Good morning. This newsletter is dedicated to everyone who woke up before you wanted to because you forgot to turn off your alarm clock for the three-day weekend. Next opportunity for redemption: Memorial Day, 98 days from now. —Neal Freyman | | | |  | Nasdaq | 13,548.07 | | | | | S&P | 4,348.87 | | | | | Dow | 34,079.18 | | |  | 10-Year | 1.928% | | | | | Bitcoin | $38,980.62 | | | | | Gold | $1,898.00 | | | | *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 8:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean. | - Markets: The US stock market is closed for Presidents Day today, but investors will certainly have the Monday Scaries due to unanswered questions around inflation and the Russia–Ukraine crisis. One asset that's doing particularly well amid the tensions is gold, which is considered a hedge against geopolitical conflicts. The metal's price has increased in 12 of the last 15 trading sessions, and is hovering at levels not seen since last June.
| | Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for New York Times Last Tuesday, HBO premiered a documentary on the life of Carl Icahn called Icahn: The Restless Billionaire, and just a few days later he is proving them correct. The 86-year-old investor has nominated two directors to the McDonald's board in a bid to pressure the fast-food chain to improve its suppliers' treatment of pigs. This story begins a decade ago, when, after getting an earful from Icahn and the Humane Society, McDonald's announced that it would only buy pork from suppliers that stopped using gestation crates (tiny stalls) to hold pregnant pigs by 2022. 10 years later, Icahn is arguing that the company has both a) shifted the goalposts and b) hasn't moved fast enough. - McDonald's suppliers only move pigs out of gestation crates once they're confirmed pregnant, which could be weeks into their 16-week pregnancies, according to Icahn.
- And McDonald's says it can't even supply 100% of its pork from pigs in those conditions before 2024.
Icahn isn't going about this in the typical way Known as the OG "corporate raider," Icahn popularized the strategy of activist investing. How that usually works: He buys stakes in companies he thinks are mismanaged, then uses that leverage to wage war on leadership. If Icahn succeeds, then the changes he pushes for will cause the stock to jump. And, with a net worth around $17 billion, he's succeeded a decent amount. But Icahn's approach with McDonald's is very different. He's not arguing that the company is undervalued because of incompetent leaders, just that it's being unethical. And he doesn't expect to make any money from this. - Icahn only owns about 200 shares of McDonald's (about $50,000 worth), a negligible amount compared to his typical investments of hundreds of millions of dollars.
- "Animals are one of the things I feel really emotional about," he told the WSJ.
Big picture: McDonald's said it would consider Icahn's two nominees, but it maintains that the industry can't support fully eliminating gestation crates at this point. It also suggested Icahn is a hypocrite for not pushing for similar changes at meat company Viskase, of which he's a majority owner. | | Ukrainian civilians use logs as guns during a military training course. Chris McGrath/Getty Images.  Biden sends a gCal invite: President Biden has agreed "in principle" to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin if Putin has not already invaded Ukraine. The move, brokered by French President Emmanuel Macron, is a last-ditch diplomatic effort to avert a war that US leaders say is imminent.
 The occupation of Ottawa is over. Police cleared out the remaining protesters and towed the trucks that had been blockading downtown Ottawa for three weeks. Still, the demonstration, which galvanized conservative voices across the world, could have lasting effects on Canadian politics.
 Suisse Secrets. A whistleblower leaked data on more than 18,000 Credit Suisse accounts, exposing how the Swiss bank had a list of shady clients, including alleged human rights abusers, sanctioned businessmen, and relatives of dictators. Credit Suisse denied any allegations of wrongdoing.
| | Sebastien Bozon/AFP via Getty Images The 2022 Winter Olympics have come to a close, and once again Norway topped the leaderboard, with 37 medals. Four years ago in Pyeongchang, Norway crushed the competition with 39, and it boasts more total Winter Olympics medals than any other country. But more people live in New York City than in Norway. So what's its secret? First of all, Norway's rich: With a per capita GDP of $67,389, it's the seventh wealthiest country in the world. Lots of money is necessary to succeed in winter sports that require expensive gear, cutting-edge technology, and expert training (in the US, a junior ski racing career can run $500,000). Norway is also cold (good for winter sports, we hear) and has a strong culture of skiing—70% of Norwegians own cross-country skis, according to a 2013 survey. But perhaps what sets Norway apart is its ability to create enthusiastic athletes from a young age. Instead of locking children into high-stakes competitions as youngsters, Norway invites them to dabble in a variety of sports with only one goal: have fun. The government takes this so seriously that it crafted a document called "Children's Rights in Sport," which states that "children should receive a positive experience every time they participate in sport." - At the more than 12,000 athletic clubs across the country, championships are not held until kids hit age 13.
