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☆ Biden has to deal with a second war he didn’t want. His task is to contain it
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

— Hezbollah, a pro-Iranian group based in Lebanon, has been waging a low-grade war against Israel. — Iran has blamed Israel for an attack that killed a number of Revolutionary Guard officers in Damascus, Syria. Hawkish Republicans like South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham are demanding he attack Iran on Iranian soil. “The only answer to these attacks must be devastating military retaliation against Iran’s terrorist forces, both in Iran and across the Middle East. And on a purely strategic level, risking a major Middle East war that could cause massive US casualties to avenge the deaths of three soldiers, as terrible as their deaths are, would not represent a sound equation.

Persons: they're, Joe Biden —, Jordan Sunday –, Biden, haven’t, —, Israel, it’s, Antony Blinken, ” Aaron David Miller, CNN’s Jim Acosta, “, ”, William Rivers, Kennedy Sanders, Breonna Moffett, South Carolina Sen, Lindsey Graham, Nikki Haley, Biden’s, Donald Trump, Jim Himes, what’s, CNN’s Oren Liebermann, Natasha Bertrand, Katie Bo Lillis, Blinken, CNN’s Alex Marquardt, Joe Biden, Arkansas Sen, Tom Cotton, Haley, Qasem Soleimani, Trump, John Kirby, It’s Biden Organizations: Republicans, White House CNN, Jordan Sunday, Hezbollah, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Britain, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Revolutionary Guard, ”, GOP, Rep, Intelligence, Islamic, United Nations, –, Iran Locations: Washington, Tehran, Iran, Israel, Gaza, Jordan, United States, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, —, Syria, Baghdad, Beirut, Lebanon –, Damascus, East, South Carolina, Connecticut, Hamas, Qatar, Egypt, Islamic Republic, Arkansas, There’s

The House was scheduled to vote Thursday on a GOP plan for cutting income, sales and property taxes by a total of $1.6 billion over three years. Top Republicans want to impose a single personal income tax rate of 5.25%, replacing three rates that top out at 5.7%, starting in 2025. The dispute over the single-rate or “flat” plan blocked a large tax cut in Kansas last year, when a dozen other states cut taxes, according to the conservative-leaning Tax Foundation. Her income tax proposal would increase the standard deductions that all individual filers claim. Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, a Wichita-area Republican, said retaining an income tax with multiple rates would keep Kansas “behind the eight ball” economically.

Persons: Laura Kelly, Kelly, ”, Sen, Mike Thompson, Republican Sen, Caryn Tyson, Kelly's, Sam Brownback, “ Kansans, ” Kelly, Brianna Johnson, Neva Butkus, Butkus, Kim Reynolds, Ty Masterson, It's, Hannah Fingerhut Organizations: —, Democratic, GOP, Gov, Top Republicans, of Revenue, Tax Foundation ., Kansas City, Republican, Social, Republican Gov, Taxation, Economic, Tax Foundation, Kansas, Associated Press Locations: TOPEKA, Kan, Kansas, Tax Foundation . Kansas, Iowa, Wichita, Des Moines , Iowa

☆ Washington's secret weapon is a beloved Gen Z energy drink with more caffeine than God
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-26 | by ( Lauren Vespoli | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Celsius, the suddenly-ubiquitous energy drink, is a favorite of Gen Z — and Capitol Hill. "I love to take meetings in front of the Celsius vending machine," he told Business Insider. "It's a way better alternative to coffee, honestly," Robertson told Business Insider. "Capitol Hill is full of young, energetic career-oriented people who by and large care about fitness," he told Business Insider. Stanford said these young workers are part of a new consumer group that's helping drive the overall growth of the energy drink market.

Persons: Z, —, Matthew Hoekstra, Gen Z, Brent Robertson, Roger Marshall, Victoria Knight, Knight, she's, Robertson, Hoekstra —, Matthew Hoekstra Florida, Anna Paulina Luna, w3O2gsMYXP —, Eric Garcia, Rayburn, Dirksen, — Doug Andres, @DougAndres, curt, Duane Stanford, Stanford, Hoekstra, John Parra, Garcia Organizations: Capitol, Service, Republican Kansas, Capitol Press Corps, PepsiCo, Vibe, Caucus, The Independent, Republican House, Cannon, Beverage, Essential Energy, Republicans Locations: Washington, Rayburn

What Biden is asking forBiden's emergency request to Congress included aid for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies, along with $14 billion to bolster the immigration system and border security. “It is unanimous that our broken immigration system is in dire need of reform,” Mayorkas said. Republicans have made clear that will not be addressed in this package, which they want to be more narrowly focused on border security measures. Republicans argue that Ukraine aid could be a tough sell to some of their voters, and the border policy is the compromise. It’s border security for Ukraine aid.”So far, leaders in both parties have encouraged the talks.

