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☆ Former Army officer and witness to Texas mall shooting who calls himself a 'gun lover' says mental health isn't the problem: 'We need more gun control'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Former Army officer who rushed to scene of mass shooting in Allen, Texas says US needs gun control. Steven Spainhouer said he's a "gun lover" but that "this is going to keep happening" without stricter laws. He added that it was a gun, not mental health issues, that "killed these people." "I don't know what the gunman's problem was, but it wasn't mental health that killed these people. "I'm a gun lover.

☆ Asa Hutchinson says Donald Trump has 'played the victim' so much that his campaign manager could be Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

To recover his political popularity, Donald Trump has "played the victim," Asa Hutchinson said. Hutchinson told NBC News that Trump's followers "believe he's been picked on" amid the investigations he faces. Asa Hutchinson said former President Donald Trump has "played the victim" to win favor in the polls. "Since then, his numbers have gone up because he's played the victim. "I joke, in some ways, that his campaign manager is Alvin Bragg of New York City," Hutchinson said of Trump on Sunday.

☆ Jack Teixeira appeared to be stockpiling weapons just before his arrest for leaking classified Pentagon documents, chat logs show
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Prior to his arrest for leaking classified Pentagon documents, Jack Teixeira was stockpiling weapons, The New York Times reported. The Times spoke to a Discord user who was in frequent contact with the 21-year-old Air National Guardsman. The user said Teixeira often spoke of his fascination with mass shootings and acquiring new weapons. The user, who spoke to The Times on the condition of anonymity, said Teixeira claimed to be stockpiling weapons and military gear. The anonymous source told The Times that Teixeira spoke of his aspirations to confront protestors he might come in contact with during the 2024 presidential campaign.

☆ New York Mayor Eric Adams to bus asylum seekers upstate, much like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bussed asylum seekers to New York City
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Eric Adams is sending asylum seekers in New York City to upstate New York, drawing criticism from local officials. Greg Abbott for sending migrants from Texas to New York City. In doing so, Adams appears to be passing asylum seekers off – just as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott did when he had migrants bussed from his state to New York, the Associated Press reported. In the last year, some 60,000 asylum seekers have arrived in New York City, the mayor's office said in Friday's press release.

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailHow Chile is shaping the global lithium industryChile contains some of the largest and highest quality lithium-brine resources in the world. And with demand booming for electric vehicles and the lithium-ion batteries that power them, Chile's vast salt flats have become a vital national resource. Now, the government has released its long-awaited national lithium policy, which requires private companies to partner with the state to further develop the country's lithium resources, ushering in a new era for the industry. 21:22 38 minutes ago

☆ What Chile's state-led lithium policy means for the future of the electric vehicle industry
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Katie Brigham | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

The only two lithium companies currently operating in Chile are North Carolina-based Albemarle , the largest lithium producer in the world, and SQM , the No. Chile's lithium is of particular strategic importance to the U.S., which has a free trade agreement with the country but not with neighboring Argentina. The plan calls for the creation of a national lithium company to partner with all private businesses looking to enter the sector. Bags of battery-grade lithium carbonate at La Negra, Albemarle's lithium processing plant near Antofagasta, Chile. Lenny-Pessagno told CNBC in January that Albemarle supports the creation of a state-owned lithium company.

☆ A photo of women snickering at trans lawmaker Zooey Zephyr in Montana looks a lot like the photos of white people snickering at Black people in the 1950s
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The vote meant Zephyr could no longer enter the House chamber, so she worked from a public bench in the hallway outside. State Rep. Zooey Zephyr sits on a bench just outside the main chamber of the House on April 27 in Helena, Montana. The censure prevents Zephyr from entering the House floor, so she has instead been working from a public bench outside the chamber. Photos from the time show authorities in different cities escorting Black children to school through throngs of glaring white protestors. Similarly, a group of supporters on Tuesday managed to hold Zephyr's seat outside the chamber for her, the lawmaker said.

☆ In an annual survey, more than 40% of LGBTQ youth said they considered suicide in the past year, and that anti-LGBTQ legislation was making it worse
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Trevor Project, a nonprofit that works to prevent suicide among LGBTQ youth, interviewed more than 28,000 people for its annual survey. More than 40% of LGBTQ youth say they considered suicide in the last year, the survey revealed. Respondents said laws passed on the state level, and public lobbying at the national level, have worsened their mental health. "This is a public health crisis — and it's preventable," Kasey Suffredini, a vice president at The Trevor Project, said in a press release. Almost a quarter of the LGBTQ youth surveyed said they had been physically threatened or hurt because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

☆ Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says he wants to 'shut down the FBI' and replace it with something that sounds a lot like the FBI
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Vivek Ramaswamy, a 2024 GOP candidate, said he wants to shut down the FBI. It was a "head-scratcher" for MSNBC's Chuck Todd, who spoke with Ramaswamy on Sunday. If you're confused about 2024 GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy's proposal, you're not alone. I said shut down the FBI and replace it with something new," said Ramaswamy, an "anti-woke" biotech millionaire. "So, you're going to replace the FBI with a new FBI?"

