Jon Batiste Backs Stephen Colbert Amid ‘Late Show' Cancellation: ‘His Voice Won't Be Silenced'
'I'm very grateful to him and I think where he goes next, his voice won't be silenced,' Batiste told Rolling Stone AU/NZ in a recent interview. 'The voice of free speech is challenge, but the soul of an individual cannot be cancelled. He's gonna find another megaphone, another outlet, I'm sure of it. I'm rooting for him.'
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When CBS announced in July that the late-night talk show would conclude in May 2026, it cited financial issues at the network as an explanation. 'It is not related in any way to the show's performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount,' CBS wrote in its statement at the time, though many have speculated that the move was related to the recent merger between parent company Paramount and Skydance.
The $8 billion merger, which closed last week after over a year of delays, required approval from the Trump administration. Donald Trump celebrated CBS' decision to axe the show, saying, 'I absolutely love that Colbert got fired.' During a recent musical segment on The Late Show, Weird Al Yankovic and Lin-Manuel Miranda parodied the CEO affair at a Coldplay concert with an animated rendering of Trump cuddling up with the Paramount logo.
'What happened to my friend Stephen is a symptom of big money,' Batiste said. 'We're in a time where the right price can silence the voice of free speech, which we should be very, very conscious of. As artists, we have to constantly fight for free speech and fight for the ability to be able to share the authentic truth of our being.'
In a recent op-ed for Rolling Stone, Lizz Winstead, who worked with Colbert on a segment when she was co-creator and head writer of The Daily Show, wrote, 'Stephen isn't expensive. He's a threat. A wildly popular, truth-telling comic with moral clarity is dangerous in this moment. Especially when he's white, male, and too influential to be dismissed as fringe … Knowing Stephen and his values, I don't think we're at risk of losing his voice. I hope he takes his brilliance somewhere he has full creative control. We need him, and we need the brilliance of every political comic still brave enough to speak out.'
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12 minutes ago
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America's Patriotic Beer – American Rebel Light – Takes Center Stage at NHRA Brainerd International Raceway's Biggest Fan Party in The Zoo with ‘Battle for the Rebel Axe' and CEO Andy Ross Live in Concert
American Rebel Holdings Inc American Rebel Light Beer - Title Sponsorship of Friday Night Qualifying and Full-Throttle Rebel Light Fan Activation Throughout the Weekend American Rebel Light Beer - Primary Race Sponsors of Tony Stewart and Matt Hagan Nashville, TN, Aug. 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- American Rebel Light Beer ( and American Rebel Beverages, a division of American Rebel Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: AREB) ( proudly announce their role as the official beer sponsor of the 43rd annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway. For more than four decades, Brainerd has been one of the most iconic and electrifying stops on the NHRA tour—known for its passionate fans, legendary Zoo campground, and a racing atmosphere that blends high-speed competition with festival-style energy. This year, American Rebel Light Beer brings its bold, patriotic spirit to every corner of the event—from the grandstands to Nitro Alley, from the pits to the party. As the exclusive beer sponsor, American Rebel Light will be poured, promoted, and celebrated throughout the weekend, anchoring a full-scale brand activation that includes retail tie-ins, on-site sampling, exclusive merchandise, and the fan-favorite Friday night qualifying session: the American Rebel Light 'Battle for the Rebel Axe.' The Battle for the Rebel Axe: A New Tradition Begins Friday night at Brainerd International Raceway has always been electric—but this year, it's supercharged. The American Rebel Light Friday Night 'Battle for the Rebel Axe' introduces a new layer of excitement to the 43rd annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals. At 6:15 p.m. CT on August 15, the second qualifying session will award the low qualifier in Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock with a special cash bonus and a one-of-a-kind trophy: the Rebel Rebel Axe trophy is a fully functional electric cigar box guitar, custom-built in the shape of a 12-pack of American Rebel Light Beer. Branded with sponsor and event logos, the trophy is a nod to Brainerd's Paul Bunyan heritage and a bold symbol of American Rebel's unapologetic spirit. Winners will also ascend to the 'Throne of the North'—a custom-built seat made entirely from American Rebel Light cases—where they'll reign until dethroned or defend their top spot in subsequent sessions. Bonus Payouts: • $4,000 for Top Fuel and Funny Car low qualifiers• $2,000 for Pro Stock low qualifier 'Brainerd has always had its own magic, but Friday's 'Battle for the Rebel Axe' takes it to another level,' said Kristi Copham, owner of Brainerd International Raceway. 'With the incredible support of American Rebel Light and Andy Ross, we're giving fans and racers an unforgettable night of competition, music, and bragging rights.' Andy Ross - presented by American Rebel Light Beer - Headlines Friday Night at the Zoo Following qualifying, fans will gather at the Zoom entrance band shell for a full evening of live music, capped by a headline performance from Andy Ross, patriotic rocker and founder of American Rebel. Ross will take the stage at 10:00 p.m., performing fan favorites and patriotic anthems in a high-energy set that celebrates freedom and rock and roll.'Brainerd is legendary, and Friday night is going to be off the charts,' said Andy Ross, CEO American Rebel Holdings Inc. 