Good morning! As anyone who accidentally saw “Joker 2” knows, it’s not always easy to tell the difference between art and poop. But the latest installation in Washington, D.C. makes it. As of yesterday, a bronze sculpture of a fat, swirly turd on a desk stands perched on the National Mall — satirical sign celebrating January 6 included. If you’re worried this sullies our distinguished capital, fear not. This turd gets flushed on October 30.

In less crappy news, a real-life Rosie the Riveter just turned 100.

ENERGY

🔋 Let the lithium games begin

The days of jamming 16 Duracells into a "portable" stereo are long over. Rechargeable lithium-based batteries are the norm now and power everything from your car to your phone to your floss (?). But that lithium has to come from somewhere.

Australian mining company Ioneer said yesterday that it had received a U.S. federal permit for its Rhyolite Ridge lithium mine in Nevada. The Bureau of Land Management issued the approval after a six-year review process delayed by activist concerns over an endangered flower. Regulators say they worked with the company to modify the project. So the all-important Tiehm’s buckwheat flower should be juuust fine.

• Ioneer will get a $700 million loan from the Department of Energy to help build this thing.

• When completed in 2028, it will quadruple U.S. lithium production and produce enough juice for 370,000 electric vehicle batteries per year.

This is driven in part by concern over China. Fifty-three percent of the world's lithium supply is mined in Australia. But 96% of that is exported to China for processing. Overall, China controls two-thirds of the world's lithium production and leads the way in many other minerals critical to new tech. The U.S., which produces just 2% of global lithium demand, is racing to change that.

• News broke last week that the White House is negotiating a deal for a group of American companies to buy an African cobalt producer.

• The State Department's Minerals Security Partnership is pursuing "critical mineral supply chains" with friendly countries. Canada's even getting in on the action.

Arkansas to the rescue: The U.S. Geological Survey announced this week the discovery of between 5 and 19 million tons of lithium in southwestern Arkansas. For reference, the U.S.'s only active lithium mine (in Nevada), produces about 5,000 tons per year.

• Energy giant ExxonMobil is working to develop new tech to extract it cost-effectively and plans to launch a previously announced processing plant in the state in 2027.

• Meanwhile, site prep is underway for another mine and processing plant in Nevada. Approved in the waning days of the Trump administration, Biden's now tossing it a $2.3 billion loan to help.

In related news: The White House is directing the Pentagon and intelligence agencies to ramp up their use of AI and help ensure the U.S. doesn’t fall behind China in the tech game.

GOVERNMENT

🇺🇸 President Biden will apologize today for the U.S. government's past behavior toward Native American children. From 1819 to 1969, the federal government — mostly via the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) — ran hundreds of boarding schools meant to forcibly assimilate Native kids. An investigation by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland found records of physical abuse and hundreds of associated deaths. The BIA today administers reservations and provides services to 574 federally recognized tribes.

🎨 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking on the sexy new topic of… lead paint. Lead paint was banned in 1978 but millions of older homes still contain it. The EPA’s new rule proposal, announced yesterday, would reduce the acceptable level of lead paint dust to basically zero. When lead is identified as a problem, a special contractor comes in to get rid of it. Going forward, that job will be a bit more detail-oriented.

POLITICS

⭐️ Welcoming the race to Texas

Who said swing states get all the attention? Texas's political future isn't in doubt, but that doesn't mean it can't get a little love from the candidates. Both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will be in the Lone Star State today.

Kamala Harris will hold a celebrity-fueled rally in Houston focused on the state's abortion ban. She'll be joined on stage by Texas legend Willie Nelson and ex-Destiny's Child singer Beyoncé Knowles, who is from Houston.

• Harris's event is more about drawing national attention to Texas's abortion policy than fighting to win the state. As one Harris advisor noted, "the most important audience are folks in the battlegrounds."

• Her rally in Atlanta Thursday had star power of its own. The VP was joined by a gaggle of famous Boomers including Barack Obama, Samuel L. Jackson, and Bruce Springsteen.

Donald Trump will speak to reporters about border security — a big issue for the state that shares a 1,200-mile border with Mexico. Trump's in town, however, to record an appearance on Joe Rogan's Austin-based podcast.

• Democrats are hopeful that they can take out Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) this year. Their nominee, Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) has done relatively well in polling but still trails Cruz by an average of 4%.

• Trump will continue his tour of non-competitive states with an event at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Sunday.

📊 Closing arguments and polling slides

Kamala Harris is drawing some eyeballs for a town hall-style interview (with audience questions) she gave on CNN. Obama’s former campaign guru David Axelrod gave her a thumbs down for too much “word salad," but the attention is coming from one specific answer.

• In response to a question from host Anderson Cooper, Kamala Harris called Donald Trump "a fascist" and said the former president is "increasingly unhinged and unstable."

• The vice president will deliver her "closing argument" at an event next week just off the National Mall in Washington, D.C. (presumably nowhere near the poop statue).

• Harris’s 20% lead among young voters is driven by a massive gender gap. Young women prefer the VP by a 33% margin. But her lead with young men? Just 2%.

Donald Trump went all-in on "things that sound great but are unlikely to happen" when he floated getting rid of the federal income tax. After all, the only thing better than lower taxes is no taxes.

• With 11 days to go, Trump is enjoying a late boost in the polls. Polling averages from The Hill and RealClearPolling show him leading or tying Harris in all seven swing states. Similar information from 538 shows a more level playing field but still gives Trump the overall edge.

• In very related news, congressional Republicans are counting chickens and mapping out a plan for Trump's first 100 days in office.

• Trump said yesterday that he's open to pardoning President Biden’s son Hunter, who’s been found (or pleaded) guilty of gun and tax crimes.

TRIVIA

It's no secret that the United States is a nation of immigrants. We've got more immigrants than any other country — one-fifth of the worldwide total. In fact, the immigrant share of the U.S. population is higher today than at any point since 1910. To the nearest tenth, what percentage of the U.S. population do immigrants make up?

Hint: We’re looking at low teens here.

BRIEFS

● The government settled its lawsuit with the two Singaporean companies that control the ship that caused the Baltimore bridge disaster. Their bill for cleanup costs? $102 million. Not settled yet? The state of Maryland’s suit for the $2 billion rebuild costs.

● Boeing's third-quarter loss of $6.1 billion is set to continue after 64% of striking union members said "nah, bro" to the company's newest contract offer. The company, still reeling from a year of disasters, recently said it would lay off 10% of its workforce.

● The latest round of handbag wars was just won by… the government. A federal judge sided with regulators at the FTC to block the pending $8.5 billion merger of two accessories giants — Tapestry (Coach, Kate Spade) and Capri (Michael Kors, Versace).

● Arizona is Arizona-ing again. Someone was arrested for setting fire to a Post Office dropbox in Phoenix, damaging a pile of mail-in ballots. In Tempe, the guy arrested for shooting at a Democratic Party office had over 250,000 rounds of ammo.

● Florida’s attorney general sued the U.S. Department of Justice this week for shelving the state’s investigation into the second Trump assassination attempt. The feds say it’s a federal issue but the state says the crime took place in Florida, so it’s their case.

QUOTE

ANSWER

According to research from Pew, the foreign-born population in the United States hit a record 47.8 million last year. That represents a cool 14.3% of the overall population. That’s the highest since 1910 but is juuust below the record high of 14.8% from 1890. However, like many things, immigration ebbs and flows. Back in 1970, we were just 4.7% foreign-born.