Persons: Joe Biden, Arizona Sen, Kyrsten, ”, Pramila, Biden, Donald Trump, Alejandro Mayorkas, ” Mayorkas, Illinois Sen, Dick Durbin, What's, Barack Obama, Democratic Sen, Chris Murphy of, ” Murphy, Arkansas Sen, Tom Cotton Organizations: WASHINGTON, —, Republicans, House Democrats, Republican, Democratic, Congressional Progressive Caucus, Infrastructure, Homeland, U.S, Democrats, Trump, House Locations: Ukraine, U.S, Mexico, United States, Arizona, Washington, Venezuela, Israel, Russia, Illinois, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Arkansas

☆ Is the U.S. Ready for War?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Andy Kessler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Wonder Land: For Hamas in Israel and Putin in Ukraine, killing the innocent is now part of the plan. Hamas terrorists used motorcycles and paragliders. Israeli soldiers use sophisticated Iron Dome antimissile systems and, to close off tunnels, “sponge bombs” that work like spray foam sealant from Home Depot . Is the U.S. ready for that kind of war? Current wars have exposed the Pentagon’s “brittleness and lack of resiliency, and that’s in part going back to the drawdown during the Clinton era.”

Persons: Putin, Mark Kelly Ukraine’s, Arkansas Sen, Tom Cotton —, “, ”, Clinton Organizations: Zuma, Home, Arkansas, 101st Airborne Division, Armed Services Committee, Defense Department Locations: Israel, Ukraine, U.S, Iraq

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday that staff for the chamber’s Sergeant-at-Arms — the Senate's official clothes police — will no longer enforce a dress code on the Senate floor. “Senators are able to choose what they wear on the Senate floor. I will continue to wear a suit.”Schumer did not mention Fetterman in his statement about the dress code, which will only apply to senators, not staff. “I plan to wear a bikini tomorrow to the Senate floor,” Collins joked. “Now I can vote from the Senate floor on Mondays,” Hawley said, noting that he usually wears a suit and tie every other day.

Persons: Chuck Schumer, Pennsylvania Sen, John Fetterman, ” Schumer, Fetterman, Kansas Sen, Roger Marshall, it’s, Schumer, “, ” Marshall, Republican Sen, Susan Collins of, ” Collins, ”, “ They’re, Missouri Sen, Josh Hawley, ” Hawley, Connecticut Sen, Chris Murphy, he’s, Sergeant, ” Murphy, ” Fetterman, Kevin Freking Organizations: WASHINGTON, Senators, Kansas, Republican, Senate, Democrat, Arms, Associated Press Locations: Pennsylvania, Kansas, Susan Collins of Maine, Missouri, Connecticut

☆ Why Republican lawmakers are going after Target
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

In singling out Target, GOP lawmakers and right-wing social media personalities are sending a larger warning to corporate America to roll back recent diversity and inclusion policies, analysts say. Target first began its diversity initiatives 20 years ago and added new policies in 2020. Such efforts to curb gun violence have run into fierce pushback from Republican lawmakers who oppose both gun restrictions and corporations taking on social roles. Now, Republicans are stepping up their scrutiny on companies’ diversity efforts in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision on affirmative action in college admissions. It is also likely to invite legal challenges to corporate DEI programs, as Cotton’s letter to Target foreshadows.

Persons: ”, Julian Zelizer, isn’t, ” Zelizer, Brandon Bell, Getty Images Arkansas Sen, Tom Cotton, Cotton, Andra Gillespie, “, He’s, Sen, Matt Walsh, George Floyd, “ It’s, Brian Cornell, Bud, They’ve, Chick, Bud Light, Ron DeSantis Organizations: New, New York CNN, Target, Princeton University, CNN, GOP, Walmart, Democratic, Getty Images Arkansas, Republican, Equity, Emory University, Republicans, Twitter, America Corporate America, ”, Disney, Nike, Companies, Florida Gov, America, Facebook, Corporate America, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Citigroup, Black, Fortune Locations: New York, America, Black, Cotton’s, Arkansas, Minneapolis, Emplifi, Parkland , Florida, El Paso , Texas, Dayton , Ohio

Tom Schroeder, the whistleblower accusing Medtronic of a kickback scheme, left, is interviewed by Morgan Brennan, in Kansas City, Missouri. Schroeder said rumors circulated that Medtronic sales representatives were bribing VA staff to purchase an excessive amount of the company's inventory. The veterans hospital purchased more devices than some of the largest veterans medical facilities, according to data the VA's investigation gathered. Medtronic also said that Schroeder has "admitted under oath that he has no firsthand knowledge of any problematic procedure involving Medtronic devices." Douglas Winger, one of the Medtronic sales representatives named as a defendant in Schroeder's lawsuit, won a Medtronic President's Club award in 2016 for his sales.

