• Colton Underwood will take on the titular role for season 23 of ABC's "The Bachelor."
• In the first preview of the upcoming season, Underwood appears to struggle with rejection and shed quite a few tears.
• "Every time I put myself out there I get rejected," Underwood says in one scene.
• The clip shows Underwood declare that he's "f---ing done" and storm off the set by literally hopping the fence.
• It also shows Underwood — as well as multiple contestants vying for his love — discuss his virginity.
• Host Chris Harrison appears to address it during the infamous "fantasy suites" episode, telling Underwood: "You could lose your virginity this week."
• "The Bachelor" returns on Monday, January 7.
• Watch the full preview below.

Visit INSIDER's homepage for more.

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A 360-degree video from the US Army shows how the military rapidly inserts and extracts soldiers in areas where a helicopter can't safely land, and it's insanely cool.

The video, taken by members of the Army's 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, shows a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter from the 2nd Batallion, 25th Aviation Regiment snatching a team of soldiers with the 25th Infantry Division out of the water during Special Patrol Insertion/Extraction (SPIE) training.

WATCH:

(Click and drag your pointer across the screen to rotate the video and get the full 360-degree experience)

A variation of the Vietnam War-era troop transfer approach known as the Stabilized Body (STABO) method, SPIE can be carried out on land and in the water, The War Zone, which first took note of the Army's new video, reported Sunday.

Standard SPIE ropes run from 120 to 150 feet in length and can be used to carry anywhere from one to ten people at a time. For insertion, the SPIE system is considered impractical compared to fast rope rapelling, but this method has its advantages for "wet" extractions.

The way it works is relatively simple. Troops hook their harnesses to a rope attached to a helicopter, which lifts them up to a safe height (above any potentially dangerous obstacles) and then flies away with them dangling below.

At the landing zone, the troops are lowered down one at a time to unhook and clear the way for the next person.

This somewhat unusual insertion/extraction approach, initially developed for jungle warfare, gives the military more options in contested areas, rough terrain, and on water. The new SPIE video from the Army was filmed off the coast of Hawaii.

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NOW WATCH: Navy SEALs explain the dangers of overplanning in both the military and business

• Black Friday is perhaps the single most famous and historically important day of the year for US retailers.
• Major airlines such as Delta and Ryanair have also begun to offer discounted flights and vacation packages on Black Friday.
• Most airlines are expected to begin posting their deals a day or two before Thanksgiving.

Black Friday is perhaps the single most famous and historically important day of the year for retailers in the US.

Last year retailers did $5 billion in Black Friday business in online sales alone.

But the Friday after Thanksgiving is more than just cheap TVs and discounted laptops. Airlines have been jumping into the fray with tempting deals of their own. 

Everyone from full-service carriers such as American and Delta to ultra-low-cost operators like Ryanair and WOW Air have hinted at deeply discounted fares.

Based on the deals airlines offered last year, they'll probably be worth the wait.

For example, in 2017, WOW Air offered $100 one-way flights between the US and Europe while Ryanair knocked 20% off its normal prices. 

In addition, there will also be deals on vacation packages consisting of both flights and hotel accommodations. Last year Southwest cut the prices of their vacation packages by up to $250 for Black Friday. 

This year most airlines are expected to start posting Black Friday flight deals a day or two before Thanksgiving, which falls on November 22. While British Airways confirmed that its Black Friday sale will be on Thanksgiving. 

However, several have already posted Black Friday sales. Here are some of the deals that are available as of Tuesday morning.

• Ryanair— The Irish ultra-low-cost airline is offering one-way tickets between some European locations for under $6, including London to Barcelona, Edinburgh to Berlin, and Manchester to Brussels. Discounted fares will be available through November 26.
• Southwest— Southwest is offering a $125 discount on US vacation packages and a $250 discount on international vacation packages. The discounts run through December 3.
• WestJet— The Canadian low-cost carrier's Black Friday deals include one-way tickets from Toronto to Miami and Vancouver to Los Angeles for under $200. The deals are available through November 23.
• Delta— Delta is offering discounted round-trip flights between the US and Europe, including Boston to Dublin and New York to Brussels. The discounts run through November 25.
• Cathay Pacific— The Chinese airline's Black Friday deals include round-trip flights between the US and Asia for under $600, including Boston, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles to Hong Kong. The deals are available through November 27.

Here are links to a few additional airline deals pages you should probably keep tabs on:

Click here for Delta Air Lines deals.

Click here for American Airlines deals.

Click here for United Airlines deals. 

Click here for Ryanair deals.

Click here for Cathay Pacific deals.

Click here for Southwest Airlines deals.

Click here for Southwest Airlines Vacation deals.

Click here for Alaska Airlines deals.

Click here WOW Air deals.

Click here for Emirates deals.

Click here for Norwegian Air deals. 

Click here for Virgin Atlantic deals. 

Click here for British Airways deals.

Click here for Westjet.

SEE ALSO: The 20 safest airlines in the world

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NOW WATCH: This LEGO Bugatti Chiron is drivable — here's what it can do

By the fall of 1943, Japanese forces had been ejected from Alaska's Aleutian Islands in the North Pacific, and the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific were on the verge of capture.

US forces now had to push into the central Pacific, from which they could target Japanese strong points and communications lines. US officials had spent much of that year preparing for Operation Galvanic: the capture of the Gilbert Islands, a group of coral atolls that are now part of Kiribati.

Held by the British until Japan seized them in December 1941, the Gilberts were "of great strategic significance because they are north and west of other islands in our possession and immediately south and east of important bases in the Carolines and Marshalls," US Navy Fleet Adm. Ernest J. King wrote in official reports.

"The capture of the Gilberts was, therefore, a necessary part of any serious thrust at the Japanese Empire," he wrote.

The attack on Tarawa focused on Betio, the principal island in the atoll, at its southwest corner.

"The island was the most heavily defended atoll that ever would be invaded by Allied forces in the Pacific,"wrote Joseph Alexander, a historian who was a Marine amphibious officer.

US Marines stormed ashore Betio on November 20, 1943. After 76 hours of intense fighting, they had wrested it from tenacious Japanese defenders.

Here's how US Marines waded into what one combat correspondent soon after called"the toughest battle in Marine Corps history."

SEE ALSO: 56 years ago, the Cuban missile crisis took the world to the brink of nuclear war — here's what it looked like from sunny Florida beaches

US planes had done reconnaissance of Betio and Tarawa since the beginning of 1943. In August 1943, Vice Adm. Raymond Spruance, commander of the US Central Pacific Force, verbally assigned the capture of the Tarawa atoll to the 2nd Marine Division. In mid-September, Navy and Army planes bombed and photographed the atoll.

Tarawa is a triangular coral atoll. Its east side is about 18 miles long, while the south side is 12 miles long and the west side 12.5 miles long. The string of islands that make up the atoll ranged in altitude from 8 to 10 feet and were covered in coconut trees and dense shrubs.

Betio is a bird-shaped island at the atoll's southwest corner that at the time had an area of about 300 acres.

Japanese commanders concentrated their forces on Betio, a strongly defended island at the southwest corner of the atoll, planning to destroy US transports at sea and then "concentrate all fires on the enemy's landing point and destroy him at the water's edge." The island was estimated to have a garrison of 4,800 men — more than half of them first-rate troops.

