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Russian journalist convicted of cooperating with a foreign organization and jailed for 4 yearsPepper Pong, a portable game that combines elements of ping pong and pickleball, had done roughly $350,000 in sales as of last Friday afternoon, according to founder Tom Filippini. Twenty-four hours later, that figure had more than doubled — thanks to the company’s appearance that evening on ABC’s “Shark Tank.” “They were buying the connection more than the game,” he said. “You’re not giving a product. You’re giving a story about bringing people together. People are hungry for that connection.” Filippini pitched that story to the show’s “sharks,” talking about his struggles with alcoholism before getting sober in 2016. “We’ve easily gotten over 1,000 emails basically thanking us for telling our story, not for creating our product or asking about their order,” he said of the post-show response. “The product is really just a conduit in what we’re trying to accomplish, which is to head off this epidemic of isolation.” Filippini went on the show asking for $150,000 for a 10% stake in the company. He ultimately gave up 19 percent in exchange for an investment of that size from Todd Graves, founder of the Raising Cane’s fast food chain. It’s Pepper Pong’s first outside investment. Filippini said he’s put around $500,000 of his own money into the venture. Filippini noted that Graves is a paddle sports fan himself. He’s a part-owner of the Texas Ranchers, a professional pickleball team. And a Cane’s location built in collaboration with musician Post Malone has a pingpong track running along the walls of the restaurant. “I think Todd and I are really well-aligned in our feeling that business should be fun and lighthearted,” he said. “We call him the ‘aw-shucks’ billionaire.’” Filippini moved to Denver in 1997 and worked in mergers and acquisition investment before founding the vacation club Exclusive Resorts with Brent and Brad Handler in 2002. He sold the company, now based in McGregor Square, in 2004, and went back to the investing industry in 2010. In 2016, he started Aviation Innovation Holdings, a firm that invests in niche flight-industry companies. He spends nights and weekends, he said, on Pepper Pong. A self-proclaimed “ping pong fanatic,” Filippini grew up outside of Chicago playing table tennis with his two brothers and dad in their basement. “We’d play a lot and occasionally throw the rackets at each other and they’d break, so we’d be out of those for a while,” he said. This forced them to tinker with equipment, and led to them finding Nerf Ping Pong, the toy-gun empire’s tabletop version of the game. The ball was not up to snuff, he said, so they would source their own. Though they never found the perfect replacement, that idea became Pepper Pong decades later. “What we realized around 20 years ago is if you could soften the ball and slow the pace, you could level the playing field and extend rallies,” Filippini said. “You basically welcome more people to play and compete and have fun.” Pepper Pong retails on the company’s website for $70 a set, which includes four paddles, called “mullets,” and three foam balls, called “peppers.” The mullet has a ping pong base that shapes into more of a pickleball paddle on top. The peppers, about 30 percent bigger than a ping pong ball, are called jalapeño, habanero and ghost. They ascend in density and playability, with jalapeño being a beginner ball and ghost serving as the most difficult. The weight allows for more control and an approachable pace, Filippini said. Players can set up a “fence” — the game’s de facto net — anywhere from a car hood to Yeti cooler. This, he said, is a remedy to the space and equipment you need to play ping pong. The large table and speed that some people can hit the ball also makes a skill gap obvious, he said. Pepper Pong aims to level the playing field, and though there have been other portable ping pong sets on the market for decades that have tried to do the same thing, Filippini didn’t mince words when reflecting on their efficiency. “They’re a joke,” he said. Walmart and other retailers have reached out since the show to ask about carrying the product, Fillippini said, but he’s planning to sell on the Pepper Pong website for now, to ensure a deliberate roll out. “I was ready for that influx,” he said. “But we’re a zero full-time employee company, so we have to be very considerate about not biting off more than we can chew.” Pepper Pong is manufactured at a facility in Macao, China. Filippini noted it is the same center that produces Spikeball, another portable yard game. He was introduced to its founder, Chris Ruder, early on in the venture, and Filippini has sought advice from him throughout. Pepper Pong distributes out of a family-owned warehouse in Indiana. Filippini said he had to call on family and friends to help account for the massive order influx after the show.
