GisermanGroup.com #BreakingNews

📺Settlement In FoxNews Election Fraud Trial

💵Lowest Acceptable #Wage For New #Job Hits High

📲#iPhone: It’s a Telephone, It’s a Computer, Now It’s a #Apple #BANK

⏰Montana: Bans #TikTok

🚨DA Sues Republicans Interfering In #Trump Case

🎢#Stocks 🔼, 🏠 #Mortgages⬇️, #HomePrices🆙

🤖#ChatGPT ‘Profound Risk To Society’

🍀Americans Spend More On #Weed Than On Beer & Chocolate Combined

📺Settlement In FoxNews Election Fraud Trial

Fox News and Do­min­ion Vot­ing Sys­tems have agreed to set­tle their closely watched le­gal bat­tle, avert­ing a trial on the vot­ing-machine com­pa­ny’s al­le­gations that it was de­famed by net­work broad­casts af­ter the 2020 pres­i­dential elec­tion.

Opening arguments were to get underway this afternoon by Dominion Voting Systems in its $1.6 billion defamation trail against Fox News.

Fox Chief Rupert Murdoch and many Fox News stars were to have to testify. But there were to be no cameras in the courtroom.

The judge presiding over the lawsuit ruled that he would not stop efforts to compel Murdoch and his son Lachlan to testify in person. Others on the list include Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, Maria Bartiromo and Lou Dobbs.

Dominion charges Fox harmed the election machine company’s reputation on 20 occasions from early November 2020 to late January 2021 by broadcasting allegations that the firm was involved in election fraud, developed an algorithm that rigged vote counts, was “owned by a company founded in Venezuela to rig elections for the dictator Hugo Chávez” and paid kickbacks to government officials.

Fox suffered a setback in its defense against the $1.6 billion lawsuit. The judge says the evidence is strong enough to conclude Fox hosts and guests repeatedly made false claims about Dominion voting machines and their supposed role in a fictitious plot to steal the election from Donald Trump.

Murdoch, chairman of Fox News’s parent company, acknowledged in a deposition that several hosts for his networks promoted a false narrative that the election in 2020 was stolen from Trump.

“They endorsed,” Murdoch said under oath in response to direct questions about the hosts Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, Dobbs and Bartiromo.

Despite what Fox News reported after the 2020 election, behind the scenes its most prominent stars and highest-ranking executives privately trashed claims of election fraud. In messages, Hannity said Giuliani was "acting like an insane person" and Ingraham described him as "an idiot." Murdoch said it was "really bad" that Giuliani was advising Trump.

The messages also revealed that Murdoch did not believe Trump’s election lies.

Fox also faces a $2.7 billion defamation suit from Smartmatic USA Corp., another voting-machine company, over similar claims.

💵Lowest Acceptable Wage For New Job Hits High

With inflation still high and the labor market still hot, the minimum salary that employees say they would take for a job—known as the reservation wage—has risen to its highest level. The new bottom line: nearly $74,000.

That's according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Labor Market Survey, which explores the reservation wage and other employee expectations in the labor market. The survey asks respondents—who are employed, unemployed or out of the labor force—"Suppose someone offered you a job today in a line of work that you would consider. What is the lowest wage or salary you would accept (before taxes and other deductions) for this job?" The latest results found that, on average, respondents said it would be $73,667.

Meantime Smart Asset reports the top three most expensive cities in the U.S. were Honolulu, New York City and San Francisco. Residents need to earn more than $300,000 annually to feel like they are making $100,000.

📲iPhone: It’s a Telephone, It’s a Computer, Now It’s Apple BANK

Call it the iPhone Bank

Apple launched its savings account with a 4.15% annual yield. It requires no minimum deposit or balance and you can set up an account from the Wallet app on your iPhone.

The national average APY on savings accounts is just 0.35%, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, so Apple’s 4.15% APY is high.

There are other high-interest accounts but many come with stipulations. CIT Bank offers a savings account with a 4.75% rate, but customers must deposit a minimum balance of $5,000. Marcus by Goldman Sachs has a 3.9% APY with no minimum balance or monthly fees. Capital One’s savings account has no minimum balance, and users can earn a 3.5% APY. Vio Bank offers a savings account with a 4.77% APY with no minimum balance.

