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Americans split on whether there has been too much focus on Jan. 6: survey

January 5, 2023 Published by Jared Gans

Just In | The Hill

Americans are split on whether there has been too much focus on the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection as the country reaches the two-year anniversary of the attack on the Capitol.

A Politico-Morning Consult poll found that 47 percent of respondents said they strongly or somewhat agree that the country has focused too much on the attack, while 45 percent said they strongly or somewhat disagree.

A third of respondents said they strongly agree, while three in 10 said they strongly disagree.

Pollsters also found that 40 percent strongly or somewhat agree that there has been not enough focus on the insurrection, and 49 percent strongly or somewhat disagree.

President Biden is scheduled to hold a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on Friday to mark the two-year anniversary of the riot after delivering remarks from the Capitol on the first anniversary a year ago.

The House select committee that investigated the attack wrapped up on Tuesday with the end of the 117th Congress after releasing its final report last month. The committee made numerous recommendations intended to prevent the events of the day from happening again and issued four criminal referrals of former President Trump to the Justice Department over his role in the attack.

The committee held a series of high-profile public hearings throughout the summer to share its findings and some witness testimony with the public.

The poll also found that a majority believe the federal government should continue investigating the events that happened at the Capitol during the attack, with 47 percent saying it is very important and 16 percent saying it is somewhat important.

Most respondents also said Trump bears at least some responsibility for what happened at the Capitol, with 45 percent saying he is very responsible. About 20 percent said he is not responsible for what happened at all.

The poll was conducted from Dec. 21 to 24 among 2,000 registered voters. The margin of error was 2 points.

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Stock Market Live: Stocks Edge Lower On Hawkish Fed Minutes, Jobs Data In Focus

January 5, 2023 Published by Martin Baccardax

TheStreet

Hawkish Fed minutes and a worrying rise in job cuts have stocks edging lower in early Thursday trading.

U.S. equity futures edged lower Thursday, while the dollar held steady against its global peers, as investors sifted through details of the Federal Reserve‘s inflation debate and focused on key jobs data expected over the coming days.

Minutes from the Fed’s December policy meeting, when officials agreed their seventh rate hike of the year, indicated concern that financial markets, as well as the public, would question the central bank’s resolve to fight inflation if it were to signal softer-near term rate hikes.

As it stands, the Fed is prepared to endure “below trend growth” in order to ease inflationary pressures, adding policymakers would need to see it “substantially more evidence of progress to be confident that inflation was on a sustained downward path.”

The hawkish commentary boosted bets on another 50 basis point rate hike next month, with the odds rising to 35.8% from around 27.2% last week, but had little impact on either the U.S. dollar or Treasury bond yields as markets continue to forecast slowing CPI pressures over the coming months.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields were marked little-changed from last night’s levels at 3.705% while 2-year notes added 2 basis points to trade at 4.395%. The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six global currencies, was marked 0.08% lower at 104.329.

The CBOE’s VIX volatility gauge was pegged at 22.15 points in the overnight session, after falling 3.23%, suggesting daily moves for the S&P 500 of around 53 points over the next 30 days, the highest since mid-December.

The Fed also emphasized the strength of the labor market as playing an important role in its inflation fight, according to minutes from its December policy meeting, putting the coming round of jobs data in sharp focus for traders on Wall Street.

Stocks Flat, Jobs Data, Amazon, Johnson & Johnson, Walgreen – Five Things To Know

The minutes indicated that Fed governors are seeing “tentative signs that labor market balances are improving”, but noted “large imbalances between labor supply and labor demand, as indicated by the still-large number of job openings and elevated nominal wage growth ”

JOLTs data for the month of November, published yesterday, indicated around 10.45 million open positions, a level that could feed in to wage growth over the coming months, although the Challenger job cuts report for December, published Thursday, said layoffs rose 129% from last year to 76,800.

Tech has lead the way in staff reductions, with Amazon (AMZN) – Get Free Report confirming plans to cut 18,000 jobs from its 1.6 million global workforce amid what it called an “uncertain and difficult” global economy.

