodies on the line; caregivers holding our loved ones’ hands when we can’t; educators making sure their students are not only learning, but safe and healthy; and parents struggling to balance full-time work with childcare. In the midst of an economic crisis that has taken a devastating toll on women—especially Black and Latina women—women watched Trump and Republicans in the Senate rush to confirm a Supreme Court nominee who wants to take away health care during a pandemic and roll back reproductive rights.
Now, women are voting because their lives depend on it. Nearly 37 million women have already cast their ballots, making up 53.4% of early voters. In key states, women are fueling Joe Biden’s lead in the polls, putting us on track to surpass the record-setting gender gap we saw in 2016. Women make up the majority of this country, and we’ve been the majority of voters in every election since 1964.
Beyond their role as voters, women are working around the clock to mobilize others. To date, Supermajority volunteers have sent nearly 6.5 million texts to voters, mailed more than 52,000 letters, and made more than 40,000 calls. In the meantime, women have donated $2 billion to federal candidates, including $33.4 million to Biden and just $8.7 million to Trump. And just like in 2018, women are making history on the ballot, with a record-breaking number of women running for office—from state legislatures all the way to Vice President.
The story of this election is being written right now, and it’s women who are writing it. One of those women is Beatrice Lumpkin in Chicago. At 102 years old, she hasn’t missed an election since she cast her vote for FDR in 1940. So this year, she put on a hazmat suit and walked her ballot to her mailbox. In Floyd County, Ga., Mallory Rogers is one of thousands of 16- and 17-year-old young women across the country who have signed up to be poll workers despite not being old enough to vote. Thaís Carrero was turned away from her job at the Pennsylvania state house after she forgot her badge, because a coworker wasn’t sure she “belonged” there. She decided she needed to do more to fight for her fellow Latinx Americans; now, she works for CASA in Action, an organization that’s working to engage voters and advocate for a representative government that’s actually representative.
In a tough election cycle, nothing gives us more hope than knowing the world is finally waking up to the fact that women are not a special interest group; we’re the majority of this country. This year, we are going to elect a President and Vice President who will put the issues that affect our lives front and center—like affordable health care and childcare, systemic racism and inequality, and reproductive rights. Going back to where we were before this crisis isn’t going to cut it. We need to chart an entirely new future—one where our lives are safe, our bodies are respected, our work is valued, our families are supported, and our government represents us.
Women have been waiting to vote in this presidential election since the day after the last one. Now, we’re making our voices heard.
Cecile Richards is cofounder of Supermajority.
Amanda Brown Lierman is managing director of Supermajority.


fortune--2020-10-30--Walmart returns guns and ammo to store floors one day after removing them due to civil unrest concer

Walmart returns guns and ammo to store floors one day after removing them due to civil unrest concerns

Walmart Inc. is returning firearms and ammunition to its sales floor, reversing a decision from earlier this week.
“After civil unrest earlier this week resulted in damage to several of our stores, consistent with actions we took over the summer, we asked stores to move firearms and ammunition from the sales floor to a secure location in the back of the store in an abundance of caution,” a Walmart spokesman said in an email. “As the current incidents have remained geographically isolated, we have made the decision to begin returning these products to the sales floor today.”
The retail giant also temporarily removed these items this summer during unrest following the death of George Floyd by police, a move intended to dissuade any potential theft if stores were broken into during protests.
The Wall Street Journal reported the news earlier.
Retailers across the board have been preparing for potential unrest surrounding next week’s election. On Election Day, Rodeo Drive will be in lockdown, with cars and pedestrians blocked from its luxury boutiques. Along Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, barriers will control crowds.
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. Chief Executive Officer Brian Niccol told Bloomberg News Friday afternoon his company has “game-planned” in case of violence.
“I really hope it doesn’t result in that. We’re not pro-actively boarding up places by any means. If unfortunately unrest occurs, we have a security plan in place so that our employees are safe and that we can protect our physical assets,” he said.
“One thing I’ve learned in 2020 is I’ve got to be prepared for just about anything,” Niccol added. “A lot of things have happened that I never thought would happen.”


