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☆ Snapchat's role in fentanyl crisis probed during House roundtable: 'It's a Snap-specific problem'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The roundtable featured the mother of a child who died after taking a drug containing fentanyl allegedly purchased over Snapchat, apparently believing it was a prescription painkiller. "Big Tech has many problems," said Carrie Goldberg, a lawyer who works on cases seeking to hold tech platforms accountable for often offline harms. Bloomberg reported Wednesday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice are also investigating Snap's role in fentanyl sales. That's because it does not incentivize safety features, she said, and also prevents tech platforms from reaching the discovery stage in many cases, which could otherwise reveal internal information. But legislation weakening encryption for law enforcement investigations would also likely be at odds with the committee's other goal of increasing digital privacy protections.

☆ At meetings, Proud Boys sing 'Proud of Your Boy,' a weepy ode to mom from Broadway's 'Aladdin,' documents show
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Laura Italiano | Azmi Haroun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Proud Boys are urged to sing a Broadway show tune at meetings, a new court document reveals. The song is "Proud of Your Boy," a weepy ode to making mom proud by the title character in "Aladdin." The anthem is 'Proud of Your Boy," an emotional ode to winning mom's approval from the hit musical, "Aladdin." "Do the 'Proud Boys' know their anthem was written by a gay Jew?" The Southern Poverty Law Center, which calls the Proud Boys a violent, right-wing hate group, has also noted that the song "Proud of Your Boy" inspired the group's name.

☆ Making salary ranges public may shrink pay gaps but slow wage growth
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Carlos Waters | In Carloswaters | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The rise of pay transparency laws in the United States could change how the nation's workers negotiate their annual salaries in today's fast-changing labor market. As layoffs mount in the face of recession fears, the increased number of job seekers will be seeing more positions in states that mandate pay ranges be publicly listed. The rise of these pay transparency laws could boost wages for minorities and women, who may be paid less than their peers. Nuances of rising pay transparency were highlighted in a report Pakzad-Hurson co-authored in the National Bureau of Economic Research. Watch the video above to learn more about the rise and potential implications of pay transparency.

☆ After Indiana Univ. stabbing, Asian American students say they haven’t received enough support from school
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Kimmy Yam | Kimmy Yam Is A Reporter For Nbc Asian America. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Since the incident, a sense of shock has rippled through the school’s Asian community. The students say that conversations around the incident have been active among the Asian Americans on campus. Karen Cheng, a senior at the university and the president of the school’s Asian American Association, noted a similar sense of fear. As an Asian American woman, she said, public safety concerns predate the tragedy. But the community is also flanked by some areas with white supremacist activity, something many Asian American students are aware of, Cheng said.

Florida could soon become the 26th state to allow individuals to carry concealed loaded guns anywhere without permits — a growing trend that has alarmed gun safety groups. “Constitutional carry” and “permitless carry” laws eliminate the requirement. Permitless carry laws get rid of that requirement. “Permitless carry causes harm, and there is data to prove it,” said Shannon Watts, a board member at the gun violence prevention group Everytown for Gun Safety. She pointed to multiple studies showing that states that have implemented permitless carry have had upticks in both gun violence and police shootings.

When students return to the Virginia school where a first-grade teacher was shot by a 6-year-old, the campus will be outfitted with a metal detector. The Newport News Public Schools district announced Thursday that a detector will be installed at Richneck Elementary School, where Abigail Zwerner was shot while teaching. At least that is one extra layer of support.”Use of metal detectors rare at American schoolsThe use of metal detectors in schools, particularly elementary schools, is still rare, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. During the 2019-2020 school year, less than 2% of public elementary schools performed random metal detector checks on students. About 54.6% of elementary schools had security staff present at least once a week; at middle schools, it was 81.5% and at high schools 84.4%.

