In testifying before the House impeachment inquiry Thursday, former White House adviser Fiona Hill criticized Republicans for promoting a “fictional narrative” that Ukraine, not Russia, is meddling in the U.S. elections.

The problem with that story is that it’s not only untrue, she said, but that it benefits Russia as President Vladimir Putin seeks to undermine the U.S. and boost his own country’s power internationally, including in Ukraine, where Russia effectively annexed Crimea in 2014.

“The Russian government’s goal is to weaken our country—to diminish America’s global role and to neutralize a perceived U.S. threat to Russian interests,” Hill said in her opening statement. “President Putin and the Russian security services aim to counter U.S. foreign policy objectives in Europe including in Ukraine, where Moscow wishes to reassert political and economic dominance.”

While President Trump and Republicans in Congress have at times questioned whether Russia was really behind hacking and propaganda efforts leading up to the 2016 election, intelligence officials have generally been unanimous in saying the Russian efforts, largely supporting Trump, were real. Devin Nunes, the California congressman who is the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, has recently pushed the argument that Ukraine was the real meddling force in the election.

“Once you understand that Ukrainian officials were cooperating directly with President Trump’s political opponents to undermine his candidacy, it’s easy to understand why the president would want to learn the full truth about these operations and why he would be skeptical of Ukraine,” he said in a hearing Wednesday, the Washington Post reports.

The Ukrainian meddling story has not been supported by any public intelligence reports, and critics say it’s a way for Trump to cast doubt on allegations that he held up military aid for Ukraine to pressure the country to investigate Joe Biden’s son Hunter’s involvement with a Ukrainian company. The Ukrainian allegations effectively benefit Putin’s Russia in two ways, by undermining U.S. support for Ukraine and distracting from the proven threat from Russia’s own election manipulation, Hill argued.

“Right now, Russia’s security services and their proxies have geared up to repeat their interference in the 2020 election,” Hill warned in her statement. “We are running out of time to stop them. In the course of this investigation, I would ask that you please not promote politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests.”

MUST WATCH: Fiona Hill SLAMS @DevinNunes and Republicans trafficking in the same wacky conspiracy theories being pushed by Russian intelligence to undermine the United States. pic.twitter.com/N8fokP8g7J

— Zac Petkanas (@Zac_Petkanas) November 21, 2019

Elon Musk is excited about Tesla’s new electric pickup truck, and now he’s going to show it to the world.

The big reveal is tonight, coinciding with the L.A. Auto Show, where the automotive press has gathered for days for media preview events before the show opens to the public.

The Cybertruck program begins at 8 p.m. PT (that’s 11 p.m. ET). The Palo Alto-based automaker is expected to live-stream tonight’s event on its website and its YouTube channel.

Previous coverage of the long-awaited pickup puts the price at below $50,000, and Musk last month described it on Twitter as not looking like “anything I’ve seen bouncing around the Internet. It’s closer to an armored personnel carrier from the future.” The Tesla founder also has alluded to inspiration from the 1982 science fiction movie Blade Runner (not to be confused with the 2017 sequel, which includes 2049 as a suffix).

Cybertruck doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen bouncing around the Internet. It’s closer to an armored personnel carrier from the future.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 14, 2019

Building an electric pickup has been a long-time goal of Musk’s. In July 2012, for example, he tweeted, “Would love to make a Tesla supertruck with crazy torque, dynamic air suspension and corners like its on rails. That’d be sweet…”

@DJjodes Would love to make a Tesla supertruck with crazy torque, dynamic air suspension and corners like its on rails. That'd be sweet…

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 1, 2012

Tesla stock was at $357.79, up $5.57 or 1.58%, in early-afternoon trading.

Snagging an open CEO seat these days is tough: Today’s departing CEOs cling to their jobs for an average of 10 years (up from 7 years a decade ago), and a stunning 9 out of 10 CEO hirings come from internal candidates (just two years ago, 40% of new CEO hires were external). “Boards are sticking with the status quo and not seeking significant strategic shifts,” write the authors of a new report by the Conference Board and executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles.