Big picture: While Norway excels at winter sports, it also punches above its weight in other athletic disciplines. Golfer Viktor Hovland and tennis player Casper Ruud are both in the top 10 of their sports globally, while Magnus Carlsen has been ranked No. 1 in chess since 2011. And yes, that's an athletic discipline. | | | The TP kings over at Charmin have a surprise in their pipeline (ahem) coming your way tomorrow. Why? Because there's just no better day than 2/22/22 for the official sponsor of #2 to drop something BIG. So, what's the haps? Well, we can't give away the big splash just yet, but with tomorrow being the iconic day of deuces, Charmin will be flushing out an event that'll make you proud of your natural bodily functions. Follow Charmin on IG to be the first to see what they drop. | | Collage by Willem Dafriend, Elmo from Sesame Street/Sesame Workshop via Giphy Prepare the hot cocoa: Pretty much everyone can justifiably complain about the weather later this week. With arctic air moving in, more than 70% of Americans in the Lower 48 states will experience below-freezing temps, and over 15 million will see below-zero temps. Trump's back on social media: Truth Social, former President Trump's social media venture, could launch on the App Store today, per Reuters. Trump's been banned from Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for about a year for his role in stoking the Capitol riots last January. Earnings: Home Depot, Macy's, Virgin Galactic, Alibaba, and Moderna highlight this week's earnings slate as the Q4 reporting season draws to a close. Everything else: - AT&T is shutting down its 3G service tomorrow.
- Tomorrow is a Twosday unlike any other: 2/22/22.
- Music releases: Kanye West drops Donda 2 on the Stem Player on Tuesday, and Avril Lavigne's new album comes out on Friday.
| | Tristan Fewings/Getty Images Stat: 7.1% of US adults identify as LGBTQ, more than doubling from 3.5% in 2012, according to a new Gallup poll. Because so many youngsters identify as LGBTQ (20.8% of Gen Zers), people who identify as LGBTQ could comprise 10%–15% of the adult population "in the not too distant future," the poll's author told Axios. Quote: "Today, it's a closed platform—but it could be an open platform and part of the creator economy. What other apps would you put on it? Could it be running an app store?" Peloton's new CEO Barry McCarthy asked some big questions (and answered a bunch more) in a very candid interview with the NYT. McCarthy wanted the job in part because Peloton already has the "hardest thing on the planet to find": product market fit. Read: How Zillow's homebuying scheme lost $881 million. (Full Stack Economics) | | - Queen Elizabeth II tested positive for Covid. The 95-year-old monarch is experiencing mild symptoms, Buckingham Palace said.
- The Pittsburgh Steelers hired Brian Flores as a defensive assistant and linebackers coach. Flores has sued the NFL over discriminatory hiring practices.
- Rents are reaching "insane" levels across the US.
- OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace, is investigating a "phishing attack" that occurred over the weekend.
| | We get it, you have a Tesla: But what is the role of recycling in the new EV era? Emerging Tech Brew will explore sustainability and electric vehicles in a virtual event on 2/24 at 12pm ET. Register here. Snapshot of humanity: This video of people on a train is mesmerizing. Dive back into the week: | | Turntable: After a one-week vacation, your favorite word game is back and has a whole new outlook on life. Play Turntable here. Portrait gallery On Presidents Day, we're asking you to identify the US presidents from their official portraits.  | | 1. Dwight D. Eisenhower 2. Theodore Roosevelt 3. Ulysses S. Grant 4. Harry S. Truman 5. John Adams 6. Andrew Jackson | | | Written by Neal Freyman Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here. WANT MORE BREW? Industry news, with a sense of humor → - Emerging Tech Brew: AI, crypto, space, autonomous vehicles, and more
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