• Sintra, Portugal, a picturesque city 15 miles outside of Lisbon in the Sintra Mountains, is home to numerous palaces, villas, mansions, castles, and churches.
• The most stunning of the sights in Sintra is the Pena National Palace, built in 1840 according to the exacting specifications of King Ferdinand II, who wanted the palace to be a melting pot of architectural styles and colors.
• The palace is said to have inspired King Ludwig II's German castle, Neuschwanstein, which inspired Walt Disney's castle at Disneyland.
• Though the palace and the surrounding grounds are undoubtedly crowded with tourists in the summer, it is an absolutely can't-miss, dreamy sight that visitors are unlikely to forget. 

I almost didn't go.

After spending several weeks running around Lisbon, Porto, the sun-drenched beach region of Algarve, and everywhere in between, I thought: Why not relax on my last day in Portugal and avoid a place often described as "Disneyland for adults"?

What a mistake that would've been.

Only 15 miles from Lisbon, Sintra is about as fairy-tale Portugal as it gets. Designated as a Unesco World Heritage Site, the picturesque city is on the Portuguese Riviera and among the Sintra Mountains, a verdant range dense with pines, oaks, and wildlife. It's long been known as the setting of several myths, legends, and supernatural happenings in Portugal.

The otherworldly air is enhanced by the numerous palaces, villas, mansions, churches, and castles ensconced in the forested mountain peaks.

While there are more than half a dozen sites to visit, the most stunning two, in my opinion, are the Pena National Palace and the Castle of the Moors. The architectural feats — built in 1840 and the ninth century, respectively — best exhibit how Sintra has been a romantic destination throughout the ages.

The Pena Palace is made of dreams. At the top of a hill to be visible in every direction, and often enveloped in fog, the palace is a tapestry of colors and styles ranging from Romantic to Islamic to Gothic, surrounded by 500 acres of winding paths, gardens, and exotic trees.

You're likely to feel as if you are walking into a magical kingdom — I certainly did on my recent visit to the palace and the surrounding castles and gardens in Sintra. Here's what it was like.

SEE ALSO: I ate at the most beautiful McDonald's in the world, with crystal chandeliers, stained glass windows, and outrageously delicious pastries

I got to Sintra in the late afternoon, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. While there was still an hour line to get into the Pena Palace, the crowds had started to thin. In the summer months, many of Sintra's sights are open until 7 or 8 p.m., so I still had plenty of time.

The ticket seller recommended I visit the Castle of the Moors before Pena Palace, as by the time I was done there would no longer be a line. When in doubt, a hard and fast rule of travel is "trust the locals." The walk to the Castle of the Moors gave me my first look at the dense forests of the Sintra Mountains.

The Castle of the Moors was constructed in the eighth and ninth centuries by the Muslim Moors who conquered Portugal and Spain in medieval times. Numerous structures — like this tomb — make up the complex.

Many American students are gearing up for their first day back to school.

While the start of the school year differs by country, the first day back is normally a big day no matter where you're from. It's usually marked by excitement — or perhaps some dread if you don't want to give up your vacation — and a bit of fanfare.

Take a look below to see the first day of school in 12 countries around the world.

SEE ALSO: Teachers share 23 things they'd love to tell their students but can't

Belarus: Students perform during an event for the first day of school in Minsk.

France: Kids enter the primary school Jules Ferry in Fontenay-sous-Bois, near Paris.

Gaza Strip: Palestinian children sit inside a classroom on the first day of school at al-Shafi'i school in Gaza City.

• Business Insider is launching a new show on Facebook Watch called "Business Insider Today."
• It premieres Tuesday, September 4, and will air every weekday at 5 p.m.
• Watch the trailer below.

On Tuesday, September 4, Business Insider is launching "Business Insider Today."

The new daily show breaks down how the biggest business news affects you, and gives viewers the opportunity to learn about the brands they love and the industry trends they should pay attention to.

Airing every weekday at 5 p.m., the show will be a daily video version of Business Insider produced specifically for Facebook Watch. "BI Today" will include the day's top business news as well as interviews, investigations, features, and a daily markets update.

"'Business Insider Today' is an exciting next step for what has already been an amazing several years for our video teams," CEO Henry Blodget said. "We continue to see our video audience and engagement set records across all platforms. In July, we set a new high of more than 4 billion views for the month."

Check back at 5 p.m. for the first full episode.

Watch the trailer of the new show below:

Watch all the episodes when they go live on Facebook Watch »

Join our Facebook group to keep the conversation going »

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NOW WATCH: I woke up at 4:30 a.m. for a week like a Navy SEAL

• Rudy Giuliani blasted a recent New Yorker profile of him on Tuesday, saying he "regretted ever talking" to the author, Jeffrey Toobin.
• The profile characterizes Giuliani as a "weary" mouthpiece for President Donald Trump and a "talking head spouting nonsense on cable news."
• Giuliani said his objections to Toobin's profile didn't stem from the comments he was quoted as saying, but from what he characterized as "nasty editorial asides."
• Toobin responded: "My story speaks for itself."

Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump's lead personal defense attorney, on Tuesday slammed a major profile of him in The New Yorker by staff writer Jeffrey Toobin.

The article, titled "How Rudy Giuliani Turned Into Trump's Clown," characterizes the former New York mayor as a combative and bombastic lawyer and a "talking head spouting nonsense on cable news."

"I'm not going to get into it," Giuliani said in an interview with Business Insider. "I read the first two paragraphs of it and regretted ever talking to Jeff Toobin in the first place. I expected more from him because he's a lawyer, but then I remembered that he's a CNN guy."

In addition to being a staff writer at The New Yorker, Toobin is also a senior legal analyst on CNN, where he frequently criticizes the president.

In the first paragraph of his profile, Toobin described Giuliani as "weary."

"He limps," Toobin wrote. "He has surrendered his comb-over to full-on baldness, and, as his torso has thickened, his neck has disappeared."