⏰Montana: First State To Ban TikTok

Mon­tana law­mak­ers on Fri­day ap­proved a first-of-its-kind bill to ban Tik­Tok across the state, set­ting the stage for fu­ture court bat­tles that could de­ter­mine the fate in the U.S. of the pop­u­lar, Chi­nese-owned so­cial me­dia app.. The measure is expected to be signed by the Governor, and take effect next January.

The Biden ad­min­is­tra­tion is de­mand­ing Tik­Tok’s Chi­nese own­ers sell their stakes in the video-shar­ing app or face a U.S. ban.

Matt Hayden Former Cybersecurity Czar at the Department of Homeland Security and a GisermanGroup client on Scripps News says TikTok is dangerous:

GisermanGroup.com gets YOU noticed, contact us now

🎢Stocks 🆙

Stocks 🔼 for a second day after finishing the week in the Green. Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 100.71 points, or 0.3%, to end at 33,987.18. The Nasdaq Compositeadded 0.28% to settle at 12,157.72.--

BUT here comes the Fed; releasing minutes from its last meeting showing in­fla­tion and a tight la­bor mar­kets leading of­fi­cials to sig­nal they could raise in­ter­est rates at their next meeting.

Exiger CEO Brandon Daniels, a GisermanGroup.com Client tells Fox Business another FED rate hike could trigger a recession:

GisermanGroup.com gets YOU noticed, contact us now

💸There’s Still Time To Do Your Taxes

Procrastinators Unite!

You have a little more time to file state and federal income taxes this year because the deadline has been pushed back to 11:59pm TONIGHT.

The extra reprieve is thanks to Washington, D.C., celebrating its annual Emancipation Day, which affected the usual April 15th tax deadlines in the same way as a federal holiday.

Procrastinators may be discovering that tax year 2022 is not producing as many happy returns as in previous years due to a number of changes, including the expiration of some pandemic-era tax breaks.

💸CreditCrunch: Is YOUR Money Safe?

The S&P 500 is higher since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank last month, but Wall Street does not think the banking crisis is over and many worry a ‘credit crunch’ is making it tougher to borrow money. There are 186 banks across the country that could fail according to a study published on the Social Science Research Network.

Earnings released this week by some of the country’s biggest lenders, including Citigroup, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo, will be examined closely to determine the effect of the banking mess.

Still the crisis has a Silver Lining: Mortgage Rates Are Lower and as a result home sales rose.

SitusAMC’s Tim Rood, a GisermanGroup Client breaks it all down to Fox’s Neil Cavuto:

GisermanGroup.com gets YOU noticed, contact us now

🚨DA Sues Republicans Interfering In Trump Case

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg hitting back, filing a lawsuit against the House Judiciary Committee and its GOP chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan, alleging Republican lawmakers are illegitimately interfering with his prosecution of Donald Trump.

Trump earlier posted this threatening picture of himself holding a baseball bat — with DA Bragg’s hands up — on his Truth Social platform.

Trump said he wouldn’t drop out of the 2024 race even if convicted of a crime.“I’d never drop out, it’s not my thing,” Trump said in an interview with Fox’s Tucker Carlson. “I wouldn’t do it.”

The former President also praised the leaders of China and Russia, while criticizing President Biden.

On Biden, 80, running in '24: Trump says "I don't see how it's possible."And it's not an age thing," said Trump, 76. "I have friends that are 88, 89, 92. ... But there's something wrong. ... I don't think he can."

Meantime, Russia's "merchant of death" is offering Trump asylum in Russia, saying he believes the former president's life is in danger if he remains in the United States.

In an interview on a Russian state-TV, Viktor Bout—an international arms dealer made infamous after his portrayal by Nicolas Cage in the 2005 film "Lord of War"—told a reporter he had sent a telegram to Trump warning him of an imminent threat to his life and urging him to flee to Russia for safety.

The threat against Trump's life, Bout suggested, is not from an assassin or some unknown plot against him. Instead, he said, it comes from Trump's own government.

You Won’t Believe This Post From Trump:

This Moronic post on Trump’s ‘Truth Social’ site comes after he Plead Not Guilty To 34 Counts of falsifying business records to hide hush-money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels weeks before the 2016 election. All together, the charges of falsifying business records - carry a maximum sentence of more than 100 years in prison, though if convicted a judge could sentence him to probation. 

It also comes after the judge in the case warned him against insightful behavior.

Still addressing the media at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, the ex-president referred to the well-respected Judge Juan Merchan as a “Trump hating judge” and invoked his daughter, alleging she was involved in a Democrat conspiracy.