'When they hand me that microphone, you know I'm firing up the crowd. Between the thundering NHRA racing, the Rebel Axe: Throne of the North, and the music rocking The Zoo, we're throwing a party that's 100% pure American Rebel. I can't wait to raise a cold American Rebel Light with every fan out there. Time to Rebel Up!' American Rebel Light - Primary Race Sponsors of Tony Stewart and Matt HaganTony Stewart – Driver of the American Rebel Beer Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster 'I think Brainerd is the perfect place to have American Rebel Light. In my opinion, it's the best race of the year and it has the best parties. The fans are amazing there, so it's my favorite stop on the tour. I think it's great that American Rebel is going to be there and that Andy Ross is going to be playing with his band. It's going to be an awesome weekend.' Matt Hagan – Driver of the American Rebel Beer Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car 'Andy Ross and all the folks from American Rebel are great. They've been very excited to be represented on the car the last couple years. Overall, they are salt of the earth people and good guys that are excited to be in drag racing. They've recently expanded to dirt racing, so it's nice to see their involvement in motorsports. I would love nothing more than to win another championship with those guys. I think there will be a lot of American Rebel Beer drank in the Zoo at Brainerd. Andy will be playing for the FOX broadcast in the Zoo, so that's huge. The weather is usually great there and we can lay down some fast numbers. I'm excited to get after it.' NHRA Brainerd Weekend Activation Highlights for American Rebel Light Beer American Rebel Light Beer's presence at Brainerd is more than just a sponsorship—it's a full-throttle brand experience designed to drive trial, build loyalty, and convert motorsports fans into lifetime patriotic customers: • Official beer sponsor of the 43rd annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals• Title sponsorship of Friday night qualifying: the American Rebel Light 'Battle for the Rebel Axe'• Rebel Axe trophy awarded to top qualifiers in Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock• 'Throne of the North' built from American Rebel Light cases for top qualifiers• Primary Sponsors of Tony Stewart and Matt Hagan• Live music activation featuring Andy Ross at the Zoom entrance band shell• On-site sampling, exclusive merchandise, and high-visibility retail tie-ins• Expanded retail presence across the Brainerd Lakes region and central Minnesota Television Coverage – NHRA Brainerd Nationals • Friday, August 15 – Qualifying coverage on FS1 at 10:00 p.m. ET• Saturday, August 16 – Qualifying coverage on FS1 at 7:00 p.m. ET• Sunday, August 17 – Final eliminations broadcast on FOX at 3:00 p.m. ET 'This event is everything American Rebel Light stands for—bold, proud, and unforgettable,' said Todd Porter, President of American Rebel Beverage. 'American Rebel Light Beer is thrilled to bring the 'Battle for the Rebel Axe' to Brainerd and give fans a night and a Patriotic Beer they'll be talking about all season.' Why NHRA Brainerd Is a Strategic Win for American Rebel Light Beer • High-impact motorsports audience with deep brand affinity• Cultural alignment with American Rebel's patriotic, freedom-first identity• Strong regional beer consumption and retail infrastructure• Recurring event touchpoints to deepen engagement and drive velocity• Launch timed to coincide with American Rebel's Minnesota distribution rollout via C&L Distributing American Rebel Light Beer isn't just showing up in Brainerd—it's taking over. With boots on the ground, cans in hand, and the Stars and Stripes flying high, America's Fastest Growing Beer is charging full throttle toward becoming the #1 domestic light beer in the country. From Nashville to the North, this is more than a launch—it's a patriotic takeover. About American Rebel Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: AREB) American Rebel began as a designer and marketer of branded safes and personal security products and has since grown into a diversified patriotic lifestyle company with offerings in beer, branded safes, apparel, and accessories. With the introduction of American Rebel Light Beer, the company is now making waves in the beverage space. Learn more at American Rebel Beer Watch the American Rebel Story as told by our CEO Andy Ross: The American Rebel Story About American Rebel Light Beer American Rebel Light is more than just a beer – it's a celebration of freedom, passion, and quality. Brewed with care and precision, our light beer delivers a refreshing taste that's perfect for every occasion. Since its launch in September 2024, American Rebel Light Beer has rolled out in Tennessee, Connecticut, Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio, Iowa, Missouri, North Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Virginia, Mississippi and now, Minnesota. For more information about the launch events and the availability of American Rebel Beer, please visit American Rebel Beer or follow us on social media platforms @AmericanRebelBeer. Rebel Light is a Premium Domestic Light Lager Beer – all-natural, crisp, clean and bold with a lighter feel. At approximately 100 calories, 3.2 carbohydrates, and 4.3% alcoholic content per 12 oz serving, it delivers a lighter option for those who love great beer but prefer a more balanced lifestyle. It's brewed without added supplements and doesn't contain corn, rice, or other sweeteners typically found in mass-produced beers. Media InquiriesMatt SheldonMatt@ 917-280-7329 Distribution OpportunitiesTodd PorterPresident, American Rebel Beveragetporter@ Investor Relationsir@ Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. American Rebel Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: AREB; AREBW) (the 'Company,' 'American Rebel,' 'we,' 'our' or 'us') desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words 'forecasts,' 'believe,' 'may,' 'estimate,' 'continue,' 'anticipate,' 'intend,' 'should,' 'plan,' 'could,' 'target,' 'potential,' 'is likely,' 'expect' and similar expressions, as they relate to us, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements primarily on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy, and financial needs. