Trump wins the ritual sacrifice of U-Va.'s president. So now what?
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
6 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Elections officials order changes after ballots went uncounted while clerk baked cookies
MADISON - Madison election officials must make a series of changes to avoid losing track of absentee ballots in future elections, the state's bipartisan elections commission ordered Friday. The commission voted 5-1 to require Madison officials to change how they track absentee ballots among other practices even after the commission's former administrator who now works as Madison's city attorney argued the commission had overstepped its authority. But city officials ultimately accepted the Wisconsin Elections Commission's decision after being at odds over how to move forward after nearly 200 ballots went uncounted in the 2024 presidential election while the city election clerk took vacation time to bake thousands of was the cookie baking revelation that underscored the commissioners' arguments Friday to require changes. Millis and Democratic chairwoman Ann Jacobs noted that throughout the course of their investigation into the uncounted ballots, clerk staff did not mention in their interviews that the former clerk took time off at the same time the uncounted ballots were discovered to bake thousands of cookies and used staff member and city vehicles to deliver them to various city offices. "She could not be bothered to turn off the oven and come into the office to figure out if the Ward 65 ballots could be counted — and they could have been counted if the clerk had acted promptly," Republican elections commissioner Don Millis said at a commission meeting Friday, Aug. 15."The failure to mention that the clerk was readily available to address this issue, along with the fact that none of the city officials we deposed felt it was their job to get the ballots counted − it makes me even more determined that the commission must impose the directions in our order." All but one commissioner, Democrat Mark Thomsen, voted to order the changes. Thomsen said Madison officials had already made changes to ensure the episode did not happen again and that Witzel-Behl was no longer clerk. "I don't think it's fair to burden the new clerk with a set of orders that other clerks recognize no one else has to follow," Thomsen said. "Frankly, I don't know why we're picking on Madison. And I don't think we should." The city contends the Wisconsin Elections Commission does not have the authority to order the tasks and changes in practice, which the commissioners discussed at a July meeting. But commission staff attorneys say the actions by the former clerk warrant such orders, and state law allows the commission to issue them. Madison City Attorney Michael Haas, a former administrator of the state elections commission, said his understanding of the commission's authority is that it is "limited to ordering a local election official to comply with the election laws." He said the orders require Madison clerk staff to perform duties not mandated in other ordered changes come as the city faces a class-action lawsuit from a portion of the 193 voters whose absentee ballots were not counted. In a statement, Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway did not push back against the commission's actions. "Along with the fresh perspective of a new Clerk, we are undertaking a reorganization of the office focused on improving efficiency and accountability," she said in a statement. "I'm confident that these steps will keep Madison at the forefront of election administration and voter turnout." "I also want to express our sincere regret to the absentee voters whose ballots were uncounted in November. Even before the WEC's investigation, we took immediate action to ensure this mistake never happens again and that work will continue with the guidance issued by the Commission today." Molly Beck can be reached at This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Elections officials order changes after ballots went uncounted while clerk baked cookies Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
6 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Intel CEO's ‘Amazing Story' Has Helped Make Him a Billionaire
(Bloomberg) -- Days after calling for the firing of Intel Corp.'s CEO, President Donald Trump changed his mind following a 'very interesting' meeting with the executive. 'His success and rise is an amazing story,' Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Monday. The US-Canadian Road Safety Gap Is Getting Wider Festivals and Parades Are Canceled Amid US Immigration Anxiety 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 It's a story that's also made Lip-Bu Tan amazingly rich. The 65-year-old technology and venture capital industry veteran has amassed a fortune worth at least $1.