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Mo News: Inside the Historic Gun Reform Deal
Mosheh Oinounou
June 13, 2022
Good morning everyone,
Hope you had a nice weekend. We launched our first podcast edition this morning! More on that below. But first, here's what we're watching this week:
We've got a deal: Senate negotiators say they've reached an agreement on bipartisan gun legislation
Dozens of white supremacists were arrested at a Pride rally in Idaho. Who are they and what did they want?
Inflation is coming in hot. New numbers show inflation is only getting worse, what that means for the Fed when it meets this week to talk about interest rates.
Gas prices are now averaging above $5 a gallon nationwide.
The latest product shortage: Tampons. Why one company is blaming... Amy Schumer!
The pandemic babies are NOT alright. A new report reveals an uptick in developmental delays and challenging behaviors.
Fashionably late is no longer fashionable. Why it's now cool to be on time.
As always, we have a dose of Good Mood Monday to start the week right.
And, last not but not least, a bit of personal Mo News.....
🎙 The MO News Podcast Is Here: We are very excited to announce our first Mo News podcast is now LIVE this morning. To start, we will be coming to you with a breakdown of the headlines twice a week---on Mondays and Thursdays-- and will expand from there. Please listen and SUBSCRIBE. It is available wherever you get your podcasts. Apple | Spotify
And tune in tonight, where Mosh will take your questions at 9pmET on his regular Mondays with Mosh Instagram Live, where he take all your questions.
~ Mosh & Jill
🤝 Gun Laws in America: "We have a deal."
A bipartisan group of senators announced the framework for gun reform legislation. If passed, it would be the most significant piece of gun legislation in about three decades. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) who has been working on legislation since the Sandy Hook school massacre in 2012 and was the key negotiator of the deal, says: “Will this bill do everything we need to end our nation’s gun violence epidemic? No. But it’s real, meaningful progress."
Here's what it includes:
Funding to help states pass "Red Flag Laws" that will let law enforcement temporarily take weapons away from people who pose a danger to themselves or others. (19 states already have these laws on the books.) Of course, this doesn't mandate the laws in the other 31 states, but does provide money to help make them happen.
Billions in new funding for mental health and school safety.
Closing the "boyfriend" loophole," so no domestic abuser-- a spouse or dating partner-- can buy a gun if they're convicted of abuse against their partner. The law was previously limited to abusers who had been married, lived with or had children with their partner.
Enhanced background check for gun buyers who are under 21 and a short pause to conduct the check.
First-ever federal law against gun trafficking and straw purchasing.
What's NOT included: There is no ban on semiautomatic weapons, as President Biden had called for, or a ban on people under 21 buying semiautomatic weapons, like the US House passed last week. There is also no federal red flag law or a ban on large capacity magazines.
BUT-- there ARE ten Republicans who've signed onto the agreement, which will give it enough votes to pass and head to President Biden's desk.There is less of a chance of political blowback for the Republicans who signed the proposal; four of them are retiring this year. Another five of them don't face re-election until 2026. The 10th, Mitt Romney, often goes his own way. ~USA Today
The senators who signed the statement about the agreement were the four who led the negotiations in addition to Murphy, including John Cornyn, R-Texas; Thom Tillis, R-N.C.; and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. The others are: Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; Cory Booker, D- N.J.; Richard Burr, R-N.C.; Bill Cassidy, R-La.; Susan Collins, R-Maine; Chris Coons, D-Del.; Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.; Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.; Angus King, I-Maine; Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; Rob Portman, R-Ohio; Mitt Romney, R-Utah; Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa.
What's next: Negotiators have to take the framework of the deal and put it into legislative text, a far more challenging process, and secure enough support in both chambers for the legislation to become law. ~ NY Times
President Biden called on the Senate to pass the bill as soon as possible. ~The Hill
Demonstrators at a March for Our Lives rally on the National Mall Saturday in Washington, DC. Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
🪧 Protests: That came as thousands of Americans took to the streets this weekend as part of March for Our Lives protests calling for stricter gun laws. NPR has photos from across the country.
