Author: openjargon

• Conservatives are fleeing blue states in favor of red states. 
• And South Carolina is one of the fastest growing states for newcomers. 
• Conservatives are fed up with the cost of living, and the politics, in blue states. 

Conservatives are flocking en masse from blue states to one Republican stronghold in particular: South Carolina.

Between 2017 and 2021, about a third of South Carolina's new arrivals came from blue states while a quarter came from red states and the rest came from divided states or outside the US, according to US Census Data analyzed by The Wall Street Journal.

And the majority of those newcomers — about 57% — are Republican, the Journal reported, citing data from a nonpartisan voter file vendor called L2.

In 2022, the top 10 states people moved to South Carolina from were North Carolina, Georgia, New York, California, Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Texas, New Jersey, and Maryland, according to US Census Data reviewed by The State.

Conservative Move, a real estate company with about 500 agents across the country, helps conservatives find homes near like-minded people — and South Carolina is becoming a big draw.

The group's founder Paul Chabot told Business Insider that while Texas and Florida are consistently the top locations his conservative clients choose to move to, South Carolina is the fastest growing. In the last two years, he said he's seen a big spike in Americans wanting to relocate to South Carolina specifically. Currently, he said, about 5,000 of his clients are considering moving to the state soon.

A lot of his clients are coming from places like California, Washington state, and Oregon, he said.

Chabot said the people his company helps relocate are fed up with living in Democratic-controlled states where liberal policies are making daily life less affordable — policies like, he said, the new $20 minimum wage law for fast food workers in California.

Conservatives' sense of safety is another major factor in their decisions to move away from liberal enclaves, Chabot said.

"They want to live in areas where they know that they're going to feel safe, that there's going to be a police response, that the police are respected," Chabot added.

One South Carolina real-estate agent based in Spartanburg, Brad Liles, told The New York Times that he and his colleagues have started calling the flood of Republican homebuyers in the state "the great migration."

A typical home in South Carolina sold for about $281,000, according to Zillow's median home price data as of February. By comparison, Zillow reported California's median home sale price at about $673,000, while Washington state's was about $526,000. South Carolina even has an edge above Texas and Florida, where the median sale price of a home for the same time period was about $316,000 and $363,000, respectively, according to Zillow.

It's not just about affordability. It's also about being surrounded by like-minded conservatives, some South Carolina transplants told the Times.

"When I walked inside banks or stores or schools, there was always Christian music playing in the background," Lina Brock, a conservative who recently moved from California to Greenville, South Carolina, told the Times about her new city. "I felt good, I felt welcomed. I felt like I was in the United States."

But the arrival of new residents to Greenville, in particular, has driven up housing prices, pricing out many longtime Black residents, the Times reported. Since 1990, Greenville's Black population has declined 22%, according to a 2023 study from Furman University. By comparison, the city's total population has increased 21% in the same time period, the Times reported.

Chabot said blue states need to take a page out of red states' playbook.

"States right now are really competing with each other for population," Chabot said. "And so if these blue states want to get better, then they need to look at what red states are doing to retain their populations and their businesses."

Some blue states are experiencing a loss of residents — in 2022, for example, California saw a net loss of over 300,000 residents, Forbes reported, citing census data, while Washington state had a net loss of about 15,000 residents, The Columbian reported, also off census numbers.

Red states like Texas, on the other hand, had a net gain of almost 175,000 residents in 2022. And Florida takes the cake for population growth, with a 1.9% increase between 2021 and 2022, according to the US Census Bureau.

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• The new movie "Civil War" is controversial — some people love it and others hate it.
• But some people also say they're upset about "Civil War's" marketing.
• These people need to find a better use of their time.

Have you seen "Civil War," the new movie about, um, a civil war in the US?

I have, and I loved it. Your mileage may vary — different people have different problems with it, and they're talking about it. Which is fine. I like talking about it, too.

But here's a supposed controversy about the movie you can most definitely ignore: Its marketing campaign, which has Upset Some People On The Internet.

Some savvier readers will stop reading here because Some People On The Internet are always upset and if you read about everything that makes them upset, you'll never have time to do anything else.

But if you're still with me (thank you!), here's the deal: See these evocative images?

