Over the past several weeks, anyone with a working internet connection has been exposed to any number of wild Tesla headlines.
On the call following the company's disappointing first-quarter earnings report, CEO Elon Musk called an analyst's question " boneheaded ." Weeks later, Musk insinuated that Linette Lopez — a Business Insider reporter who produced several Tesla scoops — was complicit in insider trading and may be providing nonpublic information. Then Musk lashed out at critics of his involvement in the rescue of a Thai soccer team.
And that's just a sampling of the public mishaps involving Musk. Beneath the surface at Tesla, the company is burning through cash at a torrid pace, and it recently pushed back the delivery windows for two of three versions of its Model 3 sedan.
All of these elements have combined to make Tesla a popular target for bearish investors of all types. And while the stock market has long been the preferred outlet for skeptics, they've recently added two other bearish bets to their repertoire: bonds and credit-default swaps .
With that established, here's a handy summary of the three preferred vessels for betting against Tesla:
The stock market
Equity short sellers have a long-standing contentious relationship with Musk, who has made a habit out of taunting his stock market opponents . But his efforts have been mostly in vain, as Tesla has remained the most shorted stock in the US equity market for the better part of the past 18 months.
Data from IHS Markit suggests short sellers are continuing to forge ahead, perhaps positioning ahead of Tesla's second-quarter earnings report on Wednesday. They've sold an additional 350,000 shares short over the past week, bringing the grand total to 35.4 million, according to the firm's data.
Here's a look at how the number of shares shorted has fluctuated this year. Note that while the measure looks fairly range-bound, Tesla has remained the most shorted stock in the US market by a considerable amount the entire time.
IHS Markit
The bond market
Immediately after the initial issuance of Tesla's bond, expiring in 2025, credit shorts seized the opportunity to use another avenue to bet against the company. In short order, 8% — or $140 million — of the total issue size was being shorted. And that number has grown over time, now sitting at 14%, or $264 million.
And while the amount being shorted in the bond market pales in comparison with what is occurring in equities, IHS Markit suggests that shorting bonds carries greater symbolic significance.
"The negative sentiment regarding the firm's more than $8 billion pile of debt seems to be ratcheting up, and signals from the bond market are often viewed as having a greater significance given that it primarily consists of institutional investors," Sam Pierson, the director of securities finance at IHS Markit, wrote in a client note.
IHS Markit
Credit-default swaps
Tesla credit-default swaps have been offered only since late June, and they've already seen a decent amount of interest (as evidenced by the recent spike in the purple line charted below).
For context, the right axis on the chart below represents the number of points offered up front. In more relatable terms, 18% (where the CDS started trading) translates to $180,000 being paid up front — plus another $10,000 a year — to insure $1 million of Tesla bonds.
While the CDS up-front points have come down slightly from a peak seen in the second week of July, the trajectory appears to be on an upward path.
Clearly more capital is required to transact in Tesla CDS, so it will never be as popular as the stock market when it comes to bearish bets. But the sheer fact that such a market exists and has been thriving shows just how much demand there is for anti-Tesla products of any type.
Jerome Powell testifies before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. Joshua Roberts/Reuters
Federal Reserve officials meeting this week are grappling with an important milestone in their effort to raise interest rates gradually without derailing the economy: When to tell the world that interest rates are no longer all that low — or more accurately, that monetary policy is no longer "loose."
This is how the internal debate at the US central bank was characterized in minutes to the Fed's June meeting .
"Many (officials) noted that, if gradual increases in the target range for the federal funds rate continued, the federal funds rate could be at or above their estimates of its neutral level sometime next year. In that regard, participants discussed how the Committee's communications might evolve over coming meetings if the economy progressed about as anticipated; in particular, a number of them noted that it might soon be appropriate to modify the language in the post-meeting statement indicating that the stance of monetary policy remains accommodative."
Ward McCarthy, Jefferies chief financial economist, says he does not expect any tweaks to come at this week's meeting, which is also not expected to yield another interest rate hike.
"How soon is soon? We think that August 1 is too soon," he writes in a research note. "However, we cannot preclude the possibility that the FOMC alters the language in the August 1 policy statement to set the stage for the modification of the phrase 'the stance of monetary policy remains accommodative.'"
But McCarthy adds: "The most efficient change on August 1 would be to change the statement to 'the stance of monetary policy remains accommodative for now.'"
The Fed has raised interest rates several times since December 2015 to a range of 1.75% to 2%. That may seem low historically, but comes in the context of an employment recovery that has taken so many years to make up the ground lost during the Great Recession.
Morgan Stanley economist Ellen Zentner and her colleagues are on the same page on the likely timing of the Federal Open Market Committee's language shift:
"We do expect that after raising rates at the September meeting, the FOMC may look to adjust its assessment that the stance of policy 'remains accommodative,' but that reference is likely to remain unchanged in the August statement for now," the bank's economists write in a research note.
"The bulk of the changes we expect will be a mark-to-market in the section describing current economic conditions to reflect recent data."
Jay MacDonald, the CEO and cofounder of Digital Capital Advisors. Digital Capital Advisors
If you work in advertising or media, this summer has most likely felt a lot like an episode of the TV game show "Deal or No Deal."
After a few years of falling stock prices and sluggish acquisition activity in the advertising-technology sector, a wave of big deals over the past few months has reignited the advertising and media industries' interest investing in and buying tech expertise — particularly among firms that specialize in extrapolating and understanding data.
"I think no one would disagree that ad tech is hot again," said Jay MacDonald, the CEO and cofounder of Digital Capital Advisors. "You could say that a lot of the consolidation is happening from the large telco and software companies."
There's perhaps an unexpected driver of this activity: regulation. Numerous ad-tech companies are feeling the heat from Europe's new General Data Protection Regulation privacy law and similar possible US regulation in states such as California .
In light of regulation challenges, you might think dealmaking would slow. But marketers are rethinking the ways they collect and measure data, according to Ben Gaddis, the president of the ad agency T3 — so they need access to as many powerful tools as they can to protect themselves.
"I think you'll see more consolidation," he said. "As long as you're using data, just make it more meaningful — we're seeing more marketers going back to first-party, CRM data."
Firms that can promise transparency and safety are getting snatched up
Ahead of GDPR, a handful of ad companies including Kargo, Drawbridge, and Verve shut down European operations. Elsewhere, according to ad-tech execs, companies waited until the past three months to begin preparing before the sweeping regulation rolled out in May.
"The industry was ill prepared for something of that magnitude — the last three months were crazy," Index Exchange's CEO and president, Andrew Casale, said.
Along with GDPR, ad-tech companies have also reworked their transparency efforts to combat fraud, which has long been a thorn for investors.
"There's this almost smoke screen over ad tech because it is so complicated," said Tim Cadogan, the chairman and CEO of OpenX.
