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☆ Florida Gov. DeSantis attacks Manhattan DA over possible Trump charges
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Ron DeSantis took aim at the Manhattan district attorney Monday over his expected prosecution of a hush money case against former President Donald Trump. The remarks came as some of Trump's allies and campaign surrogates have taken note of DeSantis' silence about the possibility of criminal charges being filed against the former president. Jason Miller, Trump's senior campaign advisor, grumbled in a tweet over the weekend about the "radio silence" from DeSantis and Nikki Haley, who launched her own presidential campaign last month. Trump slammed DeSantis over his record on ethanol at a campaign event in Iowa last week. "So DeSantis thinks that Dems weaponizing the law to indict President Trump is a 'manufactured circus' & isn't a 'real issue,'" Trump Jr. tweeted.

☆ Russia could weaponize metal exports next, Citi warns
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

London CNN —Russia has restricted exports of natural gas to Europe and announced it will temporarily slash oil output this month in response to Western sanctions. Next, it could weaponize exports of important metals such as aluminum and palladium, researchers at Citigroup have warned. For example, last year Russia made deep cuts to its natural gas exports to Europe, its top customer. Russia’s role in the global nuclear power industry is also under the microscope. The country is a key exporter of nuclear fuel and its nuclear sector has so far mostly escaped Western sanctions.

☆ House Democrats push back against GOP bill to abolish IRS, impose national sales tax
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

WASHINGTON — Three Democrats in the U.S. House introduced a measure to push back against a controversial Republican tax proposal that would abolish the IRS, eliminate income taxes and impose a national sales tax. House Republicans introduced the Fair Tax Act in January shortly after Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif, was voted in as speaker. The three Democrats introduced a House resolution opposing a national sales tax on working families and, instead, supporting a tax cut to benefit middle-class families. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., who introduced the Fair Tax Act, said it would simplify the tax code. Pettersen said the sales tax would hurt the most those who are unable to save, such as seniors and low-income families.

☆ Putin's KGB past is key to grasping what he might do next in his failing Ukraine war, ex-spies say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Putin's time in the KGB helps explain his worldview and brutal approach to warfare, ex-spies say. As Western intelligence agencies vie to stay two steps ahead of the Russian leader and get inside his head, peering into Putin's KGB past may offer clues on what he's thinking. "Putin's KGB background tells us a lot about how he thinks and how he sees the war. He is a creation of the KGB, and the KGB was a terrorist organization," John Sipher, a former CIA officer who served in Russia, told Insider. The Ukraine war has seen Putin and his propagandists make a series of assertions — ranging from plausible to preposterous — to justify Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

☆ Palo Alto Networks' earnings blowout spotlights the Club's newest stock
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Jeff Marks | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Shares of Palo Alto Networks climbed roughly 8% in afterhours trading, to over $180 apiece. The need for vendors to consolidate their security budgets into fewer players is another trend working in Palo Alto Networks' favor. This quarter marked Palo Alto Networks' third consecutive quarter of GAAP profitability. Outlook For Palo Alto Networks' fiscal year 2023, management raised its outlook across several different metrics. Arora Nikesh, Palo Alto Networks CEO & Chairman at the WEF in Davos, Switzerland on May 23rd, 2022.

☆ U.S. Launches ‘Strike Force’ to Keep Disruptive Tech Away From Adversaries
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Dylan Tokar | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Export controls are a set of regulations that restrict the sale of technologies with both commercial and military uses. They are administered by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, which can bring civil penalties against companies that allow such “dual use” items to fall into the wrong hands. The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security last year said it was making several changes to give its rules sharper teeth. “Our goal is simple but essential: to strike back against adversaries trying to siphon our best technology,” Ms. Monaco said. The committee is also turning its gaze from inbound investment in physical assets to sensitive data and digital innovations that could be used to pose data and cybersecurity risks, she said.

