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It’s water for the non-woke.

A Republican entrepreneur is launching Freedom2o, bottled water targeted at thirsty Republican voters and promising the taste of liberal tears.

Six packs go for $11.00 and hit the Internet on October 27 timed for the anniversary of one of Ronald Reagan’s most significant speeches and got a Times Square billboard debut too.

As for liberals: let them drink Perrier is White’s view.

White, 36, who has found success working in auto racing, video games and tech, came up with the idea for Freedom2o while on the sofa of her South Florida home. 

I was watching the Republican debate and a light went on in my head, White told The Post. 6 Elizabeth White’s Freedom2o got a Times Square ad campaign starting on October 27 but slogans making fun of Joe Biden were turned down.Stephen Yang 6 The water is unashamed in its branding. White told The Post that at least one first amendment lawyer turned her down, for fear of appealing to the MAGA crowd. “We’re not even MAGA!” White said.Courtesy of Elizabeth White/ Freedom2o

They cut to a commercial and I saw so many people drinking water. But the water being consumed had no connection to the people drinking it.

“Kevin McCarthy was drinking Dasani — which is left, right and center. If he drank Freedom, I think he would still be Speaker of the House.

White says that the dearth of mainstream products aimed at conservative consumers is no accident. 6 Showing that they drink the way they think, members of the Log Cabin Republicans will be serving Freedom water at their upcoming gala.Stephen Yang 6 White is hopping to put up a billboard that has more of a political sting than the current one in Times Square.Courtesy of Elizabeth White/ Freedom2o

Companies today are scared to stand up for what they believe in she said. They are afraid to say they are conservative. They are afraid of the backlash from a loud opposition. Corporate executives feel pressure from the outside and think they need to compromise. We dont compromise.

Regarding the water itself, it comes from Freedoms bottling partners in Texas, Florida, Oklahoma and California. White describes it as purified bottled water, with ionization and reverse osmosis.

Told that it originates in all red states except for one, she pointed out, Some parts of California are red.

Freedom2o water’s October 27 debut was by design. That date marked the 59th anniversary of Ronald Reagans national career-launching speech in which he warned the American people that it is a time for choosing between “the maximum of individual freedom” and “the ant heap of totalitarianism.

Clearly a fan of the movie-star turned president, and sharing in his sentiments, White recalled, He said in the speech that the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant but they know so much that isnt so. That speech parallels very well with where we are today. 6 White believes Kevin McCarthy would still be speaker of the house if he had shown his true political colors by drinking Freedom during the Republican debates. Stephen Yang

The bottle makes clear where White stands. Our labels speak for themselves,” she said. “This water aint woke, Water for deplorables and Drink this water or move to Canada.

However not all its messaging was approved for its Times Square ad campaign, with ads reading “Sip for Dick” with a picture of President Nixon and “This water isn’t sleepy” with a picture of President Biden both nixed.

White looked into getting legal assistance to clear any potential hurdles in terms of her sloganeering, but, as she discovered, when you sell a Republican message, attorneys dont always want to take your money.

I threw some of our taglines and slogans at a pretty famous first amendment lawyer in New York; we possibly wanted to put him on retainer,” she said. 6 White hopes that Freedom water stimulates political debate or can be used to “spray the woke away.”Stephen Yang

“He heard the lines and snapped, I dont want to help you perpetuate MAGA s**t. And were not even MAGA!

Was she put off by the response? Actually,” she said, “I loved it. It speaks to how triggering it is when you say what you really think or even if you just want to start a conversation.

And White is pushing all in on the triggering. We are selling trigger sprayers, she said. You can drink the water or use it to spray the woke away.

One group making Freedom2o their choice of thirst-quencher is the Log Cabin Republicans, the LGBT wing of the party.

it will be served at the organizations upcoming gala, to be held in the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Cali. Elizabeth is making a special run of the water for us, Charles Moran, president of the organization, told The Post. The bottles will say You dont have to be straight to shoot straight. It is a nod toward LGBT people being able to serve openly in the military.

Next up, she has her eyes set on no less a Republican stronghold than Mar-a-Lago. “Maybe we’ll send a case over,” White said. I can see the members drinking Freedom from champagne flutes.

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CNBC Daily Open: A Fed rate cut might not be festive enough

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CNBC Daily Open: A Fed rate cut might not be festive enough

An eagle sculpture stands on the facade of the Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve building in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, Nov. 18, 2016.

Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

On Wednesday stateside, the U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to lower its benchmark interest rates by a quarter percentage point to a range of 3.5%-3.75%.

However, given that traders are all but certain that the cut will happen — an 87.6% chance, to be exact, according to the CME FedWatch tool — the news is likely already priced into stocks by the market.

That means any whiff of restraint could weigh on equities. In fact, the talk in the markets is that the Fed might deliver a “hawkish cut”: lower rates while suggesting it could be a while before it cuts again.

The “dot plot,” or a projection of where Fed officials think interest rates will end up over the next few years, will be the clearest signal of any hawkishness. Investors will also parse Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference and central bankers’ estimates for U.S. economic growth and inflation to gauge the Fed’s future rate path.

In other words, the Fed could rein in market sentiment even if it cuts rates. Perhaps end-of-year festivities might be muted this year.

