Military Coup in Sudan

  Two days ago, the Sudanese military, under the leadership of General Abdel Fattah Burhan, staged a coup that overthrew the civilian government that had, until that point, been in place. Sudan is an economically struggling country, and while it had seen improvement in the last few years (mainly through grants from the World Bank), the coup is projected to adversely affect the economy, due to fairly obvious reasons. The Sudanese people have not been inactive, however, and are actively protesting the military coup, which General Burhan has justified as a way to stop a “civil war”.

Approximately a month ago, there was a failed coup attempt in Sudan. 21 officers and multiple soldiers were detained as being part of the participants in the attempt, and there were said to be “Pro-Bashir” (the old president of Sudan, who had been ousted after a 30-year reign) elements within this failed coup attempt, though it is not known as of yet if the coup attempts are connected in any way.

The coup has sparked international outrage, and has been condemned by multiple nations, including the U.S, which has withheld 700 million dollars in aid to Sudan after these events. Similarly, the World Bank has halted sending aid to Sudan as well, in an attempt to force General Burhan to return Sudan to democracy. While the Prime Minister, Abdalla Hamdok, has been returned to his home, the world stands with bated breath to see what will occur in Sudan.

Questions:
1. Should the U.S. intervene? If so, in what manner should they try to aid Sudan? If not, then why not?

2. Protestors are strongly opposed to the military government currently, but they have been fired upon (and some even killed) by soldiers. Do you believe that the protests will be effective?
3. Before the coup, Prime Minister Hamdok's government was in the process of dismantling the oppressive regime of President Bashir. Gen Burhan has said that they will now oversee this process. Do you believe him? Why, or why not? What is your prediction as to Sudan's future?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59066654

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58629978

https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-africa-sudan-arrests-omar-al-bashir-c8d027c0a9e250fcb5a595bdc987d282

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/26/sudans-military-has-seized-power-in-a-coup-heres-why-it-matters.html

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/sudanese-pm-detained-by-military-682998

COVID in Europe

Cases in Europe are starting to rise again. COVID is spiraling in Eastern Europe and cases in the West are starting to rise. Russia and multiple Eastern European countries are going back into lockdown because cases and death rates due to COVID have risen.

Why is this happening? Vaccine hesitancy. Across Europe, vaccine culture is not as strong as it is in America. Vaccine misinformation and the general mistrust that surrounds the government (alongside counterfeit vaccines) prevent many Eastern Europeans from getting vaccinated. In the West, outdoor events allow COVID to spread and individuals don’t take mask mandates as seriously as they should. There is also hesitation in vaccinating kids and teenagers, but many adults are vaccinated. Another possibility for the UK and their rise in cases is their AstraZeneca vaccine which shows to not be as effective as Pfizer, for example. 

With all this and the Delta variant making a stronger presence in Europe, many countries are going beyond their third waves of COVID. Cases are expected to keep rising as winter approaches.

Questions:

What are ways that vaccine hesitancy can be eliminated in places where people may not be as educated?

Do you think that Europe’s current state of COVID is something we should be worried about?

Even though precautions will be taken, with the travel ban being lifted in America, how do you think it will affect COVID globally?

Sources:

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/19/the-uks-covid-infection-rate-is-rising-heres-why.html 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/25/uk/europe-covid-second-pandemic-winter-intl-gbr/index.html 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/21/europe/moscow-lockdown-october-2021-covid-intl/index.html 

Facebook Does it Again

 

Earlier this month, Facebook had a leak of documents that prove they fail to protect their users. Today, on October 25, 2021, Mark Zuckerberg said “my view is that what we are seeing is a coordinated effort to selectively use leaked documents to paint a false picture of our company”. But does this paint a false picture?

Facebook, the biggest social media company, knows how to make a profit. They strategize in order to gain from their sites’ users. Media is not here for us, we are here for them. We are the dollars they make. In America, Facebook has made an effort to provide support in order to avoid spreading false information but the rest of the world doesn’t receive the same “treatment”.

For example, India. Two years ago, a couple of employees created a fake account in order to see what this profile's feed would look like. The profile was from the point of view of a young woman in India. This was during an exceptionally rough time between Pakistan and India and her new feed quickly filled with violent Indian and Pakistani content. 

