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☆ Filmmaker Oliver Stone slams environmental movement over 'destructive' actions on nuclear
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Anmar Frangoul | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The environmental movement's stance on nuclear power was "wrong" and derailed the sector's development, according to the filmmaker Oliver Stone. "Passion comes from the fact that … it's my children, hopefully grandchildren soon," Stone, who was speaking to CNBC on Tuesday afternoon, replied. It's going to be a miserable existence if we have worse and worse hurricanes, fires, droughts. "We had the solution [nuclear power] … and the environmental movement, to be honest, just derailed it. I think the environmental movement did a lot of good, a lot of good ... [I'm] not knocking it, but in this one major matter, it was wrong.

☆ The zero-fare public transit movement is picking up momentum
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Rebecca Picciotto | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

In late 2019, Kansas City, Missouri, became the first major U.S. city to approve a fare-free public transit system. The public transit crisisKansas City's bus system, called RideKC. Alexandria and Richmond in Virginia have successfully integrated fare-free transit into their annual budgets. Source: Kansas City Area Transportation AuthorityIn Kansas City, zero-fare transit has become a hallmark of life. The zero-fare bus started in December 2019 as a pilot program.

☆ Trump won't be able to terminate the US Constitution but a Republican-led effort to rewrite it continues
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Advocates on both sides of a long-running effort to rewrite the Constitution will face off again in 2023. Meckler's organization is one of the largest players in the Article V push. Article V requires there to be 34 states for a convention to be formed. Convention of States is not alone in its pursuit of the Article V movement. Outside of Convention of States, efforts to call a convention to pass a Balanced Budget Amendment also continue.

☆ A bizarre far-right coup plot uncovered in Germany hints at a much more sinister trend
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Alexander Clarkson | World Politics Review | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

In early December, German police uncovered a plot by far-right conspirators to mount a coup. It is widely acknowledged that the electoral appeal of the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, to about 10% of German voters is a matter of great concern. This image of political stability, though not unjustified, caused many observers to downplay the revelation in early December that German police had uncovered an organized plot by a network of far-right conspirators to mount a coup. German police and intelligence services had to take the threat this network represented seriously. This complacency gave the East German Stasi and other Soviet-bloc intelligence services opportunities to reach out to emerging radical networks willing to destabilize the Federal Republic at the time.

☆ 10 years ago they were fast food workers making roughly $8 an hour. 'Fight for 15' changed their lives.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Ten years ago, fast food workers took to the streets of New York to strike for a $15 minimum wage. He was making $7.25, the minimum wage at the time. It was just like, oh no, raising the minimum wage, especially for fast workers, are you crazy? Since the launch of Fight for 15 ten years ago, the federal minimum wage hasn't budged. In California, where Perez works, the minimum wage is now $15 an hour for employers with 26 or more employees.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried was the poster boy for 'effective altruism.' Now, its followers are heartbroken and critics are questioning its 'weird' funding setup.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Sam Bankman-Fried was a proponent of effective altruism: earning as much as possible to give your wealth away. He had a huge influence on the effective-altruism movement, which counts Silicon Valley tech workers and Oxford University academics among its fans. 'Devastated'Bankman-Fried was the main funder of Future Fund, a charitable project run by the FTX Foundation. "We joined the Future Fund to support incredible people and projects," they said, "and this outcome is heartbreaking to us." Science groups that had received money from the Future Fund told the magazine Science in mid-November that they were unsure of their funding's future.

☆ Afghanistan's Massoud urges elections to create legitimate government
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

DUSHANBE, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Only elections can lead Afghanistan out of political crisis, even if they legitimise Taliban rule, Afghan anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Massoud told a conference in Tajikistan on Wednesday. The most recent elections in Afghanistan were held under the U.S.-backed administration which the hardline Islamist Taliban deposed in August 2021 when Western troops withdrew. Domestic, regional and international consensus is needed to work out a general elections framework in Afghanistan, he said. "If the Taliban come to power through elections, (the Resistance Front) will accept that as they will have the authority from the people." The NRF groups opposition forces loyal to Massoud, son of the former anti-Soviet mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud.