Betio's defenders deployed steel tetrahedrons, minefields, and dense thickets of barbed wire. Walls of logs and coral surrounded much of the island. Machine guns, rifle pits, and anti-tank ditches were often integrated into the barricades, and many emplacements, like pillboxes, were built to have converging fields of fire.

Anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines were scattered around the island, its lagoon, and its reef. Japanese forces on the island also had naval guns, coastal-defense guns, as well as field artillery and howitzers.

Source: US Marine Corps

Betio's geography — narrow and not higher than 10 feet — suited its defenders. "Every place on the island can be covered by direct rifle and machine-gun fire," Marine Col. Merritt Edison said. The island also lacked natural cover, and its tides and reef posed unique challenges.

The fight at Tarawa was the first large-scale encounter between US Marines and Japan's Special Naval Landing Forces. Intelligence officers cautioned before the landing that "naval units of this type are usually more highly trained and have a greater tenacity and fighting spirit than the average Japanese Army unit."

Nevertheless, Marines were surprised at the intensity with which they fought.

Source: US Marine Corps

• The Camp Fire has been tearing through parts of Northern California since November 8, leaving thousands homeless and at least 77 people dead.
• The blaze destroyed the town of Paradise, and survivors' accounts of their harrowing escapes are emerging.
• One such story comes from Jackie Rabbit, one of many Paradise residents who did not receive an evacuation notice by phone.
• Rabbit told Business Insider that she narrowly escaped the Camp Fire after abandoning her car on the side of the road and running for her life.

PARADISE, California — Like many other residents of Paradise, Jackie Rabbit didn't receive an evacuation notice on her phone the morning of November 8.

Instead, as the fast-moving Camp Fire roared toward the 27,000-person town in Northern California, she got a call from her 12-year-old daughter. Her school was being evacuated, she said, so Rabbit had to come pick her up.

Rabbit's husband went to retrieve their daughter, and Rabbit left 15 minutes after him with their dog, Finnegan. But everyone in the town was leaving, so traffic was gridlocked. Rabbit's husband made it to the main road, but she was stuck.

"I was sitting, frantically texting everybody," Rabbit told Business Insider while in Chico, a town just west of Paradise. "Our nanny, who is also a very good friend of mine, is pregnant, she’s due in a couple weeks, and I’m frantically texting her to get out."

She sat unmoving as the flames began to engulf both sides of the road around her — and approached her car.

The Camp Fire is  now the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history, killing at least 77 people and leveling 15,558 structures. It's now 66% contained, but on that Thursday morning, it was spreading at a rate of 80 football fields per minute.

"The only light was the sparks and flames from everything around you," Rabbit said. Otherwise, the smoke made it look like midnight.

"The sky was completely black," she said. "It was probably 9 or 10 o’clock in the morning, but it was pitch black outside."

Accompanying the darkness and fire were sporadic, thunderous roars.

"You could hear explosions every couple of seconds, just like, ‘boom, boom, boom,'" Rabbit said. The sound came from propane tanks and electrical transmission lines bursting.

Despite her panic, Rabbit said she tried to keep things in perspective.

"I was sitting in my car just screaming waiting to die, but trying to tell myself, 'Okay, it may not look like it to me, but I bet they have this under control,'" Rabbit said. "I just can’t see that because I’m not a firefighter, I’m not an emergency personnel."

She said she was keeping in mind previous wildfires that burned in California.

"I remember having the thought that, 'Okay, there are fires all the time but the death toll is always almost nothing,'" Rabbit said. "Hardly anybody ever dies in these fires, I need to have faith."

But the flames started swirling closer and closer to where she was, and the traffic still didn't move.

"There was that point where it's like, 'Alright, I know that I can physically outrun this right now and if I wait any longer, I can’t,'" Rabbit said. "So I grabbed my dog, grabbed my laptop bag, and we started booking it."

She pulled her car off to the side of the road and as she got out, two firefighters came running up beside her carrying an injured firefighter. They asked if she was okay.

"They were just like, 'Go, just keep going, we’ve gotta get out of here, just go,'" Rabbit said.

She began to hack and cough in the smoke as she ran for her life .

Rabbit said she abandoned her car somewhere around Pearson Street and Edgewood Lane, and took off toward Clark Road. As she ran, she passed other people still sitting in their cars. 

"The next morning I found out that several people in that area had ended up passing away in their cars," she said. At least six people have been confirmed to have died in their cars while attempting to flee.

Eventually, Rabbit said, she reached an area of road that was no longer lined with flames.

"You could definitely tell that we were running away from the fire," she said. "There were a couple of other families that I ran into further down, people with little bitty kids and people with their dogs. It was insane."

She must have fallen at some point, she said, since she later realized she had a bloody knee and injured ankle.

Rabbit later learned that her home was one of thousands destroyed by the fire. She and her family are now staying in Chico with her boss, who owns the tattoo shop where she works.

Many other people who lost homes are living in far worse conditions, with some even camping outside of a Walmart parking lot in Chico.

On Monday, 11 days after Rabbit abandoned her car and escaped on foot, she found her burned out car in a tow lot in Chico.

She scoured the car's shell looking for a few keepsake items she'd left behind: her daughter's baby teeth, a doll, jewelry given to her by her grandmother, and a silver flask that Rabbit gave to her husband as an anniversary gift. She found them.

Rabbit said that the attendant who towed her car said the person in the car next to hers had passed away in their vehicle.

Despite the trauma, Rabbit said, her family plans to eventually rebuild their lives in the area.

"We're taken care of because we have resources," Rabbit said. "But there are so many people that don't."

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• Mariah Carey appeared on Bravo's "Watch What Happens Live" on Monday and answered questions from fans who called in. 
• One viewer told the singer that he faked a proposal at one of her Las Vegas, Nevada shows in an effort to be noticed by her.
• "You were so sweet and invited us backstage," he explained. "I didn't know how to get your attention."
• The fan added that he "felt horrible lying" to Carey, but the 48-year-old said that she wasn't mad or upset at him.
• Watch the video below (the fan talks to Carey at 2:13).

Visit INSIDER's homepage for more.   

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• TJ Maxx and Kohl's are the places to go to find everything from makeup, to clothes, home decor, and back to school gear. 
• Both stores are doing well right now, with TJ Maxx's parent company reporting on Tuesday that comparable sales were up 9% at TJ Maxx and Marshalls in the most recent fiscal quarter, and Kohl's reporting a comparable sales increase of 2.5%
• There are a few obvious differences between the stores, most notably that TJ Maxx is an off-price retailer, while Kohl's is a traditional department store. After visiting both, we found that the two stores had a ton of similarities, but one had more to offer than the other. 

TJ Maxx and Kohl's are the places to go to find everything from makeup, to clothes, home decor, and back-to-school gear. 

The stores are well loved by shoppers for a number of reasons, including the low prices both stores have on a huge variety of products. 

Both stores are doing well right now, with TJ Maxx's parent company reporting on Tuesday that comparable sales were up 9% at TJ Maxx and Marshalls in the most recent fiscal quarter, and Kohl's reporting a comparable sales increase of 2.5%. 

TJ Maxx and Kohl's are both able to avoid the troubles faced by stores in malls. In large part, this is because most TJ Maxx and Kohl's stores are in suburban strip malls rather than shopping malls. This makes them less likely to be affected by the declining foot traffic that has hurt malls and the retailers that depend on them.

There are a few obvious differences between the stores, most notably that TJ Maxx is an off-price retailer, while Kohl's is a traditional department store. However, after recently visiting both, we found that the stores were similar in many ways — the styles and quality of the products were nearly identical, and neither was laid out in a particularly great way. 