fortune--2020-10-30--8 political documentaries to watch this weekend

The election has unleashed an avalanche of documentaries like no season before it.
Dozens of films, exploring issues from gerrymandering to white supremacists, have sought to illuminate the many issues and trends voters are confronting at the polls on Tuesday. In a presidential election of enormous stakes, filmmakers have rushed to finish their films before Election Day, to try to inform, sway and entertain the electorate.
A sense of urgency, in particular, drives many of the films which have streamed, aired on TV and played in theaters in the weeks ahead of Nov. 2. The woeful state of movie theaters due to the pandemic hasn’t enabled a box-office breakout like Michael Moore’s 2004 election-year documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11,” but the sheer deluge of docs this year has put politics at the top of countless streaming-service queues.
Here’s a rundown of highlights from an election-year documentary landside.
— “All In: The Fight for Democracy”: Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortés’ film details the contested election of Georgia’s governor in 2018, with potentially relevant lessons about voter suppression for 2020. Stacey Abrams, the Democratic candidate and a producer of “All In,” relates her experience in her razor-thin loss to Brian Kemp, a Republican, who as Georgia’s secretary of state had a pivotal role overseeing the election. (Kemp, who won by 50,000 votes, put more than 53,000 voter registrations, most of them from minorities, on hold ahead of voting.) “All In” uses Abrams as an entry point for a larger history of disenfranchisement in America. (On Amazon Prime)
— “Agents of Chaos”: Alex Gibney’s two-part HBO documentary returns to the 2016 election of Donald Trump to investigate claims of Russian interference. Gibney struggles to come to firm conclusions on Trump’s alleged collusion or how much of an effect Russian trolls had. But he makes a powerful argument that Russian’s meddling in American democracy is undeniable and remains cause for alarm. The prolific Gibney also this month released “Totally Under Control” (Hulu), a highly critical portrait of the White House’s management of the pandemic.
— “537 Votes”: Like several of this fall’s documentaries, the lesson of Billy Corben’s “537 Votes” is clear: Vote. The “Cocaine Cowboys” filmmaker’s HBO movie returns to Florida 2000 to chronicle the divergent paths of strategy employed by high-minded, outfoxed Democrats and more rough-and-tumble, win-at-all-costs Republicans in the historic recount between George W. Bush and Al Gore. The film, produced by Adam McKay, throbs with a Miami beat, outlining the crucial context of the Elián González saga on the all-important Cuban-American vote in Florida. “537 Votes” is a reminder of how much your vote can matter, and how politized counting it can get.
— “Kill Chain: The Cyber War on America’s Elections”: Simon Ardizzone, Russell Michaels and Sarah Teale’s documentary may lead all others in its ability to keep you up at night. The HBO film, relying on cyber-security experts and experienced hackers, details how hackable U.S. voting technology really is. One interviewed hacker describes how he broke into Alaska’s 2016 election system just to see if he could. Another, an election-security expert named Harri Hursti, tracks down supposedly unbreachable voting machines to tinker with their vulnerabilities. He finds a widely used model on eBay, on sale for about $80 each.
— “Slay the Dragon”: In a voting landscape where district maps take strange, misshapen forms, “Slay the Dragon” is expert at reading between the lines. Barak Goodman and Chris Durrance’s film is about gerrymandering, the partisan drawing up of districts to make more elections virtually uncontested. “Slay the Dragon,” streaming on Hulu, clearly explains the often-complicated manipulations of districts. But it does more than that, tracing how redrawn electoral maps have affected things as disparate as the Flint Water crisis and the election of Trump. Most of all, it shows how gerrymandering has helped fuel our heated politics, removing incentive for compromise.
— “The Fight”: The American Civil Liberties Union, which has filed 20 lawsuits this year over voting by mail and more than 400 legal actions against the Trump administration, figures to play a role in any legal challenges in a disputed tally. In “The Fight,” streaming on Hulu, documents the ACLU in its battles against the Trump administration, giving an intimate look at the attorneys on the front lines in cases including LGBTQ rights, immigrant rights and reproductive rights. Elyse Steinberg, Josh Kriegman and Eli Despress, the makers of the excruciatingly entertaining Anthony Weiner doc “Weiner,” captures a legal bulwark in motion, trailing both how cases are built and how their crusading lawyers keep up with the frantic pace.
— “Not Done: Women Remaking America”: Sara Wolitzky’s documentary, which premiered Tuesday on PBS, looks back on the last few years of the women’s movement, starting with the Women’s March the day after the inauguration of Trump — still the largest demonstration in American history. With interviews including Gloria Steinem, #MeToo founder Tarana Burke, Shonda Rhimes and Time’s Up co-founder Tina Tchen, “Not Done” surveys four turbulent years in an expansive women’s movement that kicked off #MeToo and Black Lives Matter, and is sure to dramatically affect the election.
— “Boys State”: How are younger generations processing the politics they’ve been raised in? Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine’s wildly entertaining documentary, a prize-winner at Sundance now streaming on Apple TV+, answers that question by filming the Boys State camp in Texas, where some 1,100 17- and 18-year-old boys annually gather to create a mock government with two parties, established platforms and fast-moving campaigns. It’s a microcosm of American politics, where some teenagers have gleaned dirty tricks from today’s Washington and others believe idealistically in change.


fortune--2020-10-30--The government’s hidden superpower: ‘Unrules’