On Wall Street, traders are likely to focus on the ADP jobs report at 8:15 am EST as well as official weekly jobless claims data at 8:30 am EST and the ISM services survey for December around 90 minutes later.

Heading into the start of the trading day, futures tied to the S&P 500 are priced for a modest 3 point opening bell pullback while those linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average are set for a 35 point decline. The tech-focused Nasdaq is looking at a 7 point dip.

In terms of individual stocks, Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) – Get Free Report, a Dow component, fell 3.6% after it posted better-than-expected first quarter earnings, while lifting its full-year sales forecast, but booked a $6.5 billion charged linked to opioid settlements.

Crypto lender Silvergate Capital (SI ) – Get Free Reportplunged 40% after it said the collapse of FTX lead to a rush of withdraws amid what it called a “crisis of confidence across the digital asset ecosystem.”

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) – Get Free Report shares, meanwhile edged 0.1% lower after the group unveiled plans to list its consumer healthcare division as a stand-alone company with around $15 billion in annual sales.

Overnight trading was mixed, with Asia’s MSCI ex-Japan index rising 0.78% into the close of trading following news that China’s border with Hong Kong would be opened after nearly three years lifted stocks on the mainline, while Europe’s Stoxx 600 gained 0.15% in Frankfurt following last night’s paring of gains on Wall Street.

Prince Harry claims in memoir William once physically attacked him during argument over Meghan Markle: report

January 5, 2023 Published by

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News

Prince Harry claims in his forthcoming memoir that his older brother Prince William physically attacked him once in 2019 while the two were arguing over their relationship and his marriage to Meghan Markle, according a report.

In his memoir “Spare,” hitting bookshelves on Tuesday, Harry wrote that the Prince of Wales allegedly called Meghan Markle “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive” after the two brothers met at Harry’s then-home Nottingham Cottage, according to the Guardian, which obtained an excerpt of the book.

Harry said William had wanted to meet to discuss “the whole rolling catastrophe” of the brothers’ relationship, but that when William arrived, he was already “piping hot.”

After Harry accused William of just repeating the press narrative surrounding Markle, the two bothers began shouting over each other, Harry wrote, with William stating he was just trying to help Harry.

PRINCE HARRY STATES HE WANTS HIS FATHER AND BROTHER ‘BACK,’ ALLEGES PLANTING OF STORIES IN UPCOMING INTERVIEWS

“Are you serious?” Harry wrote that he remembered saying. “Help me? Sorry – is that what you call this? Helping me?”

Harry then went into the kitchen to get William some water. “Willy, I can’t speak to you when you’re like this,” he said he told his brother, per the Guardian.

15 WAYS MEGHAN MARKLE AND PRINCE HARRY MADE HEADLINES IN 2022

“He set down the water, called me another name, then came at me,” Harry claimed. “It all happened so fast. So very fast. He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor,” Harry further alleged, per the outlet.

“I landed on the dog’s bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me. I lay there for a moment, dazed, then got to my feet and told him to get out,” the Duke of Sussex wrote.

He went on to claim that William urged him to fight back like when they had scuffles as children, but Harry refused, adding the alleged incident left him with a visible back injury.

William later came back and apologized but refused to admit he had physically attacked Harry, he said. Harry added that when his brother left once again, William allegedly “turned and called back, ‘You don’t need to tell Meg about this.’”

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“‘You mean that you attacked me?’” asked Harry to which he says William responded, “‘I didn’t attack you, Harold.’”

According to the Guardian, Harry wrote in his book that he did not immediately tell Markle about what had allegedly occurred, and instead called his therapist. However, when Markle saw the “scrapes and bruises,” Harry ultimately told her.

Harry reportedly wrote that she “wasn’t that surprised, and wasn’t all that angry.” “She was terribly sad,” he added.

Tension between the once-close brothers has been noticeable since Harry’s marriage to Markle and hit a flashpoint when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped down as senior royals in 2020 and eventually settled in California.

The Prince and Princess of Wales remain in the U.K., where William is first in line to the throne since Queen Elizabeth II died in September and King Charles III ascended to the throne.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Buckingham Palace and Penguin Random House for comment.