But one store was better than the other for a key reason:

SEE ALSO: We went shopping at Macy's and JCPenney to see which was a better department store, and the winner was clear

The first store we went to was TJ Maxx on Wall Street in Manhattan.

Right near the entrance were backpacks and deals on t-shirts and jackets.

The beauty department was a highlight of the store. It carried a ton of name brand products for under $10.

The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.

• Freshly ground coffee is addictive and delicious. If you want to make the perfect brew each morning, you need a coffee grinder.

• After much research and some testing, we found that the Baratza Encore Conical Burr Grinder is the best option for most people with its affordable $139 price tag and consistently great grinds.

There's nothing better than a perfect cup of coffee. If you're a coffee snob, you probably know that freshly ground coffee makes for a better cup of Joe. Coffee goes stale relatively quickly, so when you buy pre-ground beans, you may be losing some of your coffee's flavor. A good grinder will grind your beans to a uniform size so that you get the most out of your beans. Grinding beans every day before you make coffee may sound like a hassle, but a grinder can quickly pulverize your beans to maximize their flavor.

Coffee grinders range from the incredibly affordable to the absurdly expensive. You can get grinders at any point in between as well. We've tested a few coffee grinders and researched dozens more to find the best ones you can buy. Before we get into our picks, these are the key terms and features you need to know.

Blade versus Burr grinders

There are two main types of coffee grinders: blade and burr grinders. Purists say that you shouldn't even consider blade grinders because they don't grind the coffee beans to a nice uniform particle size, which results in an uneven and unpredictable brew. Blade grinders are much cheaper than burr grinders, though, and not everyone will be able to afford the pricier burr grinders. As such, we've included one blade grinder and the rest are burr grinders at varying price points.

When you start looking at burr grinder machines, there's a lot more to know. As The Wirecutter explains, "burrs work by using two serrated pieces of metal or ceramic that are positioned a specific distance apart from each other (depending on the grind) and rotate to crush the beans to the exact size you want." Here are the different types of burrs used on most machines:

• Flat versus Conical burrs: There's much debate over which type of burr is better, but they perform pretty similarly, so you shouldn't worry too much about this point. Flat burrs are two parallel rings with a space between them where the beans enter to be sheared into coffee grounds, while conical burrs involve a cone in a ring that grinds your beans down to the right size.
• Steel versus Ceramic burrs: Steel burrs are more affordable and more common in coffee grinders, but they don't last as long as ceramic ones do. Ceramic burrs are typically used in manual hand grinders and for grinding espresso beans perfectly.

Having a powerful, consistent, and well-made grinder is essential to making the most out of your beans. These are the best grinders you can buy, ranging from less than $20 to $230.

Here are our picks for the best coffee grinders you can buy:

• Best coffee grinder overall: Baratza Encore Conical Burr Coffee Grinder
• Best coffee grinder for less than $100: Capresso 560.01 Infinity Burr Grinder
• Best coffee grinder for less than $75: Brim Electric Handheld Burr Grinder
• Best expensive coffee grinder: Baratza Virtuoso Conical Burr Coffee Grinder
• Best blade coffee grinder: KRUPS F203 Electric Spice and Coffee Grinder
• Best manual coffee grinder: Hario Mini Mill Slim Hand Coffee Grinder

Updated on 11/20/2018 by Owen Burke: Updated prices and formatting, added the OXO BREW Conical Burr Grinderas a "Best for less than $100" pick and the Brim 1.6-Oz Handheld Electric Coffee Grinder for a less than $75 pick.

Read on in the slides below to check out our top picks.

SEE ALSO: The best espresso machines you can buy

The best coffee grinder overall

Why you'll love it: The Baratza Encore Conical Burr Coffee Grinder produces consistently uniform coffee grounds for all grind settings, and it costs far less than other high-end models.

Every coffee expert will tell you that the least amount of money you should spend on a coffee grinder is $100 because you get what you pay for in the coffee world. Although there are fancier high-end models that cost hundreds more than the Baratza Encore Conical Burr Coffee Grinder, this really is the best grinder for most people.

The Encore is considered the ultimate entry-level burr grinder for coffee enthusiasts at home. You really don't need more than what the Encore offers. It has 40 individual grind settings, ranging from fine to coarse and everything in between. Once you find the perfect setting for your tastes, you're all set.

It runs on a DC motor with electric and gear speed reducers that slow the burr to 450 RPM to reduce noise, static, and unwanted variations in particle size. The Encore is a great all-around grinder that performs nearly as well and consistently as the pricier competition.

Baratza also has a great repair program, so if your machine needs a repair or a full cleaning, they'll take care of it for you for a fee.

User reviews on Amazon are mostly positive, and many say there's no need to pay more for a high-end grinder. The Wirecutter named the Encore its best coffee grinder. Home Grounds highly recommends it, as does Lifehacker and Foodal.

Pros: Conical burr grinder, 40 grind settings, easy to use, reliable, consistent, relatively affordable, a good repair program

Cons: One-year warranty is a bit short, it's entry-level — not high-end

Buy the Baratza Encore Conical Burr Coffee Grinder on Amazon for $139.00

The best burr grinder for less than $100

Why you’ll love it: The OXO Brew Conical Burr Grinder grinds slowly, but that in turn reduces static, noise, and inconsistencies in your grounds.

A burr grinder is a great tool to have if you can afford it, but lower-end grinders can be something of a let-down. Uneven grounds, static mess, and overheating are some of the regular issues with burr grinders in the sub-$100 category, but OXO nearly eliminates them all with a thriftiness you can’t help but appreciate — and respect.

OXO includes a grounding prong in the power plug, which grounds the stainless steel grounds bin and keeps static down. Other grinders with plastic bins produce just as much static, which, with plastic, there’s no eliminating.

This device also employs a much lower motor RPM, which comes with its own pros and cons. While you’ll have to wait for what feels like twice as long as you would with most burr grinders, this allows for a kind of precision most others in the price range won’t match. It also makes much less sound, which the rest of the household will surely appreciate. One Amazon reviewer recorded 74 decibels, reporting it to be less than a blender.

PC Verge is a big fan of the OXO Brew grinder, suggesting that at this price, you won’t find a better grinder. They do note that the machine doesn’t come with a scale, which might be upsetting for certain coffee drinkers, scales that come along at this price tend to be fraught with difficulties anyhow. 

Amazon reviews are encouraging with a 4.3-star rating based on a list of nearly 200, many of which are from amateur testers who received the unit for free, but there are enough positive reviews verified buyers to suggest they’re not wrong.

Basically, if you want a burr grinder and don’t want to spend over $100 on it, this is your best bet for now. — Owen Burke

Pros: Thoroughly well-designed, consistent grounds, low noise level, minimal static

Cons: Slower than other burr grinders, no built-in scale

Buy the OXO Brew Conical Burr Grinder on Amazon for $79.99 (originally $99.95)

The best burr grinder under $80

Why you’ll love it: The Brim Electric Handheld Burr Grinder is slim, sleek, tidy, and affordable. 

If the Brim Electric Handheld Burr Grinder looks like an electric pepper mill, that’s because, in essence, it is. Wire-free, this tall, lean, battery-powered gizmo will alleviate clutter from your kitchen counter, but just keep in mind that it is small.

