An epic overtime offensive drive won the Super Bowl for Kansas City last night. But for advertisers, the game was all defense. At $7 million a pop, Super Bowl ads provide a unique window into the business zeitgeist of the moment. And what we saw this year was a desire to play it safe. There were no crypto businesses trying to break through. No edgy controversies. No social messaging. Just lots of nostalgia and a lot of celebrities. Budweiser led the way: Who can object to a Labrador nuzzling a Clydesdale? And Bud Light attempted to power its comeback with an ad about an unambiguously male genie who grants wishes. No harm, no foul.
Still, the night had its creative moments. My favorite ones were:
• Dove soap stayed true to its purpose, with an amusing and moving ad on keeping young girls in sports.
• Dunkin’ Donuts and Uber Eats tied for the best use of celebrities.
• Messi in a Michelob Ultra ad was the most fun to watch.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger taking elocution lessons from Jake from State Farm made me laugh.
• And the NFL’s ad for its global player opportunity program, filmed in Ghana, was a delight.
Biggest waste of $7 million? The message-free nostalgiarama run by a super PAC supporting Robert Kennedy that simply repeated the Kennedy name over and over. And the GOAT of Superbowl ad celebrities? Tom Brady, who starred in BetMGM’s ad and also played a supporting role to Ben Affleck in the Dunkin’ ad.
Finally, a shout out to Fortune’s partners at Blackbaud EverFi, who power the NFL’s “Character Playbook” education program that was highlighted in two moving spots in the second half.
By Marc Cooper The U.S. Supreme Court did today what we expected it to do. Or is preparing to do. In Thursday morn’s hearing on the 14th amendment case from Colorado trying to keep Donald Trump off the ballot the questioning from the justices made it abundantly clear they have zero intention of banning the Orange Jesus from running just because he incited a violent attack on the Capitol and plotted to deny the peaceful transfer of power. P’shaw. A minor hiccup. There are several truths competing in this case and at no point do they link up. The third section of the 14th Amendment clearly disqualifies Donald Trump from running for office. True. Colorado made the right decision. True. If left to stand it could be incentive for red states to start banning candidates with the ease which they now use the filibuster and impeachment. True This court is a strident defender of states’ rights and by that measure the ruling should be upheld. True. Letting one judge in one state skew the entire election is a bad idea. Anyway that’s Judge Cannon’s job, isn’t it? True. Simply put, Trump should not be on the ballot in 2024. True. And the Supreme Court will make sure he is. True. It would also be a lot better for all of is if Donald Trump was firmly defeated and voted off stage by the American people, not a court ruling. Not necessarily true. But as I said last week, we chickens are all just sitting here, listening to a loudly clicking clock, and waiting, waiting, waiting and waiting for the Democrats to begin their campaign against him in a serious manner. Well, hurry up and wait some more. I am now going to contradict everything I have written for the last couple of years and go back on an affirmation I made a few lines ago. I am officially now NOT expecting a robust Democratic campaign to defeat Trump. Sorry, just not seeing it and it’s getting late. Nor am I expecting some magical wave of citizen anger to wash over the country and a bring a million people into the streets last week like the Germans did to protest the rise of the extreme right. The fascist Right. Like MAGA. Nope, I am expecting the country to pretty much continue sleep walking into out next phase of history that begins exactly eight months from now. And one year from now we might already be a couple of weeks into a Trump dictatorial regime. That’s how close we are. We watch the unbelievable incompetence and partisan narrow vision that now dominates the House and not a creature stirs. Instead, newspapers and magazines fold at record pace as the public loses interest in even following politics. I mean, who can even follow the absolute unbridled craziness that is now the US House Of Representatives whose Republican majority this week voted down a totally pro-Republican border package only because Trump and Friends would rather keep the border a festering issue rather than an issue solved by a bi partisan group under the Biden White House. In other times and in other places this might have stirred several thousands peasants to take the field with their pitchforks. What we got last week instead was mostly media riffing on Taylor Swift. Secretary of State Antony Blinken continued his latest round of high-stakes negotiations in the Middle East on Tuesday, as conditions in the region remain on a razor's edge.