☆ Despite 'strong differences of opinion,' Bernie Sanders says Joe Biden is the 'clear' choice for 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Bernie Sanders said that despite "strong differences," Biden was the "clear" choice to be the Democrats' nominee. It may be a 2020 election rematch against Trump, but Sanders said Biden has the opportunity to "win in a landslide." I think your record that you have established is another thing," Sanders said on Sunday. It's no great secret that he and I have strong differences of opinion," Sanders said. "You do that, and I think Biden is going to win in a landslide."

☆ Bud Light faced a backlash over its campaign with a trans influencer. But a poll finds a majority of American beer drinkers support such campaigns.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Bud Light and its parent company faced boycott calls for partnering with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney. But a new poll found a majority of American beer drinkers favor brands partnering with trans influencers. A majority of beer drinkers also favored brands hiring more inclusive talent, per Morning Consult. About a quarter of those surveyed who identified as Republicans responded favorably to brands hiring transgender spokespeople. Bud Light sales were down 17% this week compared to the same time the previous year, and top marketing executives involved in the Mulvaney campaign at Bud Light and Anheuser-Busch took leaves of absence.

☆ New York will ban gas stoves in new buildings in an effort to meet emissions reduction goals
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

New York will ban gas stoves in new buildings as part of its new budget agreement. The GOP vilified similar propositions earlier this year, enlisting gas stoves into the culture wars. The ban on natural gas in new buildings will phase in at the end of 2025, and it will not apply to current gas stove owners, the Times reported. The Consumer Protection Safety Commission said in March it was seeking information as to the potential health risks of gas stove emissions in the home, including a potential link to childhood asthma. The budget deal also allows the New York Power Authority to manufacture and own wind and solar energy projects, the Times reported.

☆ Biden might have already lost the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries. Here's why.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

President Joe Biden might be forced to forfeit primary contests in Iowa and New Hampshire. New DNC rules championed by Biden demoted Iowa and New Hampshire on the primary calendar. The DNC rules prohibit candidates from adding their names to ballots in states that don't adhere to the calendar. The new primary calendar ratified by the Democratic National Committee – at Biden's request – downgraded Iowa and New Hampshire from their longstanding positions as the first electoral hoorahs of the primary season. Both Iowa and New Hampshire, who have long enjoyed outsized influence as early-voting states, plan to buck the DNC rules and hold their contests early anyway.

☆ After a Texas family asked a neighbor to stop shooting a gun in his yard because their baby was trying to sleep, he came over and killed 5 people with an AR-15 style rifle, police say.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Police say a man shot and killed five people after they asked him to stop shooting from his porch. The victims had asked the suspected gunman to quiet down as they had a baby trying to sleep. In response, police say the man drunkenly went next door and killed five people with an AR-15-style rifle, ABC News reported. We have a young baby that's trying to go to sleep,'" Sheriff Greg Capers told KTRK. "When we got here, the two females in the bedroom were laying on top of two of three younger (surviving) children," Capers told KTRK.

☆ 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.

☆ Bipartisan bill would require parental consent for minors to use social media
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A new bipartisan bill unveiled Wednesday would require parental consent for anyone under 18 to use social media. It would also create a pilot program for a new age verification credential that could be used to enroll on social media platforms. In addition to parental consent to use social media, the bill requires such companies to "take reasonable steps beyond merely requiring attestation" to verify users' ages. The bill says that "existing age verification technologies" should be taken into account and that information collected for age verification purposes shouldn't be used for anything else. WATCH: Tiktok hearing was an 'unmitigated disaster' for social media app, says Stanford's Jacob Helberg

☆ Criminals are buying guns in US states with loose gun laws and then smuggling them to Haiti, UN says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Criminals are using lax gun laws in the United States, specifically in Florida, to traffic guns to Haiti. A UN report found that the United States is the "principal source" for guns and munitions in Haiti. "Weapons are frequently procured through straw man purchases in US states with looser gun laws and fewer purchasing restrictions." Handguns that sell for $400 to $500 in the United States can be resold for up to $10,000 in Haiti, according to the report. Florida recently became the 26th state in the United States to legalize permitless concealed carry.

