Story of the Week (DR): Election day MM DR The DEI Comeback? Overall Congress (119th ➔ 120th Projected) Total Women: 28.4% (152 members) ➔ 30.0%+ (155+ members) Total Democratic Women: 43% (111 members) ➔ >47% (117 to 130+ members) Total Republican Women: 15% (41 members) ➔ ~11% (24 to 28 members) Total Non-White Voting Members: 26% (139 members) ➔ ~26% (~135 to 140 members) Total Non-White Democrats: 45% (~118 members) ➔ ~48%–50% (~120 to 125 members) Total Non-White Republicans: 8% (22 members) ➔ ~6%–7% (~14 to 17 members) The leadership in diversity firsts David Crowley (Wisconsin – Democrat): The state's first Black governor. Peggy Flanagan (Minnesota – Democrat): First Native American woman elected to the US Senate. Abdul El-Sayed (Michigan – Democrat): First Muslim elected to the US Senate. Hakeem Jeffries (New York – Democrat): Set to become the first Black Speaker of the House of Representatives in US history. Byron Donalds (Florida – Republican): The state's first Black governor. Keisha Lance Bottoms (Georgia – Democrat): First Black woman elected governor in US history. Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee – Republican): The state's first female governor. Gina Hinojosa (Texas – Democrat): The state's first Latina governor. Deb Haaland (New Mexico – Democrat): First Native American woman elected governor in US history. Xavier Becerra (California – Democrat): First Latino elected governor in California history. Amy Klobuchar (Democrat – Minnesota): Won the Minnesota governorship to become the state’s first female governor Amy Acton (Democrat – Ohio): Elected the first woman governor of Ohio Peggy Flanagan (Democrat – Minnesota): Elected to the U.S. Senate becoming the first Native American woman elected to the chamber The who? The Costco Board Member and Other M.B.A.s Who Won in the Midterms The most notable was Helena Buonanno Foulkes, a Costco board member and former retail CEO, who won her race to become the next governor of Rhode Island. .560, 9% influence, Skillsoft board, has Merit, limited deference, .664 carbon, .610 controversies The Blue Tsunami Swept Doctors and Scientists Into Office Dr. Annie Andrews: Pediatrician (Incoming U.S. Senator for South Carolina). She has an extensive background in researching childhood asthma and the impact of gun violence on children Dr. Abdul El-Sayed: Epidemiologist (Incoming U.S. Senator for Michigan) Dr. Adam Hamawy: Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon (Elected to the U.S. House for New Jersey's 12th District). He is also an Army veteran who has served on humanitarian medical missions Dr. Richard Pan: Pediatrician (Elected to the U.S. House for California's 6th District). He previously served as a state senator and is well known for his advocacy in public health and vaccine policy Dr. Amy Acton: Public Health Practitioner and Physician (Elected Governor of Ohio). She previously served as the state's health director during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic The data centers AI data centers also lost big in the 2026 midterm elections Voters overwhelmingly chose to ban or pause local data center development across 38 out of 41 ballot measures. (The other three measures aren’t yet reporting results, according to Ballotpedia.) OpenAI pledges to halt NDAs in new data center policy proposal after election rebuke Elon Musk Eyes Space Data Centers as Texas Election Freeze Stalls AI Expansion Tech giants turn to cash, concessions for AI rebrand after voters pummeled data centers 43-1 The lone measure favoring data-center development was in Harwood, North Dakota. Voters rejected a proposed requirement for additional review of certain industrial developments, including data centers—so it counted as a vote to allow construction. It received 75.6% support. It was about data centers, but not exclusively. The Harwood measure would have added review requirements for certain large or high-impact industrial developments, including data centers. Voters rejected those added requirements; that’s wh