At the end of his second debate with former Vice President Biden, President Trump painted a dark picture of the economic consequences from too much regulation. In doing so, he tapped into a long-standing view that regulation imposes crippling economic burdens on business.
But this common view overlooks a central feature of regulation that for too long has remained hidden: a feature that we call unrules. Unrules are the decisions that regulators make to alleviate regulatory obligations. Some call them loopholes and waivers. We call them carve-outs and dispensations. But whatever the label, we find in a new study that these unrules are ubiquitous in federal regulatory law. And their existence can have dramatic consequences for the public—and for how we should think about regulation.
We studied the words in laws passed by Congress and the regulations issued by federal agencies to implement those laws. These are voluminous sources of law. The Code of Federal Regulations, for example, contains over 180,000 pages of text—or a total of more than 57 million words. Using computational linguistic techniques, we looked for words associated with the imposition of legal obligations—such as “must” and “shall”—as well as those associated with the alleviation of obligations—such as “exempt” or “waive.” We found that regulatory law contains large numbers of both rules and unrules. In fact, we found one word associated with obligation alleviation for every five or six words associated with the imposition of obligations.
Furthermore, our analysis actually could not capture the full extent of unrules because the government often has no duty to disclose the granting of waivers or the creation of exceptions. Sometimes decisions to alleviate the effects of regulations are even announced almost through a wink and a nod in private communications to businesses that benefit from unrules.
Unrules represent a little understood “second face” of government power. This power to lift or loosen obligations can certainly be used for good. It implies that instead of the United States having a rigid, onerous regulatory system, we actually have one with considerably more flexibility built into it than previously recognized.
And just as rules serve to provide important social benefits, such as protecting worker safety or limiting air pollution, unrules can help make rules more efficient and fair. When used responsibly, unrules can help regulators tailor regulatory obligations to fit the complex and dynamic world in which we live.
Yet unrules can also pose serious risks. Perhaps most obviously, they can undermine the achievement of the public goals that regulation aims to serve. The proverbial exception can swallow the rule.
For example, thousands of medical devices are cleared by the Food and Drug Administration each year without ever having to demonstrate safety and efficacy—all by taking advantage of a loophole in the law. This is true even though many of these devices pose potentially devastating health risks to patients if they malfunction. One investigation found that medical devices have been linked to more than 80,000 deaths and 1.7 million injuries over the past decade.
Unrules can also undermine the rule of law. Regulatory loopholes can be selectively exploited to give favors to special interests. One of President Trump’s early advisers, billionaire corporate raider Carl Icahn, reportedly managed to secure a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency’s renewable fuel standards at an apparent savings to his company of hundreds of millions of dollars. Trump’s EPA granted similar waivers—originally designed only for small refineries suffering “disproportionate economic hardship”—to several large oil companies making handsome profits.
Taken to the extreme, unrules can be abused by politicians and government officials to reward allies while keeping their adversaries subject to costly burdens. These risks of selective application of rules and unrules are heightened because, as we discovered, many unrules escape the same legal checks and balances that the U.S. regulatory system imposes on the making of rules.
Although unrules can play an appropriate role in any regulatory system, the public needs to be aware that government also possesses a significant unregulatory power too—and that today far too much of that power is currently wielded in the dark. We need reforms to make government agencies’ use of unrules more transparent.
Meaningful reform must begin, though, by first recognizing that the regulatory system is more than just a system of burdensome legal obligations. It is also a source of governmental discretion to alleviate those same obligations, sometimes infusing regulation with helpful flexibility but at other times posing real risks to the public.
Cary Coglianese is the Edward B. Shils professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania. Gabriel Scheffler is associate professor of law at the University of Miami. Daniel E. Walters is assistant professor of law at Pennsylvania State University.


fortune--2020-10-30--Biden campaign slams Facebook for cutting off its political ads

The Biden presidential campaign has blasted Facebook for a technical glitch that paused its political ads on the social network.
The problem, which started on Tuesday, was caused by a new Facebook policy that prohibits new political ads starting a week before the election. After implementing the policy, the company’s automated systems mistakenly blocked some preapproved ads.
Facebook said the problem affected both political campaigns.
Biden’s campaign said thousands of its ads have been blocked and remain so. The mishap, the campaign added, has caused it to miss out on reaching a huge number of voters and $500,000 in fundraising.
Compounding the problem, Biden’s campaign said, is that Facebook has failed to provide details about the “widespread issues.”
“We have no scale of the problem, who it is affecting, and their plan to resolve it,” Rob Flaherty, digital director for the Biden campaign, said in a statement. “We find ourselves five days out from Election Day unable to trust that our ads will run properly, or if our opponents are being given unfair, partisan advantage.”
Facebook blamed the issue on a technical glitch as well as confusion from advertisers, including the presidential campaigns, about what is permitted and when.
In addition to the ad problem, Biden’s campaign has criticized Facebook for doing little to police misinformation on its service. Then last month, the campaign condemned the company for failing to protect the election by allowing misinformation about voting to remain on its network.
The campaign said it’s been working with Facebook “in good faith” to understand the company’s shifting policies and to push for equal enforcement of its rules. But the latest snafu shows that “just five days before Election Day, they have failed to meet the moment,” said Flaherty.
“It is abundantly clear that Facebook was wholly unprepared to handle this election despite having years to prepare,” he said.
Facebook said “most” issues have been fully addressed, and that it’s working with advertisers to handle their concerns. The company also stressed that no ads were paused or rejected by humans or based on partisan ideologies.
“We have worked throughout this election to maintain a neutral playing field, and that remains true in the face of these problems,” Facebook said in a blog post. “We understand that time is of the essence at this stage of the campaign season.”


fortune--2020-10-30--Electric-vehicle startup Fisker Inc. shares jump 7% on stock market debut