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Tom Tatum Outdoors: Game Of DronesTikTok is challenging the federal government’s order to shut down its operations in Canada. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * TikTok is challenging the federal government’s order to shut down its operations in Canada. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? TikTok is challenging the federal government’s order to shut down its operations in Canada. The company filed in documents in Federal Court in Vancouver on Thursday. The government ordered the dissolution of TikTok’s Canadian business in November after a national security review of the Chinese company behind the social media platform. That means TikTok must “wind down” its operations in Canada, though the app will continue to be available to Canadians. TikTok wants the court to overturn the government’s order and to place a pause on the order while the court hears the case. It is claiming the minister’s decision was “unreasonable” and “driven by improper purposes.” The review was carried out through the Investment Canada Act, which allows the government to investigate any foreign investment with potential to harm national security. Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said in a statement at the time the government was taking action to address “specific national security risks,” though it didn’t specify what those risks were. TikTok’s filing says Champagne “failed to engage with TikTok Canada on the purported substance of the concerns that led to the (order.)” Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. The company argues the government ordered “measures that bear no rational connection to the national security risks it identifies.” It says the reasons for the order “are unintelligible, fail to reveal a rational chain of analysis and are rife with logical fallacies.” The company’s law firm, Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, declined to comment, while Champagne’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the order would “eliminate the jobs and livelihoods of our hundreds of dedicated local employees — who support the community of more than 14 million monthly Canadian users on TikTok, including businesses, advertisers, creators and initiatives developed especially for Canada.” This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 10, 2024. Advertisement Advertisement
Despite what you may have heard, the 2024 election was pretty close . President-elect Donald Trump won a clear victory in the Electoral College, but he leads outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris in the national popular vote by only 1.5 percentage points, 49.8 percent to 48.3 percent* — one of the smallest margins ever in a presidential race. Nonetheless, the magnitude of Trump's triumph may appear much larger because it featured a major swing to the right from where the nation voted in 2020. As President Joe Biden defeated Trump by about 4.5 points nationally four years ago, Trump's 2024 advantage represents about a 6-point shift to the right, which is the largest swing toward either party since 2008. Back then, Barack Obama's 7.3-point edge represented a nearly 10-point swing to the left from George W. Bush's 2.5-point win in 2004. Yet the national swing only tells part of the story. What particularly stands out this year is the breadth of the swing in Trump's direction across not only the 50 states and the District of Columbia, but also an overwhelming majority of the more than 3,000 counties or their equivalents in the United States. Compared with his showing in 2020, Trump didn't pick up a huge amount of ground in many places, but he did gain at least a little bit nearly everywhere. We can see this by drilling into the state-level and county-level data below. Every state swung to the right in 2024 From one presidential election to the next, more states usually swing toward the party that gains ground compared with how it performed four years earlier. However, it's rare for every state to move in the same direction, even in elections where one candidate wins decisively. After all, changes in the makeup of the party coalitions and the varying appeal of individual candidates can lead different states to move in opposite directions. Plus, at least in a few historical cases, a third-party candidate may have won a meaningful share of the vote that cut more into one party's coalition than another. But in 2024, all 50 states and D.C. swung to the right to varying degrees based on their margins versus the 2020 race. This marked the first presidential election since 1976 in which all 51 components of the Electoral College moved in the same direction relative to how they voted four years earlier. Unlike 1976, though, all 50 states and D.C. moved to the right in 2024 even though the previous election was also highly competitive. That wasn't the case in the closely fought 1976 race won by Jimmy Carter: His victory came four years after a landslide result in 1972 , when Richard Nixon carried 49 states and won by 23 points nationally — the largest popular vote edge a candidate has earned in the post-World War II