Good morning. Congressional leaders yesterday announced a $1.59 trillion deal on top-line spending for the 2024 fiscal year.

Out of the overall total, $886 billion is earmarked for defense and $704 billion for nondefense, Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement (though a Democratic statement pegged $773 billion in nondefense spending). The US government spent $6.1 trillion in its previous fiscal year (including interest payments), compared to revenues of $4.4 trillion.

For us visual learners, here’s $1 trillion typed out – $1,000,000,000,000. Imagine how many Clark Bars you could buy😍.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a 4.41-minute read.

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“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.”

–Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968)

In recent months, the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts of universities and companies across the country have taken a step back due to a combination of legal and economic factors.

A few examples:

• In June, the US Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in all public and private colleges, removing the legal precedent that supported some existing DEI programs.
• Google, Meta, and other tech giants have laid off DEI staffers, downsized learning and development programs, and cut budgets for external DEI groups in 2023 due to an economic downturn. Overall, nearly 30% of workers who began a diversity-related role after mid-2020 have left the field altogether.
• Last week, Texas became the second state (after Florida) to ban all DEI initiatives at publicly funded colleges and universities.

The arguments: Critics of DEI programs, including Elon Musk, Bill Ackman, and many GOP lawmakers, argue that they incorrectly seek to achieve equality of outcome, rather than equality of opportunity. They also contend such programs violate discrimination laws by granting exclusive opportunities and funds to racial or ethnic minority groups.

• Proponents of DEI initiatives, including Mark Cuban and many Democratic lawmakers, argue that maintaining a diverse workforce (or student body) is a key part of attracting and retaining workers (or students), and typically improves an organization’s performance by driving more innovation and helping to avoid group-think.

👀 Looking ahead… Many business leaders say they're still committed to DEI initiatives, but with alterations to address the areas where they see the most potential legal or reputational risk. Some firms, like Blackstone, are changing job requirements to promote socioeconomic diversity without targeting a specific race or ethnicity, while others are focusing their efforts on employee wellbeing and inclusion.

📊 Flash poll: In general, do you support diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at US universities and companies?

• Yes
• No
• Unsure/other

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💥 Hezbollah militants in Lebanon launched ~40 rockets into Israel on Saturday, in what officials described as a response to the killing of a Hamas leader last week in a suspected Israeli attack (though Israel has refused to comment on the killing). Israel responded to Hezbollah’s attack with a series of retaliatory airstrikes. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently arrived in the Middle East to begin a regional tour aimed at preventing the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict from spreading to other areas.

🇲🇽🇺🇸 Illegal crossings at the southern US border have declined after Mexico increased immigration enforcement. US officials said total daily crossings at the southern border fell to 2,500 last week, down from more than 10,000 on several days in December, prompting Border Patrol to reopen some ports of entry that were temporarily closed due to high volume. The decrease came after Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said a financial shortfall that previously led the country’s immigration agency to suspend deportations and other operations in early December had been resolved.

🇬🇧 Police are investigating the UK Post Office for wrongfully accusing and convicting employees of theft. Between 1999 and 2015, more than 700 Post Office branch managers were convicted of false accounting, theft, and fraud based on software that wrongly showed sums of money were missing from their outlets. Fewer than 100 of the managers have had their convictions overturned after the faulty software was uncovered, with oversight groups calling for all such employees to have their convictions overturned.

The final game of the College Football Playoff kicks off tonight, with No. 1 Michigan and No. 2 Washington each looking to clinch their first national championship in over two decades.

It also caps off a lucrative season for athletic departments, conferences, and players alike:

• The Power 5 Conferences are projected to earn more than $3.2 billion in revenue for the 2023 fiscal year, with football outearning nearly all other college sports combined.
• College athletes raked in between $750 million and $1 billion in name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals last year, the majority of which went to college football players.
• The minimum ticket price for tonight’s championship game is currently hovering around $1,400.

And don’t forget about next year’s planned playoff expansion. The College Football Playoff will expand from four to 12 teams next year, a move that’s projected to boost the event’s media-rights fees from $470 million/year to ~$2.2 billion/year once ESPN’s exclusive deal expires in 2026.

🔀 Major conference alignment is also on the horizon. The SEC is scheduled to welcome Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12 in July, while most Pac-12 schools will split up and join other major conferences the following month.

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💬 Quoted… “The sacredness of the moon is deeply embedded in the spirituality and heritage of many Indigenous cultures, including our own. The placement of human remains on the moon is a profound desecration of this celestial body revered by our people.”