DR The Campbell’s Company November 17, 2026 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time virtual Elect 12 directors Fabiola R. Arredondo: A gold soup mug with a built-in cashmere soup spoon (Burberry; formerly Saks) Howard M. Averill: A solar, tomato-soup scented calculator shaped like an Oscar statue (Time Warner CFO) CEO Mick J. Beekhuizen: A prototype soup called “All the Damn Soup” that incorporates every single Campbell’s product into one can so he can layoff manufacturing staff and increase his EPS-tied bonus (CEO and former Goldman Sachs Managing Director) with grilled cheese, plated as if it’s a new product launch. Bennett Dorrance, Jr.: “The Nepobaby Soup with Extra Sodium” from an oceanside resort in a third world country: heirloom tomatoes, secret family-recipe stock, a sprig of ivy, poppy seeds from MOMA’s permanent collection—served with a garnish of great-grandson oregano (founder family, Princeton Art History major) Maria Teresa (Tessa) Hilado: “Antihistamine Soup” injected directly into your nostrils (Allergan CFO) Grant H. Hill: A god damn basketball (NBA) Sarah Hofstetter: A can opener that disintegrates after each use so the consumer has to buy another stupid can opener because who cares anyway as long as people are buying, buying, buying (President of Profitero, Ltd., a global eCommerce SaaS analytics company that provides brand manufacturers with analytics and insights to accelerate eCommerce sales) Marc B. Lautenbach: Soup from a can. (CEO Pitney Bowes 2012-2023 before that 27 years at IBM) Mary Alice D. Malone, Jr.: “Jimmy Choo Tamia Flat” — $1,295 (founded the luxury footwear brand Malone Souliers; Following her mother’s death in June 2025, she and her sister Catherine Dorrance Malone inherited an 18% combined stake in The Campbell’s Company.) Keith R. McLoughlin: A soup spoon gavel hybrid for soup slurping and meeting chairing.” (Chair) Kurt T. Schmidt: “Interdimensional Munchie Chowder”: mac-and-cheese soup with pizza-roll dumplings, crushed Cape Cod mesquite-flavored chips, and a grilled-cheese crouton served in a mug that plays Dark Side of the Moon that is activated by the metal of a spoon (former CEO Cronos Group, cannabinoid company) Archibold D. van Beuren: a stack of money that smells like a bowtie dipped in hot gravy (descendant, Vice Chair of Brandywine Trust Group). 1 SHP report on the effectiveness of the Company’s regenerative agriculture program including pesticide reduction outcomes: As You Sow CEO Pay Ratio 152:1 One share one vote Dorrance family 25% Bennett Dorrance 15% The Mary Alice Dorrance Malone Revocable Trust 10% Contango 6% Vanguard 8% BlackRock 9% 2026 Corporate Responsibility Report WokeWash 34 photos 221 people 55% women 44% POC 10 management: 30% women; 0% POC “Diversity”: 10 Biodiversity: 8 Diversity: 2 2025 INCLUSION & BELONGING HIGHLIGHTS 4C Employee Resource Group (ERG) model Introduced a comprehensive framework for enterprise diversity strategy planning and ERG optimization, emphasizing four key pillars that guide ERG strategy and impact: Culture – Building inclusive environments where all employees feel they belong Career – Creating pathways for professional development and advancement Community – Fostering connection both internally and externally with volunteerism and outreach in support of our Community Affairs efforts Company Impact – Contributing to business objectives and organizational success For years, the farm has been applying organic fertilizers and incorporating diversity through crop rotations and cover crops. Female: 0; DEI; 0; woman: 0; women: 1 (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)); black: 0; people of color: 0; asian: 0 hispanic: 0; latino: 0; gay: 0; lgbtq: 0 Board = 33% women (25% non-descendents); 17% POC (8% non former NBA players) Leadership team: 55% women; 11% POC MM A Headline MadLib Adventure _____________ finally fixed the age-old problem of stale cereal ____________ Says Gen Z Are Lame for Not Worshipping AI _______

Story of the Week (DR): Anthropic’s founders’ 80% giving pledge could be worth nearly $80 billion MM Anthropic’s Founders Pledged to Donate Most of Their Stock. Their IPO Tells Another Story. “In addition, our co-founders have each pledged to dedicate 80% of their personal equity in Anthropic to philanthropic causes. These commitments are voluntary, revocable expressions of each co-founder’s philanthropic intent and do not constitute legally binding obligations.” Americans Are Officially More Scared of AI Than a Loved One Getting Cancer Anthropic IPO warns its AI could blackmail people, become sentient, end humanity Anthropic IPO (See Matt quiz) A24’s 2026 meta-documentary You Can See Everything, directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim crossed $50M domestically faster than any non-concert documentary since Fahrenheit 9/11 and March of the Penguins. Billy Evans’ ‘Theranos 2.0’ startup has patents, investors, and a missing CTO—but no product Zero Medical Experts on Theranos board: mostly included former U.S. officials and military leaders recruited by George Schultz Theranos was structured with dual-class stock giving Holmes shares with 100 votes each. A separate Board of Counselors was established after reputation damage from press reports and because of the board’s lack of medical and scientific expertise. It had zero fiduciary authority, no power to demand audited financial statements, and no authority to fire the CEO. Holmes leveraged