Responding to that description, Giuliani said he recently had a knee operation and several other health problems.

"But I played golf in Scotland for three days after that and I work 15 hours a day," Giuliani said. "This article gives the impression that I'm old and tired, none of which is true."

Giuliani added that his objections to Toobin's profile didn't stem from the comments he was quoted as saying, but from what he called "gratuitous" and "nasty editorial asides."

Since he catapulted back into the spotlight several months ago, Giuliani has gone on a media blitz to hammer home his and Trump's assertion that the special counsel Robert Mueller is on a politically motivated "witch hunt" against the president and his associates.

Giuliani's controversial and often contradictory remarks prompted several of his former colleagues in the Justice Department to speak out against him.

"He has totally sold out to Trump," John S. Martin, a former US attorney who later became a federal judge, told The New Yorker. "He's making arguments that don't hold up. I always thought of Rudy as a good lawyer, and he's not looking anything like a good lawyer today."

Preet Bharara, the former US attorney for the Southern District of New York, echoed that view.

"His blatant misrepresentations on television make me said," Bharara told The New Yorker. "It's sad because I looked up to him at one point, and this bespeaks a sort of cravenness to a particularly hyperbolic client and an unnecessary suspension of honor and truth that's beneath him. I would not send Rudy at this point in his career into court."

Referring to Toobin and those quoted in the profile, Giuliani said, "I've been in this business long enough to know when people have a bias."

Responding to Giuliani's comments on Tuesday, Toobin said in an email, "My story speaks for itself."

SEE ALSO: Giuliani: 'The American people would revolt' if Trump were impeached

DON'T MISS: Rudy Giuliani tries to clarify his viral 'truth isn't truth' remark by saying it wasn't meant 'as a pontification on moral theology '

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A North Korean defector's harrowing story of escape

It's been an eventful few months of Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.

In July, Bezos reached a new milestone: his net worth hit $150 billion, making him, as Bloomberg put it, the richest person in modern history.

And then on Tuesday, Bezos and Amazon hit another milestone: Amazon briefly became the second US company to achieve a valuation of more than $1 trillion — though its market cap sunk just under the threshhold thereafter.

That success hasn't come overnight, however. Bezos began his career in the hedge fund world in the 90s, then left a cushy job to launch his own startup. 

Here's how Bezos got his start, and built one of the largest tech companies in the world.

Jillian D'Onfro and Eugene Kim contributed earlier versions of this story.

SEE ALSO: Everything I loved and hated about the $120 Fire TV Cube, Amazon’s ambitious vision for the future of TV

Jeff Bezos' mom, Jackie, was a teenager when she had him in January 1964. She had recently married Cuban immigrant Mike Bezos, who adopted Jeff. Jeff didn't learn that Mike wasn't his real father until he was 10, but says he was more fazed about learning he needed to get glasses than he was about the news.

Source: Wired

When Bezos was 4, his mother told his biological father, who previously had worked as a circus performer, to stay out of their lives. When Brad Stone interviewed Bezos' biological father for Stone's book "The Everything Store," Bezos' dad had no idea who his son had become.

Source: The Everything Store

Bezos showed signs of brilliance from an early age. When he was a toddler, he took apart his crib with a screwdriver because he wanted to sleep in a real bed.

Source: The Everything Store

• Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie were married in 1993, after meeting at D.E. Shaw & Co.
• Shortly afterward, the couple relocated to Seattle to found Amazon.
• MacKenzie was one of the company's first employees.
• Today, Jeff Bezos is worth $166 billion, making him the richest person in history.

Jeff Bezos wasn't alone when he made his cross-county road trip to Seattle in 1994. And he wasn't alone when he founded Amazon, the online retail giant some analysts now believe will be the world's first trillion-dollar company.

His wife, MacKenzie, was there for the whole journey.

In an interview with CBS, she described watching her husband build Amazon up from scratch: "To me, watching your spouse, somebody that you love, have an adventure — what is better than that?"

Today, Bloomberg estimates Bezos is worth $166 billion— making him the richest person in history, according to CNN. He's also topped Forbes' annual list of the richest people on the planet for the first time ever. And, on Tuesday, Amazon followed Apple to become the second-ever US company to reach a $1 trillion valuation.

Here's a look inside the marriage of Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos.

SEE ALSO: A day in the life of the world's richest person, Jeff Bezos — who made $6.44 billion in one day, wakes up without an alarm, and washes dishes after dinner

DON'T MISS: Inside billionaire Warren Buffett's unconventional marriage, which included an open arrangement and 3-way Christmas cards

SEE ALSO: Inside the marriage of Bill and Melinda Gates, who met at work, live in a $124 million home, and will leave their children only a small fraction of their fortune

MacKenzie and Jeff first met at investment management firm D.E. Shaw. MacKenzie was a research associate and Jeff was a vice president. Jeff was the first person to interview MacKenzie — a fellow Princeton grad — at the firm.

Source: Business Insider, Forbes, Vogue

"I think my wife is resourceful, smart, brainy, and hot, but I had the good fortune of having seen her résumé before I met her, so I knew exactly what her SATs were," he joked to Vogue.

Source: Vogue

After she landed the job, they became office neighbors. "All day long I listened to that fabulous laugh," she told Vogue. "How could you not fall in love with that laugh?"

Source: Vogue

• Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world.
• And Amazon is now the second US company to reach the $1 trillion mark.
• His daily routine indicates that he's not addicted to work.
• Bezos prioritizes lots of family time, and even time allotted for washing the dishes.

Jeff Bezos is the richest person in history.

According to Bloomberg, the Amazon founder and CEO has $166 billion to his name. In addition to founding the online retail behemoth Amazon, Bezos also owns The Washington Post and an aerospace company, Blue Origin.

Amazon also recently became the second US company to join the $1 trillion valuation club, according to Markets Insider. Apple was the first ever US company to receive that distinction.

So what does daily life look like for this tech mogul?