• The first commercial space mission to the Moon, operated by United Launch Alliance and Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic, blasted off earlier this morning. And, in addition to scientific instruments from NASA, the flight included human remains and DNA in memorial payloads from the companies Celestis and Elysium Space – something that doesn’t sit well with many Indigenous tribal nations, according to Buu Nygren, president of the Navajo Nation. The White House held an emergency meeting with Nygren – who also filed a formal objection with NASA and the US Department of Transportation – on Friday, but the mission ultimately proceeded as planned.

🛻🏆 Stat of the Day: For the eighth year in a row, pickup trucks held the top-three spots on the list of best-selling vehicles in the US in 2023. In order: the Ford F-series, Chevy Silverado, and Ram pickups. But, much like having the “sooo… what are we” convo with a situationship, this may not last for much longer. Sales of the Toyota RAV4 compact crossover came within 10,000 units of Stellantis’ Ram pickup truck last year, after trailing the Ram truck by more than 133,000 units in 2020.

🤔 Did You Know?... Dogs intentionally try to make humans laugh. They understand that laughter means play, and play is positive.

📰 Worth a Peek: The 2023 US economy, in a dozen charts → (CNBC)

• ☝️ The Federal Aviation Authority issued an order grounding the vast majority of Boeing 737 MAX jets in service worldwide after a cabin panel blowout in one of these planes forced an Alaska Airlines flight to make an emergency landing on Friday.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Hers

• 💰 US markets closed up on Friday (S&P: +0.2%; Dow: +0.1%; Nasdaq: +0.1%) but down for the week, breaking 10 consecutive weeks of gains.
• ⛽⚖️ A billion-dollar trial between Berkshire Hathaway and Pilot Travel Centers was canceled on Saturday; the trial, which was scheduled to begin today, was set to determine whether Berkshire used an accounting method to drive down Pilot’s value in order to pay less for the 20% of the company Berkshire doesn’t currently own.
• 🤔The Wall Street Journal published an article over the weekend stating that some executives and board members at companies run by Elon Musk are concerned about his illegal drug use; Musk denied the claims, saying he’s passed random drug tests for over three years.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🥇🌎 The 81st Golden Globes took place last night. See the list of winners.
• 🏈 The NFL was responsible for 93 of the top 100 broadcast programs on TV last year, per a new report.
• 📻📉 Audacy, one of the largest radio companies in the US, is filing for bankruptcy. As they say: radio is dead. Long live radio.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with The HOTH

• 💊🇨🇦 The FDA approved a plan allowing Florida to import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada; it’s the first state to be able to do so.
• 📝 Seizures during sleep are a potential cause of at least some cases of sudden unexplained death in childhood (SUDC), according to researchers at NYU Langone.
• 💡 CES 2024, the annual blowout consumer electronics show, begins tomorrow in Vegas. Here’s what to expect.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🏥 Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, America’s #2-ranked military official after the President, was hospitalized with complications from an undisclosed surgical procedure; the Pentagon reportedly failed to inform the White House of Austin's hospitalization for days afterward. | ✌️ Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s leader since 1991, announced his resignation (citing health reasons) ahead of a civil trial over allegations of extravagant spending at the NRA's expense.
• 📄 A third round of documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was made public Friday. Dive deeper.
• 🥩🤢 ~11,000 pounds of Busseto Foods charcuterie products have been recalled after being linked to a salmonella outbreak. Dive deeper.

CLICKBAIT

• 💔 Forget the proverbial wisdom: Opposites don’t really attract.

Monday: The Senate returns from holiday recess

Tuesday: First day of CES in Las Vegas

Wednesday: CNN hosts a GOP presidential primary debate in Iowa

Thursday: Hunter Biden’s initial appearance on federal tax charges

Friday: Taiwan holds presidential and legislative elections

On Friday, we covered how former President Trump is facing lawsuits across the country seeking to disqualify him from the 2024 presidential ballot due to the 14th Amendment’s ban on insurrectionists holding office.

❓ Our question to you: In your opinion, should former President Trump be disqualified from the 2024 presidential election due to the 14th Amendment?

• 👍 Yes: 61%
• 👎 No: 30%
• 🤷 Unsure/other: 9%

Click here to read the best longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 7,396 votes and 512 longform responses.

Thirteen-year-old Willis Gibson just achieved the unthinkable – he beat Tetris.

Willis recently became the first person to reach level 157 of the classic video game nearly 40 years after its release. 

• The game crashed upon Willis reaching the highest level ever recorded by a human player, making him the first person to "beat" the game.

🤖 He's got skills... Willis is no newbie to the classic 80's game – the teen also finished third in the 2023 world championships.

Guess the definitions of the following Greek/Latin root words:

1. Amic
2. Carp
3. Dent
4. Ferr
5. Geo

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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1. Amic = Friend (e.g., amicable)
2. Carp = Relating to fruit (carpology)
3. Dent = Tooth (dentist)
4. Ferr = Iron (ferrous)
5. Geo = Earth (geology, geography)