“I have a Trump-hating judge with a Trump-hating wife and family whose daughter worked for Kamala Harris and now receives money from the Biden-Harris campaign,” he said.

The next court date is not until December 4th.

Trump is the first former president to face criminal charges, and as a candidate for President is seeking to milk the event for voters and campaign donations.

“Head­ing to Lower Man­hat­tan, the Cour­t-house. Seems so SURREAL — WOW, they are go­ing to AR­REST ME. Can’t be­lieve this is hap­pen­ing in Amer­ica. MAGA!”

-Trump said in a post on his so­cial-me­dia site two min­utes be­fore he en­tered the court build­ing.

After returning to Mar-a-Lago – fundraising all the way – Trump spent 30 minutes Tuesday night trashing the myriad investigations he faces. Trump ranted against his unprecedented arrest and arraignment, telling supporters at Mar-a-Lago that the real “criminal” is Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Notably absent his wife Melania.

The campaign has been using the indictment in fund-raising appeals, and said it had raised $4 million in just 24 hours, though financial records corroborating the claim will not be available for weeks.

🚗EV’s The Second Auto Revolution

The Biden administration proposing plans designed to ensure two-thirds of new passenger cars sold are all-electric by 2032. A monumental change from the current 6%.

If the two rules are enacted as proposed, they would put the world’s largest economy on track to slash its planet-warming emissions at the pace that scientists say is required of all nations in order to avert the most devastating impacts of climate change.

The av­erage price for an EV is $61,800, com­pared with $45,600 for ve­hi­cles with in­ter­nal com­bus­tion en­gines, ac­cord­ing to J.D. Power.

⛽️Gas Prices Pump Higher

National average gas prices have reached a five-month high, above $3.50 a gallon for the first time since November. The jump comes on the heels of Saudi Arabia and others decisions to drastically cut oil production.

Our friend Price Futures Group senior analyst Phil Flynn sees $4, even $5 ahead in the near future especially as oil companies switch over to summer blends.

.🏠Home Sales Surprise

If the economy is so bad, why then are home sales so good? Home prices nationally rose 0.16% in February according to Black Knight. That is the strongest one-month gain since May of last year.

SitusAMC’s Tim Rood, former FannieMae Executive, and a GisermanGroup client, on Yahoo Finance, FBN's Cavuto and on Scripps News says Housing is the Cinderella Story of the Year:

**GisermanGroup.com gets YOU noticed, contact us now**

🕕Crypto Rising

Bitcoin back around the $30,000 mark

Exiger’s Samar Pratt on FinTechTV explainsCrypto had just gained a foothold at BNY Mellon:

GisermanGroup.com gets YOU noticed, contact us now

💻Intel Leak Blamed on 21 Year Old

Fresh questions are being asked as to how a 21 year old National Guardsman, who lived with his mother in North Dighton, Massachusetts got clearance to access top secret military documents.   

Congressional leaders with over­sight of in­tel­ligence and de­fense say they don’t yet un­der­stand how a low-level in­for­ma­tion tech­ni­cian was al­lowed ac­cess to the clas­si­fied doc­u­ments and al­legedly to sneak state se­crets out of se­cured fa­cil­i­ties. Some law­mak­ers also calling for military of­fi­cials to be held ac­count­able for the breach. 

Among revelations coming to light as he appeared in court: the platform Discord provided information that helped lead the FBI to guardsman Jack Teixeira, and that he used his government computer to search for the word “leak” on the day last week when news media reports revealed that classified documents had been improperly disclosed.

The 21 year old guardsman was taken into custody after federal authorities said he had posted batches of sensitive intelligence to an online gaming chat group, called Thug Shaker Central.

💊Abortion in Danger

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed one of the nation’s toughest antiabortion bills after lawmakers have voted to prohibit abortions after six weeks of pregnanc.

Meantime, a federal judge temporarily blocked a decision by another judge to suspend government approval of a key abortion medication nationwide.

The court’s decision maintains mifepristone’s availability for now, though the judges declined to pause another part of the Texas ruling that said the Food and Drug Administration wrongly expanded access to the abortion drug, including not being able to prescribe it by mail.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the use of mifepristone in 2000.

🤖ChatBots ‘Profound Risk To Society’

President Biden says it remains to be seen if artificial intelligence is dangerous, but believes technology companies must ensure their products are safe before releasing them to the public.

