Thursday, November 9, 2017

Breakfast at Gagas

Well, that's one thing we got:

"Tiffany & Co. is making headway with millennials who seek fashion jewelry while forgoing some of the treasures of the Audrey Hepburn generation: wedding and engagement rings. The results reflect Tiffany’s strategy to win back customers, including younger shoppers, by renovating stores and offering new designs, such as the HardWear collection promoted by singer Lady Gaga. The collection features bracelets, rings, and earrings with dangle balls — items that may appeal to younger shoppers. Lady Gaga was introduced as the new face of the jeweler in an ad that aired during the Super Bowl in February. The chain had long been most closely associated with Hepburn’s image, which was embedded into popular culture with the 1961 movie “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”

"Tiffany & Co. is hoping its customers will pay $1,000 for a tin can. Well, it’s not a real tin can — it just looks like one. The container is actually made of sterling silver and vermeil, with a touch of Tiffany’s signature robin’s-egg blue in an enamel accent. This is Tiffany, after all. The can is one item in a new line of what the company calls Everyday Objects that “possess a whimsical wink that is quintessentially Tiffany.” Released in time for the holiday season, the collection includes such items as a $1,500 domino set, a $450 ruler, and a $350 drinking straw."

"Berklee let teachers quietly leave after alleged sex abuse, and pushed students for silence" by Kay Lazar Globe Staff  November 08, 2017

A Globe investigation has uncovered a culture of blatant sexual harassment at Berklee with at least three male professors allowed to quietly leave since 2008, after students reported being assaulted, groped, or pressured into sex with their teachers, according to court documents and interviews with more than a dozen people. Administrators at the renowned music school tolerated lecherous behavior, former Berklee students and employees said, and often silenced the accusers through financial settlements with gag orders attached.

Berklee administrators defended the school’s track record, saying in a statement that Berklee has rigorous policies and procedures to deal with claims of sexual harassment.

“Although we do not discuss specific matters publicly out of respect for all involved and limitations on what we are legally permitted to share, we take matters that impede the learning or working environment of our students, faculty, and staff seriously and act promptly to address them,” the school said.

The allegations against the Berklee professors come at a time of heightened attention to sexual harassment following revelations about Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.....

He is back in the shadows today.

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Isn't that where Gaga recorded a hit album?

RelatedFormer Presidents Come Together for Photo-Op As Internet Forgets

They’re ALL war criminals with a few sexual predators sprinkled in, but Lady Gaga loves them!

Must be a Good Life even with the enemies.

Time to get dressed before heading to the kitchen.

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"Food companies struggled after foodmakers reported weaker-than-expected results, and grocers fell after Amazon said it plans to cut prices when it takes control of Whole Foods next week. Retailers were big winners after a wide variety said they had fatter profits last quarter. Helping stocks has been strong growth in profits. Hurting have been worries about politics, in Washington and abroad. For all of the noise, though, one event that could capture the market’s attention is a symposium of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyo......"

RelatedHere’s what the Amazon-Whole Foods deal means for shoppers

It means lower prices.

I say let 'em eat fish!

"Take a look inside the new Market Basket in Lynn" by Mark Pothier Globe Staff  August 25, 2017

A few summers ago, the shelves in Market Basket grocery stores went bare after employees staged a weekslong mass walkout to protest the firing of chief executive Arthur T. Demoulas by the company’s board, which was controlled by his cousin — and nemesis — Arthur S. Demoulas. The workers’ protest attracted attention nationwide and brought to a head an especially acrimonious 25-year family feud that ended with Arthur T. buying out his relatives and gaining full control of the chain.

This summer, it’s been all about filling store shelves — a new Market Basket in Lynn is scheduled to open at 7 a.m. Saturday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Company officials say there will be more than 400 full- and part-time workers at the Lynn store, which is the chain’s 78th location. It will be followed by a 79th later this year, in Fall River.

There’s another number that Market Basket is touting this year: the 100th anniversary of the family-owned chain’s founding in Lowell.

No word on whether Arthur S. is celebrating.

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They were the big story a few summers ago but have been all but forgotten since because it was a nonunion rally supporting a caring boss over a corporate prick.

So what's in the freezer?