Grinding coffee for the whole household could be quite the chore with the small, 30-gram capacity, but for a couple of people each morning, it’s the perfect size. It’s also portable.

A motor on top of steel burrs with a hopper and grinds container in the bottom keep this thing compact, but nine grinding settings keep it fully functional.

Like the OXO Brew, this grinder is slow — though it’s even slower because it’s battery-powered. This has its advantages. It’s also quiet, and it also produces unburnt grounds, which can be a common problem with high-velocity grinders whose blades get hot and can burn the grounds.

There aren’t many reviews out yet for the Brim Electric Handheld Burr Grinder, but the handful on BestBuy are all enthusiastic, and Insider Picks’ Buying Guides editor Malarie Gokey is a big fan, too.

In effect, this is the reliable but no-frills choice for small households. You’ll keep very busy running this machine if you’re trying to keep up with any more than a few people’s coffee habits, but other than that, we’re pretty confident it won’t let you down. Stay tuned for longevity notes.  — Owen Burke

Pros: Quiet, efficient, battery-powered, compact, portable

Cons: Only grinds about 30 grams at a time

Buy the Brim Electric Handheld Burr Grinder at Best Buy for $69.99

Buy the Brim Electric Handheld Burr Grinder on Amazon for $69.99

• "Widows," a heist movie from "12 Years a Slave" director Steve McQueen starring Viola Davis, disappointed at the box office in its opening weekend with just $12 million.
• Box-office experts agree that the movie should have been released on a different date outside of the busy November schedule.
• A social-media analysis from Crimson Hexagon showed that online buzz around the movie had decreased dramatically since its first trailer debuted.

A studio heist thriller from an acclaimed director with a powerhouse diverse cast, Steve McQueen's "Widows" is the kind of movie that audiences who clamor for original, well-made films should have been lining up to see at the theater.

But the movie fell flat at the box office in its opening weekend with just $12 million (it cost $42 million to make). It came in fifth, predictably behind the latest movie in the blockbuster "Harry Potter" universe, "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald."

Less predictable, though, was that it fell short of the other major new release this weekend, the Mark Wahlberg-starring comedy "Instant Family," as well as the Freddie Mercury-biopic "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "The Grinch," which held strong in their third and second weekends, respectively.

READ MORE: How 'Venom' scored one of the biggest superhero-movie openings ever in China

So what went wrong with "Widows"? It stars Oscar winner Viola Davis and audience favorite Liam Neeson, along with Colin Farrell, "Get Out" star Daniel Kaluuya, and more. It's an action movie wrapped in a tale of corruption that's politically and socially relevant. And yet, it didn't find an audience.

A social-media analysis conducted by consumer-insights company Crimson Hexagon for Business Insider found that social media buzz around the film during its opening weekend was subpar, especially compared to when its first trailer debuted on June 4. At that time, the movie generated over 26,000 posts on Twitter and Instagram, according to Crimson Hexagon, and under 10,000 posts on Friday when it debuted.

A chart from Crimson Hexagon showing the data is below:

Interest in the film obviously decreased between June and now, and that could be attributed to a marketing problem. BoxOfficeAnalyst.com's Doug Stone said the movie was primarily marketed toward African American audiences even though the film is "really not ethnically unidirectional."

"While this type of marketing thrust isn’t a bad thing in and of itself for the appropriate product, the film perhaps should have been marketed to cross over to a broader audience," Stone told Business Insider.

Exhibitor Relations senior box-office analyst Jeff Bock said that Fox, the studio behind the movie, didn't make a smart call opening "Widows" up against Warner Bros.' "Fantastic Beasts" (the good news, though, is that Fox released "Bohemian Rhapsody" earlier this month, which has made over $380 million worldwide). "Fantastic Beasts" overshadowed "Widows" online, as well. According to Crimson Hexagon's analysis, the former generated over 157,000 Twitter and Instagram posts over the weekend.

Stone agreed that the film's release date in the midst of a jam-packed schedule wasn't favorable, and said that it would have fared better opening later in the year.

"The consensus among theatre exhibitors is that the 11/2 – 11/21 period is very much overloaded with product," Stone said.

Its mature themes and R rating limited its appeal, too, and Stone said "that may have been a detriment during this particular time frame" when more family-friendly options are in theaters.

READ MORE: The American flag controversy surrounding 'First Man' isn't the reason it's struggling at the box office

"Widows" also highlights a trend in recent months of audiences ignoring critical reviews. Poorly-reviewed films, like "The Nun,""Venom," and "Bohemian Rhapsody" have all exceeded expectations at the box office, despite subpar or even abysmal reviews. On the flip side, audiences ignored "Widows" despite its impressive 91% Rotten Tomatoes critic score. The same can be said of critically acclaimed films like "First Man" and "Suspiria," which failed to generate excitement among general moviegoers. 

All of this is why a rebound for "Widows" is hard to predict. Oscar buzz and good word of mouth could benefit the movie in the long run, as well as this weekend's holiday, according to Stone. But a lack of interest now despite plenty of critical buzz might not bode well for that prospect, either.

"User ratings were not stellar with it showing 66% on Rotten Tomatoes," Stone said. " The Metacritic response was somewhat better, but the Cinemascore was a B. That is not a great result. IMDb responses put it as above average but not in the good category."

"We'll have to wait and see how it performs this week before we make any long term judgments," Bock said.

SEE ALSO: The 100 highest-grossing movies of all time at the worldwide box office

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How 'The Price Is Right' is made

• US cannabis companies are going public and pursuing large acquisitions worth hundreds of millions in a race to scale up and capture what some Wall Street analysts say could be a $75 billion market.
• But a threat is on the horizon: The biggest publicly traded Canadian cannabis companies are shoring up their balance sheets to enter the US market, if, or when, federal law changes.
• All signs point to war.

A war is brewing in the cannabis industry.

US cannabis companies are going public and pursuing large acquisitions worth hundreds of millions almost every day in a race to scale up to capture what some Wall Street analysts say could be a $75 billion market in the US alone.

But a threat is on the horizon: The biggest publicly traded Canadian cannabis companies, many of which reported earnings last week, are shoring up their balance sheets to enter the US market — and they're not planning on taking any prisoners.

Take a look at all the activity:

• Acreage Holdings, a US cannabis company that counts former Republican House Speaker John Boehner (among other notable former politicians) on its board, last Thursday began trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange after completing a reverse merger with Applied Inventions Management Corp.
• Green Growth Brands, an Ohio-based cannabis retailer backed by the billionaire Schottenstein family, began trading on the CSE last Tuesday after completing a reverse merger with Xanthic Biopharma.
• Green Thumb Industries, an Illinois-based cannabis retailer, closed a $290 million acquisition of three dispensary licenses and two cultivation facilities in Nevada last Tuesday.

Many cannabis CEOs and investors point to the midterms as a sign the federal government, spurred by the firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the election of a new, Democratic-led House, will start to ease federal restrictions on US cannabis companies.

If the federal government legalizes cannabis in the US — or if the Farm Bill passes, which would effectively legalize hemp products in the US — then it will be open season for both US and Canadian firms to rush into the market.

2 types of cannabis companies are gearing up for an epic showdown

There are two buckets of publicly traded cannabis companies: those that operate entirely in the US, known as multistate operators, and those that are based in Canada, known as licensed producers.

In the US, multistate operators, like Acreage Holdings and GTI, operate retail cannabis dispensaries in states where the drug is legal.

