Fueled by trade tensions and foreign wars,
a rush for an obscure mineral heats up
in Alaska
Posted By: sunset, 6/9/2025 9:54:37 PM
Alaska hasn’t produced antimony — a shiny mineral used in weapons, flame retardants and solar panels — in almost 40 years. That could change this summer, according to the executives of a Texas company that has snatched up more than 35,000 acres of mining claims in Alaska. Dallas-based U.S. Antimony Corp. is looking to the state as a new source of antimony for its smelter in Montana, the only plant in the United States that refines the mineral. Alaska’s antimony, the company says, could help the U.S. overcome a recent ban on exports of the mineral from China, the world’s top antimony producer.
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Fueled by trade tensions and foreign wars,
a rush for an obscure mineral heats up
in Alaska 3 replies
a rush for an obscure mineral heats up
in Alaska 3 replies
Alaska hasn’t produced antimony — a shiny mineral used in weapons, flame retardants and solar panels — in almost 40 years. That could change this summer, according to the executives of a Texas company that has snatched up more than 35,000 acres of mining claims in Alaska. Dallas-based U.S. Antimony Corp. is looking to the state as a new source of antimony for its smelter in Montana, the only plant in the United States that refines the mineral. Alaska’s antimony, the company says, could help the U.S. overcome a recent ban on exports of the mineral from China, the world’s top antimony producer.
Trump Administration Fires 13 Members
of Key Education Research Board, Citing
‘Partisan Influence’ 13 replies
of Key Education Research Board, Citing
‘Partisan Influence’ 13 replies
he Trump Administration fired all 13 Biden-appointed members of a key federal education research board last month, a move that drew sharp rebuke from former members amid the Administration’s ongoing campaign to dismantle the Department of Education. The firings targeted the National Board for Education Sciences (NBES), which Congress established in 2002 to advise the Department of Education’s research arm, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The board—whose members include researchers, educators, and civic leaders—had been tasked with shaping the Department’s $900 million research agenda, including approving priorities, overseeing peer-reviewed grants, and advising on efforts to close achievement gaps across race, income, and disability status.
The U.S. Department of Education revealed that over $30 million in federal student aid had been distributed to thousands of deceased individuals during the past three years. The disclosure followed an internal cross-check of student aid records against federal grant logs and the Social Security Death Index.
The discovery of erroneous payments totaling over $30 million to deceased individuals raises significant concerns about the integrity of federal financial aid programs, which are funded by U.S. taxpayers. President Donald Trump's administration has been emphasizing the amount of money the government is wasting and has been trying to eliminate unnecessary expenses.
Three days before the start of the 2024-25 school year, the San Francisco Unified School District sent an email telling freshman parents that their kids had been automatically enrolled in a two-semester ethnic studies class. The course — which covers such topics as structural racism, colonialism, and the relative merits of capitalism versus socialism — had been an elective for a decade, but families were now being told it had been made a requirement of graduation. Students have raised concerns that they might not be able to fit into their schedules electives such as art, or even core classes like biology, world history, or Spanish, as a result.
The Justice Department on Thursday formally notified the American Bar Association that it will no longer comply with its ratings process for judicial nominees, the result of what it argues is a biased system and one that "invariably and demonstrably" favors nominees put forth by Democratic administrations. The Department of Justice said it will no longer grant the ABA the "special treatment" and first access it has received, revoking decades of precedent where the ABA interviewed and vetted potential members of the incoming DOJ team. "Accordingly, while the ABA is free to comment on judicial nominations, there is no justification for treating the ABA differently from such other activist organizations
The state organization that oversees school sports in California will allow cisgender female athletes to compete in an upcoming statewide championship track meet if they lost a qualifying position to a transgender competitor, a change that was announced hours after President Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal funds if local officials didn’t block a trans girl from competing at the event.