"In the last 18 months, a lot of progress has been made in clearing out the smoke — you have a whole new set of standards that are making it a lot easier to know who to work with and who not to work with," he said, referring to the publishing industry's Ads.txt initiative that aims to wipe out fraud from sites.
The duopoly is affecting all areas of advertising
Legacy companies like telecoms and ad agencies are under pressure to stay competitive with more data-based services. So it's no surprise that the two industries are prime for acquiring ad-tech companies.
"The entire business, just like publishing, is getting squeezed in the dominance of Google and Facebook," said JC Uva, the managing director at MediaLink. "These big walled gardens are squeezing the open web market."
Most notably, there's AT&T's acquisition of AppNexus to build an ad-tech stack meant to match complex ad targeting with premium TV and video content.
Brian Lesser, the CEO of AT&T advertising and analytics. AT&T
The Singapore-based telecom Singtel is also beefing up its portfolio of digital advertising companies. The Singtel-owned Amobee recently won a bid to acquire the video ad-tech firm Videology's assets . Singtel's advertising group also includes its previous ad-tech acquisitions Turn and Gradient X.
"Overall what you're seeing is frankly a maturing industry," said Philip Smolin, a former Turn executive who is now Amobee's chief strategy officer. "The prior 10 years was early stages, and you had a lot of innovation that was occurring in things that were new — the value for marketers increasingly is around the connection between all of these media channels."
And in terms of the companies getting scooped up, it's worth noting that many have proved more financially sound than previous ad-tech firms, which helps spur investor interest. "You can now justify some of these valuations based on the fact on that they're profitable," he said.
Agencies and marketing clouds are the hunt for new sources of data and revenue
Ad agencies also want a bigger piece of the space, as shown by Interpublic Group's purchase of Acxiom Marketing Solutions for $2.3 billion this month to create customized ad targeting and first-party data sets.
JC Uva, the managing director at MediaLink. Medialink
The holding companies Omnicom, Dentsu, and Publicis have similar offerings, but it's hard to compete with WPP when it comes to acquisitions. Before his ouster as CEO, Martin Sorrell aggressively acquired data-minded shops .
IPG's moves are notable therefore because "those guys have been really quiet — besides WPP — in the past," MacDonald said.
At the same time, big consultancies and software companies like Accenture Interactive and IBM are active shoppers because they "feel that they have an advantage — their client is the CMO," he added.
Marketing clouds are getting aggressive, too. Over the past few years, Adobe, Oracle , and IBM have revved up their dealmaking, snatching up the likes of TubeMogul, Moat, and The Weather Company.
Most recently, Salesforce nabbed Datorama for a reported $800 million to give marketers access to data from email, social media, and advertising, and the company also acquired the demand-side platform Krux in 2016.
"They each have different strengths and gaps in their offering," MacDonald said.
Private venture is increasingly attractive
Still, acquisitions are not the end-all for all ad-tech companies. Firms like Integral Ad Science and MediaMath are landing big funding from private-equity firms to invest in technology that crunches reams of data and artificial intelligence for advertisers.
MediaMath — a firm that has long been rumored to be an acquisition target — recently secured $225 million to invest in new areas like artificial intelligence, for example.
Going the route of private equity is becoming more valuable for firms, MediaLink's Uva said, because "there is less mystery about ad-tech and mar-tech than there were a few years ago."
Interestingly, Uva said some of the firms grabbing private-equity backing have business models that allow them to piggyback on the success of big platforms like Facebook and Google, again showing the duopoly's dominance in digital advertising.
Verification companies like Integral Ad Science, Moat, and DoubleVerify have been acquired or received significant funding in recent years.
These companies work directly with marketers and platforms to measure ads, meaning they are able to "sit outside the risk that Facebook and Google dominate," he said.
"All have cracked into the social side that's still growing — that's an interesting place to be because you can grow with these scaled platforms."
In this Nov. 3, 2017, photo, residents walk through a security checkpoint into the Hotan Bazaar where a screen shows Chinese President Xi Jinping in Hotan in western China's Xinjiang region. AP Photo/Ng Han Guan
The vast Xinjiang region in northwestern China is home to just 1.5% of the country's entire 1.3 billion residents. But in 2017, one in five arrests in China occurred there.
In total, out of Xinjiang's 22 million residents, 227,000 people were arrested — a 731% increase from 2016, according to data released last week from the advocacy group Chinese Human Rights Defenders .
But what may be most concerning of all, is that these numbers don't include the hundreds of thousands, possibly 1 million people, who have been rounded up and thrown into political "re-education camps" in the last 18 months. None of these people entered the official court system, most never committed an actual crime, and many have never been heard from again.
"This strong rise in 2017 [arrests] is consistent with all the other securitization measures, including massive police recruitment, deployment of sophisticated technologies, installation of checkpoints everywhere, etc. Re-education detainment figures are certainly on top of these numbers," Adrian Zenz, a social researcher at the European School of Culture and Theology who used job ads and construction bids to estimate the number of detainees, told Business Insider. "It shows the scale of the security state in Xinjiang at these different levels."
A ethnic Uyghur woman sweeps outside her house on July 1, 2017 in the old town of Kashgar, in the far western Xinjiang province, China. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
Authorities have been targeting Xinjiang residents and, in particular, the local Muslim Uighur minority, under the guise of fighting terrorism. But experts consider the recent crackdown an attempt to suppress expressions of religious identity that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) fears threatens the very stability of the Party.
To prevent this, local authorities have built and expanded facilities across Xinjiang where residents, mostly Uighurs, are forcibly detained and indoctrinated with the will of the CCP.
They are bullied and threatened into abandoning their Muslim beliefs and instead study Chinese history, write personal reflections, and sing songs like " Without the Communist Party, there is no New China ." Many are isolated, beaten, tortured, and are unable to go home.
Sayragul Sauytbay, an ethnic Kazakh Chinese national who is currently on trial for illegally entering Kazakhstan to rejoin her family and is believed to have been arrested at the request of China, recently testified about the scope of one camp she worked at that held 2,500 ethnic Kazakhs.
"In China they call it a political camp but really it was a prison in the mountains," Sauytbay said this month. "That I am discussing this camp in an open court means I am already revealing state secrets."
In one town, Radio Free Asia reported that police were given the goal of detaining 3,000 Uighurs or Kazakhs a week who were critical of the government on social media or who just had family living overseas. In another county , authorities were reportedly given a quota of placing 40% of the population in re-education camps for "religious extremism," essentially just leaving children and the elderly.
To afford this huge crackdown, Xinjiang's security spending has skyrocketed . In 2017, its expenditure jumped more than 90% to 57.95 billion yuan ($8.52 billion) from 2016. China now spends more on domestic security than its defense force.