their resumes on corporate letterheads for credibility while locking them out of corporate oversight. Elizabeth Holmes (2003–2018): Theranos founder/CEO/chair As part of her 2018 SEC civil fraud settlement, Holmes was formally barred from serving as an officer or director of any public company for 10 years (2028) Channing Robertson (early years; exact dates unclear): Stanford chemical-engineering professor, Holmes’s mentor and Theranos’s first board member. Avie Tevanian (2006–2007): Apple’s former chief software technology officer and a Theranos director early on; he later said he raised concerns about the company’s progress and finances. Dolby Laboratories (2009-2021) George Shultz (2011–2016; Board Counselor until 2017): Former U.S. secretary of state Charles Schwab; Gilead Sciences (Director Emeritus until 2019); Bechtel (private) Henry Kissinger (2011–2016): Former U.S. secretary of state and national security adviser Hollinger International; ContiGroup William Perry (2011–2016; Board Counselor until 2017): Former U.S. secretary of defense Fabrinet; Cylink Sam Nunn (2011–2016; Board Counselor until 2017): Former U.S. senator and Senate Armed Services Committee chairman The Coca-Cola Company; General Electric; Dell; Chevron; Hess Corporation. Bill Frist (2011–2016; Board Counselor until 2017): Former U.S. senator, Senate majority leader and heart-transplant surgeon Teladoc Health; Select Medical Holdings; AECOM; Accolade Gary Roughead (2011–2016; Board Counselor until 2017): Retired U.S. Navy admiral and former chief of naval operations Northrop Grumman (2012-present) Richard Kovacevich (2011–2016): Former CEO/chair Wells Fargo Wells Fargo; Cisco Systems; Target Riley Bechtel (2011–2016): Former CEO/chair of engineering and construction firm Bechtel Bechtel (private) Jim Mattis (2013–2017): Retired Marine Corps general General Dynamics (rejoined board in 2019) David Boies (2016): Prominent trial lawyer and chair of law firm Boies Schiller Flexner William Foege (2016): Former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Fabrizio Bonanni (2016): Former EVP of biotechnology company Amgen Stevanato Group (until 2021); XBiotech Daniel Warmenhoven (2016–2017): Former NetApp CEO NetApp; Palo Alto Networks (LD until 2020); Aruba Networks; Alteryx Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani (unclear dates): COO/boyfriend Story of the Week (MM): CEO proximity to Trump is now a national security threat Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang may have been the target of a spy plot through 'Chinese intelligence asset

Story of the Week (DR): AI Companies ‘Gaming Out’ Scenarios for ‘Catastrophic AI Event’ That Could Occur in a Matter of Months Retail giant Ahold Delhaize takes systems offline after cyberattack Hackers Break Into Supermarket Fridges and Spoil All the Groceries EU Commissioner on Cyber Attack on French Supermarkets: Food Weaponization Now a 'Reality' Anthropic Warns “AI Worms” Will Infect Your Smart Home Devices and Use Them to Self-Replicate Beyond Control Boys vs. Women MM DR Full-on attacks Trump establishes committee to investigate Fed governor Lisa Cook Ilhan Omar’s Home Raided by DHS Following Trump-GOP Deportation Threats Trump and other Republicans have called for Omar to be stripped of her citizenship and deported for years. Elon Musk—Powerful Critic Of Illegal Immigrants—Worked Illegally In U.S. At Start Of Career, Report Says Bessent mocks Sen Warren, wishes her 'Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day' in response to letter Trump Delivers Brutal Parting Diss to Kimberly Guilfoyle: “No, she wasn’t a member of my family. She, I guess, dated my son a long time ago,” Trump Pardons at Least 85 Officials Tied to Corruption Cases With MAGA Allies Reaping Most of the Mercy: Most recipients were Republicans or vocal Trump supporters, while the clemency reduced prison time, financial penalties or legal consequences for dozens of officials Trump Calls Letitia James a 'Disgusting Dog' After She Takes Over the Cornell Rape Case Cornell president acknowledges he knew about fraternity sexual assault but didn’t follow up Cornell’s Powerful Board Meets as It Fights to Protect Its Reputation: The president argued this week that replacing him would be a mistake. Primary trustees: 38% women/full roster (including 3 named deputies): 39% women Breakdown by profession Business, Finance & Private Enterprise: 39 (64%) Finance, VC, Hedge Funds & Private Equity: 16 (26.2%) Todd C. Builione (KKR), Bobby Jain (Jain Global), Beckie Robertson (Versant Ventures), Howard P. Milstein (NY Private Bank & Trust), Susan C. Schnabel (aXiomatic) Corporate Leadership & Industry Executives : 10 (16.4%) Angela Hwang (ex-Pfizer), Rick Schlesinger (Milwaukee