Bank of America double-downgrades Ally Financial, cites deteriorating macro climate

January 5, 2023 Published by Samantha Subin

US Top News and Analysis

Bank of America thinks it’s time to sell Ally Financial as the company faces slowing loan demand and a troublesome macro picture. Shares shed more than 3% in the premarket after analyst Brandon Berman double-downgraded the stock to underperform from buy, saying that macro factors will weigh on fundamentals in the near term. “Rising interest rates are pushing funding costs higher while simultaneously causing loan demand to slow,” he said in the note to clients Thursday. “Moreover, we think investors will need to see evidence of credit quality performing better than expected before rewarding shares.” Near-term challenges within the used car market create uncertainty surrounding loan growth in the new year, Berman said. Credit risks also linger, with deposit costs like to impact estimates in 2023. Competitive deposit rate offers could also bring earnings per share below the $4 level, Berman wrote. To reflect these concerns, the analyst trimmed the bank’s price target to $26 from $35 a share and adjusted earnings per share estimates to below consensus expectations. The new target suggests shares remain range bound near term after selling off nearly 49% in 2022. “We expect bank stocks to outperform pure-play lenders in the current economic backdrop, at least until investors feel confident downward EPS revisions have bottomed out,” Berman wrote. — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed reporting

Family of 8, including 5 children, found shot to death in a southwest Utah home, officials say

January 5, 2023 Published by CNN

CNN
—

A family of three adults and five children were found shot to death Wednesday inside a home in rural southwest Utah, officials said.

Officers learned of the shooting deaths after responding to a welfare check at a home in Enoch City, which is about 245 miles south of Salt Lake City, according to a news release from Enoch City officials. All of the bodies were found inside the home, the release noted.

The investigation remains active, but city officials said they don’t believe there is an ongoing threat to the public, underscoring there are no suspects at large.

Rob Dotson, Enoch City manager, said Wednesday night that his community is mourning the family’s deaths.

“It’s hard to describe in words the emotions that are going through the people who live here,” Dotson said. “We all know this family. Many of us have served with them in church, in community, and gone to school with these individuals.

“And so, this community at this time is hurting. They’re feeling loss; they’re feeling pain. They have a lot of questions, which is natural, and they’re here to support,” Dotson added.

Officials have not said when the deaths occurred or what led to the shootings. They also did not specify the relationship between the family members.

Officials also did not say who requested the welfare check or when, and it’s unclear what prompted the call.

Dotson noted it will take time to determine what happened inside the home. Investigators from Iron County, Enoch City and Cedar City are working together to find answers, he said.

“We won’t know the mindsets, the thoughts, of the individuals who experienced this tragedy. But we all can pray that their families and the neighbors can come to an understanding of what happened in this place, probably within a day or two or maybe longer,” Dotson said.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox asked the public to keep the Enoch community in their prayers.

“Our hearts go out to all those affected by this senseless violence,” Cox said in a tweet Wednesday.

Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson also offered her condolences in a tweet saying, “What a tragedy. I’m praying for the community of Enoch tonight.”

CNN reached out to Enoch City Police for more information.

source

BYD Sold 911,410 BEVs In 2022 And Is Closing In On Tesla

January 5, 2023 Published by Brad Anderson

Carscoops

BYD has published its full sales results for the 2022 calendar year and it is quickly closing in on Tesla as the world’s largest manufacturer and seller of EVs.

Last year, the Chinese car manufacturer sold 911,410 battery-electric vehicles, an extraordinary 184 percent increase from the number of BEVs it sold in 2021. When factoring all of the plug-in hybrid vehicles that BYD also sold, it managed to sell 1,868,543 cars, a 214.7 percent increase from the previous year.

Tesla still holds the crown as the world’s largest producer of battery-electric vehicles, selling a record 1,313,851 units throughout 2022. However, Tesla’s sales ‘only’ grew by 40 percent compared to the 184 percent of BYD. If the Chinese car manufacturer keeps up this momentum, it has the potential to overtake Tesla as the EV leader this year.