"Buffett outbid for Oncor but could still get $270m breakup fee" by Thomas Heath Washington Post  August 24, 2017

WASHINGTON — Warren Buffett is getting oohs and aahs for bagging a $270 million breakup fee after his Berkshire Hathaway Energy was outbid for Oncor by Sempra Energy, which won the company with a $9.45 billion offer.

Buffett — true to form — refused to budge from his initial offer, an all-cash $9 billion bid for the Texas power transmission firm that serves 10 million customers. Oncor is a unit of Energy Future Holdings, which has spent three years in bankruptcy proceedings.

Was this another genius move by the Oracle of Omaha, as he is known to his faithful?

Actually, it was just part of the playbook in the world of multibillion-dollar deals.

‘‘A breakup fee is fairly standard operating procedure,’’ said Cathy Seifert, equity analyst at CFRA, an independent research organization. ‘‘My sense is that there will be some breakup fee, but it may not be the full amount,’’ because of the bankruptcy of the parent company.

Even if Berkshire gets the full $270 million, some of that will be offset by the costs —think lawyers, accountants, analysts, bankers — incurred by pursuing Oncor in the first place.

‘‘There are expenses that one incurs putting together a bid and doing due diligence,’’ Seifert said. ‘‘It’s probably nowhere near $270 million, but breakup fees are also designed as a disincentive’’ for the firm being acquired against taking a bigger offer.

Sempra swooped in with its proposal at the last minute, topping Buffett and another bid by fellow billionaire Paul Singer’s hedge fund, Elliott Management.....

Wasn't he part of the Fusion GPS/Washington Free Beacon scandal?

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Maybe you could eat some leftover pizza?

"Pizza delivery by self-driving cars? It’s happening" by Thomas Gnau Cox Newspapers  August 29, 2017

DAYTON, Ohio — Ready for self-driving vehicles to deliver your pizza?

Well, get ready — two household names are about to embark on that experiment.

Ford Motor Co. and Domino’s Pizza have said they will explore using self-driving cars for home delivery of pizza. The joint research will be conducted in Ann Arbor, Mich., home to the University of Michigan, home to Domino’s Pizza and about 30 miles west of Ford headquarters in Dearborn.

“The focus of self-driving cars has largely been on the technology — the machine,” said Michelle Krebs, executive analyst with Autotrader, a Cox Automotive brand. “But ultimately, self-driving vehicles must improve people’s lives. Through the seemingly mundane business of pizza delivery, Ford and Domino’s will explore the human-machine interface of self-driving vehicles, which ultimately could be the most important measure of the technology’s success.”

“The alliance between Ford and Domino’s underscores something that will keep happening in automotive and beyond — partnerships,” said Akshay Anand, executive analyst with Kelley Blue Book. “As the world continues to integrate technology and automation, industries will continue to find creative ways to work together. Given that automotive is one of the most important industries in the world, expect to see companies within the industry continue to look outside for chances to research consumers and vice versa.”

It is said Domino’s and Ford will deliver pizzas to randomly selected customers in the Ann Arbor area in a Ford Fusion Hybrid car equipped with autonomous technology. The delivery vehicles initially will be piloted by human drivers.

Customers will be able to track the delivery via GPS and they’ll get text messages on how to obtain their pizzas once the delivery vehicle has arrived.

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Or heat up some cold soup?

"Campbell Soup Co. said Thursday that it expects sales to keep falling over the next year as more people skip its canned soups and bottled juices in favor of fresher foods. Campbell Soup and other packaged food companies have been hurting as consumer tastes change. Morrison said more people are shopping in the produce sections of supermarkets and not picking up its unrefrigerated juice and soup. She also blamed falling sales on the increased number of stores with private food brands and the growth of ready-to-cook meal delivery companies. At its soup and juice division, Campbell Soup’s biggest business, sales fell 3 percent in the three months that ended July 30 from the same period a year ago. Sales at its biscuits and snacks business unit, which includes Pepperidge Farm cookies and Goldfish crackers, were flat from a year ago. And sales at its fresh food unit, which makes Bolthouse Farms carrots, salad dressings, and cold drinks, rose 1 percent."

That's when the breakfast started coming back up.

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Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work you go:

"Half the jobs in America pay less than $18 an hour. Can Trump help?" by Heather Long Washington Post  August 24, 2017

On most summer days, Laura Millikan’s 10-year-old son begs her for a McDonald’s ice cream cone. It’s a $1 treat. She kisses his head and tells him maybe next week.

