A mishmash of regulations across US states is causing difficulties for businesses. Different state governments have differing views on everything from the production of lifts to running a bank, and have legislated to ban abortions, encourage diversity on company boards or outlaw race discrimination in pursuit of diversity. A US state government's decision to regulate one area of business can have widespread impact given that American firms operate in a country which has a coast-to-coast marketplace that is too important for it to take for granted. “If the trend of state supermajorities persists after the 2024 elections, things could get worse," warns The Economist's opinion column, Schumpeter. Companies' third headache, when it comes to navigating different legislations, is to do with greenery as states introduce contradictory regulations about oil, gas and coal investments. The challenge is compounded by the fact that doing business in the EU may require sustainability reporting, which some in the US find unpalatable.
British Chambers of Commerce president, Baroness Martha Lane Fox, has claimed TikTok's addictive content is causing teens to lose ambition and motivation. Baroness Lane Fox says the app feeds Western teens “dumbed down” content, while presenting Chinese young people education-orientation, embedding "motivation and wider information collection". The comments come amidst increased global concern's surrounding TikTok's Chinese associations in terms of censorship, propaganda, espionage, and product tie-ins with equipment produced by companies such as Huawei. Western democratic leaders are being forced to evaluate how they can hold Chinese tech companies liable for inappropriate behaviour and establish international standards through regulatory controls.
Book banning has returned to America, according to Reuters, which said battles over what children should read have reached the Legislative floor in Texas. In the current school year, nearly 40 bills have been put forward to control what get placed on library shelves, leading to some 438 books being banned in the state – more than anywhere else in America. Texas librarians have been vilified, accused of paedophilia and even threatened with violence, according to reports. PEN America, a nonprofit centred around freedom of expression, said in Texas there is a “larger, coordinated movement to ban books, ideas, and knowledge for students in schools.” The problem is spreading to the UK where a third of librarians have been asked to censor or remove books by members of the public, Cilip research showed.
Parents in the US have sued the state in some cases, while many of Texas’ lawmakers have made book bans a part of their campaign strategies, Reuters wrote. It quoted Tiffany Justice, co-founder of campaign group Moms For Liberty, which is organising petition drives and meetings with school officials across districts to censor reading lists, as saying: “Many books have been found to contain pornography and have nothing to do with education curriculum.”
Disney has cancelled plans to relocate jobs to Florida, citing "changing business conditions" as the reason behind its decision. The development came amid an ongoing legal feud between Disney and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over the company's self-governing power in Orlando. In a letter to staff, Disney parks chief Josh D’Amaro said that the changes included leadership alterations, while the initial move from California provoked complaints from employees who did not want to relocate. Disney CEO Bob Iger had also warned that the company's investment plans for Florida were conditional on a positive relationship with the state.
Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy has called the state’s legislature into a special session after legislators failed to agree a budget during their regular session. The Republican-led House failed to consider a budget plan drawn up by the Senate, whose leaders said they were hopeful of its acceptance. The House postponed voting on the budget after several Republican members said there had been insufficient time to study the package. While the House traditionally approves the operating budget, with the Senate taking the lead on infrastructure, the capital budget was incorporated into the Senate’s operating budget, with the bill being voted on only on Wednesday. Negotiation over the budget has been complicated by disagreement on how large an annual dividend payment to residents should be.
Disney is scrapping plans for a new Florida campus
CNN
23-05-18 18:45
Disney has abandoned plans for a new campus in Florida, which would have created 2,000 jobs. The decision was attributed to "changing business conditions”, although Disney has openly feuded with Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis regarding the state's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Former US President Donald Trump has accused incumbent President Joe Biden of taking a "pro-China" stance as the issue of China's relationship with the US becomes a likely flashpoint in the 2022 presidential election. Trump has urged policies that would escalate the confrontation with China faster and further than Biden's current plans, accusing the president of keeping "a straitjacket that is certainly limiting their freedom of manoeuvre." Although there is now broad support for tariff policies against China, Biden's administration need to ensure they do not rope allies into a full-blown economic war to persuade them of the specific security concerns the tariffs address, experts warn.
