Opinion | The Once and Future Threat of Trump

By Ross Douthat

Opinion Columnist

Pepsico Inc Q3 adjusted earnings Beat Estimates

Pepsico Inc (PEP) released a profit for third quarter that declined from last year.

The company’s earnings came in at $2.22 billion, or $1.60 per share. This compares with $2.29 billion, or $1.65 per share, in last year’s third quarter.

Excluding items, Pepsico Inc reported adjusted earnings of $2.48 billion or $1.79 per share for the period.

Analysts had expected the company to earn $1.73 per share, according to figures compiled by Thomson Reuters. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude special items.

The company’s revenue for the quarter rose 11.6% to $20.19 billion from $18.09 billion last year.

Pepsico Inc earnings at a glance:

-Earnings (Q3): $2.48 Bln. vs. $2.31 Bln. last year.
-EPS (Q3): $1.79 vs. $1.66 last year.
-Analysts Estimate: $1.73
-Revenue (Q3): $20.19 Bln vs. $18.09 Bln last year.

Google share price collapses: Alphabet stock down by 2.5% amid social media outage chaos

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Alphabet Inc. – the parent company of Google – has seen its stock decline by 2.5 percent today.  The news comes amid a social media outage that sees Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp down for users across the country. 

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Mike Pence Tries To Spin Jan. 6 Insurrection, Gets Brutal Reminder

Critics pounded former Vice President Mike Pence’s claim on Monday that continued media reporting on the Jan. 6 insurrection was aimed at demeaning supporters of ex-President Donald Trump.

Pence, appearing on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show, suggested news outlets’ ongoing focus on the deadly U.S. Capitol riot by a mob of Trump fans was solely an attempt to “distract from the Biden administration’s failed agenda.”

“They want to use that one day to try and demean the character and intentions of 74 million Americans who believed we could be strong again and prosperous again, and supported our administration in 2016 and 2020,” Pence charged.

Pence was reminded on Twitter of the danger he himself faced during the violence, when Trump supporters chanted for him to be hanged as the then-president slammed him publicly for failing to overturn the 2020 election result.

“No, Mike Pence. We don’t focus on January 6th to ‘demean’ Trump supporters,” responded former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.), a former far-right tea party favorite who is now a vocal critic of the ex-president.

“Mike Pence, your life was in danger. We focus on January 6th to make sure it never ever happens again,” Walsh continued, echoing a point made by many others.

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Trump Unveils New Super PAC And Twitter Users Can’t Stop Howling At The Name

Donald Trump announced a new super PAC on Monday ― and his critics couldn’t get over the name: “Make America Great Again, Again.”

The awkward moniker has been used before by Trump’s allies, including former Vice President Mike Pence, who tested it out at the Republican National Convention in 2020 to similar confusion on social media at the time.

In this case, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said the rebrand was a way to get around longtime Trump aide Corey Lewandowski, who was exiled from the former president’s orbit after being accused of sexual misconduct last week.

However, he remains in charge of the current PAC, “Make America Great Again Action.”

“Trump folks had no way to legally replace Lewandowski, one of two board members of the first super PAC, unless he stepped down, so they’re now forming a new group,” she wrote on Twitter. 

But the former president’s critics couldn’t get over the lack of originality in the name: 

Crude Holds Near 7-year High

Oil prices rose on Tuesday, with Brent crude oil futures hovering near three-year highs and U.S. benchmark crude holding close to 2014 peaks, after OPEC and other major producers decided not to increase their output by more than previously agreed.

Brent crude futures for December delivery were up half a percent at $81.64 a barrel in European trade, after having risen 2.5 percent on Monday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for November settlement were up 0.3 percent at $77.81.

Officials from OPEC, Russia and other oil producers decided on Monday to stick to a gradual output agreement despite rising demand for energy as businesses around the world resumed operations.

The 23-member group said that it would raise production by a modest 400,000 barrels a day in November, less than 0.5 percent of world demand, under a deal reached in July to return output to pre-Covid-19 levels.

In effect, the group shrugged off political and commercial pressure to ramp up oil output to ease a tightening market.

Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are offline

• Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are down for some people.

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Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are offline.

The websites and apps for all of the services were responding with server errors. Reports on DownDetector.com showed the outages appear to be widespread, but it's unclear if it impacts all users or just some locations. It's not currently known what's causing the outage.

All three platforms stopped working shortly before noon ET.

"We're aware that some people are having trouble accessing Facebook app," the company said on Twitter. "We're working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience." A similar tweet was posted about WhatsApp.

A Facebook spokesperson wasn't immediately available for comment.

In 2019, a similar outage lasted about an hour. Facebook said that outage was caused by a technical issue. Major websites can also sometimes go down if content delivery networks, or CDNs, go offline. That happened in June, when one such CDN, Fastly, was down due to technical issues. That caused major websites including Amazon, Reddit and The New York Times to go down.

This news is developing. Please check back for updates.