Author: openjargon

• Tom Cotton has emerged as a potential running mate for former President Donald Trump.
• Cotton, first elected to the Senate in 2014, is known for his staunchly conservative views.
• According to The New York Times, Trump sees Cotton as a strong communicator on cable news outlets.

High-profile GOP figures like Senators JD Vance of Ohio and Tim Scott of South Carolina have long been bandied about as potential running mates for former President Donald Trump.

But one of their Senate colleagues has also emerged as a potential pick: Tom Cotton of Arkansas.

According to The New York Times, Trump sees Cotton as adept at cable news appearances, an important conduit for reaching GOP audiences. The former president also admires Cotton's military service and overseas deployments and speaks highly of the senator's Harvard-educated background.

In addition to Cotton, Vance, and Scott, Trump is also strongly considering Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida as potential running mates, according to the Times. The former president has also mentioned the five politicians as possible cabinet choices should he choose another candidate as his No. 2.

Individuals close to Trump who spoke with the Times said the ex-president isn't wedded to any particular figures and could consider other Republicans as the final decision looms.

Of the candidates on Trump's radar, all have been reliable foot soldiers of the former president's conservative views. And Trump — embroiled in myriad legal issues — is looking to tap a well-regarded candidate who won't create any major controversies for his campaign, the Times reported.

Burgum briefly ran for president against Trump last year but suspended his campaign in December and threw his support behind the ex-president shortly before the Iowa caucuses. Rubio famously jostled with Trump during the 2016 Republican primaries but has since overwhelmingly supported the former president.

Cotton and Scott were strong legislative allies of Trump during his first administration, and Vance has emerged as one of the former president's leading "America First" adherents in the Senate.

When Cotton — who was first elected to the Senate in 2014 — was asked last week about being part of a potential second Trump administration, he said he's mostly spoken with the former president about strategies for winning in November.

"I suspect only Donald Trump knows who is really on his short list," Cotton told Fox News. "When we do talk, we talk about what it's going to take to win this election … to elect President Trump to another term in the White House and elect a Republican Congress."

While Cotton's selection would be a huge hit with conservatives, it is unclear if he would be able to help Trump with suburban voters — a weak demographic for the former president — especially given the senator's strong anti-abortion views.

• Ayan Said moved to the US as a child and later became a successful nurse and entrepreneur.
• After experiencing a divorce and job loss in 2022, she faced a period of intense personal struggle.
• She found support and connection on LinkedIn, and she's rebuilding her life with optimism.

My parents fled the war in Somalia in 1992 when I was 5 to start a new life in the US.

I grew up in poverty, but despite the challenges, I witnessed my parents' unwavering determination and resilience. Their example instilled in me a profound belief in the power of education and hard work.

While studying psychology during undergrad, my daughter was born prematurely due to Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Inspired by the NICU nurses who cared for her, I decided to pursue a career in nursing.

As I witnessed the challenges exacerbated by the effects of the pandemic, I decided to leave my job and pursue full-time entrepreneurship. A nursing colleague and I cofounded a healthcare startup in 2019. It was incredibly rewarding.

Then in 2022, I was tested in ways I never imagined. I lost my job, my home, and almost everything I owned along with deep formative relationships, my identity, and my entire sense of self.

At the height of my success, I lost it all

My marriage with my partner of 20 years, my high school sweetheart, was strained by various challenges that tested our resilience.

After going through marriage counseling, I gained strength and clarity and decided to file for divorce.

When we began the divorce process, I moved my daughter and myself to my mom's for support.

While my marriage was ending, I lost my job

During this challenging period, my startup was growing rapidly, and the weight of imposter syndrome, coupled with the stress of my personal life, took its toll on my work. After my divorce was finalized in September 2022, I was fired from the startup.

These major losses shook me to my core. I was filled with inadequacy, regret, and deep shame and felt like a complete failure.

There were days when even getting out of bed seemed impossible. I was exhausted and frequently woke up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat from nightmares.

This spiral made me feel helpless and unable to see a way forward for myself and my daughter. I lost all motivation to do anything — to eat, go outside, or face anyone. I withdrew from the world. I felt isolated and consumed by my thoughts, and all I could do was cry.

My darkest moment was when I was convinced my absence would benefit my loved ones. Terrified, I knew I had to change everything to break that cycle.

Taking small steps to heal changed my trajectory

At this turning point, I knew I couldn't do it alone anymore.

I leaned heavily on my loved ones for emotional support and started therapy. I made small, deliberate changes to regain my sense of self. I took long walks. I went to the gym. I baked. I journaled and listened to affirmations I wrote and recorded, on repeat, to quiet the loud, terrifying thoughts and to hear a different perspective.