Well, 1) none of them are actually from the movie, and 2) supposedly, A24, the indie movie studio that made "Civil War," used AI to help generate them.

And to address those criticisms, I'd say 1) who cares? And 2) who cares?

But if you're still here: 1) It's weird that people who like movies from A24, whose brand is "arty but still accessible to lots of people" (think "Ex Machina" and "Midsommar") — are upset about movie marketing that's not 100% based on actual movie footage.

When did that literalism become a requirement? Is there a new law, or even a new ethos, that I missed? Because it certainly wasn't the case in the past.

I think the best complaint you could make might be, "Hey, these posters make it look like it's a video game-like movie featuring combat all over the United States, but, actually, the movie only (SPOILER ALERT) has one big video game-like combat scene, and it's in Washington, DC."

So, OK, then. If you want to get some sense of what "Civil War" is like, you can just stick to the trailer, which does feature Actual Scenes from the movie:

And 2) If we're going to have a real discussion about AI and how it should and shouldn't be used in art and commerce, we gotta grow up a bit.

AI may definitely be an issue for both movie-makers and movie consumers, and we'll be talking about it for a long time. But A24 obviously didn't create the marketing campaign and art from scratch — at best/worst, the team that created it may have used AI engines to help generate some of the images. But I'm using a MacBook to type this instead of a hot metal typesetter, and you're reading it on a screen instead of newsprint. It's going to be OK.

PS: If you do see this movie — it is very intense, and it may not be for you, and that's fine — make sure you see it in a theater, and one that has great sound. I've never heard sound like this in a movie.

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• Longevity clinics are growing in popularity among some rich people looking to live longer.
• Many of these clinics offer extensive diagnostic tests and personalized care plans. 
• "The best longevity advice is something only the rich have access to today," one expert says.

There's more to life when you're ultra-wealthy than yachts, mansions, sports cars, and flashy designer bags.

These days, cadres of well-heeled and health-obsessed clients are flocking to longevity clinics: Centers that offer everything from genetic testing to cocktails of supplements.

"The best longevity advice is something only the rich have access to today," Matt Fellowes, an advisory council member at the Stanford Center on Longevity and cofounder of health insights platform BellSant, told Business Insider by email.

Consumer spending on wellness products and services has risen since the pandemic, contributing to a $5.6 trillion wellness market, according to the Global Wellness Institute. The unfortunate reality, however, is that many people could be wasting time and money on products or services that will never materially help them, Fellowes said.

One of the few exceptions is high-end longevity clinics that offer science-based and highly personalized guidance — though they're inaccessible to most people.

Even at its priciest tiers, the longevity space is not regulated, however, and even top clinics offer unproven treatments alongside methods accepted by the medical community. Still, the uber-rich are flocking to these clinics hoping to extend their lives by a few years.

Here's a look at some of the most exclusive longevity resorts around the world.

Hooke, a longevity center in London, says “early intervention can treat the vast majority of diseases.”

To that end, Hooke has developed what it says is "the world's most advanced health screening" to create continually evolving and personalized longevity plans for its clients.

It offers around 20 assessments ranging from a four-part MRI to bone density tests to whole genomic sequencing and cognitive assessments.

"Using long-term data from individual medical, fitness, nutritional and cognitive assessments, our programmes build a comprehensive and holistic 'big picture' view of wellness risks and weaknesses — providing the basis for evolving lifestyle and medical recommendations," Kate Woolhouse, Hooke's CEO, wrote to Business Insider by email.

And Hooke offers three tiers of membership to clients. Its popular Healthspan Membership is close to $40,000 a year. It comes with Hooke's extensive roster of diagnostic tests, bespoke nutrition plans, access to a scientific advisory board, proprietary supplements, and an Oura ring — just a glimpse at what is included with membership.

Hooke's clients range in age from 23 to 70, with an average age of 50, but over the past year, the center has seen an increase in clientele in their 30s, Woolhouse said.

Clinique La Prairie sits in a small resort town on coast of Lake Geneva, and is known as one of the world’s premier longevity destinations.

Clinique La Prairie has been around for more than 90 years, during which time it's built up a reputation among the wealthy as a destination for personalized treatments that can slow the aging process.