If you are aiming for the C-suite’s top seat, here’s what to do:

• Gun for a role held by an older CEO. CEOs over age 64 logged a 23% transition rate last year, as opposed to 10% for CEOs under 64. There are currently more CEOs over age 75 than there are under age 45.
• Start looking now. “The average tenure and age of departing CEOs might decline over the next 2-3 years, particularly if the economic weakness both expands and deepens around the globe,” write the researchers.
• Get on the list. Financial companies keep a list of potential CEO candidates, and 91% of nonfinancial and manufacturing companies with revenues over $20 billion also keep a list. If you’re not on the list, you’re not gonna be the next CEO.
• Pitch yourself as the cleanup guy. Companies commonly look for a new chief following subpar financial performance: In 2017, 22% of companies in the bottom quartile hired new CEOs and only 6.8% of companies in the upper three quartiles. Signs of upcoming turnover to look for: a recent IPO (a third of companies hire a new CEO within 4 years) or CEOs less than five years into their roles while facing poor stock returns.
• Skip interim CEO gigs if you want to be CEO. Just one S&P 500 interim CEO last year was offered a full CEO role, at Intel.
• Hold on for dear life. This is your only shot. Only 5.5% of CEOs who leave their jobs under age 60 are hired as CEOs elsewhere—and even then, their compensation dips by a quarter. That said, economics are on your side: New CEOs cost companies a whopping 5% of annual revenues, mostly from search costs, reduced productivity during the turnover, and severance pay.
• Don’t have sexual interactions of any sort with anyone from work. Not now. Not as CEO. Not ever. Really. Forty percent of nonvoluntary CEO departures last year were for personal conduct, including Les Moonves at CBS, Brian Krzanich at Intel, and Steve Wynn at Wynn Resorts. Last year had the highest nonvoluntary CEO departure rate in almost 20 years, at 31%.

That’s it. Good luck.

Holiday shopping has begun, and the children in your life are trying to stay on the nice, not naughty list. You don’t want to be the one to buy them playthings that can injure them, right?

Boston-based World Against Toys Causing Harm, or W.A.T.C.H. for short, has released its annual list of the 10 “worst toys” of the year.

1. Nerf Ultra One: The blaster that fires up to 120 feet has the potential for eye injuries.
2. Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog: Hard plastic removable quills have the potential for ingestion injuries and choking.
3. Bunchems Bunch ‘n Build: Plastic, connective pieces may get entangled in hair and may cause choking.
4. Yeti: The stuffed animal’s long hair may come out and be ingested or cause aspiration.
5. Nickelodeon Frozen Treats Slime: They look like a smoothie, soft-serve ice cream, or a snow cone, but the package warns that they’re not real food and shouldn’t be eaten. The issue becomes possible chemical ingestion and irritation injuries.
6. Anstoy Electric Toy Gun: It’s a realistic-looking weapon.
7. Diecast School Bus: The rubber tires are removable and could cause choking.
8. Flybar Pogo Trick Board: The bouncing toy’s packaging shows only two of the three kids on the package wearing helmets and none with other protective gear. The concern is possible head or impact injuries.
9. Power Rangers Electronic Cheetah Claw: It might cause eye or facial injuries.
10. Viga Pull-Along Caterpillar: The 24-inch pull cord has the potential for strangulation or entanglement injuries.

An estimated 251,700 toy-related injuries were treated at American hospital emergency departments in 2017, according to U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission data released last year. The agency also received reports of 13 toy-related deaths among kids younger than 12.

So how does W.A.T.C.H. determine that these toys are the worst? The organization doesn’t conduct tests à la Consumer Reports or collect injury/death reports about certain toys. Rather, director James Swartz says it relies on years of knowledge about industry standards, recalls, and statistics and consults with a local children’s hospital.

“[P]arents and caregivers do not have laboratories for testing toys,” he told Fast Company. “We shop for toys, the same way parents and caregivers do, to survey the marketplace. The 10 Worst List provides examples of types of hazards acknowledged by the industry over decades—small  parts, choking hazards, and other examples of hazards as represented by the nominees on the list.”

Not everyone is convinced, though: The toy industry says W.A.T.C.H. is deceiving people who make purchases for kids.

“Each year, W.A.T.C.H.’s dangerous toys list needlessly frightens parents and caregivers,” the trade group Toy Association said in a statement. “By law, all toys sold in the United States must meet 100+ rigorous safety tests and standards. On the other hand, W.A.T.C.H. does not test the toys in its report to check their safety; their allegations appear to be based on their misrepresentation or misunderstanding of the mandatory toy standards.”