Persons: Tom Schroeder, Schroeder, Becton Dickinson, Medtronic, Morgan Brennan, Schroder, Boua Xiong, Robert J, texted, Rick Ament, Ament, filet mignon, …, I'm, Brendan Donelon, Donelon, CNBC Donelon, Xiong, Douglas Winger, Winger, Kim Hodgson, Hodgson, Dole, ProPublica, John Laird Organizations: Inc, CNBC, Dole Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Dole VA, Department of Veterans Affairs, United, VA's, Department of Justice, Covidien, Dole, Medtronic, Society for Vascular, Drug Administration, FDA Locations: Kansas, United States, Kansas City , Missouri, Dublin, Ireland, Medtronic's, Wichita ., Dole, Covidien, Medtronic, Dole VA

☆ Efforts to Restrict Transgender Health Care Face Pushback in Three States
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Mitch Smith | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Republican efforts to restrict gender-transitioning treatment hit roadblocks in three states on Wednesday. Across the country, transgender rights have emerged this year as a defining legislative issue, with Republicans enacting sweeping new restrictions in states they control. In just the past few weeks, new bans have been signed into law in Idaho, Indiana and North Dakota, with similar policies still under consideration in other states. Laura Kelly’s veto of a bill that would have revoked the medical licenses of doctors who provided gender-transitioning care to children and allowed people who received that treatment as children to sue their doctors. In Missouri, a state judge blocked new restrictions, which were set to take effect on Thursday, until at least Monday evening.

☆ Senators unveil bipartisan legislation to ban kids under 13 from joining social media platforms
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The proposed legislation by a bipartisan group of US senators aims to address what policymakers, mental health advocates and critics of tech platforms say is a mental health crisis fueled by social media. “Social media companies have stumbled onto a stubborn, devastating fact,” Schatz said. But it would represent a potentially vast expansion of the government’s role in regulating websites where age verification is a requirement. Tech companies could still develop their own in-house age verification technology or hire third party companies to perform the verification, lawmakers said. Violations of the proposed law could mean millions of dollars in Federal Trade Commission fines for social media companies.

☆ Arkansas governor signs sweeping bill imposing a minimum age limit for social media usage
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Sarah Huckabee Sanders has signed a sweeping bill imposing a minimum age limit for social media usage, in the latest example of states taking more aggressive steps intended to protect teens online. The legislation, known as the Social Media Safety Act and taking effect in September, is aimed at giving parents more control over their kids’ social media usage, according to lawmakers. It defines social media companies as any online forum that lets users create public profiles and interact with each other through digital content. The confusion over YouTube appears to stem from the carveout for businesses that offer cloud storage and that make less than 25% of their revenue from social media. “The purpose of this bill was to empower parents and protect kids from social media platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat,” Dees said in a statement.

☆ Ron DeSantis is facing another ethics complaint — this time accusing him of accepting a $235,000, 3-day retreat to the Four Seasons Palm Beach
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Aditi Bharade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Democrat Nikki Fried filed an ethics complaint on DeSantis accusing him of "accepting prohibited gifts." The complaint accused DeSantis of going on a $235,000 donor-funded retreat at the Four Seasons Palm Beach. On March 14, Trump's super PAC, MAGA Inc., filed a similar ethics complaint against DeSantis. Ron DeSantis has been hit with another ethics complaint — this time, from Nikki Fried, the Democratic Party chair in Florida. In her tweet, she accused DeSantis of improperly using funds from donors and "accepting prohibited gifts" from the DeSantis-linked political action committee, Friends of Ron DeSantis.

☆ A top US general warns ISIS will be able to strike Western interests from Afghanistan within 6 months
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

ISIS could strike Western interests from Afghanistan within months, a top US general says. Gen. Michael Kurilla warned the terror group's Afghanistan affiliate could stage attacks abroad. Its "ultimate goal" is to strike the US homeland, Kurilla told lawmakers, which would be difficult. The terror group continued to carry out attacks across Afghanistan in 2022 — targeting everything from schools to mosques, and killing scores of people. In the latter two countries, US and partner forces have carried out nearly 100 operations against the terror group since the start of 2023, according to CENTCOM fact sheets.

☆ Kansas legislature passes bill to ban transgender athletes from girls' sports
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Transgender rights activist waves a transgender flag at a rally in Washington Square Park in New York, U.S., May 24, 2019. REUTERS/Demetrius FreemanMarch 9 (Reuters) - Kansas' Republican-led legislature on Thursday passed a bill that would ban transgender athletes from playing girls or women's school sports if they were born male. Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, a Democrat, is expected to veto the bill, as she vetoed two similar measures in the previous two years. Opponents and LGBTQ advocates say the laws are unnecessary, given the small number of transgender athletes in school sports. At least 18 states have passed or enacted legislation preventing transgender students from playing on school sports teams matching their gender identity.