Here's a look inside his daily routine:

SEE ALSO: A look at the demanding schedule of Elon Musk, who works in 5-minute slots, skips breakfast, and largely avoids emails

DON'T MISS: A typical day in the life of Mark Zuckerberg, who wears the same thing every day and tucks his daughter in every night

SEE ALSO: A look inside the marriage of the richest couple in history, Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos — who met at work, were engaged in 3 months, and own more land than almost anyone else in America

Bezos is a big believer in getting enough shut-eye. He wakes up every morning naturally, without the aid of an alarm clock.

Source: CNBC, Inc., Entrepreneur

He always starts the day by sharing a healthy breakfast with his wife, novelist MacKenzie Bezos.

Source: Entrepreneur, Inc.

To spend quality time with MacKenzie and their four children, he never schedules early-morning meetings.

Source: Entrepreneur

• The Los Angeles county district attorney has declined to prosecute sex crime cases against Kevin Spacey, Anthony Anderson, and Steven Seagal, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
• In the cases against Spacey and Seagal, which dated back to the early 1990s, the statue of limitations had passed, and Anderson's case was dropped after his accuser declined to be interviewed, authorities said.

The Los Angeles county district attorney has declined to prosecute sex crime cases against actors Kevin Spacey, Anthony Anderson, and Steven Seagal, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 

Authorities said the statute of limitations had passed in the cases it investigated against Spacey and Seagal, while Anderson's case was dropped after his accuser declined to be interviewed by authorities.

Spacey was fired from the Netflix series "House of Cards" last year after numerous men accused him of sexual misconduct and assault, dating back to the early 1980s. The particular case of alleged sexual assault against Spacey that the LA district attorney announced it dropped on Tuesday took place in 1992, authorities told THR. 

The case of alleged sexual assault against Seagal took place in 1993, according to court documents obtained by THR, and like Spacey's case, was ruled beyond the statute of limitations.

The LAPD announced in July that it had opened an investigation into a sexual assault claim made against "Black-ish" actor Anthony Anderson, but authorities said on Tuesday that they dropped the case after his unnamed accuser declined to be interviewed for the report she filed. 

Anderson's representatives said in July that the actor "unequivocally" disputed the woman's claims of assault. 

SEE ALSO: All the men who accused Kevin Spacey of sexual misconduct

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How a black cop infiltrated the KKK — the true story behind Spike Lee's 'BlacKkKlansman'

• President Donald Trump responded responded to explosive new claims in veteran journalist Bob Woodward's new book, "Fear: Trump in the White House."
• The books describes a chaotic White House, with fights between Trump and aides as well as arguments among White House staffers.
• In an interview with the conservative news website The Daily Caller, Trump called "Fear" just a "bad book" and said Woodward had "credibility problems."
• White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Woodward's book is "nothing more than fabricated stories" with stories from "former disgruntled employees."
• White House chief of staff John Kelly also responded to Woodward's report that he called Trump an "idiot."
• "The idea I ever called the President an idiot is not true," Kelly said.

The White House on Tuesday hit back at veteran journalist Bob Woodward's new book on President Donald Trump's administration.

In an interview with the conservative news website The Daily Caller, Trump dismissed Woodward's reporting.

"It’s just another bad book," Trump said. "He’s had a lot of credibility problems."

Trump also told The Daily Caller that he did not speak to Woodward about the book, despite the journalist's multiple attempts to reach the president.

On Monday, The Washington Post released an audio recording of Trump and Woodward speaking about not being contacted about the book. In the recording, Trump acknowledges that Sen. Lindsey Graham mentioned that Woodward wanted to talk to speak to the president for the book, but denies that any of Woodward's other requests through White House aides such as Kellyanne Conway made it up the chain.

"It's just nasty stuff. I never spoke to him," Trump said. "Maybe I wasn’t given messages that he called. I probably would have spoken to him if he'd called, if he’d gotten through. For some reason I didn't get messages on it."

In addition to Trump's comments, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also dismissed the content of Woodward's book.

"This book is nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the President look bad," Sanders said in a statement.

Portions of Woodward's book that detail a wild, chaotic White House with an often-belligerent Trump at its center were released by The Washington Post on Tuesday. Woodward is an editor at the Post.

Many of the stories detailed vocal disagreement between members of the president's team or direct confrontations between Trump and his aides.

"While it is not always pretty, and rare that the press actually covers it, President Trump has broken through the bureaucratic process to deliver unprecedented successes for the American people," Sanders said. "Sometimes it is unconventional, but he always gets results."

Additionally, the White House issued a rebuttal from White House chief of staff John Kelly. In the book, entitled "Fear: Trump in the White House," Kelly is quoted calling Trump "unhinged," and an "idiot."

"The idea I ever called the President an idiot is not true," Kelly said in the statement. "As I stated back in May and still firmly stand behind: 'I spend more time with the President than anyone else, and we have an incredibly candid and strong relationship. He always knows where I stand, and he and I both know this story is total BS'."

Trump also disputed one particular story during the Daily Caller interview. Woodward reported that former economic adviser Gary Cohn was able to prevent Trump from pulling the US out of two major trade deals — the North American Free Trade Agreement and the US-Korea Free Trade Agreement — by stealing papers ordering the withdrawals off the president's desk.

Trump told the Daily Caller the story was "it’s just made up" and "there was nobody taking anything from me."

Here's the full response from Sanders:

"This book is nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the President look bad. While it is not always pretty, and rare that the press actually covers it, President Trump has broken through the bureaucratic process to deliver unprecedented successes for the American people. Sometimes it is unconventional, but he always gets results. Democrats and their allies in the media understand the President’s policies are working and with success like this, no one can beat him in 2020 – not even close."

And Kelly:

"The idea I ever called the President an idiot is not true. As I stated back in May and still firmly stand behind: 'I spend more time with the President than anyone else, and we have an incredibly candid and strong relationship.  He always knows where I stand, and he and I both know this story is total BS.  I'm committed to the President, his agenda, and our country. This is another pathetic attempt to smear people close to President Trump and distract from the administration’s many successes'."