Correction 11.2.20: This piece previously cited trading data for warrants for Fisker, Inc. stock. It has been updated to reflect data for the stock itself. We regret the error.
Fisker Inc., an electric-vehicle startup that plans to produce an all-electric SUV, has completed the process of going public. The company started trading on the New York Stock Exchange this morning under the ticker symbol FSR.
The newly public company opened trading just below $9 per share and moved as high as $10.66, a gain of 19%, before closing at $10.14 per share, up nearly 13%.
Fisker’s planned first product is the Ocean, an electric SUV expected to begin production in late 2022. That means stockholders will have to wait quite a while to evaluate the company’s real-world performance. However, Fisker Inc. has partnered with the reputable contract manufacturer Magna Steyr for the vehicle, which is projected to retail for $37,499, toward the lower end of the price range of EVs available today. Fisker Inc. has also said it already has sufficient funding in place to build the Ocean and pursued a public listing as “another way to de-risk.”
Despite a mildly checkered history, Fisker Inc. is among the more compelling of a raft of electric-vehicle startups going public or seeking major funding this year. The massive run-up in the stock of Tesla, which has risen close to 350% since January, has attracted a seemingly endless flood of public and private investment to EV and EV-adjacent startups with names like Rivian, Hyliion, Canoo, Lordstown Motors, Nio, and so on.
Depending on the perspective, Fisker’s history is either an advantage or a hindrance when lined up against other EV companies. Fisker Inc. is the second startup from founder Henrik Fisker, a renowned car designer. The first, Fisker Automotive, debuted the gasoline-electric hybrid Fisker Karma in 2012, before the Tesla Model S came to market.
The Karma was a failure, and Fisker Automotive ultimately folded, but Fisker Inc. has said it is learning from the mistakes of its previous incarnation. Targeting the mid-market is one of the most notable shifts: The Fisker Karma was marketed as a high-end sports car, and prices started at $102,000.
Fisker Inc., like many of the new EV entrants, entered public markets through a process known as an SPAC, or Special Purpose Acquisition Company, rather than a more traditional IPO. In the SPAC process, a shell company goes public first with the intention of purchasing a private company later. Fisker Inc. went public by combining with Spartan Energy Acquisition Corp., which has been listed on the NYSE under SPAQ.
The SPAC process has become popular in part because it is faster than a traditional IPO. It is also arguably less transparent and rigorous, which appears to have contributed to at least one major flameout: hydrogen-electric truckmaker Nikola’s stock has dropped as much as 77% from June highs after revelations of repeated misrepresentations by the company.


fortune--2020-10-30--2 more ex-eBay employees admit to roles in harassment scheme

Two more former eBay employees have admitted to their roles in a campaign to terrorize a Massachusetts couple with threatening social media messages and disturbing deliveries of things like live spiders sent to their home.
Brian Gilbert, 52, who was senior manager of special operations for eBay’s Global Security Team, and Stephanie Stockwell, 26, a former manager of eBay’s Global Intelligence Center, pleaded guilty on Thursday to charges of conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and conspiracy to tamper with witnesses.
Emails seeking comment were sent to their attorneys on Friday.
They are among seven former eBay employees charged in the scheme to harass the couple, who authorities say published an online newsletter with articles that were critical of the company.
Authorities say Gilbert admitted to drafting threatening Twitter messages targeting the couple. He also proposed bringing documents that would make the couple “look crazy” to police who were helping the couple. Prosecutors say Stockwell used an anonymous email account to order live spiders to be sent to the couple.
The scheme also involved pornographic magazines with the husband’s name on them sent to their neighbor’s house and plans to break into the couple’s garage to install a GPS device on their car, prosecutors say.


fortune--2020-10-30--The pandemic is damaging the economic ecosystems around universities

Spring break is being canceled months in advance, and that’s just the beginning of the challenges facing thousands of businesses that rely on America’s college economy.
Dozens of colleges and universities, including many of the nation’s largest, have canceled the spring breaks that would normally occur next March or April. Texas A&M and Ohio State, both with over 60,000 students, have canceled the break, as have other giants including Penn State and the University of Michigan. The University of Central Florida, also with over 60,000 students, has moved the break to mid-April and told students not to return; classes will be entirely remote for the rest of the semester.
Those schools hope to avoid a repeat of last spring’s disaster, when hundreds of thousands of undergrads defied the pleas of public health officials and reveled as usual, then brought COVID-19 back to their campuses. But at least the local businesses of Daytona Beach, Fla., South Padre Island, Texas, and other spring break venues got some of their accustomed shot of March financial madness, as inebriated students spent with abandon.
No one knows exactly how much money spring breakers spend, but it’s billions. For some locales, the revenue is significant. Ten to 20 years ago, the little town of Panama City Beach, Fla. (population back then: 5,000), attracted some 500,000 spring breakers a year. Those crowds have since thinned—in 2016 the town banned drinking on the beach during the month of March—but Florida and Texas total tourism revenue kept booming until this year, and in Florida, March is normally the busiest month.
Prudence suggests that merchants should brace for an even grimmer spring 2021 than the academic calendars suggest. Two of America’s biggest universities, the University of Texas at Austin and Arizona State University, each with over 50,000 students, are still scheduling spring breaks, as are many other schools. Yet it’s virtually inconceivable that a vaccine will be widely distributed by early spring and equally inconceivable that college students on break will observe CDC guidelines for avoiding COVID-19. Bottom line: Expect more spring break cancellations.
The larger issue is that the pandemic is damaging the economic ecosystems around universities, with effects that could be long term. Enrollments are down; prospective students and their parents hesitate to pay today’s high costs for a socially distanced or online experience, and with unemployment still high, money is tight for many families. State governments, also strapped, are cutting back support for state schools. In response, universities are shutting down departments and firing staff.
The direct effects on a college town and surrounding region are obvious and bad. With fewer students—or no students in the case of schools that have gone online only—stores and restaurants are closing and struggling. A far larger effect is one step removed. Universities increase human capital and innovation in the surrounding region, accelerating regional GDP per capita, says a massive 2016 study by researchers at the London School of Economics and MIT. As universities cut back, regional prosperity weakens over the long term. Businesses around big, famous schools probably needn’t worry—those schools will likely bounce back after the pandemic—but some schools may struggle for years or may even close, damaging surrounding businesses for decades.
The guidance for businesses in the college economy is to be brutally realistic about the pandemic and its future. Are the effects on your business likely to be fleeting or lasting? Even if they’re temporary, how long can you hold out? The natural human tendency is to be too optimistic.
At the same time, be on the lookout for new opportunities. When Panama City Beach dialed down spring break, which had become chaotic and even violent, hotel occupancy tax revenue fell 41% the following year. But arrests during March fell the same amount, and by 2019 that tax revenue was right back where it had been. Just as important, the town had recast itself as a family destination. It’s a potential model for college-dependent businesses and locales nationwide that are having to reinvent themselves fast.


