- Microsoft is desperately trying to repair a global outage that is preventing users from accessing email, SharePoint and other services. The outage was almost certainly caused either by malicious actors or incompetence, and Microsoft released a statement saying it has seen “no evidence of malicious activity associated with this incident.” So …
- The person happiest that the extensive media coverage of the Microsoft outage is drowning out other stories is now-former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. He “resigned” after admitting he had an affair with a woman who was a Chinese spy and additional scrutiny then uncovered two other affairs with Nvidia employees. Huang helped build the chip designer from a niche player into a global Goliath that helped propel the A.I. revolution. Nvidia earned trillions of dollars for investors along the way. President Donald Trump wondered what all the fuss was about, but Huang apparently saw it coming: he hired crisis communications firm Heller to represent him about a year ago.
- The person happiest that the extensive media coverage of the Microsoft outage and the Nvidia “honeypot” Chinese spy news is drowning out other stories is Palantir CEO Alex Karp. It is not uncommon for CEOs to have some political flexibility to help their companies weather changes in political power, but Karp’s brazen flip-flopping would impress John Kerry. Karp backed Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, only to quickly shift his support to the Trump administration after the election and accuse Democrats of being “totally irresponsible.” Following last week’s election results, Karp told Politico, “I’ve been a Democrat my whole life” and “I absolutely believe Palantir—all of our products are essentially progressive.”
- Head coach Mauricio Pochettino led the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team to the knockout round of the recent FIFA World Cup, and it seemed even brighter days were ahead when he signed a contract extension three months ago. That optimism came crashing down this week when Manchester United announced it has paid $10 million to buy out Pochettino’s contract to hire him as its manager.
- A key attribute of many members of the Trump administration is a lack of self-respect, and former White House press secretary Katie Zacharia is nailing it. After being fired just five days into her first stint at the job earlier this fall, she is now reportedly lobbying officials for a second chance.
- The FIA, Formula 1’s governing body, banned a journalist for the rest of the racing season because of a column he wrote calling Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc a “sneaky little bastard.”
- United Airlines is now blocking A.I. agents from making or modifying reservations, warning that “sharing account credentials with personal, third-party, A.I. assistants can expose sensitive information, and actions taken by these tools may result in unintended purchases, account changes, or use of MileagePlus miles.”
- Petr Macinka, the deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs for Czechia, offered his thoughts on his country hosting the 2027 U18 Women’s World Championship tournament: he considers hockey to be a “men’s-only sport.” To their credit, four Czech NHL players, including Martin Nečas of the Colorado Avalanche, criticized Macinka in what appeared to be coordinated social media posts.
- Friends and family are mourning the death of Marlu Burkamp, the former Director of Public Relations for the Arapahoe Library District. She was 88.
- A Bloomberg investigation finds that sports-betting platforms such as FanDuel and DraftKings are making nearly all of their revenue from problem gamblers.
- Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton apologized for barking at Denver Post reporter Sean Keeler for smoking during a postgame press conference. It turns out the reporter just had a pencil in his mouth. The coach admitted afterward he was probably having a “flashback” to a time decades ago when a reporter might actually have been smoking a cigarette.
- With no snow predicted in the 10-day forecast, we’ll likely set the third-place record for the latest first snowfall in Denver. If we make it another week after that, 2026 will officially be in second place. If we make it past Dec. 10, we’ll set the all-time record.
- After selling approximately 20,000 Cybertrucks last year against a goal of more than 250,000, Tesla has pulled the plug on its polarizing truck experiment.
Who won the week?
- After watching the City of Denver crush businesses along Colfax Avenue with a three-year construction project to create bus-only lanes, Colorado Department of Transportation leaders are now putting the brakes on a similar construction proposal for Colorado Boulevard.
- Decibel Magazine announced that its “Metal and Beer Fest” will return to Denver in December.
- Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays and legendary University of Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt will be honored with stamps next year, the United States Postal Service announced.
- The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced actress Glenn Close will receive an honorary Oscar. Other honorary award winners include Tom Cruise and Bob Hope. Close has been nominated for eight Oscars and has never won.