☆ Relax, those objects in the sky are probably just from one of the 90 countries and 10,000 companies that make up the nearly $1 trillion space economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The US shot down three unidentified objects over the weekend, following the downing of a Chinese balloon earlier this month. The space economy was valued at nearly $500 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow to over $1 trillion by 2030. Over the weekend, the US shot down three unidentified objects over Alaska, Canada, and Lake Huron. These entities, none of which have claimed ownership of the objects, include the 90 countries and roughly 10,000 companies currently involved in the global space industry. But on Monday, the White House said President Biden will establish a team to analyze unidentified objects in the US airspace.

A cyber criminal took hundreds of thousands of dollars from Sen. Jerry Moran's campaign coffers last year, according to a form filed with the Federal Election Commission by the Kansas Republican's campaign. In the filing, the treasurer at Moran For Kansas said post-election reporting revealed the senator's campaign was the victim of a “third-party cyber-criminal” that included a pair of fraudulent transactions. “Cybercriminals targeted the accounting firm employed by Moran For Kansas and money was wired to fraudulent bank accounts,” Moran for Kansas spokesperson Tom Brandt told NBC News. The campaign also consulted with the FEC on how to transparently report the unauthorized expenditures.”The campaign told the FEC in the December filing that $168,184 of the lost funds had been recovered. He also sits on a Senate Commerce subcommittee that deals with data security, along with other committees.

☆ A top Republican says Biden's proposals to make monthly student-loan payments cheaper are a 'backdoor' for his 'radical free college agenda'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Biden administration announced new regulations to improve income-driven repayment plans. The changes are meant to make payments cheaper, and "create faster pathways to forgiveness," according to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. Foxx has been an outspoken opponent of Biden's broad student loan forgiveness and other pandemic-era debt-relief measures. Under IDR, borrowers are meant to make monthly payments based on their incomes, with eventual loan forgiveness after at least 20 years of payments. "These plans will significantly cut monthly loan payments and it's part of a real transformation of the student loan system."

☆ The World According to Tom Cotton
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Walter Russell Mead | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Most politicians try to keep the writing bug at bay, perhaps remembering Job’s cry in the Bible: “Oh . For Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton , however, writing has been key to his political rise. As an Army officer serving in Iraq, he wrote a letter to the New York Times expressing hope that the Justice Department would prosecute the journalists responsible for revealing information that endangered the lives of soldiers. The Times declined to publish it, and the resulting controversy helped launch his career. Subsequent Cotton encounters with the Times have been equally consequential, wreaking havoc at the paper and boosting his standing on the right.

☆ Six battleground states will hold the key to the White House in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

AP Photo/Andrew HarnikGeorgia2012 margin: Romney +7.8%2016 margin: Trump +5.1%2020 margin: Biden +0.2%For decades, Republicans could easily depend on the Peach State's electoral votes falling into their column. Two years later, Biden won the state by roughly 12,000 votes over Trump, followed by the dual 2021 runoff victories of Sens. AP Photo/Matt RourkePennsylvania2012 margin: Obama +5.4%2016 margin: Trump +0.7%2020 margin: Biden +1.2%Biden's hometown of Scranton is dear to his heart so Pennsylvania was always going to be a key state for the party in 2024. AP Photo/Andy Manis, FileWisconsin2012 margin: Obama +6.9%2016 margin: Trump +0.8%2020 margin: Biden +0.6%Wisconsin is one of the most politically-divided states in the country. But Trump flipped Wisconsin to the GOP in 2016, the first time it had supported a Republican presidential nominee since 1984.

☆ GOP lawmakers are bashing Biden for driving up inflation, but they could make it worse by extending Trump's tax cuts
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Republicans are eyeing a midterm victory as a method to extend Trump's tax cuts. Biden continues to resist Trump's tax policies but has run into roadblocks from centrist Democrats. But as Republican lawmakers have been blaming Biden for high inflation levels in the country, extending Trump's tax cuts could cause prices to climb because it would stimulate consumer spending, causing demand to overpower supply. The Trump tax cuts have proven to have real political staying power, even with Democrats' razor-thin majority. Any real discussion of the future of the tax cuts probably won't come until 2025, when the individual cuts provision expires.

☆ Biden called Republicans' arguments that student-loan forgiveness is a political strategy and should be blocked 'both unsurprising and legally insignificant'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Republicans claimed Biden's student-debt relief should be blocked because it was a political move. In a legal filing, Biden said that argument is "unsurprising and legally insignificant." "That the policy is consistent with one of 'the President's policy goals,' is both unsurprising and legally insignificant," the defense stated. But some Democratic lawmakers have acknowledged the political benefits to the relief — and they said it's a good thing. "Canceling student-loan debt for more than 40 million Americans would persuade a lot of young people that this president is in the fight for them," she said.

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