☆ European natural gas prices hit 18-month low and near parity with crude oil as Vladimir Putin's energy war fizzles
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Filip De Mott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Alternative suppliers and a warm winter have brought European gas prices below 50 euros per megawatt hour. Natural gas prices are now equivalent to $85 per barrel, nearly on par with Brent crude oil at around $83. At the current level, natural gas prices are equivalent to $85 per barrel, nearly on par with Brent crude oil at around $83. In November, Germany signed a 15-year contract with Qatar, a major liquefied natural gas exporter. But further downside to gas prices may be limited as demand looks to pick up.

☆ Justice Department to Increase Scrutiny of Technology Exports, Investments
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Dylan Tokar | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

A senior Justice Department official on Thursday said the agency would intensify its efforts to block foreign adversaries such as China and Russia from obtaining sensitive data and technologies, including by launching a new partnership with the U.S. Commerce Department. Export controls are a set of regulations that restrict the sale of technologies with both commercial and military uses. The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security last year said it was making several changes to give its rules sharper teeth. “Our goal is simple but essential: to strike back against adversaries trying to siphon our best technology,” Ms. Monaco said. Although many of the Justice Department’s export controls cases in recent years have focused on individuals, prosecutors in 2021 fined German software company SAP SE for violating export regulations by providing millions of dollars in software to Iran.

REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin/File PhotoHOUSTON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Russia's decision to cut crude oil production by 500,000 barrels per day reflects its inability to sell all of its oil, Ben Harris, a U.S. Treasury Department Assistant Secretary, said on Thursday. Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak last week said it would voluntarily cut production beginning next month following the start of Western price caps on Russian oil and oil products on Feb. 5. Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have pushed for lowering the crude oil cap. There have been no American companies involved in trading Russian oil above the price cap, he said. Phillips 66's (PSX.N) Chief Executive Mark Lashier said the company's base assumption is that Russia's crude and oil products will find their way into the marketplace.

The decision, announced after financial markets closed, gives Biden a pair of trusted Washington insiders to steer economic policy as the risk of recession fades but inflation lingers. Big fights also loom with the Republican-controlled House of Representatives over raising the debt ceiling. The shakeup comes as the White House tries to tackle what officials view as a frustrating disconnect between relatively strong economic data and weak public sentiment. The White House has refused to discuss spending cuts without a debt ceiling vote first. Bernstein last week conceded that the White House's early description of inflation as "transitory" had missed the mark.

☆ The Democrats' latest strategy is making Marjorie Taylor Greene the face of the GOP
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Madison Hall | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

But that could come back to haunt Republicans as Democrats increasingly try to paint her as one of the faces of the party. And while many Republicans came out against the plan, Democrats — especially President Joe Biden — have used it as a cudgel against the GOP. And while Democrats lost control of the House, they lost far fewer seats than expected, partly due to utilizing Scott's messaging against the GOP. Democrats can use Greene to their advantageNow as Greene continues to gain power and authority in the GOP and Congress, Democrats have the opportunity to use her own actions and words against the GOP as a whole. There's the possibility that giving Greene larger platform could backfire on Democrats.

☆ Republicans' 'weaponization' committee is a "Fox News reboot of McCarthyism," White House says ahead of first hearing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The House "Weaponization of the Federal Government" subcommittee is holding its first hearing. The White House likened it to a "reboot of McCarthyism" designed to help Republicans get on Fox News. The hearing will cover "the politicization of the FBI and DOJ and attacks on American civil liberties." The hearing led by House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan will include witness testimony from Fox News commentators, the White House notes. Jordan, in a House floor speech last month, rejected the notion that the committee is a "ploy" and said whistleblowers have talked to Republicans about alleged government intrusions.

☆ UK competition regulator warns Microsoft’s Activision deal could harm millions of gamers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Washington CNN —Microsoft’s $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard could harm competition by letting Microsoft restrict Activision’s video games to proprietary platforms such as Xbox, UK officials said Wednesday, in the latest challenge to the tech giant’s blockbuster acquisition. The UK’s competition regulator said the proposed deal, which would make Microsoft (MSFT) the world’s third-largest video game publisher, could hurt tens of millions of gamers in the country by leading to higher prices or fewer choices. The provisional finding by the UK Competition and Markets Authority is another sign of growing opposition to the deal by antitrust regulators worldwide. In December, the US Federal Trade Commission sued to block the acquisition over similar claims, and the European Union is also evaluating the deal. Cloud gaming services grant players access to video games without the need for downloading the games to a local PC or console.