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which is calculating Tan's net worth for the first time. The bulk of his fortune stems from Cadence Design Systems Inc., a maker of chip design tools where Tan was chief executive officer for 12 years before joining Intel. He has sold shares worth more than $575 million in the San Jose, California-based company, and still holds a $500 million position, according to Bloomberg's calculations. A Bloomberg report late Thursday afternoon saying the Trump administration is in talks with Intel to have the US government potentially take a stake in the Silicon Valley chipmaker sent the company's shares up 7.4% in New York. The stock gained 15% since Tan's appointment as CEO in March, boosting the value of his stake to more than $29 million. It was Tan's tenure at Cadence, along with his other role as executive chairman of venture firm Walden International, that initially drew criticism from Washington. Trump ally and Republican Senator Tom Cotton sent a letter to Intel's board chair earlier this month questioning Tan's ties to China and his history at Cadence, which sold products to a Chinese military university. A day later, the president posted that Tan was 'highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately.' Tan called the claims 'misinformation' in a letter to employees. But his record of investing in China and the riches it has brought him had already cast a shadow over his work. In July, Cadence pleaded guilty to violating US export controls during Tan's tenure and took a $140.6 million charge related to settling the cases. Earlier, in 2023, the US government had sent Tan a letter asking Walden to explain its investments after the San Francisco-based firm had invested in more than 100 Chinese companies. 'I want to be absolutely clear: Over 40+ years in the industry, I've built relationships around the world and across our diverse ecosystem – and I have always operated within the highest legal and ethical standards,' Tan wrote in response to the allegations. A spokesperson for Santa Clara, California-based Intel declined to comment. 'Sunset' Industry A naturalized US citizen, Tan was born in Malaysia in 1959, the youngest of five children. His father was editor-in-chief of a Malaysian newspaper, while his mother was a professor in Singapore. After graduating with a degree in physics from Nanyang Technical University, he earned a Masters in nuclear engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from the University of San Francisco. His move to Silicon Valley brought him into the venture capital world. He met the founding partner of Walden Capital and proposed raising an international fund for them, offering to do so without being paid a salary, according to an oral history of his life from a 2018 interview at the Computer History Museum. The first fund of $3.3 million was partially seeded with the help of his father-in-law and his father's friends in Malaysia. Tan's technical background led him to concentrate on semiconductors at a time when it was seen as a 'sunset' industry. His investors questioned the strategy, wondering why he would invest in an area US firms had largely abandoned, he said in the 2018 interview. 'Now they're starting to recognize my strategy worked.' Walden International went on to invest $5 billion in more than 600 companies across 12 countries, many of them niche semiconductor firms. For a decade and a half, he served on the board of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., now China's leading chipmaker. Since joining Intel as CEO in March, Tan has accelerated his divestments in Chinese technology companies. But he remains executive chairman of Walden International and also invests through Walden Catalyst Ventures, a venture arm focused on startups in the US, Europe and Israel. Through Sakarya Ltd., a Hong Kong-based firm wholly owned by Tan, and various Walden International entities, he has invested in at least 165 Chinese firms and startups, according to Chinese company data provider Qichacha. Bloomberg's estimate of Tan's fortune doesn't include Walden International as his personal involvement in the group's entities isn't disclosed. Little Sleep During his time as Cadence's CEO from 2009 to 2021, the stock increased more than 4,000%. Tan sold in excess of $575 million of shares through the end of 2023, when he last reported sales. His disclosed ownership at the time of 1.5 million shares, or around 0.53% of the company, is worth about $500 million today. While running Cadence, he also kept his full-time position at Walden, acknowledging in the 2018 interview that he was someone who only needed four or five hours of sleep a night. He saw the roles as synergistic, with the tech investments helping to inform Cadence's direction at the time. 'I think it kind of goes hand in hand, helping the industry, and also, it's good for me for education,' he said. 'I never stop learning.' Tan stepped down as Cadence's CEO in 2021, taking on the role of executive chairman for next two years. He also joined Intel's board, though left in August 2024 after disagreements over the company's strategy and direction, according to published reports. He was named CEO in March, charged with reviving the chipmaker, which has struggled recently as computing migrated to smartphones and AI grew in importance. Tan, who has since rejoined Intel's board, owns roughly 1.2 million shares of Intel, with about 99% acquired after agreeing to become CEO, according to an offer letter from Intel. His pay package includes a salary of $1 million, plus a 200% performance-based bonus and $66 million in long-term equity awards and stock options, the company said in a filing. 'The United States has been my home for more than 40 years,' Tan wrote in the letter to employees following Trump's call for his resignation. 'I love this country and am profoundly grateful for the opportunities it has given me.' Americans Are Getting Priced Out of Homeownership at Record Rates What Declining Cardboard Box Sales Tell Us About the US Economy Bessent on Tariffs, Deficits and Embracing Trump's Economic Plan Dubai's Housing Boom Is Stoking Fears of Another Crash Twitter's Ex-CEO Is Moving Past His Elon Musk Drama and Starting an AI Company ©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
The Intercept
8 minutes ago
- The Intercept
Can Congress Stop Trump From Starting a War in Mexico?