The CIF said it would launch a pilot program for the 2025 State Track and Field Championships allowing any biological female who would have earned the next qualifying mark for one of their Section’s automatic qualifying entries in the State meet an opportunity to participate in Track and Field Championships,”
In the latest signal that relations between state workers and their boss are getting tense, one public sector union created a strike fund to prepare for a fight over Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to freeze employees’ salaries. The union hopes the first step to potentially walk off the job sends a clear message to the governor and lawmakers. The union leader said he hopes to communicate to members that the labor group is ready to fight over the budget proposal that aims to save $767 million by withholding salary increases
The Justice Department on Monday launched a new Civil Rights Fraud Initiative that will use the False Claims Act to investigate and pursue claims against federally funded entities that knowingly violate civil rights laws — including colleges and universities. The act, originally passed by Congress in 1863 to address fraud by defense contractors during the Civil War, will now be used to work to ensure universities and others do not allow civil rights abuses, such as favoring one race over another. The act allows private citizens to file complaints on behalf of the government, called “qui tam” lawsuits, against those who have allegedly defrauded the government,
California Republicans are launching an investigation into the Low Carbon Fuel Standard update that is expected to increase the cost of gasoline by 65 cents per gallon — impacting not just California, but the parts of Nevada and Arizona that rely on the Golden State for fuel — on July 1. “CARB and the Governor pushed an expensive gas price hike behind closed doors, ignored public input, and misled Californians about the real cost,” said Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones. CARB says its updated LCFS standards will increase fuel prices by $162 billion through 2046, with $105 billion going to credits for electric vehicle charging network owners
A Virginia church is encouraging its congregants to speak out against a school district where a transgender male student allegedly videotaped boys in a locker room. A father of one of those boys [said] that his son is among those being investigated by the district for sexual harassment. "He was questioning why there was a female in the males' locker room,". "And other boys were uncomfortable [with a female in the boys' locker room]. There were other boys asking the same question. "They [LCPS] created a very uncomfortable situation. They're young, they're 15 years old. They're expressing their opinions, and now they're being targeted for expressing those opinions."
The U.S. Senate will vote within days on overturning California’s stringent and influential regulations mandating 100% electric vehicle sales by 2035, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Tuesday.
The move has massive implications for the U.S. auto industry and represents a dramatic break from past procedure by Senate Republicans.
“While the Biden EPA EV mandate was bad,” Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said in a floor speech, “California is much worse." The Senate measure, which only needs a simple majority to pass, would nix a waiver granted late in the Biden administration for California to set nation-leading emissions standards
The Tennessee Valley Authority said it is the first utility in the United States to submit a construction permit application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for small modular reactor technology.
The utility said this is the next step in bringing a small modular reactor to the Clinch River site near Oak Ridge. The application is for GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy's small modular reactor BWRX-300 technology. Small modular reactors are significantly smaller than a traditional power plant, and they’re designed to produce a large amount of low-carbon energy.
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
L.A. Police Chief Admits Officers ‘Overwhelmed’
as Thousands of Rioters Block Freeway,
Torch Cars 25 replies
as Thousands of Rioters Block Freeway,
Torch Cars 25 replies
Thousands of anti-ICE rioters descended on a major freeway in downtown Los Angeles Sunday evening, blocking traffic in both directions, while rioters downtown set off fireworks and torched several self-driving cars.
Police officers were eventually able to force the mob down an exit ramp, restoring the free flow of traffic on the 101 Freeway, but Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell admitted that his officers were “overwhelmed” by the scale of the riots, which have continued for four consecutive days in Los Angeles.
“We are overwhelmed,” McDonnell said in a Sunday night press conference. “Tonight, we had individuals out there shooting commercial-grade fireworks at our officers. That can kill you.”
Sa’ad bin Atef al-Awlaki, the newly anointed leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), has issued a chilling call to arms targeting the President of the United States, Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and other top administration officials, including Elon Musk and Cabinet members[snip] Al-Awlaki, speaking in Arabic but quickly translated and circulated on social media, issued a direct incitement to domestic terror by calling on the estimated 4.5 million Muslims living in America to carry out lone wolf-style assassinations in the name of “revenge.”
Eva Longoria and Chrissy Teigen were among the Hollywood stars speaking out on social media about the ongoing protests in Los Angeles over ICE raids ordered by President Donald Trump. Multiple stars took to platforms such as Instagram amid news Trump ordered 2000 troops with California’s National Guard to the area amid ongoing unrest, to the objection of California Governor Gavin Newsom. On her Instagram Stories, Longoria reposted a tweet from Newsom in which he criticized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over his threat to deploy active-duty marines into the area to quell the resistance to Trump's policy. Hegseth said via
California Gov. Gavin Newsom added fuel to the fire after daring President Trump’s border czar Tom Homan to arrest him for failing to crack down on violent anti-ICE agitators in his state. “Come after me. Arrest me. Let’s just get it over with, tough guy,” the defiant Democrat told NBC News on Sunday. Newsom’s taunt came soon after Homan had warned that the governor and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass could both face federal charges for trying to thwart ICE raids throughout the city.
Democrats are trying to make “TACO” — or “Trump always chickens out”— a new political slogan to get under the president’s skin. But it is not as clever a quip as they think it is, and it creates a perverse incentive for Trump to push the red buttons they don’t want him to push. (snip) it is straightforwardly wrongheaded as a political slogan. Why on Earth would Democrats dare Trump to follow through on his most extreme tariff threats? If this slogan were to really work, (snip)it would nudge him and his allies to cling more tightly to the most extreme versions of Trump’s bad economic policies.