Among W.A.T.C.H.’s toy-shopping tips are be aware of recalled toys when buying online or secondhand, and do research before buying toys over the internet, because product descriptions might not include warnings.

Amazon is adding a new connected gadget to its lineup, but it’s strictly for office use.

The Dash Smart Shelf is a Wi-Fi scale that can weigh a stack of paper, a bucket of pens, or other office supplies. Office managers can assign a specific product to the scale through the Amazon app, and when the scale detects that most of the weight has come off, it automatically orders more supplies. The scale will come in three sizes, though Amazon isn’t taking orders yet or saying how much they’ll cost.

Amazon officially entered the office supply business in 2015 through its Amazon Business marketplace. In September 2018, the company reported that this marketplace was seeing $10 billion in annualized sales. In addition to taking the hassle out of restocking, the Dash Smart Shelf could help ensure that businesses don’t think about straying to other suppliers.

Researchers at the Web Integrity Project combed thousands of U.S. government web pages to trace how LGBTQ-related content has changed in two years under the Trump administration. It’s not good: Antidiscrimination information has disappeared, along with LGBTQ data and resource pages in general.

More than anything, it’s clear that the Trump administration lacks coherent messaging. Changes found by the project vary depending on the department. Across 142 government websites with LGBTQ content, 57% had significant alterations to LGBTQ-related terms, while the rest maintained their Obama-era wording.

Specific examples give a sense of the policy aims of each department:

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention replaced “LGBTQ” with “LGB” on pages about queer youth, while also deleting transgender statistics from the 2015 and 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Surveys. Insufficient data about LGBTQ people have long hampered good policymaking.
• The Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity removed a number of explanations and resources about discrimination against LGBT people and HIV-positive people, meaning that people facing housing discrimination cannot access information about their rights and current laws on those pages.
• The Department of Health and Human Services has largely abandoned identity language, with a 40% dip in use of the term “transgender” and a 25% dip in “gender,” in favor of religious-freedom terminology, which can be problematic in allowing, for example, healthcare providers to refuse transgender patients or procedures.

What’s most worrying is that the researchers found a number of website changes that do not reflect formal policy changes. For example, the administration has tried to reverse Obama-era laws preventing discrimination based on gender identity, with limited success. Yet within a month of Trump taking office, the Department of Labor removed pages about and references to an Obama-era executive order, EO 13672, that protects federal contractors from discrimination based on gender identity. The order itself is still in effect.

The Web Integrity Project monitors federal websites, assessing whether changes reflect formal policy shifts. When they don’t, the project alerts the agency, experts, and the public.

Yesterday Trump toured the Texas facility where Apple is manufacturing its hotly anticipated new Mac Pro. Today the president tweeted that he hopes Apple can make something else in America—but it’s not iPhones.

Early this morning Trump said he hoped Apple could get into the mobile network business and get “involved in building 5G in the U.S.” In a tweet, Trump seemed to suggest that if any American company could build America’s 5G infrastructure, it’s Apple, saying, “They have it all – Money, Technology, Vision & Cook!l”

During my visit yesterday to Austin, Texas, for the startup of the new Mac Pro, & the discussion of a new one $billion campus, also in Texas, I asked Tim Cook to see if he could get Apple involved in building 5G in the U.S. They have it all – Money, Technology, Vision & Cook!l

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2019

America’s 5G network rollout has long been a focal point of the Trump White House, which is concerned that Chinese giant Huawei, one of the world’s largest providers of 5G infrastructure, presents a security risk to America and its allies.

So, what are the chances of Apple actually becoming a 5G infrastructure provider? Slim, at best. But at least if they would decide to go down that route, they’d have the backing of the U.S. president.

Brokerage firm Charles Schwab is in talks to buy rival TD Ameritrade, reports CNBC. The organization cites a source who said the deal could be announced today. The two brokerage firms are the largest publicly traded houses, with Charles Schwab having a market cap of $57.5 billion and TD Ameritrade at $22.4 billion.

The retail brokerage industry has gone through upheaval in recent months as all of the major brokers have moved, or are moving, to commission-free trades in order to lure customers. CNBC says Charles Schwab was the first to do so, followed by TD Ameritrade.

