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Politics

Supreme Court, Great Writers

Book deals all around

It sure pays to be in the Supreme Court… That’s what we found out from last week’s financial disclosure. 

👀 Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson disclosed receiving four concert tickets from Beyonce, much like Vice President Kamala Harris, valued at $3,711.84.

👀 Jackson also disclosed receiving two gifts of art, worth a combined $12,500, to hang in her judicial chambers, as well as a book advance of $893,750. Jackson, the only justice to be nominated by President Biden, will be publishing her memoir, “Lovely One,” in September.

👀 Meanwhile, Justice Clarence Thomas reported a gift of two photo albums, valued at $2,000. And also amended his 2019 disclosure to now include two luxury trips he took as a guest of Harlan Crow. These trips had previously sparked an ethics scandal. Thomas was provided food and lodging in Bali and Indonesia for one of the trips, with the other one being to a private club in Monte Rio, California. 

👀 Justice Brett Kavanaugh disclosed $340,000 in book royalties, as he pens a legal memoir.

👀 Justice Neil Gorsuch disclosed $250,000 in royalties for his book “Over Ruled,” which is due out in August.

Apparently, there’s a big market right now for books written by Supreme Court Justices. Who knew?

Economy

Rates Fall Below 7%

But can anyone afford a house?

Borrowing costs are on the decline again, with mortgage rates falling slightly. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dipped below 7%, averaging 6.9%. Freddie Mac claims further drops, albeit minor, could be on the way.

A new study from LendingTree showed that borrowers who gather quotes from multiple lenders stand to potentially save an average of $212 a month on their loan. That equals $2,544 a year and $76,410 over the life of the loan. 

While the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped from the previous week, it is still higher than a year ago, when it averaged 6.7%. So the average is still 0.28% higher than a year ago. 15-year fixed-rate mortgages also dropped from 6.36% to 6.29% this week. But a year ago, it was 6.07%.

So despite dropping, the rates still seem too high for many home buyers. 

Purchasing applications have declined 4% and refinancing has dropped 7%. This all comes during what is supposed to be a busier time to buy homes (the spring season). All four regions of the country have shown affordability decline over the last 12 months. So the more things change, the more they really stay the same.

Sports | NBA

Dallas Mavericks, That’s How You Tank

Adam Silver does not approve this message

The Dallas Mavericks have provided a bad example for the NBA executive offices, who have been attempting to eliminate tanking from their league. But Dallas used tanking of a different variety to build their roster from a fringe playoff team, to Western Conference champs. Dallas was fighting for a playoff spot in the final week of last season, when they decided to throw in the towel. 

They needed to win their final two games, and get some help from others, to earn a playoff berth. But instead of going for it, the Mavs chose to sit their best players instead, securing losses. They felt it was better to hold on to their #12 draft pick, instead of entering the playoffs as one of the last seeds, most likely getting bounced early on. 

But in the words of Herm Edwards, “you play to win the game!” So intentionally passing up on a playoff spot for only the 12th pick seemed competitively distasteful. The Mavs were even fined $750,000 for their actions. It was the second time Dallas had been fined for something like this in the past five years alone.

But now, they can just chalk that up as the cost of doing (good) business. The Mavs used that draft pick to select Dereck Lively II from Duke, who started 42 games for them this season and finished sixth in Rookie of the Year voting. The move seemingly paid off, setting a bad precedent for other teams.

Ignore the potential playoff spot… take the draft pick instead. Even if that pick isn’t even in the top 10. This is not the message Adam Silver wants out there, after Dallas won the Western Conference this year.

Sports | Women’s Basketball

Not Such a Dream Team

Caitlin Clark Snubbed?

Checking in on the Caitlin Clark v everyone else in women’s basketball saga: it was announced over the weekend that Clark would be left off the 12 person Olympic team roster.

Clark took the high road Sunday, calling the team the “toughest” to make. Some have said Clark wasn’t denied, just delayed (assuming she’ll be on the next Olympic team in 2028). 

You can think back to when Michael Jordan, due to bitterness, left Isiah Thomas off the Olympic team three decades ago and draw parallels to this situation. It seems everyone not named Caitlin Clark has real bitterness towards her.

