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Meta Pays Up/Impeachment Symposium

Meta Pays Up/Impeachment Symposium

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 Ralph welcomes Haley Hinkle, policy counsel at Fairplay to tell us about how a New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million for harming children’s mental health and safety, violating state law. Then when present highlights from last week’s symposium on impeachment, featuring Dennis Kucinich, CIA whistleblower, Jeffrey Sterling, Public Citizen co-president, Rob Weissman, GW law dean Alan Morrison and many more.Haley Hinkle is policy counsel at Fairplay, where she advocates for laws and regulations that protect children and teens’ autonomy and safety online. Ms. Hinkle has also worked on issues at the intersection of government surveillance technology and civil liberties.We saw a lot of that in the discovery for these cases and other lawsuits that are currently being brought against the companies—that they have a lot of internal research where they’re very specific with their features. And also their safety features. They test them to make sure safety features aren’t too effective. They don’t reduce too much screen time. And this is completely overwhelming for young brains. And it’s completely overwhelming for families that are trying to make the choice between protecting their children and isolating them from the virtual spaces where all of their friends and classmates are gathering. And so it’s not straightforward. And in many cases, the parental controls or settings that may give a family some semblance of control are not usually very effective.Haley HinkleI think if juries continue to make such resounding decisions on behalf of families, that’s maybe going to motivate these companies to try to find ways to avoid further jury trials and to settle. But all of this raises the fact that as these processes continue (and they’re so important), we can’t wait for lawmakers to do their part to also step in and act and try to get some strong rules of the road in place to fill the void that has created this situation.Haley HinkleWe’re in a moment right now where we have to decide who we are as a people—not who the President is. We already have an estimation of that. The question is who we are. Because, with few exceptions, almost each and every statement the President has made in the last month has been an impeachable offense. He is a walking, talking impeachment machine.Dennis KucinichLet me remind everybody watching this and this panel that this entire Congress is complicit in every crime of this administration for letting Donald Trump pass that threshold into his illegal presidency by not upholding Section 3 of the 14th Amendment on January 6, 2025. I am preaching to the choir if I tell this audience that we have passed so many thresholds when accountability should have happened, when somebody’s foot should have been put down, and this should have stopped. This obscene, lawless war launched by a draft dodging pedophile domestic terrorist in concert with an international war criminal…Generations are going to be looking back to this moment to see what those people, those men and women (Democrats and Republicans in that body, but at the end of the day, human beings with moral compasses somewhere deep within themselves) were doing when American democracy was being burned to the ground.Jessica Denson, founder of the Removal CoalitionNews 4/10/26* This week, many felt that the U.S. came as close to a nuclear conflagration as it has since the Cuban Missile Crisis, as President Trump whipsawed between vowing that Iran’s “’whole civilization will die” and striking peace deals with the Islamic Republic. Ultimately, the U.S., Iran and Israel all signed a two-week cease-fire agreement, mediated by Pakistan, including a provision that Iran will “allow oil, gas and other vessels to proceed unmolested” through the Strait of Hormuz, per the New York Times. However, this is just a cease-fire – not a peace treaty – and is being immediately pushed to the brink as Israel continues their ongoing, devastating assault on Lebanon. The Guardian reports that both Iran and Pakistan view Lebanon as included within the deal, while Israel maintains that it is a separate matter. In retaliation, Iran is now demanding tolls as high as $2 million per ship to pass through the Strait. With Israel showing little interest in acceding to a ceasefire in Lebanon, it seems unlikely this crisis will be resolved swiftly.* In the lead up to Trump’s address Tuesday night, a large number of Democrats came out publicly in favor of Trump’s removal via the 25th amendment, or failing that, a new congressional impeachment effort. According to Axios, this group includes both progressives like AOC, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, as well as more moderate members, including even Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. Some Democratic Senators, including Senators Ed Markey and Ron Wyden also signaled their support. Perhaps most strikingly, former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene called for Trump to be removed ...
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