It’s time once again for news and views that you can peruse! It’s time once again for another edition of your Weekly Reader! As always, if you have something you’d like to share, drop a link in the comments!
Election deniers quiet on fraud claims after primary wins (from the Associated Press): “Only 45% of U.S. adults said they have significant confidence that votes in the 2022 midterm election will be counted accurately, and 30% have some confidence, according to a February AP-NORC poll. Democrats were much more likely than Republicans to be very confident, 66% vs. 24%.”
Leaked Audio From 80 Internal TikTok Meetings Shows That US User Data Has Been Repeatedly Accessed From China (from Buzzfeed News): ““Everything is seen in China,” said a member of TikTok’s Trust and Safety department in a September 2021 meeting. In another September meeting, a director referred to one Beijing-based engineer as a “Master Admin” who “has access to everything.” (While many employees introduced themselves by name and title in the recordings, BuzzFeed News is not naming anyone to protect their privacy.)”
A Far-Right Extremist ‘Bear Maced’ Abortion-Rights Activists and Their Kids Last (Sunday) Night (from Vice News): “On Sunday night, she returned in her car and sprayed what bystanders said was bear mace into the faces of several protesters, reportedly including several children. After she used the spray, some of the group began hitting Harrison’s car so she sprayed them again, according to video footage of the incident reviewed by VICE News.”
Ex-Students Reveal Abuse at ‘Christian Torture Compound’ (from the Daily Beast): “According to these alumni, the school banned children from speaking to each other without adults present, censored their letters home, destroyed photographs showing anything other than happy faces, and admonished kids that if they ran away, locals with guns would hunt them down. As part of a “buddy” system, older students had authority to mete out seemingly arbitrary punishments to new students assigned to them.”
‘I don’t know if we’re going to be able to handle the increase’: Minnesota clinics brace for influx of abortion patients (from CNN): “Planned Parenthood of Minnesota tells CNN that on Monday, the first business day after the Supreme Court decision, it received its highest call volume ever — an increase of 50% — with many of the calls coming from out-of-state.”
Utah Makes Welfare So Hard to Get, Some Feel They Must Join the LDS Church to Get Aid (from ProPublica): “Although maintaining a safety net for the poor is the government’s job, welfare in Utah has become so entangled with the state’s dominant religion that the agency in charge of public assistance here counts a percentage of the welfare provided by the LDS Church toward the state’s own welfare spending, according to a memorandum of understanding between the church and the state obtained by ProPublica.”
Poll: Quarter of Americans open to armed rebellion against government (from Courthouse News Service): “In total, 28% of voters agreed with the statement “it may be necessary at some point soon for citizens to take up arms against the government.” That skewed heavily toward Republicans, with one in three Republicans and 45% of self-identified “strong Republicans” agreeing with the statement. The GOP doesn’t hold a monopoly on the sentiment, though – one in five Democrats agreed, as did 35% of self-identified independent voters.”
The transgender swimming ban is not about sports (from OnlySky): “You can tell FINA’s ban is not about sports because the “debate” is almost entirely between people who do not care about women’s sports. More precisely, they take place largely between trans people who do not care about sports, and conservatives who do not care about women. The latter self-appointed defenders of women have little to say about the sexual abuse of female athletes, sexism more generally, equal pay, or advertising and promotion of women’s sports. Yet a small (but not small enough) contingent of liberals are saying, “Ah, they may be transparently bad faith actors on every other issue of importance, but this time they are speaking the truth!””
An open letter from Sesame Street to Ted Cruz (from OnlySky): “Here at Sesame Street, we pride ourselves on inclusion, diversity, and making sure that the children who watch our show are informed and intelligent. We want to make the world a better and kinder place.
“But for your ass, we’re about to make an exception.”
An Apology to My Daughter (from John Pavlovitz): “I’ve lived all of my life believing in this country, believing that we would never go backwards, only forwards. I believed that there were enough good people here to prevent the terribly ugly things of our past from becoming our terrifying present. I rested in the trust I had in the greater collective humanity here being enough. I had faith in the center holding and in our better angels prevailing.
“I was wrong.”
That’s all for today. But don’t fret! I’ll be back next week with more articles for you to browse. Until then, have a great rest of the week and happy reading!
Iacon East 