Because the federal government classifies cannabis as an illegal, Schedule I drug, major exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq won't list companies that operate in the US. To access public markets, and generate the currency needed to pursue acquisitions, these companies mostly go public on the CSE by merging with companies that are already publicly traded.

These reverse mergers have fueled a mergers-and-acquisitions boom as cannabis companies wield their stock in the race to build out their footprints — and create a moat around their business for when the northern invaders come.

Read more:Marijuana companies are using a 'backdoor' strategy to tap the public markets — and it's fueling an M&A boom

In the other bucket are the big Canadian growers, such as Tilray and Canopy Growth. Cannabis is federally legal in Canada, so these companies are able to list on major stock exchanges such the Toronto Stock Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange, and the Nasdaq, giving them access to lots of liquidity.

Both Canadian and US cannabis companies are raring to go once the US market opens

US cannabis companies operate in "open defiance of federal law," creating an unsustainable long-term situation, said John Vardaman, a former Department of Justice attorney who's now the general counsel at Hypur, a fintech startup that serves the cannabis industry.

For that reason, Vardaman expects Congress to pass the bipartisan States Act, which would protect cannabis businesses from federal interference.

And if the States Act passes, Canadian licensed producers signaled they would be ready to pounce.

Cam Battley, the chief corporate officer of Aurora, a Canadian LP, said his firm was ready to move into the US once federal laws change.

"You're seeing the American system really move quickly now," Battley said on the company's earnings call last week, referring to Michigan legalizing cannabis and states across the populous Northeast weighing cannabis legislation. "My lips are wet, my mouth is watering to get a piece of that."

"Companies such as ours would deploy massive amounts of capital in one single location or two single locations in one or two states and quickly move that product from state to state," Brendan Kennedy, the CEO of Tilray, the largest cannabis company in the world by market cap, said on the firm's earnings call last week.

This, Kennedy said, would give Canadian companies like Tilray a distinct advantage over US companies because they're already publicly traded on major US exchanges, with deep balance sheets and access to a network of institutional investors.

Meanwhile, US cannabis companies aren't able to ship product between states — even if both states have legalized cannabis. This ends up creating 33 individual state markets, making it difficult and expensive to streamline operations if cannabis becomes federally legal.

That puts US cannabis firms at a "distinct disadvantage," Kennedy said.

US cannabis companies aren't backing down, however.

Asked whether he was worried about competition from the Canadian players, Acreage Holdings' CEO, Kevin Murphy, said his newly public company had a "balance sheet to match any balance sheet."

While Murphy said all cannabis companies would benefit from changing legislation, he said he was "angling to be in first place."

"And second place for us is the first loser," Murphy said.

Read more:

• These execs are leaving behind careers at companies like Coke and Victoria's Secret to tap into the $194 billion cannabis industry
• The top 12 venture-capital firms making deals in the booming cannabis industry that's set to skyrocket to $75 billion
• Hedge fund legend Leon Cooperman is investing in the marijuana industry

SEE ALSO: Marijuana companies are using a 'backdoor' strategy to tap the public markets — and it's fueling an M&A boom

AND MORE: A competitor is emerging to challenge the marijuana retail chain dominating the industry, and it just closed a $640 million acquisition

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This mind-melting thought experiment of Einstein's reveals how to manipulate time

• President Donald Trump defended his daughter Ivanka's use of private email to conduct government business to reporters on Tuesday.
• "Ivanka did some emails, they weren't classified like Hillary Clinton, they weren't deleted like Hillary Clinton..she wasn't doing anything to hide her emails," he said. 
• Congressional Democrats on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, however, plan to investigate private email use of Ivanka and other White House officials. 

President Donald Trump confirmed a Monday report that his daughter Ivanka, an unpaid White House advisor, used a private email address to conduct government business, but defended his daughter by saying her emails "weren’t deleted like Hillary Clinton's.”

The Washington Post reported Monday that Ivanka regularly used a private email account using a domain shared with her husband Jared Kushner for official government business, sending "hundreds" of mainly logistical and scheduling emails to other officials from the private email address.

Ivanka and Kushner's private email use was first reported in fall of 2017, which prompted the watchdog group American Oversight to file a public records lawsuit for Ivanka's communications. 

“She was the worst offender in the White House,” a former senior government official familiar with the review of Ivanka's emails told The Post about her email usage, which could violate the Presidential Records Act. 

See also: Ivanka Trump 'was the worst offender in the White House': Ivanka reportedly discussed government affairs using her personal email address

A spokesperson for Ivanka's attorney Abbe Lowell told The Post that Ivanka did not mean to potentially violate federal records rules by using a private email, and has since turned over those emails to be part of the public record.

"Ms. Trump did not create a private server in her house or office, no classified information was ever included, the account was never transferred at Trump Organization, and no emails were ever deleted,” the spokesperson said. 

Trump echoed those comments to reporters on Tuesday afternoon. "Ivanka did some emails, they weren't classified like Hillary Clinton, they weren't deleted like Hillary Clinton...she wasn't doing anything to hide her emails," the president said. 

Throughout his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump frequently attacked Clinton for her use of a private email account and private server in the basement of her home in Chappaqua, New York — often leading chants of "lock her up" at campaign rallies. To this day, Trump occasionally tweets outrage at the FBI for ultimately finding she had not broken any laws. 

Read more: From rich kid to first daughter: The life of Ivanka Trump

“The parallels between Ms. Trump’s conduct and that of Secretary Clinton are inescapable,” Austin Evers, the executive director of American Oversight, wrote in a letter to members of Congress. 

“In both her use of personal email and post-discovery preservation efforts, Ms. Trump appears to have done exactly what Secretary Clinton did — conduct over which President Trump and many members of Congress regularly lambasted Secretary Clinton and which, they asserted, demonstrated her unfitness for office.”

Despite Trump's defenses, Democrats on the House Committee for Oversight & Government Reform plan to further investigate Ivanka and other White House officials' private email usage. 

"We launched a bipartisan investigation last year into White House officials’ use of private email accounts for official business, but the White House never gave us the information we requested,” Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat and the likely next chairman of the Oversight Committee said in a Tuesday statement. 

“We need those documents to ensure that Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, and other officials are complying with federal records laws and there is a complete record of the activities of this Administration," he added. 

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Lindsey Graham once warned there would be 'holy hell to pay' if Trump fired Jeff Sessions

• LuLaRoe CEO Mark Stidham said Tuesday in an emotional internal video meeting that the company is working to address inventory problems.
• "I don’t have the product to serve you, and therefore I don’t have the product to serve your customers," Stidham told consultants, according to leaked audio from the meeting.
• Stidham made the remarks following a Business Insider investigation, which was published earlier Tuesday, into the company's mounting inventory problems and the exodus of top sellers.
• Stidham said top sellers are leaving LuLaRoe because he refused to give them preferential treatment over others in the business. 
• Also read: LuLaRoe is facing mounting debt, layoffs, and an exodus of top sellers, and sources say the $2.3 billion legging empire could be imploding

LuLaRoe CEO Mark Stidham tearfully addressed inventory problems and slammed "sensationalist journalists" on Tuesday in an internal video meeting in the wake of a Business Insider investigation into the multi-level marketing company, according to leaked audio from the meeting.

On the call, Stidham's voice faltered with apparent emotion as he told the story of a LuLaRoe seller, whose name he did not know, who he said was helping families affected by the recent wildfires in California. 