California governor plans to file lawsuit
against Trump over National Guard deployment
to protests 21 replies
against Trump over National Guard deployment
to protests 21 replies
LOS ANGELES — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he planned to file a lawsuit Monday against President Donald Trump in response to the administration’s extraordinary deployment of the National Guard to confront immigration protesters who took to the streets in Los Angeles.
“Commandeering a state’s National Guard without consulting the governor of that state is illegal and immoral,” Newsom, a Democrat, told MSNBC on Sunday. The streets of the sprawling city of 4 million people were quiet Monday morning, but the smell of smoke hung in the air downtown, one day after crowds blocked off a major freeway and set self-driving cars on fire as police responded with tear gas, rubber
Australian news reporter shot with rubber
bullet live on air while covering LA anti-ICE riots 20 replies
bullet live on air while covering LA anti-ICE riots 20 replies
An Australian news reporter was shot with a rubber bullet live on air while reporting on the anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles on Sunday, shocking video shows. Nine News’ US correspondent Lauren Tomasi was covering the violent protests against President Trump’s immigration policies when she was hit on camera. Video shows Tomasi yelp in pain after she was struck in the leg by the bullet fired from a Los Angeles Police Department officer. Tomasi had been reporting on the stand-off situation, which she said had “rapidly deteriorated” moments before she was caught in the crossfire.
If you’re the media, you call it a “mostly peaceful protest.” Normal people might call it an “insurrection.”
But “insurrection” is not quite right, either. “Insurrection” implies a violent revolt against the government by its own citizens, not violence by uninvited foreigners who refuse to leave.
I suppose you could call it a riot, but when its foreigners claiming ownership of the land, it’s a bit more than that.
So, the question remains: What do you call it when foreigners:
illegally enter the country,
refuse our requests that they leave,
assert ownership over the land,
attack our people, places and government,
under the colors of their foreign flag while burning the American flag,
Marc Thiessen commented on the Trump administration's new strategy for dealing with sanctuary cities on this week's "FOX News Sunday" panel: (snip) Donald Trump has beaten the Democrats, powered by illegal immigration, and they still can’t seem to get it right.
You have people literally burning cars, throwing rocks at ICE agents, and the Democrats are siding with the protesters over the administration trying to restore law and order.
And what has the left riled up, and what’s causing all this, is that the Trump administration has figured out a way around sanctuary city laws.
Israel has deported Greta Thunberg after seizing the Gaza-bound ship that she and her fellow anti-Israel activists used in their attempt to violate the Jewish state’s naval blockade.
“Greta Thunberg just departed Israel on a flight to Sweden (via France),” Israel’s foreign ministry said on its official X account Tuesday. The foreign ministry posted two pictures of the 22-year old on board a plane.
Thunberg was one of 12 activists aboard the Madleen. The crew refused to comply with Israeli directives to deliver the aid they were carrying to the proper port in Israel,
George Soros-Funded PAC to Launch
‘Blue Texas’ Effort After Democrats
Fail to Flip the State 18 replies
‘Blue Texas’ Effort After Democrats
Fail to Flip the State 18 replies
Democrats are reportedly gearing up to try and flip Texas blue with help from leftist billionaire and mega-donor George Soros.
The group known as Texas Majority PAC is set to launch its “Blue Texas” initiative on Monday, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
The newspaper said the Texas Democrat Party and other county parties will join the effort that will culminate in the midterm elections next year.
Soros has tried but failed in the past to turn Texas blue by throwing millions of dollars into the effort. The WSJ article said he recently donated $1 million to the Texas Majority PAC:
Texas has been a Republican stronghold for decades, providing the GOP
Shayetet 13, the elite IDF naval unit, intercepted the Gaza Freedom Flotilla early on Monday morning at around 3 a.m., according to the ship's operators and military officials.
The IDF boarded the Madleen, and took the crew and the ship to the Port of Ashdod, where they would be sent back to their respective countries, with Defense Minister Israel Katz instructing that the passengers view footage from Hamas's October 7 attacks. (Snip)
The ministry later announced that the flotilla, referring to it as the "selfie yacht," was making its way to Israeli shores, and announced that all passengers are expected to return to their home countries.
Comments:
There are numerous rare earth mineral markets that China has been greenlighted by WTO to dominate. Another mineral, Samarium, is absolutely critical for high temperature magnets needed in missile, drone, and aircraft production. China's practical monopoly on availability is due to low or no cost peasant and slave labor at environmentally unregulated plants in Mongolia and China near the Gobi Desert.