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ABC took comic Jimmy Kimmel‘s late-night show off the air indefinitely Wednesday, just hours after Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr called his comments about Charlie Kirk’s assassination truly sick. Carr is a longtime FCC commissioner named as chairman by President Donald Trump in November. In the months since, he has launched investigations of ABC, CBS and NBC news. Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly. It is time for a change, Carr said in July, after the FCC approved CBS owner Paramounts $8 billion merger with Skydance. Here’s what to know about Carr: Carr is a longtime FCC commissioner The FCC regulates broadcasting, telecommunications and broadband. Carr was already a longtime member of the commission and served previously as the FCCs general counsel. He was unanimously confirmed by the Senate three times and both Trump and President Joe Biden nominated him to the commission. Before joining the commission as a staff member in 2012, he worked as an attorney at Wiley Rein LLP and clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He has more recently embraced Trumps ideas about social media and tech. He wrote a section devoted to the FCC in Project 2025, a sweeping blueprint for gutting the federal workforce and dismantling federal agencies in a second Trump administration produced by the conservative Heritage Foundation. Trump has claimed he didnt know anything about Project 2025, but many of its themes have aligned with his statements. The FCC takes on broadcast networks In March, Carr said he was opening an investigation into Walt Disney Co. and ABC to see whether they are promoting invidious forms of DEI discrimination. He also opened separate investigations into CBS and NBC news. Talking about the Kimmel situation on Fox News Wednesday, he said broadcasters with FCC licenses have a unique obligation to operate in the public interest. And over the years, the FCC walked away from enforcing that public interest obligation. I dont think were better off as a country for it. In July, he hailed the Paramount-Skydance merger as an opportunity to bring more balance to once-storied CBS. FCC approval of the merger came after months of turmoil around Trumps legal battle with the CBS program 60 Minutes.” With the specter of the Trump administration potentially blocking the deal, Paramount agreed to a $16 million settlement with the president. CBS then announced it was canceling Stephen Colberts Late Show just days after the comedian sharply criticized the settlement on air. Paramount cited financial reasons, but big names both within and outside the company have questioned those motives. Shortly before the FCC approved the merger, Paramount agreed to hire an ombudsman at CBS News to investigate complaints of political bias. The job went to Kenneth Weinstein, the former head of a conservative think tank who has made several donations to Republican causes, including President Donald Trumps 2024 campaign. Carr takes on Kimmel On Wednesday, Carr said Kimmel appeared to be making an intentional effort to mislead the public that conservative activist Kirks assassin was a right-wing Trump supporter. He called Kimmel’s comments about Kirk’s death truly sick and said his agency has a strong case for holding Kimmel, ABC and Disney accountable for spreading misinformation. Kirk, a top conservative podcaster, was shot and killed last week at an appearance on a college campus in Utah. Kimmel made several remarks about the reaction to Kirk’s death last week on Jimmy Kimmel Live,” including that many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk. This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney, Carr said on the Benny Johnson podcast. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead. House Democratic leaders on Thursday called for Carr’s resignation and accused him of bullying ABC into suspending Kimmel. In a joint statement, the leaders including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the move was part of Trump and Republicans effort to wage a war on the First Amendment.
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E-Commerce
Nvidia took a cue from the U.S. government on Thursday, acquiring a $5 billion stake in Intel. Last month, President Trump announced that the U.S. government was also making a $9 billion investment in Intel, meaning that now Nvidia and the United States are among Intels largest shareholders. All told, its a major Silicon Valley shakeup that could have wide-ranging effects, especially as the AI race continues to heat up. In fact, the AI arms race is at the center of the new partnership, as the two will jointly develop chips for both personal computers and data centers. This historic collaboration tightly couples NVIDIAs AI and accelerated computing stack with Intels CPUs and the vast x86 ecosystema fusion of two world-class platforms, said NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang in a statement. Together, we will expand our ecosystems and lay the foundation for the next era of computing. Theres no denying that the news is big, and investors treated it as such. Intels stock soared more than 30% on Thursday, and Nvidias jumped more than 3.5%. The intel on Intel-Nvidia But theres potentially more at stake than merely share price increases. Nvidias investment may signalor bethe biggest, boldest move yet as American tech firms beef up to battle those in China. It also poses big challenges for competitors like AMD, and represents a new dynamic in the semiconductor industry at large. For instance, Taiwan Semiconductor, perhaps the most dominant company in the space, now has a new adversary to deal withand its stock fell nearly 7% when the trading day opened (though it did bounce back). All told, the investment helps make Intel more competitive and gives Nvidia more avenues for distribution for its chips. Thats important, coming off the news that Chinas internet regulator, The Cyberspace Administration of China, is reportedly telling Chinese tech companies that they cannot buy or use chips from Nvidia, according to the Financial Times. Looking ahead, its unclear whether the combined efforts of Nvidia and Intel will be enough to go blow-for-blow with companies like Huawei, particularly as global trade wars continue. Analysts, too, think that the partnership sends a bigger message to the market: Old dynamics are going out the window. This is truly like the Yankees and the Red Sox coming together to end their rivalrythe companies did not like each other whatsoever, David Wagner, head of equity and portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors, said per reporting by Reuters. It’s a massive step in the right direction (utilizing INTC’s fab to make chips) for US chip designers, and breathes new life into a poorly run company for decades.