Brewers), Robert W. Selander (ex-Mastercard), Amane A. Nakashima (Kewpie Corp), Timothy M. Barry (Agilon Health) Real Estate & Development: 5 (8.2%) Douglas F. Eisenberg (A&E Real Estate), Paul D. Rubacha (Ashley Capital), Stephen T. Mong (Orien Capital), Enrique J. Vila-Biaggi (Urban-Ona) Consulting & Professional Services: 4 (6.6%) Eric Adam Kutcher (CFO, McKinsey & Co), Jennifer L. Davis (Partner, Bain & Co), Hernán J.F. Saenz III (Global Head, Bain & Co) Technology, Science & Media: 4 (6.6%) Law & Legal Practice: 7 (12%) Stephen C. Robinson (Skadden; former U.S. District Judge), Eric Gonzalez (Brooklyn D.A.), Kevin P.B. Johnson (Quinn Emanuel), Martin F. Scheinman (Scheinman Arbitration) Campus & Academic Community: 6 (10%) Academia & Higher Ed Administration: 3 (4.9%) Campus Constituencies (Students & Staff): 3 (4.9%) Government, Public Policy & Labor: 5 (8%) Government & Public Officials (Ex-Officio): 3 (4.9%) Labor & Organized Workforce: 2 (3.3%) Philanthropy & Civic Leadership: 4 (6.6%) Where’s Bill Ackman?? Employment/Pay Women fall through the cracks at work, especially on boards, report says There’s Even a Pay Gap Between Male and Female AI Agents ‘If you take your foot off the pedal at all, you will start to stall’: Women in C-suite roles have stagnated, and the reasons go beyond the pipeline Fear of being ‘too much’ silences women leaders. Here’s how to ask anyway Palmer Luckey says that executions should be 'public and brutal' Secret documents reveal donors behind $330 million for Trump’s ballroom: The records offer a panoramic view of a fundraising campaign that is extraordinary for its size and opacity. Money source Direct corporate / corporate-entity: $189M (62%) 100% male-associated: i.e., Nvidia (Jensen Huang) & Meta (Zuck) Business-derived personal / family wealth: $102M (33%) 83% men: i.e.,

DR Ahold Delhaize takes systems offline after cyberattack — global retail giant says 'cybersecurity incident' hit systems, but stores remain open WHO YOU YOU BLAME? Delhaize board as of 10/12/2026: 1) Bank CEO, 2) Health and Wellness CEO, 3) CFO, 4) Finance director, 5) Academia, 6) Beauty brand CEO, 7) Distribution company CEO, 8) Beauty brand CEO, 9) Retailer CEO Economics and Accounting 67% Administration and Management 56% Public Safety and Security 44% Communications and Media 33% Sales and Marketing 33% 10) CTO! Edmond Mesrobian has served Ahold Delhaize’s Supervisory Board since October 13, 2026. Chief Technology and Information Officer at Nordstrom and previously as Chief Technology Officer at Tesco and Expedia Group, where he was responsible for enterprise technology, digital platforms, and innovation November 2024: Ransomware Attack attributed to the INC Ransom group using double-extortion ransomware. took critical servers offline as a containment measure Disclosures finalized in mid-2025 confirmed that personal records belonging to over 2.2 million individuals were compromised. The stolen data primarily affected current and former associates, employees, and their beneficiaries (including names, addresses, and Social Security numbers) So anyone still on the board from then: everyone except Neela Montgomery, Wiebe Draijer, Per Bank All AI companies for making this shit easier every day Netflix said on Wednesday it will lay off roughly 6% of its employees, or nearly 1,000 workers The company’s dopey co-CEO structure “Our mission - to entertain the world - is ambitious, and delivering on it requires us to be disciplined about where we prioritize our people and resources,” Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos (15%) and Greg Peters (12%) wrote in the email to employees The new king: chair Jay Hoag (17%) and 27 years tenure! Voted out in 2014 and 2025 (78% no!) Big Data/AI industry contagion: the Netflix board is using industry cycles to make cuts without facing isolated market backlash. The compensation committee for making this look ludicrous: the co-CEOs aggregate earnings over past 3 years: $320M; the cost to pay 1000 workers annually: $270M. Drop a co-CEO and we’re on to something *Leslie Kilgore (2012, independent since 2015!): former CMO of Netflix! Mathias Döpfner (2018): CEO/Chair Axel SPringer and Warner Music board member Anne Sweeney (2015): Disney executive, former CEO/Chair FX Networks The board’s lack of HR skills: DR “Human Capital Management: Experience and expertise related to human resource issues such as attracting and retaining talent, succession planning, engagement of employees, and the development and evolution of culture, including the alignment of culture and long-term strategy. Reed Hastings Greg Peters Ted Sarandos” SPEED ROUND (and preview to Friday Show): Who do you blame for this headline? A MAN or a WOMAN Trump Calls Letitia James a 