"As our community does good, I will promise you, we will continue to be attacked by those who don’t understand, who don’t get it," he said. "There is a lot of excitement and curiosity around LuLaRoe. What is this thing? How did it become? And unfortunately, there are sensationalist journalists that are taking that name and leveraging it so they can get some clicks through on ridiculous, ridiculous things. I want you to know guys, they are going to do that and it doesn’t matter to us. It’s irrelevant. They are irrelevant."

Stidham said that he's been getting a lot of emails from frustrated sellers over the past several weeks.

"I’ve read many, many of them and they are heartfelt; and they are people who are concerned about their business; people who are concerned about whether or not we are paying attention; whether we care for them," he said. "And I want to reassure you that we absolutely do."

Sellers, also called consultants, buy clothing from LuLaRoe at wholesale prices and then turn around and sell it at a markup to customers. Some have been complaining about inventory shortages and quality problems, as Business Insider's investigation revealed.

"I empathize 100% with your frustrations that you don’t have the product to serve your customers," Stidham said. "I don’t have the product to serve you, and therefore I don’t have the product to serve your customers. I understand that."

LuLaRoe representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At one point during the call, Stidham offered an explanation for the company's loss of top sellers. About one-third of LuLaRoe's top sellers have exited the company since July, according to data reviewed by Business Insider.

"Have you noticed that a whole bunch of top retailers have left lately? You want to know why? Because I refused to give them preferential treatment," he said. "They came to us and said, 'We’re your biggest sellers you need to give us first choice. You need to let us come into the warehouse and pick our own orders. You need to let us get the things we need so that we can continue to grow our business.' And I challenged them on that thinking."

Towards the end of the call, Stidham said that he recently traveled to China to secure more sources for production.

"I had a vision that we would find these old Chinese guys smoking cigarettes in a backroom somewhere with a factory," he said. "The people that we met are young entrepreneurs that are excited about the opportunity that is coming to them because of what you sell."

Shortly after that, he paused and it sounded like he had started to cry. 

"We are making a difference in the world, don’t lose sight of that," he said, his voice faltering. "We have over two million garments coming in the next three weeks and the pipeline is filling and we will continue to have things coming. We love you. We appreciate you."

SEE ALSO: LuLaRoe is facing mounting debt, layoffs, and an exodus of top sellers, and sources say the $2.3 billion legging empire could be imploding

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How Alibaba turned a fake holiday into a $25 billion shopping extravaganza that's bigger than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined

• Every day, we lose between 50 and 100 hairs from our heads — and it's completely normal.
• The American Academy of Dermatology refers to this as "hair shedding," and differentiates it from the more serious term "hair loss," which occurs when something prevents hair from growing.
• Excessive shedding can happen as a result of stressful life events, but usually stops within six to nine months as your body adjusts.
• Trichologist Iain Sallis told INSIDER that the most important thing to do for hair health is to eat enough protein and iron every day.

Picture this: You're in the shower, lathering up with your favorite shampoo. You rinse out the suds and smooth down your locks only to discover a clump of hair in your hands. This can be a bit frightening, but it can also be hard to know how much hair loss is "normal."

INSIDER spoke to trichologist Iain Sallis to learn everything you need to know about hair loss.

Some hair loss every day is normal, so don't freak out

According to the American Academy of Dermatologists, losing anywhere from 50 to 100 hairs per day is perfectly normal.

You probably aren't going to count each hair you lose individually, but if you think you have reason to be concerned, there are some general numbers to keep in mind.

"Losing over 100 hairs per day — or 700 hairs per week — would be classed as excessive and may indicate an underlying issue which is causing the hair cycle to shorten and shed more hairs than normal per day," Sallis told INSIDER. "This will [also] cause the hair to feel fine and thin."

A few additional signs, however, can indicate abnormal hair loss as well

Telogen effluvium — the medical term for the excessive shedding of hair— can occur as a direct result of sudden stress on the person who is suddenly losing hair.

Life events such as recovering from an illness with a high fever, undergoing an operation, giving birth, or any other major life stressors can have a noticeable effect on your hair according to the American Academy of Dermatologists.

Sallis shared a few other signs we should look for:

"For women with long hair, feeling their ponytail has reduced in diameter — called the ponytail test — or noticing areas of [the] scalp which were covered but now are not — such as a receding hairline — should be classed as signals for potential hair loss problems and should be checked out."

You should think about your hair from the inside out if you want it to be as healthy as possible

"If you think about your hair like you would a piece of clothing, you can't go far wrong," Sallis said. "The hair is a fiber made from proteins and once they have been made, that's it. They are as good as they are ever going to be and whatever you do to your hair — color it, brush it, straighten it — it will have an impact on the hair fiber."

"Nothing repairs it," Sallis noted. "Conditioners can make hair feel smoother and feel 'repaired' but it has not repaired anything — just papered over the cracks."

Read more:Best drugstore products for different hair types

Sallis also advised against smoking and recommended maintaining a healthy weight since some medications associated with certain weight-related conditions can negatively impact our hair later in life.

Your diet also plays a major role in hair health

Sudden hair loss can be frightening, especially if it goes on a long time before you can slow it down. Proper nutrition can help new hair growth but, as mentioned earlier, it can't undo the damage that's already been done.

"[You need to] ensure your diet is full of iron and proteins," Sallis said. "These are the two main issues with hair when it comes to nutrition."

As always, if you're concerned about any hair loss you're experiencing, you should talk to your doctor in detail. Your doctor may suggest that you take hair-specific vitamins containing iron and protein, or may refer you to a dermatologist if you don't already have one.

Sallis advised INSIDER that a primary doctor can usually rule out other potential causes of hair loss — including thyroid and anemia issues — before referring us on to specialists.

Visit INSIDER's homepage for more.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: There's so much CO2 in the atmosphere that planting trees can no longer save us

The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.

• Look no further for some shopping inspiration for Black Friday 2018 than last year's list of best-selling products.
• From Instant Pots to Echo Dots to 23andMe DNA test kits, these were the 20 top sellers among Business Insider readers in last year.
• Some of these items are currently on sale for Black Friday 2018.

Black Friday is the biggest shopping event of the year, a way to make a major dent in your holiday gift shopping and perhaps treat yourself to something you've been eyeing as well. With another Black Friday quickly approaching, we wanted to show you what Business Insider readers were buying at this time last year.

Our readers' purchases last year told us a few things, namely that they're using tech in all sorts of ways to streamline their lives. Unsurprisingly, smart home device purchases, particularly from the Amazon Echo family, are on the rise — after all, when you experience the seamless interactions among all your devices, it's difficult to go back.

It's also evident that our readers care about getting their money's worth without having to spend big. The discounts offered on Black Friday are perfect for bargain hunters and deal diggers.

Based on the popularity of these items from last year's Black Friday, you can make a pretty good guess that they'll be discounted this year as well. Bookmark any that you like so you'll be ready to purchase come Black Friday 2018.

While this data tells us a lot about the types of products and services you're interested in, we still love it when you drop us a line at insiderpicks@businessinsider and tell us things you'd like to hear more about or are perhaps having trouble finding on your own.

These are the 20 products Business Insider readers bought the most on Black Friday 2017.

Looking for more deals? We've rounded up the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals on the internet.