Its premium revitalization package — a seven-day, six-night experience recommended for those ages 35 and up — includes longevity consultations, sleep quality assessments, DNA tests, personalized nutrition guidance, and personal training sessions, according to the program brochure.

And that's just a smattering of the full program, which also comes with luxury accommodations, limousine service, access to the clinic's steam room, pool, sauna, and zero-gravity floating bed — where patrons can "dry float" and listen to sounds for stress relief, according to its brochure.

The program "stimulates cell regeneration, fights the signs and causes of aging, and reinforces the immune system through a four-pillared approach of medicine, nutrition, well-being and movement," a spokesperson for Clinique La Prairie told Business Insider by email.

Prices for this one luxurious week (in a room with a balcony and view of Lake Geneva) start at $53,000.

At Six Senses, a luxury resort in Ibiza, clients can book one-day, three-day, or seven-day programs through its longevity center, RoseBar.

The seven-day program — about $4,700 per person, excluding accommodations and meals — includes advanced diagnostic tests, comprehensive wellness screenings, spa treatments, yoga classes, energy medicine sessions, and biohacking therapies, according to its website.

Some of the most popular treatments include intravenous infusions like "Ozone Therapy," which is said to increase oxygen levels in the body and help enhance cellular function, Dr. Tamsin Lewis, RoseBar's medical advisor, told Business Insider.

"The direct delivery of certain nutrients via the bloodstream serves to have an instant impact on vitality whilst forming part of a broader approach to living well for longer," Lewis said. One of the immediate benefits from Ozone Therapy is a visible change in blood color due to increased oxygen levels, and in the long-term, the treatment can help support immune function, Lewis said.

Lewis said she has seen an uptick in clients seeking longevity treatments in recent years in the "pursuit of wellness as a new luxury."

The Well is a chain of wellness centers with locations in New York, Connecticut, Cabo, and Costa Rica.

The Well's longevity-focused offerings include customized IV drips, infrared sauna sessions, cold plunges, and health coaching sessions.

The centers have drawn entrepreneurs, including Spanx founder Sara Blakely, ClassPass founder Payal Kadakia, and actresses like Reese Witherspoon and Gwyneth Paltrow.

The Well's location at Hacienda AltaGracia, Auberge Resorts Collection, in Costa Rica, is next to one of the world's five Blue Zones, regions where people live some of the longest and happiest lives.

The resort's four-day retreat program — around $3,000 per person — includes a series of longevity-boosting practices, including various types of bodywork and well-being consultations, according to a spokesperson for The Well.

Guests at Hacienda AltaGracia can also book immersive experiences in the nearby Blue Zone on the Nicoya Peninsula.

The growing interest in these types of exclusive longevity treatments has dovetailed with a spike in wellness tourism, a trend that's picked up among wealthy travelers in the past few years, as some of them forgo all-night clubs and beach parties in favor of spirituality retreats and resorts that prioritize personal care.

Wellness tourism is expected to grow almost 17% annually and reach $1.4 trillion by 2027, according to projections from the Global Wellness Institute.

"While travel overall has started leveling out since the post-COVID boom, all the trends point to continued growth for demand in wellness travel," Megan Mulholland, The Well's vice president of Brand & Marketing, told BI.

Lanserhof Lans, located in the Eastern Alps, is not a longevity clinic for the faint of heart.

The central focus of Lanserhof — launched in 1984 — is "the thorough regeneration of the intestines to revitalize the vital forces," according to its website. It relies on detoxification, purification, and deacidification programs that draw upon holistic medicine, psychology, and modern medicine to achieve this revitalization.

"The first days here are not easy with the diet — guests can sleep all day or have headaches," Dr. Katharina Sandtner, Lanserhof's medical director, told Forbes. "A few days later, energy comes back and this good energy stays with you for a very long time. It's incredible."

But the "good energy" comes at a cost. The one-week "Cure Classic" program, the center's most basic offering, starts at a little above $3,000 a person, excluding accommodations. The program includes numerous medical examinations, a body composition test, urine analysis, therapeutic massages, detox treatments, hydrotherapy treatments, medical lectures, group exercise, and relaxation therapies, according to the Lanserhof Lans program brochure.