'Disgusting Dog' After She Takes Over the Cornell Rape Case Bessent mocks Sen Warren, wishes her 'Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day' in response to letter Elon Musk becomes biggest donor of US midterms cycle with $366m spent Jeff Bezos says people have been ‘incorrectly’ taught that success is a villain: ‘You can be a billionaire if you started a hamburger stand’ There’s Even a Pay Gap Between Male and Female AI Agents Palmer Luckey says that executions should be 'public and brutal' Trump establishes committee to investigate Fed governor Lisa Cook Ilhan Omar’s Home Raided by DHS Following Trump-GOP Deportation Threats Elon Musk—Powerful Critic Of Illegal Immigrants—Worked Illegally In U.S. At Start Of Career, Report Says ‘SNL’ and Shane Gillis get backlash for ‘rape culture’ jokes during a national conversation about sexual assault MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America’s $19.2 billion in megagifts last year MM Nscale Appoints Amy Banse to Board of Directors - WHO DO YOU BLAME FOR AMY BANSE? They just filed an S-1 and want to look good Every n

Story of the Week (DR): Skydance Adds Bobby Kotick and Laurene Powell Jobs to Board, Taps Tony Blair as Adviser Former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick Was Once Reviled by Gamers. Now He's Joining Skydance's Board of Directors The crisis began in July 2021 when the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) sued Activision Blizzard, alleging a pervasive "frat boy" culture of rampant sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation Initially, Kotick and leadership claimed they were unaware of the severity of the issues or blamed them on a few bad actors However, in November 2021, The Wall Street Journal published a bombshell investigation that squarely implicated Kotick. The report detailed several severe allegations: Concealing Misconduct: The report alleged that Kotick had known about multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and assault across the company for years. He reportedly failed to inform the board of directors about the severity of these claims, including alleged rapes and out-of-court settlements. Protecting Accused Executives: In one specific instance, the HR department recommended firing a co-head of the developer studio Treyarch after an investigation found he had sexually harassed a female employee. Kotick allegedly intervened and overruled HR to keep the executive at the company. Threatening an Assistant's Life: The report surfaced Kotick’s own history of alleged misconduct, including a 2006 incident where he left a voicemail threatening to have his assistant killed. A spokesperson for Kotick later admitted to the voicemail, claiming it was "hyperbolic" and noting that he had apologized and settled the matter out of court. Private Jet Lawsuit: The WSJ also reported on an incident involving a private jet Kotick co-owned, where a flight attendant claimed she was sexually harassed by the pilot. When she complained, Kotick allegedly told her he would ruin her financially. Kotick was never formally fired or removed by the board, instead his exit was orchestrated through a massive corporate buyout. Amid plummeting stock prices and reputational damage, Microsoft swept in to buy Activision Blizzard for nearly $69 billion in January 2022. Kotick officially stepped down in December 2023. Because he left as part of a successful merger rather than being fired for cause, he walked away with an enormous "golden parachute" payout, cashing out hundreds of millions of dollars in stock and severance packages. Anthropic Has Been Aggressively Lobbying the Vatican to Consider AI Consciousness According to new reporting from the New York Times, the company has for months been wining and dining religious scholars across the world in secret, NDA-secured meetings to convince them that AI models think and feel, too. Anthropic even reportedly went after the Pope. Christopher Olah, a cofounder and senior researcher at the Claude chatbot maker, aggressively lobbied the Vatican after learning Pope Leo XIV’s official position on AI, per the reporting. Christopher Olah: Canadian; studied mathematics at the University of Toronto for one year before dropping out to "support a friend accused of terrorism;" received a Thiel Fellowship in 2012; previously worked at Google and OpenAI; atheist Sam Altman Warns Against 'Religious Force' in AI After Elon Musk's Grok Calls Jesus 'Son of God' OpenAI's Altman: Ascribing religion to models a "safety issue"' SEC Warns Activist Investors After Climate Push at Exxon Mobil, see Matt (1) MM DR Story of the Week (MM): OIL #1: SEC Warns Activist Investors After Climate Push at Exxon Mobil Report of Investigation Pursuant to Section 21(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934: Climate Action 100+ and the Election of Directors at the May 2021 Annual Meeting of ExxonMobil Corporation In the context of ExxonMobil’s 2021 director election, the investigation examined whether members of CA100 used the organization as a means of coordinating their votes to influence the outcome of the contested