era — making 1976's leftward swing more of a return to a highly competitive baseline. Although six other elections since 1976 featured larger swings than in 2024, at least one state in each of those contests still moved toward the party that lost ground. In 1980, Vermont was the only state where Carter's margin improved even as he lost reelection badly to Ronald Reagan. In 1984, Reagan built significantly on his 1980 margins while winning the only definite landslide since Nixon's 1972 victory, but seven states and D.C. still voted more Democratic than they had four years earlier. Republicans lost ground in 49 states while winning again in 1988, but George H.W. Bush's margin grew very slightly over Reagan's in Tennessee and D.C. When the elder Bush lost reelection in 1992, he did worse in nearly every state, but still managed to improve his margin slightly in Iowa. And when Obama won by the largest margin in recent years in 2008, five now-dark red states trended right (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virginia). While every state swung to the right in 2024, the extent of that swing did vary quite a bit. Weighted by each state's share of the national popular vote, the average state shifted 5.6 points to the right by margin from its 2020 result. Leading the way was New York, which Harris only won by about 13 points after Biden carried it by 23 points — a swing of more than 10 points. Other populous blue states like New Jersey (10 points) and California (9 points) also swung notably to the right, as did large red states like Florida (10 points) and Texas (8 points). Conversely, 36 states and D.C. shifted to the right by less than the weighted average. Those states tended to be less populous and therefore more rural, but also include most of the seven principal swing states in the 2024 race, which had the most concentrated campaign attention and spending during the election. Of those, only Arizona had a larger-than-average shift to the right of 5.8 points, while Nevada's 5.5-point rightward shift was about the same as the weighted average. Beyond that, Michigan swung just 4.2 points to the right, and the other four swing states — Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — all swung right by fewer than 3 points. Of all the states, Washington state had the smallest swing to the right, going from Biden +19 to Harris +18. The Washington outcome serves as yet another reminder that you should never rely on one data point as an indicator of things to come. After all, Washington's blanket and top-two primary results have often served as a decent predictor for the national political environment in the ensuing November election. But in 2024, Democrats running for the U.S. House of Representatives did better in the state's top-two primaries than they performed in 2020 or 2022, yet the November results saw Republicans nationally do much better than in 2020 and similar to their 2022 result in the national popular vote for the House. Most counties swung right to a small or medium degree Naturally, as one party gains more compared to the last election, it tends to gain a larger share of voters across the nation's counties, and county-level data can help us understand the depth and breadth of the swing behind an election's outcome. But a simple count of the number of counties that moved in one direction isn't especially helpful in painting this picture. After all, most counties are rural (and consistently conservative-leaning), but rocks and trees can't vote. Carter's 1976 victory was the last time a Democratic presidential nominee won more counties than the Republican did, yet Democrats have won five of the 12 White House contests since then. To get a read on the scope of county-level swings, it's more useful to consider the share of the nation's overall vote found in counties that moved toward one party or the other. That way, we better account for the vast differences in population across counties. By this measure, the rightward swing of Trump's 2024 victory featured substantial breadth. Compared with the 2020 election, 92 percent of voters lived in counties (or their equivalents) that swung toward Trump, while only 8 percent lived in places that moved toward Harris. The only recent election to rival that span is Obama's 2008 win, when 92 percent of voters lived in counties that swung to the left from the 2004 election. Now, the depth of Trump's swing was somewhat shallower than Obama's 2008 win, which isn't necessarily surprising considering 2008 saw a bigger overall swing nationally (9.7 points to the left). More than half of all votes in 2008 came from places that swung at least 10 points to the left by margin. By comparison, only 11 percent of 2024 votes hailed from counties that swung more than 10 points to the right, while 81 percent overall came from counties that shifted between zero and 10 points to the right. Compared to recent contests besides 2008, though, the broad scope of Trump's gains across much of the country seem striking. The third-biggest swing in the past quarter century after 2008 and 2024 came in 2012, when Obama won reelection but the country as a whole swung 3.4 points to the