The change has forced brokerage houses to try to find new ways to keep profits up, and combining the two biggest brokerage firms could help the companies compete against others, like Fidelity, that offer the same benefits to consumers.

Upon news breaking of the rumored imminent announcement, CNBC says TD Ameritrade shares surged over 20%, with Charles Schwab shares up over 5%. If the two firms do merge, they would have a combined $5 trillion in assets.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had an undisclosed meeting with President Trump in October, reports NBC News. The meeting saw Zuckerberg attend dinner at the White House with the president and first lady as well as Facebook board member Peter Thiel. NBC says it’s unclear what was discussed at the dinner or why the dinner was not made public.

Zuckerberg reportedly had the dinner with Trump while he was in Washington testifying to Congress about the company’s upcoming Libra cryptocurrency. The undisclosed dinner with Trump is the second-known meeting Zuckerberg has had with the president in as many months. Back in September, the president tweeted that he met with Zuckerberg in the Oval Office.

The White House would not comment on what was discussed at the October dinner and a Facebook representative only told NBC, “As is normal for a CEO of a major U.S. company, Mark accepted an invitation to have dinner with the President and First Lady at the White House.”

Facebook is currently under massive scrutiny from lawmakers over everything from antitrust issues to privacy to cryptocurrency. The company has also received heavy criticism for its decision to allow politicians to run political ads with outright lies in them, with fears such misleading ads could sway the 2020 presidential election.

In the last 20 years of presidential debates there have been more than 4,000 questions. But only four have been about paid leave, and a mere two have been about childcare. This is according to Time’s Up CEO Tina Tchen from her organization’s own analysis.

That changed tonight when the first all-woman panel of debate moderators asked the Democratic candidates about both paid family leave and childcare. Most, if not all, of the candidates onstage, support paid family leave (a stance that is nearly universally popular with Americans. (Over 80% believe there should be some form of paid family leave, according to Pew.)

So when the question was first directed at Andrew Yang, it was no surprise that he supported the idea of paid family leave (although he misstepped when he implied it should only be for “new moms”). It was also no surprise that his solution to the cost of childcare was his plan for a $1,000-a-month universal basic income, or UBI. After all, his UBI plan has been part of his solution to nearly every issue he’s been asked about (including, curiously, the gender pay gap).

The cost of childcare in the U.S. is cripplingly high, to the point that it exceeds the cost of college in many states. While an extra $1,000 a month would certainly help families ($2,ooo a month for two-parent homes), it’s far from a solution. In some places in the U.S., the average cost of childcare for an infant is around $1,230 a month, but in places with a higher cost of living, like New York City and Washington, D.C., childcare for one kid can average closer to $2,000 a month.

So, yes, $1,000 a month would help defray that cost, but for millions of families who are middle or working class (and/or who have more than one kid under 5 years old), $1,000 a month isn’t going to cut it. For those families, a quarter of whom are going into debt to pay for childcare, or for those who pay more for childcare than rent, the real solution to the cost of childcare isn’t a $1,000 bump in their income. It’s universal childcare.

Perhaps the most problematic but easily overlooked statement that Yang made about his UBI solution to the cost of childcare was his suggestion that a parent could take that money and quit their job to stay at home with their child instead. First, $1,000 a month equals little over $6 hour for a 40 hour workweek, and therefore wouldn’t replace even a minimum-wage worker’s full-time salary.

Second, because childcare falls overwhelmingly on women and because women make on average around 20% to 30% less than men, the likelihood that if one parent would quit their job to stay at home with the kids, it would be a mother. Leaving the workforce for even one year impacts a person’s retirement assets and earning potential to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars over a their working life (the Center for American Progress has a calculator for exactly how many earnings a person will lose depending on their age and salary).

So $1,000 a month might soften the staggering cost of childcare, but it certainly wouldn’t solve it for most working parents, and using UBI to encourage (likely women) to quit their jobs would exacerbate the gender pay gap.

Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the number of times paid leave and child care have been asked about in presidential debates

Joe Biden has been slipping in the polls lately, and the fifth Democratic debate of the 2020 presidential primaries most likely did not help his standing.