It wasn't a perfect, linear journey. I knew I needed time and space to allow myself to grieve, and it was a slow and agonizing process.

Eventually, I let go of the idea that I had to feel completely whole in an unreasonable timeframe. That was when things truly aligned and the subtle, incremental changes stacked.

I lost everything, but I gained even more in the end

I don't know if I'm completely healed but I'm not in that dark place anymore. I'm still living at home with my mom and slowly rebuilding a life for my daughter and me.

I've applied to a few part-time nursing positions at hospitals near me so I can still focus on my daughter. I've also started brainstorming an idea for a video podcast discussing nursing, entrepreneurship, burnout, mental health, therapy, and self-care.

I'm enjoying the little things again, like playing with makeup with my daughter. I've perfected my Snickerdoodle recipe and reconnected with my faith. I'm navigating single parenthood better. I finally feel like myself again, but I'm deeply, fundamentally changed — in a good way.

Sharing my story helped me connect with others and build a supportive community

I first shared my story on LinkedIn. It was uncomfortable being vulnerable, but I knew I had to share it because the discomfort I felt before clicking the 'post' button paled in comparison to the potential positive impact it could have on someone.

Shortly after, responses flooded in. The most beautiful, unexpected outcome was that my story allowed me to connect with people worldwide.

If you're feeling lost and alone, please ask for help and push through because it does get better. After the darkness, the dawn comes.

• Bill Gates, the Microsoft cofounder, shares three kids with his ex-wife Melinda French Gates.
• They include a recent med school graduate and a fashion startup cofounder.
• He became a grandfather in March when his daughter Jennifer Gates Nassar had her first child.
•  

Bill Gates' story is a quintessential example of the American entrepreneurial dream: A brilliant math whiz, Gates was 19 when he dropped out of Harvard and cofounded Microsoft with his friend Paul Allen in 1975.

Nearly 50 years later, he's one of the richest and most famous men on Earth, with a fortune of about $131 billion, per Forbes. He stepped down from Microsoft's board in 2020 and has cultivated his brand of philanthropy with the Gates Foundation — a venture he formerly ran with his now ex-wife Melinda French Gates, who resigned in May. 

Even before founding one of the world's most valuable companies, Gates' life was anything but ordinary. He grew up in a well-off and well-connected family, surrounded by his parents' rarefied personal and professional network. Their circle included a Cabinet secretary and a governor of Washington, according to "Hard Drive," the 1992 biography of Gates by James Wallace and Jim Erickson. (Brock Adams, who went on to become the transportation secretary in the Carter administration, is said to have introduced Gates' parents.)

His father, William Gates Sr., was a prominent corporate lawyer in Seattle and the president of the Washington State Bar Association.

His mother, Mary Gates, came from a line of successful bankers and sat on the boards of important financial and social institutions, including the nonprofit United Way. It was there, according to her New York Times obituary, that she met the former IBM chairman John Opel — a fateful connection thought to have led to IBM enlisting Microsoft to provide an operating system in the 1980s.

"My parents were well off — my dad did well as a lawyer, took us on great trips, we had a really nice house," Gates said in the 2019 Netflix documentary "Inside Bill's Brain."

"And I've had so much luck in terms of all these opportunities."

Despite his very public life, his three children with French Gates — Jennifer, Rory, and Phoebe — largely avoided the spotlight for most of their upbringing. 

Like their father, the three Gates children attended Seattle's elite Lakeside School, a private high school that has been recognized for excellence in STEM subjects — and that received a $40 million donation from Bill Gates in 2005 to build its financial aid fund. (Bill Gates and Paul Allen met at Lakeside and went on to build Microsoft together.)

But as they have become adults, more details have emerged about their interests, professions, and family life. 

While they have chosen different career paths, all three children are active in philanthropy — a space in which they will likely wield immense influence as they grow older. While their father has reportedly said that he plans to leave each of the Gates three children $10 million — a fraction of his fortune — they may inherit the family foundation, where most of his money will go.

Here's all we know about the Gates children.

Gates and his children did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

Jennifer Gates Nassar

Jennifer Gates Nassar, who goes by Jenn, is the oldest of the Gates children at 28 years old.

A decorated equestrian, Gates Nassar started riding horses when she was six. Her father has shelled out millions of dollars to support her passion, including buying a California horse farm for $18 million and acquiring several parcels of land in Wellington, Florida, to build an equestrian facility.

In 2018, Gates Nassar received her undergraduate degree in human biology from Stanford University, where a computer science building was named for her father after he donated $6 million to the project in 1996.