Protecting property does not typically justify the use of lethal force under Washington, D.C., law, legal and criminal justice experts said as police investigate the fatal shooting of a 13-year-old boy in Washington over the weekend. Legal experts agreed that deadly force is not a legally justifiable way to defend property, except, perhaps, in cases of self-defense or home intrusion. "I know of no law that allows for deadly force purely in the defense of property," NBC News legal analyst Danny Cevallos said. "It’s always been the case that you can’t use deadly force to protect your property." But he added that in Washington and in most of the country, the use lethal force is not allowed in defense of property.

☆ 6-year-old is unlikely to be charged in teacher's shooting, but parents could be, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Antonio Planas | Helen Kwong | Antonio Planas Is A Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

The 6-year-old boy accused of shooting his Virginia teacher Friday with a gun he took from home is unlikely to be charged, but his parents could be criminally culpable depending on if they properly secured the weapon, experts said. The boy shot Zwerner with a 9mm Taurus firearm he obtained from his home, Drew said. NBC News legal analyst Danny Cevallos said it’s highly unlikely the boy will be charged, even in juvenile court. In recent years, several adults have been charged in Virginia after a child has fired an unsecured gun. In October 2013, the Virginian-Pilot reported the parents of an elementary school student in Norfolk were charged with child neglect after their son brought a handgun to school.

☆ A top Republican says Biden's proposals to make monthly student-loan payments cheaper are a 'backdoor' for his 'radical free college agenda'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Biden administration announced new regulations to improve income-driven repayment plans. The changes are meant to make payments cheaper, and "create faster pathways to forgiveness," according to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. Foxx has been an outspoken opponent of Biden's broad student loan forgiveness and other pandemic-era debt-relief measures. Under IDR, borrowers are meant to make monthly payments based on their incomes, with eventual loan forgiveness after at least 20 years of payments. "These plans will significantly cut monthly loan payments and it's part of a real transformation of the student loan system."

☆ George Santos accused of flashing white-power symbol during House speaker vote
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Rep. George Santos has been accused of flashing a white-power symbol on the House floor on Thursday. Santos appeared to flash an OK symbol while casting a vote for Kevin McCarthy as speaker. The then-incoming lawmaker, who was sworn in on Saturday, was pictured making the gesture as he cast a vote for Kevin McCarthy in the tenth round of votes for House speaker. Santos used his right hand to cast his vote for McCarthy while making a sideways "OK" gesture with his left hand, which was positioned across his body. Many took to social media to condemn Santos and speculate on whether he had deliberately flashed the hand gesture.

☆ Video shows border agents, police arresting migrants sleeping outside church shelter in El Paso ahead of Biden's visit
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Julia-Ainsley-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Julia Ainsley | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

In the week before President Joe Biden’s trip to El Paso, Texas, Customs and Border Protection officers, as well as El Paso city police, began arresting migrants sleeping in the streets outside a Catholic church shelter and bus station, according to new footage obtained by NBC News. Immigration advocates say the proximity of the arrests to a church shelter may violate the Department of Homeland Security’s policies. Footage obtained by NBC News shows Customs and Border Protection officers as well as El Paso city police in the streets outside a Catholic church shelter and bus station. A Border Patrol official told NBC News those arrested had not been previously apprehended by Border Patrol when they crossed over from Juarez, Mexico. Biden is expected to tout the plan, which also opens up more pathways for legal migration, in his visit to El Paso on Sunday.

☆ How Anti-Abortion Activists Bought Access to the Supreme Court
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Katherine Long | Jack Newsham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +29 min

In exchange for as little as a few thousand dollars in contributions to the nonprofit, these people received easy access to events where Supreme Court justices would be. Supreme Court Historical society trustee Jay Sekulow, center, represented President Trump during the latter's impeachment trial in 2020. Anti-abortion advocates cheer in front of the Supreme Court after the decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores was announced in 2014. Alito did not respond to a request for comment on his involvement in the Supreme Court Historical Society. Supreme Court justices, though, aren't even required to stay within those weak guardrails because no code of ethics governs justices' behavior.

