Extra, Extra

Bad Beats: “So far, even if fans are losing trust in the product, they’re still watching and the leagues keep making money.” Sports-Betting Scandals Are Ubiquitous. Whether Fans Will Care Is an Open Question. (I worry a lot less about whether the scandals will affect the betting business and a lot more about the way the betting business will create an era of gambling addiction.)

+ Payback Time? “The ruling revealed an overlooked consequence of Trump’s pardon for some Jan. 6 offenders: Not only did it free them from prison but it emboldened them to demand payback from the government.” They ransacked the U.S. Capitol and want the government to pay them back.

+ Better Off Fed: “The Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared likely to block President Donald Trump from immediately firing Democratic-appointed Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve board, a move that would prevent Trump from exerting greater influence over the powerful central bank that guides the economy.” (This, and the dropping of the Greenland military threats, combined to boost the market, bigly.)

+ Chips on the Table: “I think this is crazy. It’s a bit like selling nuclear weapons to North Korea and [bragging that] Boeing made the casings.” Trump didn’t give the only controversial speech at Davos. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei unloaded on both the administration and chip companies (including a really big one that invests in his company) over the decision to sell AI to China.

+ Faith In Nathan: “Nathan’s Famous, which opened as a 5-cent hot dog stand in Coney Island more than a century ago, has been sold to packaged meat giant Smithfield Foods in an all-cash $450 million deal, the companies announced Wednesday.”