fortune--2020-10-30--Election 2020: Counting on business to seek fair ballot counts

U.S. business leaders mobilized this month in support of democracy, with 3,000 employers providing over a million workers with paid time off to vote and encouraging hundreds of thousands of their workers to assist often-elderly poll workers as volunteers. And this week, those leaders have mobilized another historic initiative to help bring needed calm to next week’s Election Day aftermath.
A new national survey from Morning Consult revealed that 64% of U.S. adults, across party lines, are worried about possible intervention of the Supreme Court in determining a winner of next week’s presidential election. Furthermore, half of voters believe that President Trump will prematurely declare himself the winner before the ballots are fully counted, and a third worry Vice President Biden will prematurely declare victory.
Given the complexity surrounding the early voting surge, mail-in ballot delays, and party imbalances among those who vote in person, a so-called Red Mirage or Blue Mirage of misleading early results is anticipated in fear, with the potential to create conflict before all ballots are tallied. A new overnight national survey by Morning Consult found that 72% of American adults believe business leaders have “an important role restoring public harmony following the Nov. 3 election.”
Unease over what might happen is leading big companies to take dramatic action. Walmart, for example, has temporarily removed all firearms and ammunition displays in its stores because of the potential for social unrest, the company said on Thursday.
This week, the nation’s most powerful business lobbyists joined forces to urge patience over the ballot counting following Election Day. The Business Roundtable, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, and other major business groups joined in a broad coalition to state: “This election, tens of millions of Americans are expected to vote by mail, and it may be days or even weeks until the outcome is settled. Even under normal circumstances, it can take time to finalize results. We urge all Americans to support the process set out in our federal and state laws and to remain confident in our country’s long tradition of peaceful and fair elections.”
Days earlier, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon had declared: “The peaceful and stable transition of power―whether it is to the second administration of a President or a new one―is a hallmark of America’s 244-year history as an independent nation.”
These statements are neither cliché “apple pie” endorsements of democracy nor catering to voter paranoia. They’re a response to a genuine threat. The business lobbyist coalition spoke just hours after President Trump proclaimed that it would be “totally inappropriate” if ballots continued to be tallied after Nov. 3. Justice Brett Kavanaugh seemed to support Trump’s stance in his concurring opinion in a Supreme Court ruling later that same day, regarding Wisconsin ballot counting. Kavanaugh argued that it was appropriate to restrict the receipt of late-arriving ballots “to avoid the chaos and suspicions of impropriety that can ensue if thousands of absentee ballots flow in after Election Day and potentially flip the results of an election.”
Of course, the nation has regularly counted late mail-in ballots, including military ballots and provisional ballots. And this year’s COVID-related mail-in surge and Postal Service cutbacks led the USPS to warn of Election Day ballot delays three months ago, meaning there are likely to be far more late ballots than usual.
The disparate voices of American business have never spoken with more clarity and unity as they have lately in supportive of progressive public policies on environmental protection, gun control, immigration, trade, racial justice, and public health and safety, even when that has meant clashing with the Trump administration. The Edelman Trust barometer continues to show CEOs to be one of the most trusted pillars of society. The impact of their collective voices can be pivotal.
This week, Merck CEO Ken Frazier explained his cohort’s call to action in an appearance on CNBC:
“We have to realize that this is an election being conducted in the midst of a public health crisis. And so tens of millions of people are voting in a different way in this election—through the mail. What we have to do in the business community, as well as the media and everyone privileged to hold a position of public trust and influence, is to encourage people to vote but also to encourage them to respect the integrity and the legitimacy of the actual process. It is very likely we will not know the outcome in some states on election night. So it’s important to encourage people to have the patience, civility, and restraint to actually wait for the outcome of the election and to trust the process.”
In a poignant coincidence, it was Frazier who presented civil rights legend and former UN Ambassador Andrew Young with an award at the Yale CEO Summit, in December 2018. There, Young explained that his own successes in voting-rights battles between 1954 and 1963 were anchored in part on the voluntary support of Southern business in advance of the Voting Rights Act. He went on to say:
“Believe it or not, I almost have more faith in business than I have in the church, politics, or anything else I do. And the reason is there is more freedom and more courage in our free enterprise system.”
Ken Frazier reminds us that Andrew Young and the rest of us can still count on business leaders to seek a fair election where every vote is counted.
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is a senior associate dean and professor of management practice at the Yale School of Management, where he is president of the Chief Executive Leadership Institute. Follow him on Twitter.


fortune--2020-10-30--Bettors think Trump can still pull off an upset—and they see him ahead in Florida