☆ Proud Boys tried to get a sedition case tossed because too many of their potential defense witnesses would plead the Fifth. A judge said no.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Jury selection in the DC seditious-conspiracy trial of five Proud Boys leaders wrapped Friday. Two potential Proud Boys defense witnesses were also "intimidated" into silence when the federal government threatened prosecution, one of the four, Ethan Nordean, had argued. The Proud Boys are considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center; the Anti-Defamation League calls them a violent, right-wing extremist group. These and other extremism watchdog groups say misogynistic, Islamaphobic, transphobic, and anti-immigration rhetoric is common among Proud Boys members. "Tarrio suggests that the Court should infer nefarious activity simply from the number of potential defense witnesses who have claimed privilege," the judge also wrote.

The exact contours of the Democrats' majority is in flux after Senator Kyrsten Sinema switched her party affiliation from Democrat to independent. But either she caucuses with Democrats and gives the party a 51-49 majority or she does not, leaving Democrats with a 50-49 edge. But in a 50-50 Senate where Democrats and Republicans had an even number of seats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, several civil rights lawyers and nominees supported by progressive advocates stalled with deadlocked votes. And in a 50-50 Senate, occasionally Vice President Kamala Harris was needed to cast a tie-breaking vote. Assuming they are renominated, their path to confirmation could be smoothed, as the Judiciary Committee under Durbin's leadership will now have a majority of Democrats.

☆ The Oath Keepers promised to defend liberty — and ended up trying to overthrow American democracy
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The Oath Keepers were founded in 2009, pledging to stand up to tyranny. The Oath Keepers, to be sure, are not to be confused with a charming but a little bit problematic ex. A look at the list of 10 orders the Oath Keepers insisted its members — cops and soldiers — would not carry out reveals as much. Thanks to the magic of the Internet Archive, however, we can see just how they were received on the Oath Keepers' website at the time. But there is, in my take, nothing different about the underlying threat that Oath Keepers posed from day one."

Several Latinos whose lives and work left a profound imprint on American institutions — from arts and entertainment to legal and civil rights — passed away in 2022. Cavazos began his education in a two-room schoolhouse on the King Ranch in Texas, where his father was a foreman. President Reagan named Cavazos Secretary of Education in 1988, making him the first Hispanic ever to serve in the U.S. Together, “Luis” and Maria” showed young audiences that Latinos were people who worked, fell in love and were part of their community. Her goals were to give Latinos a presence in the dance world, and to instill pride in Hispanic culture.

☆ Rep. Zoe Lofgren crashed Proud Boy Enrique Tarrio's January 6 deposition to ask why he called her the C-word on Telegram
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Rep. Zoe Lofgren interrupted the Proud Boys' Enrique Tarrio's Capitol-riot deposition. "I see that Ms. Lofgren has come onto video," a committee lawyer whose name is redacted is recorded as saying. "I just don't understand why that's just such a big deal," Tarrio's lawyer said, dismissing Telegram as "just kind of a really nasty Irish bar scene." Tarrio told committee members: "I took it to be, like, 'Hey, the election's coming up. The Proud Boys seditious-conspiracy trial follows the November seditious-conspiracy conviction of the Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and is expected to last about six weeks.

☆ 2022 in gender equality: Share of female Fortune 500 CEOs hits all-time high, but other progress stalls
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Morgan Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Women continue to face a significant wage gap that has hardly budged over the last 15 years, with women of color bearing the brunt of the disparity. The year "2022 really is a mixed bag when it comes to gender equality," says Melissa Boteach, the vice president for income security and child care/early learning at the National Women's Law Center. Aside from that victory, there has been little progress in closing the gender wage gap over the past decade. This year, the wage gap narrowed by one penny. The wage gap Black women face narrowed by about four cents in one year, while Latinas' wage gap didn't budge at all.

The bill already passed the Senate and now goes to President Joe Biden for his signature. “In removing Taney’s bust, I’m not asking that we would hold Taney to today’s moral standards,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said on Wednesday while advocating for the statue’s removal. Figures like Taney belong in history textbooks and classroom discussions, not in marbled bronze on public display of honor.”A similar effort in 2020 that passed the House aimed to remove Taney’s bust from the Capitol along with monuments honoring Confederates. That bill, however, was eventually stalled by Senate Republicans who argued that states should decide which statues they’d like to display in the Capitol. A statue of Taney was previously removed in 2017 from the grounds of the Maryland State House.