She then attended the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, from which she graduated in May. She will continue at Mt. Sinai for her residency in pediatric research. During medical school, she also completed a Master's in Public Health at Columbia University — perhaps a natural interest given her parents' extensive philanthropic activity in the space.

"Can't believe we've reached this moment, a little girl's childhood aspiration come true," she wrote on Instagram. "It's been a whirlwind of learning, exams, late nights, tears, discipline, and many moments of self-doubt, but the highs certainly outweighed the lows these past 5 years."

In October 2021, she married Egyptian equestrian Nayel Nassar. In February 2023, reports surfaced that they bought a $51 million New York City penthouse with six bedrooms and a plunge pool. The next month, they welcomed their first child, Leila.

In a 2020 interview with the equestrian lifestyle publication Sidelines, Gates Nassar discussed growing up wealthy.

"I was born into a huge situation of privilege," she said. "I think it's about using those opportunities and learning from them to find things that I'm passionate about and hopefully make the world a little bit of a better place."

She recently posted about visiting Kenya, where she learned about childhood health and development in the country.

Rory John Gates

Rory John Gates, who is in his mid-20s, is Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates' only son and the most private of their children. He maintains private social media accounts, and his sisters and parents rarely post photos of him.

His mother did, however, write an essay about him in 2017. Titled "How I Raised a Feminist Son," she describes as a "great son and a great brother" who "inherited his parents' obsessive love of puzzles."

In 2022, he graduated from the University of Chicago, where, based on a photo posted on Facebook, he appears to have been active in moot court. At the time of his graduation, Jennifer Gates Nassar wrote that he had achieved a double major and master's degree.

Little is publicly known about what the middle Gates child has been up to since he graduated, but a Puck report from last year gave some clues, saying that he is seen as a "rich target for Democratic social-climbers, influence-peddlers, and all variety of money chasers." According to OpenSecrets, his most recent public giving was to Nikki Haley last year.

The same report says he works as a congressional analyst while also completing a doctorate.

Phoebe Gates

Phoebe Gates, 21, is the youngest of the Gates children.

After graduating from high school in 2021, she followed her eldest sister to Stanford, where she is set to graduate this year with a major in human biology and a minor in African studies, according to her LinkedIn.

She has long shown an interest in fashion, interning at British Vogue and posting on social media from fashion weeks in Copenhagen, New York, and Paris. Sustainability is often a theme of her content, which highlights vintage and secondhand stores and celebrates designers who don't use real leather and fur. That has culminated in her cofounding Phia, a sustainable fashion tech platform that is set to launch later this year, with her former college roommate.

Gates shares her parents' passion for public health. She's attended the UN General Assembly with her mother and spent time in Rwanda with Partners in Health, a nonprofit that has received funding from the Gates Foundation.

Like her mother, Gates often publicly discusses issues of gender equality, including in essays for Vogue and Teen Vogue, at philanthropic gatherings, and on social media, where she frequently posts about reproductive rights.

She's given thousands to Democrats and Democratic causes, including to Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer and the Democratic Party of Montana, per data from OpenSecrets. According to Puck, she receives a "giving allowance" that makes it possible for her to cut the checks.

Perhaps the most public of the Gates children — she's got nearly 400,000 Instagram followers and a partnership with Tiffany & Co. — she's given glimpses into their upbringing, including strict rules around technology. The siblings were not allowed to use their phones before bed, she told Bustle, and to get around the rule, she created a cardboard decoy.

"I thought I could dupe my dad, and it worked, actually, for a couple nights," she told the outlet earlier this year. "And then my mom came home and was like, 'This is literally a piece of cardboard you're plugging in. You're using your phone in your room.' Oh, my gosh, I remember getting in trouble for that."

• I live in Newquay, one of the biggest seaside party destinations in the UK. 
• I started using drugs and drinking alcohol to excess before finally getting sober three years ago.
• Getting sober here taught me willpower and the value of sleep and cold-water swimming.

In 2017, I moved to Newquay, Cornwall, to be with my then girlfriend, but I fell in love with its stunning coastlines and quirky inhabitants.

Newquay is one of the United Kingdom's biggest seaside party destinations — and it's home to the annual Boardmasters, a massive multiday music festival.

Soon after moving, my relationship became tumultuous, and I desperately had to find somewhere new to live. I settled for the first place I could find: a one-bedroom apartment in the center of town, an area especially renowned for its nightlife.

When I first moved in, the club scene was the perfect antidote to my heartbreak. My home was situated in the heart of the party!

Every night I stepped outside, I was met with a lively, drunken scene that felt like entering a slightly dangerous theme park. I craved the raucousness to drown out my grief.

