SpaceX Sued Over Hiring Discrimination Against Refugees
In a lawsuit filed Thursday, the US Justice Department (DOJ) accused Elon Musk's SpaceX of violating federal law by refusing to hire foreign nationals who were granted work permits as refugees or asylum seekers.
In addition to citizenship-based hiring discrimination, the DOJ has alleged that SpaceX "actively discouraged asylees and refugees from seeking work opportunities at the company" between September 2018 and May 2022.
The lawsuit claims that SpaceX falsely promoted the idea that only US citizens and green-card holders could work at Musk's firm due to "restrictive export control laws governing the use of rocket and missile technology."
Narrative A
Ignorance of the law is never a defense; either intentionally or not, the company has followed a discriminatory policy in hiring. Refugees and asylum seekers with work permits are of the same status as US citizens, with Elon Musk seemingly promoting a top-down approach where this isn't the case. At best, this was another one of Musk's blunders and, at worst, an act of blatant and illegal xenophobia.
Narrative B
This is not the first time the DOJ has launched a nonsensical crusade against Elon Musk and SpaceX. The company is simply practicing due diligence by ensuring foreign nationals don't have access to America's sensitive aeronautical industries. The government has a bone to pick with Musk, with the last hiring case imposing obscene and farcical burdens on the company for no apparent reason.
Nerd narrative
There's a 50% chance that at least 175K refugees will be admitted to the US from 2021 to 2024, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
Study: Antarctica's Emperor Penguins Risk 'Quasi-Extinction'
According to a study published in the journal Nature Communications Earth & Environment on Thursday, no emperor penguins survived in four out of five breeding colonies in the Bellingshausen Sea, west of the Antarctic Peninsula, in 2022.
Researchers used satellite imagery to suggest that with no ice left across several colonies in December — when emperor penguins hatch their eggs and raise their chicks — all but one experienced total breeding collapse.
According to lead author Peter Fretwell, an analysis of satellite images of the remainder of the continent's 66 known emperor penguin colonies shows around 30%, or 19, were harmed by low sea ice levels last year.
Narrative A
As the Antarctic continent's seasonal sea ice withers in an ever-warming world, it's a sign of things to come. Emperor penguins usually find alternative sites in response to unstable sea ice, but the accelerating impact of global warming in Antarctica threatens to outpace the capacity of these iconic animals to adapt. If we don't cut our carbon emissions, we will completely wipe out emperor penguins by 2100 in an evolving global crisis.
Narrative B
It's unfair to blame fossil fuels for warming the planet and the loss of catastrophic sea ice in the Antarctic when natural fluctuations in the Earth's climate cycle usually cause ice-related conditions to shift over time and influence sea ice. As it's common for a colony of emperor penguins to experience the occasional lousy breeding season, natural planetary factors must also be considered to understand the changes in the continent and their implications for the penguins.
Nerd narrative
There's a 50% chance that the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf will collapse by January 2027, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
Putin Breaks Silence on Wagner Boss Yevgeny Prigozhin
Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin on Thursday made his first comments concerning the plane crash that is believed to have killed Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin a day earlier, describing him as a "talented man," but one that "made serious mistakes in life."
"I've known Prigozhin for a very long time, since the early 1990s," Putin said. "He was a man of a no easy fate. He made some serious mistakes in his life, but he also achieved the needed results — both for himself and, when I asked him, for the common cause."
His comments were made during a televised exchange with the Russian-installed leader of the occupied Ukrainian territory of Donetsk, Denis Puahilin. The meeting additionally saw Putin reflect that Prigozhin’s Wagner group had "made a significant contribution" to the fight against Ukraine.
Pro-Russia narrative
Prigozhin is a complicated character who made some mistakes, but also one who valiantly served Russia's interests. The cause of this tragic crash will be investigated to the fullest extent possible.
Anti-Russia narrative
After Prigozhin humiliated the dictatorial Putin by launching his failed mutiny, and then proceeded to roam around freely without prosecution, the question shouldn't be how he was killed, but how he survived so long in the first place.
Nerd narrative
There's a 50% chance that Vladimir Putin will cease to hold the office of President of Russia by December 2025, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
Tech Industry Readies for EU Digital Services Act
Starting Friday, 19 of the largest digital platforms in Europe will face further legal scrutiny following the EU's implementation of the Digital Services Act, which imposes regulations concerning moderation, user privacy, and transparency.