The center's offerings are as extensive as a two-week long-COVID package that's aimed at guests who are struggling with the effects of COVID. The more than $5,200 package includes seven different medical examinations, respiratory therapies, foot reflexology, altitude training sessions, and group relaxation and exercise sessions to achieve "physical, mental and spiritual regeneration right down to the core," according to the brochure.

"Minus the hunger headaches, the experience is healing in every sense of the word," one patient wrote of the Long-COVID treatment program in Allure. Lanserhof Lans didn't respond to a request for comment from BI.

You can book a high-tech longevity experience for $44,000 at the Four Seasons Maui.

Four Seasons Resort Maui guests can experience an elaborate multi-day longevity package, the Longevity Protocol, for $44,000. Since it launched last year, it has drawn at least half a dozen people, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The program — developed in partnership with longevity company NEXT|HEALTH — consists of four hour-long sessions designed to boost overall vitality by improving cellular communication and blood oxygenation and recharging the cell's powerhouses. Guests are recommended to spread the sessions out over three to four days.

"We're seeing increased interest from our patients in enhancing their longevity while on vacation and focusing more on their long-term health," Dr. Darshan Shah, NEXT|HEALTH's CEO, founder, medical director, and designer of the Longevity Protocol, told BI.

"Longevity treatments work better when you are in a relaxed state of mind, with minimal inflammation internally," he said.

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• Donald Trump's hush-money criminal trial opened April 15 in a Lower Manhattan courtroom.
• Courtroom sketch artists have captured the former president's many moods during the trial.
• Trump faces 34 felony counts for falsifying business records in the historic case.

Former President Donald Trump's historic hush-money criminal trial officially got underway inside a Lower Manhattan courtroom on April 15.

Video cameras are not permitted in the dreary 15th-floor courtroom to broadcast the landmark case.

But sketch artists, as well as photographers, have been able to offer the public glimpses of Trump as he faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

Prosecutors allege that Trump lied on the documents to cover up hush-money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

It's the first-ever criminal trial of a former president — and the courtroom sketch artists have already captured many moods of Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, during the jury selection process.

At times he was sleepy, with his eyes closed for minutes at a time. More often he was caught with a scowl. Occasionally, he was caught with a smile.

Here are some of those sketches:

On day one of his trial, Trump took the opportunity to smile at the pool of prospective jurors

Before Trump headed into the courtroom for the opening of the trial, he slammed the case against him as "political persecution"

Trump's hush-money trial is expected to last for six weeks and he's complained that it's preventing him from hitting the campaign trail

And it'll be a long six weeks — reporters in the courtroom noted that Trump appeared to doze off, at times, during the slogging process of jury selection

Trump was highly alert when New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan chastised him on April 16, warning him against intimidating potential jurors

"He was gesturing and muttering something…He was speaking in the direction of the juror. I will not tolerate that," Merchan told Trump's lead lawyer, Todd Blanche

At times, Trump had to sit by and listen as his attorneys complained about anti-Trump social media posts made by juror prospects

By April 18, two of the seven jurors that had been empaneled in the trial were dismissed

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• An Iranian ship suspected of providing intelligence to the Houthis is sailing home.
• The MV Behshad spent several months near Yemen as the Houthis launched attacks.
• Shipping data shows its back near Iran as Tehran braces for a potential Israeli retaliation. 

An Iranian cargo ship that is suspected of having provided targeting information and intelligence to the Houthis for their Red Sea attacks appears to have sailed home this week.

The MV Behshad's return to Iran comes as the country braces for possible Israeli retaliation over Tehran's unprecedented missile and drone attack on Israel last weekend.

The vessel has been at sea for nearly three years and spent several months earlier this year lingering near Yemen. But on Wednesday, it was seen sailing in the Gulf of Oman off Iran's coast, and it crossed the strategic Straight of Hormuz early on Thursday, according to ship tracking data reviewed by Business Insider.

The Behshad's destination is listed as the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas on MarineTraffic.com, and the latest tracking data from Thursday afternoon local time shows that the vessel is in the general vicinity of the city.

Though it left its position near Yemen earlier this month, the Behshad did not broadcast its location until a few days ago, when it appeared on ship tracking sites off the coast of Iran, according to Bloomberg, which first reported on the vessel's movement.