DON'T MISS: Business Insider's guide to the best Black Friday sales of 2018

SEE ALSO: All of Insider Picks' holiday gift guides, in one place

1. 23andMe and Ancestry.com DNA tests

23andMe DNA Test, $69, available at Amazon ($49 when you buy 2+ kits)

AncestryDNA Test, $59 (originally $99), available at Ancestry.com [You save $40]

If the increasing popularity of DNA test kits tells us anything, it's that we're all pretty interested in learning more about our roots. So interested, in fact, that we now even have the option to test the DNA of our pets. Our ever-growing fascination with where we come from explains why these DNA testing kits were the top sellers among Business Insider readers last Black Friday.

2. Amazon Echo Dot

Echo Dot (2nd Generation), $39.99, available at Amazon

Echo Dot (3rd Generation), $49.99, available at Amazon

The Echo Dot is small but packs a punch with all its capabilities. Use it to call, shop, play music, set a timer, and control other parts of your home by connecting it to other smart home devices. With nearly 80,000 people giving this convenient device a 5-star rating, it's no wonder it was a top-selling product last year.

3. TP-Link smart plug

• After 11 weeks, the NFL season is moving towards a thrilling conclusion.
• The Rams, Chiefs, and Saints have established themselves as the teams to beat, while a worthy group of contenders will look to join their ranks.
• At the bottom, teams are fighting to avoid embarrassment, but still looking forward to next year's draft.

After a thrilling battle between two of the top teams in the league, there is more reason than ever to be excited about the 2018 NFL playoffs.

That said, there's still much to be decided before it's time to start planning for the Super Bowl.

While the top three teams in the league have established themselves, there's a glut of teams in the middle hoping to make a run in the second half and secure a spot in the playoffs. And at the bottom of the standings, teams are already planning on how they'll spend their first-round pick.

Going into a big Week 12, here's where all 32 teams stand.

32. Buffalo Bills

Record: 3-7

Last week: 28th

Week 11 result: Bye

Week 12 opponent: vs. Jacksonville Jaguars

One thing to know: Head coach Sean McDermott says that rookie quarterback Josh Allen is on track to start again on Sunday after a few weeks on the sidelines due to an elbow injury, but it's unclear how much his return will help the flailing Bills offense.

31. Arizona Cardinals

Record: 2-8

Last week: 27th

Week 11 result: Lost to the Raiders, 23-21

Week 12 opponent: at Los Angeles Chargers

One thing to know: In three games under new offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, David Johnson has totaled 294 rushing yards, 143 receiving yards, and 3 touchdowns. Welcome back, DJ!

30. Oakland Raiders

Record: 2-8

Last week: 32nd

Week 11 result: Beat the Cardinals, 23-21

Week 12 opponent: at Baltimore Ravens

One thing to know: The Raiders finally got another win, but with games remaining against the Steelers, Ravens, and Bengals, as well as two left against the Chiefs, they're still the clear favorites to land the top pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.

• Many iconic moments have occured throughout the years during the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.
• Models like Tyra Banks and Cara Delevingne have been remembered for their dancing skills on the runway.
• Maria Borges made Victoria's Secret history as the first model to wear her natural hairstyle in the show in 2015.
• Others have risked injury onstage, like Ariana Grande who was accidentally hit by model Elsa Hosk's Angel wings during her performance in 2014.
• Multiple former couples have expressed their affections on the runway, including Anne Vyalitsyna and Adam Levine, and Heidi Klum and Seal.

The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show has come a long way since its inception in 1995.

The runway has evolved into a bold stage with modern technology, a long list of fan-favorite musicians have performed during the event, and each year, the coveted Angel wings are bigger and bolder.

Over the years, a number of memorable things have happened during the show. Past runways have seen everything from unforgettable dance numbers to performance mishaps, and the 2018 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show probably be any different.

To hold you over until the show airs on December 2, here's a look back at some of the most iconic moments from past Victoria's Secret runways.

During the 2002 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, Tyra Banks performed a memorable Flamenco dance.

Banks snagged her lingerie train as she stepped onto the stage, though the mishap appears to have been edited out of the television broadcast. Regardless, Banks continued her dance routine and shimmied down the runway without missing a step.

In 2002, model Gisele Bündchen was chased down the runway by anti-fur protesters.

Four members of PETA (the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) rushed the stage holding signs that read "Gisele: Fur Scum." They were protesting Bündchen's contract with the fur brand Blackglama. 

At the time, Bündchen defended her contract and told CNN that she was simply doing her job.

"I'm the biggest animal lover in the world," Bündchen said. "I was just doing my job. I'm a model. I don't even wear fur. They just want attention."

Bündchen appears to have since changed her mind, and told Vogue in 2018 that the experience opened her eyes to animal cruelty in the fashion industry. 

In 2004, Victoria's Secret shocked viewers by canceling the annual fashion show.

It's still debated as to why Victoria's Secret cancelled its 2004 fashion show, but media outlets have reported that networks were skeptical to air any degree of nudity following Janet Jackson's Superbowl performance. 

In an interview with CNN, Ed Razek, the Chief Marketing Officer of Victoria's Secret's parent company L Brands, said that the cancellation had nothing to do with Janet Jackson.

"Some are saying that the show is not running because of the Super Bowl incident, but that's not really the case," Razek said. "Clearly, we could've gotten the show on air if we wanted to. It's fashion, and we can't always use the same way to promote the brand."

Instead of a fashion show, Victoria's Secret took the Angels on a tour across the country, including stops in New York, Miami, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles.

• A host of top Democratic donors wrote a letter on Tuesday expressing their support for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's bid to become the next House speaker.
• Pelosi's allies point to her significant legislative accomplishments, recent electoral victories, fundraising prowess, and a lack of any strong alternative leader as reasons to support her. 
• They called the anti-Pelosi movement "naive and self-destructive" in interviews with INSIDER, and warned that if Pelosi is replaced, donations to the party could drop dramatically. 

A host of top Democratic donors are making their support of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi known as her bid for House speaker is under fire from a group of younger, largely centrist Democrats.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) donors, who include top Wall Street financiers and longtime political heavyweights, wrote a letter to Democratic leaders on Tuesday warning that without Pelosi at the helm, donations to the party could drop dramatically.

"The competence and effectiveness of the Leader is a critical component in motivating us to reach in our pockets. On that basis it is hard to imagine a replacement for Nancy engendering the same level of confidence at this critical time," they wrote in a letter obtained by Politico Playbook.

The donors argue both that Pelosi is eminently qualified for the job, pointing to her legislative achievements and specifically citing her success shepherding Obamacare through Congress and into law. 

"The skill of the leader is critically important — doesn't matter if she's a little bit to the right or the left," Richard Ravitch — a real estate developer, former lieutenant governor of New York, and a signatory of the letter — told INSIDER. "And it's more important than ever given that we have a psychopath in the White House."

Jeff Gural, a New York real estate developer who also signed the letter, chalked up the Democratic Party's midterm successes to their focus on healthcare — an issue on which the party has authority thanks to Pelosi's efforts. 

"I hear the argument, 'You would've won more seats if Nancy wasn’t the speaker' — yeah, well, we wouldn't have won any seats without healthcare," Gural told INSIDER, adding that Pelosi is "the hardest working person I know in politics." Gural added that he fears an inexperienced new leader "who could totally botch the job." 

The donors' letter was prompted by the 16 House Democrats who signed a letter this week outlining their opposition to Pelosi's re-election as House speaker. The lawmakers, five of whom are incoming members, argued that Democrats "ran and won on a message of change" this year, and that the party's leadership should respond to that mandate by handing the reins to a new, younger, guard.