Even though Facebook tries to prevent this situation in the states, they neglect other parts of the world. It’s hard to moderate the platform when it’s being used in a different language, but the risk of disinformation gets higher because of the different languages. 

Questions:

Facebook is known for their lack of user safety. Do you think there is anyway to protect users beyond what Facebook is doing?

Facebook has the resources to ensure better protection for their users. Why don’t they? 

Should Facebook be held more accountable?

Sources:

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/25/facebook-earnings-zuckerberg-slams-press-coverage.html 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/25/tech/facebook-earnings-q3/index.html 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/10/24/india-facebook-misinformation-hate-speech/ 

Paid Family Leave for America?

So many countries who are developmentally behind  and not as affluent as America have some form of paid maternity/parental leave.  When it comes to paid leave for mothers (and fathers), America is behind.

The Build Back Better Bill is a plan that includes various programs, including paid leave, that can financially help American citizens. Unfortunately, paid family leave is not a guarantee in this agenda. It’s been almost impossible to reach a deal but many democrats are hopeful that it will be reached this week. 

Joe Biden recently said “It is down to four weeks… and, the reason it's down to four weeks? I can't get twelve weeks off.” A big player in this is Joe Manchin. Democrats and some senators, including and specifically Manchin, have been going back and forth on what is included in this bill overall. If paid leave is included, it will consist of four weeks, but it is up in the air right now. 

Research has shown that it can take mothers up to two months to recover and an ideal leave is between three to six months. Twelve weeks is not even enough for a new parent to recover let alone four.  

Questions:

Should paid leave be a higher priority for Americans? Why?

Why hasn’t paid leave been a more pressing issue in America? 

What do you think paid leave should entail? Who gets it and for how long?

Sources:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/manchin-puts-paid-family-leave-medicare-vouchers-spending-bill-chopping-n1282328 

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/23/dems-weigh-ditching-medicare-expansion-and-paid-leave-in-11th-hour-of-social-spending-talks-516929 

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/huddle/2021/10/25/is-this-finally-the-week-494828 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/10/25/biden-reconciliation-infrastructure-congress/ 

Oregon Bans Homebuyer Love Letters

   

    Oregon has become the first state to ban “love letters'', letters written to home sellers revealing personal information and demonstrate passionate interest in order to persuade the buyer to sell them the house. These love letters are a common practice across the US, and it provides personal information that could give certain people an edge at the expense of others. The National Association of Realtors criticize that the letters could potentially let sellers discriminate betweeen buyers on factors such as race, family, sexual orientation, which shouldn’t be considered when selling the house. Although discrimination against buyers is illegal by the Fair Housing Act, it can be very difficult to prove. 

    Oregon has a long history of discrimination, previously laws prevented African Americans from settling in the state. Later they could only settle in neighborhoods known as red zones, certain segregated areas of the city that were old, dangerous and expensive compared to white neighborhoods. Generations later many African Americans, minority groups and whites still live in the same neighborhoods, and due to racism or unconscious bias they want their neighborhoods to continue to stay segregated. 

    According to an interview from NPR, “I've had buyers who did not get their offer accepted. They were the highest offer. I confirmed with the listing agent that the terms were best. And they said to me, well, my seller just didn't think they were a good fit for the neighborhood. And so that was a really chilling thing to hear.”

    This raises the question of whether other states would follow Oregan’s example, and lobby for similar laws as well. As more people become aware of this issue, hopefully housing bias will decrease. It serves to show how history has a long lasting impact and still continues to haunt people to this day even generations later. 