Millikan is a single mom living outside Seattle who works two jobs: 30 hours a week as an assistant property manager for an apartment building and a few extra hours at a college, arranging bulletin boards and making photocopies for professors. The two jobs, together, pay her $25,000 a year.

Before the recession, Millikan earned $30,000 a year with full benefits as a property manager at a call center. It was the highest pay she ever had. The company moved to another the state, and she’s struggled ever since. She said it has been years since she’s had a full-time job, despite sending out endless resumes and earning a college degree in education in 2014 to improve her prospects. She’s repeatedly been told she’s overqualified for low-wage jobs in retail and not qualified enough for coveted positions in business and tech.

You have to know how to negotiate like former US attorney Carmen Ortiz. Then you won't be running around looking for work.

To get by, Millikan, 39, has become an expert at cost-cutting. Almost everything in her modest apartment is from a thrift store, garage sale, or charity. The only thing she buys new for her son is underwear. He’s been asking for a remote-controlled monster truck lately, a toy that’s out of her price range. She hasn’t been able to find a used one at Goodwill. ‘‘I don’t ever think I’ll get to the middle class,’’ Millikan said in an interview, choking back tears. ‘‘I can just about guarantee I won’t.’’

It’s a painful reality of today’s economy. Jobs are plentiful, but jobs with good wages aren’t, leaving many working long hours or multiple jobs but still barely scraping by.

‘‘Full-time jobs that pay enough to live on are practically impossible to find,’’ said Millikan.

And yet we are being told how great it all is.

Half of the jobs in America currently pay less than $18 an hour, according to Labor Department data. That’s about $37,000 a year if someone works full time. Forty percent of jobs in the country pay less than $15.50, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. There’s always debate about what constitutes a ‘‘good-paying job,’’ but it’s notable that manufacturing jobs, which President Trump campaigned on bringing back, pay more than $20.50 an hour, on average.

The latest report on America’s job market came out in early August from the Labor Department. It showed that wages are up only 2.5 percent from a year ago. That’s well below the historic average for the country, and it’s about the same rate of increase as the final years of the Obama administration.

Stubbornly low wages helps explain why President Trump’s message of American economic ‘‘carnage’’ resonates with his base — and why it’s so important for Trump that his supporters get the raises he promises are coming.

‘‘I believe wages will start going up,’’ Trump said three times during his Tuesday rally in Arizona, drawing loud applause from the crowd. ‘‘We now have the lowest unemployment rate we’ve had in 17 years, so you’re going to see wages go up, right?’’

It’s not so simple. Economists are stumped at how unemployment can be so low — 4.3 percent nationally and a mere 2.8 percent in Millikan’s home county — and so many CEOs complain they can’t get enough good workers, yet wages are barely rising. Some blame robots and overseas outsourcing for keeping wages low. Others say the labor market really isn’t as ‘‘tight’’ as it appears, since many Americans in their prime working years have given up looking for jobs.

Median household income, a good gauge of middle-class pay, peaked in 1999 under President Bill Clinton, according to census data. In the nearly two decades since then, households have seen their modest gains eaten away by inflation.

Economist Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute said she believes there may be reason to hope higher wages are coming soon. Still, her research found that the best-paid workers — the top 5 percent — have seen their pay jump 22 percent from 2000 to July 2017. The bottom half haven’t even seen their pay rise 5 percent in that same period.

Trump argues that his recipe of tax reform, harsher restrictions on trade, and a rollback of regulations will spur much faster economic growth. That should, in turn, lead to more jobs and higher wages for all. ‘‘America’s crushing business tax is a massive, self-inflicted, economic wound,’’ he said Tuesday at a rally in Arizona, arguing that companies will create more jobs at home if taxes go down.

Critics fear that the Trump tax cuts will end up benefiting only the wealthy. Inequality in America is already back at the levels of the 1920s, largely thanks to the stock market surge. About half of America has $0 in the stock market. Democrats argue the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour needs to be raised. It hasn’t gone up since 2009. Many also want to see a return of unions and more affordable housing. On top of the tax plan, Trump is also proposing deep cuts to safety net programs, especially Medicaid and food stamps.

Millikan receives $16 a month in food stamps. ‘‘If I lose it, I lose more than just $16,’’ she said. Food stamps are a gateway program in many states. Once she is on food stamps, Millikan is also able to obtain state aid to help pay for her cellphone bill and for retraining. She currently attends night school to earn an associate’s degree in accounting......