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A popular betting site is seeing twice as many people wagering money on U.S. President Donald Trump to retain the White House as on his rival trying to unseat him, Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
Smarkets, a British gambling site that allows people to wager on sports as well as some elections, says that 60% of the money being wagered on the site is being placed on Trump to emerge as the winner of next week’s contest.
Some of this may be due to the fact that a bet on Trump offers a potentially bigger payoff: a $1 bet on the incumbent will yield about $3 if he wins, while $1 wagered on Biden will only return about $1.50.
Biden holds a significant lead in most national polls. Meanwhile, the polls in key battleground states and some political forecasters are predicting he will win in a landslide. But studies have shown that political betting markets frequently outperform polls in predicting events.
“There is a clear view from the majority of users that the President could cause an upset,” Sarbjit Bakhshi, Smarkets’ head of political markets, said.
But Bakhshi noted that the average bet on Biden is twice that wagered on Trump, suggesting that those who think Biden will win are more confident than those gambling on Trump. As a result of this disparity, Smarkets betting odds still favor Biden, giving him a 65% chance of victory.
Bakhshi noted that there is also a sizable disparity between what gamblers think of Biden’s and Trump’s chances in several battleground states, and what forecasts based on polls in those states are projecting.
The political and sports data analysis site FiveThirtyEight, which simulates the election based on a system that ranks and aggregates multiple polls, now has Biden favored to win Florida, with a 65% chance, while gamblers on Smarkets think Trump still has the edge in the state with a 54% chance of taking its 29 electoral college votes.
Bettors are also less certain of Biden’s advantage in other key battlegrounds. They give Biden a 65% chance of taking Pennsylvania, compared with an 86% probability in FiveThirtyEight’s poll-based model. They give Biden a 53% chance of taking North Carolina, compared with 63% in the polling data site’s analysis.
Gamblers on Smarkets give Biden a 74% chance in Michigan and a 75% chance in Wisconsin, which is again significantly less than FiveThirtyEight’s odds of 96% and 94%, respectively.
And while big numbers for early voting in Texas have led some political analysts to speculate that the longtime Republican bastion is in play this year, bettors on Smarkets still give Trump a 72% chance of winning the state, compared with a 66% chance in the FiveThirtyEight poll-based analysis.
“Only time will tell if the betting markets know something the pollsters don’t,” Bakhshi said.
Smarkets is a closely watched betting site because the odds in its markets are set purely based on the amount of money being wagered on a particular outcome. This differs from many other British betting sites where a human expert or computer algorithm stipulates the odds in a way designed to protect the bookmaker from potential losses.


fortune--2020-10-30--Apollo’s Leon Black explains why he still did business with Jeffrey Epstein