right. Yet even as much of the country swung slightly to the right that year, about 1 in 4 votes still came from counties that moved at least somewhat to the left. In 2020, we saw a similar story: Biden swung the country about 2.4 points to the left from 2016, but a tad more than 1 in 4 votes came from counties that swung right toward Trump. Another data point further suggests that the shift from 2020 to 2024 was not just broad, but especially consistent in its impacts across the country. Overall, the correlation between each county's margin in 2020 compared with 2024 was .995 on a scale of -1 to 1 — a near-perfect positive association between the two elections, and the strongest between the results in any two consecutive presidential elections dating back to 2000. To be clear, this does not mean that the results were the same in each county in 2020 and 2024. Rather, it broadly means that the more Republican a county voted in 2020, the more Republican it tended to vote in 2024. Although results in other recent pairs of elections have been highly correlated as well, the 2020-24 comparison is particularly notable because such an incredibly strong association happened even while the country swung 6 points to the right. This suggests that, broadly speaking, this ample national swing did not vary massively across the country. By contrast, the sizable 10-point swing to the left in 2008 from 2004 had a county-level correlation of .933, meaning that while the margins across counties were relatively similar, more places still saw some substantial movement that didn't correspond as closely. And in 2016, which saw particularly large county-level swings from 2012 because of the shifting nature of the Democratic and Republican coalitions at the start of the Trump era, the correlation between the two contests was .945. *** The breadth of the nation's rightward swing could suggest a couple of larger possibilities. Considering 2008 saw the only similarly large national shift in recent times amid financial and global turmoil, the broad swing in 2024 seems to be another point in favor of larger fundamentals-based reasons for the shifts in this election. Dissatisfaction with the economic status quo and immigration, along with high disapproval of the incumbent president, were all clear boons for Trump's candidacy. At the same time, Trump's gains may have greater resonance moving forward. The relative consistency of the county-level shifts suggests that there weren't major coalition shifts this year, but even minor swings could be a harbinger. Notably, Trump improved most in more urban and more racially diverse places . Odds are that the 2028 election results will be highly correlated with the 2024 results, so even small coalition changes in this election could have a long-term impact on the makeup of the parties and the preferences of voters as we look ahead to future elections. Footnote * 2024 data is based on unofficial election results from ABC News as of 12 p.m. Eastern on Dec. 10, 2024.
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Chris Clarke appointed practice leader of Homeland Security & Law Enforcement; Bryan Miller to lead newly combined Defense, Diplomacy, & Intel (DDI) practice MCLEAN, Va. , Dec. 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Guidehouse, a global consultancy providing advisory, digital, and managed services to the commercial and public sectors, has named Shannon White the new leader of its Defense & Security segment effective Jan. 1, 2025 . White succeeds John Saad , who has been named President of Guidehouse. Additionally, Chris Clarke will take on White's former role as Guidehouse's Defense & Security's Homeland Security & Law Enforcement practice leader. White brings a wealth of expertise in the national security sectors, along with a proven ability to deliver complex, high-impact solutions. With a track record of driving innovation and meaningful results, she has been instrumental in shaping Guidehouse's growth and impact across its diverse portfolio. Under her leadership, the Defense & Security segment will continue to focus on delivering mission-critical solutions to address the nation's most pressing defense and security challenges. "Shannon is a passionate leader whose experience will be invaluable as we continue to support purpose-driven initiatives to preserve security across the U.S.," said John Saad , President of Guidehouse. "Her strategic vision and expertise will accelerate Guidehouse's growth through transformative engagements with our clients in the defense, national security, and public sectors." Chris Clarke , Homeland Security & Law Enforcement practice leader Clarke, a partner at the firm, brings over 20 years of experience engaging with clients on complex challenges, with a focus on risk management and financial transformation. He has worked extensively across the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Justice, and the Intelligence Community leading hundreds of consultants to deliver a range of services in support of solving strategic challenges for Guidehouse clients. Bryan Miller , Defense, Diplomacy, & Intel (DDI) practice leader To position the firm