Questions:

1. What are the negative effects of racial segregation?

2. Do you think neighborhood segregation is natural?

3. Should California enact similar laws to make housing competition more fair? 

Sources:

https://www.opb.org/article/2021/10/04/oregon-bans-homebuyer-love-letters-for-potential-fair-housing-law-violations/

https://medium.com/@pdx4all/a-historian-is-unearthing-records-of-where-portlanders-of-color-couldnt-legally-live-818a39c5310f

https://www.npr.org/2021/10/03/1042802570/oregon-bans-homebuyer-love-letters-for-potential-fair-housing-law-violations

https://www.leadertelegram.com/ap/business/homebuyer-love-letters-may-stir-bias-but-they-often-work/article_838664b0-1474-53d8-9731-70c215128102.html

President Biden Commits to Helping Taiwan in the Event of Chinese Aggression

  On Thursday, October 21st, President Biden stated in an interview that “[The United States] had a commitment” to defend Taiwan should China take any offensive action against it; for context, China recently tested a hypersonic missile, and the questioner was worried if the U.S. would be able to keep up with China militarily and if they would protect Taiwan, to which Biden answered, “Yes and yes.” The clear-cut statement goes against the U.S. policy of “strategic ambiguity”, where the U.S., while required to help out Taiwan, is allowed free reign in the actions that they can pursue.

Shortly following President Biden's statement, White House officials, namely, the Secretary of Defense and Spokesperson for the United States Department of State, declared that the policy of strategic ambiguity had not changed. Furthermore, they advised Taipei to “not rely” on the U.S. for matters of independence and sovereignty, clearly showing that the administration is still following the strategic ambiguity policy, even if Biden himself doesn't seem to want to.

Biden has not said this only once, either; in August, Biden spoke much of the same, though White House officials state that he misspoke and did not mean to verbally go against the Taiwan policy. Still, China has spoken out, warning Biden against “sending wrong signals”. Tensions have already mounted between China and Taiwan; very recently, China flew many warplanes over an air defense zone in Taiwan, so the already strained relationship between the two nations (one, in China's point of view, with the independence of Taiwan unrecognized by Beijing) has soured even further.

Questions:

1. Which do you prefer: Biden's ideal of defending Taiwan with (presumably) military force, the current policy of strategic ambiguity, or neither, and why?
2. Did Joe Biden make a mistake by saying what he did? Is it better to posture, or is discretion the better part of valor?
3. Based on the current relationships between the U.S., China, and Taiwan, as well as other world powers that may have a stake in the matter, what do you predict will happen throughout the next few years, and why?

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-59005300

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-38285354

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/22/biden-suggests-us-would-defend-taiwan-against-china-forcing-fresh-white-house-clarification

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/22/us/politics/biden-taiwan-defense-china.html

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/21/joe-biden-taiwan-chinese-attack-defend-516699

British MP David Amess Killed while Holding Meeting in Constituency

    British Member of Parliament David Amess was meeting with his constituency, inside the Belfairs Methodist Church Hall in Essex England, when he was stabbed to death in an attack on October 15. He was part of one of the 650 Members of Parliament in the British Parliamentary System elected to serve in the British House of Commons, which is similar to the US House of Commons. MPs attend many public events to meet people in order to better understand current issues that their people are facing, which they will discuss during Parliament meetings. David Amess had been serving for almost 24 years as a conservative, raising the concerns and issues of his constituents as well as voting in new laws. The British police arrested the murderer Ali Harbi Al on the scene, and he was charged with murder. He is of Somali ancestory but born in the U.K. whose father was a Afghanistan refugee. Investigators believe that the killer was motivated by Islamist extremism, and are investigating whether it was an individual attack or if he acted as part of a larger group such as the Taliban. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called David Amess “one of the kindest, nicest, most gentle people in politics.”     

    People have tied this tragedy to the bigger issue of how politicians are sometimes mistreated by the public in the U.K. Prior to the deadly attack, there was a history of mudslining attacks against Amess and other politicians on social media. Making negative and spiteful comments has been made easier through online anonymity. Amess’s death has raised new awareness on the consequences of  such anonymous derogatory comments and assaults through social media. 

    Days after the attack, in the Essex town of Leigh-on-Sea, people gathered to pay their respects and commemorate Amess’s life outside the Belfairs Methodist Church where he was attacked. Large numbers of people including Muslims participated over the weekends to show that they don’t condone the attack. The new MP that will replace David Amess has not been decided yet, but the election will likely be heated between the Conservative party and Labor party who both want the seat. The government is considering enforcing protection for MPs in the future during public events. 