I partied a lot for a few years — I was sniffing God knows what and relying on liquid courage to cover up my pain. I'd go out all night, then be able to walk right home in under five minutes.

But the cracks started to show when my drinking and drug use became excessive. Once I started to become a regular at the emergency department of the local hospital because of drug overdoses and alcohol-related trauma, I decided I needed to change my lifestyle.

I knew sobriety was necessary if I wanted to have a healthy life — but living in the center of a party town made getting sober even more of an uphill climb.

My willpower grew stronger every time I said 'no'

In my first few months of sobriety, I had every opportunity to give in to my previous addictions.

Because I'm in the center of town and had been spending weekends getting wrecked with my friends for years, my house had become the go-to for pre-drinks and after-parties. I had people texting me for weeks, months, and even a year after I had been sober to ask if they could come around.

The more I said "no," the easier it got. I grieved the loss of many relationships in my life — all the friends I had were drinking friends — and the loss of my old self.

I started to take advantage of the seaside part of my seaside town. My flat was central to bars but I also lived a short walk from the beach.

I began cold-water swimming after learning it could help relieve anxiety and depression. I found peace swimming in the mornings, one of the few times of the day the town is quiet.

I did my best to avoid triggers and I started to exercise regularly. I found local support groups to aid my recovery, too.

Still, most nights, I'd lay in bed every night listening to the chants of drunk people outside.

I tried going out sober, but now I just do my best to tune out my surroundings

I eventually got to the stage where I felt comfortable enough to go out some nights — I knew that I couldn't avoid it forever.

At first, I found it easy to be sober around people who were drunk because no one seemed to care or notice I wasn't drinking. But I was desperate for peace as soon the clock hit 11 p.m.

Even after I got home, I could still hear the thumping bass of the club nearby that sent vibrations through my walls. It would keep me up and threaten to ruin the routine I had tried so hard to maintain.

I started wearing noise-reducing earplugs and fought back with a drug greater than the ones I'd glorified in the past: sleep. I don't really leave my house after 10 p.m. on weekends anymore.

I'm three years sober now and I still get woken up by the occasional drunk screech outside — but my rowdy neighbors have taught me the importance of a fiercely disciplined routine.

• The US halted deliveries of GPS-guided Excalibur shells to Ukraine due to high failure rates.
• Russia had achieved success in jamming of US-supplied weapons, reports said.
• Classified reports revealed the Excalibur shell strike success dropped from 55% to 6% last summer.

The US halted deliveries of Excalibur extended-range guided artillery shells to Ukraine after Kyiv reported high failure rates, anonymous Ukrainian officials told The Washington Post.

Six months ago, Ukraine told Washington that Russia's jamming of the guidance systems in several US-supplied weapons had eroded its ability to defend its territory, the officials told the Post.

The weapons most affected by the jamming were the Excalibur shells — a GPS-guided 155-mm artillery shell supplied to Ukraine — and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS.

In response, the US simply stopped further deliveries of the Excalibur shells, the Ukrainian officials said.

The cost of the Excalibur has soared, according to a Government Accountability Office report, to roughly $100,000 per shell in 2022, as much as 50 times the cost of an unguided 155mm shell, before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Business Insider has reached out to the US Department of Defense for comment on the matter.

At one point, only 1 in 19 Excalibur rounds was hitting its target

Two classified Ukrainian weapons reports seen by The New York Times have since revealed the extent of the issue caused by Russian jamming.

From January to August 2023 the proportion of confirmed successful strikes with Excalibur shells dropped from a high of 55% to a low of 7% in July and 6% in August. During this time, Ukraine was attempting to wage its summer counteroffensive which ultimately failed.

Researchers collected data on the use of some 3,000 Excalibur shells fired by American-supplied M777 howitzers on the front lines in Ukraine's southern city of Kherson, the northern city of Kharkiv, and the eastern city of Bakhmut.

According to a person familiar with the report who spoke to The Times, at one point, only one in 19 Excalibur rounds was hitting its target.

One of the classified reports stated that at this rate, the price of a successful strike increased from $300,000 to $1.9 million.

When first delivered, the M982 Excalibur shells were hailed as a game changer for Ukraine. The GPS-guided 155 mm shells offered an accurate, longer-range alternative to conventional artillery shells, capable of hitting within seven feet of their target.

The Excalibur has a range of 25 miles, according to Pentagon budget documents from 2022 that first confirmed the shells had been sent to Ukraine.

Russian jamming has also affected HIMARS missile and glide bombs

The HIMARS system, which can fire rockets up to 50 miles, has also been hampered by Russian jamming, a Ukrainian military source told The Post.

