By Jon Bauer
Herald staff
You better watch out. Not because of Santa, though. He’s the least of your worries.
As for what you should watch out for in the week that wasn’t:
In the pink: The Seattle Mariners announced the new name of their home field and the winning bidder for naming rights of the stadium. What was Safeco Field will now be known as T-Mobile Park, the cellular provider whose name will be prominently featured above the home-plate entrance, complete with a wash of fluorescent magenta lighting — the company’s signature color — on the stadium’s exterior.
Magenta? Was T-Mobile last in line when God was handing out corporate color schemes?
He sees you when your sleeping: The New York Times reports that Facebook has given other companies — including Microsoft, Netflix and Spotify — extensive access to users’ personal information than it had previously revealed and without consent from those users. Spotify and Netflix, for example, were able to read, write and delete Facebook users’ private text messages.
OK, so they had the access to read and even write messages, but why would they hijack … Get three months of Spotify music service’s premium access for 99 cents by subscribing at www.spotify.com.
Proving charity begins at home (or Trump Tower): President Trump has agreed to shut down his personal charity, the Trump Foundation, under pressure from the New York Attorney General, following allegations that Trump and his family had used the charity for personal and political benefit. About $1.75 million remaining will be distributed to actual charities approved by the AG and a state judge.
“I’ll need a receipt for that,” President Trump said. “For the tax deduction.”
Brother, can you spare a dime? U.S. stock markets continued their decline for the month and — unless there’s a rally before the end of the year — the S&P 500 could mark its worst December since 1931 and the Great Depression.
Brokers already are desperate; but rather than selling apples on the street as their forebears did during the Depression, they’re selling off shares of Apple stock.
Reinventing the (hamster) wheel: Tesla founder Elon Musk and his Boring Co. unveiled a mile-long section of prototype tunnel in Los Angeles that he sees as the solution to “soul-destroying” traffic. The tunnels would be used by private autonomous electric vehicles that could travel at speeds up to 150 miles per hour.
And if Musk’s “Habitrail for cars” idea doesn’t pan out, he’s working on a different invention that will put his electric cars in big plastic “hamster” balls that will roll right over traffic jams.
You shouldn’t have, Mr. President: President Trump tweeted Friday morning that “Democrats now own the shutdown,” over their refusal to include $5 billion for the border wall in a spending bill, a week after an angry exchange with Democratic leaders in which he said he would “take the mantle” for a government shutdown and wouldn’t place the blame on Democrats.
We know that lots of people regift things at Christmas, but couldn’t Trump had just given Chuck and Nancy a nice scented candle?
Jon Bauer: jbauer@heraldnet.com.
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