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On Thursday, Apollo Global Management cofounder Leon Black offered his most comprehensive public statement yet regarding his ties with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, saying his decision to give the financier a second chance had been a “terrible mistake.”
The statement comes just after the cofounder’s ties with Epstein were brought under the microscope once again earlier this month, when the New York Times reported that Black paid Epstein at least $50 million for advice and services in the years after Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a teenage girl in 2008.
In the aftermath of the report, Apollo clients have threatened to take action: The Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System has said it will not consider new investments with Apollo, as investigations over Epstein’s ties to Black continue. Cambridge Associates, a consultant to investors and endowments, is also weighing whether to stop recommending Apollo as an option altogether, per Bloomberg. The California Public Employees’ Retirement System meanwhile is said to be pressing the private equity firm over the issue.
While Apollo and Black have repeatedly denied any connection between Black and the firm itself, so important is Black to the company’s operations that shares of Apollo still remain down some 14% since the information first went public.
“Like many other people I respected, I decided to give Epstein a second chance. This was a terrible mistake,” Black said during the earnings call, acknowledging that he had done business with the convicted sex offender—and paid him millions of dollars annually between 2012 to 2017—after he was first released from jail in 2009. “Had I known any of the facts about Epstein’s sickening and repulsive conduct, which I learned in late 2018, more than a year after I stopped working with them, I never would have had anything to do with him. I understand and appreciate that concerns remain.”
Still, it is confusing: Media covered Epstein’s 2008 arrest and case thoroughly. Here’s a New York Times piece from back in 2008 about Epstein turning himself in to authorities after he was accused of paying women—at least one who was 14—to give him massages that at times turned into sexual favors. Here’s one from the Guardian. And the New York Post with no shortage of details. Was that alone not disturbing enough—or were the reports dismissed?
Here’s more from Black, explaining his thinking at the time and acknowledging he knew Epstein was under investigation in 2006: “I was not aware of Epstein’s criminal conduct until it was publicly reported that Epstein was being investigated by Florida state and Federal prosecutors and law enforcement officials beginning in late 2006. In 2009, after being released from jail, Epstein returned to his previous financial advisory activities and once again began working and associating with many prominent individuals, spanning the worlds of finance, academia, science, technology, philanthropy, business, and government. The distinguished reputations of these individuals gave me misplaced comfort in retaining Epstein’s services in 2012 for my personal estate planning, tax structuring, and philanthropic advice. … I wish I could go back in time and change that decision, but I cannot.”
This statement stands in stark contrast to how Black addressed the issue back when Epstein, who died in his jail cell in the summer last year, was arrested in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges. During Apollo’s earnings call that month, Black made no mention of his dealings with Epstein after 2008, saying only that his family entities had retained the financier’s services from time to time.
The firm’s conflict committee meanwhile has retained law firm Dechert LLC to conduct an independent review of Black’s ties to Epstein, with which Black says he is cooperating fully. The process could be completed by the end of the year.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this newsletter quoted Black stating he not know of Epstein’s criminal conduct until 2018. It has been updated with another quote in which Black acknowledges he was aware of investigations into Epstein’s criminal activity as early as 2006.
VENTURE DEALS
- DoubleVerify, a New York-based software platform for digital media measurement and analytics, raised $350 million in funding. Tiger Global Management led the round and was joined by investors including Fidelity Management & Research Company, BlackRock, and Neuberger Berman Investment Advisers.
- Gracell Biotechnologies, a Shanghai-based biopharmaceutical company developing cancer treatments, raised $100 million in Series C funding. Investors included Wellington Management Company, OrbiMed, Morningside Ventures, Vivo Capital, Temasek Holdings, Lilly Asia Ventures, OrbiMed, and King Star Med.
- Finova, an India-based lender to small and mid-size businesses, raised $35 million in funding. Investors included Sequoia Capital India and Faering Capital.
- Clarity AI, a New York-based platform for determining the social and environmental impacts of portfolios, raised $15 million in funding. Deutsche Börse AG and Mundi Ventures invested.
- R2c, a San Francisco-based security tool set for developers, raised $13 million in Series A funding. Redpoint and Sequoia led the round.
- LightDeck Diagnostics, a Boulder, Co.o.-based maker of testing for COVID-19, raised $11 million in Series B funding. Investors include Incubic, Entrada, and Boulder Ventures.
- CodeSandbox, an Amsterdam-based startup that enables teams to prototype, build and host web applications with its rapid web development platform, raised $12.7 million in Series A funding. EQT Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Kleiner Perkins, Arches Capital, and Guillermo Rauch.
- Goodcover, a San Francisco-based renters insurance startup, raised $7.5 million in Series A funding. Goodwater Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Fuel Capital, Broadhaven Ventures, Global Founders Capital, Liquid 2 Ventures and TransRe. Read more.
- RealBlocks, a New York-based real estate investments platform, raised $7 million in Series A funding. Crosslink Capital led the round.
- Curve Health, a New York-based senior care company, raised $6 million in seed funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Vituity, Westway Capital, Correlation Ventures, Kapor Capital, Rosecliff Venture Partners, and The Fund.
- Skael, a San Francisco-based technology maker of an automation platform, raised $4.1 million in seed funding. Investors include Bonfire Ventures, Daher Capital, Backend Capital, RIDE Ventures, StratMinds VC, and Buffalo Ventures.
- Atmos, a San Francisco-based homebuilding startup, raised $4 million in funding. Investors included Scott Stowell (a board member of Lennar).
- Sinai Technologies, a San Francisco-based decarbonization software platform, raised $3.8 million in seed funding. Afore Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Abstract Ventures and Coelius Capital.
- PORTL, a California-based hologram startup, raised $3 million in funding. Investors include Tim Draper, Doug Barry (former Electronic Arts executive) and Joe Lewis. Read more.
- Shotcall, an Atlanta-based interactive gaming platform and marketplace, raised $2.2 million in seed funding. Initial Capital and New Stack led the round and were joined by Lerer Hippeau.
- Raycast, a London-based maker of an app that provides developers access to tools, raised $2.7 million in seed funding. Accel led the round and was joined by investors including Y Combinator and Chapter One.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- Carlyle Group will acquire the Flender mechanical drive unit from Siemens for about €2.1 billion ($2.4 billion).
- Ares Management made an offer to acquire AMP (AUS: AMP), an Australian wealth manager. AMP was valued at A$4.4 billion ($3.1 billion) Thursday.
- Brookwood Financial Partners invested $235 million in Yesway, a Fort Worth, Texas-based convenience store operator.
- NAVEX Global, backed by BC Partners, acquired CSRware, a Mill Valley, Calif.-based maker of ESG reporting software. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Funds managed by Morgan Stanley Capital Partners invested in US HealthConnect, a Fort Washington, Pa.-based operator of medical marketing businesses. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Riverside Partners invested in Syner-G Pharma Consulting, a Southborough, Mass.-based technical, regulatory and compliance consulting services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Frazier Healthcare Partners acquired Accuity Delivery Systems, a Las Vegas-based provider of revenue and clinical documentation services. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Arlington Capital formed BlueHalo, a new defense business, by combining AEgis Technologies, Applied Technology Associates and Brilligent Solutions. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Anexinet Corporation, a portfolio company of Mill Point Capital, agreed to acquire SereneIT, an Alpharetta, Ga.-based engineering and IT solutions firm. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Carmelina Capital Partners invested in BDI, a Louisville, Colo.-based provider of evaluation and monitoring services to the infrastructure market. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- RidgeLake Partners invested in Newbury Partners, a Stamford, Conn.-based secondaries fund manager. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- TorQuest Partners is nearing a deal to acquire VersaCold Holdings, a Vancouver-based provider of cold storage, per Bloomberg. Read more.
EXITS
- Alliance Data agreed to acquire Bread, a New York-based digital payments platform, for $450 million. Bread investors included Bessemer Venture Partners and Menlo Ventures.
- Novartis acquired Vedere Bio, a Cambridge, Mass.-based developer of gene therapies, for up to $280 million. Vedere backers include Atlas Venture and Mission BioCapital.
- Teleflex plans to acquire Z-Medica, a Wallingford, Conn.-based creator of hemostatic products backed by Linden Capital Partners and DW Healthcare Partners. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Syneos Health agreed to acquire Synteract, a Carlsbad, Calif.-based contract research organization for biotech and pharmaceutical companies, from Amulet Capital Partners. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
OTHERS
- Brookfield Asset Management, the Simon Property Group, and other lenders entered an asset purchase agreement for assets of J.C. Penney. Read more.
IPO
- Lufax Holding, a Chinese wealth management platform, raised $2.4 billion after pricing at the high-end of its range. Ping An Group backs the firm. Read more.
-SQZ Biotechnologies Company, a Watertown, Mass.-based biotech, raised $70.4 million in its offering of 4,4 million shares priced at $16.00 apiece.
- WeWork, the New York-based office sharing startup, is on track to turn profitable in 2021 and will reconsider an IPO then, its CEO said. Read more.
SPAC
- Periphas Capital Partnering, a blank check firm from Periphas Capital, filed for a $300 million IPO. Read more.
F+FS
- One Rock Capital Partners raised $1.72 billion for its third fund. Read more.
- Builders VC plans to raise raising $250 million for its second fund. Read more.