Image via Stefan Baldauf/SM Medien

The majority of vehicles sold by BYD are priced between 100,000 Yuan ($14,490) and 200,000 Yuan (~$29,000), making them considerably cheaper than alternatives sold by Tesla and fellow Chinese companies such as Nio and Xpeng.

Read: Tesla Delivered A Record 405,000 Vehicles In Q4 And 1.3 Million In 2022

“EVs priced below 200,000 yuan are popular among white-collar consumers because they want to save money,” sales manager at Yiyou Auto Service in Shanghai, Tian Maowei told South China Morning Post. “In the domestic market, BYD’s electric and plug-in hybrid cars are easy to sell because they are fitted with high-performance batteries believed to be as good as those used by the premium carmakers.”

BYD’s sales are particularly impressive when you consider that much of China was under strict Covid-19 lockdowns for much as 2022 due to the government’s zero-Covid policy.

A forecast by the China Passenger Car Association suggests that the growth of EV deliveries in China may slow to 30 percent in 2023 having more than doubled in 2022 because cash subsidies are being slowly phased out.

Image via Stefan Baldauf/SM Medien

Pennsylvania’s new Dem governor nominates Republican Schmidt to run state elections

January 5, 2023 Published by Zach Montellaro

Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories

Pennsylvania Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro will nominate Al Schmidt, a former Republican elections official in Philadelphia, as the battleground state’s next chief elections officer ahead of the 2024 presidential race.

Shapiro, a Democrat, announced his intention to nominate Schmidt to be his secretary of the commonwealth — which is analogous to many states’ secretary of state position — on Thursday.

Schmidt served as one of Philadelphia’s three city commissioners, who oversee elections in the city, for ten years.

His tenure included the 2020 presidential election, after which then-President Donald Trump attacked him by name in a tweet for defending the results and the security of the process. Schmidt soon rose to national prominence, regularly speaking with the press. He testified at a Jan. 6 committee hearing in June, where he said Trump’s tweet led to threats of violence directed toward him and his family.

“Al Schmidt has a proven track record of defending our democracy, protecting voting rights, and standing up to extremism — even in the face of grave threat,” Shapiro said in a statement.

Schmidt resigned from his city elections role in early 2022, leading the Pennsylvania-based good government group the Committee of Seventy after stepping down from elected office.

Schmidt’s appointment to the role will make Pennsylvania one of the few states where the state’s governor and chief election officer are of different parties — though they are aligned, broadly, on election policy.

“My job now is to advance the governor’s agenda, and to make sure that every eligible voter is able to register to vote, and every registered voter is able to cast their vote and have their vote counted at the end of the day,” Schmidt said in a brief interview. “Regardless of party affiliation, there has never been any daylight between anything that I think would strengthen democracy, and the governor-elect’s agenda, as he’s expressed it.”

Shapiro will take office later this month. Schmidt’s nomination will go in front of the state Senate, where he needs approval from two-thirds of the body, in which Republicans have a five-seat majority. Schmidt can serve with an acting title prior to confirmation.

Schmidt said he would lean on his tenure as a local election official while in office. “It’s not something I’ve read about, it’s not something I’ve heard about. It’s something that I’ve done for 10 years,” he said, saying it was important to work with counties “big and small.”

Attorney speaks out on potential legal action to prevent trans teacher from wearing Z-cup breasts to class

January 5, 2023 Published by

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News

Parents at Oakville Trafalgar High School in Canada are considering pursuing legal action to stop transgender teacher Kayla Lemieux from wearing Z-cup prosthetic breasts to class.

Rishi Bandhu, an attorney and parent of a child at the school, spoke out about the issue, saying teachers should be required to adhere to the same dress code as students.

Bandhu said parents asked the Halton District School Board to apply the same dress code for students to teachers, explicitly state any exceptions to the code and allow parents to discuss the matter at school council meetings.

He added the school board has “interfered with the rights of parents” by reportedly denying them the opportunity to bring up the issue at meetings.

“In our view, it’s just illogical and absurd to suggest that the teachers would be held to a lower standard than the students in terms of their attire,” he said.

