Tausi Insider

Image : Sattalat Phukkum ( Shutterstock ) Twitter is currently on fire. With Elon Musk as owner and CEO, the company has changed many rules and regulations users (and advertisers) had come to expect from the platform. The latest drama, however, concerns Twitter verification, and it’s throwing a wrench in the ability to tell which accounts are real and which are fake. The “blue checkmark” on Twitter was more than just a status symbol. Twitter’s verification process served as a means of identification: If you saw a blue check next to an account, say, for a politician, you knew that account was official, and not an impersonator. Accounts needed to be vetted to prove both their identity and noteworthiness before receiving a blue check, which is a good thing. Under the direction of Musk, though, anyone can buy a blue check by subscribing to Twitter Blue for $8 a month. Since the change, identifying legitimate users has been a challenge. In fact, Twitter Blue subscribers have taken adva...

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at the COP27 climate conference, in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, on Nov. 11. SeanGallup/Getty Images U.S. President Joe Biden, speaking Friday at an annual international summit on climate change, urged world leaders to “double down” on their resolve to fight global warming, saying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reinforces the need to phase out fossil fuels. “We can no longer plead ignorance to the consequences of our actions, or continue to repeat our mistakes,” Mr. Biden said. The President’s brief attendance at the United Nations climate conference, known as COP27, was largely a victory lap as he emphasized new spending on clean energy initiatives that will “change the paradigm” for the United States and the rest of the world. But Mr. Biden glossed over how he’s pushed for more oil and gas production to bring down costs that have been politically troublesome at home, and fuelled the invasion of Ukraine by allowing Russia to fetch higher prices for its energ...

Workers at the largest U.S. rail union voted against a tentative contract deal reached in September, raising the possibility of a year-end strike that could cause significant damage to the U.S. economy and strand vital shipments of food and fuel. Reuters https://www.tausiinsider.com/video-biggest-u-s-rail-union-raises-threat-of-strike/?feed_id=333095&_unique_id=6473f346ef917

Shipping containers and freight railway trains at the BNSF Los Angeles Intermodal Facility rail yard, on Sept. 15. BING GUAN/Reuters The U.S. House of Representatives plans to vote Wednesday to block a potential rail strike after President Joe Biden warned of the dire economic consequences of a rail disruption that could happen as early as Dec. 9. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said lawmakers will vote Wednesday to impose a tentative contract deal struck in September on a dozen unions representing 115,000 workers. “I don’t like going against the ability of unions to strike but weighing the equities, we must avoid a strike,” she said Tuesday after a meeting with Biden. Biden had warned Monday of a catastrophic economic impact if railroad service ground to a halt, saying up to 765,000 Americans could lose their jobs in the first two weeks of a strike. “Congress, I think, has to act to prevent it. It’s not an easy call, but I think we have to do it. The economy is at risk,” Biden said. Desp...

Gantry cranes, shipping containers and freight railway trains at the Union Pacific Los Angeles Intermodal Facility rail yard, on Sept. 15. BING GUAN/Reuters Congress is moving swiftly to prevent a looming U.S. rail workers strike, reluctantly intervening in a labour dispute to stop what would surely be a devastating blow to the nation’s economy if the transportation of fuel, food and other critical goods were disrupted. The House was expected to act first on Wednesday after President Joe Biden asked Congress to step in. The bill lawmakers are considering would impose a compromise labour agreement brokered by his administration that was ultimately voted down by four of the 12 unions representing more than 100,000 employees at large freight rail carriers. The unions have threatened to strike if an agreement can’t be reached before a Dec. 9 deadline. Lawmakers from both parties expressed reservations, but the intervention was particularly difficult for some Democratic lawmakers who have...

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, on Dec. 1. LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty Images President Joe Biden signed legislation Friday to block a national U.S. railroad strike that could have devastated the American economy. The U.S. Senate voted 80 to 15 on Thursday to impose a tentative contract deal reached in September on a dozen unions representing 115,000 workers, who could have gone on strike on Dec. 9. But the Senate failed to approve a measure that would have provided paid sick days to railroad workers. “It was tough for me but it was the right thing to do at the moment – save jobs, to protect millions of working families from harm and disruption and to keep supply chains stable around the holidays,” Biden said, adding the deal avoided “an economic catastrophe.” Eight of 12 unions had ratified the deal. But some labour leaders have criticized Biden, a self-described friend of labour, for asking Congress to impose a contract that workers...