for additional growth and to align with the evolving needs of its clients, Guidehouse has combined Defense & Security's Defense & Intelligence and Diplomacy & Development practices into a newly combined Defense, Diplomacy, & Intel (DDI) practice under the leadership of Bryan Miller . Miller, a partner at the firm, has over 20 years of industry experience focused on delivering strategy, supply chain and transformation programs to the U.S. Government. "This new structure strengthens our capabilities and provides a more cohesive approach to serving these interconnected client missions," added Saad. "Chris and Bryan are remarkable leaders with unmatched expertise in navigating the complexities of public safety and national security. We congratulate them on these new roles and are confident they will drive tremendous value for our clients and teams." Named a Military Friendly® Employer for six consecutive years, Guidehouse's Defense & Security segment serves U.S. diplomatic, intelligence, law enforcement, and defense agencies. Backed by proven success in helping clients compete, deter, and win, the firm delivers mission-critical optimization, technology modernization, and financial management solutions. About Guidehouse Guidehouse is a global consultancy providing advisory, digital, and managed services to the commercial and public sectors. Guidehouse is purpose-built to serve the national security, financial services, healthcare, energy, and infrastructure industries. Disrupting legacy consulting delivery models with its agility, capabilities, and scale, the firm delivers technology-enabled and focused solutions that position clients for innovation, resilience, and growth. With high-quality standards and a relentless pursuit of client success, Guidehouse's more than 18,000 employees collaborate with leaders to outwit complexity and achieve transformational changes that meaningfully shape the future. guidehouse.com Media Contact: Cecile Fradkin, cfradkin@scprgroup.com , Guidehouse View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/guidehouse-names-shannon-white-leader-of-defense--security-segment-302332867.html SOURCE GuidehouseAfter GU, GTU makes helmets compulsory
The transfer portal was open less than 24 hours when Lincoln Riley appeared on USC’s “Trojans Live” radio show Monday night. Already by that point, 11 players had announced their plans to hit the portal, among them the Trojans’ right tackle, Mason Murphy, and running back of the future, Quinten Joyner — two departures that stir red a frustrated fan base into a portal-induced panic. So when Riley was asked about his approach to the transfer market, he had a point to make. College football, the coach opined, was now basically “a professional model.” That meant “making some tough decisions” about “where to allocate reps or where to allocate resources, roster spots, all of those things.” “The reality is there’s just some guys that you just can’t or are not going to pay what they want,” Riley said. “If your value doesn’t match the money, then it’s not going to go well much longer, it’s not going to go further. There’s a cutthroat part of that that is just part of being a professional organization, and again, that’s what we’re becoming.” In other words, the players weren’t the only ones at USC making shrewd business decisions. “You’re getting ready to reduce roster size, you’re getting ready to have a salary cap essentially,” Riley said. “You’re going to see sometimes people that feel like, ‘I got a better opportunity to go play at this place or that place,’ and sometimes — more often than what people realize now — it’s the school telling the kid, ‘Hey we’re sorry. This just is what it is right now.’” As its roster stands, USC probably could have used a potential star running back and an offensive tackle with years of starting experience. With Murphy and Joyner departing, both the backfield and the offensive line represented glaring holes that Riley probably would have to plug through the portal. And the exodus continued Tuesday afternoon as one of the Trojans’ top young receivers, Duce Robinson, also entered the portal. Riley hasn’t had any issue finding replacements at running back in the past. In each of his three seasons at USC, the coach successfully recruited a new transfer to lead the backfield, hitting on Travis Dye, MarShawn Lloyd and Woody Marks in consecutive seasons. Joyner was supposed to be the first of Riley’s homegrown backs at USC to stop that cycle, taking the reins of the Trojans’ run game after developing behind both Lloyd and Marks. He averaged 7.6 yards per carry this season, flashing glimpses of explosive star potential when given the opportunity. But running behind Marks — an Associated Press All-Big Ten second-team selection — Joyner never quite carved out a consistent role. He received more than six carries in a game just three times in two seasons. It wasn’t until Marks left because of an injury in the first quarter of USC’s season finale against Notre Dame that Joyner was asked to power the offense during a critical stretch. He responded by rushing for 83 yards on a career-high 10 carries. A little more than a week later, Joyner