| | | | | | | Presented By Walmart | | | | Axios AM | | By Mike Allen · Jun 04, 2022 | | Hello, Saturday. Smart Brevity™ count: 1,120 words ... 4½ mins. Edited by Donica Phifer. | | | | | | 1 big thing: Gun lobby splits |  | | | Photo illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photos: George Frey/AFP via Getty Images | | | | There's a growing divide in America's gun lobby: - Groups representing firearms manufacturers want to work with policymakers, who could put them out of business. But individual owners want to fight, Axios' Lachlan Markay reports.
Why it matters: The National Rifle Association has been beset by internal feuds and legal scrutiny, leaving an opening for more pragmatic gun-rights groups. What's happening: The NRA — the biggest, but weakened, gun group — says a federal law to stop potentially dangerous people from obtaining weapons should be a non-starter. - But the National Sports Shooting Foundation, an industry group that's a rising lobbying force, thinks there's a deal to be had.
Such red flag laws, already in place in many states, can be a palatable compromise as long as "due process considerations" are included, Mark Oliva, NSSF's managing director for public affairs, told Axios. Balance of power: The NRA remains a far larger contributor to federal political candidates. Its $237 million budget in 2020, the latest year for which annual numbers are available, dwarfed NSSF's $40 million. - But last year NSSF outspent the NRA on lobbying for the first time, and it's outpacing the group this year as well, according to OpenSecrets data.
Between the lines: In digital ads this year, NSSF has worked to convey gun owners as more diverse than the stereotype it says they've been saddled with — male, white and conservative. - Its ads feature female, Asian-American, Latina and gay spokespeople, and promote NSSF safety measures such as its distribution of free gun locks.
- Days after the Uvalde shooting, NSSF purchased ads on Snapchat to court college graduates in Maine, Montana and West Virginia — states represented by senators crucial to any legislative action.
Share this story. |     | | | | | | 2. CEOs admit storm |  Data: FactSet. Visual: Axios Closer Business leaders are suddenly admitting the strong U.S. economy "has given way to a muddled outlook in which a labor shortage, soaring stock markets and a healthy consumer are no longer givens," The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription). - Meta and Uber sharply slowed hiring in recent weeks. Walmart and Target said higher costs are eating into earnings.
- As we told you in a Thought Bubble: Figures out yesterday show the jobs boom may be starting to lose heat.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said at a conference Wednesday: "That hurricane is right out there down the road coming our way ... We don't know if it's a minor one or Superstorm Sandy. You better brace yourself." - Tesla CEO Elon Musk emailed executives that he has a "super bad feeling" about the economy, and needs to cut about 10% of salaried employees at the electric carmaker.
🐦 Musk mischievously retweeted President Biden responding: "Lots of luck on his trip to the Moon." 💡 Reality check ... WashPost website lead story: "As some predict recession, economy shows resilience ... Inflation persists, but layoffs are at record lows — and households and businesses are still spending." | | | | | | | | 3. 🇺🇦 100 days, 100 speeches | | Photos: Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP This composite shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky giving video addresses Feb. 24 through yesterday — 100 days of war. - Why it matters: Zelensky has led his country in mounting an unexpectedly fierce resistance to the Russian invasion. Every night, he rallies Ukrainians to the fight with a video address on social media.
There have been 100 nightly reminders he hasn't fled, and that Ukraine has survived, AP writes. - His actor-trained voice can be soothing — a deep, confidential almost-whisper. Or forceful, rising in moral outrage.
| | | | | | | | A message from Walmart | | Walmart Academy launches worldwide | | |  | | | | The Walmart Academy is launching globally to 2.3 million associates, bringing together existing curriculum and new leadership and well-being courses. Learn about Walmart's commitment to supporting associates in the jobs they have today and preparing them for the jobs of the future. | | | | | | 4. 📷 1,000 words | | Photo: Alex Brandon/AP The White House was lit in orange last night for National Gun Violence Awareness Day. | | | | | | | | 5. 🗳️McCormick concedes | | Dave McCormick and his wife, Dina. Screenshot: Dave McCormick YouTube When you quit as CEO of the world's largest hedge fund, hit the diner circuit in rural Pennsylvania and spend at least $11 million of your own money, you don't plan to show how to lose with class. But 17 days after Primary Day, with a recount ongoing, Dave McCormick gracefully conceded to Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania's Republican Senate race, Axios' Herb Scribner reports. - In November, the Trump-backed Oz will face Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D), who said this week he "almost died" from a stroke on May 13.
Before the recount, Oz led McCormick by 972 votes out of 1.34 million cast. McCormick told an "Election Recount Party" at a Pittsburgh hotel: - "We came so close to our goal. ... But it is now clear to me, with the recount largely complete, that we have a nominee. Today I called Mehmet Oz to congratulate him on his victory, and told him I will do my part to help unite Pennsylvanians behind his candidacy."
"I'm not going anywhere," McCormick continued. "This is my home. This is our home. This is where my dreams were launched. And this is where we plan to have a future." | | | | | | | | 6. ⚖️ Trump's man handcuffed | | Peter Navarro leaves federal court in Washington yesterday. Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images A federal grand jury indicted former Trump administration aide Peter Navarro on two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the Jan. 6 investigation, Axios' Oriana Gonzalez reports. - Navarro, 72 — who has an economics Ph.D. from Harvard, and has pushed Trump's discredited claims of election fraud — was the White House's Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy.
Navarro said he was handcuffed by an FBI agent while trying to board a flight to Nashville for a TV appearance. - "Who are these people? This is not America," Navarro said. "I was a distinguished public servant for four years!"
Navarro speaks to the media outside court yesterday. Photo: Kent Nishimura/L.A. Times via Getty Images While he has an attorney that has been assigned to him by the court, Navarro said he'll be speaking for himself. | | | | | | | | 7. 🇨🇳 China nears power-projecting launch | | Satellite image: ©2022 Maxar Technologies via AP Satellite imagery shows China is nearing completion of its most advanced aircraft carrier — a Type 003 that has been under construction at the Jiangnan Shipyard northeast of Shanghai since 2018. - The carrier "will be a formidable addition to China's navy and allow it to more effectively project power into the Indian and Pacific Oceans," a Center for Strategic and International Studies analysis says.
Go deeper. | | | | | | | | 8. 🐢 1 for the road | | Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images This is a rare albino Galapagos giant tortoise baby, born May 1 — next to its mother at the Tropicarium in Servion, western Switzerland. - The zoo said in a statement (French): "This is the first time in the world that an albino Galapagos tortoise has been born and kept in captivity ... [T]his phenomenon had never before been observed either in zoos or in the wild."
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- Skills for career advancement.
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