More than 30 humanitarian, public interest, immigrant rights, faith-based, veterans' advocacy, and drug policy reform groups are calling on Congress to oppose the use of military force against drug cartels in Latin America by the Trump administration. Melding two failed American wars — the war on drugs and the war on terror — would 'put people at risk of violence and destabilize hemispheric relations while hindering, not helping, efforts to protect communities from drug trafficking and other crime,' according to the organizations, which include the Alianza Americas, Center for Civilians in Conflict, Drug Policy Alliance, Public Citizen, and Win Without War. President Donald Trump has secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against select Latin American drug cartels that his administration has deemed terrorist organizations, according to an Intercept interview with a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak to the media. The authorization was first reported by the New York Times. The decision to involve the American military in what has previously been considered a law enforcement effort comes as Trump has increasingly turned to U.S. troops for law enforcement purposes on American soil and taken over the D.C. police. These efforts are seen as dangerous escalations of the use of military force and violations of long-held norms. The letter, sent to top congressional leaders on Friday, urges lawmakers 'to use the full slate of its powers to prevent the administration from launching a new war in Latin America without democratic debate or public accountability' by 'organiz[ing] hearings to assess the scope of the administration's envisioned use-of-force policy and its likely diplomatic, economic, and human impacts' and 'withhold[ing] funding for unauthorized, undebated, and unaccountable military action.' In January, the State Department declared eight Mexican drug cartels — the Sinaloa cartel, CJNG, the Northeast cartel, the Michoacán family, the United Cartels, and the Gulf Cartel — to be foreign terrorist organizations. The Salvadoran MS-13 and the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang were also named. That designation activates U.S. sanctions, including restrictions on financial transactions and bans on U.S. citizens from providing support to the groups. That same month, Trump mused that he might send U.S. commandos into Mexico to battle cartels. 'Could happen,' he said. 'Stranger things have happened.' Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also threatened military action on Mexican soil. And a Justice Department guidance document urged employees to work toward the 'total elimination of cartels.' The coalition of groups pointed to the potential blowback of expanding the forever wars to Mexico and beyond. 'Unilateral and hastily conceived military action could contribute to the considerable human rights abuses, criminal violence, and forced displacement already harming communities in Latin America,' reads the letter. 'Militarized approaches to countering narcotics trafficking have often backfired. They have inadvertently incentivized criminal groups to traffic smaller and more potent drugs to evade interdiction, acquire deadlier weapons, and expand their networks of corruption to protect their profits.' Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum last week rejected the use of U.S. troops in her country. But earlier this week, Mexico extradited 26 alleged cartel members to the United States. Attorney General Pam Bondi hailed the cooperation. 'These 26 men have all played a role in bringing violence and drugs to American shores — under this Department of Justice, they will face severe consequences for their crimes against this country,' she said. 'We are grateful to Mexico's National Security team for their collaboration in this matter.' The U.S. war on drugs, first declared by Richard Nixon in 1971, has been an abject failure. It's estimated that the United States has spent more than $1 trillion battling the drug trade and drug use with dismal results. Nearly 1 million arrests are made for drug law violations in the U.S. each year, according to FBI statistics, making it the leading cause of arrest in the United States. One in 3 people in the U.S. has lost someone they know to a drug overdose. In 2024, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called the worldwide war on drugs a 'clear failure' and called out 'militarized law enforcement responses' around the world. 'Overseas military strikes certainly won't solve drug overdose deaths in the U.S., which are far better addressed through public health measures,' said Stephanie Brewer, the director for Mexico at the Washington Office on Latin America or WOLA, another signatory of the letter. 'What military action abroad would do is open the door to increased violence, forced migration, and incalculable damage to U.S. relations with neighboring countries.' Trump has already sent thousands of National Guard and active-duty troops to the southern border to ostensibly halt the flow of drugs as well as immigrants. More than 10,000 troops are deploying or have deployed there, according to Northern Command. Under the direction of NORTHCOM, military personnel have deployed under the moniker Joint Task Force-Southern Border since March, bolstering approximately 2,500 service members who were already supporting U.S. Customs and Border Protection's border security mission. One-third of the U.S. border is now completely militarized due to the creation of four new national defense areas, or NDAs: sprawling extensions of U.S. military bases patrolled by troops who can detain immigrants until they can be handed over to Border Patrol agents. 'Launching military action in Latin America without congressional authorization would be illegal, reckless, and a betrayal of our democratic process — and Congress must intervene to stop it,' Sara Haghdoosti, the executive director of Win Without War, told The Intercept. 'We've seen this 'war on drugs' playbook before in the region, and it has failed time and again — fueling violence, displacing communities, and doing nothing to address the root causes of drug trafficking.' Haghdoosti added, 'What makes this even more egregious is that the Trump administration is pushing for war while slashing the very public health programs that save lives. People need healthcare, treatment, and support — not military posturing and strikes.'