Check out some of the details from Woodward's book:

• John Kelly was reportedly enraged with Trump over his handling of Charlottesville, said he would have taken a resignation letter 'and shoved it up his ass 6 different times'

• Gary Cohn reportedly snatched documents off Trump's desk to prevent him from wrecking 2 massive trade deals

• Trump reportedly called his attorney general Jeff Sessions a 'dumb southerner' and a 'traitor'

• Trump has reportedly said that his speech after the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville was the 'biggest f---ing mistake' he's made

• 'It's either that or an orange jumpsuit': Explosive Bob Woodward book reportedly recounts Trump's lawyer's effort to keep him from interviewing with Mueller

• Trump reportedly told Mattis that he wanted to assassinate Bashar al-Assad after his chemical weapons attack on Syrians last year

SEE ALSO: Gary Cohn reportedly snatched documents off Trump's desk to prevent him from wrecking 2 massive trade deals

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A North Korean defector's harrowing story of escape

How important is your job when determining whether someone swipes right or left on Tinder? Extremely, according to former Tinder CEO Sean Rad.

"I think the thing that has shocked me [in developing Tinder] is that when it comes to establishing an initial impression, there's a very finite set of things we look at to decide whether we want to have a conversation with someone," Rad told Business Insider in 2015. "How you look — and what that says about your personality — common connections, career, education. Ninety percent of it comes down to that."

And on Tuesday, Tinder released a list of the most "swiped-right" jobs in the US, indicating which careers people look for in a match. The list was compiled based on the occupations of US-based user profiles that have received the highest ratio of right swipes in 2018.

Interior designers leapfrogged pilots (who were No. 1 on the 2016 list) to take the top spot for men. For women, registered nurses and dentists came in one and two.

For men, founder/entrepreneur fell from No. 2 on the 2016 list to No. 15 on this year's. Police officer, military, and TV/radio personality dropped off the men's list altogether. For women, we bid farewell to speech-language pathologist, social-media manager, and real-estate agent, which all dropped from the list.

Model made its first appearance on the men's list but dropped off the women's one.

Here's the full 2018 list:

Women:

1. Registered Nurse
2. Dentist
3. Photographer
4. College / Graduate Student
5. Pharmacist
6. Teacher
7. Flight Attendant
8. Founder / Entrepreneur
9. Personal Trainer
10. Waitress / Bartender
11. Physical Therapist
12. Journalist
13. Makeup Artist
14. Lawyer
15. Marketing Manager
     

Men:

1. Interior Designer
2. Pilot
3. Physician’s Assistant
4. Lawyer
5. PR / Communications
6. Producer
7. Visual Designer
8. Model
9. College / Graduate Student
10. Engineer
11. Veterinarian
12. Teacher
13. Chiropractor
14. Firefighter / Paramedic
15. Founder / Entrepreneur

And here's the 2016 one for reference:

Men:

1. Pilot
2. Founder/Entrepreneur
3. Firefighter
4. Doctor
5. TV/Radio Personality
6. Teacher
7. Engineer
8. Model
9. Paramedic
10. College Student
11. Lawyer
12. Personal Trainer
13. Financial Adviser
14. Police Officer
15. Military

Women:

1. Physical Therapist
2. Interior Designer
3. Founder/Entrepreneur
4. PR/Communications
5. Teacher
6. College Student
7. Speech-Language Pathologist
8. Pharmacist
9. Social-Media Manager
10. Model
11. Dental Hygienist
12. Nurse
13. Flight Attendant
14. Personal Trainer
15. Real-Estate Agent

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How a black cop infiltrated the KKK — the true story behind Spike Lee's 'BlacKkKlansman'

Judge Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation hearing got off to a rocky start on Tuesday.

Before the Senate Judiciary Committee proceedings even began, a group of women wearing costumes in the style of the hit TV show "The Handmaid's Tale" silently protested outside of the hearing room.

Their demonstration was to highlight their concerns over Kavanaugh's stance on abortion rights and Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal nationwide.

Dozens of protesters were also present inside the hearing and made their opposition to Kavanaugh's nomination quite clear, shouting over Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley as he attempted to get the ball rolling.

Here's how the day unfolded:

SEE ALSO: Video shows Brett Kavanaugh turning away as a Parkland shooting victim's father tries to to shake his hand

DON'T MISS: Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation hearing starts with a bang as Kamala Harris leads Democrats in trying to stop the hearing

Kavanaugh's nomination is being widely opposed over concerns he would undermine abortion rights.

Kavanaugh's judicial record suggests he opposes Roe v. Wade, which has been a point of concern for many since President Donald Trump nominated him for the Supreme Court in July.

The hearing had barely begun when protesters began shouting for Senators to oppose Kavanaugh's nomination.

• Fox News host Tucker Carlson argued on Tuesday that Nike's recent decision to make former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick the face of the sports apparel company's latest campaign will ultimately lead to the destruction of American society. 
• Carlson accused the football player and Nike executives of being motivated by a desire to "destroy our society" in order to "get rich." 
• "What happens over time if your ruling class decides to attack the very system that made their lives possible — everything falls apart," Carlson said. 

Fox News host Tucker Carlson argued on Tuesday that Nike's recent decision to make former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick the face of the sports apparel company's "Just Do It" campaign is an attack on the US and will ultimately lead to the destruction of American society.

Kaepernick was one of the first athletes to kneel during the national anthem during the summer of 2016 to protest racial and social injustice, and as more players followed in his footsteps, he and others have been criticized by many on the right who have called for protesting players to be fired.

Carlson said he would give Kaepernick "a pass," calling him "a hapless kid," and instead blamed the "sinister" Nike executives "profiting from him and his attacks on the United States." 