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Related:

"Slightly more Americans applied for jobless aid last week. Despite the small increase, the number of people seeking benefits remained close to historic lows, the Labor Department said Thursday....."

That is a recording.

"More Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, but the numbers remained low and consistent with a healthy job market, the Labor Department said....."

Also see:

US stocks jump after report of stronger consumer spending

"Consumer spending increased in July at the fastest pace in three months, while incomes grew by the largest amount since February, both encouraging signs for future economic growth, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.....

"New ‘boot camp’ aimed at getting more minorities into tech jobs" by Andy Rosen Globe Staff  August 25, 2017

The Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts is teaming up with Google and two banks in an effort to chip away at the persistent lack of minority candidates for high-paying coding jobs.

The groups on Friday unveiled a 20-week “boot camp” for Boston-area adults who are seeking information technology careers but don’t have access to training. The program is called MSIMBO, which means “code” in Swahili.

Darnell L. Williams, who heads the local chapter of the nonprofit Urban League, said the program has enough money to pay for as many as 80 people to go through the program over two years, a step toward improving the pipeline of diverse workers who qualify for jobs that tech employers are struggling to fill.

A recent Mass Technology Leadership Council report found that only 3 percent of computer workers in Massachusetts are black and 5 percent are Hispanic. The council also found that the state is among the most difficult places in the country to hire tech talent.

That doesn't make sense with the narrative they pitched to Amazon, etc.

Mayor Martin J. Walsh and Governor Charlie Baker both spoke at the event, describing inclusivity in the region’s growing tech industry as a top priority. Walsh said he hopes to establish coding as a job option that is as prominent for city residents as construction or hospital work.

“There’s nothing more frustrating . . . than to be out and about and talking to people who are trying to find their way into an economy that’s creating jobs and not be able to find the place or the space to make that possible,” Baker said.

WHAT?!!

The Urban League program is one of several strategies that government, nonprofit, educational, and industry groups are taking to increase both economic and ethnic diversity in tech. The course — paid for by $280,000 in grants from Google, Bank of America, and a trust administered by BNY Mellon — will start in September with 18 participants, each of whom will essentially work full time on the intensive training.

Participants will receive a $75 weekly stipend to help them pay for transportation and other costs. The Urban League said it is working on finding ways to connect participants to additional training and job placement opportunities after they finish.

The course is intended to give students a grounding in both front- and back-end development, covering the parts of software that users encounter as well as the unseen components that make programs work.

MSIMBO will be focused on people who can’t return to high school but also cannot afford a college or for-profit training program. Williams said the typical student will be 18 to 24, but the program is also helping mid-career workers like Michelle von Vogler of Roslindale, who last year was laid off from a nonprofit communications and policy job after more than a decade in management.

Von Vogler said she tried using state career centersbut they didn’t give her the in-depth tech training she needed. And for-profit coding boot camps, she said, were too expensive.

“There really isn’t a conduit for adults, people who have been in the job market for a long time, who are in the middle of their careers,” von Vogler said. “They’re going to be teaching me these skills for a job market that’s in demand.”

By then AI will be on line.

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Related:

"In a complex decision with implications for labor law and workplace privacy across the region, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights decision means companies can monitor employees’ communications over work devices if those employees are notified beforehand....."

What do you mean you have to leave early?

"The federal agency charged with stopping workplace discrimination has sued Estee Lauder, alleging that new fathers at the beauty products maker get lesser benefits than their female colleagues. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday in Philadelphia that Estee Lauder allows new fathers to take only two weeks of paid leave, but new mothers can take six weeks. The suit was filed on behalf of Christopher Sullivan, an Estee Lauder stock person in a Delaware store. It said Sullivan was denied six weeks of ‘‘child-bonding’’ leave. It seeks relief for men who work at the company who the EEOC said were denied equal parental leave benefits because of their gender. The New York City-based company didn’t immediately return a message Thursday seeking comment."

Don't you know the man's mantra is ‘no days off?’ 

Good thing it is closing time:

"Sears to close more stores, sales continue fall in quarter" by Anne D’Innocenzio and Damian Troise Associated Press  August 24, 2017

NEW YORK — Sears continued to struggle in its second quarter with declining sales amid heightened competition from the likes of Walmart to Amazon. It now says it will close more stores.