☆ Biden should sanction Huawei Cloud, other Chinese firms -senators
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) - A group of nine Republican senators on Tuesday urged the Biden administration to impose sanctions on Huawei Cloud and other Chinese cloud service providers, citing national security concerns, according to a letter seen by Reuters. The senators said Huawei Cloud launched its "Sky Computing Constellation" in co-sponsorship with Changsha Tianyi Space Science and Technology Research Institute also known as "Spacety China" in 2021. Alibaba Cloud, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (9988.HK), did not immediately comment. Reuters reported in January 2022 that the Biden administration was reviewing the cloud business of e-commerce giant Alibaba to determine whether it poses a risk to U.S. national security. The letter said the Biden administration should consider further investigation or actions against China’s other cloud service providers including Baidu Cloud and Tencent Cloud which may impact U.S. national security.

☆ Lindsey Graham repeats false claim that Democrats support 'abortion at the moment of birth' on CNN
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Graham falsely claimed that Democrats support abortion up until the "moment of birth." Democrats in fact support legislation allowing abortion after viability only when the mother's life and health are at risk. The senator repeated claims that Democrats support elective abortion at birth – a claim that medical experts say is false. Abortion up to the moment of birth, taxpayer-funded," Graham, a Republican, told CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union." They introduced legislation that allowed abortion demand with taxpayer-funded – you paying for it, the taxpayer – up to the moment of birth," Graham responded.

☆ Gov. Chris Sununu calls Trump 'a loser' who won't get the GOP nomination for 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Growing Republican support for Donald Trump's re-election won't be enough, Chris Sununu said. On NBC, the New Hampshire governor said Trump is a "four-time loser" who has cost the GOP seats in Congress. "Donald Trump is a loser," Gov. Donald Trump is a loser. So, Donald Trump is positioning himself to be a four-time loser in 2024."

☆ Michigan passes 3 gun safety laws, and lawmakers say they're not done yet: 'We don't have to live like this'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The Michigan governor has signed multiple gun safety laws this month, including more background checks. Gretchen Whitmer is expected to also sign a "red flag" law, allowing judges to confiscate guns from people they deem dangerous. Lawmakers say they hope to target gun manufacturers and domestic abusers next, per Bridge Michigan. The new background check law requires checks for all firearms purchased in Michigan and strengthens penalties for illegal sales. Next on their gun safety agenda, Michigan state Democratic lawmakers say they hope to keep domestic abusers from getting their hands on firearms, ban the sale of large-capacity magazines, and force gun manufacturers to be liable for gun deaths, the Bridge Michigan reported.

☆ Democratic Denver mayor calls for Biden to share his physical health updates to make sure he's 'ready and fit to serve' ahead of 2024 race
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, a Democrat, called for Joe Biden to share more about his health. Hancock said he wants to make sure Biden is "ready and fit to serve" ahead of the 2024 election. Denver Mayor Michael Hancock said on NBC's "Meet the Press NOW" that he's "a fan" of Biden's but still wants to see the president be open about his health status. "I love Joe Biden personally and politically, but I want to make sure he's okay as well and ready and fit to serve," Hancock told NBC host Chuck Todd on Friday. —Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) April 22, 2023The report on Biden's health from physician Kevin O'Connor said Biden works out at least five days a week.

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailHow silicon could enable cheaper EVs, electric flight and more powerful batteriesLithium-ion battery performance has reached a plateau in recent years, but a breakthrough in battery technology is about to change that. Using silicon instead of graphite, the commonly used material in battery anodes today, enables significantly higher energy density and faster charging. The new tech has attracted the attention of big players such as GM, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and Airbus. CNBC spoke with Sila, Amprius and Group14 to learn how the new batteries will transform EVs and more.

☆ A Missouri official called the ATF 'unconstitutional' but says it's not because the agency raided his brother's gun shop
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Ike Skelton's brother, Jim, had his gun shop raided by the ATF in 2021 and lost his federal firearms license. They cited Missouri's Second Amendment Preservation Act (SAPA), which penalizes authorities who enforce federal gun laws. Kevin L. Jamison, Jim Skelton's attorney, told Insider that his client did not receive "sufficient advice" before opening his shop. We're not restricting them from enforcing their unconstitutional law," Ike Skelton told Insider. The only thing that my brother's raid did was confirm everything I thought about the ATF," Ike Skelton told Insider.

☆ Photos show kids as young as 6 handling guns at the NRA's annual meeting. Guns are the leading cause of death among US children.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

Watts said the NRA was seeking to push "gun extremism" onto the next generation. A young man tries out a gun. Evelyn Hockstein/ReutersFirearms became the leading cause of death for US children and teens in 2020, surpassing car crashes and sitting far above other causes such as cancer. "It's more clear than ever that the NRA's goal was never to teach children about responsible gun handling but to market guns and gun extremism to a new generation," Watts told Insider. The NRA didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about the exhibit or Watt's comments on Sunday.

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