"The Russians deployed electronic warfare, disabled satellite signals, and HIMARS became completely ineffective," the source told The Post. According to the assessment, Russian jamming can cause the missiles to miss a target by 50 feet or more.

The HIMARS system, which can fire rockets up to 50 miles, has also been hampered by Russian jamming, a Ukrainian military source told The Post.

"The Russians deployed electronic warfare, disabled satellite signals, and HIMARS became completely ineffective," the source told the Post. According to the assessment, Russian jamming can cause the missiles to miss a target by 50 feet or more.

Earlier this week, a report revealed that US-supplied glide bombs were continually missing their targets as a result of Russian jamming, too.

A senior US official, who was not named, told the Post that Russia "has continued to expand their use of electronic warfare, and we continue to evolve and make sure that Ukraine has the capabilities they need to be effective."

However, earlier this month Mike Nagata, a retired US Army lieutenant general who led special operations in the Middle East, said that the US is "still falling behind" in its electronic warfare capabilities, Defense One reported.

"The gap between where the United States should be and where we are, in my judgment, continues to expand not everywhere, but in far too many places," Nagata said at the SOF Week conference in Tampa, Florida.

He called on the US to get more creative to regain its dominance in electronic warfare.

• Business Insider asked interior designers which living-room trends are in and out this year.
• The experts said earthy tones and brass accents will be popular throughout 2024. 
• Barbiecore accents, all-white interiors, and large armchairs will be phased out this year.

There's not much we can do about rising home prices and high rent costs — but we can control how we decorate the space we live in.

And now, we're starting with the living room. Business Insider asked interior designers which living-room trends are in and out this year.

Here's what they said.

Custom upholstery is here to stay in 2024.

Alex Bass, interior designer and founder and CEO of Art Advisory & Interior Design Studio Salon 21, told Business Insider using custom upholstery to personalize a living room without buying new furniture is so in.

She said more and more people will try "refreshing an old ottoman or making new pillows with some fun prints to bring color and texture" to a home.

Earthy tones are on the rise.

Claire Paquin, interior designer and founder of Clean Design, told BI that in 2024 we'll see more earthy tones in living-room spaces.

"My clients are attracted to rich hues like forest green, berry, and rust, which make spaces feel inviting and warm," she said.

Grays and cool neutrals will continue to find their way into designs but with less regularity.

LED lighting is trending.

Paquin said LED lighting will continue to be used in room designs this year because it can be used "for both form and function."

It can give homeowners and renters a chance to explore different ambiance and mood lighting in their space.

She said she's also seen LED lighting used to back-light floating mirrors and placed within walls and ceilings for a custom look.

Brass accents will continue to rise in popularity.

Kellie Sirna, interior designer and founder of Studio 11 Design, said brass accents will remain popular this year.

"Brass always adds a bit of glam to a space and warms up the room," she said, adding that we'll likely see the finish on knobs, light fixtures, and even cutlery.

Statement rugs are so in.

Denise Davies, interior designer and founder of D2 Interieurs, said uniquely shaped rugs are on trend for 2024.

"I'm seeing a lot now with different-shaped rugs — rounded, egg-shaped, etc. — as opposed to just a rectangle," she said. "This immediately gives a space more interest and allows the eye to wander the room rather than fixate on one piece."

We'll continue to see furniture with storage in living rooms.

Elana Cline, designer and founder of Carta Creatives, told BI that visual clutter is out, so furniture with clever storage solutions is in.

She said hiding visual clutter "can help keep the mind focused and the room more tranquil."

On the other hand, all-white rooms are still out of style.

Amy Youngblood, founder and lead designer at Amy Youngblood Interiors, said all-white rooms are still out for 2024.

"All-white everything gives the home a sterile look, which lacks coziness and comfort," she said. "Without some pops of color, texture, or contrast, your space will not feel inviting for everyday living and entertaining."

Barbiecore was a fleeting trend.

Kathy Kuo, interior designer and founder of Kathy Kuo Home, told BI that buzzy trends like Barbiecore are on their way out.

"It's not realistic or sustainable to overhaul your entire home's aesthetic each time a new buzzword hits the social-media sphere or a popular new movie comes out," she said.

Monochromatic color schemes are fading out.

Youngblood said we'll see fewer monochromatic color schemes in living spaces this year. They're just not exciting enough.

"It's so important to mix textures and blend in contrasting and bolder elements to create an interesting space," she said.

Black interiors won't be back in 2024.

Young said we won't see the color black in living rooms much this year.

"People are increasingly drawn to calming, brighter, more carefree colors in their homes as a way to relax and recharge in their space, so I think we'll see less use of black as the primary color in a room," she told BI.

