After the Parkland, Fla., shooting much of the conversation, especially from those on the right, has centered around the shooter’s mental illness as the root cause of the problem.
But when the shooter is Muslim or a person of color, “the immediate reaction from those on the right is to try to find a solution...around immigration,” says Francis Maxwell, host of “The Breakdown” on The Young Turks.
Take for example the Orlando nightclub shooting in 2016. The Muslim shooter used an AR-15, the same gun used in Parkland, but there was no serious discussion about gun control back then.
Fingers quickly pointed at loose immigration policies despite the fact that statistically, “you’re more likely to be killed in a domestic act of terror by a white American on homegrown soil,” says Maxwell.
This difference in treatment is also clearly demonstrated in conversations about the movements that rise from these tragic incidents.
Today, #NeverAgain has turned into an admirable national movement against the NRA but when #BlackLivesMatter asked for the same things, “their message wasn’t given the platform.”
“We need to look at ourselves in this country and think why...is one vilified and looked at as a movement that’s disruptive and disrespectful and the other looked at as empowering?”
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, turned heads on Tuesday when it announced it will block some ad-targeting, specifically those of a political and religious nature.
This is one of the most direct moves the company has made in order to minimize ad-targeting by advertisers on its platforms. Hastie Afkhami, Head of Digital at S-3 Group, joins Cheddar News to discuss the impact of this move.
The COP26 summit in Scotland is in its final days, and the U.N. has just released a draft of an agreement for more than 200 world leaders to sign on Friday. The draft urges nations to set more aggressive goals in cutting emissions, while also calling for coal to be phased out. Chloe Demrovsky, President and CEO of Disaster Recovery Institute International, joins Cheddar News to discuss this agreement.
The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Uber, alleging the ride-hailing company discriminates against customers with disabilities. The DOJ is arguing that its two-minute wait period before a cancellation fee is applied violates the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Stocks fell into the red on Wednesday after new data heightened fears over inflation. Vince Lorusso, Co-Founder and portfolio manager at Changebridge Capital, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell where he says recent history suggests investors to buy the dips.
Iran is continuing to crack down on illicit bitcoin mining in the Islamic Republic after 227 mining rigs were seized. Businesses looking to run legal bitcoin mining operations have had to seek approval since 2019.
Tatenda Musapatike, Founder of the Voter Formation Project and former Political Ad Specialist at Facebook, joined Cheddar to discuss the outsized role social media plays in politics.