The famously flub-prone former vice president made a number of stumbles at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta on Wednesday night. Particularly noteworthy were his very awkward exchanges with senators Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California.

The former attacked Biden for coming out against legalized marijuana, suggesting he must have been “high” to take such a position (an applause line if there ever was one), while the latter stood dumfounded when Biden said he had the support of the only black woman elected to the Senate. Biden quickly corrected himself by clarifying that he meant the first black woman elected to the Senate as Harris waved her hands, laughing and saying, “I’m right here.”

Of course, it’s impossible to say whether tonight’s lackluster performance will have any lasting effect on Biden’s chances, but a roundup of some of his worst moments suggests his overall performance will not bode well.

Exhibit A: Booker versus Biden

Booker tells Biden that he thought he was high when he came out against federal legalization of marijuana. #Democraticdebate #demdebate pic.twitter.com/JyByEB64P2

— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) November 21, 2019

Exhibit B: Harris versus Biden

Biden misspeaks and says he had support from “the only African-American woman that had ever been elected to the United States Senate,” before correcting that he meant “first.”

Harris’s reaction:pic.twitter.com/oIL1hcMfWS

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 21, 2019

Exhibit C: Biden versus Biden

Overheard in the #DemDebate crowd: The audience laughing as Joe Biden said “keep punching at it and punching at it” in an answer about violence against women.https://t.co/UlItvQ8K38 pic.twitter.com/LumieFj8HU

— POLITICO (@politico) November 21, 2019

Finally, if you needed anymore convincing: Here’s a hot take on Biden’s closing statements:

I’m still a little irritated at Biden’s “get up and do something!” closing statement. Did he forget the Women’s March? The incredible activism at the border? Where is the “woe is me” (as he put it) there?

— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) November 21, 2019

PayPal is dumping a whole lot of cash into the business of coupons.

The company previously owned by eBay says it’s buying Honey, a finder of discount codes, for “approximately $4 billion.” The size of the deal makes it one of the largest tech acquisitions of 2019 to date.

So how are coupon extensions and an app worth $4 billion? According to PayPal’s press release, Honey is popular. PayPal says the service has “approximately 17 million monthly active users” and helped users “find more than $1 billion in savings”—about one-quarter of Honey’s purchase price—over the past year.

In the same release, PayPal says its plan for Honey is to tie the service somehow into PayPal and Venmo, perhaps by squeezing deals into Venmo to make the money-sending service more “engaging” or “social.” And it’s easy to imagine how Honey might make it easier for PayPal to follow users around while they shop, instead of just appearing as an option at the bottom of their checkout carts.

PayPal shares were down about 2% in after-hours trading.

It’s day four of the House’s open impeachment hearings, and testimony from President Trump’s ambassador to the European Union is trending higher on Twitter’s worldwide charts than beloved K-pop boy band BTS.

Gordon Sondland, a million-dollar donor to President Trump’s inaugural fund, dropped “a real bombshell,” Michigan Democratic representative Dan Kildee said today. Or alternately, he dropped “supposed bombshells,” according to California Republican representative Devin Nunes. Either way, three reverberating statements from Sondland already seem to have inspired President Trump and his associate Rudy Giuliani to distance themselves from the key witness.

“Was there a quid pro quo?”

In a startlingly direct opening statement, Sondland posed the question and said, “as I testified previously, [. . .] the answer is yes.” According to Sondland, Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were aware of the Ukraine pressure campaign.

“Everyone was in the loop. It was no secret.”

Sondland testified that if anyone opposed his or other Trump advisers’ efforts to pressure Ukraine to announce an investigation into the 2016 U.S. presidential election and Burisma (a company with ties to former Vice President Joe Biden’s son), nobody stepped in to stop it: “No one decided to talk to us,” Sondland said.

“Because the president directed us to do so.”

According to Sondland, efforts to pressure Ukraine to publicly announce an investigation into Burisma, the Bidens, and the 2016 election—all in exchange for the release of U.S. aid money and a meeting at the White House—came at President Trump’s “express direction.”

Sondland is one of three witnesses testifying today before the House Intelligence Committee. You can read his opening statement to investigators here and watch the full testimony in the embedded video below.

Gender parity continues to be a joke in corporate leadership: The number of female CEOs of S&P 500 companies declined to 22 last year, following the departures of Indra Nooyi from PepsiCo, Denise Morrison from Campbell Soup, and two others.