North Dakota man pleads guilty to fatal hit-and-run in case that drew political attention
The Toronto Star
23-05-18 22:47
Shannon Brandt, a North Dakota man charged with murdering a teenager after a disagreement, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter instead. Brandt initially claimed he had run over the 18-year-old, Cayler Ellingson, during an argument about politics, calling him a “Republican extremist”. However, there is no evidence to suggest that Ellingson was part of any extremist political group and investigators have dismissed political affiliation as their motive. Brandt is out on bail and faces up to 10 years in prison when sentenced.
Representative Jamaal Bowman has accused Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of using violent rhetoric against Black men. After Bowman confronted Greene over a vote, the Georgia congresswoman accused the New Yorker of being aggressive. Bowman criticised this remark for perpetuating the stereotype of Black men. Greene has been accused of promoting a series of conspiracy theories including denying the result of the 2020 election. In the past, Democrats have ejected her from two committees over extremist comments she made and Republican leaders reinstated her following their victory in January.
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum is considering running for US President in 2024 and is already filming TV ads for his potential bid for the GOP nomination. Burgum, a tech entrepreneur turned governor, may have raised concerns of political polarization but he has also embraced some staunchly conservative policies such as signing a near-total ban on abortion and a bill that bars public schools and government entities from requiring teachers and employees to use a transgender person’s pronouns. Given that Burgum has not established much of a national political footprint, he would most likely find it a challenge building name recognition in a prospective GOP field.
A bill to comply with a voter ID requirement approved by Nebraska voters in November has been advanced by a legislative committee; it is unclear whether lawmakers will be able to pass the bill before the session ends early next month, due to infighting among Republicans. The amended version of the bill would allow a wide variety of photo identification for voters, including passports, driver's licences, military and tribal IDs, Nebraska college IDs and even expired IDs, with the addition of patient documents for those residing in hospitals. Voting by mail would also be allowed, with provisions made for those without photographic ID. Senator Julie Slama, who introduced the amendment, has criticised the amended version, labelling it "fraud-friendly", blaming the Republican Nebraska Secretary of State for obstructing the bill and introducing an amendment to restore much of the original proposal. Nebraska has no history of widespread voter fraud, but supporters of the voter ID requirement say it is needed to prevent possible problems.
Victoria Coates, senior advisor to the US Secretary of Energy under President Trump, is interviewed on The Kevin Roberts Show about effective national security policies. Coates suggests that the US has been the greatest force for good in human history and discusses that the country doesn't need to overthrow dictatorial regimes and impose democracy rather encourage, instruct, and be a good example. Coates also discusses the importance of seizing opportunities, flexibility, and not being wedded to rigid ideologies that cut you off from unorthodox solutions. She also notes the importance of historical perspective when dealing with human beings and the hallmark of being resilient.
Coates mentions the difficulty of figuring out the triangle of policy, communications, and politics and navigating it in a world where communications and information is flowing at such a rapid rate. She mentions that moral clarity, the clarity of vision, and purpose are also infectious, not just for the men and women who have the privilege of working for people like that, but also for the country and a group of free people around the planet who are going to respond to any American president who’s bold and has a clear vision and also has the ability to speak.