Like several other Fox personalities, including "Fox and Friends'" Pete Hegseth, Carlson suggested that there's no need for Kaepernick to raise awareness about racial injustice because "the historical problems with [racial discrimination]" are "obvious to every American," and Carlson dismissed Kaepernick's motivation for protesting as "not even that interesting." 

He added that if Kaepernick's complaints were "specific" — addressing a politician or a policy — they could be addressed, but because they are directed at police misconduct, they are an "attack on the country." 

"Sitting during the national anthem is a way of making a broad-based, generalized, and therefore impossible to rebut attack against the country," Carlson said, adding that people like Kaepernick and Nike executives "hate and resent the very system that made their prosperity, their success, possible." 

Carlson, who has repeatedly been accused of promoting white supremacist talking points on his nightly opinion show, went on to say that when powerful Americans, who he called "the ruling class," criticize American society, it undermines — and ultimately destroys — the fabric of that society.

"We should be really worried about that, when the best-educated, smartest, richest people in our society decide that destroying our society is the goal and the way to get rich," he said. "What happens over time if your ruling class decides to attack the very system that made their lives possible — everything falls apart."

Kaepernick negotiated a new multiyear deal with Nike now that he's out of the NFL, which will feature him in billboards, television commercials, and a new apparel line. Some proceeds will go to his Know Your Rights education camp.

Nike's ad immediately sparked boycott threats online and a wave of criticism from conservatives. 

A few people even posted photos of themselves destroying Nike shoes and socks. The destruction inspired mockery on the left, with some noting that homeless veterans' groups could use the donations of unwanted Nike products.

High-profile figures in sports and politics have praised Nike's move. Tennis star Serena Williams, also part of the "Just Do It" campaign, said Monday that she was "especially proud to be a part of the Nike family today."

SEE ALSO: Fox News slammed for covering the killing of a college student more prominently than the convictions of 2 top Trump aides

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A North Korean defector's harrowing story of escape

• President Donald Trump's eldest daughter and former chief strategist Steve Bannon clashed over her authority in the White House, according to a new book.
• The Washington Post reported journalist Bob Woodward's book contains an account of an "expletive-laden altercation" that was part of the Trump White House's stormy atmosphere.
• Ivanka Trump reportedly objected to Bannon's insistence she follow the aides' chain of command, saying, "I'll never be a staffer. I'm the first daughter."

Ivanka Trump and former chief strategist Steve Bannon clashed over President Donald Trump's eldest daughter's authority in the White House, according to a new book that describes the "Crazytown" of Trump's White House.

The Washington Post reported journalist Bob Woodward's upcoming book, "Fear: Trump in the White House," contains an account of an "expletive-laden altercation" that was part of the Trump White House's overall stormy atmosphere.

"You're a goddamn staffer!" Bannon reportedly screamed at Ivanka. "You walk around this place and act like you're in charge, and you're not. You're on staff!"

Bannon's frustration reportedly stemmed from Ivanka's tendency to bypass former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, who other aides had to go through, and exercise her special access to her father.

Ivanka apparently replied: "I'm not a staffer! I'll never be a staffer. I'm the first daughter."

Ivanka and her husband, senior adviser Jared Kushner, have been controversial members of the administration, reportedly contributing to tensions with other administration members who see their senior positions and unfettered access to the president as solely due to nepotism.

The unsettled chain of command, in addition to the special counsel's scrutiny of Trump's close associates and 2016 campaign, reportedly added to the negative atmosphere. The Post reports Priebus is quoted in Woodward's book describing White House staffers as "natural predators."

"When you put a snake and a rat and a falcon and a rabbit and a shark and a seal in a zoo without walls, things start getting nasty and bloody," Priebus reportedly said.

In a statement on Woodward's book, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said: "This book is nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the President look bad."

Woodward's book, set to be released next Tuesday, comes from hundreds of interviews with participants and witnesses, along with meeting notes, personal diaries, and government documents.

It also comes on the heels of a bombshell, though widely refuted, book by former White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman that prompted sharp rebuttals from the administration.

SEE ALSO: Steve Bannon caused The New Yorker Festival to go down in flames on Twitter

DON'T MISS: Trump reportedly joked he could have had Tom Brady as his son-in-law: 'Instead, I got Jared Kushner'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Meet the woman behind Trump's $20 million merch empire

• Judge Brett Kavanaugh's Senate confirmation hearings began Tuesday for his nomination to the Supreme Court.
• President Donald Trump's second Supreme Court pick could be even more conservative than his last choice, according to a study.
• This graphic breaks down how Kavanaugh likely falls on controversial issues, based on an equation researchers developed.

Judge Brett Kavanaugh's Senate hearing for his nomination to the US Supreme Court began with a bang on Tuesday.

Kavanaugh's nomination has set off a bitter bipartisan battle, as Democratic senators have tried to block his nomination and voiced concerns over his experience as a White House lawyer and past decisions dealing with controversial issues.

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said Kavanaugh's past casts him as "far, far right," which would be an extreme addition to as the most pivotal nomination in decades.

Researchers Lee Epstein, Andrew D. Martin, and Kevin Quinn conducted an analysis of Trump's potential Supreme Court picks back in December, to determine how conservative they were.

Since judges are notoriously close-lipped about their political leanings or how they might rule on potential cases, the researchers used an equation taking into account the political affiliations of the senators from their home states and the president appointing them. For current and past justices, they also looked at their voting record on cases.

Here's what they found:

Republicans' 51-49 slight hold on the Senate predicts a tough process ahead for Kavanaugh, which was made more contentious after committee Democrats spoke out against a White House decision to withhold 27,000 documents — many from Kavanaugh's time in the Bush administration — citing "constitutional privilege."

Kavanaugh's hearing began Tuesday morning despite several outbursts from protestors and Senate Democrats moving to adjourn until more documents were made available. His hearings will likely last all week.

Roe v. Wade

President Donald Trump said during the 2016 presidential campaign that he would appoint justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark case granting women the constitutional right to an abortion.

