The Surprise Star Of The Democratic Debate Was On Stage, But Never Said A Word

Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang took to the stage at Tuesday night’s debate with an unusual lapel pin.

It said simply, “MATH.”

Yang has worn the pin for various media appearances before, and even sells it on his website to raise campaign funds. 

“We need to do the opposite of much of what we’re doing right now, and the opposite of Donald Trump is an Asian man who likes math,” Yang cracked at the debate in July.

But while he does love math and is fond of breaking out numbers at his events, the pin also stands for something else: “Make America Think Harder.” 

On Twitter, the “MATH” pin got more attention than some of the comments by the candidates: 

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  Read Live Updates From The 4th Democratic Presidential Debate

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  Democrats Get Bogged Down In Same Gotcha Tax Question At Every Debate

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  Democratic Candidates Turn Fire On New Front-Runner Elizabeth Warren

Donald Trump Jr.’s Oblivious Gripe About Nepotism Gets The Treatment On Twitter

Donald Trump Jr. was widely ridiculed on Twitter after he attacked Hunter Biden for acknowledging that he’d benefited in life because of his surname.

Critics responded by sarcastically calling President Donald Trump’s son ― who is an executive vice president for his father’s company, The Trump Organization, and appeared on his father’s reality TV show “The Apprentice” ― an “anti-nepotism activist.”

Biden, the son of former vice president and current 2020 Democratic candidate Joe Biden, admitted in an interview on “Good Morning America” that he wouldn’t have acquired roles on the boards of certain companies “without saying that I’m the son of the vice president of the U.S.”

“I don’t think that there’s a lot of things that would have happen in my life if my name wasn’t Biden,” Biden added. He denied any wrongdoing in his work with Ukrainian and Chinese companies.

Trump Jr. claimed there was a “Dumpster fire at Biden HQ!”

Detractors immediately noted the irony of Trump Jr.’s claim:

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Abbott Sees Q4 Profit In Line With View; Narrows FY Profit View

Abbott Laboratories (ABT) said it expects earnings per share from continuing operations to be in the range of $0.59 to $0.61, and adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations of $0.94 to $0.96 for the fourth quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $0.95 per share for the fourth-quarter. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude special items.

Abbott narrowed its guidance for 2019 earnings per share from continuing operations to $2.06 to $2.08. Excluding specified items, adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations would be $3.23 to $3.25 for the full year 2019.

The company said in July that it expected earnings per share from continuing operations to be in the range of $2.06 to $2.12, adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations of $3.21 to $3.27. Analysts project annual earnings of $3.24 per share.

Tech Data’s stock soars toward record high after report of Apollo buyout interest

Shares of Tech Data Corp. TECD, +1.69% soared 13% toward a record high in premarket trading Wednesday, after Reuters reported that Apollo Global Management made a bid to buy the information technology company for nearly $5 billion. The report, out late Wednesday, said Apollo would pay $130 for each Tech Data share, which represents a 17% premium to Tuesday’s closing price of $111.34, and imply a market capitalization of about $4.63 billion. On Wednesday, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Matthew Sheerin reiterated his hold rating but raised his stock price target to $125 from $105. "Although Tech Data’s board is obligated to give serious consideration to any takeout offers, we would not be surprised to see the the company consider other, potentially higher offers, particularly considering the strong execution at the company in recent quarters," Sheerin wrote in a note to clients. The stock has rallied 7.9% amid a 5-day win streak to a record close Tuesday. It has climbed 36.1% year to date through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 SPX, +1.00% has advanced 19.5%.

Brexit debriefing meeting delayed to 1500 GMT: EU diplomats

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – A debriefing for EU states on the latest on Brexit has been delayed to 1500 GMT on Wednesday from 1200 GMT, two diplomats with the bloc said as last-ditch talks between Brussels and London on sealing a divorce deal dragged on.

EU-British Brexit talks to resume in Brussels: UK spokesman

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Talks between British and EU negotiators on Brexit will resume in Brussels after a lunch break, a UK spokesman said as last-ditch efforts dragged on to seal a divorce deal this week before Britain is due to leave the bloc on Oct. 31.

Twitter May Have Used Your Phone Numbers For Ads

Social networking giant Twitter Inc. (TWTR), has revealed that email addresses and phone numbers uploaded by users to meet the company’s security requirements may have been “inadvertently” used for advertising purposes.

“This was an error and we apologize,” the company said in a statement. The company said it has addressed the issue as of September 17. However, it is not sure how many people were impacted by this security flaw.

“We’re very sorry this happened and are taking steps to make sure we don’t make a mistake like this again.”

“We recently found that some email addresses and phone numbers provided for account security may have been used unintentionally for advertising purposes. This is no longer happening and we wanted to give you more clarity around the situation,” the social networking giant tweeted on its official handle.

The security problem was caused by tailored audiences program, which allows companies to target advertisements against their own marketing lists, such as phone numbers and email addresses. Twitter found that when advertisers uploaded their marketing lists, it matched Twitter users to the phone numbers and email addresses users submitted to set up two-factor authentication on their account.