Clark’s WNBA coach, Christie Sides, said her player told her that this “woke a monster.”  Despite this, the news might be a blessing in disguise for Clark, who, theoretically, will play on a handful of olympic teams over the course of her career.

But as a rookie, she just went from finishing a long college basketball season, to diving right into her first professional season, where the complaints have been about how rough she’s been treated. Then, in the middle of that season, she would have to go overseas to play in the Olympics.

Maybe a few weeks off for Clark this summer will actually do her some good. More so than playing in the Olympics in her first year.

Finance

Diamond Hands

Get the tendies ready…

The man behind each of the Gamestop stock craze’s is known simply as “Roaring Kitty.” Roaring Kitty, whose real name is Keith Gill, ignited the Gamestop meme stock run in 2020, before going dormant online in 2021.

However, after three years away, he signaled his return on X, formerly known as Twitter, with a single tweet on May 12th, beginning the reigniting of GameStop in the stock market again.

🤯 His return triggered a 125% increase for the stock in the second quarter alone. Gill is a very fascinating character. He is from Massachusetts, believed to be 38 years old, and was the first person in his family to receive a bachelor's degree. 

He claims he learned about investing from previous jobs he held and from analyzing stocks outside of work. Gill has already been imitated in Hollywood, with his inclusion in the film “Dumb Money,” where he was portrayed by Paul Dano.  Gill was set to become a billionaire 🤑, and was going to celebrate in real time with his fans on one of his live streams. However, this reality came crashing down after GameStop announced plans to issue new stock.  

Meanwhile, E*Trade has reportedly considered removing Gill from its platform in an attempt to protect its reputation. 

Entertainment

Netflix Made a Good Movie!

“Hit Man” is a hit, man.

You know that actor you’ve been seeing everywhere? Well, his name is Glen Powell. And he’s in a new Netflix film that’s already been labeled it’s “best original movie in ages.” Sounds hyperbolic, right? But apparently, it might be true. The film, titled “Hit Man”, was just released this past weekend, and is already rated 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. 

It also has a 95% rating for the more-telling audience score. 

The movie stars Powell as an unassuming high school teacher, who moonlights as an undercover hitman for the New Orleans Police Department. Powell’s character, Gary Johnson, uses an array of fake personas to help the police arrest people who are looking to hire assassins. 

The movie, however, is considered a romantic comedy. So, of course, as you can guess… things become complicated for Johnson, once he meets a beautiful woman he is suddenly interested in. The film is a combination of comedy, action, romance and attractiveness. It was directed by Richard Linklater, who previously directed “Dazed and Confused”, “School of Rock” and “Boyhood”, among others. 

As far as Powell goes, the 35-year-old is taking off as Hollywood’s latest heartthrob. Despite debuting in “Spy Kids 3” 21 years ago, and working consistently since, Powell’s career has really taken off in just the last two years. It began when he played Lieutenant Jake “Hangman” Seresin in “Top Gun: Maverick,” alongside Tom Cruise, which was released in May 2022.

Then there was the rom-com with Sydney Sweeney, “Anyone But You,” where Powell got to show off his physique on the beaches of Australia. The film was released to a lot of fanfare just before Christmas in 2023. And now, this film, which Powell helped write the screenplay of. (And that’s not to mention the wild story Powell recently told on a podcast about his sister’s friend dating a cannibal… if you missed that, listen to the tale right here.)

The film was released to movie theaters two weeks ago for a small theatrical run, before being placed on the streaming platform. It’s based on an article that Skip Hollandsworth wrote for the Texas Monthly magazine (both Powell and Linklater are from Texas).

Netflix started producing original content in 2013, but hasn’t been a smash with their films.

There was the Eddie Murphy-led “Dolemite is My Name” in 2019, which holds a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. The highly acclaimed “The Irishman” from the same year, which holds a 95% rating. And a lesser known “His House” from 2020, when everyone was looking for things to watch, which holds a perfect 100%(!) on Rotten Tomatoes.

But overall, not a lot for Netflix to write home about. Maybe they have something with their newest film though. After all, we ARE writing about it… You can check out the trailer for “Hit Man” here, and see what you think for yourself.

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