☆ U.S. is 'absolutely' behind on supply chain independence from China, Biden advisor says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

watch nowThe U.S. has some rapid catching up to do if it is to secure the reliability of its supply chain and its independence from competitors like China, a top White House advisor admitted this week. "We can't have a supply chain that is concentrated in any country, doesn't matter which country that is," he said. Workers transport soil containing rare earth elements for export at a port in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, China October 31, 2010. The Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war have also highlighted the fragility of the global supply chain. Globally, China controls most of the market for processing and refining for cobalt, lithium, rare earths and other critical minerals."

☆ Hunter Biden Calls for Probes Into Trump Allies
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | Annie Linskey | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—A lawyer for Hunter Biden urged state and federal prosecutors Wednesday to investigate prominent allies of former President Donald Trump and others who accessed and disseminated the contents of his laptop, alleging they broke the law in an effort to “weaponize” the personal data of Joe Biden’s son during the 2020 election. The series of letters marked a pivot to a newly aggressive strategy for the younger Mr. Biden as he confronts a yearslong Justice Department investigation focused on his taxes, along with separate inquiries by House Republicans into his business dealings.

☆ Hunter Biden Calls for Criminal Probes Into Trump Allies Over Laptop
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | Annie Linskey | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—A lawyer for Hunter Biden urged state and federal prosecutors Wednesday to investigate prominent allies of former President Donald Trump and others who accessed and disseminated the contents of his laptop, alleging they broke the law in an effort to “weaponize” the personal data of Joe Biden‘s son during the 2020 election. The series of letters marked a pivot to a newly aggressive strategy for the younger Mr. Biden as he confronts a yearslong Justice Department investigation focused on his taxes, along with separate inquiries by House Republicans into his business dealings.

☆ Apple and Google should boot TikTok from their app stores, Democratic senator urges
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., urged the CEOs of Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their mobile app stores immediately in a letter on Thursday, citing widespread concerns that the Chinese government could access information on Americans using the app. "These obvious risks render TikTok, in its current form, an unacceptable threat to the national security of the United States." TikTok has repeatedly sought to reassure concerned American lawmakers and officials that it does not store U.S. user data in China. It has also been negotiating with the U.S. government about how it can mitigate potential national security risks while continuing to operate here. "Unfortunately, Senator Bennet's letter relies almost exclusively on misleading reporting about TikTok, the data we collect, and our data security controls," TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter said in a statement.

☆ Russia’s ‘Energy Weapon’ Is Hurting China Too
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Nathaniel Taplin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Europe has had a tough winter—but warm weather and a herculean effort to find new natural gas supplies has limited the economic damage from Moscow’s decision to curb gas exports to the continent. Some of that damage is instead showing up in a very different gas market and one Russia is counting on for its growth: China. Unlike in Europe, winter in parts of Northern China is proving to be bitterly cold. Moreover China’s energy sector reforms since 2020—and a major policy push in recent years to use more gas for environmental reasons—have left some Chinese city utilities more exposed to rising global prices. One result has been the curtailment of gas supply to some residents, who pay lower regulated prices for gas than industrial customers.

☆ Russia was making big plans for Ukraine's nuclear power plants before its invasion fell apart
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Stavros Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Those plans depended in part on seizing Ukraine's nuclear power plants and using them for leverage. Dmytro Smolyenko/Future Publishing via Getty ImagesAccording to the RUSI report, Russia's war plans viewed Ukraine's nuclear power plants as a means to achieve Moscow's larger aims. The Kremlin's plan envisioned three uses for the Ukrainian nuclear power facilities once the invasion was underway. Moscow also incorporated Ukraine's nuclear power facilities into its information operations. Fighting in a nuclear plantThe Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on August 29.