🎙Wednesday Newsletter Preview: I will have a conversation with Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, in our Wednesday premium edition to get her reaction to the Capitol Hill breakthrough and provide a state of play of the gun legislation in DC and in state capitals across the nation. Subscribe to Mo News Premium Today.
🔥 Inflation: Coming in HOT
Prices are continuing to surge for everything from gas and food to housing and airline tickets. The consumer price index, or the price of basic goods and services like food and gas, jumped 8.6% from May of 2021 to May of this year. This is a 40-year-high and shows inflation has not yet peaked. CPI rose 1% in the one month from April to May alone.
What's behind it? There are many reasons for sky-high inflation, like sharply rising labor costs, energy prices, and high demand. ~ NBC News
Labor costs: The flood of workers leaving their jobs, especially those in low-wage sectors, has forced employers to pay more. In most cases those costs get passed on to consumers."The labor market needs to get sorted out; you need a solution to the Great Resignation problem. There's no normalcy until that occurs." -- Jayson Lusk, economics professor at Purdue University.
Energy costs: Gas prices are now officially at a record $5 a gallon nationwide, according to AAA. Not only are consumers paying more, but companies transporting food and other products are doing the same.Even before the war in Ukraine, energy prices were skyrocketing because of low inventory and pent up demand. But sanctions on Russia, one of the world's biggest energy producers, have disrupted supply even further.
Demand: During the pandemic the U.S. government pumped trillions of dollars of stimulus money into the economy, many of that straight into the pockets of Americans. "However necessary those measures were in the short run, they may have led to the excess demand the Federal Reserve is now trying to cool off.""People have money, and they're wanting to spend it. And despite higher prices, if you ask how people are responding to inflation, they're saying, 'I’m not really changing, I’m just paying more, not cutting back.' That suggests they're not acting like it’s a recessionary environment yet." -- Lusk
Blame Game: President Biden is blaming Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine, and also shipping companies that “have raised their prices by as much as 1,000%." BUT: Many economists blame the government's trillions of dollars in pandemic stimulus and also the Fed, which took too long to pull back stimulus and raise interest rates. ~ MarketWatch
What's the Fed to do? The biggest tool in the Fed's toolbox is to continue raising interest rates, but's it's a balancing act: "Needing to raise interest rates aggressively to bring down inflation without triggering a U.S. recession." ~ ForbesUp Next: The Fed is meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, and is expected to raise interest rates by another 50 basis points, like it did last month. The goal: keep drying up the money supply with higher interest rates, thereby decreasing demand and prices (aka...less cash=less money for consumers to keep buying things). Some economists are calling for an even bigger rate hike as inflation continues to break records.
** In case you're feeling really bad about gas prices (and who isn't?), some quick perspective. BTW, not to say these prices aren't terrible, but there are more than 100 countries where drivers pay more, and many have a higher cost of living and lower average wages than the U.S.:
🚨 White Supremacists Arrested
Dozens of white supremacists were arrested outside of a Pride event in northern Idaho this weekend. Police say they were part of a group called the Patriot Front and were planning to riot in downtown Coeur D’Alene. 31 of them were loaded in a U-Haul van wearing khakis and white masks. Some had shields and riot gear, and at least one person had a smoke grenade. ~ CBS News
Who are they? After they were arrested, videos on social media showed them kneeling with their hands tied behind their backs. Some were wearing shirts that said “Reclaim America.” Police say the men came from across the country, including Washington, Oregon, Illinois, South Dakota, Virginia and Texas.
If You See Something, Say Something: Police say they received several tips from the community over the course of the week of potential threats. And then on Saturday afternoon they got a call from a concerned citizen who said they saw around 20 people wearing masks jump into the back of a U-Haul looking like a little army.