☆ As more men leave the workforce, women are stepping in to fill those jobs
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Vanessa Yurkevich | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

And that is reflective of new trends developing both for men and women in the labor force. In recent months, more men aged 30-44 have been dropping out of the workforce, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Although more men are stepping out of the workforce to take care of children post-pandemic, it’s still only in the single digits, according to economist Richard V. Reeves. The data showed that the total number was skewed more towards women than men, since so many women assumed caretaker roles at home when daycare centers and schools closed during lockdowns. Since then, men and women have gained back all the jobs lost.

“Nearly every single state in the nation has passed at least one significant gun safety law since Sandy Hook,” concluded the report, first obtained by NBC News. Gun violence has gone from being a political third rail to a kitchen table topic in just ten years. Nearly every American will know a victim of gun violence in their lifetime.”Former Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz., hugs Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Ga., at the Giffords Gun Violence Memorial in front of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., on June 7. Still, gun safety advocates face tall hurdles to achieving other goals, like banning semi-automatic assault-style weapons and large-capacity ammunition. Republicans just won control of the House, almost certainly ending hopes for stricter gun laws for the foreseeable future.

☆ Marjorie Taylor Greene says that if she planned Jan. 6 the rioters 'would've been armed' and would have won
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said that if she organized Jan. 6, the protesters "would've been armed." Though denying involvement, Greene has been sympathetic to the rioters and defended them. And next thing you know, I organized the whole thing, along with Steve Bannon here. And I will tell you something, if Steve Bannon and I had organized that, we would have won. She has also repeatedly defended the rioters, visiting a group of rioters imprisoned in Washington, DC, whom she described as "political prisoners."

Jewish and anti-hate organizations are urging social media influencers and tech platforms to stop hosting interviews with Ye, the rapper and artist formerly known as Kanye West, as he’s continued to make antisemitic statements and criticize Jewish people in his recent public appearances. Ross, a popular Twitch streamer with 7 million followers, is Jewish and said that he was going to “stand up for the Jews” in the interview. On Dec. 5, political streamer Hasan Piker said in a Twitch stream that he may participate in the interview. Rez said that even if Ross planned to challenge Ye, she would be concerned that the interview would stoke antisemitic violence. Ross has been silent on the topic of the Ye interview since the call with Fuentes was published.

On this National Latina Pay Equity Day — set aside on Dec. 8 to focus on the pay gap between Latinas and non-Hispanic white men — advocates are pressing a distinct message: It's worse than you think. The true reality of millions of working women has not been reflected in calculations of the wage gap by leaving out women who work part-time, seasonal or migrant jobs, Ramírez said. For Latinas, it takes an average of 24 months to equal what white, non-Hispanic males are paid in 12 months. According to the Justice for Women report, non-Hispanic white men working full and part time on average earn $50,624 per year, while Latinas working full and part time average $25,312. Among Latinas specifically working full time, year-round, women of Honduran descent had the lowest earnings compared to non-Hispanic white men, at 44 cents for every dollar earned.

☆ Latinas lose $1.2 million over their careers due to the pay gap—here's what needs to change
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Morgan Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

That pay gap translates to a staggering loss of nearly $1.2 million over a 40-year career. Latinas with the largest pay gaps often work as maids, child-care workers and cashiers, among other critical, undervalued occupations, the Center for American Progress reports. Honduran women, for example, only make 44 cents, Guatemalan women make 47 cents, and Salvadoran women make 49 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men, the NWLC reports. While the largest explained causes of the pay gap include the segregation of Latinas into lower-paying occupations and a history of discrimination and bias in hiring and salary decisions, a significant part of the pay gap can't be accounted for by these factors. Increasing pay transparency, providing Latinas access to information, negotiation tactics and connecting them with allies in the workplace can help Latinas in the fight for equal pay.

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