was gone, and USC was again sifting through the portal for a replacement. With Marks off the NFL, 230-pound freshman Bryan Jackson will get a chance to prove himself as the lead back through bowl season. But with few options behind him, expect Riley to go back to the transfer well. Along the offensive line, Riley said on many occasions that he hoped to move away from the portal-reliant approach USC used the previous two offseasons. Just two weeks ago the coach expressed confidence in how his young linemen were progressing. “We’ve got a lot of good-looking young linemen that are talented and going to be good players,” Riley said. “It’s been a while, probably well before I was here, since that was the case.” But desperate times may call for further portal pursuits up front. The Trojans’ two most consistent linemen this season, center Jonah Monheim and guard Emmanuel Pregnon (also an AP All-Big Ten pick), soon will declare for the NFL draft. USC’s only reserve linemen with extended experience, guards Gino Quinones and Amos Talalele, entered the transfer portal. And with Murphy joining them, that leaves three starter spots to fill and nary a lineman with more than 100 snaps of experience to fill them. As bleak as those circumstances may seem, USC actually has more pressing portal needs elsewhere. The Trojans are trending toward losing their entire starting secondary, assuming safety Kamari Ramsey declares for the draft as planned. They could stand to add a few veterans to their defensive front too, with depth depleted both on the line and at linebacker. Within the portal’s first day, offers to talented defenders were rolled out in full force. Among those on USC’s immediate radar: former five-star Kentucky defensive tackle Keeshawn Silver, Elon edge rusher Cazeem Moore, Marshall linebacker Jaden Yates, Western Kentucky defensive lineman Hosea Wheeler, San José State cornerback DJ Harvey, Washington State cornerback Ethan O’Connor and Michigan safety Brandyn Hillman. And then there’s quarterback. Riley offered a vote of confidence in his current room but made it clear he plans to pursue a passer in the portal to bolster depth behind Jayden Maiava and five-star freshman Husan Longstreet. Utah transfer Sam Huard is an obvious dot to connect, given his family ties to USC quarterbacks coach Luke Huard. Riley also once offered a scholarship to Duke dual-threat Maalik Murphy, an Inglewood native who’s expected to be one of the more coveted quarterbacks available. Other dominoes are still to fall. At receiver, the Trojans already lost two of their top targets, Robinson and senior Kyron Hudson, while speculation ramps up over several others. USC, it seems, will again be busy in the portal. That’s not the route Riley hoped to be taking ahead of his fourth season at USC. But considering where his roster stands, he doesn’t really have a choice. “I’ve said many times, I want us to be a developmental program,” Riley said. “I really want to rely on high school recruiting as much as we can. But you do have to adapt. You do have to adapt to the market. I mean, it’s changed so much. Even the fact that we even call it a market now. But it is, it is.”Google has named Debbie Weinstein, a senior executive for the tech giant in the UK, as its president in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Until now, Ms Weinstein has been the US firm’s vice president and managing director in the UK and Ireland, having previously worked at Unilever. She said her focus will be on “unlocking AI-powered growth for everyone”, calling the current AI boom a “pivotal” time for the tech giant. Google has joined many of its rivals in launching a string of high-profile generative AI products in recent times, led by the firm’s generative AI-powered assistant, Gemini. “Europe, the Middle East and Africa is an amazingly diverse and varied region, but the enormous growth opportunity that AI can create is universal,” she said. “My focus will be on unlocking that AI-powered growth for everyone – users, businesses, partners and governments across every part of the region. “I’m excited to be stepping into this role at a pivotal time, in a company where I’ve spent the last ten years and leading a region where I’ve spent much of my life.” Google employs more than 29,000 people across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with 56 offices across 35 countries in those regions working on many of the firm’s largest products, including its search engine, the Android mobile operating system and its Chrome web browser. Its AI research arm, at Google DeepMind, is also led from London. Philipp Schindler, Google senior vice president and chief business officer, said: “This is the AI era and we are only just beginning to see its transformative impact on business and society. “In such a pivotal moment for technology, I’m thrilled we’ve appointed a visionary leader to be our President of Google EMEA. “Debbie brings a track record of unlocking growth that benefits everyone, alongside the passion and focus needed to help our customers succeed, as we bring the best of Google’s Gemini-era to everyone across EMEA.”
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