In his 2006 hearing to be confirmed to the DC circuit court, Kavanaugh said he would not share his "personal view" on the case, but would uphold the Supreme Court's ruling, as it is "binding precedent of the court." He has also stated several times since his nomination that he did not intend to scrap the landmark abortion rights ruling.

But the conservative judge has been stricter on the issue of abortion as a whole. Most recently, Kavanaugh made headlines in an October 2017 when he backed the Trump administration's arguments in his dissent to a ruling that allowed an undocumented minor in US custody to receive an abortion.

In his dissent, Kavanaugh wrote the Supreme Court had established "the government has permissible interests in favoring fetal life, protecting the best interests of a minor, and refraining from facilitating abortion."

He wrote that the decision to extend that right to an undocumented immigrant was "as novel as it is wrong."

Executive authority

Lawmakers have zeroed in on Kavanaugh's thinking on whether the president can be investigated, while Trump's campaign is in the crosshairs of the special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

Kavanaugh was associate counsel on the team led by Kenneth Starr, the special prosecutor who investigated former President Bill Clinton's extramarital affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

As part of Starr's team, Kavanaugh helped draft the report recommending Clinton's impeachment, in which he wrote independent counsel investigations can take "too long," easily become "politicized," and can go beyond their original scope. He also expressed doubt that a president can be indicted while in office.

The Second Amendment

Within the first few lines of questioning in his hearing, Kavanaugh was pressed by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, on his past remarks on gun control, which she said painted him as "pro-gun."

In a 2011 dissent to a DC circuit court's decision to affirm Washington, DC's gun registration law and ban on semi-automatic firearms, Kavanaugh called the ban "unconstitutional," as the Supreme Court had established similar guns were "constitutionally protected because they have not traditionally been banned and are in common use by law-abiding citizens."

Democrats plan to try and block Kavanaugh's nomination, and will keep trying to get him to open up about his views on controversial issues as the hearings continue this week.

SEE ALSO: Here's an evolving count of which senators are voting for Trump's Supreme Court pick

DON'T MISS: How Brett Kavanaugh, the 'Forrest Gump of Republican politics', rose to become the Supreme Court's most pivotal nomination in decades

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• Rudy Giuliani said Tuesday that the special counsel Robert Mueller needs to meet three conditions for the White House to waive executive privilege in Mueller's forthcoming report on obstruction of justice in the Russia investigation.
• Trump's team will waive privilege if it has a chance to review the report before it is released; if it believes that — even if it disagrees with Mueller's findings — the report is fair; and if it gets the opportunity to release a rebuttal report at the same time as Mueller's.
• Mueller appears to have acknowledged that executive privilege could complicate matters in the investigation.
• But legal scholars say that if Trump's team continues tangling with the special counsel over the issue of privilege, it will be an uphill climb for the White House.

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Rudy Giuliani laid out three conditions on Tuesday that he said the special counsel Robert Mueller needs to meet for the White House to waive executive privilege over information he's gathered in the Russia probe.

Mueller is investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 election, whether members of the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow, and whether Trump sought to obstruct justice during the course of the investigation. Mueller's team is said to be close to wrapping up its obstruction inquiry and is preparing a report of its findings.

As prosecutors put together the report, Trump's current and former lawyers have said that the information contained in it is protected by executive privilege. For that reason, they say the White House needs to sign off on the report's final version in the event that deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein — who is overseeing Mueller — chooses to release it to Congress or the public.

Giuliani said Tuesday that Trump's team would waive executive privilege if "we had an adequate opportunity to review the report before it was released to the public; if we felt that — even if we disagreed with its findings — it was fair; and if we had the chance to release a rebuttal report simultaneously that addresses all of Mueller's allegations."

But as of now, he said, the White House "reserves its privilege." He added that Trump's legal team had a commitment to that effect from Mueller. Asked whether Mueller also agreed to allow Trump's team to review a draft of the report before it is released, Giuliani said he wasn't sure if the two sides had reached a consensus on that.

Meanwhile, John Dowd, who led Trump's defense team until Giuliani took the helm earlier this year, struck a combative tone when asked about the status of the Russia investigation last week.

"Who says he's going to release a report?" Dowd said of Mueller. "Mueller can't release a report because any information he gathered for it is protected by executive privilege. He needs permission from the White House to release it."

He went a step further than Giuliani, saying that Rosenstein is not authorized to release a report without the White House's sign-off because the Justice Department also falls within the executive branch.

Mueller, for his part, seems to acknowledge that the issue of executive privilege could complicate matters in the investigation, particularly as it relates to a presidential interview.

The special counsel and Trump's legal team have been engaged in a tug-of-war since last year over the terms of the interview, with Trump's lawyers pushing hard for Mueller to agree to narrow the scope of questioning and accept written answers from the president as opposed to an in-person interview.

On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that Mueller agreed to accept written answers from Trump on some questions about potential collusion with Russia. However, the report said he did not seek written answers to questions in the obstruction thread because he knew some of the information could be protected by executive privilege.

Trump 'eviscerated' any possible privilege assertions

Trump's allies reportedly view Mueller's concession as proof that his questions for Trump will be narrower than previously thought. But legal scholars say that if Trump's team continues tangling with the special counsel over the issue of privilege, it will be an uphill climb for the White House.

Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor in Chicago, said that while the White House could theoretically claim that certain information in a report from Mueller is protected by executive privilege, a court would most likely strike that argument down.

"What the White House would essentially be saying then is that a prosecutor can obtain information from the president or the White House, but they can't do anything with it," Mariotti said. "That's a very weak argument."

Jeffrey Cramer, a longtime former federal prosecutor who spent 12 years at the Justice Department, said there were two main reasons why broadly asserting executive privilege would be "a hard argument to make legally, and a foolish one to make politically."