Hamas gave a “positive” response to a ceasefire framework brokered by Qatar, Egypt, the U.S. and Israel, the prime minister of Qatar said Thursday in a news conference with Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The three-part plan involves both a pause in hostilities and a hostage swap. The Qatari prime minister gave few details thereafter, but it’s the first movement on the issue since the deal was presented to Hamas. Blinken also said little, acknowledging that the deal is achievable but there was still “a lot of work to be done.” Back in Washington, President Biden called Hamas’s demands “a little over the top,” but similarly did not elaborate further. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani was the most optimistic of the three.
Hamas confirmed that it had responded to the proposal, but did not lay out any specifics. The group reaffirmed earlier demands for a permanent ceasefire, reconstruction of Gaza, lifting of the 17-year blockade of the enclave, and the release of Palestinian prisoners. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already thrown cold water on a few of those demands. An unnamed Israeli official told the New York Times that the country’s leadership are dissatisfied with Hamas’s response, as both control of Gaza and ending the war are conditions rejected by Israel. As Blinken continues on his fifth trip to the Middle East since October 7, he will discuss what diplomats are referring to as the “day-after” plans for governing Gaza when the war ends, including the possible role for the Palestinian Authority, the group that administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
- News emerged on Tuesday that at least 30 of the 136 hostages remaining in Hamas captivity from the October 7 terrorist attack have died since the start of the war, according to a confidential Israeli intelligence assessment reviewed by the Times. The bodies of two other slain Israelis, which have been held since the 2014 Gaza War between Israel and Hamas, have also been held in the territory ever since. Some of the 30-plus dead were killed in Israel on October 7, and then their bodies moved by Hamas to Gaza, while others died of injuries. Others still, officials said, were killed by Hamas once in captivity in Gaza. At least three hostages were killed by the Israeli military during its ground operations in the enclave.
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Meanwhile, global humanitarian aid organizations continue to raise flags about human rights abuses in the conflict.
Amnesty International released a new report on Monday claiming that Israeli forces were killing Palestinians in the occupied West Bank with “near total impunity” as the world focused on Gaza. Accusing Israeli security forces of “unlawful killings, including by using lethal force without necessity or disproportionately during protests,” the organization demanded in the report that the International Criminal Court sharpen the focus of its investigation into Israel’s conduct in the occupied territory. The report also states that Israeli forces “obstructed medical assistance to people with life-threatening wounds and attacked those attempting to assist injured Palestinians, including paramedics.”
The uptick in violence in the occupied territory, AI says, adds to Israel’s “well-documented track record of using excessive and often lethal force to stifle dissent and enforce its system of apartheid against Palestinians.” The Israeli military has described its operations in the West Bank as counterterrorism efforts, and the country has strenuously denied prior accusations of committing apartheid. Amnesty International said it sent a request for information about the cases documented in its report to the Israeli military’s spokesperson unit in late November and did not receive a response.
After months of Israeli officials directing Gaza residents to move south to escape its escalating bombardment, more than half of Gaza’s population now resides in the greater Rafah area in the southern part of the enclave. Even before the war, Gaza had one of the world’s highest population densities. Israel continued its new campaign to hit the south with relentless pressure on Khan Younis—the main city in southern Gaza—and Rafah, just to its south, which was also hit by airstrikes and tank fire. Back in Washington, the House of Representatives rejected a standalone $17.6 billion aid package to Israel on Tuesday, reflecting growing unease with issuing the country unconditional aid. |
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| | WeeklyMatters | This week's top stories | |
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Are you ready to vote? This week, ballots started hitting mailboxes and early voting sites opened for the primary election on March 5. To help you research your stance on Proposition 1 and your picks for the U.S. Senate race and other key contests, check out the CalMatters Voter Guide. We’ve answered the most common voting questions already, but is there something else you’re curious about? Let us know. -Anna |
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California voters this spring are considering a $6.4 billion bond that would build thousands of housing units and treatment beds for people with serious mental health conditions. A 2018 ballot measure that made similar promises offers lessons about the obstacles that stand in the way of construction. |
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| | Nonprofit & Nonpartisan This week we launched our Voter Guide thanks to support from our members. Please join them today. Donate → | |
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| | California could follow Oregon in authorizing the use of psychedelics in therapeutic settings. Growing research characterizes certain hallucinogens as helpful in treating mental illnesses, such as depression and PTSD. |