Platforms affected include Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, Amazon, Booking.com, Alibaba, Zalando, Google Play, Apple's App Store, Google's Search, Microsoft's Bing, Google Maps, and Wikipedia.
In February 2023, all 19 companies were given the status of either "very large online platforms" or "very large online service engines," each containing over 45M monthly active users — comprising 10% of the EU's population.
Narrative A
The Digital Services Act allows the EU to wield a new tool against the many wrongs often witnessed on Big Tech platforms. The regulations are a necessary step as Europe begins to strengthen its soft power approach toward major private corporations. Although the internet should not be expected to transform overnight, the new digital borders imposed by the EU will be a net positive in the pursuit of a safer online community.
Narrative B
This Act is unlikely to have a profound effect on the darker corners of online platforms. This legislation contains gaps in its ability to target online extremism, constrain dangerous resources, and moderate the growing influence of social media stars. Furthermore, smaller companies wrapped up in the same box as Meta will lack the resources for efficient implementation. The EU must continue tweaking its law to achieve fairness and consistency.
US Mortgage Rates at Highest Since 2001
Data published Thursday by Freddie Mac shows that the average 30-year mortgage in the US has an interest rate of 7.23%, the highest since 2001. Rates have risen far beyond the yield of the 10-year Treasury bond, which mortgage rates are typically benchmarked to.
Mortgage rates stood at 7.09% last week, the first time rates crossed the 7% mark in 2023. The Mortgage Brokers Association has also said that mortgage applications have dropped to a 28-year low.
The rising borrowing costs are straining the housing market, causing fewer homeowners to list houses for sale. Buyers are competing for a "woefully low" amount of housing supply, Freddie Mac says, as purchases of previously owned homes slowed down to their lowest in 2023 last month.
Narrative A
The Fed's inflation crusade has put the prospect of affordable housing on the chopping block, as the crossing of the 7% threshold pushes homeownership beyond the reach of the average homebuyer. The prospect of rising interest rates and low supply could make housing a uniquely expensive commodity. There were predictions that the Fed would be lowering rates these years, but its continued hikes instead drive mortgage rates higher and higher.
Narrative B
The issue of affordable housing goes well beyond mortgages, as America's housing strategy has failed to keep up with housing demand. In spite of high demand, the number of housing units available continues to fall because of policymakers' prejudice against high-density housing, favoring more expensive single-family dwellings. Homeownership is not the solution to the housing crisis, and promoting high density, reasonably-priced development could help alleviate it.
Study: Metabolic Syndrome Increases Risk of Premature Death
A study presented at the European Society of Cardiology’s annual meeting found that overweight individuals with even slightly raised blood pressure, cholesterol, or glucose levels are close to a third more likely to die early.
Those individuals – who are considered to have metabolic syndrome – are also a third more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke over the next 30 years, according to the research.
Those with metabolic syndrome have three or more unhealthy traits – including obesity or too much fat around the waist, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or high glucose levels.
Narrative A
The first step toward solving this crisis is eliminating the stigma that obese people feel and encouraging them to seek help. Doctors must be more aggressive in making sure their patients don’t suffer in silence, and treatment can take several steps, including introducing medications to supplement lifestyle changes.
Narrative B
While treatment is undoubtedly part of the equation, there must be a renewed focus on prevention. This includes identifying the many underlying causes of obesity and encouraging personalized diet plans based on each individual’s behavioral and biological specifications. The continued search for a silver-bullet cure will only see what is now a pandemic expand even further.
Maui County Suing Hawaii Electric Company
On Thursday, Maui County filed suit against Hawaiian Electric Company and its local subsidiaries for failing to shut down the county’s power despite extreme winds and dry conditions — connecting the company’s negligence to this month’s devastating wildfires.
The lawsuit claims Hawaiian Electric Company (known as "HECO") “inexcusably kept their power lines energized,” even though the National Weather Service disseminated a high wind watch and fire danger warning.
The National Weather Service’s warnings were issued Aug. 7, one day before the wildfires started. The lawsuit alleges the downed, energized power lines “ignited dry fuel such as grass and brush, causing the fires."
Narrative A
Instead of acting to save lives, HECO sat by as its utility poles got knocked down and Lahaina burned. The lack of a formal shutoff program is an excuse that doesn’t withstand the evidence. HECO should be held accountable.