Questions:

1. What can the government do in the future to protect against attacks like these?
2. What can people do to stop derogatory mudslinging towards politicians online?
3. How can people express their opinions/dissatisfaction in an acceptable way?

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-58951887

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-58930593

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-58943184

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/18/pm-urged-to-enact-davids-law-against-social-media-abuse-after-amesss-death

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/10/17/uk-security-mps-david-amess-stabbing/

US Plans to Lift Travel Ban on Vaccinated starting Early November

     

    The U.S plans to lift the travel ban on most European nations, and other countries including the UK, Brazil, China, India, Iran, Ireland and South Africa starting November 8, 2021. The FDA confirmed that people previously affected by the travel ban coming from these countries who have received the full dose of one of the approved COVID-19 vaccines will be allowed to enter the U.S. and no quarantines are needed upon arrival. However, testing negative for COVID-19 is still needed before traveling. The plan also includes an end to restrictions at Canadian and Mexican borders for fully vaccinated people, such as tourists, and foreign officials. 

    Previously the only people who can travel were citizens, green-card holders, and family. It was impossible for tourists to travel to the U.S., and this hurt the economy of people who relied on tourism for business. A 2021 tourism analysis by Tourism Economics reveals that travel spending totaled $679 billion in 2020, a 42% decrease from 2019. The state that suffered the most was Hawaii, who lost 60% of their revenue in 2020 compared to 2019. From the beginning of the pandemic starting in March to now, the U.S. is calculated to have lost $492 billion in tourism money.

    Supporters of ban lift believe that as vaccines become more readily available globally, it's time to finally lift the ban for good. Studies have shown that as a travel ban slows the spread of virus to certain extends, it will inevitably cross the border because COVID-19 may travel via goods exported and during transportation and the unloading process, it may come in contact with humans and start spreading. Other methods such as face masks, hygenie and vaccinations are much more effective in preventing the spread of the virus. 

Questions:

1. Do you think the U.S. is ready for the travel ban to be lifted in November? 
2. What impact do you think the ban lift will have on the U.S?
3. How do you feel about the end to self-quarantining after travel to the U.S, and do you think the new measures in place are enough?

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58911297

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58929441

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-us-partly-lift-international-travel-curbs-nov-8-official-2021-10-15/

https://www.statnews.com/2021/01/22/travel-bans-should-be-based-on-evidence-not-politics-or-fear/

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/12/us/politics/us-canada-mexico-borders-open.html

https://www.ustravel.org/toolkit/covid-19-travel-industry-research

COVID Vaccines and Children

 

In late September, Pfizer-BioNTech announced that their coronavirus vaccine has been shown to be safe and effective for children ages 5-11. Many parents eagerly await the the possibility that the vaccine may gain emergency authorization for this younger group, perhaps as soon as the end of October. However, some rare but serious side effects exist for children who take the coronavirus vaccine, one of them being myocarditis, or an inflammation of the chest. Discussion over side effects such as this one add to the distrust surrounding COVID vaccines, which proves to be a significant barrier in the US for progress in vaccinating the general populace.

An interesting thing to note is that parents in some other countries have the option to give their children one out of two doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Officials in countries such as Britain, Hong Kong, and Norway have recommended a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 12 and over, which would provide partial protection from COVID while mitigating side effects such as myocarditis, which is seen after the second dose when it occurs. Myocarditis may be more common among adolescents and young adults than previously thought. 

The risk-benefit calculation for getting vaccinated is complicated by these side effects. For example, my mother and some of my friends' parents have heavily discouraged me from getting the COVID vaccine, despite the necessity of vaccination to prevent further spread of COVID and development of variants. My mother's justification was that I, as a young person, was less at risk to develop severe COVID, and should avoid the vaccine because of the risk of side effects. 

The safety of vaccines is paramount in order to carry out an effective vaccination of the populace. 

1. To what extent is the vaccine hesitancy in response to potentially harmful side effects justified? Is it justified at all?

2. Has the media done a good job of portraying the COVID vaccine? Has there been too much discussion of the potential downsides? Too little?

3. For those of you that have or know people that have vaccine hesitant parents, how did you convince them to let you get vaccinated? 

