The Daily Moth 7-18-19
FaceApp Controversy; Trump disagrees with “Send Her Back” chants; House approves $15 minimum wage; Update on USA Women’s bronze win at World Deaf Basketball
[Transcript] Hello, welcome to the Daily Moth! It is Thursday, July 18th.
I’m Christian Young again replacing Alex today. Are you ready for today’s stories?
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FaceApp Controversy
Yesterday, the Democratic National Committee warned the presidential campaigns against using FaceApp, urging the staff to “delete the app immediately” because the software was developed by Russians and owned by Wireless Lab located in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer asked the FBI and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate FaceApp’s national security and privacy risks.
FaceApp allows users to upload photos of their faces and have them automatically edited to look younger, older and change the coloring of your hair and beard along with your gender.
FaceApp only uploads pictures that are being edited and do not have access to your photo libraries.
FaceApp was released in 2017 and has altered photos for more than 80 million users since then.
Founder Yaroslav Goncharov told The Washington Post that FaceApp’s research and development team is based in Russia but most images are deleted from company servers within 48 hours.
In its privacy terms, the company said it can collect any of a user’s uploaded photos as well as data on the user’s visited websites and other information.
Even if a user deletes content from the app, FaceApp can still store and use it. They also can’t guarantee that the users’ data or information is secure, and they can share their information with any countries where their facilities are located as well as other companies and third-party advertisers.
Users who want to remove their data from FaceApp can click on “Settings,” then “Support,” then “Report a bug” with “privacy” in the subject line.
IG Photos:
Drake:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz-J1E7FhzD/?utm_source=ig_embed
LeBron James:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz_0YxfgmAp/?utm_source=ig_embed
Chef Gordon:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz_oHnljWy_/?utm_source=ig_embed
Jonas Brothers:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz_jY7Xns--/?utm_source=ig_embed
Sources:
https://faceapp.com/terms
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/07/17/faceapp-adds-decades-your-age-fun-popular-russian-owned-app-raises-privacy-concerns/?utm_term=.fe4941675eff
https://www.axios.com/faceapp-app-aging-privacy-concerns-russia-facial-recognition-9941b08a-f585-4574-b40e-d240c1584b4e.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/17/photo-editor-faceapp-goes-viral-again-prompting-security-concerns.html
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Trump disagrees with “Send Her Back” chants
Yesterday, in North Carolina, President Donald Trump held a campaign rally and when he started talking about Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), the crowd started chanting “send her back!”
Ilhan Omar was born outside of the US, in Somalia and later became a US citizen.
Today, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) asked Vice President Michael Pence in a private meeting about the House Republicans’ concerns over the language and asked Trump to distance himself from the chants.
Later, when reporters asked President Trump if he was concerned about if that chant puts Omar in danger. Trump said he was “not happy” and that he “disagrees with it” when he heard that chant.
When Trump was asked why the crowd did the chant, Trump said “you’ll have to ask them.”
Trump said he tried to stop the chant by resuming his speech quickly, but several videos show that he waited about 12-13 seconds before speaking again.
Omar responded to the rally with several tweets including one that quoted Maya Angelou’s poem, “Still I Rise,” with the words “You may shoot me with your words…But still, like air, I’ll rise.”
Another tweet: “I am where I belong, at the people’s house and you’re just gonna have to deal!”
On a related topic, the House of Representatives voted to kill Rep. Al Green’s request for a House vote on starting the process of impeaching President Trump.
Video of Trump’s rally: https://twitter.com/i/status/1151905827495849984
Ilhan Omar’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/IlhanMN/status/1151684131056754688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1151684131056754688&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fapnews.com%2Feb7f2bf6a7bd41e282a95dcf3904a877
Sources:
https://www.axios.com/trump-ilhan-omar-send-her-back-rally-c28d6c4e-657c-49b5-b54a-b9ed578baf55.html
https://apnews.com/eb7f2bf6a7bd41e282a95dcf3904a877
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-says-hes-enjoying-fight-with-democrats-over-his-racist-tweets/2019/07/17/3c315510-a8ad-11e9-86dd-d7f0e60391e9_story.html?utm_term=.a9ef777b5005
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House approves $15 minimum wage
Today, the US House of Representatives approved the bill called Raise the Wage Act with a vote of 231-199 to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Three Republicans voted with most Democrats to support this bill while six Democrats voted against it along with most Republicans.