The Hoffman Estates, Ill., retailer, which operates Sears and Kmart stores, has been trying to cut costs by closing stores.

‘‘The retail environment remained challenging,’’ Sears Holdings Corp. said in a statement.

The company reported Thursday that its second-quarter loss narrowed to $251 million. Revenue fell 23 percent to $4.37 billion in the period.

Chairman and CEO Edward Lampert, whose hedge fund has forwarded millions in funding to keep Sears afloat, has long pledged to turn the company’s fortunes around, but Sears is battling challenges on all fronts. Like many department stores, Sears is feeling pain as shoppers change their preferences and behavior. They’re spending more online and spending less on clothing and more on experiences like spas, but analysts say Sears has much to blame for its woes.

While Sears has ramped up online services, it’s having a hard time disguising its age. Stores are in need of a major redo, and a number of chains like Walmart and Target have been sprucing up their stores. J.C. Penney has brought back major appliances more than 30 years after abandoning the sale of refrigerators and stoves. And Walmart announced earlier this week that it was joining forces with Google to offer hundreds of thousands of items for voice shopping through Google Assistant as it tries to challenge Amazon’s Alexa-powered Echo devices.

While Sears said in a pre-recorded transcript that it was seeing ‘‘significant progress’’ in its transformation, analysts see a different picture.

‘‘As much as Sears deserves credit for the various actions it has been taking to shore up the company, there is no denying that this is a miserable set of numbers,’’ wrote Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail in a report published Thursday. ‘‘Indeed, the precipitous drop in comparable sales and the continued lack of progress on profit suggests the company isn’t moving far or fast enough to ensure its long-term survival.’’

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Related:

"An 81-year-old Sears worker whose job was to stop shoplifters was killed by two men who shoved him down while they were stealing televisions from a South Carolina store, a sheriff said Wednesday. Sheriff Leon Lott said the two were charged with murder as well as strong-arm robbery....."

He should have just let them take the TVs.

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And you are paying with..... ?

"Wells Fargo wants lawsuits tossed in favor of arbitration" by Kate Brumback Associated Press  August 24, 2017

ATLANTA — Let’s say a customer has $100 in an account. The customer first makes four transactions of $20 and then, later that day, has a $90 transaction. If the transactions are taken in chronological order, only the final $90 transaction would cause an overdraft and trigger a fee. But if the transactions are reordered so the $90 transaction is first, each of the four $20 transactions would trigger a separate overdraft fee.

Lawyers for the Wells Fargo customers say the practice — which they say continued at least a decade — was ‘‘unfair and unconscionable’’ and disproportionately affected the poor because they are most likely to have low account balances.

The litigation, which has dragged on for more than eight years and includes Wells Fargo customers from 49 states, is now consolidated before a federal judge in Florida who last year declined Wells Fargo’s request to force the claims into arbitration. The bank appealed that ruling to the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta, which heard arguments Thursday.....

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Related:

"Wells Fargo said Thursday that an internal review of its potentially fraudulent bank accounts had uncovered a total of 3.5 million such accounts, about 1.4 million more than it had previously estimated. The bank also raised a new issue: unauthorized enrollments of customers in the bank’s online bill payment service. Wells Fargo said that it had found 528,000 cases in which customers may have been signed up without their knowledge or consent, and will refund $910,000 to customers who incurred fees or charges....."

The thieving schemes never end.


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You can see the family home now..... 

"The year was 1988. And what happened next was a real estate bust just as epic as the boom that preceded it. Jobs vanished. Banks failed. Unsold condos littered the market. It took most of a decade for Boston to dig out. Real estate and development is a notoriously up-and-down business, and Greater Boston is several years into one of the strongest upswings the region has ever experienced, with $23 billion worth of new construction in Boston alone since 2012. But, as they say, what goes up must come down. And what that comedown will look like this time is anyone’s guess. Will it be a crash, as happened in the late 1980s — and, to a lesser extent in 2007 — with home values plunging, investors wrecked, and buildings auctioned at fire-sale prices? Or will it be more like a quiet retreat, an ebb to the flow of development now reaching the outer neighborhoods, with little broad damage?"

See:

Facebook to open new Kendall Square office, add hundreds of jobs

Landmark Center expansion will focus on offices, not housing

‘Mass displacement is a crisis’: Building clearouts are becoming increasingly common in Boston

You will have to drive-up to New Hampshire to find a house.

