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Happy Pi Day!

It's March 14th, or 3.14 in the US, which honors the mathematical constant pi (π), the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. It's also the perfect excuse to enjoy a circular pie!

• Google broke down the most searched pies in each state (see above). Have you heard of vinegar pie? What about bean pie? We’re going to stick with apple 🍎

🥧 Hope you get to enjoy a slice!

Mosheh, Jill, & Lauren

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📲 HOUSE PASSES BILL TO FORCE TIKTOK SALE; FUTURE UNCLEAR IN SENATE

That was fast! The House passed a bill that could result in an eventual ban of TikTok in US, that is unless its China-based owner ByteDance sells the social media platform before September 30. It passed the US House of Representatives yesterday in an overwhelming 352-65 vote.

• As Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) sees it: "This is not an attempt to ban TikTok, it's an attempt to make TikTok better. Tic-Tac-Toe, a winner."

President Biden says he’ll sign the legislation into law, but it first needs to pass the Senate, where its outcome remains uncertain. (Mo News Video Breakdown)

PUSH TO SELL
Lawmakers say the legislation is “not a ban,” but a push to ensure a highly influential app is not owned by an adversary. They are concerned that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could influence the app’s algorithm, push anti-American content, and collect Americans' data. Under the proposed law, ByteDance has 180 days to sell or the app would be banned from app stores and web-hosting services in the US.

• Why Facebook or Snapchat are different: Rep. Jeff Jackson (D-NC), who has more than 2 million TikTok followers, says those apps “don’t have an adversarial government that can influence the algorithm to manipulate the content you’re shown, in ways that will help them politically.”

• The US would not be the first major nation to ban the app. In 2020 India banned TikTok, and a growing number of countries have banned it on government phones.

• Would you miss TikTok? YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat have all responded to the rise of TikTok by creating their own endlessly scrolling, vertical, algorithmically controlled video feeds.

FIRST AMENDMENT CONCERNS: The ACLU says the bill violates “the First Amendment rights of hundreds of millions of Americans who use the app to communicate and express themselves daily.”

• But Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), who introduced the bill, said “there is no First Amendment right to espionage” and thinks the courts will uphold the legislation if it is passed into law.

• The bill has created interesting bedfellows. Donald Trump, AOC, Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Chinese Communist Party, the ACLU and tens of millions of 15-29 year olds all oppose this legislation.

TIK TOK’S RESPONSE: A TikTok spokesperson expressed hope that “the Senate will consider the facts, listen to their constituents, and realize the impact on the economy, 7 million small businesses, and the 170 million Americans who use our service.” Meanwhile, China called America a bully and says the move will backfire.

PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING
Rep. Jackson points to TikTok's response to the legislation as evidence of the need for the app to be outside Chinese control. After a Congressional committee's unanimous vote to advance the legislation, TikTok sent a pop-up message to users, including minors, urging them to call congressional offices to “speak up” and “stop a TikTok shutdown,” a “total-ban.” Members’ offices were flooded with calls.

• Jackson says the pop-up “mischaracterized the bill and then told everyone to take political action based on that mischaracterization. It proved the concern isn’t hypothetical, it’s real. They will misinform people on a huge scale and then use that to manipulate political behavior.”

• US Intelligence directors testified this week on global threats, saying that it can’t be rule out that the CCP will use TikTok to influence the 2024 elections.

📌 BOEING WHISTLEBLOWER FOUND DEAD ON DURING LEGAL DISPOSITIONS

A Boeing whistleblower was found dead from a “self-inflicted gunshot wound” over the weekend. He was in his third day of giving depositions alleging that Boeing retaliated against him after he voiced concerns about quality control issues. His lawyers called for an investigation into his death, saying they "didn’t see any indication he would take his own life."

It comes as the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation into the Boeing 737 Max blowout from January is being complicated by the “absence” of critical records like security footage and names of who performed the work.

ATTENTION TO DETAIL
John “Mitch” Barnett, 62, gave depositions on Thursday and Friday, answering questions from his attorneys as well as Boeing’s. On Saturday, he was to be questioned again by his attorneys, but when he did not show up, they called for a wellness check and police found him dead in his car.

• His family told media outlets that he was suffering from anxiety attacks and PTSD after his time at Boeing.