Ethnic Uyghur members of the Communist Party of China carry a flag as they take part in an organized tour outside Id Kah Mosque on June 30, 2017 in the old town of Kashgar, in the far western Xinjiang province, China. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
'Some of the most horrifying things happening in the world today'
Problems for China's Uyghur population became more pronounced when Chen Quanguo became Xinjiang's party secretary in 2016. He was previously the party boss in Tibet where he oversaw an increase in security, surveillance, and arbitrary regulations, and the same pattern has since been unfolding in Xinjiang.
Uyghurs have been banned from fasting during Ramadan, refusing to eat pork, refusing to wear shorts, refusing to watch state TV or listen to state radio, wearing burqas, having "abnormal" beards , performing traditional funeral rites, speaking to family members overseas, travelling overseas, and giving their children Islamic names such as Mohammad and Fatima (children under the age of 16 have even been forced to change their names).
A Chinese flag flies over a local mosque recently closed by authorities as an ethnic Uyghur woman sells bread at her bakery on June 28, 2017 in the old town of Kashgar, in the far western Xinjiang province, China. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
Communist slogans and Chinese flags have been installed on mosques, nearly 1,000 of which are set to have facial recognition security cameras installed.
Surveillance also runs from the archaic to the technological extreme.
The region has hired scores of new police officers — 10,000 jobs were advertised in January and February 2017 alone — and "convenience police stations" are found roughly every 500 meters in the capital of Urumqi. Since last December, local officials have been required to "live, eat, and study with local families" in their homes. State-run media have also reported how 40,000 officials "promote Party policies and socialist ideas" by reading newspapers to locals.
Xinjiang also operates under a grid management system where paid volunteers are allocated a small number of houses to monitor. According to Radio Free Asia these grids are set to get smaller with 15-to-20 houses per grid, and volunteers have been instructed to learn where people live, the organizations they belong to, and "the sort of lives they lead," including their political opinions. Grid monitors are also required to carry out "psychological interventions" when required.
Messaging apps are constantly monitored, but authorities have also demanded residents install surveillance software on their phones, and put GPS trackers in cars. Police have collected voice samples to identify who is speaking on tapped phone calls, and taken DNA samples , fingerprints, and iris scans.
Men install a CCTV camera in a shopping street in the old town of Kashgar, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China, March 23, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
Outside the home, 40,000 facial-recognition cameras are being used to track, and block, the movement of Uyghurs.
Poet and filmmaker Tahir Hamut who fled China with his family recently told the Financial Times about being called into a police station to give authorities samples of their DNA, fingerprints, voice prints, and facial expressions.
"They adjusted [the] camera to my eye level. They had me look up and look forward and down, left and right and back," Hamut recalls. "They had the women pucker their lips and filmed that. Every step had to be completed perfectly; each expression could not be done too quickly or slowly. If you made a face too fast, the computer would ask you to stop and have you repeat it again. I had to try many times. Many people had to spend an hour to complete this facial filming."
The US State Department has described Xinjiang as having " unprecedented levels of surveillance " and is fast becoming one of the most intrusive police states in the world. Experts also consider it a testing ground for the rest of China.
At a hearing for the Congressional-Executive Commission on China last week, Sen. Marco Rubio compared the situation to science fiction.
"I don't even know how to do this while containing my anger," Rubio said. "[This] is stuff from a horrible movie, these are crazy things, things we've read about that used to happen thousands of years ago, regimes in a science fiction, I mean forcing people to eat certain foods that violate their dietary laws of their religion, controlling what people name their children, trying to strip their identity from them, both religious and and ethnic, the list goes on. These are some of the most horrifying things happening in the world today."
A mix of ethnic Uyghur and Han shopkeepers hold large wooden sticks as they are trained in security measures on June 27, 2017 next to the old town of Kashgar, in the far western Xinjiang province, China. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
Residents can't even shop where they want
Biometric data, as well as information on each resident's ethnicity and religious practices, is not only collected by authorities but tied to each person's ID card.
For Uighurs, these cards are checked when they're doing everything from traveling to filling up petrol . Regular checkpoints on the roads require Uighurs to get out of their cars, place their card in a reader, and walk through body scanners. It's also been reported that individuals who buy knives require a QR code of their ID information to be etched onto the blade.
An activist who goes by the pseudonym Azat Erkin, because he still has family in Xinjiang, recently described in a Facebook post a meeting he had in Kazakhstan with an ethnic Han resident from Xinjiang. The man, who was given the name Wang Hao to protect his identity, said his wife worked in one of the political camps and went on to explain what life is currently like in the region.
"Citizen IDs are divided into three kinds now in Xinjiang - white, yellow, and red. Your moving about is relatively free if yours is categorized as white. If it's yellow, you can go from the villages to the towns, but only with the approval of the local commune authorities (whose office is web-linked to national security). If it's red, you can only stay in the village, and don't have permission to go anywhere," Wang said, per an English translation .
"Even if you have to get an emergency operation done they won't let you leave the village, with you left at home to wait for death. Most of the people who have come out of education centers are marked as red," he said.
While Business Insider wasn't able to independently verify these claims, we did speak with Erkin who repeated the information. It also fits into what we already know, Timothy Grose, a China expert at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, told Business Insider.
"I cannot confirm a literal color-coding of citizens' identification cards , but I have heard several corroborating reports that describe labeling citizens as "safe," "normal," and "unsafe" (via the ID system) based on metrics such as faith, age, faith, religious practice, foreign contacts, and experience abroad. These categories appear to overlap with the color coding described in the Facebook post," Grose said.
"From my understanding, the identification cards — swiped at the virtually hundreds of checkpoints standing in intersections, bookstores, shopping malls, etc. — are flagged electronically. Therefore, when an individual swipes his/her ID card, it pulls up vital information about that person, including his/her "risk" to society," Grose said.
Wang also described how residents' movement is severely restricted by access cards that, once swiped, not only display personal information but also include geo-restrictions, meaning individuals are banned from entering certain shops, restaurants, and markets.
"Unless you have it on you, you can't go in stores, and even then you can only go in designated ones. For example, my access card only lets me shop at the stores downstairs and the shopping mall(s). I can't go into any other stores in the commune, or buy anything there," he said referring to a residential district. "If I tried, it would automatically alert the police. So you have to pay whatever the price is at the designated stores, with no choice to shop elsewhere."
Forgetting to carry ID cards is also a violation of local rules.
Police officers guard near a new laser and water show that is part of a local government tourism development on June 30, 2017 in the old town of Kashgar, in the far western Xinjiang province, China. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
There is no escape
While most Xinjiang residents are unable to leave — in 2016, residents' passports were recalled and it was announced that locals would require approval to travel — those who do manage to go overseas find they're still at the mercy of police back home.
Business Insider is aware of instances where police have reportedly asked residents abroad to send pictures of themselves holding newspapers to confirm residents are where they say they are. One Xinjiang resident in DC said they were told to take a picture of themselves holding a newspaper in front of the White House.
But as unusual as that is, it's relatively mundane compared to some lengths police go to.