AI California bans employers from using AI alone to fire workers Newsom advances AI 'kill switch' mandate under new California executive order Zohran Mamdani Bans AI for NYC Public School Students Up to Eighth Grade Walmart bans AI slop signs in stores OpenAI adds AI safety official to its board former company employee Paul Christiano served as a senior tech advisor to the federal government's Center for AI Standards and Innovation founder of the Alignment Research Center, a nonprofit that aims to ensure AI remains in support of human interests NERDY ESG STUFF Oracle to Launch Public Dashboard with Emissions, Water Use Data for New Hyperscale Data Center General Mills is naming its COO as CEO, its first woman to hold the role Dana McNabb, who has spent 27 years at the company, as General Mills works to return to profitable growth Jeff Harmening, who has served as CEO since 2017, will transition to executive chair Scientists Unveil Underwater Solar Panels Honda plans highway test of tech that charges moving trucks Obama Says Governments Would Be 'Better' if Women Ran Them: 'I'm confident about that' More than half of directors want at least one fellow board member removed Climate Pledge Tops 700 Companies Committing to Net Zero by 2040 Japan's large-ship hydrogen engine cuts CO2 emissions 95% SEC’s plan to scrap shareholder proposal rule sparks criticism The latest gender battle: Nobody asks why having more men is better SPEED ROUND Trump Accounts have auto-enrolled more than 60 million children Walmart is rolling out light-up shelf labels to help shoppers find items in stores Peter Thiel says he worries it will be hard for JD Vance or Marco Rubio to win in 2028 Waymo Calls Cops on Passengers With Assault Rifle Mamdani Targets ‘Greedy Algorithm’ of Corporations in a New Brand of Politics Fall movie preview: ‘The Social Reckoning’ and others take aim at Big Tech moguls Kraft Heinz is launching a mac and cheese-flavored cream soda

Story of the Week (DR): Top AI executives sign commitment to ‘self-police’ after meeting at White House MM DR Count the women: Trump says he and tech leaders signed AI agreement that is 'morally binding House Speaker Johnson says he hopes AI guardrails are 'voluntary' amid Congress inaction Donald Trump orders federal agencies to rename AI ‘Super Intelligence’ OpenAI just launched its answer to Meta: 'always-on' AI agents called Dots We told you so, part 2: Non-deferential boards matter: Peter Thiel Says Trump Administration Overcorrected With Loyalty Tests to Staff 'Not Very Smart' People Recently former CEOs who are now Executive Chairs are still CEO: Ex-Disney CEO Bob Chapek says he raised concerns with the board 'weekly' during Iger power battle ”I started hearing about lunches that he had and dinners that he had where he was absolutely trashing me.” He noted that when he brought concerns to the Disney board about Iger, he was told, ‘He’ll be gone in two years. It’s OK. That’s Bob being Bob.’” “CEO” hires: General Mills is naming its COO as CEO, its first woman to hold the role General Mills named COO Dana McNabb, making her the first woman to lead the Minneapolis company in its 160-year history. McNabb joined General Mills in 1999 She will succeed Jeff Harmening, who has served as CEO since June 2017, effective Jan. 1, 2027. Harmening will transition to executive chair of the board of directors on that same date. Glass Cliff? "Returning the company to profitable growth is the priority” David Ellison names Ynon Kreiz co-CEO of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery Paramount poaches Mattel CEO to be co-CEO of new company merged with Warner Bros. Discovery Paramount’s new co-CEO once hired a barista he met at a café with no résumé. His advice to Gen Z: ‘Look up and make eye contact’ 8 in 10 Gen Z and millennials have two jobs to make ends meet, Goldman Sachs finds, as the affordability crisis ‘crowds out’ any retirement hopes Ynon Kreiz’s Paramount Co-CEO Pay Package Tops $46.5 Million New Name of Paramount-Warner Bros. Unveiled: Skydance Story of the Week (MM): Trump says he and tech leaders signed AI agreement that is 'morally binding’ Manufactured CEO pay America’s Top Executives Rake In $1.7 Billion in Special Payouts Antoinette Giblin of Diligent had this to say: “One of the biggest drivers this year is intensifying competition for executive talent. Boards are