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in Phoenix, Ariz., on Dec. 6. Ross D. Franklin/The Associated Press President Joe Biden’s administration on Thursday announced the infusion of nearly $36 billion to shore up a financially troubled union pension plan, preventing severe cuts to the retirement incomes of about 350,000 Teamster workers and retirees across the United States. “It’s about everything you worked for … it’s about finding a dignified retirement,” Biden said. “Thanks to today’s announcement, hundreds of thousands of Americans can feel that sense of dignity again, knowing that they’re providing for their families and their future.” The money for the Central States Pension Fund is the largest amount of federal aid provided for a pension plan, the Biden administration said. It comes from the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that he signed into law in 2021. “This matters,” Biden said. “This matters for workers … This matters for their spouses, this matt...

Canada and the United States are going to argue at a North American leaders’ summit next week that resolving a dispute over measures that favour Mexican energy companies would help draw more foreign investment to Mexico, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday. “Both [U.S] President [Joe] Biden and I are going to be... fairly clear with President [Andres Manuel] Lopez Obrador that this ... needs to be understood as a way to help Mexico develop, a way to continue to draw in investments from companies in Canada and the United States,” Trudeau told Reuters. Asked if he hoped to make progress at the summit in Mexico City, Trudeau said: “Absolutely.” The United States and Canada entered into dispute settlement talks last year with Mexico under a North American trade deal, known as the USMCA, charging that Mexican energy policies were discriminatory and undermine international firms. Trudeau will arrive in Mexico City on Monday for a three-day visit, which will include bilateral meeti...

An oil storage tank and crude oil pipeline equipment at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, in Freeport, Tex., on June 9, 2016. Richard Carson/Reuters The Republican-controlled House on Thursday voted to block oil from the country’s emergency stockpile from going to China. The bill, one of the first introduced by the new GOP majority, would prohibit the Energy Department from selling oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to companies owned or influenced by the Chinese Communist Party. It passed easily, 331-97, with 113 Democrats joining unanimous Republicans in support. Rep. Cathy McMorris, R-Wash., the new head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the bill would help end what she called President Joe Biden’s “abuse of our strategic reserves.” Biden withdrew 180 million barrels from the strategic reserve last year in a bid to halt rising gasoline prices amid production cuts by OPEC and a ban on Russian oil imports following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The monthslong sal...

Crude oil pipes at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, in Freeport, Tex., on June 9, 2016. Richard Carson/Reuters U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm warned Republicans in a letter seen by Reuters on Wednesday that limiting President Joe Biden’s authority to tap the nation’s oil reserves would undermine national security, cause crude shortages and raise gasoline prices. Biden repeatedly tapped the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) last year to manage rising gasoline prices and supply disruptions caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The sales shrunk the SPR to about 380 million barrels, the lowest level since 1984, raising concerns about energy security. A bill called the Strategic Production Response Act, introduced earlier this month by Republican Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, would limit presidential authority in releasing oil from the strategic reserve, except in the case of a severe energy supply interruption. McMorris Rodgers now chairs the House Energy & Commer...

Light shines from the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, on Jan. 10. Patrick Semansky/The Associated Press The U.S. government bumped up against its debt limit Thursday, prompting the Treasury Department to take “extraordinary” accounting steps to avoid default – as friction between President Joe Biden and House Republicans raised concern about whether the U.S. can sidestep an economic crisis. The Treasury Department said in a letter to congressional leaders it had started taking “extraordinary measures” as the government had run up against its legal borrowing capacity of $31.381-trillion. An artificially imposed cap, the debt ceiling has been increased roughly 80 times since the 1960s. “I respectfully urge Congress to act promptly to protect the full faith and credit of the United States,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrote in the letter. Markets so far remain relatively calm, given that the government can temporarily rely on accounting tweaks to stay open and any threats to the econom...

A Tesla sedan gets a charge at a Tesla Supercharging station in Cranberry, Pa, on Nov. 16, 2022. Gene J. Puskar/The Associated Press Ratcheting up his criticism of the Biden administration, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin on Wednesday moved to delay new tax credits for electric vehicles, a key feature of President Joe Biden’s landmark climate law. Manchin said guidelines issued by the Treasury Department allow manufacturers in Europe and other countries to bypass requirements that significant portions of EV batteries be produced in North America. The climate law, officially known as the Inflation Reduction Act, “is first and foremost an energy security bill,” Manchin said, adding that “the EV tax credits were designed to grow domestic manufacturing and reduce our reliance on foreign supply chains for the critical minerals needed to produce EV batteries.” Manchin’s bill comes as Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi are set to attend the Washington, ...