A young Chinese pro footballer who traveled abroad to train and play matches as part of his job has reportedly been held in a re-education camp for months for "visiting foreign countries." Last year, 200 Uyghur students were arrested in raids in restaurants, shops, and accommodations across Egypt, thought to be under orders from Chinese police, and two men who voluntarily travelled home are believed to have died in custody.
And one Uyghur student who was studying in the US was held in a detention center without charge for 17 days when he went back to China over a semester break.
Business Insider is also aware of a Chinese student studying in Australia who was reportedly called back to Xinjiang by secret police after posting criticisms on social media. She reportedly said she was told about being sent to political re-education. She has not been heard from since returning to Xinjiang over the winter break.
It's not an unusual outcome for those put in re-education camps, but many are there not because of their own actions but are used as leverage to silence outspoken exiles and expats abroad.
Tahir Hamut, a Uighur Muslim poet and filmmaker from China, delivers remarks at the Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. on July 24, 2018. State Department photo/Public Domain
The poet Hamut spoke last week at the State Department's Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom about how his two brothers-in-law were detained in "retribution" once he and his family arrived in the US last August.
"In spite of this, I still shared what I had seen with the international media. This has led to the detention of one of my brothers. Like all other Uighurs living in exile, I cannot contact my relatives at home. I don't know whether they're alive or not," Hamut said.
Gulchehra Hoja, a Radio Free Asia journalist who now lives in the US and writes about the Xinjiang region, testified last week to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China that more than 20 of her relatives "remain missing, certainly held in what's called political reeducation camps run by the Chinese government."
Her brother was the first to be detained in September last year while driving his mother to a doctor's appointment, and has not been seen since. In February, her aunts, cousins, and their children all disappeared in one day. Her parents also went missing in February and were released a month later.
"Authorities have questioned my parents about me. Where I am, and my work for an organization they claim is anti-China. Many of my colleagues at the RFA share the same situation, their families are also missing, detained and jailed, after receiving threats about their work at RFA," Hoja told US senators.
Family members of five Radio Free Asia journalists, including two US citizens , have recently been detained. Detaining relatives, or just threatening to do so, is an incredibly common and effective way of controlling and silencing Chinese individuals while they are abroad.
"When I heard my brother was detained, I [initially] chose not to speak up because my mother asked me, 'Please I already lost you, I don't want to lose my son too.' My family haven't been able to be reunited in 17 years," Hoja said. "We don't want to put them in further danger because of our acts or any word against China."
"I believe any Uyghur has a friend or family member in the camps right now," Hoja said.
Foreign residents aren't just forced to stay quiet. According to BuzzFeed News, the threat of these camps is being used to force Uighurs to spy for China . The government reportedly uses these individuals to gather information about Uighurs overseas, disrupt these communities, and intimidate others to not speak out against China.
Dabancheng detention center. Shawn Zhang
Too big to hide
Satellite images clearly show the immense size, security measures and speed with which detention centers have been built over the last year.
Shawn Zhang, a law student in Canada whose family in China have also been contacted by police over his critical social media posts , has been using satellite imagery to identify potential camps throughout Xinjiang. The largest building Zhang has found is in Dabancheng, which he estimates holds 8,000 to 10,000 people — around 20% of this one area's population.
With so many parents disappearing into camps, orphanages are overflowing. In 2017, the city of Kashgar built 18 new orphanages .
Despite diplomatic and press efforts to raise the issue with Chinese authorities, China's Foreign Ministry jas said it " had not heard " of the situation in Xinjiang and state-run media has largely avoided the subject.
But that may be beginning to change.
Ethnic Uyghur children joke as they taunt a local police officer on June 29, 2017 in the old town of Kashgar, in the far western Xinjiang province, China. Kevin Frayer/Getty
For what appears to be one of the first times, state media last week reported on how "extremists" are having their "religious thoughts" reformed while in official prisons.
And earlier in the month, the tabloid-like Global Times described how authorities "relocated 461,000 poverty-ridden residents" from Xinjiang to other areas in the first three months of the year. According to Zenz, these numbers are consistent with one program aimed at training "rural surplus laborers."
"My research also shows that many counties launched recruitment notices for "training" facilities in early summer 2017, and that many of them likely function on a scale where the one extreme is political re-education in highly secured detainment facilities, and the other is compulsory vocational training with some re-education contents.
The purpose of this Global Times article seems to be to justify the fact that many residents are being relocated into training facilities and then relocated for employment," Zenz told Business Insider.
Police patrol on a scooter as an ethnic Uyghur boy stands in his doorway on June 27, 2017 in the old town of Kashgar, in the far western Xinjiang province, China. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
An entire population could disappear
Xinjiang is a "textbook" case for Magnitsky sanctions, Rep. Christopher Smith, co-chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, said last week. In April, Smith and Rubio sent a letter to the US Ambassador in Beijing requesting the embassy begin researching specific individuals who could be targeted for possible human rights violations under the Global Magnitsky Act.
"This is what these people do with the power they have now. Imagine what they will do when that power grows militarily, economically, and geopolitically. Because if this is how you treat your own people, how do you expect them to treat some other part of the world," Rubio said at the commission's hearing on Xinjiang last week.
"And the international organizations that stand by and say nothing, why? Because China went into somebody's country and built a road or a bridge, or maybe bribed them and gave them a billion dollars to be quiet and go along. This is sick," he added.
While such rhetoric can seem exaggerated in the world of international diplomacy, it may not to be. The foreign minister for Vanuatu, which has accepted millions of dollars in loans from China and is unlikely to be able to afford repayments, told Australia's "60 Minutes" earlier this year, in no uncertain terms, that China expects support at the UN in exchange for its cash .
Corridor of the old city district where Chinese national flags are prominently hung in Kashgar in western China's Xinjiang region. AP Photo/Ng Han Guan
And with China's massive Belt and Road Initiative seeing an influx of cash and infrastructure in up to 70 countries, the consequences for human rights could be devastating.
Already, estimates are that 5-to-10% of the Uighur population have disappeared into political camps.
But what concerns Rian Thum, a historian at Loyola University, is the possibility of history repeating itself as the system becomes too big to prevent improvisation at the lower levels.
"The most frightening purpose is the one that hasn't occurred yet: while torture and deaths in the camps seem to be happening at pretty low levels, that can change, and in fact I don't think we can rule out the possibility of mass murder," he told the commission last week.
Thum is not alone in his beliefs. Hamut, who still has been unable to contact his family, agrees.
"I believe the Chinese government is likely to carry out mass kills of Uighurs in concentration, like the Nazis did to Jewish people," he said.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen backed up US intelligence findings on interference in the 2016 US presidential election Tuesday, saying " it was the Russians ."
Nielsen was speaking at the department's Cybersecurity Summit in New York when she warned about the threat of cyber attacks, which she said put " our democracy itself in the crosshairs."