What you need to know today

And finally…

Researchers inside a lab at the Shenzhen Synthetic Biology Infrastructure facility in Shenzhen, China, on Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

U.S.-China AI talent race heats up

When it comes to brain power, “America’s edge is deteriorating dangerously,” Chris Miller, author of the book “Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology,” told a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee last week. It’s a lead that’s “fragile and much smaller” than its advantage in AI chips, he said.

Part of the difference comes from the sheer scale, especially as education levels rise in China. Its population is four times that of the U.S., and the same goes for the volume of science, technology, engineering and mathematics graduates. In 2020, China produced 3.57 million STEM graduates, the most of any country, and far outpacing the 820,000 in the U.S.

— Evelyn Cheng

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CEO of South Korean online retail giant Coupang resigns over data breach

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CEO of South Korean online retail giant Coupang resigns over data breach

Park Dae-jun, CEO of South Korean online retail giant Coupang has resigned, three weeks after the company became aware of a massive data breach that affected nearly 34 million customers.

Coupang

The CEO of South Korean online retail giant Coupang Corp. resigned Wednesday, three weeks after the company became aware of a massive data breach that affected nearly 34 million customers.

Coupang said CEO Park Dae-jun resigned due to the data breach incident — which was revealed on Nov. 18 — according to a Google translation of the statement in Korean.

“I am deeply sorry for disappointing the public with the recent personal information incident,” Park said, adding, “I feel a deep sense of responsibility for the outbreak and the subsequent recovery process, and I have decided to step down from all positions.”

Following his resignation, parent company Coupang Inc. appointed Harold Rogers, the Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel, as interim CEO.

Coupang said that Rogers plans to “focus on alleviating customer anxiety caused by the personal information leak” and to stabilize the organisation.

Park, who joined the company in 2012, became Coupang’s sole CEO in May, after the company transitioned away from a dual-CEO system.

According to Coupang, he was responsible for the company’s innovative new business and regional infrastructure development, and led projects to expand sales channels for small and medium enterprises, among others.

South Korean companies are known for being “very, very cost-efficient,” which may have led to neglecting areas like cybersecurity, Peter Kim, managing director at KB Securities, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” Wednesday.

“I think the core issue here is that we’ve had a number of other breaches, not just Coupang, but previously, telecom companies in Korea,” Kim added. “I understand some data companies consider Korea to be [the] top three or four most breached on a data, on an IT security basis in the world.”

Coupang breach a ‘double-edged sword’ for Chinese rivals due to security concerns: KB Securities

South Korean companies have been hit by cybersecurity breaches before, including an April incident at mobile carrier SK Telecom that affected 23.24 million people. The country previously saw one of its largest cybersecurity incidents in 2011, when attackers stole over 35 million user details from internet platforms Nate and Cyworld.

Nate is one of the most popular search engines in South Korea, while Cyworld was one of the country’s largest social networking sites in the early 2000s.

Prime Minister Kim Min-seok reportedly said Wednesday that strict action would be taken against the company if violations of the law were found, according to South Korean media outlet Yonhap.

Police also raided the Coupang headquarters for a second day on Wednesday, continuing their investigation into the data breach.

Yonhap also reported, citing sources, that the police search warrant “specifies a Chinese national who formerly worked for Coupang as a suspect on charges of breaching the information and communications network and leaking confidential data.”

Last week, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called for increased penalties on data breaches, saying that the Coupang data breach had served as a wake-up call.

— CNBC’s Chery Kang contributed to this report.

How Coupang grew into South Korea's biggest online retailer

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Connecticut can’t take action against Kalshi for now, judge rules

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Connecticut can’t take action against Kalshi for now, judge rules

A US judge has granted prediction markets platform Kalshi a temporary reprieve from enforcement after the state of Connecticut sent it a cease and desist order last week for allegedly conducting unlicensed gambling.

The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) sent Kalshi, along with Robinhood and Crypto.com, cease and desist orders on Dec. 2, accusing them of “conducting unlicensed online gambling, more specifically sports wagering, in Connecticut through its online sports event contracts.”

Kalshi sued the DCP a day later, arguing its event contracts “are lawful under federal law” and its platform was subject to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s “exclusive jurisdiction,” and filed a motion on Friday to temporarily stop the DCP’s action.

An excerpt from Kalshi’s preliminary injunction motion arguing that the DCP’s action violates federal commodities laws. Source: CourtListener

Connecticut federal court judge Vernon Oliver said in an order on Monday that the DCP must “refrain from taking enforcement action against Kalshi” as the court considers the company’s bid to temporarily stop the regulator.

The order adds that the DCP should file a response to the company by Jan. 9 and Kalshi should file further support for its motion by Jan. 30, with oral arguments for the case to be held in mid-February.

Kalshi does battle with multiple US states

Kalshi is a federally regulated designated contract maker under the CFTC and, in January, began offering contracts nationally that allow bets on the outcome of events such as sports and politics.

Related: How prediction markets raise insider trading and credit risks

Its platform has become hugely popular this year and saw a record $4.54 billion monthly trading volume in November, attracting billions in investments, with Kalshi closing a $1 billion funding round earlier this month at a valuation of $11 billion.

However, multiple US state regulators have taken issue with Kalshi’s offerings, which have led to the company being embroiled in lawsuits over whether it is subject to state-level gambling laws.