Chunky armchairs are a thing of the past.

Interior designer Kate Dawson told BI that furniture with big arms will not be trendy by the end of the year.

"Furniture with huge arms won't be sticking around in 2024," she said. " … it feels clunky and dated, and people want more refined and elegant pieces these days."

• Glass Lewis has advised Tesla shareholders to vote against Elon Musk's $56 billion pay package.
• The proxy advisor also urged them to reject a proposal to reincorporate the EV maker in Texas.
• Glass Lewis said in a report that the share options deal was of "excessive size" and "dilutive."

A top proxy advisory firm has urged Tesla shareholders to vote against Elon Musk's $56 billion pay deal and a proposal to reincorporate the EV maker in Texas.

Glass Lewis said in a report that the compensation package was of "excessive size" and "dilutive" while also raising concerns over Musk's numerous other projects — particularly the social media platform X.

"Mr. Musk's slate of extraordinarily time-consuming projects unrelated to the Company was well-documented before the 2018 grant, and only expanded with his high-profile purchase of the company now known as X," Glass Lewis said in the report, per Bloomberg.

The Tesla CEO also runs SpaceX, Neuralink, and the Boring Company.

Glass Lewis added that the proposed move to Texas offered shareholders "uncertain benefits and additional risk," the Financial Times reported.

Proxy advisor firms guide shareholders on how to vote at shareholder meetings, helping them "make educated decisions that benefit the company as well as their own investments," Glass Lewis says on its website.

A report published on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance said that proxy advisory firms can have "significant influence" over institutional investors voting decisions as well as the governance choices of publicly traded companies.

The Glass Lewis report comes ahead of Tesla's annual meeting on June 13, when investors will vote on the proposed package of share options, which was initially outlined in 2018.

Musk has previously threatened to develop future products elsewhere if his bid to gain more control of Tesla by increasing his stake is blocked.

"I am uncomfortable growing Tesla to be a leader in AI & robotics without having ~25% voting control. Enough to be influential, but not so much that I can't be overturned," he wrote on X in January. "Unless that is the case, I would prefer to build products outside of Tesla."

Tesla's board has been attempting to persuade investors to support the controversial package since it was struck down by a Delaware judge in January over concerns about its size and the board's independence.

In the ruling, Court of Chancery Judge Kathleen St. J. McCormick said, "The process leading to the approval of Musk's compensation plan was deeply flawed," adding that "Musk had extensive ties with the persons tasked with negotiating on Tesla's behalf."

The SpaceX CEO was quick to express his view on the ruling on X, writing, "Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware."

In 2018, 73% of investors approved Musk's pay proposal, per the FT.

If Tesla's board can now prove investors still back the deal, it may help an appeal case against the decision to void it.

Losing the vote would be a major blow to the board and could call Musk's leadership into question.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, which was made outside regular working hours.

• Housing experts were betting on mortgage rates to decline this year on looser Fed policy.
• Yet, the 30-year mortgage rate has been stuck around 7% all year. 
• Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae say they expect mortgages to stay in the 7% range through 2024.

Interest rate forecasts have been volatile through 2024, as early bets for a policy pivot have consistently been let down.

With the Federal Reserve looking unlikely to ease rates before September, housing market analysts are recalibrating mortgage rate outlooks, as home loan rates are heavily influenced by the Fed funds rate. 

Following the excitement of waning inflation at the end of 2023, which prompted calls for as many as seven Fed rate cuts in 2024, a string of discouraging consumer price index reports in the first quarter has prompted a shift.

The Fed has grown more cautious since the start of the year. Public remarks from central bankers in recent weeks have signaled no rush to loosen policy, and some market commentators have said they're even eyeing another rate hike before a dovish pivot. 

That's complicated the outlook for all kinds of borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, and notably, it has made the outlook for mortgage rates much less rosy for potential buyers this year. 

Government-sponsored mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddi Mac have pushed their forecasts for mortgage rates back up.

In a report this month, Fannie estimated that the 30-year mortgage could creep up to 7.1% in the coming quarters, before easing slightly by the end of the year. That's well above the 6.4% forecast it held in April. 

Freddie Mac has also adjusted its prediction. 

"Our baseline scenario has one Federal Reserve rate cut towards the end of the year. As a result, we expect mortgage rates to remain elevated through most of 2024," the government-sponsored enterprise wrote in its midyear outlook.

"The question our economics team is asked most frequently by industry participants remains where we think mortgage rates are headed," chief economist Doug Duncan said in the report. "For now, we see rates remaining closer to 7 percent through the end of the year – before trending downward in 2025 – but note potential downside to that forecast given recent actual movements in rates."