" Two years ago , a foreign power launched a brazen, multi-faceted influence campaign to undermine public faith in our democratic process and to distort our presidential election," Nielsen said. "That campaign involved cyber espionage, leaks of stolen data, cyber intrusions into voter registration systems, online propaganda, and more."
Nielsen continued, "Let me be clear: Our intelligence community had it right. It was the Russians. It was directed from the highest levels."
US intelligence officials have reportedly been pointing to the upper levels of the Russian government since the beginning of Trump's first term in office , but President Donald Trump in particular has waffled on blaming Putin.
Nielsen's comments come two weeks after Trump earned harsh criticism for failing to hold Russia accountable for election interference at a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.
After saying he didn't "see any reason why" Russia would be responsible for the election meddling in front of Putin and the press, the next day Trump claimed he misspoke and instead meant to say he didn't see any reason why it wouldn't be Russia.
In the same statement, Trump declared his support for US intelligence, but reiterated his earlier assertions that other entities besides Russia might have been responsible.
"I've said this many times," Trump said, reading from a written statement. "I accept our intelligence community's conclusion that Russia's meddling in the 2016 election took place. Could be other people also. There's a lot of people out there."
Nielsen also offered a pointed warning for hackers in her comments Tuesday, three months ahead of November's midterm elections.
"The United States will no longer tolerate or accept your interference," Nielsen said . "You will be exposed. You will pay a high price."
Despite the administration's response with sanctions and the special counsel Robert Mueller's indictments of Russian agents, Nielsen said there are continued, Kremlin-led efforts to interfere with US affairs.
The summit also marked the announcement of several new initiatives for increased protective measures, including a new " Elections Task Force " among "a vast array of services, programs, and partnerships nationwide to help our partners secure our election infrastructure."
MoviePass is adding a new limitation: Not every showtime for every single movie is guaranteed to be supported by the app.
"Showtimes that are offered through our service will vary from day to day, and every showtime may not be available," MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe wrote in an email to customers on Tuesday afternoon. Previously, the service would support every 2D movie showing at all compatible theaters.
This news comes less than a day after MoviePass announced that it would hike the monthly price of its unlimited movie service to $14.99 , and that it wouldn't support big-ticket movies like "The Meg" or Disney's "Christopher Robin" in at least the weeks immediately following their release. The company said this would reduce its cash burn by 60%.
Beyond the changes to showtimes, Lowe also tells customers that it's changing its approach to customer support, and "access to immediate support may become limited." He says that its customer support will prioritize those who are already at the theater, with more self-service tools for other customers in the works.
Lowe further writes that "Mission: Impossible — Fallout" will continue to be unavailable via MoviePass as the company works to reconfigure its business model.
MoviePass and its business model have come under renewed scrutiny in the last week or so, after a service outage on Thursday was revealed to have been caused by its parent company, Helios & Matheson Analytics, running out of money to pay its fulfillment processors.
It took a $5 million short-term loan to get things going, but the app has been plagued by problems and intermittent outages ever since, causing fans and pundits to speculate that this is the end for the service.
Stock in H&M is currently hovering around $0.50 per share; well below the $1 per share threshold the company needs to maintain to stay listed on the public stock markets.
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CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta was loudly heckled by supporters of President Donald Trump at presidential rally in Tampa Bay on Tuesday.
As Acosta — a sharp questioner of the president and a frequent target of his ire — reported live from the event, a crowd of rally attendees surrounding him chanted "CNN sucks" and shouted, "traitor," and "you're a liar."
Several reporters on the ground documented the incident.
Acosta, who frequently butts heads with White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders during press briefings, was similarly heckled by Trump supporters at a June rally, where he was both yelled at and asked for autographs. Earlier this month, the president denied Acosta the opportunity to ask him a question at a press conference in the UK, calling CNN "fake news."
On Monday, Acosta was yelled at while asking the president a question about Russian collusion following a news conference in the Oval Office with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.
White House staffers yelled over him, pressing him to leave the room.
"Move, Jim. Let's go. Keep going Jim. Let's go. Jim, we're leaving. Come on Jim. Go. We're done," yelled one White House staffer.
Right-wing pundits, including Sean Hannity and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, celebrated the incident, while those on the left celebrated the veteran CNN reporter as a hero of the anti-Trump "Resistance."
Acosta has repeatedly defended his practice of shouting questions at the president — something he's done on multiple occasions after the president either stopped taking questions from reporters or refused to take any at all.
The suburbs have some major perks.ABC The living in the suburbs versus the city debate is an old one, but as they say, the grass is always greener (or the concrete is always grayer?)
Here are the best parts of the suburbs that people take for granted when they move out to big, bustling cities .
Apple iPhones link us to the world of music and videos and keep us hooked up, irrespective of place and time. But remember, the iPhone experience is only as good as the life of our phone battery.
At the first sign of 'low battery' signal on the iPhone, we all scramble to find a iPhone charger to get the juice up again. So here's a list of the top 5 iPhone chargers which will keep your iPhone going and going and going...
1. BeamBox MiLi Power Pack
The BeamBox MiLi Power Pack provides you has some good looks and packs in kong hours of battery life. This sleek and light weight charger provides your iPhone an extended lifetime of up to 16 hours.
The MiLi is not filled with powerful options as compared to the other chargers available in the market but with a price of $70, this is definitely a good option for a carry around charger.
2. Belkin TuneCast Auto
The Belkin TuneCast Auto is built with technology that can send its music to your car stereo system at the same time getting charged.
The transfer is done automatically through the best frequency which is chosen by the iPhone Charger. Just connect the small Belkin TuneCast Auto that is available at $79.99 to your iPhone and enjoy your favorite tunes during your drive.
3. Griffin PowerDock 4
The Griffin PowerDock 4 is one solid product (as are most products from Griffin). The charger is fitted with an aluminium base which provides a safe stand be it your workplace or car interiors. With its four charging slots, this charger will never leave you or your friends worry about your device battery life and all this for $79.99 (a tad expensive).
4. Powermat Wireless Charger Mat
At home, if you prefer to use a charger free from the hassles of cables, then the Powermat Wireless Charger Mat is one that you would love. This new age charger with its advanced technology can help you charge your iPhone through a special magnetic powermat.
5. Solio Solar Chargers
Solio Solar Chargers are considered 'green' and might appeal to those who wish to use solar powered charging. The power of the sun is used in charging your phone saving on the electricity otherwise used. This comes in handy in situations where you do not find a power port for charging.
Conclusion
With the help of these iPhone chargers, your Apple iPhone will not just stay alive to entertain you. It will also have enough juice to help you stay connected to your near and dear ones.
Facebook employees have access to free snacks at the Menlo Park office, but employees in Mountain View will have to eat off site. Philippe Wojazer/Reuters
Silicon Valley's tech giants have taken workplace dining to the next level, with themed restaurants, gourmet menus, and stunning designs — and at many companies, it's all free.
