Weekly News Roundup, May 16th-May 22nd

Medina Dasayev - Teen Aspect - May 22nd, 2022

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Gun Violence

On May 14th, white suspect, Payton Gendron, planned and carried out a shooting in Buffalo, New York, in a predominantly black neighborhood, killing ten and injuring three. The shooter also live-streamed this shooting on Twitch, where he gained a viewing before Twitch took the video down minutes after it began. The current court case shows that this shooting was suspected to be a hate crime and had excessive preparation prior to it taking place. The suspect created a Discord chat that was joined by 15 people and watched videos on YouTube showcasing how to modify a gun. It is suspected that this crime was motivated by hate. On May 15th, David Chou, a Chinese immigrant, opened fire at a Taiwanese church in Santa Ana, California. The members of the Church fought back against the suspect and tied him up until the police arrived on sight. The suspect said that this crime was fueled by his hatred of Taiwan. These, along with several other shootings, have put the spotlight on gun violence and hate crimes once again. 198 shootings have already taken place in 2022, making people wonder what legislative action will be taken in response.

Turkey Blocks Sweden and Finland Bids for NATO

Finland and Sweden have been trying to become a part of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and have been especially motivated to do so since the start of the Ukraine and Russia conflict. In order to join NATO, all residing countries must agree to this. However, in Sweden and Finland’s efforts to join, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey has stated that Turkey will block their bids for membership. The president claimed that this issue is a “matter of national security for Turkey” due to Sweden and Finland being home to certain terrorist groups. It is now a question of whether or not Sweden and Finland will cooperate with these demands of extraditing said terrorists and if so, how long will it take for them to become part of NATO.

Elon Musk Covers Up Sexual Misconduct Claim

A SpaceX flight attendant claimed that in 2016, Elon Musk exposed himself to her and proposed sexual relations to her. Musk’s company covered this up through a severance agreement consisting of $250,000 dollars. While Elon Musk denied sexually harassing this flight attendant and SpaceX refused to comment on the matter, the flight attendant reported the situation and claimed that she refused him, to which she felt as if she was being punished through shift cutbacks. The report states that the attendant felt as if she was being “punished for refusing to prostitute herself”.

Covid Spikes

Since the international distribution of coronavirus vaccines, the world has seen a decline in cases, only spiking when the Omicron variant was introduced. However, recently there have been more and more Covid spikes, especially nationally. With rising cases, hospitals are starting to feel the weight of coronavirus again. In response to this, doctors have been suggesting the use of a fourth booster shot. Additionally, the FDA approved the Pfizer booster dose for ages 5-11, meaning that most of the population is now able to get a vaccine.

Taylor Swift’s “Feeling ‘22” Graduation

On May 18th, Taylor Swift received her doctorate degree in fine arts from New York University and gave a 25-minute commencement speech at the class of 2022 graduation in the Yankee stadium. In her speech, she avoided any talks of politics and focused on telling graduates to embrace their “cringe”.