Financial Mindset

Musicians often see an instrument as a physical extension of themselves and that sort of connection doesn’t always lend itself to the online shopping experience.  “Selecting a musical instrument is a deeply, deeply personal experience,” says Gabe Dalporto, CEO of Guitar Center. It’s something you have to touch and hear and smell for yourself. A guitar that seems appealing on a website might not speak to a player trying it out in real life, Dalporto says.  Dalporto, 56, is a true believer in the need for brick-and-mortar stores, and he’s made them a pillar of his turnaround of Guitar Center, the once-bankrupt music instrument retailer that’s betting big on customers’ desire for an in-person shopping experience, where newbie and veteran musicians alike can tinker with instruments and tap into employees’ know-how.  Guitar Center’s comeback is still a work in progress, but Dalporto, a nuclear engineer by training and bona fide music nerd, wants the retailer to of...

The Trump administration has imposed sweeping new sanctions on the International Criminal Court as part of its campaign to dismantle the tribunal over investigations into the United States and its allies, including Israel. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the sanctions Friday, after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to South African jurist Navi Pillay , a former judge at the ICC and other international courts. Trump has coveted that prize for himself. “We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate against us,” Rubio said in a video address posted to social media. “The United States and the American people are not subject to the jurisdiction of this fake ICC.” The sanctions cut the court off from U.S.-based financial services, technology companies and even using U.S. dollars. They set a six-month timeline for U.S. companies and individuals that have business with the court to wind that business dow...

Vice President JD Vance cast doubt Friday on whether the Pentagon will livestream the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan in December but told reporters that if it is livestreamed, “I’m not going to be watching it.” The Republican vice president said, “I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen,” when asked about the plans that the Pentagon confirmed Thursday. But Vance then tried to set aside the controversy over the shocking plans for a public execution and said Hasan’s crimes should not be forgotten. Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people and injuring 32 others in a shooting spree at the military base in 2009. “So whatever the controversy is about the method of the execution, I hope that people don’t forget that this is a guy who brutally murdered a lot of innocent people,” Vance said. “Now, that said, I mean, look, if it’s ultimately livestreamed, I’m not going to be watching it,” he added. Vance is a convert to the Catholic Church, which...

Zelenskyy calls US-Russia diesel deal ‘a weak decision’ and says negotiators are being ‘used as a smokescreen.’ THIS IS AN APNewsAlert. Check back for updates. AP’s earlier story is below. President Donald Trump said that he has struck a deal to obtain diesel from Russia, a stunning reversal of years of U.S. pressure on Moscow over its war with Ukraine and an attempt to address high fuel prices ahead of the U.S. midterm elections. Trump said on social media on Friday that he struck the deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call in which he was expected to discuss a suspected case of plague in Russia. Instead, Trump announced that Russia will immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel, followed by an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons “immediately thereafter.” Russia will deliver another 3 million tons “within a short period of time” after that, he wrote. Trump’s shocking announcement comes afte...

Your first few weeks at work probably look something like this: figuring out who’s who on Slack, which floor has the best snacks, and navigating the hundreds of emails piling up in the inbox. Then one catches your eye. It says “Congratulations!” You click, and a new message appears: “You failed the test,” along with an attached invitation to security training. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the decidedly forgettable experience of falling for a phishing scam—or in this case, the simulation of one. The lesson is to be more careful next time. But what happens when the next message looks like it came from the boss, lands during a busy afternoon, and asks for something that sounds perfectly reasonable?  A new survey from Yubico and Okta highlights why employers need an answer beyond another training session. Of 1,890 technology and security professionals, 82% had received employer security training. Still, 23% said their organizations did not require multifactor authenticat...

Last fall, I stood at the center of what would have been one of the biggest deals in sports: a $2.4 billion public pension fund investment in the Big Ten Conference.  In the end, it failed . Congress fired off letters, and trustees balked. The deal was an attempt to provide schools with the capital to compete like professionals; its collapse was one data point in a season of upheaval. That same fall, Lane Kiffin walked out on an 11-1 Ole Miss team weeks before its first playoff game, lured to LSU by a war chest the Rebels couldn’t match.  A month into the new season, last winter’s transfer portal jumpers are starring in new colors, Coach Kiffin’s  latest exploits  have put LSU at odds with its own league, and administrators are chasing lawsuits, lifelines, and someone to blame. Everyone agrees the sport is in crisis. Most are wrong about why. The turmoil doesn’t stem from a shortage of money or rules. It stems from the fact that universities ha...

Anthropic is setting up a “presidential engagement” program ahead of the 2028 elections, building an in-house team that will work directly with U.S. presidential candidates from both parties on AI issues, help Anthropic’s leadership set political strategy, and run the company’s political funding program. The effort—which is taking shape before the November midterm elections and an impending initial public offering that could value Anthropic at as much as $2 trillion—underscores the extent to which government policy, and the support of the White House in particular, have become critical to the AI industry. Anthropic is hiring a Political Programs lead to spearhead the effort and build the team. The person will “build and run Anthropic’s presidential engagement program for the 2028 cycle,” according to the job description that the company posted recently. The person in the role will “map the prospective fields in both parties, of...