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Along with more new songs from “Yeezus.”

Some people open concerts with a “Hello, New York,” but Kanye West is not some people. The rapper opened his performance at the Governors Ball on Sunday with his new song “Black Skinheads” and then “New Slaves” (first heard on Saturday Night Live in May), flanked by attack dogs and people clad in KKK-style hoods. West also debuted “I Am a God” from his new album, Yeezus, which included the lyrics “I just talked to Jesus / And he said, ‘What’s up, Yeezus?’ / And I said, ‘Shit, I’m chillin’ / Trying to stack these millions.” West also celebrated his birthday Saturday night in New York with a star-studded party—although his pregnant girlfriend, Kim Kardashian, was not present. She tweeted a message to him on Saturday: “Happy birthday to my best friend, the love of my life, my soul!!!” 

Read it at New York Post

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The NSA leaker might have been a rogue Booz Allen Hamilton employee. But he made the company’s biggest client, the U.S. government, look terrible—and that can’t be good for business, says Daniel Gross.

Booz Allen Hamilton is a publicly traded company with a market capitalization of $2.5 billion, about 24,500 employees, headquarters in McLean, Va., and, as of Sunday, a huge public-relations problem.On Sunday, The Guardian reported that Edward Snowden, a Booz Allen Hamilton employee who previously worked for the CIA and NSA, was the individual who leaked information about the government’s extensive surveillance of digital communications. Now holed up in Hong Kong, Snowden claimed he had the ability to access the email and communications of pretty much anyone, even the president.

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The right loves to bash New York's Citi Bike system, but bike share embodies the privatized, self-reliant ideals they espouse. Daniel Gross on why conservatives should climb on board.

New York City’s bike-sharing system, Citi Bike, is only two weeks old. In the media, it has many champions, including your humble author, who has ridden it to the office, to a board meeting, to television appearances, and elsewhere. It saves money, it’s convenient, it’s the biggest new piece of transportation infrastructure in New York in years, and it offers hundreds of thousands of desk drones the ability to integrate exercise into their daily commuting routines.

AP

From an in-depth look at the success of retailer Costco to the potential new real estate bubble, The Daily Beast brings you the best in business journalism from the week of June 8, 2013.

"Costco CEO Craig Jelinek Leads the Cheapest, Happiest Company in the World"Brad Stone, Bloomberg BusinessweekAs other major retailers struggle with plummeting sales and labor strikes, Costco has become synonymous with both business success and employee satisfaction. "The Secret Science of Scalping Tickets"Adam Davidson, The New York Times MagazineThe scalping industry has long befuddled economists. While concert tickets seem far more expensive than they used to be, there is still a whole industry of scalping, which means the tickets are still far below market value.

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It’s easy to blame globalization for our many economic woes. But the ability of American business—and American policy—to engage with the world is actually helping the U.S. economy to outperform the world’s developed economies.

The economic news and data have turned distinctly upbeat. With unemployment down, consumer confidence up, and personal debt back to normal levels, it was no surprise when last week's revised report on first quarter GDP showed consumer spending rising at twice the rate of the preceding three quarters. Housing investment is now increasing at a 14 percent annual rate, following a 25 percent drop in home foreclosures compared to the first quarter of 2012 and many months of rising housing prices.

Frank Franklin II/AP

Denials? Or Non-Denial-Denials?

Just in case you weren't anxious enough about your cell phone, yesterday, the Guardian and the Washington Post dropped news that the NSA is also collecting data from multiple internet providers: Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, Apple.  Dropbox is allegedly coming soon.Yet the companies appear to be offering flat denials:An Apple spokesman said: "We have never heard of PRISM. We do not provide any government agency with direct access to our servers and any agency requesting customer data must get a court order," he said.

Ed Andrieski/AP

Critics have accused the Obama administration of being unwilling to exploit federal lands for energy. But the Interior Department is now taking aggressive action to promote green-power development in areas it controls.

For the past few years, the energy industry and its political allies have complained that President Obama refuses to open up federal land for oil and gas drilling fast enough. But that doesn’t mean the administration is sitting on its hands when it comes to exploiting the power-generating potential of federal lands. This week, the Department of Interior, in one of the first high-profile moves under Sally Jewell, the former chief executive of REI, announced some truly massive green-power plans.

George Nikitin/AP

Research says caffeine may ward off dementia.

It’s always nice to hear something you’re already doing is actually healthy, so here you go: coffee is good for your brain and might stave off dementia and Alzheimer’s, according to several recent studies. In the experiments, scientists found about three cups of the stuff disrupted a chain of events that can lead to neurodegenerative disorders. In one, caffeinated mice formed new memories 33 percent faster than their decaf counterparts. The research is still in the early stages, so don’t bank on your lattes as a cure-all, but feel free to drink up! And while you’re at it, turn your nose up at those chamomile-tea-drinking snobs.

Read it at The New York Times Magazine

M. Spencer Green/AP

The nation’s spring recovery continued as the economy added 175,000 jobs in May. But stagnant wages and a slightly higher unemployment rate indicate there’s way too much slack in the American labor market.

The May jobs report, released Friday morning, was perhaps the most anticipated monthly jobs figure since the reports released in the thick of last fall’s presidential campaign season. But this time around, the political junkies weren’t paying attention. Rather, investors and economic analysts were trying to suss out what the report might mean for the markets. A weak number would suggest the Federal Reserve would continue its efforts to support the economy through asset purchases (good for stocks!).

M. Spencer Green/AP

175,000 jobs added in May.

Our government may be spying on us, but at least we still have jobs. A new report from the Labor Department out Friday shows the U.S. added 175,000 jobs in May and the unemployment rate rose from 7.5 percent in April to 7.6 percent, which apparently is actually a good thing because it means people are looking for work. The report shows that job growth has remained steady over the past three months, with employers adding an average of 155,000 jobs, but still not as high as the surge—an average of 237,000 jobs added—that occurred between November 2012 and February 2013. 

Read it at The Associated Press