☆ Some QAnon believers are enraged by Trump's 2024 announcement and have started ignoring 'Q drops.' But experts say the movement is as fervent as ever.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Q-aligned candidates did badly at the midterms, and recent "Q drops" failed to make a stir. The QAnon movement was already on the back foot. To Q and beyondThe week of the midterm elections, three new "Q drops" appeared. While previous Q drops were met with excitement and flurries of posts from followers scrambling to decode them, the latest drops were largely met with ambivalence. Fredrick Brennan, who founded 8chan but has since dedicated himself to exposing those behind the Q movement, told Insider that the reaction to the latest Q drops was comparatively "muted" following controversial drops in the summer.

☆ 'Pronatalism' explained: Why tech titans like Elon Musk want to have tons of kids to save the world
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Julia Black | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Tech titans like Elon Musk want to counteract the effects of population decline by having lots of children. Elon Musk, who has fathered 10 known children with three women (including twins last year with one of his employees), is the highest-profile figure currently associated with this movement. So some are turning to the next best thing: having lots of children, and funding new fertility technologies that one founder said are "reinventing reproduction." "The person of this subculture really sees the pathway to immortality as being through having children," said Simone Collins, a VC and co-founder of the nonprofit initiative Pronatalist.org. Read Insider's full feature, "Billionaires like Elon Musk want to save civilization by having tons of genetically superior kids.

☆ Billionaires like Elon Musk want to save civilization by having tons of genetically superior kids. Inside the movement to take 'control of human evolution.'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Julia Black | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +40 min

"We are the Underground Railroad of 'Gattaca' babies and people who want to do genetic stuff with their kids," Malcolm told me. Ellison, meanwhile, who has two children in their 30s, has reportedly resumed having kids — with his 31-year-old girlfriend. "The person of this subculture really sees the pathway to immortality as being through having children," Simone said. The person of this subculture really sees the pathway to immortality as being through having children. Before she met Malcolm, Simone was convinced she wanted to live her life single and child-free.

[1/5] A police officer stands guard near a passenger van, cordoned after a blast at the entrance of the Confucius Institute University of Karachi, Pakistan, April 26, 2022. Even though months have passed since the attack, Pakistani authorities remain deeply worried. Shortly afterwards, schoolteacher Shari Hayat Baloch, 30, is filmed walking in a park with her young son and daughter and later addressing the camera in combat fatigues. The Chinese officials supported Pakistan's counter-terrorism forces in areas such as CCTV footage enhancement and data retrieval from cell phones, the ministry said. On the day of the Karachi attack, Habitan, a dentist, tweeted that he was "beaming with pride" at what his wife had done.

☆ How the pay transparency movement's success will change the way jobs are listed
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Cheryl Winokur Munk | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

A growing number of states and municipalities are enacting salary transparency laws, a stepping stone toward eliminating wage discrepancies based on gender, race and other unfair practices. Here are a few important ways the push for greater pay transparency will change the way employers think about job listings. Even without a law, expect pay transparency to become the normPay transparency laws have been proliferating across the country, with a growing number of states including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland and Washington enacting some type of salary transparency law. New York City's salary transparency law, meanwhile — set to go into effect Nov. 1 — includes employers with four or more employees, provided at least one works within New York City. Some companies have opted not to recruit in certain states because of their salary transparency laws, explicitly excluding remote candidates who hail from these states in their job postings.

REUTERS/Ali KharaKABUL, Sept 27 (Reuters) - The Taliban have signed a provisional deal with Russia to supply gasoline, diesel, gas and wheat to Afghanistan, Acting Afghan Commerce and Industry Minister Haji Nooruddin Azizi told Reuters. Azizi said the deal would involve Russia supplying around one million tonnes of gasoline, one million tonnes of diesel, 500,000 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and two million tonnes of wheat annually. The office of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who is in charge of oil and gas, also did not immediately respond. He said Afghanistan also received some gas and oil from Iran and Turkmenistan and had strong trade ties with Pakistan, but also wanted to diversify. The European Union will ban Russian crude imports by Dec. 5 and Russian oil products by Feb. 5.