• Barnett worked for Boeing for 32 years and managed quality control.

• In 2017, he filed a whistleblower complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) alleging Boeing ignored his attempts to flag safety problems and was harassed for refusing to sign off on defective work and continuing to raise concerns. He retired from the company that year.

  • He said that workers were pressured not to document and report potential defects and problems.

• In a 2019 interview with the New York Times he said, “I haven't seen a plane out of Charleston yet that I'd put my name on saying it's safe and airworthy."

Barnett was being deposed for an appeals trial scheduled for June after the OSHA ruled against his case in 2021. He had recently been interviewed by multiple media outlets regarding Boeing’s door-plug incident.

🏳️‍🌈 NEARLY 30% OF GEN Z WOMEN IDENTIFY AS LGBTQ

More US adults openly identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) than ever before recorded. In 2023, 7.6% of adults in the US said they were LGBTQ, a new Gallup report found. Gen Z is the generation with the most LGBTQ identifying members, but the data shows each younger generation is about twice as likely as the generation that preceded it to identify as LGBTQ+.

A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS
Gallup surveyed 12,000 people aged 18+ and found that women were nearly twice as likely as men to identify as LGBTQ. That 7.6% is a large increase from 5.6% four years ago and 3.5% in 2012 when the organization first started tracking.

• Inside the numbers: Nearly 1 in 10 millennials and 1 in 5 Gen Z adults identify as LGBTQ.

  • Among Gen Z generation (ages 18-26), 28.5% of women and 10.6% of men identify as LGBTQ. For millennials (ages 27-42), it’s 12.4% for women and 5.4% for men.

• 4.4% of U.S. adults and 57.3% of LGBTQ adults say they are bisexual.

If current trends continue, Gallup anticipates the proportion of LGBTQ identifiers will exceed 10% of the US adult population in the next three decades.

ZOOM IN ON POLITICS
Gender and sexual orientation continues to be a hot-button political issue, even as more Americans identify as members of the community.

• In 2023, over 500 anti-LGBTQ bills were introduced in state legislatures around the US. 75 were signed into law.

Mo News Podcast: A daily conversation about the news that matters.

⏳ SPEED READ

🚨NATION

📌 Hunter Biden rejects House Republicans' request to testify publicly (NBC NEWS)

📌 Judge dismisses several charges against Trump in the Georgia 2020 election interference case (AP)

📌 Jury begins deliberations in manslaughter trial for school shooter’s father (ABC NEWS)

📌 Rats are 'all high' on marijuana stored in infested New Orleans police evidence room (USA TODAY)

📌 Non-binary teen death in Oklahoma ruled a suicide (CNN)

🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

📌 Team of US Marines sent to provide more security at US Embassy in Haiti (ABC NEWS)

📌 World’s first major act to regulate AI passed by European lawmakers (CNBC)

📌 Ukrainian drones damage Russian oil refineries in multi-day attack (REUTERS)

📌 White House calls on Hamas to agree to ceasefire (MO NEWS)

📌 US tells Israel what kind of Rafah attack it would support (POLITICO)

📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH

📌 Family Dollar and Dollar Tree will close 1,000 stores (CNN)

📌 Don Lemon says Elon Musk canceled his new show on X after he didn’t like their interview (AXIOS)

📌 Japanese firm Space One's Kairos rocket explodes on inaugural flight (REUTERS)

📌 How bad is maternal mortality in the U.S.? A new study says it's been overestimated (NPR)

🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

📌 Olivia Munn reveals breast cancer diagnosis, underwent double mastectomy (USA TODAY)

📌 Former football coach Nick Saban laments the current landscape of college sports (CNN)

📌 Olivia Rodrigo hands out day after pills, condoms at concert in Missouri, where abortion is banned (NBC NEWS)

📌 JLo cancels 7 concerts from upcoming tour (ROLLING STONE)

🗓 ON THIS DAY: MARCH 14

• 1879: Albert Einstein was born. [The photo above was also taken on this day—72 years later.]

• 1950: The FBI created the “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list in an effort to publicize the most dangerous criminals on the run.

• 1995: Tupac becomes first solo male artist to have a No. 1 album while in prison.

• 1998: ‘Gettin Jiggy Wit It’ by Will Smith reaches #1 on the Billboard charts.