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from those in the forward-looking statements include benefits of our continued sponsorship of high profile events, success and availability of the promotional activities, our ability to effectively execute our business plan, and the Risk Factors contained within our filings with the SEC, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended June 30, 2025. Any forward-looking statement made by us herein speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law. Attachment American Rebel Holdings Inc
Yahoo
12 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Google Finds Workaround for Lobbying That Omits Big Bosses
(Bloomberg) -- It was the end of 2018, and Google's leaders were tired of being Number One. For the second year in a row, federal records showed the search giant had spent more than any other individual company on lobbying in Washington. Executives in Mountain View were sick of seeing that mentioned in the press, according to a former Google employee who asked not to be identified discussing private conversations. The US-Canadian Road Safety Gap Is Getting Wider Sunseeking Germans Face Swiss Backlash Over Alpine Holiday Congestion To Head Off Severe Storm Surges, Nova Scotia Invests in 'Living Shorelines' Five Years After Black Lives Matter, Brussels' Colonial Statues Remain For Homeless Cyclists, Bikes Bring an Escape From the Streets Then Google apparently found a workaround. A new analysis of federal lobbying data by the nonprofit Tech Transparency Project shows that Google and its parent company, Alphabet Inc., used an internal reorganization to exclude the value of lobbying by its senior executives from disclosures. The move helped keep Google off the top of the lobbying charts even as it maintained a robust network of advocates pushing its interests in the capital, during federal challenges to its dominance in search and advertising and the beginnings of artificial intelligence regulation. The findings, which were confirmed by a Bloomberg analysis of lobbying records, show that the effect of the accounting change was to lower the amount that Google reported spending to influence the federal government, likely by millions of dollars. The reorganization 'has allowed the company to shield a significant portion of its lobbying expenditures from public view,' the Tech Transparency Project said in its report. A Google spokesperson, José Castañeda, disputed the report and said the company has followed all relevant disclosure laws. 'These are inaccurate claims about a technical change that simply brought us in line with how many other companies report their lobbying activities,' he said. 'Our lobbying expenditures began decreasing in 2018, after we restructured our government affairs team and cut spending on consultants.' Internal Reshuffle Starting in 2019, Google began cutting ties with some of its external lobbying firms, a move it acknowledged publicly as part of an overhaul of its Washington operations. But the shuffling of external lobbying firms doesn't explain the whole of the decline in Google's reported lobbying expenses, which fell from more than $22 million in 2018 to $8.9 million in the Covid-disrupted year of 2020, and have subsequently remained well below pre-pandemic levels. There's been another, quieter change: in early 2020, Google moved its in-house lobbyists into a new subsidiary, called Google Client Services LLC. It's that unit which now files spending disclosures for Google's lobbying activities. The reorganization meant that the parent companies Google and Alphabet no longer directly employed any lobbyists – defined under federal disclosure law as people spending at least 20% of their time on influencing Congress or the executive branch. Companies that file lobbying disclosure reports are supposed to also account for the time that other senior executives — those who don't meet the 20% threshold – devote to lobbying, according to legal experts and the compliance guide for the Lobbying Disclosure Act published by Congressional leaders. That generally involves prorating their annual compensation to account for the days they spend influencing the government. But since Google moved lobbyists into the Google Client Services subsidiary, the parent company no longer meets the threshold for filing disclosures under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, according to the TTP analysis. That means Google no longer reports the lobbying expenses of high-ranking managers who aren't part of the Client Services unit — like Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai and chief legal officer Kent Walker — to the public, as it once did. As a result, in 2020 Google dropped out of the top 20 in corporate lobbying expenses for the first time in nearly a decade, the TTP analysis found. While Google's reported annual spending has since edged back up again, it hasn't come close to the No.1 slot in the company lobbying rankings that it used to occupy. For the