High rates have added to a number of market burdens for both buyers and sellers, and consumers have largely stuck to the sidelines as a result. While there are some encouraging signs for prospective buyers, such as more inventory and less price appreciation, the market is still tight. 

Many homeowners originally bought their property when mortgage rates were as low as 3%, and the steep rise since has disincentivized selling. According to Freddie Mac, six out of 10 mortgages have a rate below 4%, locking those owners into their lower costs. 

With fewer existing homes on the market, a dearth of housing supply has caused prices to soar in the last 18 months.  

"Move-up buyers feel stuck because they're ready for their next house, but it just doesn't make financial sense to sell with current interest rates so high," Redfin Premier agent Sam Brinton said in a recent report. 

Home prices hit a fresh record this month, reaching $387,600 in the four weeks through May 19, Redfin said. Between that and mortgage rate highs, median monthly housing payments are sitting just $20 below recent all-time highs.

• This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Hello! Welcome back to our Sunday edition, a roundup of some of our top stories. Ever wonder how much money you need to make to be considered middle class? What about the incomes of the upper class? We crunched the numbers.

On the agenda:

• How Oracle's biggest-ever acquisition turned deadly.
• Robots and AI might just be the future of IVF.
• Millennials are redefining the FIRE movement.
• Neighborhoods have really dumb names these days.

But first: OpenAI's in the spotlight (again).

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Download Insider's app here.

This week's dispatch

When OpenAI's GPT-4o started chatting during the AI startup's livestream event, I was immediately reminded of "Her," the Spike Jonze movie from a decade ago. I wasn't the only one. 

Scarlett Johansson, who voiced the AI Samantha in that movie, said last week that she had hired lawyers after she heard GPT-4o using a voice that sounded "eerily similar" to her own. This was after Sam Altman tried to hire her to voice the AI bot, and she declined. 

OpenAI paused the voice, saying a different actress was behind it, and that the voice was cast before Altman reached out to Johansson. That one of the AI voices sounds a great deal like a Hollywood star who declined to work with OpenAI is purely coincidental. OK!

It's not a good look for OpenAI, which is facing continued questions over its truthfulness right as it tries to become a fixture in all of our lives.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said OpenAI might have breached YouTube's terms when training its Sora model. Authors are taking legal action over breach of copyright. There have been multiple high-profile departures in recent months.

Six months on from his brief ouster as CEO, Altman is under pressure again.

Oracle's deadly gamble

Larry Ellison bet $28 billion that he could revolutionize healthcare. With the purchase of medical-records company Cerner, the billionaire planned to pump its vast trove of medical data into Oracle's AI models and develop an electronic health record system of the future. 

So far, it's been a disaster.

Inside Ellison's disastrous bet on healthcare.

The future of fertilization

Conceivable Life Sciences, a startup in Guadalajara, Mexico, is building robots and AI models to automate crucial parts of IVF. Though they're just in the prototype stage, the robots can suck sperm into needles and place them into eggs.

The cofounders say automation will challenge an industry rife with arbitrary decision-making — and it could wind up saving patients tens of thousands of dollars. 

Here's how it works.

FI, not RE

For some millennials, the FIRE movement — financial independence, retire early — isn't just about riding off into the sunset early. 

A portion of the generation is focused more on financial independence than cutting out work completely. The result means they can create their own version of life after work.

Millennials throw some cold water on FIRE.

Also read:

• An early retiree shares 3 money moves he made to save seven figures, quit work at 48, and still live comfortably: 'You don't have to live on ramen'
• A 50-year-old retiree says his 'biggest mistake' was saving too much in his 401(k)
• An early retiree shares the advice he received in his early 20s that helped him retire at age 48

Welcome to DumBro

Cities on the rise have a weird trend these days: Really dumb neighborhood names. Take Denver, where you can find RiNo, SoBo, LoDo, and LoHi. Two-syllable names for neighborhoods used to be an oddity.

But now it's become a full-blown epidemic as builders try to redevelop portions of cities into their image. And it's not just an innocent name game. Oftentimes it's about erasing the history — and pushing residents out — of the original neighborhood.

The great neighborhood renaming.

This week's quote:

"I channeled a thick-skinned character who thrived in a man's world."

— Lindsay MacMillan, a former Goldman Sachs VP who was driven out by the company's "boys only" culture.

More of this week's top reads:

• These are the top 15 places to live in the United States.
• Baby boomers have been America's secret weapon for fending off recession.
• Homes on Nantucket are falling into the ocean — but the wealthy won't stop buying them.
• Companies are "unbossing" the workplace. Millennial managers are getting axed.
• How Khaby Lame, the world's most-followed TikToker, built his business.
• Deleting Slack and Gmail helped one woman become a better parent — and worker. 

