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Blake, Wm. Frontispiece, 'The Christian Triumph.' 1795.

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Meek Mill broke into tears as he spoke at a ceremony in Pennsylvania to honor a criminal justice reform bill that reduces the chances for those on probation to return to jail for minor offenses.

Meek, who had been trying to get this bill passed for over five years, said in a speech: “I don't want to get emotional because it's a lot. You don't have to clap 'cause I'm at a point in my life like we all grew up in the streets, and we try to be better, but they labeled us felons and sent us back to jail. I had to fight against that the whole time to gain my respect and be who I am today, and I'm proud of that.”

In 2008, the artist received probation, and almost a decade later, he was sentenced to prison for violating the terms. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf granted him a pardon in January.

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Blake, Wm. The Progress of Poesy. 1797.

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Investors expect LVMH and other luxury-good stocks to have a weak start in 2024, a reverse of the strong performance in 2023.

BNP Paribas analysts say next year will be a “game of two halves,” with a revival occurring in the second half.

For LVMH, 2023 was momentous, seeing the brand become the first European firm to surpass a $500 billion market value. This was largely due to surging demand in China for luxury goods after the country finally scrapped COVID restrictions.

China, whose consumers constitute 25% of the global luxury market, and potentially 40% by 2030, is now seeing a fading recovery and a peak in consumer spending. Thus, a revival in demand from China will be key to LVMH and other brands having a strong year.

Flavio Cereda, an investment manager at GAM UK: “Yes, it’s volatile at the moment. By the time we get to Easter, I would be surprised if we didn’t have signs that this is starting to reverse.”

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Blake, Wm. The Last Supper- 'Verily I Say Unto You That One of You Shall Betray Me.' 1799.

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Doctors from Ivy League universities are now claiming obesity is a growing norm for Americans and should be treated with drugs.

In a lecture series titled “Treating Obesity: Confronting a New Normal,” doctors from Harvard and Yale say behavioral issues don’t cause obesity, and viewing the condition as such actually harms obese people.

Ania Jastreboff, Yale professor: “Obesity is not a personal choice. For years, the advice was that our patients needed to ‘eat less and move more.’ That does not work.”

David Ludwig, Harvard professor: “Western culture has considered obesity a character problem. Obesity is simply a matter of eating less and moving more, and if you can’t do it, it’s a lack of character or discipline. When in reality, obesity is more about biology than behavior. We need to think about nutrition as we think about drugs.”

The doctors celebrated weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, with Jastreboff saying that “we’re in an incredibly exciting time.”

Goldman Sachs estimates that the anti-obesity medication market could reach $100 billion by 2030, more than 16 times its $6 billion value this year.

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Blake, Wm. Dante and Statius Sleeping with Virgil Watching. 1824.

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People online have been claiming that the ChatGPT AI has gotten “lazier,” generating shorter responses and even asking some users to complete the task themselves.

In response, ChatGPT wrote on X: “We've heard all your feedback about GPT4 getting lazier! We haven't updated the model since Nov 11th, and this certainly isn't intentional. Model behavior can be unpredictable, and we're looking into fixing it.”

This isn’t the first time the AI has displayed human-like tendencies—users on social media shared that if you tell the tool you’ll give it a $200 tip, it’ll generate a longer response on average than if you offer no bribe.

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Blake, Wm. Satan Exulting Over Eve. 1795.

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running in the 2024 presidential election as an independent, is under fire for his take on Palestine.

In an interview with the podcast “Breaking Points,” the scion to the Kennedy family said: “The Palestinian people are arguably the most pampered people by international aid organizations in the history of the world.”

Co-host Krystal Ball was in disbelief: “Are you kidding me? 70% of people in Gaza said they don’t have enough food to eat.”

Kennedy: “Right, so why is that? First of all, Israel has no obligation.”

Social media users were also in disbelief, suspecting such an opinion could only result from blackmail.

One user: “This man must have fucked hundreds of children.”