The Limit, Save, Grow Act was passed in the House of Representatives with a slim 217-215 majority. The legislation would reduce the budget deficit by an estimated $4.8tn over 10 years, and includes the “REINS Act” which would subject regulatory agency rulemaking to stricter congressional review and approval processes if proposed regulations would increase costs to individuals or businesses significantly. The deficit reduction is paired with an up to $1.5tn increase to the current $31.4tn statutory debt limit to avoid an interruption in Treasury Department checks. While it is unlikely that the Senate will pass the bill in its current form, the House passage helps push President Joe Biden to the negotiating table and address the nation's financial woes meaningfully. If it were to pass, the legislation's biggest winners are taxpayers who avoid a future tax burden, and consumers can expect inflation to drop, reducing the costs of goods and services. The IRS would be a loser, with taxpayers getting back $70bn of unspent bonus funding. Future generations would benefit from a reduced federal debt burden, and federal bureaucracy would be limited. Untaxed corporations are set to lose the most, as the bill scales back new energy tax breaks enacted by the previous Congress, returning most pre-existing green tax credits to pre-2022 and levelling the playing field of corporate taxes. Small businesses would benefit from a more stable atmosphere, while doctors, lawyers, and advanced degree holders who have not paid their bills would be the biggest losers, with a change in borrower income calculation methods being proposed.
During the 2019-2020 election cycle, 93% of all political contributions from U.S. State Department employees and 96% of all political contributions from U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees went to Democratic Party candidates or political action committees, meaning that America’s foreign policy apparatus is an arm of the Democratic Party. This division is further entrenched by the newly established political loyalty tests of the Biden administration and its focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, which are feared to discriminate against patriotic Americans who are not on board with such leftist ideologies.
The food stamp program in the US has put the taxpayer at a large expense and been subject to many fraudulent enrollments. It is recognized that several millionaires have also made claims to the program, even during Covid-19, worsening the immediate problem. The most expensive area of spending in this sector is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as the food stamp program, and it offers underprivileged individuals funds to acquire food. Policy makers in the US are pushing for a three-point plan to save taxpayer money and tighten the former system.
The House select committee in the US has continued its investigation into the origins of Covid-19. There is disagreement among scientists as to the virus' origins, and no consensus among US intelligence agencies. As part of the investigation, Drs Francis Collins and Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health have been asked to testify. The investigation has been backed by some US State Department officials, who in April 2020 concluded that the pandemic probably originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. New evidence released by a Republican subcommittee showed that certain virologists initially believed the virus came from a lab, but then submitted an article to Nature Medicine claiming a natural origin so as to discredit the idea of a lab virus.
Ginni Thomas, wife of US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has become the focus of a number of ethical controversies, which has renewed interest in her 34-year-long career as a right-wing political lobbyist and Washington DC operator, and exposed gaps in disclosure obligations for justices’ families. New questions have emerged about her business dealings, including payments to one of her companies from a group that had business before the Supreme Court, according to investigative outlet ProPublica. Legal ethics experts call the payments “eye-popping.” Last year, she was investigated by law enforcement for a politically motivated “hit list.”
A new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research has found that two-thirds of US adults are concerned about the economic impact if the US defaults on its loans as a result of lawmakers failing to agree on an increase in the debt limit. Six in 10 respondents said they wanted any increase to be tied to agreed-upon terms to reduce the budget deficit, with the poll showing a lack of support for both President Joe Biden and congressional negotiators. About two in 10 respondents said they understood the issue very well and 4 in 10 said they understood it somewhat well.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has reportedly announced his candidacy for the US presidency and told donors that former President Donald Trump cannot win the 2024 election. Speaking on a call organized by Never Back Down, which is supporting DeSantis, he said only he could win the Republican primary and general election. While praising Trump’s efforts, he pointed out that President Joe Biden had undone many of his achievements over the last four years. Reports suggest DeSantis may formally announce his candidacy next week.
Negotiators from the White House and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's office are attempting to forge a budget deal to avoid a looming economic crisis. With a deadline as soon as 1 June, negotiators are racing to develop a budget-cutting arrangement that Republicans and Democrats can agree on, as McCarthy's newly empowered House Republicans try to introduce steep spending reductions in exchange for GOP votes to raise the debt limit, which currently stands at $31tn, to keep paying the USA's already-due bills. President Biden has cut short the rest of his trip to Papua New Guinea and Australia to return to Washington in an effort to make them agree on the deal.