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| | The term “unsubsidized 100% affordable project” was once an oxymoron. Under Mayor Karen Bass, Los Angeles is now approving them by the hundreds. |
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| | Sen. Mike McGuire of Healdsburg takes over as Democratic leader in the state Senate from Sen. Toni Atkins. He terms out in 2026, so has limited time to push his agenda. |
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| | A state tax agency wants to use generative AI to give business owners tax advice. The state of California calls it an opportunity. Risk assessments are forthcoming. |
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| | The federal standard will likely throw new California counties out of compliance — and put even more pressure on the LA basin and San Joaquin Valley to clean the air. |
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| | When Gov. Gavin Newsom launched his landmark effort to shelter homeless residents in hotels during COVID, the state and local governments were relying on FEMA to foot much of the bill. Now, they’re on the hook for $300 million. |
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A detailed look at poverty, racism, militarism, and ecological devastation in all 50 states plus D.C. |
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| Congrats, Taylor, for your talent and decades of consistently great songwriting. You deserve all the accolades and rewards. But I have one request... |
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| The Poor People’s Campaign is planning 42 weeks of actions to mobilize this potentially powerful yet often ignored segment of the electorate. |
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| Security for all means honoring legal immigration, creating paths to citizenship, and it means ending and preventing wars. |
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| Tax consultant Charles Littlejohn faces prison while our richest continue to feel precious little tax-time pain.
In November, a survey found former President Donald Trump was more trusted to handle relations with China and both wars. | Win McNamee/Getty Images |
With help from Daniel Lippman DONALD TRUMP’s remark that he’d allow Russia to attack a NATO nation that didn’t spend enough on defense, and do nothing, is curious for a candidate accusing President JOE BIDEN of courting the next great war. “We are on the brink of World War III,” Trump said in January following an Iran-backed militia killing three U.S. soldiers in Jordan. Biden, in response to Trump’s NATO remark, blasted the Republican frontrunner for abandoning allies, a stance he claimed would make Americans less safe at home. The exchange underscored the 2024 foreign policy debate’s metanarrative: which candidate is best positioned to avoid the largest global conflict in decades. “The specter of World War III is becoming the successor to the specter of endless war,” said STEPHEN WERTHEIM, a senior fellow in the American statecraft program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. After Russian troops entered Ukraine in Feb. 2022, 69 percent of Americans feared those were the opening salvos of World War III. And a Quinnipiac poll from January found that more than 8 in 10 Americans were concerned the U.S. would be drawn into a conflict in the Middle East. Trump may have the upper hand on addressing those fears. In November, a survey found the former president was more trusted to handle relations with China and both wars. Meanwhile, concerns about a broadening fight are, well, broadening. Iran and its proxies are attacking Americans and their allies. Russia continues to wage war against Ukraine and may mobilize a half-million troops more. And the prospect of China invading Taiwan looms large. That all has Republicans and Democrats thinking about the best ways to handle the crises and ensure they don’t grow into bigger problems. “Most Democrats seem to think that the risk in Europe is doing too little, and the risk in the Middle East is doing too much. Many Republicans believe the opposite,” said JUSTIN LOGAN, who leads defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute. No president wants to be the one responsible for a massive fight that leads to tens of thousands of deaths and upends the global economy. But both world wars started in large part by miscalculations and misjudgements about intentions. The worry is more about Biden and Trump stumbling into World War III than anything else. For example, Iran could continue supporting proxies who attack American forces in the Middle East, leading to escalating tit-for-tat exchanges. Trump’s messaging to Russia could compel VLADIMIR PUTIN to test if the second-time president would commit American forces to Europe’s defense. If he does, then the world’s foremost nuclear powers would be in a direct confrontation. KORI SCHAKE, who leads the American Enterprise Institute’s foreign and defense work, said avoiding World War III isn’t the right way to look at this political fight: “It’ll be about who can keep us safe.” Americans aren’t reflexively antiwar, Schake added, saying if they were, support for Biden wouldn’t have dropped after he withdrew troops from Afghanistan and there’d be opposition to striking the Houthis in Yemen or standing by Taiwan. Still, Wertheim argues it’s good for the citizenry to be engaged in the debate about how dangerous things seem, and are, right now. “If this election raises awareness of the risks of World War III, that could be a good thing,” he said. |
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