☆ Iran's 'trajectory' is another revolution — but the hijab protesters need leaders to topple the Islamic regime, Middle East experts say
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-24 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Iran's "trajectory" is another revolution, an expert told Insider, but this won't happen any time soon. The protest movement lacks the organization needed to topple the regime, Iran experts say. Amnesty International said that at least 30 people, including four children, have died amid the Iranian crackdown on the protests. The protests spread across the country, and the Iranian regime has responded by using police and internet censorship to stifle dissent. Iran last underwent a revolution in 1979, which saw the Pahlavi dynasty fall and the Islamic Republic rise.

☆ Trump's allies are baffled over his increasing support of the QAnon movement: Rolling Stone
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Some sources suggested to Rolling Stone that Trump was trolling for likes among his supporters. "Fuck if I know," an unnamed Trump ally told Rolling Stone when asked about the former president's apparent support for the fringe group. "He's said that he thinks some of their memes and images are 'funny,'" a source close to Trump said, per Rolling Stone. "I do not remember his exact words, but [Trump's response] was along the lines of: There are plenty of bad and sick people in Hollywood" and among the "liberal elite," the source told Rolling Stone. Speaking to Insider on Monday, Figliuzzi said Trump's support of QAnon was indicative of "increasing desperation," which could lead to violence within the movement.

☆ Former FBI assistant director says Trump is getting 'increasingly cornered' and that his embrace of QAnon is the 'last act of a desperate man'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi said Trump is drawn to QAnon like a moth to a flame. Figliuzzi said Trump is embracing the movement because he feels "increasingly cornered." Figliuzzi warned that violence could ensue if the QAnon movement felt threats to its leader. Frank Figliuzzi, a former FBI assistant director, was weighing in on Trump's links to the QAnon movement during a Monday appearance on MSNBC's "Deadline: White House." Figliuzzi referenced Trump's rally in Youngstown, Ohio, where a QAnon song played during Trump's speech.

☆ Taliban replaces Afghan acting education minister in reshuffle
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Ali KharaKABUL, Sept 20 (Reuters) - The Taliban's supreme leader issued an order on Tuesday announcing a reshuffle of several national and provincial positions, including replacing the acting education minister. Acting education minister Noorullah Munir would be replaced in the role by the head of Kandahar's provincial council, Maulvi Habibullah Agha. Afghanistan's education system has been in the spotlight since the Taliban took over the country just over a year ago. The group had largely banned education of girls when last in power two decades ago but had said its policies had changed. Taliban and diplomatic sources told Reuters that last week several ministers had gathered in Kandahar for a cabinet meeting led by the supreme leader.

☆ Republicans' next big play is to 'scare the hell out of Washington' by rewriting the Constitution. And they're willing to play the long game to win.
▼ + stars: | 2022-07-31 | by ( Grace Panetta | Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +27 min

Whether it happens, he said, is highly dependent on Republicans' success winning state legislatures during the 2022 midterm elections. But not everyone in the conservative constitutional convention movement believes such a gathering is so imminent. Constitutional convention boosters include many of Trump's current and former allies, including conservative legal scholar John Eastman, Florida Gov. In 2012, the Republican National Committee went so far as to pass a resolution formally opposing the convention movement. A convention of states would be the first of its kind since the original Constitutional convention in Philadelphia in 1787.

☆ 'If it blows up, it's cool': The far-out philosophy that explains why Elon Musk won't let a few baby sea turtles stop SpaceX's quest to get to Mars
▼ + stars: | 2022-04-05 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +25 min

In the case of Elon Musk v. Charismatic Megafauna, the agency intends to publish its final report in late April. Musk went on: "Either explicitly or implicitly some people seem to think that humans are a blight on the Earth's surface. Musk is talking about existential risk, the idea that something — an asteroid, a rogue artificial intelligence — might kill every human on Earth. And if you assume that future human minds will "mainly be implemented in computational hardware instead of biological neuronal wetware," as Bostrom does, you end up with a mind-boggling 1054 human lives. Musk has made the defense of "future life" his mission.

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