past five years, that position has alternated between two other tech giants: Meta Platforms Inc. and Inc. Antitrust Challenge There's been plenty going on in Washington over the period that was crucial for Google's business. For one thing, the company — like many peers — is betting heavily on AI, a field where decisions in the US capital will shape the commercial landscape. Google has also been under assault from antitrust authorities over its dominance in search and digital advertising. The company has maintained in those lawsuits that its success is down to consumer choice and superior innovation, rather than a result of its power to shape laws and regulations. Publicity around its lobbying spending has the potential to undercut such arguments and alienate regulators. When executives are as highly paid as many in Silicon Valley, the prorated amounts can add up to millions — even for just a few days' worth of lobbying. Google reported total compensation for Pichai of more than $225 million in 2022, thanks to grants of stock. His total compensation was $10.7 million in 2024. Walker's total compensation was more than $30 million last year, the company reported. Some say the new structure Google is employing flouts the spirit of the federal disclosure law – if not the letter itself. 'This is just too cute by half,' said William Luneburg, a professor emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and the co-editor of the manual for lobbying compliance published by the American Bar Association. 'On the face of it, it's wrong,' he said. 'They have to report all of their expenses, which would include the time of officers and directors and other employees that spend their time engaging in lobbying activity.' 'We always comply with disclosure laws and any suggestion of improper reporting is false,' said Castañeda, the Google spokesperson. TTP said it examined lobbying disclosures of several other companies that filed reports via a similar subsidiary model, but didn't find any that had used the structure to remove executive lobbying from their disclosures. --With assistance from Davey Alba and Sarah Frier. (Updates to add attribution in second paragraph) Americans Are Getting Priced Out of Homeownership at Record Rates Dubai's Housing Boom Is Stoking Fears of Another Crash Bessent on Tariffs, Deficits and Embracing Trump's Economic Plan Why It's Actually a Good Time to Buy a House, According to a Zillow Economist The Electric Pickup Truck Boom Turned Into a Big Bust ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
12 minutes ago
- Yahoo
US producer prices accelerate in July as costs of services and goods surge
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. producer prices increased more than expected in July amid a surge in the costs of services and goods, suggesting a broader pickup in inflation in the months ahead. The producer price index for final demand jumped 0.9% last month after being unchanged in June, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the PPI rising 0.2%. Services prices soared 1.1%, the largest gain since March 2022, amid strong increases in machinery and equipment wholesaling, costs of portfolio management, hotels and motels, and road transportation of freight. Good prices vaulted 0.7%, the biggest gain since in January. There were strong increases in the prices of vegetables, meat and eggs. With the July report, the BLS ended the calculation and publication of approximately 350 indexes, including data from the PPI Final Demand-Intermediate Demand, special index, industry and commodity classifications. The agency has suffered years of underfunding under both Republican and Democratic administrations, a situation worsened by an unprecedented campaign by President Donald Trump's White House to remake the federal government through deep spending cuts and mass layoffs of public workers. The resource constraints have impacted the closely watched employment report and also resulted in the suspension of data collection for portions of the CPI basket in some areas across the country. This has raised concerns about the quality of the government-produced economic data, long viewed as the gold standard. The nomination of Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni, a critic of the BLS, to head the statistics agency, is also adding another layer of worry over data quality. In the 12 months through July, the PPI increased 3.3% after advancing 2.4% in June. The pass-through from Trump's sweeping tariffs has so far been limited, but the PPI report supported economists' expectations for the import duties to drive up inflation in the coming months. The government on Tuesday reported a mild increase in consumer prices in July, though rising costs for services like dental care and airline tickets caused a measure of underlying inflation to post its largest gain in six months. While financial markets have priced in an interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve next month, rising services inflation and the expectation tariffs could still significantly boost goods prices left some economists doubtful of a resumption in policy easing in the absence of labor market deterioration. The U.S. central bank left its benchmark overnight interest rate in the 4.25%-4.50% range last month for the fifth-straight time since December. Prior to the PPI report, economists estimated the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index, excluding the volatile food and energy components, increased 0.3% in July after a similar gain in June. That would raise the year-on-year increase in the so-called core PCE inflation to 2.9% from 2.8% in June. Core PCE inflation is one of the measures tracked by the Fed for its 2% target. Sign in to access your portfolio