navigating this while also asking CEOs to manage a broader range of risks, including supply chain disruptions, tariffs and the challenges and opportunities created by AI. Rising CEO turnover has added to the urgency,” Giblin said. “Strong market performance has also played an important role. Total shareholder returns reached notable highs for both the S&P 500 and the Russell 3000 in recent years, which has influenced executive compensation outcomes.” Are we all just part of the gaslight now? TALENT COMPETITION and MARKET CHALLENGES? Here’s some food for asshole thought: Fortune 100 CEOs preferred Republican-affiliated campaigns, with 85% of the total dollars donated during the two cycles going to Republican-affiliated candidates, PACs, and party committees. Only 7% of contributions went to Democratic-affiliated entities, while 8% were given to committees that backed candidates from both parties. The party they support put in place tariffs, supply chain disruptions, back AI - manufacturing “challenges”, which would OTHERWISE be called their JOBS The same party they support targets and undermines hiring broader talent, in which we know “meritocracy” is code for “white guys” and “anti-DEI” is code for “no more diverse CEOs” - manufacturing “competition” for executive talent by narrowing the talent pool Those factors are then used to justify PAYING CEOs with “special retention” awards Investors shrug and support the pay committee even when they DO NOT support pay Average director support: 96%. Average pay committee member support: 95.4%. Average pay chair sup

DR1 In our 'Innovations like Reese's DOUBLE Chocolate Cups, Hershey's Choco Balls, and Hershey's Choco Tubes' headline of the week. Hershey CEO: America’s 250 years of innovation and why we expanded our innovation pipeline 50% in one year*************** In our 'If I'm wrong, your corpse has full permission to sue my corpse' headline of the week. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Guarantees '0% Chance' AI Will End the World Amid Warnings About Humanity's Extinction*************** In our 'Ok, you got a pen? Yeah, I'll wait... Yeah, I'm still here. Ok, what you're going to want to do is call Dave and tell him that Jim needs to tell Susan to get the 3rd blue key on the 2nd keychain in that 4th drawer down and then give that key to Gus. Now here's where it gets tricky so make sure you write this down... Hello, are you still there? Hello? Hello!? That's weird, I think he hung up. All I could hear was some steak sizzling and really loud screaming and then nothing. So rude!' headline of the week. Tesla Instructs Firefighters to Call Two Separate Support Hotlines in the Event of a Robotaxi Accident*************** According to new guidance posted by the Elon Musk owned automaker, a firefighter who has to deal with a Cybercab in an emergency or that had an accident might need to call not one, but two different Tesla support support hotlines and wait for an employee to assist them with their request — an awfully clunky procedure in a profession where time is of the essence In our 'Just not the college you want to go to, or actual, you know, um, colleges' headline of the week. ‘We believe in college’: inside Andreessen Horowitz’s $42m unaccredited academy that will charge Harvard prices without degrees*************** Marc Andreessen (University of Illinois); Erik Torenberg (University of Michigan); Gagan Biyani (University of California, Berkeley); Zelda Poem (I'm joining The Academy as a founding team member. I dropped out of high school 10 years ago to reinvent education. "These days, I’m especially interested in how tech philanthropy will fund ambitious, optimistic art and culture.") In our 'Just please avoid some of these phrases: flesh-harvest, corpse-data, soul-liquidation, water-famine, dissent-purge, forced-oblivion, artist-mining, childhood-scraping, datacenter-feudalism, or human extinction. Especially that last one, human extinction doesn’t poll very well. Thanks!' headline of the week. OpenAI is enlisting an influencer army to make it look 'good for the world'*************** MM1 In our 'Desert state surprised to learn they get a lot of sun' headline of the week. Nevada Is Making Surprising Gains in Solar Energy In our 'Because everyone wants to be a CEO now' headline of the week. IRS steps up fraud fight with new app, CEO promises '100% secure' platform In our 'To be clear, it was a GIRLS school we bombed. So. Don't be so judgy.' headline of the week. Palantir’s Co-Founder Thinks We Should Be Less Judgmental About That Deadly Iran School Strike "Obviously, it's terrible what happened to those children. It could be the case that somebody made 99 really good choices and then one bad choice." In our 'By "self-inflicted", I of