☆ Russia faces new sanctions on its energy exports - but this time China and India may not come to Putin's rescue
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The European Union's upcoming ban on Russian oil products could spell more turmoil for the Kremlin. China and India are unlikely to buy refined Russian fuels that were once sold to the EU, which will ban them on February 5. That's in contrast to Russian crude oil, which were snapped up by China and India after Europe shunned those supplies. Russia could refine less fuel but keep oil production stable, resulting in even more crude exports to India and China, Katona said. "China will likely to have to use its own products, reducing refined products exports from China that would have otherwise been available to EU buyers," he said.

☆ A 'RuPaul's Drag Race' queen says her TikTok was suspended after she posted a video impersonating George Santos in drag
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Jan Sport of "RuPaul's Drag Race" had her TikTok account suspended. She said she was locked out after posting a video of her impersonating George Santos' drag persona. Initially, the video was well-received, getting positive comments from fellow drag queens, more than 400,000 views on TikTok, and 75,000 likes on Instagram. But she said after the video went viral, her TikTok account was suspended. "People are trying to make comparisons about drag queens sexualizing things," she said, referring to right-wing talking points that allege drag queens brainwash and groom children.

☆ No, the GOP isn't going to abolish income tax — or the IRS
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The House is planning to vote on a Republican bill that would abolish the national income tax. It would implement a national sales tax in its place and eliminate the IRS. The House of Representatives is planning to vote on a Republican bill that would abolish the national income tax, payroll tax, and estate tax and replace it with a single national consumption — or sales — tax on the purchase of goods and services. "Go home and tell your moms, they're going to be really excited about that," Biden said of the national sales tax proposal in Thursday remarks. Critics say replacing the national income tax with a consumption tax would be highly regressive and shift the country's tax burden from higher-income Americans to middle- and working-class taxpayers.

☆ Why detransitioners are crucial to the science of gender care
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +43 min

A Canadian health provider said it couldn’t participate, citing recent threats to hospitals offering youth gender care. But as Reuters found, hard evidence on long-term outcomes for the rising numbers of people who received gender treatment as minors is very weak. Dr Marianne van der Loos, the Dutch study’s lead author, is a physician at Amsterdam University Medical Center’s Center for Expertise on Gender Dysphoria, a pioneer in gender care for adolescents. For those who also received medical treatment, detransitioning typically includes halting the hormone therapy they otherwise would receive for years. One is Max Robinson, who was 16 when she sought gender care at Kaiser in 2012.

The proposals have alarmed voting rights activists and state Democrats, who tried and failed last year to block a GOP-backed overhaul of election laws — a priority of Gov. The 62 voting rights-related bills Texas lawmakers have already prefiled represent nearly all prefiled voting rights legislation across the country, according to a review of prefiled bills by Voting Rights Lab and NBC News. An election police forceRepublican-authored Texas bills, such as HB 549 and SB 220, propose creating a system of state “election marshals,” who would investigate allegations of violations of election and voting laws, and file criminal charges when warranted. Harsher penaltiesLegislation such as HB 39, HB 52, HB 222, HB 397 and SB 166 aims to raise the penalty for election and voting rights crimes to a felony from a misdemeanor. “All my bill does is restore the felony punishment for illegal voting,” Texas Rep. David Spiller, the author of HB 52, said in an interview.

☆ I called out my aunt, Rep. Vicky Hartzler, after she made a homophobic speech in tears. Since surviving conversion therapy, I want people to know they don't have to accept the hateful rhetoric of thos
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Andrew Hartzler spent years in conversion therapy and attended a religious institution. He called out his aunt, Rep. Vicky Hartzler, after she spoke out against the Respect for Marriage Act. During my second year of college, however, my perspective changed when I came across a HuffPost article that revealed my aunt hosted a conversion therapy group at the US Capitol in 2019. Attending a religious university and experiencing conversion therapy led me to a life of advocating for LGBTQ peopleThe first time I went to conversion therapy, I was 14 going on 15. Conversion therapy makes you feel like you're using 50% of your mind to hide a fundamental part of who you are, and you're told to hate that part of yourself.

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