Evergrande

                                            

China Evergrande Group is one of the largest property developers on earth. They are also one of the most indebted; in mid-September 2021, a deadline to make an $83 million dollar payment came and went without indication of payment from Evergrande. 

Concerns have been raised that this is China's Lehman Brother's moment; the collapse of a corporate titan that is as indebted as Evergrande in any other country would result in economic pandemonium. However, this crisis is happening in China, where the government has a greater degree of economic and sociopolitical control. As the ruling party of a one-party state, the CCP keeps a tight grip on money, corporate boardrooms, and the media. 

The Chinese government is fully capable of bailing Evergrande out. However, they have kept their intentions opaque, which, according to a NYT article, is an effort to show other Chinese companies that they need to be fiscally disciplined. The CCP's reaction to protests and public unease has also been interesting; as purchasers of unfinished Evergrande condominiums worry about losing their money, the government puts the responsibility of "dealing with petitions and maintaining stability" on the heads of the property development firms. 

China deals with media much differently than the US. Instead of a tug-of-war between news outlets, independent bloggers, and twitter celebrities ranging from all sides of the ideological spectrum, Chinese media (without VPN access) is highly controlled by the state. For example, in an effort to "maintain stability," the Chinese government has heavily censored social media discussion of the Evergrande issue, which makes it difficult for the public to know the extent of Evergrande's financial troubles and to organize protests. Control of media contributes heavily to the political socialization of Chinese people to CCP ideology, which of course is what the government wants to achieve. 

Questions:

1. How does this crisis compare to Lehman Brother's collapse? Will it lead to a financial crisis? 

2. According to the First Amendment, the US government can not infringe on peoples' right to free speech. However, the US law enforcement has been criticized for its handling of recent protests. To what extent is "social instability" harmful / helpful to a society? 

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/26/business/china-evergrande-crisis.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/05/business/china-businesses.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-china-economy&variant=show&region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/24/investing/china-evergrande-group-debt-explainer-intl-hnk/index.html

Facebook

About a week ago, Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, spoke to the senate about their disturbing facts. She illuminated how Facebook has been hiding that teenagers feel worse after using the app, and they are willing to show hateful content to keep people coming back. Of course, Zuckerberg fought back saying the evidence is false or taken out of context, yet senators insisted on the bombshell status of the information the whistleblower revealed. Facebook’s response? To make it harder for employees to leak. They created more private communication company-wide, and they’ve assigned certain employees to be in charge of security. 

This disturbing testimony only continued to prove how the media has been putting profits before all else. Facebook prided itself on being an app that connects people, yet they’re truly just exploiting them to keep the company afloat. As we learned in gov this week, that’s exactly what most tv media stations are doing now too - putting the most entertaining news on front to keep viewers coming back. Online media has become an entertainment business first and foremost. 

Questions: 

What do you believe is the correct plan of action the senate should take on? What changes should Facebook make? 

What is the line between freedom of private companies, and the mental-health dangers they may be inflicting? 

Senate testimony:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/05/technology/facebook-whistle-blower-hearing.html

Facebook’s response:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/13/technology/facebook-workplace-transparency-leaks.html

Lebanon

Last month, Lebanon formed a new government, and President was Najib Mikati, a billionaire who’s been holding office since 2005. Bad as it seems, the government essentially was non-existent since August 2020 after they all resigned from the Hangar 12 port explosion. Better than nothing? Hopefully? Combined with the new tax on WhatsApp calls, the lack of accountability for the Beirut explosion mid 2020, and the history of corruption the Lebanese people have had enough. There was fighitng on Thursday, and the two shiite Muslim parties called for a protest to remove the judge repsosnsible for investigating the 2020 explosion. Notably, one of the groups was Hezbollah, a U.S. classified terrorist organization. Today (October 14th) the protest turned into a gunshot battle, the Lebanese army fought civilians, which many said resembled the Civil War days in the 1980s. The Prime minister’s defense was that they needed to teach Hebollah a lesson for exploiting fear to bring more violence into the streets. No matter the organizational conflicts, the fact is 6 people died and the country continued to degrade by the day with innocent Lebanese paying the price. 


