News From Around the Web
#1 GameStop Makes Bold $56 Billion Play for eBay, Ready to go Hostile - Mihika Sharma and Akanksha Khushi for Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, Anish Moonka/Watcher.Guru, Kevin Malone, Xavier Prince, and Financelot on X
GameStop proposed on Sunday to buy eBay Inc for about $56 billion in a cash-and-stock deal, with CEO Ryan Cohen saying he was prepared to take the bid directly to shareholders should eBay's board be unreceptive. GameStop - once a stock market minnow that shot to fame during a meme-stock frenzy five years ago - is offering to pay $125 a share in a 50-50 mix of cash and stock, Cohen said in a letter to eBay's board. Based on eBay's Friday close, the bid represents a premium of about 20%. EBay has a market capitalization nearly four times larger than GameStop, making the buyout bid an ambitious attempt...
#2 Former Top Biden Official All but Admits Admin Killed Spirit Airlines by Rejecting JetBlue Merger - Ryan King for New York Post, Doug Sandwiches, Jeff Rhodes, Newsforce, Tom Foolery/Neera Tanden, Thomas Massie/@amuse, and GailG on X
That’s the spirit. A top Biden official has all but admitted that the Democratic administration’s Justice Department sealed Spirit Airlines’ fate when it rejected a merger request — and suggested it was the wrong choice after the ultralow-cost airline shut down Saturday morning. Neera Tanden, who previously served as a senior advisor to former President Joe Biden, wondered whether a merger could have prevented the mass job losses. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), meanwhile, tried to blame Spirit’s failure on President Trump — only to be called out for helping to kill the tie-up with JetBlue...
#3 Former NYC Mayor Giuliani Hospitalized in ‘Critical Condition’ - Aljazeera/Associated Press, Dian, Monica/Donald J. Trump, QMAY/Bglez_305, CBS Mornings, and Brianmsc on X
Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has been admitted to the hospital and is in critical but stable condition, his spokesperson says. “Mayor Giuliani is a fighter who has faced every challenge in his life with unwavering strength, and he’s fighting with that same level of strength as we speak,” Ted Goodman said in a post on X on Sunday. Giuliani, 81, earned the moniker of “America’s mayor” for leading New York City through the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center buildings in Manhattan. But in recent years, he has experienced a fall from grace, including in 2023 when he lost a defamation case...
#4 Seattle’s Socialist Mayor Slammed for Dismissive Wave to Tax-Weary Residents - Joshua Q. Nelson for Fox News, aviel/Brandi Kruse/Commonsensical Human, reason, Sweetmarie, and The North Tower 1776 on X
The Washington Post editorial board on Friday lambasted Seattle’s socialist Mayor Katie Wilson for dismissive comments regarding the city’s exodus of wealthy residents and growing taxpayer frustration over soaring rates. "Nine days after winning Seattle’s November mayoral election, Katie Wilson joined Starbucks baristas on a picket line and pledged to boycott the coffee conglomerate until their union got its way. The socialist will need to wait a while longer for her caffeine fix," the board wrote in a scathing piece titled "Seattle’s mayor waves goodbye to prosperity."
#5 Mamdani Thanks Same Billionaire He Targeted in Tax Video for NYPD Money - Amanda Macias for FOXBusiness, LORI HOLLAND, Alan H, Mike, Eric, and Elliott/Shaun Mcguire on X
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani built his political agenda by taking aim at billionaires. Now he’s praising one for backing the police. Last week, Mamdani publicly thanked Citadel billionaire Ken Griffin for supporting police funding, a moment that flew somewhat under the radar but offered a glimpse into a more complicated dynamic between the hedge fund king and the socialist mayor. "I want to thank everyone who is here with us in the Hall of Heroes today, with special thanks to Police Commissioner [Jessica] Tisch and NYPD leadership," Mamdani said at One Police Plaza, speaking before department brass and families of slain officers...#6 Supreme Court Asked to Pause Ruling Blocking Telehealth and Mail Access to Abortion Pills - Alexandra Marquez for NBC News, Meet the Press, Disa Sacks, Fred Martinez, Anthony Scott, and The Nation on X
Danco Laboratories, one of the makers of the abortion pill mifepristone, asked the Supreme Court on Saturday to block a lower court ruling that imposed a nationwide requirement for the medication to be dispensed in person. In its filing, the drugmaker also asked the high court to grant an immediate pause of the lower court’s ruling while the Supreme Court considers the appeal. “Danco has been free to rely on the procedures set by the FDA to distribute its product. The Fifth Circuit’s decision immediately ends that. A stay should issue to prevent the disruption and confusion that will result if the decision below were to remain operative,” lawyers for the company wrote in their filing...
#7 Three Cruise Ship Passengers Dead, Others Ill After Suspected Hantavirus Outbreak - Lex Harvey for CNN/MSN, The Washington Times, Media Express, 102.5 The Bone, Sky News/George Ofoegbu/Peep, and Bethany O'Leary/Rankin on X
Three people are dead, and at least three others are sick after a suspected outbreak of hantavirus aboard a cruise ship sailing in the Atlantic Ocean, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Sunday. The three dead were cruise passengers on the MV Hondius, said Oceanwide Expeditions, the company that operates the ship, which is currently anchored in Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, an island nation off the west coast of Africa. Passengers will not be allowed to disembark in Cape Verde, the country’s health minister Maria da Luz Lima told Radio Cabo Verde on Sunday. However, local health authorities have visited the ship and assessed two symptomatic crew members “requiring urgent medical care,” Oceanwide Expeditions said in its statement...
#8 The Terrifying Scale of the Data Center Land-Grab - Daniel Horowitz for Blaze Media, Andy Masley, Realtor.com, Sassy Latina, Alaa Murad, and "Sudden and Unexpected" on X
From the time of one’s childhood, a person learns a sense of proportion in addition to a sense of right and wrong. Even good things must be measured in the right proportion. It is this lack of proportionality that is missing from advocates of Big Tech seeking to build hyperscale AI data centers — often multiple facilities — in nearly every region of the country. A recent Washington Post exposé of the data center fight in Archbald, Pennsylvania, exemplifies why the data center agenda is unprecedented, is unsustainable, and makes the entire generative AI concept economically insolvent...
#9 Crypto Fight at Center of FISA Extension Poised to Escalate - Sudiksha Kochi and Julia Shapero for The Hill, Mike Lee/Joseph R., DoTheySupportItBot, John/Trumps Nephew, and Congressman John Rose/YourDevilsAdvocate on X
A bid by hard-line conservatives to pass a measure banning the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) fell short, but the fight is only poised to escalate as both chambers revisit another extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s (FISA) warrantless surveillance powers in the weeks ahead. Conservatives have long sought to bar the Federal Reserve from establishing a CBDC, repeatedly attempting to tack the provision onto other bills – most recently onto an extension of Section 702 of FISA, which allows the government to spy on foreigners abroad...
#10 Hoax Calls Prompt Evacuations, Closures at Several US Zoos - Susan Montoya Bryan for ABC News/Associated Press, FOX 9, Brian Harrod, KETV Newswatch 7, NEWSMAX, and 10 Tampa Bay News on X
Hoax calls involving alleged bomb threats and even claims of active shooters have prompted evacuations and closures at several zoos around the U.S. in recent days, disrupting family plans and taxing public safety resources in some cities. No explosives or real dangers have been found in the latest string of what authorities are describing as swatting incidents. The FBI considers swatting an increasing national problem. Aside from diverting resources, such calls can cost thousands of dollars per incident, endanger first responders and the public, and can lead to federal charges...
And Now for Something Special 
Rare Rainbow Cloud Phenomenon