course mean "college dropout manchildren inflicted"' headline of the week. Peter Thiel says America's anti-AI backlash is a self-inflicted wound In our 'By "we", I of course mean "you"' headline of the week. Mark Zuckerberg Says AI Will Not Kill Us 'If We Do a Good Job and Act Responsibly' in Interview DR2 In our 'A 2004 report called "Information Security Governance: A Call to Action" was authored and released by the Corporate Governance Task Force of the National Cyber Security Partnership (NCSP)—a public-private coalition formed by the Business Roundtable, Business Software Alliance (BSA), TechNet, Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The report urged corporate boards to treat information- and cyber-security as a primary governance duty rather than

Story of the Week (DR): Data Rules! At DraftKings, AI Targets the Gamblers Likeliest to Lose The latest gender battle: Nobody asks why having more men is better ICE Wiped Thousands of People From Its Database Vaccine Expert Warns US’s 4 Reported Measles Deaths Are Likely a Vast Undercount Pentagon Quietly Adds to US Death Toll From Iran War After Reports of Coverup $6 trillion a year in unpaid labor isn’t counted in GDP. Its absence from official stats distorts how we see growth, living standards and productivity A Year After Trump's Tylenol Warning, 3 Million-Patient Review Finds No Causal Autism or ADHD Link Here we are in a nerdy freefloat nutshell, the stuff we keep hammering or we told you so edition: MM Boards (in the US) are still not taken seriously and investors do not hold them accountable: I’m the CEO of a self-improvement app, and I hired someone on my board to argue with me Founder/CEO Oleksandr "Alex" Matsiuk, RiseGuide When hiring, I look for opinionated, independent thinkers. There isn't one interview question that identifies them. I watch how they behave. [One] candidate came in deeply prepared and challenged our brand strategy rather than simply complimenting us. That was exactly what I wanted. I applied similar criteria when selecting a board member. I wanted someone who understood our business model, knew me personally, and could spend time with our team. I can be passionate when I strongly believe in something, and people sometimes stop arguing with me. I needed someone who wouldn't give up until one of us proved our point. What’s A Board Chair’s Real Role? Not a leader but an enabler. Of all the roles on a board, the chairperson is the hardest to define. CEOs act and take risks, directors challenge and vote, but the chair's task is subtler: to design and protect the board's collective process. This remit is the starting point for understanding both what good chairs do and why bad ones are damaging, says Stanislav Shekshnia, Senior Affiliate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise at INSEAD, in the latest episode of INSEAD Explains Governance. So, what skills do good chairs have in common, since they lack the executive levers available to a CEO? Shekshnia named four pairs of seemingly contradictory qualities: authority with humility, commitment with detachment, incisiveness with patience, and a helicopter view with in-depth company knowledge. That same balancing act extends to the chair's relationship with the CEO. All too often, Shekshnia notes, chairs act as though they are the CEO's boss. Another misstep is to become so close to the CEO that it compromises the independent judgement the board needs – something Shekshnia has experienced firsthand, having once found it difficult to manage a CEO's exit after developing an unusually close working relationship. Sam Altman dropped out of Stanford to build an app almost nobody used — it still sold for $43.4 million Directors flag gaps in board expertise The share of board directors surveyed who see a fellow board member’s “insufficient expertise” as warranting their replacement nearly doubled to 39% this year from 21% last year, with 55% saying at least one colleague should step down, according to a PwC report released Wednesday. At the same time, the report found a disconnect in what boards say they look for in new members with a majority (81%) saying that weighing candidate’s cultural fit or alignment is very important when picking new members. More than half of directors want at least one fellow board member removed AI and cybersecurity: The new priorities for board governance in 2026 CEOs Rule! ‘I Am the Code': Trump's White House Ballroom Architect Quit After Raising Fire Safety Concerns ‘Keep Growing and Pay a Fine’: Polymarket CEO Allegedly Ignored Warnings as Fraud Attempts Hit $10M Boomerang CEOs Rule! Bob Chapek Is So Not Over Getting Fired From Disney Women to the Rescue! Judge [Mary McElroy] rules EPA illegally terminated $7B solar pr