Day: June 12, 2022

Report: The U.S. Military Is Almost Completely Dependent on China for Key Mineral Used in Ammunition

Georgia Star News Staff

The U.S. military depends almost completely on China for a mineral essential to the production of ammunition and other defense products, Defense News reported Wednesday.

The House Armed Services Committee released draft legislation on Wednesday which would require a briefing on the antimony supply by October and a five-year outlook on supply chain vulnerabilities, Defense News reported. The U.S. has no domestic mine for the mineral antimony, which is reportedly used in the production of night vision goggles, armor-piercing bullets, explosives and nuclear weapons.

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National Integrated Ballistic Information Network Aids ATF-led Operation United Front in Multiple Convictions

Addison Basurto

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia announced on Thursday that The National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) has aided the undercover law enforcement effort, dubbed “Operation United Front,” in the indictment of a third person that was involved in narcotics distribution and the illegal possession of weapons.

“Addressing violent crime in Middle Georgia means utilizing every asset at our disposal, including high-level ballistics technology like ATF’s NIBIN,” said U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary.

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Rock Legend Jim Seals of ‘Seals and Crofts’ Dies at 80; Leaves Behind Musical Legacy That Honors Family, Affirms Life

Steve Morley

Jim Seals, co-founder of internationally successful soft-rock duo Seals and Crofts (pictured above, left), died on Monday, after a lingering illness following a stroke in 2017. Seals, who had homes in Costa Rica and Hendersonville, Tennessee, is believed to have been at his Tennessee home at the time of his passing.

The duo’s primary success came in the years between 1972 and 1977, though hits such as “Get Closer,” “Diamond Girl,” and “We May Never Pass This Way Again” have since become woven into the fabric of popular culture, continuing to permeate classic-pop formats across the board.

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Five Republicans Voted for Democrats Gun Control Bill

Georgia Star News Staff

Five House Republicans voted with Democrats to pass a gun control package Wednesday evening that would raise the purchasing age to buy a semi-automatic firearm to 21 if signed into law.

The majority of House Republicans voted against the Protecting Our Kids Act introduced by Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, which sought to raise the purchasing age of people buying semi-automatic rifles to 21, mandate gun owners store their firearms in a safe and increase regulation on bump stocks. Republican Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, Chris Jacobs of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Fred Upton of Michigan joined Democrats in voting to pass the bill.

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Commentary: Westerns Are Us

Georgia Star News Staff

In 1939, William S. Hart, a Shakespearean actor from New York who had been a key player in the making of Hollywood 20 years earlier, and for a time was considered its biggest silent star by virtue of filming “western” melodrama in a signature gritty and realistic style, re-released his 1925 silent epic “Tumbleweeds.” With it he offered a spoken introduction that was a sad farewell to both his own career and to the genre he had helped establish. This same year also saw the release of “Stagecoach,” John Ford’s benchmark. “Tumbleweeds” was a depiction of the actual opening of the Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma by the U.S. government only 50 years before and, to Hart’s mind, the end of the Western epoch. But the “western,” as we now know it, had just been re-born.

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Kansas Woman Pleads Guilty to Training All-Female ISIS Battalion

Georgia Star News Staff

A Kansas native admitted to organizing an all-female militia on behalf of ISIS in an Alexandria, Virginia, court on Tuesday.

Allison Fluke-Ekren pleaded guilty before a U.S. district court in Virginia for providing “material support to a foreign terrorist organization, namely the Islamic state of Iraq and al-Sham,” according to court documents.

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Department of Homeland Security Warns of Political Extremism in Heated Midterm Year

Georgia Star News Staff

On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a warning about a “heightened threat environment” ahead of the coming midterm elections in November.

The Daily Caller reports that the warning was made in a bulletin released by the department, “regarding the continued heightened threat environment across the United States.”

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Trump Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke Narrowly Wins Montana GOP House Primary

Georgia Star News Staff

Former Interior Department Secretary Ryan Zinke narrowly won the Republican primary to represent Montana’s District 1 in the U.S. House.

Zinke, whom former President Donald Trump endorsed, beat his opponent, Al Olszewski, by just over 1,600 votes, or 41.7% to 39.8%, according to the Associated Press.

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