Dot Connecting Anons

😂Just two hours after Trump posted on his Truth Social platform Monday night that he would impose a 25 percent tariff on Mexican and Canadian goods as long as the countries continue to allow immigrants to flow over the US border, Trudeau called Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate, and the two had a constructive conversation focused on trade and security at the border, an unidentified Canadian official with knowledge of the call told the New York Times.

The Canadian government then released a statement focusing on the deep ties between the US and Canadian economies.

'Canada is essential to US domestic energy supply and last year 60 percent of US crude oil imports originated in Canada,' read the statement issued by Trudeau, finance minister Chrystia Freeland and public safety minister Dominic LeBlanc.
'We will of course continue to discuss these issues with the incoming administration.' 

Flavio Volpe, the president of Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association - a Canadian industry group - also said he believed Trump's posts were just a way to open negotiations that would eventually solidify Canada and the US as allies in a fight against China.
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"Demure," a word that gained viral fame on TikTok thanks to creator Jools Lebron, has been named Dictionary.com's 2024 Word of the Year.

The announcement, made Monday on the platform's website, emphasized the deeper significance of the annual selection.

"The Word of the Year isn't just about popular usage; it reveals the stories we tell about ourselves and how we've changed over the year. And for these reasons, Dictionary.com's 2024 Word of the Year is 'demure,'" the announcement read.

The word took off on TikTok in August, with Lebron coining the phrase "very demure, very mindful" in a series of viral videos. She often paired "demure" with terms like "cutesy" and "considerate," sharing advice on how to be modest and respectful in various settings, such as the workplace.
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🔥Walmart is making a slate of changes to its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, becoming the latest in a growing list of major corporations to halt the so-called "woke" initiatives.

Anti-woke activist and filmmaker Robby Starbuck, who has been leading a campaign exposing major corporations' woke policies, said on X on Monday that he warned Walmart executives last week that he would be doing a story on "wokeness" at the retail giant.

"Instead," Starbuck shared, "we had productive conversations to find solutions."

Starbuck outlined the changes Walmart agreed to make, including working to remove sexual and transgender products inappropriately marketed toward children and reviewing grants to Pride events to avoid funding sexualized content targeting kids.
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An FBI special agent has been arrested in Montgomery County, Maryland, and stands accused of sexually assaulting two women, according to police.

Special Agent Eduardo Valdivia, 40, is charged with 10 counts, including two counts of second-degree rape.

According to court records, the alleged attacks took place in May 2024 and September 2024.

Valdivia is in custody in the Montgomery County Correctional Facility and is scheduled to appear for a bond hearing in district court on Tuesday.

"Regarding the employment of Eduardo Valdivia, he is currently suspended pending the conclusion of the Montgomery County Police Department investigation," the statement said.
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What a sore loser🥴: A company owned by Drake has taken legal action against Universal Music Group and Spotify, claiming in a petition filed Monday that the two music corporations artificially inflated the success of Kendrick Lamar’s popular anti-Drake diss track, “Not Like Us.”

The pre-action petition, filed by Drake’s Frozen Moments LLC in a New York court, alleges that Universal and Spotify used bots, the practice of payola and other deceptive business practices to boost Lamar’s summertime bop, which went No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 shortly after its debut.

The petition alleges that UMG and Spotify violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), which is often used in criminal cases over organized crime, as well as false advertising and deceptive business practice laws in New York.
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Andrew Cuomo has joined the new high-powered legal team defending Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against alleged war crimes in Gaza after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Jewish leader Thursday.

The disgraced ex-governor discussed his new role to thunderous applause Sunday night while addressing the National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education.

“This is the moment that counts. This is the moment that is going to be in the history books. …This is the moment that true friends stand up, shoulder to shoulder and fight for the State of Israel,” Cuomo said at the Edison Ballroom in Times Square.

Alan Dershowitz, the former Harvard law professor and defense lawyer, is assembling the legal team to defend the embattled Israeli leader, which he first announced in a Wall Street Journal column.

The tribunal in The Hague accused Netanyahu and fired-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant of “crimes against humanity and war crimes” through Israel’s military campaign in the Palestinian enclave after Oct. 7.
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Axios - with an extra ‘r’ in the title for emphasis 🤪: Federal prosecutors charged Ken Leech, one of the world's best-known bond fund managers, with a $600 million fraud on Monday.

Leech, the former co-chief investment officer of Western Asset Management Co. (WAMCO), was long known as "the other bond king" (besides Bill Gross) for his influence over the fixed-income market.

WAMCO at one time managed more than $300 billion in assets for clients, and Leech directed the firm's investment strategies.

Manhattan federal prosecutors allege Leech defrauded Western Asset's clients from 2021 to late 2023 by "cherry-picking" trades, or assigning favorable trades to certain portfolios and losing trades to others.

The Securities and Exchange Commission also filed civil fraud charges against Leech.
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🤣ABC News’s own creation bites ‘em in the ass- KARMA:

A former anchor for ABC News claims years of working in a toxic work environment and enduring racist rhetoric from superiors led him to attempt suicide.  

In his new memoir, former “World News Now” anchor Kendis Gibson alleges he was subjected to one of the most grueling desks, repeatedly had his pitches dismissed or handed off and encountered racism from an executive. 

Gibson told Page Six he was “trying to perform at the top of the game … at an overnight show [and] during the day.”

Though he repeatedly asked to be moved off the desk, citing the toll it was taking on his mental health, Gibson alleges his pleas went ignored, even as 19 co-anchors oscillated through the studio. 

“It was just a lot, and the network was not listening to me at all,” he said. 

But things got worse when an executive began making racially charged comments directed at Gibson. 

In one instance, Gibson said he wore a pair of jeans on air. Shortly thereafter, he alleges, the executive called him and said, “You’re doing television news now, not attending a rap concert. Don’t ever wear jeans again.”

He also alleges that the same executive later said he was worth less than toilet paper. 

Gibson helped spearhead a “Diversity Task Force” in the hopes of seeing more Black employees hired to serve in senior positions. 
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