fortune--2020-10-30--President Trump and the rise of toxic masculinity politics

This is the web version of the Broadsheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. To get it delivered daily to your in-box, sign up here.
Good morning, Broadsheet readers! A MacArthur Genius will use his grant to support his spouse’s work, the new political statement is a hot pink suit, and we examine the rise of toxic masculinity politics. Have a restful weekend.
– Toxic masculinity. As we enter the final stretch of the U.S. presidential campaign, I recommend this new NPR piece by Danielle Kurtzleben, which investigates the role masculinity is now playing in American politics, and the way in which our current President has, as she puts it, “weaponized” these retrograde ideas of maleness and machismo.
It’s no secret that President Trump has built his public persona around hyper-masculine tropes, always presenting himself as the strongest, most aggressive man in the room—unconcerned about stereotypically feminine ideas like caregiving or empathy. For anyone who needs examples of these behaviors, the NPR story is chockablock with them, from Trump’s refusal to wear a mask to his love of belittling nicknames. (Kurtzleben also observes that Joe Biden sometimes leans into the same brand of exaggerated masculinity, as when he’s talked about wanting to “beat the hell out of” Trump.)
While it’s worth noting the ways this stance has affected Trump’s ability to connect with working women (NPR cites his recent trip to Michigan, where he told a crowd: “We’re getting your husbands back to work”), the part of the story that really jumped out at me is how the rise of machismo is being embraced by some of the women in and around the Republican party. Kurtzleben points to a few examples, including conservative commentator Tomi Lahren’s joke that Biden “might as well carry a purse” and GOP House candidates Tiffany Shedd and Lauren Boebert, both of whom have used photos of themselves with guns in their campaign materials.
I can’t help but contrast that behavior with what we saw from a few of the Democratic women running in 2018—remember the ads where female candidates nursed their children or even got an ultrasound on camera?
Gender issues should be an important part of American politics. But wouldn’t it make more sense for that to mean a debate over the policies that affect women—rather than a competition for who, male or female, can be the manliest man?
Kristen Bellstrom
kristen.bellstrom@fortune.com
@kayelbee
Today’s Broadsheet was curated by Emma Hinchliffe.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Dual-career geniuses. Damien Fair, a neuroscientist, won a MacArthur Genius Grant this year. Fair plans to use the $625,000 in grant money mostly to support the work of his wife, Rahel Nardos, a urogynecologist working on global women’s health. STAT News
- A legacy, not a fad. During the peak of this summer's Black Lives Matter protests, Hachette Books executive editor Krishan Trotman pitched a new imprint devoted to social justice and publishing writers of color. Trotman was determined to ensure that the attention paid to Black voices wouldn't be a fad. Legacy Lit will publish its first books in January 2022. New York Times
- Harassment at the court. The Court of Master Sommeliers is the most elite organization in the wine industry, granting the "master sommelier" title to a select few after grueling training processes. Women who have attempted to earn the designation say they've encountered sexual harassment at the court. The court says it has investigated all allegations of this nature. New York Times
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Talespin hired Pixvana's Nicole Bunselmeyer as VP of sales.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
- Power pink. The new political uniform? A hot pink suit. The workwear brand Argent and the organization Supermajority created the hashtag #ambitionsuitsyou; you may have seen the hot pink suit in Instagram voting calls to action from everyone from Kerry Washington to Cecile Richards. New York Times
- Apollo apology. Apollo Global Management CEO Leon Black told investors that working with Jeffrey Epstein after his 2007 sex crimes conviction was a "terrible mistake." "I wish I could go back in time and change that decision,” the billionaire said. He has faced questions from clients over the relationship. Wall Street Journal
- Never heard of it? Sen. Kelly Loeffler told CNN that she was "not familiar" with President Trump's Access Hollywood tape—the "grab them by the pussy" tape heard 'round the world in 2016. Loeffler said she disagreed with Trump on no issues, and was then asked if that included the President's comments about sexual assault. CNN
- Celebrity politics. A scuttled Trump administration coronavirus PSA effort rejected many celebrity spokespeople because of their perceived politics, according to documents obtained by House Democrats. Jennifer Lopez, Billie Eilish, and Christina Aguilera were all among performers rejected by Trump admin officials for designations such as being a "gay-rights supporting liberal" or "not a Trump supporter." An HHS spokesperson said the agency has "ordered a strategic review of this public health education campaign." Washington Post
ON MY RADAR
I'm the woman who helped discover water on the moon Refinery29
I'm a WNBA Player and I'm spending Election Day working the polls. Here's why you should, too Cosmopolitan
Trump’s diversity training ban faces lawsuit from NAACP Fortune
PARTING WORDS
"I don’t want to just sit back and complain about something that’s not working for me. I want to try to get things done."
-Dora Segura, a first-time poll worker in this election