But employers seeking to offer their staff subsidized meals won't have that option if the city of San Francisco follows through with a policy that would ban new construction of workplace cafeterias. The proposal is an effort to encourage tech employees to stimulate the local economy by eating at restaurants within the community.
The nearby city of Mountain View, California, already enforces the restriction, which will forbid Facebook from building an on-site cafeteria when it opens its offices there this fall. However, the proposal won't affect companies with existing cafeterias, like Google, Apple, and Facebook's main offices in Menlo Park, California.
Here are the gourmet perks currently afforded to the employees of Silicon Valley's biggest tech companies.
The four friends find pants that fit them all. Warner Bros. Pictures
" The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants " is an iconic story of friendship.
It's been 13 years since the first movie had four best friends — played by Alexis Bledel , Blake Lively , America Ferrera , and Amber Tamblyn — find a pair of jeans that fit them all. And on August 3, it'll be 10 years since they reunited for more adventures in the sequel, "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2."
In April of 2018, it was reported that a third movie was in the works. Bledel said on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" that the girls had "pitched" a concept for another movie .
The four main girls are all recognizable now, but the casts also include some familiar faces you might not remember or recognize. So while fans wait for more news on a third film, here's what the casts of both movies have been up to.
The movie industry is one of the most booming industries worldwide. This is because movies seem to be one of the most popular choices of people globally when it comes to entertainment. It is hard to find a person who does not like to watch movies. There are a number of genres available these days suiting viewers of different mentalities and ages. Movies can be watched at theatres and on television. One can also buy or rent movie disks to play them in players or computers. However websites that let you watch movies online are becoming increasingly popular. This is because you can get a lot of content out there in the World Wide Web and practically any movie that has ever been produced. You also have the option of watching them whenever you want. You cannot get so much content at an offline store of disks even though disks let you watch movies at the time of your preference and neither is it feasible to build such a huge personal collection.
To watch movies online there are some things that you need besides a good computer with enough hard drive space and memory and a high speed internet connection. However these are the things which are absolutely indispensable in order to watch movies online smoothly because movies tend to get stuck when viewed from computers low on performance and over slow internet connection. You will need at least a broadband connection as dial up connections are just not enough and your movies will either not load or will not play properly. It is always better to have high resolution flat monitors for the best viewing experience. Today's movies have a lot of high quality effects and they might be completely lost on low resolution screens while non-flat screens will give the movies a distorted or otherwise unsatisfactory appearance. Among the flat screens a TFT monitor is always better than liquid crystal display monitors as they have wider viewing angles and are better for viewing by a group of people. They are also glare free. What you need next are good audio and video drivers and speakers. You can opt for 5.1 surround speakers and those reproducing dolby sound for great audio experience.
You need some basic software loaded onto your computer too to watch movies online. You need some video playing software like Adobe Flash Player, Divx, Windows Media Player and Video Lan or Vlc. It is advisable to add the streaming media players Quick Time and Real Player. Streaming media is media that is played on a viewer's computer while it is being delivered from the server where the database is stored. Almost all movies that you can view online without downloading on to your computer are streaming media. There are a limited number of sites that stream in two formats that can be played exclusively with Quick Time and Real Media Player. Plus these two players have their own networks, movies from which can be played only on them.
Now the only thing left for you to do is to find a good site that streams media for free. There are certain sites that carry out surreptitious activities like data spying and spamming by infecting viewers' computers with spyware and malware. Do some Google search and take a look at online forums and social networking sites to find out which sites are safe.
Online video is really a great way of watching movies.
Soldiers enjoy Meal, Ready-to-Eat pizzas during initial field testing in 2014. US Army/David Kamm
For all those troops who get the munchies in a war zone, the Army is about to deliver.
After years of development, the Army says that its Meal, Ready to Eat pizza will be in soldiers' hands by 2019, with availability in some areas before the end of this year.
Soldiers have been requesting a pizza MRE since the 1980s. By 2012, new technology allowed scientists at the Combat Feeding Directorate at the Natick Soldier Research, Development, and Engineering Center in Massachusetts to begin developing the pizza MRE, seeking to turn the longstanding request for a ready-made pie that troops can heat up in the field into " a piping-hot reality ."
To qualify as an MRE, the meal has to last three years when stored at 80 degrees or below. Most frozen pizzas will maintain best qualifty for about 18 months , though they usually remain safe to eat after that.
"The real trick is to get bread, sauce, cheese, and pepperoni inside of a pouch, happily together for at least three years," said Jeremy Whitsitt, the deputy director of the CFD, in an Army release .
The main course of the Army's new pizza MRE.Steve1989MREInfo/YouTube
"With each of those individual components on their own, we can achieve the shelf life, but when you put them together — chemistry happens," Whitsitt added. "You have four very distinct food matrices all interacting with each other, which can cause some unwanted results. That's why developing a shelf-stable pizza has been so hard."
The Army was able to produce a prototype, and field-testing began in August 2014, but expanding production while maintaining quality was a challenge.
In early 2017, the CFD said that during testing to simulate a three-year period on the shelf, which involved putting the pizza in a 100-degree box for six months, the pizza had turned brown, causing an indefinite delay in the development process.
A soldier enjoys a Meal, Ready-to-Eat pizza during field-testing. US Army/Michael Stepien
The browning wasn't a safety issue, a CFD spokesman said at the time, but the Army wanted to ensure it was giving troops a quality product. The problem was resolved by adding rosemary extract, which prevented the oxidation that caused the browning, a CFD food technologist told Army Times earlier this year.
"We're able to do a lot of things in the lab, but sometimes when you scale up, working with a producer making these by the thousands, especially with a product that's never existed before and is not available in the commercial market, replicating the process and coming up with the same results is difficult," Whitsitt said in the release.
"But we overcame challenges and we've got a good product now," Whitsitt added. "And soldiers will be seeing pizza pretty soon."
The pizza MRE is expected to be available in some locations before the end of 2018, but most soldiers will likely be able to get their hands on it in 2019.
The new MREs arrived at the Defense Logistics Agency in March, from which the meals ship out on a " first in, first out " basis. Army installations will get the new MREs based on how many they have and how they're issued.
US soldiers load MREs onto a helicopter in September 2005.DoD photo by Tech. Sgt. Cherie A. Thurlby, US Air Force
A standard MRE comes with a main course, side dish, a dessert or snack, crackers or bread with cheese, peanut butter or jelly, and powdered drink mix. Each item is fortified with vitamins, and the whole things comes to about 1,200 calories.
The pizza MRE — which will be limited to pepperoni at first — will come with cherry or blueberry cobbler, a cheese spread with either cheddar or jalapeño cheese, Italian bread sticks, cookies, and chocolate protein powder mix.
The CFD has said MREs aren't loaded with preservatives or chemicals and their shelf life comes from the processing and packaging. Longevity was only one consideration, according to Whitsitt.
"When you break it down, food is fuel. The fuel that powers the soldier," he said in the release. "We're doing a lot of work into what naturally occurring ingredients are needed to increase, and sustain, high performance for an extended period of time."