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Spending the night at home:

The Daily News, a storied New York tabloid, is sold to Tronc

They are a fine one talk.

Games, toys, movies, and now an IPO for ‘Angry Birds’

Its owners want to cash in.

"US stock indexes finished with small gains Wednesday, but a recent decline in interest rates continued to put pressure on banks. Still, banks are trading around their highest levels in a decade..... and Call of Duty is a hit."

So what is for supper anyway?

"In an increasingly intense fight for fast-food diners in the burger wars....."

Doesn't that lead to health problems to the point where the doctors are double-booked?

Globe wrote all about it.

So what is on TV tonight?

Fox deal shielded O’Reilly from firing over allegations

Click.

Heather Unruh says Kevin Spacey sexually assaulted her son

He was 18-years-old in July 2016, and that serial pedophile's career is over. 

Not only that ALL HIS MOVIES need to be REMOVED like the Dukes of Hazzard were removed after Dylan Roof. Can't have residual checks going to a pedophile as he quietly lives out the rest of his life.

"Transparent" star Jeffrey Tambor is refuting allegations that he behaved inappropriately toward a former assistant. Deadline reported Wednesday that Amazon Studios is investigating the allegations. In response, the Emmy-winning actor says in a statement that he "adamantly and vehemently" denies doing anything wrong. The claims are reportedly being made by a former assistant of Tambor's. In his statement, Tambor calls the assistant "disgruntled" and adds: "I am appalled and distressed by this baseless allegation." Tambor plays the transgender matriarch of the Pfefferman family on "Transparent," which airs on Amazon. Tambor is the latest high profile Hollywood figure to be accused of misconduct in a wave that began when dozens of sexual harassment allegations were reported last month against film mogul Harvey Weinstein."

NOOOOOOOOOOOO! 

Not Tambor, the cutting edge actor bringing the Jewish hit to Sundance's screens.

Portia de Rossi says Steven Steven Seagal sexually assaulted her in his office

De Rossi is married to Ellen DeGeneres?

Meryl Streep is Katharine Graham in ‘The Post’

Why hasn't Streep spoken out about Harvey, and the latest Spielberg film is an attempt to rehabilitate the Washington Compost. 

At least Spielberg has come out of this scandal squeaky clean.

Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon are teaming up on a new TV show

I don't care about the show, I want to know what abuse they and Nicole Kidman suffered.

At least Affleck and Damon are back making movies.

Globe wants to know your sexual harassment experiences and is giving tips on how not to be That Guy

Now all we need is for Snap and Twitter to learn how to make some money.

Isn't there a party we could go to?

"Patriots owner Robert Kraft is throwing an invite-only bash at Gillette Stadium Wednesday, and he’s booked Sir Elton John to entertain his guests. Kraft and the Rocket Man are longtime friends, but you don’t have to be a billionaire to get a big-name act to play at your kid’s bar mitzvah....."

No, that party is not for me, nor is this pre$$.

TripAdvisor icon will identify hotels where sexual assault occurred

I've soured on Mexico, sorry.

"A former United Auto Workers associate director has pleaded guilty to misusing money from Fiat Chrysler that was intended to train blue-collar workers. Virdell King, 65, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Ann Arbor, Mich., to one felony count of conspiracy to violate the Labor Management Relations Act. Under a plea agreement, she faces up to 16 months in prison and restitution payments of up to $15,000....."

At least it wasn't murder.

"Woman Who Sabotoged Fiancé’s Kayak Is Sentenced to Up to 4 Years" November 09, 2017

NEW YORK — A woman who pleaded guilty to sabotaging her fiance’s kayak shortly before he drowned on the couple’s 2015 trip on the Hudson River was sentenced Wednesday to 16 months to four years in jail.

The woman, Angelika Graswald, had faced manslaughter and murder charges in the death of Vincent Viafore. Prosecutors said she had watched him drown, even moving a paddle out of his reach as he flailed in the water. In July, she pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide as part of a deal with prosecutors.

Graswald, 37, will be given credit for 2½ years she has already spent in jail since her arrest.
Advertisement

What had begun as a distress call to 911 from a devastated fiancee reporting a tragic accident on the water ended with the police zeroing in on Graswald for orchestrating Viafore’s death.....

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I'm done leafing through the Globe.