While it was lingering around waters near the coast of Yemen, the Behshad is suspected of having provided intelligence to the Houthis that allowed them to locate and target commercial vessels in key international shipping lanes, NBC News reported. The Iranian vessel was also reportedly the target of a US cyberattack in early February.

The Houthis, which are supported and armed by Iran, have been firing missiles and drones at vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden for months. US Navy warships operating in the region have intercepted many of these threats, although some of the munitions have managed to hit commercial vessels in transit.

Iranian officials have denied any involvement in the Houthis' campaign.

The Behshad's relocation to waters closer to home provides a certain degree of safety to the suspected intelligence asset, which might otherwise be a target of Israeli retaliation. An attack on a ship of this kind would not be a first for Israel. Back in 2021, its forces used a mine to strike an Iranian military vessel in the Red Sea.

The redeployment comes just days after Israeli officials vowed to retaliate for Iran's attack last weekend.

Tehran and its proxies launched more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel, nearly all of which were shot down by the country and partner forces in the region, including the US military. The massive barrage came days after an Israeli airstrike in Syria that killed several high-ranking Iranian military officials.

Israel's Western partners have called for the country to show restraint in its response to Iran, warning that any retaliation risks an all-out military confrontation with Tehran and could plunge the Middle East even further into violence.

"We have to ask Israel for a restrained answer to the Iranians' attack. We cannot escalate," the European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said on Thursday. "We cannot go step by step, answering every time higher to a regional war."

"I do not want to exaggerate," he said, "but we are on the edge of a regional war in the Middle East, which will be sending shockwaves to the rest of the world, and in particular to Europe."

Iranian officials have said that Tehran will respond to any retaliation.

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• House conservatives have organized a crack team to monitor to potential ways to undermine their power.
• The House Freedom Caucus has formed a Floor Action Response Team.
• Yes, they called it FART.

The far-right House Freedom Caucus has formed a crack team of conservative lawmakers to monitor the House floor lest Speaker Mike Johnson or other Republicans try to limit their power.

Naturally, the band of rabble-rousers that loves generating headlines for its members has called the group the Floor Action Response Team or FART. Because, why not?

According to Politico, this group will make sure that no other Republicans try to rush through changes that would make it harder for lawmakers to oust Johnson from power or that would strip three Freedom Caucus members of a powerful perch they all hold. The publication reported that the Freedom Caucus does not expect any such maneuvers but is remaining vigilant just in case any of their colleagues try to be silent but deadly to their cause.

Conservatives' tensions with Johnson have surged since the $1.2 trillion government funding bill to avert a partial shutdown. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican and former Freedom Caucus member, filed a motion to potentially remove Johnson from power in response to the funding bill. The situation has only grown worse after Johnson made clear he would allow the House to vote on additional US aid to Ukraine.

Greene could force a vote on Johnson's future at any time. Earlier this week, Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican with a libertarian bent, became the first Republican to pledge to join Greene's effort publicly. Massie is also not a member of the Freedom Caucus, whose membership is technically secret, but he does support many of the caucus' broader aims.

The team does not appear to be a new creation. The X account PatriotTakes, which frequently trolls Republicans, posted a clip in 2022 of Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican and Freedom Caucus member, discussing a FART team.

"Myself and other members of members of the House Freedom Caucus, we have a Floor Action Response Team," Boebert said during an appearance on a Blaze Media show. "F-A-R-T, I'm a mother of four boys, I can appreciate that."

Kevin McCarthy is partially responsible for the stink.

Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy initially resisted setting the "motion to vacate" at the threshold of just a single lawmaker before reversing himself to wrap up the votes to what ultimately became his doomed speakership. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida made history by successfully using the motion to vacate to force McCarthy's ouster. Gaetz teamed up with seven other House Republicans and House Democrats to boot McCarthy from power.

FART is also worried that more centrist GOP lawmakers could move to strip Massie, Rep. Chip Roy, and Ralph Norman from the powerful House Rules Committee. In another McCarthy-era concession, Republicans allowed the three conservative lawmakers to serve on the panel responsible for determining how most legislation reaches the floor. In recent weeks, the trio has increasingly used their power to effectively block Johnson from carrying out his agenda.