Narrative B
HECO used sound logic when it didn’t completely shut down Maui’s power. Hawaii needed electricity for firefighters and first responders to do their jobs. A power shutdown could have made the situation worse, and blaming one party for a complex problem does nothing to improve the situation. More context is needed here.
Nerd narrative
There is a 65% chance that Hawaiian Electric Company will file for bankruptcy before 2025, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
NGO: One Child is Sexually Abused Every Two Hours in Pakistan
According to the child welfare non-profit Sahil, an average of 12 children in Pakistan were subject to sexual abuse every day from January to June 2023, with a total of 2,227 victims so far this year.
According to the data, collected from both news reports and direct reports to Sahil, girls accounted for 1,207 of the victims so far this year, boys made up 1,020, and over 47% fell within the six to 15-year-old age range. Within that range, 593 boys were sexually abused compared to 457 girls.
Furthermore, a total of 53 pornographic cases were found on the dark web by the Federal Investigation Agency, of which "72[%] of victims were boys and 28[%] of victims were girls." Of the 2,531 abusers identified over the six-month period, most were either related to or known by the victims.
Pro-establishment narrative
Given that over 1.5M children are homeless in Pakistan and another 2.5M are in Islamic seminaries, Pakistani youth are extremely vulnerable to sexual abuse. Pakistan's culture of willful blindness, too, has played a role in this problem, as parents often stay quiet about ongoing familial abuse and authorities release suspects after their arrest. Both the government and the citizenry must face the fact that their country has been infected by these issues, and more must be done.
Establishment-critical narrative
While sexual abuse should be combatted anywhere it occurs, many may not know that the capital of the sex trafficking world is the US. As seen in Pakistan, though at an exponentially higher rate, tens of thousands of children in the US annually are forced into sex slavery to be victimized multiple times per day — also typically by a family member or someone they know. This is a global issue, but that doesn't mean we have the right to spotlight developing nations while ignoring the atrocities in the West.
US Study: 2M Excess Deaths in China After 'Zero-COVID' End
A study from Seattle's Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center suggests that the sudden end of China's stringent zero-COVID policies may have led to nearly 2M excess deaths, in research published Thursday in JAMA Network Open.
The researchers estimate that there were 1.87M excess deaths among all causes in people 30 and over between December 2022 and January and were observed in every mainland Chinese province except Tibet. This number is higher than the 60K COVID deaths reported by China during that period.
After zero-COVID measures were lifted in December after public protests, China stopped tracking the virus precisely. Zero-COVID entailed strict lockdowns, mass testing, and other regulations to stop the spread.
Anti-China narrative
China, the epicenter of the COVID pandemic, has not been transparent with the global community. The PRC's official death numbers were nonsensical from the get-go, and the downplaying of the death toll put other countries at risk. These numbers recognize the unacknowledged victims of China's authoritarian handling of the COVID pandemic and the zero-COVID rollback which caused untold suffering.
Pro-China narrative
This study is anti-PRC slander, with a US-funded research institute making wild speculations about excess mortality. The truth is that China led the world in fighting COVID, and unlike Western nations did not deny its existence or resort to xenophobic conspiracies about its origin. China instituted stringent guidelines to keep the population safe — in spite of what this unfounded speculation might insinuate.
German Judge Sentenced for Striking Down School Mask Mandates
A German judge who struck down mask mandates in two schools in 2021 has been handed a two-year suspended prison sentence for obstruction of justice, costing the judge his career and his pension.
Prosecutors say Judge Christian Dettmar “perverted the law” when he ruled against the state of Thuringia’s COVID measures requiring school children to wear masks, distance themselves, and be subjected to COVID tests. Dettmar’s order ended the requirements in two schools in Weimar.
Dettmar is accused of only listening to evidence from expert witnesses who were critical of lockdowns, and the prosecution alleges that Dettmar reached a politically motivated decision before hearing the entire case.
Establishment-critical narrative
The ruling against Judge Christian Dettmar is a true mask-off moment for the authoritarian regime in Germany, which, along with many other “Western democracies,” seems determined to control its citizens. Contrary to the allegations, Dettmar based his ruling on scientific evidence that shows the negative impacts of lockdowns and masks on young children and is now having his livelihood compromised.
Pro-establishment narrative
Judge Christian Dettmar overstepped his bounds as a family court judge when he ruled on the legality of safety measures in schools. More importantly, he perverted justice when he allowed his political biases to interfere with his rulings. Dettmar had an agenda and used his position as a judge to orchestrate a case that would see it fulfilled.