In the political realm, he said that if the White House tries to "start redacting the report before it even gets to Congress, which could weigh impeachment proceedings, that's not going to fly."

Legally, he said that based on his interpretation, the independent counsel, while under DOJ supervision, is not part of the executive branch.

"He's a separate entity," Cramer said of Mueller. "The point of an independent counsel is to have an independent voice determine what happened. So, asserting privilege over material he's gathered seems to defeat the point of having an independent reviewer in the first place." 

Trump may have also been his own foil when it comes to claiming privilege over information related to some of the most pivotal events in the obstruction inquiry — for instance, the firing of then FBI director James Comey.

Cramer said Trump "eviscerated" any possible privilege assertion when he tweeted about Comey after ousting him.

"It's like attorney-client privilege," Cramer said. "You don't have attorney-client privilege once you bring a third person into the room. And Trump didn't bring a third person in, he brought the entire American public into the room when he tweeted about why he fired Comey and talked about it to Lester Holt."

The bottom line, he said, is that for the White House to assert executive privilege over information contained in Mueller's report, "it would have to be something that Trump didn't tweet or talk about. And I don't think there's much left in that universe."

Giuliani told The Daily Beast that he and Trump's other lawyers are putting together a counter-report in anticipation of Mueller's final report.

He added that the counter-report will contain two sections: The first will question the legitimacy of the Russia investigation by highlighting the purported conflicts of interests Trump's lawyers claim that federal investigators face, and the second will address specific claims put forward in Mueller's report.

While Mueller has indicated to Trump's team that he is close to wrapping up the obstruction inquiry, he has given no indication that he is nearing the end of the collusion thread. Even so, Giuliani said Tuesday that he expects Mueller to conclude both investigations at the same time.

SEE ALSO: Rudy Giuliani bashes a major New Yorker profile of him for its 'gratuitous' and 'nasty editorial asides'

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• President Donald Trump denied allegations that he called Attorney General Jeff Sessions "mentally retarded" and a "dumb Southerner" behind his back.
• In Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward's new book, "Fear: Trump in the White House," current and former White House aides claimed Trump had callous words for members of his cabinet.
• Trump claimed he "never used those terms on anyone," but audio recordings from previous interviews reveal otherwise.
• Republican lawmakers from Southern states appeared unnerved by the allegations, but stopped short of criticizing Trump directly.

President Donald Trump attempted to rebuff one of the many unflattering claims made in Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward's new book, "Fear: Trump in the White House," but previous audio recordings and news reports appear to discredit him.

In "Fear," which is sourced from a number of current and former senior White House officials, Woodward describes Trump disparaging Attorney General Jeff Sessions, according to The Post. Woodward's sources recounted Trump making pointed remarks, such as "mentally retarded" and "dumb Southerner," and claimed Trump mocked the attorney general's southern twang behind his back.

"He couldn't even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama," Trump said, according to Woodward's book.

Trump fired back at the allegations, and Woodward's credibility, in a late-night tweet on Tuesday.

"The already discredited Woodward book, so many lies and phony sources, has me calling Jeff Sessions 'mentally retarded' and 'a dumb southerner,'" Trump tweeted. "I said NEITHER, never used those terms on anyone, including Jeff, and being a southerner is a GREAT thing. He made this up to divide!"

But audio recordings of previous interviews contradict Trump's claim that he never called anyone "mentally retarded." In an interview with shock jock Howard Stern from 2004, Trump claimed to recall a conversation with his golf instructor:

"I have a golf pro who's mentally retarded," Trump said, according to the Huffington Post. "I mean, he's really not a smart guy."

In another interview with Stern in 2004, Trump decried a "negative" news report that scrutinized his financial dealings and threatened to "sue their ass off."

"I was criticized in one magazine, where the writer was retarded," Trump said at the time. "He said 'Donald Trump put up $7 million ... why isn't Donald Trump putting up more money?"

In 2016, the Daily Beast also reported that Trump implied actress Marlee Matlin, a former contestant on his show "The Celebrity Apprentice," was mentally handicapped because she was deaf.

One source told The Beast that Trump, who wrote "asinine" notes during tapings of the show, once wrote: "Marlee, is she retarded??"

"[Trump] would make fun of her voice," a person who worked on the show's set said to The Beast. "Like, to make it seem like she was mentally not there? [It] sounded like he got a real kick out of it. It was really upsetting."

Allegations of Trump's remarks are not new and appear to deepen the divide between him and Sessions, particularly after the attorney general recused himself from the ongoing Russia investigation in 2017. Following the recusal, Trump is believed to have lobbied Republican lawmakers to oust Sessions, who "talks like he has marbles in his mouth," according to White House aides.

Republican lawmakers appeared unnerved by the claims made from initial reviews of "Fear," but stopped short of criticizing Trump directly.

"I'm a Southerner, people can judge my intellect, my IQ, by my product and what I produce rather than what somebody else says," Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia said, according to The Post.

"I'm not gonna get into name calling because I don't think you should be allowed to call names — including the president," Isakson added.

Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama ominously recounted the wide support from Southern states during the 2016 US presidential election.

"I guess the president, he says what he thinks," Shelby said in The Post. "I think the president's probably got a lot of respect for the South, I hope so. He did well there. Without the South he wouldn't be the president of the United States."

SEE ALSO: 'Everyone tweeting this vicious conspiracy theory should be ashamed of themselves': US attorney slams accusations that his wife made a controversial hand gesture during Kavanaugh hearing

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• There's something comforting about poetic, funny, or interesting last words.
• These quotations give us hope about facing death with dignity or even humor.
• From an early American patriot to a famous rock star, these individuals all died after uttering some particularly memorable last words.

We love famous last words.

There's a reason there are so many books listing memorable deathbed sayings throughout history out there. Perhaps we'd just rather believe well-known figures tend to die saying something clever and profound. It makes death itself a little less scary.

But, for that reason, final words can be quite tricky. As with any quotes on the internet — and historical quotes, in general — it's hard to sort out what's true and what's phony or exaggerated.