Reviews of the pizza MRE have already appeared online, one of which you can watch below:
White House chief of staff John Kelly with President Donald Trump Joshua Roberts/Reuters
White House chief of staff John Kelly told staffers on Monday that President Donald Trump asked him to stay in his powerful West Wing position through 2020, despite widespread expectation that Kelly would leave the White House soon after his one-year mark in the job on Monday.
Kelly told staffers that he agreed to the president's ask, despite reportedly telling colleagues in recent months that he did not intend to stay in his role past his one-year mark.
The news — first reported by the The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday — comes after a few months of improved relations between Kelly and Trump, who has by most accounts resisted the more disciplined approach his top aide intended to impose in the West Wing.
Trump tweeted a photo of himself with Kelly on Monday to celebrate his deputy's first year.
Trump has reportedly considered replacing Kelly with Nick Ayers, Vice President Mike Pence's longtime aide and chief of staff, and Mick Mulvaney, the Office of Management and Budget chief who also serves as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general who served as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security during the first months of 2017, took over from former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus last July.
Trump was reportedly privately furious for Kelly's handling of the scandal surrounding former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, who resigned from his post after his two former wives publicly accused him of domestic abuse . Kelly was accused of sitting on the explosive allegations and defending Porter even after graphic photographic evidence of the abuse surfaced.
Nearly a month after Porter's resignation, Kelly admitted that he mishandled his response to the allegations against Porter.
"We didn't cover ourselves in glory," Kelly told a gathering of reporters last March .
Apple cider vinegar is a great natural remedy for treating acne and other conditions. Along with boosting your immune system, it can be use to treat infections and inflammations. You can use this remedy internally and externally with good results. Either way, you should dilute it with water, as it has a strong taste and it can be harsh against the skin when it's undiluted. The best option is to get raw, organic cider vinegar. Simply spot treat your acne with the apple cider vinegar. If you drink apple cider vinegar mixed with water multiple times a day, the treatment will be more effective. It can also be used on salad as part of a salad dressing. Apple cider vinegar can be used not only as an effective acne treatment but to detoxify the whole body as well. Dietary changes are one way that a person can, hopefully, naturally cure his or her acne.
Some foods, like sugar as well as refined and processed foods can exacerbate acne, so you need to avoid things like soda, junk foods, fats and bad carbohydrates. Caffeine and alcohol also need to be avoided because they can make your acne worse. Some people have sensitivity to dairy and meat but instead of leaving these out of your diet, try changing to organic varieties. You can cure your acne naturally by getting regular exercise because doing so cleans out your system. As you improve your diet and exercise routine make sure that you stay well hydrated by drinking lots of water. When it comes to naturally curing acne, detoxifying your system is a good way to go and drinking lots of water is the best way to do that.
You may be aware of turmeric's many health benefits but it can also be used as a remedy for acne. Commonly used in Indian cooking, turmeric has antiseptic properties which give it many health benefits. Turmeric is available as a supplement if you do not want to use it in your food. You can also make a turmeric paste to apply directly to your skin. Make the paste using turmeric and coconut oil, which has healing properties as well, and apply to your face. Being sure to allow it to dry first, you should use this paste before going to bed. This is a quick working acne treatment. Many people will have to deal with acne at some point in their life. Eating a healthy diet, practicing good hygiene, and following the previous suggestions you can help get rid of acne. It can take several weeks for acne treatments to work so remember to be patient.
Someone was trying to sell pieces of Trump's shattered Walk of Fame star on eBay. Getty Images
Here's some sad news for anyone looking to take home a piece of fame, political history, and/or felony vandalism. eBay has reportedly banned a listing for one of the shattered pieces of Donald Trump's Walk of Fame star.
The pocket-sized piece of rubble was lifted from the site after Austin Clay smashed the star with a pickax on Wednesday morning. The user listed the item shortly after with a starting bid of $500 , as reported by TMZ.
"This abandoned piece of debris is the last remaining piece. Verified from the location and time with video/photo evidence," wrote the eBay user in the now-deleted listing, according to Complex . "Also, it is a surface piece so it can be positively verified with previously taken photos of the star."
By Tuesday morning, the listing had been pulled from the online auction service.
As the star's legal owner, The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce had the ability to shut down the sale, but it was flagged by eBay before they were given the opportunity. According to an eBay representative who spoke to TMZ, the listing violated a portion of the eBay rules and policies that states users cannot "encourage copyright or trademark infringement and other illegal activities." In other words, a user can't sell items that promote or encourage other users to break the law (and vandalism is pretty illegal in all 48 contiguous states, Alaska, and Hawaii).
It's unclear if the eBay user was actually banned from the service, but we do know what happened to the vandal. Clay was booked for suspicion of felony vandalism and faces up to three years in jail. His $20,000 bail was posted by James Otis , the person who first destroyed Trump's star in 2016. Otis also attempted to sell pieces of brass from star in order to raise money for the women who accused Trump of sexual assault, as reported by The Washington Post .
Though the listing was ultimately removed, it seems like users weren't even keen on owning a chipped piece of concrete that costs as much as an iPad Air. The item had a week left on the auction as of Friday afternoon but had to receive a single bid.
For more great stories, head to INSIDER's homepage .
The idea behind Brandless is that it can add value for the consumer by selling quality merchandise without a so-called "brand tax." Instead of having a big logo emblazoned on a product, the actual attributes of the product are listed on the package instead.
Founders Tina Sharkey and Ido Leffler came up with the idea as they looked at how consumer behavior had changed in recent years, and how many big name brands are struggling as a result.
"The false narrative of modern consumption, that brands have created and products have created, was actually dying a fast and painful death," Sharkey, who is the company's CEO, told Business Insider in a 2017 interview .
She added that customers are more likely to shop in accordance with what they value, whether that's a preference for organic or non-GMO products or a good value.
Now, nearly a year after the online shop first appeared on the scene, Brandless is getting a major shot in the arm with a new round of funding led by Softbank. The $240 million investment will enable the brand to grow and take on e-commerce giants like Amazon.
"After just one year, we already offer more than 300 proprietary Brandless products and ship to 48 states every day in support of our thriving #Brandlesslife community. SoftBank's deep experience in e-commerce, global network and long-term perspective will help us accelerate our mission to make better stuff accessible and affordable for more people," Sharkey said in a statement about the funding round on Tuesday.
I was enticed by Brandless' promise when it launched, so I decided to try it out. Here's what it was like to use:
Cut your monthly entertainment bill by getting your fill of movies and television shows from streaming media players or an HD antenna. Here are five excellent alternatives to your pricey cable or satellite television subscription.
HD Antenna
An HDTV antenna gives you access to the free broadcast channels in your area, so you can watch them on your digital TV. Choose from a wide selection of HD antennae, from indoor types to bulky roof-mounted ones. Prices vary according to antenna type and model. Refer to TVFool.com for the channels that are available in your location. It also gives you the antenna direction for which to capture the available broadcast channels that you want to watch.