x
BACKGROUND: 
Since fall 2019, Lebanon’s currency value has dropped more than 90%; it is in the top 3 worst in the world economic collapses since the mid-1800s. So what happened? Lebanon is known in the Middle East for being the most diverse, with distinct Sunni, Shiat, Christian sects while also housing Syrian dn Palestianian refugees. However, this also created a lot of internal conflict, and combined with its weak, corrupt government left the country in very deep debt. In late 2019, banks began refusing withdrawals and anti-government protests erupted - this all led to the nationwide shortage of dollars. Lebanon does not produce anything for export, so the main source of its dollars were from wealthy investors to their central bank. They would pay back other depositors with new depositor’s money, but when people realized that, it all fell apart. [interesting article comparing the Lebanese central bank being to a Ponzi scheme]. Currently, more than 50% of the country is in poverty, and millions of both Lebanese residents and Syrian refugees are hungry. 
However, instead of trying to solve the issue, the political elite continued to argue amongst themselves. An exemplar of the situation would be Beirut’s port explosion in 2020. The government quite literally neglected thousands of tons of NH4NO3, ammonium nitrate, which if you remember from Chemistry class, is an explosive. And so, it exploded. In a devastating event, it killed nearly 200 people, left many others injured and the surrounding buildings destroyed. Many government officials knew about the hangar, including the prime minister and president, yet there has been zero accountability. Protestors believe that events like this are only going to continue ensuing if government officials are not charged for their corruption. Which, it did. 

Questions: 
The Biden administration has chosen not to get involved, is this the right decision given the painful past of US involvement in the Middle East? Why or why not? 
If the US were to intervene, what should happen? What should their limitations be? 
The French government have pushed the Lebanese government to enact reforms, but it’s been largely unsuccessful. If the US doesn’t get involved what should the international community do? What is the best way to help Lebanon? 

Lebanese economy:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/10/world/middleeast/lebanon-economic-crisis.html
A fantastic 3D view explaining the cause of the explosion: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/09/world/middleeast/beirut-explosion.html
Beirut Activity now: 
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/14/world/middleeast/beirut-lebanon.html
Government resignation:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/10/world/middleeast/lebanon-government-resigns-beirut.html 

Facebook, Whatsapp, and Instagram Suffer Major Outage, Leaving Many Users Frustrated

 

Last weekend, users of popular social media sites including Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp were frustrated due to an outage where most functions on the app were unusable for over 6 hours. According to representatives of Facebook, the outage was a result of a “faulty configuration change”. Shortly after the outage was reported at 11:39 pm EST, engineering teams from Facebook were working to restore services as soon as possible and customers were able to retrieve some access by 6 pm EST. However, all functions weren’t restored to the app until later Monday night. After the outage, many criticized Facebook because of their dominating influence in social media because of their ownership of popular social media apps: Whatsapp and Instagram. 

Facebook was mocked and criticized by many competitors including Twitter CTO Parag Agrawal, who took to the company’s official Twitter account and simply tweeted “ hello literally everyone”. Amongst these critics was congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez(AOC) who described Facebook as “monopolistic”. One of AOC’s biggest arguments was that apps such as Whatsapp are vital to life around the world in places such as Latin America and outages like this disrupt and inconvenience the lives of millions. In addition, she notes that Whatsapp was a previous competitor to Facebook but they were bought out in 2014. AOC argues that Facebook planned to eliminate the competition, and the accumulating influence and power the company has will result in “destructive effects on free society and democracy”. She claims that the demands of Facebook customers will be overruled by business decisions because of their extensive power and size. Thus, she supports the notion that large tech corporations such as Facebook should be “broken up” to ensure that the needs of customers and users are understood. Last weekend's outage inflames continuing backlash for Facebook, on a 60 Minute episode aired on Sunday, an unnamed whistleblower confessed that Facebook covered up its role in spreading misinformation about the January 6th insurrection in the U.S. Capitol Building. 

Questions: 

1. Should major corporations such as Facebook be broken up?

2. How can Congress prevent companies from becoming “monopolistic” and ensure that customers' voices are still being heard? 