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E-Commerce
The price of most organic food could jump this fall due to new policies and tariffs on imported organic sugar, frustrating manufacturers who say the actions won’t help sugar growers but could put some food companies out of business. More than 90% of organic sugar used by U.S. manufacturers is imported. The price of that product increased in August when the Trump administration imposed steep trade tariffs, and will rise even more when high-tier duties on most organic sugar imports take effect October 1. The result, according to the Organic Trade Association, is that the price of organic sugar is expected to soar by an average of 30%, increasing costs of producing most organic foodseverything from yogurt to cookies. Each year, the U.S. imports 1,825 tons (1,656 metric tons) of specialty sugar because its required under a World Trade Organization agreement. But demand for organic sugar far exceeds that amount, so the U.S. Department of Agriculture sets an annual quota for the amount of specialty sugar that can be imported into the U.S. duty-free. Last year, the quota was 231,485 tons (210,000 metric tons), which still wasnt enough to meet demand. This year, the USDAs quota taking effect October 1 will be zero, and all organic sugar imports beyond the WTO minimum will be hit with high out-of-quota duties. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has said its restrictions on specialty sugar imports are intended to help the U.S. sugar industry. The department didnt respond to inquiries about its new sugar policy. Specialty sugar policy could lead to higher prices The limits on duty-free imports of specialty sugar plus a new 50% tariff on Brazil, which supplies 40% of the U.S.’s organic sugar, is especially difficult because organic products are already more expensive than their conventional counterparts. Growers must meet more requirements to be certified organic, such as restrictions on pesticides and fertilizers. U.S. manufacturers say that buying domestic organic sugar isnt an option because there is only one U.S. farm that produces the specialty crop, and converting a conventional farm to organic takes at least three years. They warn the combined effect of the tariff and import caps may force them either to raise prices or curb production. Its essentially punishing domestic manufacturers for using an ingredient that we really cant obtain domestically, and dont have any prospects of obtaining domestically any time in the near future, said Britt Lundgren, who oversees government affairs for organic yogurt maker Stonyfield. Tom Chapman, co-CEO of the Organic Trade Association, said he expects dramatic impacts. The high-tier tariff is so high that we don’t see that it’s an absorbable rate of tariff, in addition to all the other tariffs that would apply, Chapman said. Organic food manufacturers will buy most of the imported organic sugar, though some will be offered on grocery shelves, where home bakers likely will see increased prices. U.S. not producing enough organic sugar to meet demand Demand for organic sugar had already been outpacing imports for the past several years, but that did not spur any new domestic producers, organic food manufacturers said. In addition to limited production, the U.S. also has limited organic sugar processing because ingredients that are certified organic must be segregated from conventional ingredients when processed. Whole Earth Brands, a company that sells a variety of sweeteners, is anticipating a 100% increase in organic sugar costs, according to company president Nigel Willerton. We supply every major supermarket in the U.S. and natural food stores. Well see our prices go up quite considerably. Theres nothing we can avoid there,” he said. How much prices will change depends on how much sugar is used in the product. For example, sweeteners that are made almost entirely from organic sugar are likely to see bigger price increases than dairy products, where organic sugar is not the main ingredient. Higher sugar costs may lead some businesses to shut down Many organic food manufacturers are smaller operations, so they are more sensitive to increases in input costs, Willerton said. Some of them may not have the margins to absorb the cost, and they’re unable to replace organic sugar substitutes because it would require product reformulation. Weve got lots of small companies involved in this business, Willerton said. These small premium companies producing these products are literally going to find themselves priced out of the market. The U.S. government has long had a prominent role in sugar production with policies for setting minimum prices and generous loan programs. Still, Chapman said he doesn’t understand what the USDA is trying to accomplish with its restrictions. When we looked at the USDA announcements, they were talking about domestic sugar shrinking and mills closing,” he said. “Theres only one mill. They were in operation before, and theyre in operation now. Florida Crystals Corporation, the only organic sugar producer in the U.S., supplies 8% of the U.S. organic sugar market, up from about 2% a decade ago. Marianne Martinez, the company’s spokesperson, said the USDAs new specialty sugar policy “is encouraging and could result in an increase in U.S.-grown and milled organic cane sugar production if it becomes a long-term policy. The USDA has not announced any other initiatives to support organic growers in the meantime. By Sarah Raza, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
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