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Seth Todd was wearing an inflatable frog costume while protesting outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Building in Portland, Oregon, when a federal officer unleashed a torrent of chemical spray directly into the costume’s air vent.Video of the incident on Oct. 2 has spread, and puffed-out costumes hippos in tutus, Mr. Potato Heads, dinosaurs have quickly become a feature of protests against President Donald Trump’s administration, including the massive “No Kings” marches across the U.S. last weekend.Todd, 24, said that while the attention has been overwhelming, he is nonetheless “honored to have inspired a movement like this.”“It’s helping to combat that specific narrative that we are violent and we are agitating,” he said. Countering Trump, in costume For protesters like Todd, the costumes are a way of fighting absurdity with absurdity: a playful counter to Trump’s portrayal of Portland as “war ravaged,” “burning down” and “like living in hell.”The Trump administration’s efforts to deploy the National Guard there for the stated purpose of protecting federal property are still blocked by the courts for now.Portland’s ICE building outside downtown has been the site of nightly protests that peaked in June when police declared one demonstration a riot. Smaller clashes have also occurred since then, and federal officers have fired tear gas to clear crowds, which at times have included counter-protesters and live-streamers.Nighttime protesters, frequently numbering just a couple dozen in the weeks before Trump called up the Guard, have used bullhorns to shout obscenities. They have also sought to block vehicles from entering and leaving the facility. Federal officials argue that they have impeded law enforcement operations. ‘Keep Portland Weird’ The inflatable costumes are a testament to the city’s quirky protest culture which also recently included a naked bike ride and its unofficial motto, “Keep Portland Weird.”“Portland has always prided itself on this spirit of protest,” said Marc Rodriguez, a Portland State University professor of history and expert in social justice movements.The costumes also play well on social media, showing the protesters as nonviolent, he added. Frogs and more trend beyond Portland Some groups have started giving out the costumes to encourage more demonstrators to wear them. In Austin, Texas, college student Natalie McCabe got a free inflatable bald eagle costume. At the recent No Kings rally, she hung out with a unicorn and a frog.“Seeing people happy and having a good time and doing something different, like a distraction, it’s just how it should be,” she said.At the No Kings march in Chicago, Kristen Vandawalker dressed up as an inflatable “pegacorn” part Pegasus, part unicorn and posed for photos with the city’s Trump tower in the background, as bubbles from a bubble machine floated by.“I think everybody just got the memo after Portland that this is something that we can do, and it’s something that the right doesn’t know what to make of,” said Vandawalker, the political action director for Indivisible Chicago Northwest. “Certainly, like the ICE agents don’t seem to know what to make of people in costumes. It’s hard to look threatening when there’s a fan blowing you up.”The Department of Homeland Security and ICE did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment on the inflatable costumes at protests. Operation Inflation In recent weeks, Portland residents have launched groups such as the Portland Frog Brigade, whose members sport inflatable frog costumes, and Operation Inflation, which hands out inflatable costumes to protesters for free.On Tuesday, Operation Inflation co-founders Brooks Brown and Jordy Lybeck dropped off about 10 costumes among them a mushroom, Frankenstein and panda outside Portland’s ICE building. They placed some on a costume rack and helped demonstrators put them on.The group has seen donations pour in and plans to expand to other U.S. cities, Brown said.“It feels really light-hearted and it feels that we’re showing these guys that we are not scared of them,” said protester Briana Nathanielsz, who opted for one of the Frankenstein costumes. “We’re going to keep having fun and keep Portland weird and safe.” Claire Rush and Jonathan Mattise, Associated Press
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David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance is seen as the top contender to buy Warner Bros Discovery, with analysts and experts saying the tech scion’s access to deep pockets and Washington ties give him an edge in what could be the media industry’s biggest merger in years. Fresh off the Paramount-Skydance deal in August, the newly minted media mogul is eyeing one of Hollywood’s prized assets that is home to HBO, Warner Bros Studio and a streaming unit with more than 120 million subscribers. His $60 billion approach was rejected by Warner Bros Discovery on Tuesday, Reuters first reported. But the company has put a for-sale sign and attracted other potential suitors including Comcast, Netflix and Apple, according to media reports. POTENTIAL $74 BILLION VALUATION At $30 a share the price Bank of America analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich estimates Warner Bros Discovery could fetch in a sale the company would be