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- Updating podcast discovery strategy
Roger Nairn (Founder, Jar Podcast Solutions) and Tom Webster (Partner, Sounds Profitable) are collaborating on a new podcast research study — The Podcast Discovery Playbook (sponsored by Jar.) “A lot of podcast launch advice still sounds like it was written… Continue Reading → [TheTopNews] Read More.13 mins ago - Spotify redefines a podcast playAudio juggernaut Spotify has introduced a new definition of a podcast “play,” assigning a time-based metric which will likely reduce total play counts in Spotify’s lens while delivering a more accurate report of consumption to prospective advertisers. Going forward, Spotify’s… Continue Reading → [TheTopNews] Read More.24 mins ago
- Opera Company Demands $17 Million From Kennedy Center in Explosive Lawsuit
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin The Washington National Opera has filed a lawsuit seeking more than $17 million from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, alleging the institution has refused to turn over funds that belong to the opera company following their separation earlier this year. According to a lawsuit filed Thursday in the United States Court of Federal Claims and reported on Friday by The New York Times, the opera company claims the Kennedy Center has withheld money that includes endowment assets, donor contributions, and other funds collected on the opera’s behalf during the years the two organizations were affiliated. “W.N.O. reluctantly files this case to preserve its future and to protect its donors and artists,” attorneys for the opera company wrote in court filings. The suit further argues that the disputed funds consist of donations accumulated over many years that are “critical” to the organization’s continued operations. The legal battle follows the Washington National Opera’s departure from the Kennedy Center in January. The split came amid broader upheaval at the institution following President Donald Trump’s takeover of the center and the installation of new leadership. The lawsuit went on to outline growing friction between the organizations even before the separation. Among the allegations is a claim that Kennedy Center Chief Financial Officer Donna Arduin informed opera officials that money from a fund containing bequests and donations intended for the opera had been pledged as collateral for a line of credit. The Kennedy Center sharply rejected the claims, maintaining that those funds indeed belonged to the Kennedy Center itself. In a statement to the Times, spokeswoman Roma Daravi argued that the relationship with the opera company had been a financial drain on the institution for years. Citing calculations from an outside accounting firm, she said the opera had “accumulated a $72 million deficit to the center” during the period it operated as an affiliate. “The center has acted transparently and in the best interests of the public throughout this process,” Daravi said. “This lawsuit is meritless, and we plan to pursue a countersuit to defend the institution.” The opera company, which is now staging productions at other venues around Washington, maintains that Kennedy Center officials never committed to transferring the disputed funds despite engaging an outside accounting firm to assess what it may be owed.The post Opera Company Demands $17 Million From Kennedy Center in Explosive Lawsuit first… [TheTopNews] Read More.43 mins ago - In 5 Minutes on Fox News, Larry Kudlow Exposes What’s Behind Trump’s Farcica...
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Fox Business host Larry Kudlow, whether he meant to or not, raised the curtain on what’s driving the geopolitical whiplash from President Donald Trump this week in his pronouncements about the suddenly fast-tracked, chaotic negotiations with Iran to end the war. Kudlow joined Fox News anchor Sandra Smith on Thursday evening to discuss Trump’s surprise announcement that a “great settlement” had been reached with Iran, just hours after threatening to bomb the country harder than ever and raising the prospect of invading Kharg Island. Kudlow made clear in his analysis that Trump, more than anything else, is working to reassure oil and gas executives that enough oil is going to be flowing soon to avert the full-blown crisis they are warning is imminent. Trump is currently caught in a squeeze between using more military force to push the Iranians to negotiate in good faith and ending hostilities quickly in order to soften the surging inflation caused by the conflict. The Iranians clearly know the calculus and, for their part, are doing everything to prolong negotiations to put further economic pressure on Trump. Kudlow, who was once a member of Trump’s inner circle and is clearly familiar with his thinking, appeared to give the game away in the five-minute Fox News hit, which ended with Kudlow warning the president not to hit the panic button and simply buy off the Iranians to end the conflict. Kudlow began with a lengthy, praise-filled take on Trump’s “secret stash of oil,” a kind of third way out for Trump to keep the pressure on Iran militarily, but also blunt the surging inflation. Kudlow’s take summed up the exact reassurance Trump was trying to give to the oil and gas industry executives who control prices with long-term forecasting. The “secret stash,” as Kudlow dubbed it, referred to Trump’s dramatic yet dubious announcement earlier in the week that the U.S. military had engaged in a “secret mission” to get oil out of the Strait of Hormuz and on to the open market by sneaking boats out in the dark of night with transponders off, and under heavy military escort. By his math, Kudlow claimed that the “secret” oil could “be cutting the shortage by almost half” – referring to the global oil market shortage caused by Iran scuttling traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. “It’s nine million barrels a day, right? That’s 20… [TheTopNews] Read More.59 mins ago - White House UFC Events Will Proceed After Judge Rules in Trump’s Favor
