Tuesday, October 5 top stories
It is Tuesday, October 5. Here are today’s top stories.
Frances Haugen, who used to work at Facebook as a project manager and leaked many confidential internal documents to the media as a whistleblower, testified before a Senate subcommittee today. She said Congress needs to act to control Facebook because the company is prioritizing profits over people. Haugen said Facebook is causing our democracy to be torn apart, puts our children in danger, and helps to cause ethnic violence around the world. Haugen said Facebook takes advantage of teenagers’ mental health struggles and gets away with it because their parents come from a different generation and are not prepared to help their children. Haugen also said governments in countries like China, Iran, or Russia are using Facebook to spy on political opponents.
Several members of Congress said they are alarmed and vowed they would take action.
An investigation in France found that clergy in the French Catholic Church sexually abused about 216,000 children since 1950. Most of the children were boys aged between 10 and 13. The investigation said there were about 3,000 abusers and that the Catholic Church showed that it did not care about the victims by being silent, covering up the abuses, or knowingly putting children in contact with predators.
Pope Francis said he feels a deep sadness for the victims and for their wounds and is grateful that the victims have courage to come forward.
News reports say that officials investigating the oil spill in southern California suspect that a ship’s anchor may have caused a pipeline to rupture. The pipeline is located about 5 miles offshore and has leaked over 127,000 gallons of oil, harming wildlife and the environment.
California’s governor has declared a state of emergency. Miles of beaches in Orange County could be closed for several months.
Axios reported there is now a criminal investigation into the cause of the spill.
Forbes magazine reported that the 400 richest Americans increased their wealth by 40% over the past year. The top spot belongs to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who has a net worth of $201 billion. The second place belongs to Elon Musk and the third place is Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.
One of the new people in the top 400 list is the co-founder of Moderna, the vaccine maker — Noubar Afeyan.
Forbes also said former president Donald Trump is no longer in the top 400 list because his fortune went down from $2.9 billion to $2.5 billion when his real estate properties shrank in value.
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The Supreme Court began its new term on Monday. It has a 6-3 conservative majority. Here is a recap from law professor Michael Schwartz on what we can expect.
Alex (Daily Moth):
Can you recap on what are the most important cases that we should be on the lookout for?
Michael Schwartz:
Yes. There are three key cases that we have to watch carefully. The first is abortion. Mississippi passed a law restricting abortion after 15 weeks. Roe v. Wade regulates it at 24 weeks. Mississippi is directly challenging Roe v. Wade. So it is an opportunity for the 6-3 majority to overrule Roe v. Wade. That's the first case. The second is gun rights. A few years ago, I think in 2008, the Supreme Court ruled that people have a right to possess a firearm at home for self-defense. New York passed a law that said gun possession outside of the home requires a license. It is a very strict law about licenses. So there is a challenge against this New York law. So the court may allow guns outside of the home. The third case is religious vouchers. It is about the separation between church and state. In the state of Maine, it allows parents who can’t find a nearby public school because they are in a rural area — the state will give them a voucher to allow them to enroll in a private school in the area. I emphasize private school. The Maine law does not allow vouchers to be used for religious schools. So religious schools are challenging the Maine law. So it gives the 6-3 conservative majority an opportunity to blur the lines between the church and state.
Thank you Michael Schwartz for that recap. The Supreme Court will hear various cases in the next several months and usually issues its most important decisions in June.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.