The last time the federal minimum wage was raised was back in 2009.
However, the bill is not expected to pass the Republican-controlled Senate.
Currently the federal minimum wage is at $7.25 per hour.
About 1.7 million people, or about 2.1% of all hourly pay workers, earned at or below the federal minimum wage last year according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
If the bill passes, it would gradually raise the minimum wage over 6 years until they reach $15 per hour in 2025.
After 2025, the rate will be indexed to the median hourly wage of all workers.
A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report was released last week that increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour would lead to 1.3 million lost jobs, but it would raise the wages of 27 million people.
It would also lift 1.3 million people out of poverty.
An amendment was approved by the House that would require an independent study once the minimum wage reached $9.50 per hour. This allows the Congress to monitor how the new law impacts the economy over time.
The US Chamber of Commerce said they’re willing to increase the minimum wage, but $15 is too much to them.
White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said that he thinks federal minimum wages generally are a “terrible idea” that hurts small businesses.
Sources:
https://apnews.com/32d0abbffc4b4982b75f0a8f166fcbe9
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/07/18/house-prepares-pass-long-sought-minimum-wage-legislation/?utm_term=.d93794e060f4
https://www.wsj.com/articles/house-approves-bill-that-would-more-than-double-minimum-wage-to-15-11563465899?mod=hp_lista_pos2
https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/2018/pdf/home.pdf
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2019-07/CBO-55410-MinimumWage2019.pdf
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Update on USA Women’s bronze win at World Deaf Basketball
This is a follow up report since our last news on the USA women’s basketball team winning bronze at World Deaf Basketball (WDB) in Poland. We have a response from the USA women head coach, Deb Ayres.
Ayres said that the women’s team fought hard and did well, we should be proud.
Ayres explained that a few players backed out of the team a few months before going to Poland. The USA women team met for the first time at JFK airport. The team only had 5 hours to practice as opposed to the other countries had weeks, months, or even a year to practice together. She said that these circumstances could have stopped us, but it did not. The team kept fighting through until the end.
She mentioned that in the past, the USA team used to be able to not have any training camps or practice, the team could show up and win. Now, other countries are getting better and becoming more challenging. Ayres said this is encouraging because it makes USA step up the bar to win next time.
One of the biggest challenges for USA teams in general is finances. Other countries are financially sponsored by their sponsors or government. Ayres said an example is that she was told that Russia and Lithuania government will pay each deaf player about $71,000 if they win gold. So, for the players, this is their salary.
Another example is that hearing USA teams have their training camp and travel expenses paid for so they do not need to worry about raising support themselves. As for our USA teams, they have to raise support themselves for each trip to the World Deaf Basketball, PanAm Games, and Deaflympics. It is not easy to ask for money from family, friends, and the community every time.
Ayres mentioned that it would be nice to have secured sponsorship for the entire team so USA can attract the finest players without worrying about fundraising.
At WDB, for the semifinals, USA women played against Lithuania, there was an overtime, and the team lost to Lithuania by one point. Ayres explained that it was definitely a disappointing feeling and it was hard for the team to get back up on their feet and play for bronze against Turkey. The team did it anyways and we won. She sees the bronze as their gold. Ayres quoted, “The world bar has been raised. USA will rise again to the next challenge.”
https://usdeafsports.org/news/usa-womens-deaf-national-basketball-team-captures-bronze-at-the-worlds/
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That’s all the stories for today. See you tomorrow and remember to stay with the light!
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