Here are several poignant, strange, or otherwise memorable last words from throughout history:

SEE ALSO: 18 people who accomplished incredible things at a shockingly young age

Jane Austen

At the age of 41, the celebrated novelist suffered a painful death in 1817 from an unidentified disease — although Addison's or Hodgkin's lymphoma are potential culprits, according to the blog Science-Based Writing. Her final words were recorded by her brother Henry, according to "The New Oxford Book of Literary Anecdotes."

Winston Churchill

In 1965, the British Prime Minister fell into a coma and died in his London home at the age of 90, according to the Phrase Finder. According to "The Private Lives of Winston Churchill," he was speaking to his son-in-law Christopher Soames, who had offered him some champagne.

Nathan Hale

Historians believe the 21-year-old school teacher-turned-spy was paraphrasing a line from the popular 18th century play "Cato" as he stood on the scaffold, according to the book "Cato's Tears and the Making of Anglo-American Emotion." The British hanged Hale after he was captured during a failed 1776 espionage mission in Long Island.

• We use acronyms all the time, and in some cases, we don't even realize we're using them.
• You may not know, for example, that Taser stands for "Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle."
• Other examples include "radar" and "snafu."

Acronyms show up everywhere in our everyday language, from ASAP to BYOB, JFK to ROY G. BIV.

But sometimes, an acronym is so natural-sounding that we forget it even stands for anything in the first place.

That's certainly the case for Taser — invented in 1974, Taser stands for "Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle," an homage to a fictional character from the early 1900s. The word caught on and eventually gave us the verb "tase," meaning to fire a Taser at someone.

Read on for 11 words most people have no idea actually stand for something.

SEE ALSO: 27 fascinating maps that show how Americans speak English differently across the US

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Laser is an acronym describing how the technology works.

Laser stands for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation."

Lasers were invented in 1960, but the first use of the term came one year earlier, when physicist Gordon Gould coined it for a paper about the technology.

'Taser' comes from the name of a science-fiction book character.

Tasers sound like an invention taken from science fiction, and as it turns out, the name of the device actually was.

The weapon was invented in 1974 by NASA researcher Jack Cover, and when it was time to give his device a name, he found inspiration in Tom Swift, the title character from a series of adventure books about a teenage inventor from the early 1900s. In one of the books, Swift invented an "electric rifle" that could shoot bolts of electricity and was powerful enough to bring down an elephant.

Cover did have to employ some creativity with the word "Taser" — the books never actually reveal Tom Swift's middle name, but Cover added it to ease the pronunciation.

The 'BASE' in BASE jumping describes the objects people jump from.

For thrill-seekers, BASE jumping is one of the most adrenaline-filled activities out there.

"BASE" is an acronym describing the types of objects the risk-taking parachuters jump from: building, antenna, span (like a bridge or steel beam) and Earth (like a cliff).

With the Toronto International Film Festival kicking off on Thursday, believe it or not it’s time for the award season buzz to begin. 

All the big names in Hollywood are headed up to our neighbors in the north for the next 11 days to kick off the buzz for their films that will hopefully snowball into nominations on Oscar night early next year. 

The latest projects from the biggest directors in the game like Damien Chazelle (“First Man”) and Barry Jenkins (“If Beale Street Could Talk”) will be there, while Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga will try to prove they can do more than what they are known for (Cooper directs Gaga in “A Star Is Born”).

Here we’ve highlighted 24 movies playing at the fest that you should check out when they come to a theater near you. 

SEE ALSO: The 13 best movies of the summer, according to critics

“22 July” (In Theaters — October 10)

Director Paul Greengrass, known for his realistic style in depicting true events like "Captain Phillips" and "United 93," focuses on Norway's deadliest terrorist attack, in which 77 people were murdered while attending a youth camp in 2011. The Netflix movie looks at the aftermath of the event.

“A Star Is Born” (In Theaters — October 5)

The latest remake of this rags to riches story is the directorial debut of Bradley Cooper and has quickly become an early Oscar front runner thanks to the performance by Lady Gaga. In the story Cooper plays an aging musician who gives a young star (Gaga) her big break.

“American Dharma” (Release TBD)

Errol Morris' latest documentary portrait focuses on Steve Bannon, the former executive chairman of Breitbart News and White House chief strategist for the first seven months of Donald Trump's presidency. Morris is no stranger to highlighting controversial figures. His 2003 documentary on Robert McNamara, "The Fog of War," earned him an Oscar and he also did a film on former US secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld ("The Unknown Known").

• Jay-Z has an estimated net worth of $900 million.
• He's earned his fortune through a hip-hop career spanning nearly three decades and has also parlayed his success into several business ventures.
• They include entertainment labels, a clothing line, alcohol brands, an upscale sports club, and a $600 million streaming service.

With a net worth of $900 million, Jay-Z is one of the wealthiest musicians in the world.

The rapper has earned millions from sellout tours and chart-topping albums over the course of his nearly 30-year career.

But music is far from his only money-making venture. Over the years, Jay-Z has parlayed his success in the hip-hop world into a fortune earned as an entrepreneur. His ventures include entertainment labels, a clothing line, upscale alcohol brands, and the music-streaming service Tidal.

Read on to see how Jay-Z has earned — and multiplied — his fortune.

SEE ALSO: Beyoncé is worth $355 million — see how she spends it on lavish mansions, yachting vacations, and a private jet for Jay-Z

Shawn Carter, better known as Jay-Z, is one of the wealthiest musicians in the world, with an estimated net worth of $900 million.

Source: Forbes

But the rapper came from humble beginnings, growing up poor in the Marcy housing project in Brooklyn, New York City.

Source: NPR

"The burden of poverty isn't just that you don't always have the things you need," Jay-Z told NPR in 2010. "It's the feeling of being embarrassed every day of your life, and you'd do anything to lift that burden."

Source: NPR