Mitch Draizin — a New York hedge fund founder and another Pelosi-allied donor — called the opposition to the 78-year-old lawmaker "naive and self-destructive to the country and to the party" in an interview with INSIDER. 

"I'm a bit insulted that these freshmen and some of these younger folks ... who haven't done anything yet, have the audacity to challenge her," Draizin said, adding that Pelosi "is the personification of leadership."

The opposition hasn't put forward any substantive reasons why she should be replaced and they don't have a contender to challenge her — Rep. Marcia Fudge, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, who considered challenging Pelosi, announced on Tuesday evening that she would not run after Pelosi named her the chair of the reconstituted House Subcommittee on election-related issues. 

Donors are skeptical that any challenger could rival Pelosi. 

Gural said he was first convinced to donate to the DCCC after getting to know Pelosi, and he isn't sure he'd be willing to reach into his pockets for another leader, particularly if he felt the new leadership had "thrown [Pelosi] under the bus." 

"It's easy to say that people who've been donating significant sums of money to the Democrats all these years like myself would continue to do it without a phone call from Nancy," Gural said. "I'm not so sure."

The vocal and increasingly influential progressive wing of the party — some of whom were critical of Pelosi on the campaign trail this year — are also unconvinced by the movement against Pelosi. 

"My main concern was that there is no vision, there is no common value, there is no goal that is really articulated in this letter aside from we need to change," Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a democratic socialist and breakout star of the left in the Democratic Party, told MSNBC on Monday night of the anti-Pelosi letter. 

SEE ALSO: Nancy Pelosi is using gender to win over progressives in her fight to become House speaker

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Megyn Kelly in 2017: 'I regret a lot' of the controversial stuff I've said on live television

• Victoria's Secret currently has 13 active Angels.
• Some of these models, like Adriana Lima, have been with the company for over a decade.
• Ahead of the 2018 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, find out what each Angel wore during her first runway show for the lingerie brand.

Today, Victoria's Secret Angels are among some of the world's most well-recognized, and highest-paid, models.

Some of these models, like Adriana Lima and Candice Swanepoel, have been with the company for over a decade. Others earned their Angel wings more recently.

Currently, the brand has 13 active Angels, not including Alessandra Ambrosio, who parted ways with Victoria's Secret last year — although the Brazilian model is still listed as an Angel on the company's website.

Ahead of the 2018 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, find out what each Angel wore when she was cast in the event for the first time.

Adriana Lima wore two different looks when she made her Victoria's Secret Fashion Show debut in 1999.

In the lingerie brand's 1999 show, the model first stepped out in a white bodysuit with a ruffled polka-dot trim. She then showed off a floral-print bra with a matching sarong-style miniskirt.

Lima, who became an Angel in 2000, reportedly walked in her 19th, and last, Victoria's Secret Fashion Show this year. She was photographed looking tearful on the runway when the show was filmed in New York City on November 8.

The model also thanked the lingerie brand and fans in a heartfelt Instagram post ahead of the show.

Behati Prinsloo sported a green bra and red plaid shorts when she joined the show in 2007.

Her cozy runway look in the 2007 show also included red leg warmers, red mittens, and an olive-green jacket.

After a three-year hiatus, Prinsloo returned to the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show this year. The model, who earned her Angel wings in 2009, previously walked in the show for nine consecutive years.
 

Candice Swanepoel was also cast for the first time in 2007.

Swanepoel's debut look featured a blue bra and underwear set, a cropped, light-blue puffer coat, and leg warmers made of the same material.

The model earned her Angel wings in 2010 and has walked in 11 shows for Victoria's Secret.

• Bella Hadid and The Weeknd began dating in 2015.
• The two reportedly broke up in November 2016, but they reunited in 2018 at the Cannes Film Festival.
• Recently, the pair has gotten back together.

Bella Hadid and The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, certainly aren’t shy when it comes to their relationship. The couple has been vocal about their love for one another on social media and they reportedly recently leased a penthouse together. 

Here’s a timeline of Bella Hadid and Abel Tesfaye’s relationship.

May 2015: Sources confirmed Hadid and Tesfaye were dating.

Hadid and Tesfaye were allegedly first spotted together in April 2015. Tesfaye was performing at the Coachella music festival at the time and he supposedly spent a lot of his downtime with Hadid.

"They were hanging out in Coachella and were flirting lots," a source told E! News. "They have many things in common and really enjoyed each other's company. She loves his music as well. They are hanging out for sure now."

A few weeks after Hadid and Tesfaye hung out at Coachella, multiple sources confirmed that the two had officially started dating. Hadid was 18 years old at the time and Tesfaye was 25.

July 2015: Tesfaye alluded to Hadid in an interview.

During a New York Times interview with Tesfaye, the interviewer mentioned the "quick kiss" Hadid gave the rapper before his performance at the Museum of Modern Art.

When asked if he was in love, Tesfaye gave a conflicting answer.

"I don't know, to be honest with you," he said. "I don't think so. Maybe. It's no, it's yes, it's maybe."

September 12, 2015: Hadid and Tesfaye held hands at New York Fashion Week.

During New York Fashion Week, Hadid and Tesfaye sat front row together at the Alexander Wang show. After the show, the paparazzi caught them holding hands as they left.

• Margot Robbie shared a photo of the script of her upcoming Harley Quinn movie, "Birds of Prey."
• It showed the full title as "Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)."
• It's a mouthful and very real.
• Fans things the title sounds ridiculous and that there's no mention of Batgirl, the character who the comics are based around.
• INSIDER confirmed that will be the name of the movie coming to theaters February 7, 2020.

Margot Robbie shared the first photo of the script from her upcoming Harley Quinn spinoff on Instagram and it's a doozy. 

The script title reads: "Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). It's a mouthful and it's very real. 

Warner Bros. confirmed to INSIDER this is the actual title of the upcoming "Birds of Prey" movie and not just a fun thing Robbie scribbled for fans. The Hollywood Reporter was first to report the news.

The title has fans confused for more than one reason. 

First, it's unusually long-winded and doesn't feel like a real movie name.

For those unfamiliar with the comics, "Birds of Prey" is a story centered around Barbara Gordon/Batgirl and a group of female heroines and vigilantes like Black Canary, Huntress, and Katana (who appeared in 2016's "Suicide Squad"). More recently, Batman villain Poison Ivy became a part of the group in a relaunched comic. Harley's not part of that group.

Others feel like it's taking the spotlight off of another female character.

For what it's worth not everyone is displeased, some are happy to see Robbie's well-received Harley Quinn back on screen. She was one of the main highlights of "Suicide Squad." 

Read more:Photos of Joaquin Phoenix in the "Joker" movie

The movie itself will stray from the usual "Birds of Prey" comic fans may be used to which is spearheaded by Batgirl. This movie is supposed to have Harley Quinn rounding up a female group to take down Batman villain Black Mask, who will reportedly be played by Ewan McGregor.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead will play Huntress and Jurnee Smollett-Bell is playing Black Canary. The movie is being directed by Cathy Yan ("Dead Pigs").

There's no way this is going to stay the name of this movie, right?

For what it's worth, Disney's original title for the "Wreck-It Ralph" sequel was "Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2." The title was only recently shortened in the past few months to "Ralph Breaks the Internet."

There's a lot of time between now and February 2020, so we could always see a condensed, updated version.

Visit INSIDER's homepage for more.

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