Yes, the numbers are so low that individual departures move the needle.

The glory days for female CEOs came back in 2017, when there were 27 CEOs, a less-than-impressive peak. In 2012, there were 20.

“This finding is even more troublesome when read in conjunction with the recent academic research indicating that activist investors are more likely to target female CEOs because of the gender stereotypes that still influence investment managers,” write the authors of a new study confirming these figures from the Conference Board, which was prepared with CEO hiring firm Heidrick & Struggles.

You know what’s not a thing? Older female CEOs. There aren’t any. Female CEOs range in age from 47 to 63, which is much younger than male CEOs. Eleven companies, including FedEx and Walgreens, have CEOs in their seventies or eighties; Warren Buffet and Les Wexner are in their eighties. Last year Prudential Financial, Tyson Foods, and Coty all hired male CEOs in their sixties.

The driving problem is that boards are not hiring women leaders of any age. The last banner year for women CEO hires was 2011, when 10 female CEOs were hired. How many S&P 500 female CEOs were hired last year? One. Just one, out of 59 new CEO hires. She is Kathy Warden, 47, CEO of Northrop Grumman.

Last year, California became the first state to require companies to hire women on corporate boards, but the law is being challenged by a libertarian group claiming it violates the Constitution’s equal protection clause.

Today is what we refer to in the news business as a busy news day. As if we didn’t have enough happening with impeachment hearings, the Grammy nominations, and Taco Bell entering the chicken wars, the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates are preparing for their fifth debate of the primary season.

This time around, the candidates will face off at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, where healthcare, immigration reform, and education are expected to be among the topics. Here’s the full lineup:

• Joe Biden
• Cory Booker
• Pete Buttigieg
• Tulsi Gabbard
• Kamala Harris
• Amy Klobuchar
• Bernie Sanders
• Tom Steyer
• Elizabeth Warren
• Andrew Yang

Noticeably absent from that list are two debate regulars: Beto O’Rourke and Julian Castro. The former dropped out of the race earlier this month, and the latter failed to qualify.

Another notable fact is that the debate will have an all-female lineup of moderators: MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and Andrea Mitchell, NBC News’s Kristen Welker, and the Washington Post’s Ashley Parker.

The Democratic debate is set to begin at 9 p.m. ET and will air on MSNBC. If you’re a cord cutter who wants to stream the event live without cable, then you’re in luck: The network is lifting its authentication requirements, so anyone can stream it for free. The Washington Post, a cosponsor of the debate this time around, will also stream it for free on its website.

I’ve rounded up some free links below:

• MSNBC online
• Washington Post
• NBC News mobile apps

If you have a streaming service that includes MSNBC as part of a bundle, you can watch it there too. Those include:

• YouTube TV
• Hulu With Live TV
• FuboTV

Enjoy!

Prepare yourself . . . and your avocados: a Mexican avocado trade group has launched what we feel comfortable calling The Best Avocado Website Ever to help you “discover the power of guacamole.”

Guacabilities.com aims to make sure that you know the latest in “exciting new techniques,” such as avocado marble, which “makes meals even more inviting,” and the guacamole cloud, an avocado poof dispensed from a frosting bag, and perfect avocado rings, which look like donuts that you can cover with various yummy, crunchy concoctions.

Did you know that your Guacabilities were lacking? They are, because probably you didn’t know about hundreds of recipes such as Uptown Funk-a-Mole with Cilantro Lime Waffle Chips and Avocado Ice Cream Sandwiches.

There is, of course, a poll of restaurant customers: 85% prefer fresh guacamole, and 69% see guacamole as “part of a growing trend.”

That’s actually an understatement, as the global avocado market hit $9.29 billion last year, according to an industry report.

The trade group, Avocados From Mexico, was founded in 2013 and is based in Irving, Texas.

Avocados From Mexico, we salute you. Holy guacamole.

Nobull’s founders, Reebok veterans Marcus Wilson and Michael Schaeffer, launched their activewear company in 2015 to create trainers that would withstand the rigors of a Crossfit workout, which tend to quickly wear out the average foam sneakers. They designed shoes made from a lightweight, extremely abrasion-resistant material called SuperFabric. The trainers quickly became a cult product among athletes and fitness buffs. The brand is now expanding into apparel, and the founders’ goal is to create garments that are equally innovative and problem-solving.