The school board initiated an investigation into the legality of a required dress code for teachers in September 2022 before stating in a report it could be exposed to “considerable liability” if it implemented a dress code because of possible discrimination.

TRANSGENDER TEACHER TO RETURN TO CALIFORNIA CLASSROOM AS ‘TRUE SELF’

“Even if a dress code is implemented for non-discriminatory reasons, it would likely be found to be discriminatory where it adversely affects an employee or group of employees on the basis of their code-protected grounds,” the report read.

It concluded by arguing even if an employer “desires to foster a culture of professionalism, respect, equity and inclusion, a truly reasonable and non-discriminatory dress code or grooming standards would most likely fail to yield the intended results.”

Bandhu said he believes the school is taking a “risk-averse” approach to the issue.

“What they’re missing is that when it comes to human rights and particularly gender identity and expression, context is important, and there’s a very delicate balancing of interests that have to happen here. And I don’t think that they’ve done that appropriately,” he told host Tucker Carlson.

“The context that they’re missing here is that this is a school and these are children in their adolescence, and their maturity is still developing.”

Bandhu added he and other parents have been labeled as discriminatory and bigoted because opponents paint them as not believing transgender people have rights.

“That’s an extreme view,” he said.

“What we need is a constructive approach, some constructive dialogue and some common sense on this issue.”

4 Telltale Signs That You Should Be Lifting Heavier Weights, According to a Trainer

January 5, 2023 Published by Jordan Galloway

Well+Good

When it comes to resistance training, there are several different types of strength you could be trying to build: muscular endurance, max strength, or power, just to name a few. But the one thing they all have in common is that, in order to continue seeing improvement and gains, you’ve got to apply a concept called “progressive overload” to your workout plans. A big part of that is figuring out when it’s time to start lifting heavier weights.

“Basically, progressive overload is when you are going to gradually increase your weight, your frequency, and/or your reps in a strength routine,” says personal trainer Bianca Vesco. If you don’t continually kick things up a notch, your muscles will get used to exerting a certain amount of strength or force, but no more than that. “Over time, our muscles are gonna adapt to whatever stress we put them under, and we must once again increase the weight or the intensity,” Vesco says, “and that is the marker of progress.”

Progressive overload will look different for everyone, depending on their fitness level and goals. “Strength training is never gonna be a one size fits all, which is an awesome thing,” Vesco says. But there are some universal signs that it’s time to start lifting heavier weights.

How to tell when the load you’re lifting is too light

If you’re new to lifting weights, the best way to figure out how to progress your practice is by working with a trainer, who can assess your form and help you figure out what a realistic next step is for you. But if you’re flying solo, Vesco recently shared a few easy ways to tell whether it’s time to start lifting heavier weights on her Instagram.

You can get through all of your reps pretty easily.
You’ve been using the same weights for months.
You have no problem zoning out during your sets.
You’re never sore or fatigued.

What the right weights will feel like

No matter where you are on your weight-lifting journey, the way trainers are taught to recommend weight is by suggesting something that feels challenging by your last two to three reps of a set. “If you’re, like, really rocking on progressive overload, that last rep, you struggle a little bit,” Vesco says.

Settling on the right weight takes some guesswork, and often, when you’re figuring it out, you may incrementally go up from one set to the next if the weight you used the first go-round felt too easy toward the end. Generally speaking though, the higher the reps, the lower the weight, and vice versa—but it should always feel challenging toward the end of your set regardless.

Keep in mind that progress isn’t linear

As a personal trainer, Vesco says she gives about 30 sessions per week and 80 percent of her clients are females. Every one of them is on their own, personalized training program following the principle of progressive overload. But that doesn’t mean that every time she sees them, they’re necessarily adding more weight or reps to their workouts.

Before each session, Vesco says she checks with her client to see how they’re feeling and takes that intel into account when making their training plan for that day. “It’s based on their energy levels,” she says. “Do they feel like they have the energy to push through three to five really, really heavy reps, or do they wanna stay in the six to 12 rep range and push a little bit lighter.”