Roku
You do not have to scramp on the number of broadcast channels when you finally cut ties with your cable or satellite television carrier. The popular Roku streaming video device gives you access to over 750 broadcast channels. Roku's streaming stick is priced at $ 49.99. The streaming media player's most recent incarnation, Roku 3, is equipped with expandable memory and allows for Ethernet connection. Roku 3 costs $ 99.99.
Chromecast
Google's $ 35 streaming media device can be plugged into the HDMI port of your computer monitor or TV. Chromecast streams a full 1080p display and works with many devices such as PCs and Macs, as well as mobile devices powered by Android and iOS. When you connect the Chrome OS version of Chromecast to your home Wi-Fi network or your TV, you can watch media content through your mobile device on any available HDMI TV.
ASUS Cube with Google TV
Priced at $ 111.99, the ASUS Cube is a good investment for your cable-free entertainment needs. If you already own or favor Google TV, then the sleek, futuristic-looking ASUS Cube makes for a sensible complement to your multimedia viewing routine. Providing you access to media content on multiple devices, ASUS Cube comes with a custom user interface with a handy voice-enabled search functionality, as well as 50GB of file storage on the Web plus a two-sided universal remote with motion sensors and a microphone .
Apple TV
If you are an Apple fanatic or an avid user of iTunes, you might want to look at Apple TV as a viable alternative for streaming media content. For a price tag of $ 99, Apple TV streams multimedia content from popular outlets such as HBO Go, Hulu, and Netflix. And with AirPlay Mirroring on your Apple TV, you can simultaneously stream Web-based video on your iOS device.
Hannah Simone looks for "lazy, no-brainer" ways to stay physically and mentally healthy.
The "New Girl" star told INSIDER that she just wants the "easiest thing possible" when it comes to vitamins, skin care products, and diet restrictions.
Simone subscribes to the Buddhist philosophy of moderation, particularly with food and nutrition.
She tries to balance being social and being alone — and says that watching an hour of "ridiculous" TV every day is an essential part of her self-care routine.
Hannah Simone is many things — an essential feature of the "New Girl" ensemble, the first woman of color to play a live-action TV superhero, and a mother of one, to name a few. But "high-maintenance Hollywood cliché" isn't one of them.
Simone recently opened up to INSIDER about her "lazy" approach to wellness, outlining her daily health routines that anyone could follow.
"We're all very busy, we have a lot of things to do. When I try to do things for my health, I just want the easiest thing possible," she said.
Although Simone played Cece Parekh, who was introduced in "New Girl" as a professional model, Simone told INSIDER that she never felt pressure to fit a certain mold or buy into celebrity-endorsed fad diets. Instead, Simone's tips for a healthy lifestyle are ridiculously doable: she makes a point to eat breakfast; follows a simple, serum-focused skin care regimen; exercises when she can; and treats herself to mindless TV.
"I try to sit down and watch an hour of a ridiculous TV show every night," she told INSIDER. "I think indulging and doing things that are silly for yourself is an important thing."
Simone also recognizes the importance of balancing her social needs and her introverted nature. She learned from her father, who is an author, that taking time to put her phone down and read a book is "really helpful and healthy for self-care."
"[Self-care is] surrounding myself with community, with friends, to sit and talk and sit by the pool — and sometimes it's the opposite of that," she told INSIDER. "Sometimes it's like, 'everybody leave me alone, I need to spend some time by myself.' I'm a complete introvert, which has been interesting as an actor in this town. I think there's an assumption that everybody is just racing to slide into the spotlight and grab all this attention, which is definitely not my instinct. I've had a great career here so far, but I've had to do a lot of work to carve out space for me to have my own privacy. It's just good for my mental health."
Simone's father also imparted the concept of moderation, which she highly values.
"My dad is a Buddhist and has always taught us — in everything that we've done, including nutrition — 'everything in moderation,'" she said. "He doesn't believe in denial, this idea that you can't have anything. If you want ice cream, have some ice cream. If you want pizza, have a slice of pizza. Enjoy your life."
She relies on her daily SmartyPants vitamin to "fill in all those nutritional gaps." The actress partnered with the company because their multifunctional vitamins fall perfectly in line with her simplistic, manageable philosophy regarding health.
"I look for lazy, no-brainer solutions," she told INSIDER.
For more great stories, head to INSIDER's homepage.
The keto diet can have positive and negative impacts on your skin. Rick Wilking/Reuters
You may have heard a great deal about the keto diet in the news lately, especially since the diet is said to promote weight loss and have a positive impact on blood sugar and cholesterol level s.
However, you probably didn't know that observing a low-carb and high-fat diet also has numerous effects on your skin, especially since some experts feel that the keto diet has both good and bad effects worth looking out for.
To break down all the impacts ketogenic diets have on your skin, we spoke two dermatologists and some nutritionists on the subject to see what's worth keeping in mind if you are thinking about trying the keto diet yourself.
Below is some helpful information to jot down but you should always discuss any dietary changes with a medical professional.
LONDON — Britain's largest doctors' union has backed a new campaign for a second Brexit referendum, warning that there is "too much uncertainty on the implications for the NHS and its staff" around the country's EU departure.
The British Medical Association, which represents 160,000 medics and students, on Thursday gave its backing to the "Final Say" campaign run by the Independent news site, which has collected nearly 400,000 signatures from voters in favour of a fresh referendum.
The BMA tweeted that it was "imperative" that the public has a vote on any final proposed Brexit deal, warning that the challenges posed by Brexit to the medical industry are "considerable" despite some recent progress in negotiations.
The BMA's members voted overwhelmingly in favour of a second referendum at a recent vote, and the Royal College of Nursing, which represents around half a million nurses and midwives, has also backed the idea.
It comes as a survey published on Tuesday found that UK doctors believe Brexit will devastate both the NHS and the nation's health.
A poll of nearly 1,200 doctors published in the BMJ Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health found that 83% believe leaving the EU will hurt the NHS.
When asked how serious the impact of Brexit on the NHS will be — with 10 being the best and 0 being the worst imaginable — the average response was 2.
"Doctors are amongst the best placed people to understand the impact of political decisions on the NHS," said the study's lead author Dr Kate Mandeville, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
"On Brexit, their opinion is very clear: Brexit is bad for the nation's health."
The BMA has been particularly critical of the government's failure to offer any clarity on immigration after Brexit, because the medical sector is heavily dependent on immigrant nurses, doctors, and support staff.
There is already a dramatic shortage of NHS staff, which appears to have been exacerbated by a drop-off in EU migration since the Brexit referendum in 2016. Quarterly figures released by regulator NHS Improvement in February for showed that NHS England trusts "employ 1.1 million whole-time-equivalent staff but that they have 100,000 vacancies."