Much like Nobull’s shoes, this sweater is made from material that is very durable. The Power Air fabric is designed to resist pilling and the shedding of microfibers. In tests, the material shed five times less than comparable synthetic materials. Over the past few years, scientists have discovered that plastic products, and particularly synthetic clothing, releases microscopic particles into the water, which eventually ends up in our food and water. Another benefit of this material is that it will not release as many microplastics into the world.

Nobull has been an early adopter of this fabric technology. But over time, it has the potential to become more widely used by the fashion industry as an alternative to traditional fleece material. Over the next few months, Nobull will continue to release a range of new products, including outerwear and streetwear. We’ll keep our eyes peeled for any other cool innovations.

Your flu paranoia is entirely normal and justified. According to a new poll out from Stericycle—the company that disposes of flu shot sharps and other medical waste—9 in 10 of us Americans take preventive measures such as frequent hand washing to avoid the flu. Nearly half of us avoid shaking hands during flu season, and almost a third of us avoid traveling during flu season.

No touching! No travel! These quirky flu-avoidant behaviors are practiced for good reason: Of those who contracted the flu last year, three-quarters missed school or work, and of those, a third missed 4-6 days. (Men, beware: 42% of men were out that long, showing a marked loss in productivity, as opposed to 26% of women.)

Bosses, pay attention: Two-thirds of Americans would think more positively about their company if flu shots were offered as an employee benefit—because really, who has time to run to the pharmacy (34%) or the doctor (46%)? Flu shots are in vogue this year. Over half of Americans got one last year, and 3 in 5 adults plan to this year.

Germophobes, your concerns are entirely reasonable. Carry on.

Earlier this year, Popeyes’ new crispy chicken sandwich went viral (which seems like something you don’t want a sandwich to do, but I digress) and became the latest entry into what is now apparently known as “the chicken sandwich wars.”

These wars are the epic struggle between crispy chicken sandwiches made by KFC, Popeyes, McDonald’s, and Chick-fil-A. And as with all wars, there’s been drama, loss and return, and even love. And now there’s another player entering the chicken sandwich battlefield—and not one you’d ever expect: Taco Bell.

Oh yeah, and the Crispy Tortilla Chicken is served inside a taco. Because it’s Taco Bell. That’s twice the crispiness for those of you counting.

Unfortunately for you crispy chicken lovers out there, the new Crispy Tortilla Chicken is only available at Houston and Dayton, Ohio, locations right now as the company launches its test run of the item. However, Taco Bell promises it will come to all locations in 2020.

In addition to the taco version of the Crispy Tortilla Chicken, the company will also sell just the Crispy Tortilla Chicken strip in two- and three-piece sets and $5 and $7 boxes.

Don’t worry, folks: 2019 is almost over.

Apple’s streaming music ambitions are moving beyond the consumer. As the Wall Street Journal reports, Apple has partnered with PlayNetwork to deliver the music played in retail locations. Called Apple Music for Business, the service lets business owners sign up to have Apple deliver the tunes their customers hear in-store.

Not only will Apple Music for Business provide licensed music via continually updated playlists curated by humans, but it will also serve up music that matches with the retail store’s brand. Currently, Levi Strauss and Harrods stores are using the service, which has been in pilot mode for six months. During that time, the WSJ reports, Apple Music for Business has landed 25 accounts, which include “more than 10,000 store locations.”

Today’s rollout to businesses will also give retail stores the ability to make referral income from Apple Music for Business. According to the service’s official website, “The Apple Music platform enables you to extend your customers’ in-venue music experience and take it with them as they listen to playlists and discover more great music . . . When a customer starts an Apple Music trial from one of your branded links, you’ll receive a referral fee with no cap on earnings.”

While Apple will be providing the music and playlists, PlayNetwork will handle the operation of the service. Currently, PlayNetwork counts Estée Lauder and Starbucks among its clients, but it’s unknown if those establishments will be pivoting to Apple Music for Business. PlayNetwork did not reveal to the WSJ what the service costs, however as the music is provided for commercial purposes, you can bet it’s not the $9.99 per month fee consumers enjoy.