More than 1,000 technology leaders and researchers, including Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, have urged artificial intelligence labs to pause development of the most advanced systems, warning in an open letter that A.I. tools present “profound risks to society and humanity.”

Artificial intelligence is taking over “clerical white collar work,” says IBM CEO Arvind Krishna. Jobs like customer service, human resources, and positions within finance and health care could all see ChatBots taking them over — not years from now but in the current day, according to Krishna.

Researchers from OpenAI and the University of Pennsylvania argued in a new research paper that 80 percent of the US workforce could have at least 10 percent of their work tasks affected by the introduction of ChatGPT. They also found that about 19 percent of workers may find at least 50 percent of their duties impacted by GPT, or General-purpose technologies.

There’s one big hitch: Governments — notably Washington — haven’t kept pace with regulations for the technology. That could lead to dire consequences: “By failing to establish such guardrails, policymakers are creating the conditions for a race to the bottom in irresponsible A.I.,” Carly Kind, the director of the Ada Lovelace Institute, a policy research group, told The Times.

🍀Americans Spend More On Weed Than On Beer & Chocolate Combined

U.S Legal sales of marijuana and marijuana products -- like edibles -- reached an estimated $30 billion in 2022, according to a report from MJBizDaily.

That total is more than Americans spent on chocolate and craft beer combined, -- $20 billion and $7.9 billion, respectively.

And get this — legal sales are still vastly outweighed by illicit ones – Whitney Economics estimates that legal transactions constituted just 25% of total cannabis market in 2021. 

🏈You Won’t Believe How Much The Washington Commanders Are Selling For

It’s the largest amount ever paid for a US professional team.

A group led by billionaire Josh Harris has reached a deal to buy the Washington Commanders for $6 billion. 

Harris, co-founder of Apollo Global Management, is leading a group of investors including NBA legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson, fellow billionaire Mitchell Rales and Blackstone executive David Blitzer.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has dropped out of bidding for the team.

Don’t Use CellPhone Charging Stations

The FBI has issued a new warning about ‘juice jacking’ cautioning consumers against using free cellphone public charging stations at airports, hotels, shopping malls or other such facilities. The bureau saying crooks have managed to hijack public chargers that can infect devices with malware, or software that can give hackers access to your phone, tablet or computer.

The Federal Communications Commission has also warned about juice jacking.

Consumer devices with compromised USB cables can be hijacked through software that can then siphon off usernames and passwords, the FCC warns. The commission told consumers to avoid those public stations.

To avoid becoming a victim of juice jacking, carry your own charger and plug in at a normal outlet.

🏓PickleBall TV Ratings Top MLB, NBA, NHL

‘PickleBall Slam’ slams TV Ratings.

The inaugural event featuring tennis legends John McEnroe, Andy Roddick, Andre Agassi and Michael Chang was more popular than 13 MLB matchups, seven NBA games and five NHL clashes for the week beginning March 27, according to Nielsen data.

An average of 669,000 viewers tuned in for the competition with viewership reaching a high of 796,000 fans during the hotly-contested doubles match between the stellar quartet on ESPN. What’s even more appealing for advertisers is it scored big in the coveted 18-25 demographic.

Here comes more PickleBall to your TV.

WSJ Reporter Arrested In Russia

The State Department has designated as “wrongfully detained” Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who was arrested by Russian security services last month and held on an accusation of espionage that the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny.

Gershkovich’s case now shifts to a State Department section—known as the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs—which is focused on negotiating for the release of hostages and other Americans classified as wrongfully detained in foreign countries.

Over 200 Russian journalists joining President Biden, Eu­ropean gov­ern­ments and the chief of the North At­lantic Treaty Or­ga­ni­zation de­nouncing the ar­rest of Wall Street Jour­nal re­porter Evan Ger­shkovich and demanding his re­lease. A se­nior Russ­ian diplo­mat said the in­ves­tiga­tion in the re­porter’s case was on­go­ing and de­clined to state when he would be per­mit­ted vis­its from lawyers and U.S. diplo­mats.

Ger­shkovich, 31 years old, was ar­rested in the Russian city of Yeka­ter­in­burg. Russ­ian au­thor­i­ties have ac­cused Ger­shkovich of es­pi­onage, which the Jour­nal and the Biden ad­min­is­tra­tion deny. He is cur­rently be­ing held at a jail in Mos­cow run by Rus­sia’s Fed­eral Se­cu­rity Ser­vice, or FSB.

