by Rick White, Former U.S Congressman & CEO of Technet
December 22, 2020
Published in wsj.com.If you had told me 24 years ago that the internet pornography law I was working on would be the main obstacle to defense spending in 2020, I would have called you crazy. Yet for the past several weeks President Trump has repeatedly warned that he will veto the $740 billion defense appropriation bill if Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act isn’t repealed.

The congressional committee that drafted the 1996 act’s final language knew that Section 230 was a critical law at the dawn of the internet, and we passed it for a specific reason: to protect the internet’s role as a free marketplace of ideas. What went wrong? We succeeded too well.

In recent years, Section 230 has become a political punching bag, with […]

by Anthony Nighswander, President and Founder of APT Manufacturing Solutions
December 22, 2020
Published in thefabricator.comI recently came across an outstanding article called “Welding robot saves the day” by Nick Martin, a regular blogger to this website and a product designer at a small fabrication shop, Barnes MetalCrafters in Wilson, N.C. The article was about introducing a 6-axis robot to the shop. At Barnes, the robot helped increase production efficiency; reduced the time workers spent on repetitive, menial tasks; and contrary to popular belief, it didn’t eliminate any jobs. In fact, he stated that it had the potential to create job openings.

It’s the last point that I think is most relevant today. During these times when the unemployment rate hasn’t fallen far from its recent peak, many fear that automation will only exacerbate the country’s unemployment woes. […]

by Mike Johanns, Former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, former Nebraska Governor & former U.S. Senator; alliantgroup Chairman of AgricultureAs we put 2020 in the rear-view mirror, the cattle industry should be preparing now to make this year better than the last one. Unfortunately, the election has not made the future any clearer for the industry, which makes planning for 2021 a little more difficult.

Luckily, we have been having extensive conversations with our contacts in Washington so we can offer insights to beef producers on how they can better position themselves for the new year. Cash flow planning is going to be the big discussion for the cattle industry to start the year, with many in the business prepaying for feed and deferring income, but there are other powerful options out there to increase cash flow. Here are things […]