• Google AI said to put glue in pizza — so I made a pizza with glue and ate it.

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  The Insider Today team: Matt Turner, deputy editor-in-chief, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York.

• Noland Arbaugh is the first human to receive Neuralink's brain-chip implant.
• The 29-year-old quadriplegic man said it's helped him regain independence and reconnect socially.
• He spoke to Business Insider about how it's impacted his life since he got it inserted in January.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Noland Arbaugh, Neuralink's first human patient to receive its brain-chip implant. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I wasn't scared going into the surgery to get Neuralink's implant inserted in January.

I was at peace with it all; it had much to do with my faith in God. I knew that whatever was to come was God's plan for my life, and that really put me at ease.

I also had complete faith in the teams working on this, including the surgical staff and nurses. They were all excellent people in their fields, and all my questions were very well answered.

There were a lot of risks involved, especially being the first to have it. The one thing I was worried about was getting brain damage. That was the one thing that gave me a bit of a pause beforehand. I told my parents that if I became mentally handicapped, I wouldn't want them to take care of me anymore and to put me in an assisted care home. That was probably the hardest thing I had to prepare for.

The idea of giving up the implant was really hard

About a month after I got it, some of the device's wires, or threads, retracted from my brain. This was not Neuralink's fault. There is not a lot of literature or studies about the subject and how much the brain moves when it pulses.

The team talked to a lot of brain surgeons and came to the conclusion that the brain moves about a millimeter. Then, after they implanted it in my brain, they found that it moved three millimeters, which is three times as much as what they had expected. The components and threads that they built weren't intended to take on that kind of load, which caused them to retract a bit.

When I found out what happened, my initial response was to ask if they wanted to go in, remove it, and insert a new one, but they told me they weren't considering it at the time. They wanted to see if they could work around what happened in the software, which they ended up doing instead of fixing it through another surgery. They handled it really well.

It didn't physically hurt, and it wasn't dangerous. But it hurt emotionally because I thought that I wasn't going to be able to use the device anymore. I was just down in the dumps for a few days, but I tend to roll with the punches. It took me a few days, but I came around.

I use the implant to interact with people on social media

I've been using it to message people on X, use Instagram, reply to emails, play fantasy sports, read comics online, and access a site I use to learn Japanese. I also used it to book a hotel for when I visited Neuralink's headquarters.

One time I fell asleep while using it, and the cursor still moves when I'm asleep and still clicks stuff. I fell asleep for about five minutes and when I woke up, there were around 10 different applications open on the computer. You can turn the cursor off so that doesn't happen, but I didn't on this occasion.

The device connects to my computer using Bluetooth, and there's a Neuralink app that allows the implant to access the computer, so I can connect and disconnect from it at will.

Sometimes, I start my day at 7 a.m. and use the implant until 11 p.m. I know it's a long day, but it's fun for me, so it doesn't really feel like work.

I have study sessions with a brain-computer interface team in Maryland for four to eight hours a day. Outside those, I have structured sessions where I have personal time to use the device.

This helps us learn things that the researchers otherwise wouldn't, like different ways in which it doesn't quite work as intended. It can be a bug in the software, for example, that they need to address, which helps to make it better.

It's served to make my life just a bit better

It's allowed me to reconnect with the world, my friends, and my family. It's made me a better texter and more capable of interacting with people such as on social media.

One of the big things about being a quadriplegic is just how powerless you are, and so I wanted to take back as much control as I could.

There were times in the days after my accident in 2016 that led to a spinal cord injury when I didn't want to do anything, where I was sad, and I was like, 'This sucks.' I didn't know what I was doing for a few months and didn't feel like I was being very productive.

But I've always been the kind of person who accepts what is, and finds a way to move forward, and that's exactly what I did. I didn't wallow so much as I looked forward and thought, 'How can I make my life better? How can I improve my life even a little bit today?' That helps a lot. It gives me a drive and a purpose.

The two-year mark after my accident was pretty hard. They say after two years, you won't recover any more movement or sensation, and that's basically what you're going to be left with for the rest of your life. It was hard for a day or two, and then I moved on.

The implant has definitely given me more purpose when I get up, and I feel I'm doing meaningful work. I feel like what I'm doing every day is going to affect people forever after this, and that's enough to keep me going all the time.

Since getting Neuralink's implant inserted in January, the quality of my life has improved significantly. Since my accident, finding different ways to stay productive has been an uphill battle. The device has ultimately allowed me to become more independent.