GisermanGroup.com will design a campaign to get you and your business in front of the public.

GisermanGroup.com gets YOU noticed, contact us now

🍋CNN’s Morning Debacle

Don Lemon @donlemon

I appreciate the opportunity to be back on @CNNThisMorning today. To my network, my colleagues and our incredible audience — I’m sorry. I’ve heard you, I’m learning from you, and I’m committed to doing better. See you soon.

CNN’s low rated morning show was already in trouble. Its three anchors show little chemistry reflected in dropping audience numbers. Now, Don Lemon, one of the morning-show anchors has been criticized by the man who created the losing show, after his on-air comments about women and aging set-off an uproar inside the cable news channel. Lemon made no on-air mentions this morning but did send the above tweet.

Lemon upset colleagues when he asserted on the air that Nikki Haley, the 51-year-old Republican presidential candidate, “isn’t in her prime, sorry.” “A woman is considered to be in her prime in her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s,” Lemon said, to the visible dismay of his “CNN This Morning” co-anchors, Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins. He refused to back down after Harlow questioned his remarks, telling her to “look it up.”

Lemon returned to the show after a memo sent by CNN’s chairman Chris Licht said Lemon “has agreed to participate in formal training” over his on-air behavior and that the network took “this situation very seriously.”

☕️Cool Beans: Coffee Good For You

Go ahead have that second cup. A new study says Coffee is good for you.

The research showed that coffee has striking effects on physical activity levels, causing people to move more, taking, on average, 1,000 extra steps a day — a significant boost in activity that might help explain why coffee consumption has long been linked to better health.

But the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, did find some downsides to a daily cuppa. It showed that people lost about 36 minutes of nightly sleep on days when they drank coffee — and the more coffee they drank, the less they slept.

☕️How About Olive Oil With Your Coffee—Really

Coming to a Starbucks near you coffee with olive oil!

The cof­fee chain plans to launch a line of olive-oil-in­fused drinks, set to de­but in the com­pa­ny’s cof­fee shops in Italy this week and the U.S. in the spring. The Oleato bev­erages will in­clude an oat-milk latte im­bued with ex­tra-vir­gin olive oil, and a cold brew drink topped with “golden foam” in­fused with the oil, ex­ec­u­tives said. Star-bucks is also adding the oil to its Iced Shaken Espresso bev­er­age, pair­ing it with oat milk and hazel­nut. 

Get The Notice You Deserve in 2023

It’s a trying time for all of us.

>>Get your business noticed now<<

GisermanGroup.com will design a campaign to get you and your business in front of the public.

GisermanGroup.com gets YOU noticed, contact us now

💊Weight Loss Wonder Drug Worth Billions

What price beauty?

An Eli Lilly drug if approved for weight loss could become the best-selling drug of all time.

Experts are confident that the drug, called tirzepatide, will be granted approval by the Food and Drug Administration sometime this year.  If that’s the case, it would join two other popular — and expensive — recently approved weight loss drugs on the market, Wegovy and Saxenda, both from the drugmaker Novo Nordisk.

The drugs have been shown in clinical trials to be highly effective for weight loss. All three drugs — which are given as injections — work in a similar way: They’re a class of drugs called GLP-1 agonists, which mimic a hormone that helps reduce food intake and appetite.

Oh yea it would cost you $13,000 a year (and most insurances won’t pay)!

💻They Want Your Password

Warning-New Scams to steal your passwords.

If you've had a password hacked recently, you aren't alone. The volume of password attacks has soared to an estimated 921 attacks every second. That's a 74% rise in one year, according to the latest Microsoft Digital Defense Report.

Exiger's Robert Kolasky with more on Bloomberg & CBS:

GisermanGroup.com gets YOU noticed, contact us now

💰Money Does Buy Happiness

Money really does buy happiness.

The rule extends well beyond the $75,000-a-year salary threshold that had been seen as the upper limit for making an impact, according to a team of scientists that include the Nobel Prize-winning psychologist who introduced the idea of a happiness plateau more than a decade ago.

Happiness does increase steadily in line with incomes and even accelerates as pay rises beyond $100,000 a year and more — as long as the person enjoys a certain baseline level of happiness to begin with. That’s according to a study of 33,391 people living in the US, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

The results contradict a famous 2010 paper by the psychologist Daniel Kahneman and economist Angus Deaton, which reported that happiness goes up with income until the relationship starts to “flatten” at between $60,000 and $90,000 a year.