The Daily Valet. - 12/15/22, Thursday

✔️ It's a Real Rager

Thursday, December 15th Edition

By Cory Ohlendorf, Valet. Editor

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Today’s Big Story

Winter Storm Rages On

Severe weather sweeping the country brings blizzards, flooding and tornadoes

It's probably not a great day to fly across the country. But as you read this, that's just what I'm doing—jetting off to my hometown of St. Louis to see family for the holidays. But that major winter storm we talked about earlier in the week is pushing east, bringing some really ugly weather conditions with it.Over 11 million people across the U.S. were under winter storm warnings or advisories late Wednesday night. Authorities also confirmed dozens of tornadoes and flooding caused injuries and destruction to buildings in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, where at least three people have been confirmed dead.Blizzard warnings are currently in effect in parts of five states, including western Nebraska, eastern Wyoming, southeast Montana, western South Dakota and far northeast Minnesota. Meanwhile, severe winter storm warnings, watches and advisories stretch as far east as the upper Midwest, northern Great Lakes and parts of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic. So ... pretty much everywhere but Florida?Meteorologists say the storm is expected to impact the country for several days, leading to an uncomfortable amount of road closures and flight delays. Already, more than 1,800 flights in the U.S. were canceled yesterday as blizzard conditions, severe thunderstorms and high winds disrupted air travel, according to FlightAware.What's more, there are increasing signs that after this storm passes, a reordering of the weather pattern will take shape. Record cold air is poised to enter the U.S. from Canada during Christmas week, potentially accompanied by—you guessed it—more major winter storms.

Forecast:

Widespread colder-than-average conditions are set to sweep coast to coast later next week.

Trump in Trouble?

we mean, in terms of voters, not all the other scandals currently surrounding him

Donald Trump announced his third bid for the presidency a month ago. But a slew of new polls shows the former president is losing juice among core Republican voters. This is a guy we've learned to never count out, but political watchers are calling it an unmistakable drop in base support that could jeopardize his 2024 comeback bid.Back in 2016, Trump famously said that he “could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters.” And over the past few years, you could argue that he wasn't exactly wrong. But his extreme nature might've actually caught up with him.A new USA Today/Suffolk poll found Trump's favorability among Republicans dropped from 75% in October to 64% this month— noticeably below the 70% threshold generally viewed as a Mendoza line for support within a candidate's own party. A Quinnipiac poll out Wednesday puts Trump's favorability among GOP voters right at 70%—but it's his lowest mark in the survey since March 2016. As one political analyst put it: “The Republican Party faces a lose-lose proposition as long as Trump is politically active.”

FYI:

Newsweek reports that Trump (and the GOP in general) are now losing support from young evangelicals, too.

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Influencers Indicted on Stock Crimes

The social media stars allegedly engaged in a $100 million pump-and-dump scheme

If you have ever heard the words “this is not financial advice” or “this is not stock advice” when scrolling through TikTok or YouTube, you can be sure the next few minutes will be devoted to doling out said advice. It's often coming from those annoyingly successful influencers talking about how they get up at 5 am to hustle and now enjoy the perks of “passive income”.Now federal law enforcement alleged that several financial influencers with hundreds of thousands of followers were manipulating their novice-investor fans to bet big on stock trades, all the while expecting to cash out before prices tanked. That's called a pump-and-dump scheme.Of course, to the government, it's a large-scale securities fraud conspiracy that racked up over $114 million for these guys, in a little less than two years. As if to accentuate the allegations, the indictment dives into transcripts of recordings from some of the influencers as they chatted openly about their scheme on Discord, quoting one as saying, “We're robbing f**king idiots of their money.”

Supersonic Travel One Step Closer

Boom’s New Overture Jet Will Use a Quiet, Low-Emission Supersonic Engine to Hit 1,300 MPH

Are you as excited about the prospect of supersonic travel as I am? Boom has just revealed more details about Symphony, the engine for the Overture jet with which it aims to bring back commercial supersonic air travel after the retirement of Concorde.Most importantly, the company has secured a new partner to develop the engine after it parted ways with Rolls-Royce in September. Because flying supersonic involves a lot more than a cool-looking aircraft. You need engines that can push the jet past Mach 1, or 767.3 mph.And these days, any jet maker also needs to consider sustainability, reliability and lower noise levels. The new engine will be designed and optimized for the Boom's plane and will operate at net-zero carbon levels, have reduced sound and will boast 35,000 pounds of takeoff thrust—all while reducing operating costs by 10% for its commercial airline partners. The company says Symphony is already being designed, with production expected in 2024 at its facility in Greensboro, North Carolina. But we'll have to wait until around 2027 for actual flights to start taking off.

Meanwhile:

American Airlines just put down a deposit to purchase 20 supersonic jets from Boom, with the option to buy up to 20 more.

In Other News

Sports Stadiums Are Changing the Way They Sell Concessions

These innovations could soon be at a stadium near you.

France Beat Morocco to Set Up World Cup Final Against Argentina

Surprise! Snakes Have Clitorises

This Bottle of Pappy Van Winkle Just Set an Auction Record

Have you heard about ...

Stocking your holiday bar

Why Chuck Taylors have fuzzy soles

How ‘Pizza Rat’ lives on (and makes bank)

Our Most-Read Stories of the Year

From the best wellness practices and a disappearing tattoo to some style insider intel

What a year, huh? After a few pandemic-riddled years, 2022 felt more like a reemergence. We're back, a little wiser, if a bit worse for wear. But through it all, the Valet. team continued churning out work to enlighten and entertain—both on the website and in our newsletters (including the newest one, The Obtainer). As we wrap up 2022, the team decided to comb through the data to reflect on the most-read stories from the past twelve months. From the best wellness practices to all the cool products we discovered along with interesting people we met along the way, it was one hell of a year with lots to offer. Here are the audience favorites worth revisiting before we kick things off in the new year.

2022 in Review:

See the full list of our most-read stories of the year

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