On Wednesday evening, Rep. Mike Lawler, a New York Republican who represents a swing district, said the three lawmakers should either resign from the panel or be formally removed by their colleagues.

"They are there on behalf of the conference, not themselves," Lawler wrote on X.

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• Russian hackers are suspected of causing a Texas town's water tank to overflow earlier this year.
• Cybersecurity experts say the likely culprit is Sandworm, a Russian hacking group.
• The US has also previously accused Sandworm of attacks in 2017 on hospitals in Pennsylvania.

In January, a Texas town's water tank suddenly started overflowing, spewing a torrent of water to the ground below.

The deluge was contained within an hour. But it's raising concerns this week, after the cybersecurity firm Mandiant said Wednesday that Russian hackers were likely behind it.

Mandiant, which is owned by Google, attributed the attack in Muleshoe, Texas to Sandworm, a Russian hacking group.

Mandiant called the group a "dynamic and operationally mature threat actor that is actively engaged in the full spectrum of espionage, attack, and influence operations."

Security experts said they believed the group was likely connected to the Russian spy agency, GRU. While most state-backed "threat groups" specialize in specific areas, like collecting intelligence or network sabotage, Sandworm stands alone in trying to unify each capability into one full package, Mandiant reported.

Hackers calling themselves the Cyber Army of Russia Reborn — a group that Mandiant linked to Sandworm — have claimed credit for the attack. They posted a video to Telegram of themselves manipulating Muleshoe's water system, showing how they overpowered it and reset the controls, according to The Washington Post.

If validated, this would mark the first attack on a public American infrastructure system by this group, according to the Post. US officials blamed Iran for a separate attack on water systems in Pennsylvania last November, according to CNN.

Ramon Sanchez, Muleshoe's city manager, told CNN that the city's water tank overflowed for about 30 to 35 minutes.

Authorities have previously blamed Sandworm, which has gone by different names over the years, for various attacks around the world, including on Ukraine's power grid and on the 2018 Olympic Games in South Korea.

In 2020, The US Department of Justice charged six members of the group with crimes related to its attacks, one of which it said was also involved in disrupting the 2016 US presidential elections.

The Justice Department also accused the men of creating a virus called NotPetya, which caused $10 billion in damage to computers worldwide, shutting down the power grid in Ukraine, and taking down the computer systems belonging to a chain of Western Pennsylvania hospitals.

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• Amazon ran an uncover operation to gather information on rival retailers, according to a new report.
• Dubbed "Big River Services International," it sold products through Walmart, eBay, and others.
• Big River employees reportedly hid their connections to Amazon, even from others at the tech giant.

Amazon is so obsessed with dominating the e-commerce world that it reportedly spent years gathering information about rivals like Walmart and eBay by selling products directly on their websites.

The tech giant started a company called Big River Services International as part of "Project Curiosity," a 2015 effort to understand how Amazon's rivals in retail, logistics, and related fields ran their businesses, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Big River sold items like t-shirts, shoes, and beach chairs on competitors' platforms. Its goal was to get information from rivals that Amazon could then use to inform its own business decisions, according to the Journal.

Big River employees also went to great lengths to hide their connections to Amazon, even when talking to other Amazon workers. They minimized electronic records of their work, even when informing Amazon's top brass about what they found. Executives viewed printed copies of the Big River team's reports and weren't allowed to keep them, though they were allowed to take notes, the Journal reported.

The employees also used separate, non-Amazon email addresses when talking to other companies, the report says. They were even coached on how to respond if someone found out that they were actually working for Amazon, the Journal reported.

"Benchmarking is a common practice in business," an Amazon spokesperson told Business Insider, using an industry term for comparing itself to rivals. "Amazon, like many other retailers, has benchmarking and customer experience teams that conduct research into the experiences of customers, including our selling partners, in order to improve their experiences working with us."

After Big River joined a fulfillment program for e-commerce sellers operated by FedEx, for instance, Big River employees relayed pricing and other terms for the service to Amazon's logistics team, which then made changes based on the information, the Journal reported.

The Amazon spokesperson said that a review of internal documents has "not identified any instances of an Amazon employee having FedEx pricing information prior to its launch or using such information to adjust our own pricing or pricing discussions with any sellers."

