It’s midterm election day, ladies and germs, and that means two things: social media postings of people you knew back in college proudly wearing “I voted!” Stickers and long lines at the polls to vote for people you may or may not have heard of, but you’ll do great, I’m sure. The midterm elections represent the half-way point in a presidential term, meaning President Trump has two years left before his lease is up. This year’s election is especially important because the Democrats could very well take back the House of Representatives, completely changing the current layout of Congress. On the other hand, Republicans “could conceivably pick up Senate seats even if Democrats take the house. And again even a seat or two would change the entire complexion of the Senate,” says Politico.
Whatever opinion you have of American politics, make sure you vote, and while you wait in line at your polling location, here’s what you missed in the news yesterday.
That’s Just Gymnasty
The catchy title of this section echoes the feelings of the US Olympic Committee (USOC) towards USA Gymnastics because of their inability to protect its female athletes from sexual abuse. Larry Nassar, the former chief medical coordinator for USA Gymnastics, was accused of sexually abusing more than 100 former patients, claiming that his actions were part of the regimented “treatment.” While this is reprehensible on Nassar’s part, USOC is furious with USA Gymnastics because of how long it took for them to get Dr. Nassar out of there.
According to a Detroit News investigation, at least 14 Michigan State representatives received reports of sexual misconduct by Nassar over the course of his career. People believe the organization has routinely dismissed sexual abuse claims unless they came directly from a survivor or survivor’s parents.
The New Headquarters, Equally Divided Among The Two States (Hamilton Reference)
Well, considering that Amazon (AZMN) and CEO Jeff Bezos can literally do anything and consumers will buy into it, it’s not shocking that the company’s plans for their new headquarters have completely changed overnight. According to reports, Amazon (AMZN) will be splitting their new $5 billion, 50,000 job creating headquarters into two separate campuses. The latest update suggests that the tech industry’s champion has narrowed their voices down to Crystal City, Virginia and Long Island, New York.
Amazon executives met with Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York to discuss the company’s potential plan to build its new home in the Empire State. Given the sheer number of employees Amazon (AMZN) hopes to hire, it would make sense that they pick a city with great public transit for its new employees.
“I’m doing everything I can. We have a great incentive package. I’ll change my name to Amazon Cuomo if that’s what it takes because it would be a great economic boost.”
–Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York
Tell Us How You Really Feel
Jack Ma, co-founder and executive chairman of Alibaba (BABA), the Chinese internet behemoth, did exactly that on Monday. Ma is very angry, and you won’t like Ma when he’s angry. As to why he’s angry, we can simply look at President Trump’s trade war with China. At a conference in Shanghai, Jack Ma furiously declared that the “trade war is the most stupid thing in this world.” The tech tycoon blames Trump’s trade war for ruining his plans to create one million jobs for Americans.
Jack Ma made a public promise, early last year, that he would work with President Trump to create one million new employment opportunities in the US, but has since gone back on this deal, saying that the “promise was on the basis of friendly China-US cooperation and reasonable bilateral trade relations,” but its clear that is hasn’t been the case since Trump announced his plans to impose billions of dollars worth of tariffs on Chinese exports.