What's the Patriot Front? According to the ADL, Patriot Front is based in Texas. It’s a white supremacist group that broke off from another white supremacist group after the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville in 2017. ~ NYTimes
🚨 The Latest Shortage: Tampons
It's the product shortage "no one is talking about," but now top retailers have confirmed that there is, in fact, a shortage of tampons in this country. Women have been complaining about the issue for awhile on social media, including reports of empty shelves in stores, and price gouging at online retailers like Amazon (Amazon has denied that). ~ TIME
What's Behind It? Part of the problem is supply constraints around the main components in tampons-- cotton, rayon and plastic. All of those materials are also used to make medical products like personal protective equipment. They've been in high demand since the start of the pandemic but the war in Ukraine has only made things worse. Russia and Ukraine are both major exporters of fertilizer, which is used to grow cotton. There's also been a drought in Texas. ~ CNN
Response: Procter & Gamble, which makes the popular Tampax and Always products, says the problem is "temporary" but admits "getting raw and packed materials to the places we need to get them to continues to be costly and highly volatile."The company spokesperson also says demand has exploded since the launch of an ad campaign in July 2020 featuring comedian Amy Schumer.SAY WHAT!? Amy Schumer recently had a hysterectomy, and responded with this Instagram post, writing "Whoa I don’t even have a uterus."BTW, it also doesn't explain why other brands are also seeing shortages.
🗞 THE SPEED READ
Pandemic babies are behind. Years of stress, isolation have affected their brain development (USA Today)
Emerging evidence reveals an uptick in developmental delays and challenging behaviors in children belonging to the so-called “COVID generation.” Born during or shortly before the pandemic, many of these children are talking, walking and interacting later and less frequently. They're also more prone to certain behaviors, like outbursts, physical aggression and separation anxiety. I
In many cases, the adults in their lives have suffered unrelenting and unprecedented levels of emotional or financial stress – stress pandemic babies have absorbed at a time when their brains are developing at a faster rate than any other point in the human experience.
Many early childhood experts said more children are not as good at playing with one another, or at any activities that involve sharing or paying attention.
International travelers no longer have to provide a negative coronavirus test result to enter the United States. This mandate had been in place since January 2021. The U.S.Travel Association predicts that dropping this mandate will bring 5.4 million more visitors to the U.S. and an additional $9 billion in travel spending by the end of 2022. International travelers still need to be fully vaccinated to enter the United States.
Next Jan. 6 hearings to focus on how Trump’s ‘big lie’ fueled rioters (Washington Post)
The first public hearing held by the nine-member committee happened on Thursday evening, and three more days of hearings have been officially scheduled for Monday, Wednesday and Thursday this week. Today's hearing is slated to begin at 10 a.m. ET. The committee is expected to focus on Trump’s misinformation campaign and the lack of evidence supporting allegations of election fraud.
The National Weather Service in Phoenix reported a temperature of 114 degrees Fahrenheit (46 degrees Celsius), tying the record high for the date set back in 1918. Las Vegas tied a record for the day set in 1956, with temperatures soaring to 109 F (43 C). In Colorado, Denver hit 100 F (38 C), tying a record set in 2013 for both the high temperature and the earliest calendar day to reach 100 F. Scientists say more frequent and intense heat waves are likely in the future because of climate change and a deepening drought.
Justin Bieber Diagnosed with Rare Disorder Causing Facial Paralysis (Washington Post)
Justin Bieber has revealed that he is suffering from a rare condition that has paralyzed one side of his face. Last week, the singer canceled a number of upcoming shows because of illness, and on Friday he told fans he has been diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome. "It is from this virus that attacks the nerve in my ear and my facial nerves, and has caused my face to have paralysis,” the 28-year-old singer said in an Instagram video.
Punctuality Is Having a Moment (NY Times)
In 2022, it’s no longer fashionable to be fashionably late, a change that seems to have arisen from a pandemic now in its third year. During the first phase, when videoconferencing became the norm for many office workers nationwide, people who had previously struggled with being on time found themselves no longer held up by commutes or workplace gossip sessions. Restaurants are also noticing that more people are making reservations instead of walking in.
“People are implicitly asking, ‘Why am I going back to the workplace? There better be a reason to spend all this money on gas or trains for commuting; it better be worth it to risk getting Covid when I’ve proved I can work efficiently from home... This could translate into a culture of: “I’m here to get things done, not to chitchat.” -- Sophie C. Avila Leroy, a professor of management at the University of Washington Bothell.
☀️ GOOD MOOD MONDAY
Just a toddler who is SO excited to see her grandparents!
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