"The information we have reviewed indicates that pricing information was obtained after FedEx launched FedEx Fulfillment on February 7, 2017, and this information was one of many pieces of information considered as part of pricing discussions," the spokesperson told BI.

Big River also developed its own brands to sell through rivals' marketplace websites. They include an India-based brand called Crimson Knot that sells photo frames on Indian e-commerce website Flipkart, as well as a streetwear brand called Not So Ape, which used a website hosted by Shopify to sell in the US, according to the Journal.

Amazon has faced scrutiny for its treatment of sellers on its own platform before. A congressional committee found in 2020 that the company had used data on sales by third-party sellers to create its own version of the products — usually to the detriment of the independent sellers and their businesses.

A lawsuit from the FTC last year also claimed that Amazon effectively raised prices by increasing what the company charged its third-party sellers and punishing them for offering lower prices on websites besides Amazon.

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• House Speaker Mike Johnson is splitting Ukraine and Israel aid into separate votes.
• Democrats have generally opposed this, but are now willing to go along with it.
• But progressive Democrats — who increasingly oppose Israel aid — are cheering the move.

House Speaker Mike Johnson's unconventional plan to hold separate votes on Israel and Ukraine aid is designed primarily to appease House Republicans who don't want to vote for more aid to Ukraine.

But it's also garnering applause from an unusual place: progressive Democrats who don't want to vote for more Israel aid.

"I think it is a great plan," said Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who supports Ukraine aid but won't vote for unconditional Israel aid. "I think it is disastrous to give a single dime to the Israeli military without conditions at this moment. It's almost immoral."

Omar is among the nearly 20 House progressives who have refused to sign onto a so-called "discharge petition" to force a House vote on the $95.3 billion national security supplemental, which passed the Senate in February and includes more than $60 billion for Ukraine and more than $14 billion for Israel.

Since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, the Biden administration, GOP and Democratic Senate leadership, and most House Democrats have supported pairing Ukraine and Israel aid together, under the theory that the inclusion of Israel aid would incentivize Republicans to approve more Ukraine aid. Republicans, hoping to avoid having to vote on Ukraine and Israel aid together, have made numerous attempts to separate the two.

But in the intervening months, the politics of Israel have changed dramatically on the left.

Polling has shown that a large number of Democratic voters view Israel's war in Gaza — which has killed nearly 34,000 Palestinians — as a genocide, while hundreds of thousands of voters have cast "uncommitted" ballots in Democratic presidential primaries across the country to protest Biden's support for Israel. Many Democratic lawmakers have increasingly come around to the view that aid to Israel must be conditioned in order to avoid US weapons being used to facilitate potential human rights violations.

That's led some progressives to refuse to get on board with the Senate-passed bill, even if they support Ukraine aid.

"I am opposed to the supplemental and I do not want to see it passed," Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told Business Insider in February.

In the absence of those conditions on Israel aid, progressive Democrats have increasingly pushed for the very thing their Republican counterparts have long sought: separate votes.

"We pushed for it, so I'm grateful that's happening," said Omar.

Both Israel and Ukraine aid — along with a bill to provide aid to Taiwan and another bill that includes a bill to force the sale of TikTok — are likely to pass. But the coalitions required for each will be different: Ukraine will get mostly Democratic support, while Israel will get more GOP support.

Rep. Ro Khanna of California, another progressive Democrat who did not sign the discharge petition, noted that he's long supported the idea of single-subject bills — an idea long favored by House Republicans as well.

"Good for Johnson for sticking to that basic principle," said Khanna. "Let people vote on Taiwan, let them vote on Ukraine, let them vote on Israel."

Democrats have generally been amenable to Johnson's plan, and may even need to help the Republican speaker with procedural steps to get it to the floor. They may also end up protecting him from an effort by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to oust him as a result.

But that doesn't mean they like the plan as much as progressives.

"It's kind of a mind-bendingly complicated process for something that has a simple solution," said Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, who prefers the Senate-passed bill. "How could they overcomplicate the most simple thing possible?"

And it still remains to be seen if the plan makes it to the floor. Hard-right Republicans have only grown more angry with Johnson as the week has dragged on, with some of them protesting a potential effort to make it harder for lawmakers to call for votes to oust the speaker.

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