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon) President Donald Trump’s UFC extravaganza commemorating his 80th birthday as well as America’s 250th, will proceed as planned after a federal judge declined to block the mixed martial arts fights from happening. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled against two Virginia residents Friday who filed a last-minute lawsuit arguing that the Trump administration “exceeded its authority for the event.” The suit, filed by the Public Integrity Project filed on behalf of two Virginia residents, argued the event “violated National Park Service regulations prohibiting sporting events on federal parklands.” In addition, the filing argued that Congress “did not consent to the towering arch overlooking the event space,” and that “no environmental review was conducted before the construction.” Attorney Brendan Ballou told journalist Scott McFarlane this week that if the fights were allowed to proceed, “these pictures are going into every history textbook and for every high school student for future generations to show the corruption that we have gone through. And so, I think it is worth stopping this and I think it can be stopped because the dignitary, the aesthetic, the symbolic harms of seeing our national monuments misused for for-profit corrupt purposes is going to be impossible to take back, and it’s something that we can still stop.” In its legal response, the Justice Department argued that the plaintiffs were unlikely to succeed with their claims “as they had not shown how they would be harmed by the UFC event.” In addition, the DOJ argued, “There is a history of holding public events on the White House South Lawn.” The judge agreed with the administration, paving the way for fighter weigh-ins to proceed at the Lincoln Memorial, followed by the actual fights Sunday in an octagonal cage under a 92-foot-tall claw-like structure on the White House’s South Lawn. The administration says it expects some 4,000 spectators for the events. The tab for the $60 million dollar event is being picked up by UFC head Dana White, whose likeness appears alongside Trump on a commemorative gold coin being sold by the Trump Organization for $12,000.The post White House UFC Events Will Proceed After Judge Rules in Trump’s Favor first appeared on Mediaite. [TheTopNews] Read More.1 hour ago - Three-Time Trump Voters Blast President on MS NOW: ‘Get It Together, Man!’
Two voters who backed President Donald Trump in all three of his presidential campaigns expressed growing frustration with his administration during a Friday appearance on MS NOW’s Morning Joe, with one pleading, “Get it together, man!” The comments come amid growing frustration over the closure of the Conn-Selmer instrument factory in Eastlake, Ohio. Earlier this year, the company’s owner, billionaire investor and Trump ally John Paulson, announced plans to shift production to China, a move that will cost all its workers their jobs. Annette Dombrowski, a three-time Trump voter, will soon lose her janitorial job at the Ohio plant. She told MS NOW’s Alex Tabet that she’s been having “panic attacks” over how she’ll make ends meet. When asked if she feels that Trump understands her plight, she was blunt, replying: No. No. He hasn’t lived it to understand it. He sees it. He has not lived it. He needs to live it. Wear the clothes. Wear the shoes. Wear your Walmart clothes. Wear your Walmart shoes. Do your thrift store shopping. Don’t eat steaks. I don’t get to go out to dinner. It’s not an overnight thing, but it’s been two years now. You said you’d bring down the grocery prices. Literally, I must be the most angry person when I grocery shop, because I buy the same things every week, and I see it jump every week. It is not every couple of months. It’s literally every week. Chris Tackett, another three-time Trump voter and a trucker from Ohio, was equally fed up. He told Tabet that while he believed Trump’s promises during his first term, things are different this time around, emphasizing that he’s “backtracked on every single pitch point he had during his election.” He added, “All we heard was ‘drill, drill, drill’ during the election, and now, all we’re getting is drilled into the dirt with these prices. So, I’m not a fan of him.” Tabet then asked what he would say directly to the president, to which Tackett responded: Get it together, man. The average American is struggling to make ends meet right now, and nobody wants to hear “the war is almost over.” Nobody wants to hear “it’s gonna get better.” You’ve had a year to make it better, at this point. Make it better. Watch the full clip above via MS NOW.The post Three-Time Trump Voters Blast President on MS… [TheTopNews] Read More.1 hour ago
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