valued at about $74 billion, a figure analysts say could deter some bidders but remains within reach for Ellison, whose father Larry Ellison is the world’s second-richest person with a net worth of about $330 billion. Apple had $36.3 billion in cash at June-end and could easily raise debt to fund a takeover but it has historically avoided large deals its biggest remains the $3 billion Beats purchase. Netflix holds about $9.3 billion in cash and has never done a deal exceeding $1 billion, while Comcast’s $9.7 billion cash pile means any bid would likely rely heavily on debt or outside partners. “It seems that Paramount appears to be in pole position,” said PP Foresight analyst Paolo Pescatore. IN PARTS OR WHOLE? Unlike Paramount, the other companies are also likely to be more interested in parts of Warner Bros Discovery than the whole company, which will saddle its buyer with around $35 billion in debt and declining cable TV assets, analysts said. “The studio would make sense for Netflix and Apple. The TV networks would make sense for the Comcast spinoff, while the studio would make sense for what is left of NBCU,” eMarketer analyst Ross Benes said. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos on Tuesday reiterated the streamer is not interested in buying traditional TV networks but he did not mention studios. “We’ve been very clear in the past that we have no interest in owning legacy media networks, so there is no change there,” he said during an earnings call. Apple has also shown little appetite for cable TV assets. Still, Warner Bros’ vast film and TV library, along with HBO’s acclaimed shows, would be a strong addition to Apple TV+. Comcast, meanwhile, is narrowing its focus to theme parks, streaming and core NBCUniversal film and TV assets by spinning off most of its waning cable networks. Buying Warner Bros would deepen that strategy, giving Universal’s parks access to lucrative franchises such as “DC Comics” and “Harry Potter”. TRUMP CARD David Ellison also enjoys a unique advantage over rival bidders his father’s close ties with U.S. President Donald Trump. Larry Ellison has long been a Republican mega-donor and one of the few high-profile tech executives who were openly supportive of Trump before last November’s election. Analysts say that could help ease regulatory concerns arising from Paramount’s potential buyout of Warner Bros Discovery – a deal that would hand control of a big swathe of U.S. cable networks as well as two crucial studios to Ellison. “If anyone does buy the whole thing, or even split it into two and buy the two bits, it’s going to have to have the blessing of the current U.S. administration,” said Clea Bourne, Head of Subject of Strategic Communications and Journalism at the Goldsmiths, University of London. “And that’s where the Ellisons stand out very easily, because their cart is very close to the administration.” Zaheer Kachwala, Harshita Mary Varghese and Aditya Soni, Reuters
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On Wednesday, October 22, Tesla released its third-quarter earnings with a side of begging from CEO Elon Musk. The report and subsequent investors’ call was pretty standard. Tesla announced $28.1 billion in revenue, a 12% increase year-over-year (YOY) from $25.2 billion. A majority of Teslas revenue came, unsurprisingly, from automotive sales, which grew 6% YOY to $21.2 billion. Quarter three was the last push for U.S. customers to buy Tesla vehicles before the federal EV tax credit expired. However, it wasnt enough. Tesla failed to meet Wall Streets predicted $26.4 billion in total revenue, according to consensus estimates cited by CNBC. Its reported earnings per share also failed to make the mark, reaching 50 cents adjusted instead of the estimated 54 cents. Teslas net income fell 37% YOY to $1.37 billion and its operating income dropped 40% to $1.6 billion. The company blamed the latter on greater operating expensesdue to AI and other R&D projectsalong with increased deliveries and each vehicle costing more overall, thanks to factors like higher tariffs. Tesla shares (Nasdaq:TSLA) were down roughly 4% in premarket trading on Thursday. The stock price is up 15.74% year to date, slightly underperforming the Nasdaq Composite’s growth of 17.94%. Musk wants more control as he focuses on robots AI was one of the main topics of conversation in Teslas earnings call, while Musk also focused on robotaxis and his plan for Optimus humanoid robots. The call ended with a plea from Musk and CFO Vaibhav Taneja. On November 6, investors will vote on a $1 trillion compensation package for Muskwhich would be contingent on the company hitting certain milestones. Notably, the extra income would be in the form of Tesla shares, providing Musk with greater control over the company. “[There] needs to be enough voting control to give a strong influence, but not so much that I can’t be fired if I go insane,” Musk said. He then took aim at proxy firms Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, both of which are encouraging investors to vote against the new package. I just don’t feel comfortable building a robot army here and then being ousted because of some recommendations from ISS and Glass Lewis, who have no freaking clue, Musk stated. I mean, those guys are corporate terrorists.
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