Tag: christmas eve

Outgoing Republican Maine Gov. Paul LePage took a swipe on Friday at a Democratic candidate’s victory in a controversial House race, writing “stolen election” next to his signature on the certificate confirming the election result. LePage certified the victory of Democratic Rep.-elect Jared Golden after Rep. Bruce Poliquin, a two-term Republican congressman, conceded to his opponent on Christmas Eve following a contentious legal challenge. “I’ve signed off on the [Maine’s 2nd congressional district] election result as it’s no longer in federal court,” LePage wrote in a tweet, attaching of the certificate with the phrase “stolen election” next to his signature. “Ranked Choice Voting didn’t result in a true majority as promised-simply a plurality measured differently. The controversy over the race stems from Maine’s “ranked-choice” electoral system, where, if no candidate receives an outright majority of the votes, a second tally is triggered. Maine’s top state court last year warned that ranked-choice voting conflicts with the state’s constitution, which says the winners of state-level races are whoever gets the most votes, or a plurality. The Golden’s upset victory is a setback for Republicans in Congress, who lost the control of the House following the midterm elections. Maine’s 2nd congressional district historically leaned Democratic, thought the voters voted overwhelmingly for President Trump during the 2016 presidential election. He previously told reporters that he’s retiring from politics and will be moving to Florida due to low taxation.

“In the course of preparing plans for 2019, most of our mature companies have internalized the risk for a downturn, but I think it’s hard to really model what the impact will be,” wrote Founder Collective managing partner David Frankel in an email. In 2000, venture investors put around $99 billion into venture backed startups. In the first year of the new millennium a Japanese firm called SoftBank had established a worldwide network of funds to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into startup companies that were going to revolutionize the technology industry. Now, SoftBank is once again the firm throwing millions (hundreds of millions) against the proverbial wall in hopes that billions will come bouncing back. Venture firms are expected to raise around $45 billion this year, while back in 2000 funds were sitting on about $80 billion in capital, according to a 2005 study from University of Western Ontario professor Milford Green. There are important differences between the early part of the millennium and today’s technology and venture capital markets. “Many founders believe that in a weak economy, that they might have to accept a down round, but few have grappled with the reality that capital markets don’t soften, they seize and capital just can’t be had, at almost any price, for months or more.” So investors like Lux Capital’s Bilal Zuberi has begun advising portfolio companies to start preparing for times they’ve never seen. Consider this, many junior partners at VC firms have never seen an economic downturn — and they are sitting on Boards of startups spending tons of money, (b) raising money sooner than later, but not increasing burn is a prudent thing to do for companies that have access to more capital, (c) when downturn hits there will be special situations opportunities to invest in good companies but at lower valuations. All VC firms know…But I wouldn’t want any of my companies to become a ‘special situation’. And (d) you are seeing VC firms bulk up their own funds, raise debt funds, and so on…this should be a signal to startups that where capital flows from upstream is starting to worry.

MEXICO CITY — A husband-and-wife political power couple who were the current and ex-governors of the central Mexican state of Puebla died in a Christmas Eve helicopter crash, officials announced. He was currently a federal senator for the party. It crashed in the municipality of Santa Maria Coronango, which is about 3.5 miles north of the city’s main airport on the western outskirts, federal Public Security Secretary Alfonso Durazo told a news conference. Images of the crash showed a shattered, still smoldering aircraft on the edge of a scorched patch of cornfield. Both federal and state officials said they had opened investigations into the cause — a potentially sensitive case because President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s Morena party had challenged the validity of Alonso’s election in July. She was sworn in 10 days ago after independent electoral authorities dismissed the challenge. State spokesman Maximiliano Cortazar demanded a “transparent, impartial and independent” investigation. Lopez Obrador expressed his “deepest condolences” via Twitter to the family of on Monday evening. Moreno Valle governed the central state from 2011 to 2017 and was currently a federal senator. Opponents alleged that he had manipulated the election to hand power to his wife.

President Donald Trump lashed out at the Federal Reserve on Monday after administration officials spent the weekend trying to assure the public and financial markets that Jerome Powell’s job as Fed chairman was safe. “The only problem our economy has is the Fed,” the president tweeted Monday. “They don’t have a feel for the Market, they don’t understand necessary Trade Wars or Strong Dollars or even Democrat Shutdowns over Borders. The Fed is like a powerful golfer who can’t score because he has no touch — he can’t putt!” On Wall Street, stocks had already been down but intensified their fall after Trump’s tweet. Markets are facing their worst month in a decade over fears about a U.S. trade war with China, a slowing global economy and chaos in the Trump White House. By the close of a holiday-shortened trading session Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had sunk 653 points for the day — 2.9 percent. It ensures that central bankers can make politically unpopular decisions, such as fighting high inflation in the 1980s or rescuing banks after the 2008 financial crisis. Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, a senior Republican on the Banking Committee, has cautioned against removing Powell. Fed officials voted unanimously to increase rates last week. The president expressed his displeasure Monday with the Fed after Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin had tweeted on Saturday that Powell’s job was safe.

Editor’s note: Our colleagues at Sachs Media Group just shared with us this heartbreaking story: British Airways’ cold-hearted refusal to refund a cancer-stricken Florida woman nearly $2,000 after her illness took a turn for the worse – and made it impossible for her to fly – has earned the global flying giant a lump of Christmas Eve coal from an outraged consumer group. A trip to England was a lifelong dream and wish of Marilyn Siets, of Tallahassee, Florida. But her reservations for the trip had to be canceled, perhaps permanently, when complications from ovarian cancer flared up, degrading her health to the point of her doctor issuing a no-travel directive while she continues to receive ongoing, debilitating treatments. In a baffling decision, British Airways refused to budge on a policy of no full refunds – issuing only a partial refund – and leaving the Siets family nearly $2,000 poorer. Rather than consider these total facts and provide an appropriate full refund for the airfare that the Siets family paid, British Airways bureaucracy cited unreasonable rules and has failed to do the right thing in this unique case. In a blood-chilling way, the airline quoted its policy in a letter, claiming “…we do not make any exceptions for the refund requests due to medical reasons or Terminal Illness except death…” “British Airways has tainted the spirit of the season with a chilling corporate culture that reflects a Grinch-like intent to steal Christmas from a deserving customer and her family,” said Ron Sachs, CEO of Sachs Media Group, serving as spokesman for FACT – the Florida Alliance for Consumers and Taxpayers. “Instead of reflecting the airline’s inner Scrooge, they should be repairing the damage this horrible decision has caused a fine family already suffering great difficulty.” The FACT organization slammed the airline on Christmas Eve for its callous disregard for Siets and her family, publicizing the company’s anti-consumer posture in an effort to build pressure for a reversal. Sachs said repeated appeals to the airline to issue the full refund have been repeatedly rebuffed. The last such outreach to British Airways was last week. Siets has been courageously battling ovarian cancer and its related negative impacts for nearly five years.

NRATV host and Fox News contributor Dan Bongino weighs in on outgoing GOP Senator Bob Corker's heated Twitter exchange with President Trump today. #FoxandFriends #FoxNews FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news…