She uses this feedback to tweak their fitness routines to what’s going to be most effective, and suggests you do the same. It’s always important to go into a workout with a plan, but it’s equally important to understand that plans can change—and to adapt accordingly. There are so many ways to get better, faster, stronger. By listening to your body, you’re more likely to achieve those goals, without overdoing it.

N. Korea’s Kim Jong Un increases tensions, shows he has aligned with Russia, China

January 5, 2023 Published by

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News

Move over, Russian President Vladimir Putin. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may be the worlds’ new nuclear villain in 2023. He’s on a wild rush to build nuclear missiles to hit the South Korea, Japan and even the United States. And he’s out to provoke South Korea.

Five North Korean drones “swung through the South’s airspace for five hours” on Dec. 26, according to the Korea Times. They were chased by 20 planes and helicopters from South Korea. South Koreans are used to the North’s bellicosity, but this was so embarrassing that President Yoon Suk-yeol sent South Korean drones into North Korea’s airspace and just announced a $440 million air defense upgrade.

This was not inevitable. Yes, North Korea built up its missile and nuclear arsenal in the Obama years. Then after tense times in 2017, Kim Jong Un backed off. Missile tests stopped cold in 2018 as then-President Donald Trump engaged him with personal diplomacy and tempting potential real estate deals. It was worth a try, and it paid off. North Korea did not conduct an advanced long-range test from late 2017 until early 2022.

SOUTH KOREA IN TALKS TO MANAGE US NUKES AMID GROWING THREAT FROM NORTH KOREA: REPORT

Now, Kim Jong Un has conducted nearly 70 missile shots this year alone. South Korea is “grappling” with asking the United States to bring tactical nuclear weapons back to South Korea. Signs indicate North Korea may also be ready for another nuclear weapons test.

What happened? Certainly, Kim got mad when South Korea elected a new, harder-line government back in May. But there’s more to it.

Kim Jong Un has gone over to the Russia-China alliance and is playing a completely new game. He’s selling back artillery and rocket shells to Russia, likely via the train route crossing the tiny 11-mile sliver of border between Russia and North Korea. Experts believe Kim is aiming for a full nuclear triad of land-based missiles, submarines and aircraft. He may believe brandishing sophisticated nuclear weapons will force others to lift international sanctions on North Korea. Sure, that doesn’t make sense, but with Russia and China supporting Kim Jong Un, he may think he can pull it off.

Kim issued a “new nuclear law” in September declaring he would never give up nuclear weapons – and adding the new twist that North Korea might use its own nukes right away if it detected signs of an attack. This boldness is a big change for him and reflects his backing from Russia and China. Back in 2017, China wanted to North Korea to damp down tensions. But after the U.S. imposed well-deserved tariffs, it looks like China decided having North Korea needle the U.S. was just fine.

North Korea’s test program still has a number of technical difficulties. But the more they test, the more they learn.

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All the tension prompted Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to state again that “any nuclear attack against the United States or its allies and partners, including the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons, is unacceptable and will result in the end of the Kim regime.” Austin said that during a Nov. 3 meeting with South Korea’s defense minister, with an American B-52 and B-1 bomber in the background. Just so the message was very clear.

Still, as 2023 begins, North Korea and China are at the center of a nuclear arms build-up never before seen in this region.

What can the U.S. do?

Support allies, place the best missile defenses possible at key points in the Pacific, including Guam, and continue to build up our interceptors in Alaska and California. Fortunately, the U.S. has West Coast interceptors designed to knock out a rogue North Korean threat by hitting missiles at the mid-point of their flight from North Korea to the USA. Alaska has 44 interceptors and during the COVID-19 pandemic, they completed sites for 20 more. In California, there are four interceptor sites at Vandenberg AFB on the central coast.

Despite all this, expect a 2023 to bring fresh dangers from North Korea. Kim Jong Un, like other bad actors, hasn’t forgotten the debacle of Afghanistan and how it showed the Biden administration’s military indecisiveness. With North Korea helping Russia, a victory on the battlefield for Ukraine is truly of global importance.

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