Sources: 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/04/tech/facebook-instagram-whatsapp-outage/index.html 

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/social-media-giants-facebook-instagram-whatsapp-all-experiencing-outages-n1280726 

https://www.businessinsider.com/aoc-facebook-is-a-monopoly-that-is-destructive-to-democracy-2021-10 

GOP Senators Block New Bill Extending Limit On National Debt

 

    On September 21, 2021, Republicans in Congress blocked a government funding bill. Named the “stopgap bill”, this bill worked to increase the U.S. government’s debt limit and provide extra government funding. Funds were going to be spent towards providing resources and supporting Afghan refugees, fund all government agencies until December 3, and extend the debt limit until the end of 2022. After passing the Democratic-controlled House, the bill needed 60 votes in the Senate to pass. However, Democrats control 50 seats in the Senate and the majority of Republicans opposing the bill, resulting in a 48-50 vote. This vote has pressured Congress into turmoil because federal funds are projected to run out on Thursday, September 30. If Congress doesn’t pass any sort of resolution, the government would be placed on a partial shutdown. A government shutdown would not only negatively impact the economy, but would temporarily furlough thousands of government workers which would be detrimental to many American families. 

    Democrats overall supported this bill because it allows them to continue funding government programs fostered by the Biden administration. However, Republicans are in sharp opposition towards this bill because they didn’t want to give Democrats increased room for spending. Understanding the looming government shutdown, Republicans including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have expressed that they’re willing to reframe the Stopgap Bill to a form in which Republicans will support it. According to a New York Times article, “Republicans vowed to support a nearly identical temporary spending package without an increase in the debt ceiling”. Republicans are targeting Democrats because they’re attempting to raise their spending limit by incorporating it in a bill that is supposed to supply funding for emergency aid. Republican Senator from Louisiana Bill Cassidy claims “It was pretty cynical of Senator Schumer to attach relief for disaster victims to something that he knew wasn’t going to pass — leveraging their pain, leveraging their pain for something that he can do quite easily”, furthermore illustrating the polarizing views of the Stopgap Bill between the two parties. Since the Democrats need to capture at least 10 votes from the Republicans to pass this bill, one option they may opt to is drafting a new temporary bill that only consists of sections of the Stopgap Bill that both parties can agree to, such as supplying funding to federal programs. As a result, the Senate can update the amount of government spending, and major government programs can continue to function. However, Democrats are fighting back claiming Republicans ought to support them and raise their spending limit because they increased the spending limit for Republicans under the Trump administration.

    Considering the time constraint that congress is facing, I think it’s best that Republican members of Congress reach a compromise with Democrats and enact any sort of bill that will refill the national debt limit in order to prevent a government shutdown. Although Republicans and Democrats are clashing about many of the contents in the bill such as how much it should be raised and how the funds should be spent, it’s imperative to avoid a shutdown because if one occurs, it will furlough thousands of government workers across the country, placing them into economic hardship. In addition, many government services would be temporarily shutdown because there would be no employees working including: NOAA, the National National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Geological Survey. 

Due to conflicts regarding the Stopgap Bill, an article by CNN claims Democrats in the Senate may be pressured to pass a “short-term funding bill with GOP support, then approve a debt limit suspension on their own — potentially as part of their up to $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation plan”. On Wednesday, September 29, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the Senate would have a final vote on Thursday, September 30 again on the Stopgap bill, hoping Republicans would comply and a government shutdown would be avoided. 

In addition, the Democrats in Congress are feeling pressured by this bill because they also need to work on updating and increasing the limit on federal borrowing which is expected to be reached by mid-October. This would result in complications for the Biden administration and Congress because it would halt funding for numerous of their programs. 

Questions: 

1. Do you think that Congress will be able to come to a resolution?

2. Should the national debt limit be raised?  

Sources: 

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/27/government-shutdown-senate-republicans-block-funding-debt-ceiling-bill.html 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/27/us/politics/republicans-block-government-funding-bill-debt-limit.html 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/27/politics/senate-debt-limit-shutdown-vote/index.html 

https://www.npr.org/2021/09/27/1040559140/debt-limit-continuing-resolution-senate-republicans-government-funding-bill