The Pour Over Today - Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Episode Date: October 27, 2021

Facebook Papers; Congressional testimony by Snap, TikTok, and Youtube; a coup in Sudan; and other top news for Wednesday, October 27. Stay informed, while remaining focused on Christ, with The Pour Over.Today's episode is sponsored by Hiya — the #1 fastest growing children’s vitamin, made with 12 organic fruits and vegetables and naturally sweetened with zero sugar and zero gummy junk… all with a taste kids love. Get 50% off your first order with code POUROVER when you try it today: https://hiyahealth.com/?rfsn=5687869.3d323e

Facebook papers, congressional testimony by Snap, TikTok, and YouTube, a coup in Sudan, and other top news for Wednesday, October 27th. Stay informed while remaining focused on Christ with The Pour Over. Thanks for joining us. Here's the quote of the day. Holy Scripture is the highest authority for every believer, the standard of faith, and the foundation for reform. John Wycliffe Let's jump right in with some espresso shots. The four apps ruining your screen time stats are in hot water this week.

Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube appeared before Congress, and the Facebook Consortium completed their initial review of Francis Haugen's Facebook papers. Is the Facebook Consortium an Avengers knockoff? The Facebook Consortium is made up of nearly two dozen media companies, and counting, who agreed to band together, review the Facebook papers, and wait to publish their findings until this week. Remind me again, what are the Facebook papers, and wait to publish their findings until this week. Remind me again, what are the Facebook papers? Francis Haugen, a former Facebook employee, blew the whistle three weeks ago and accused

the company of choosing, quote, profit over people, unquote, in areas of mental health, COVID misinformation, hate speech, and even human trafficking. Also, we think Facebook pages was a missed upon opportunity. How has Facebook responded? Nick Clegg, VP of Global Affairs, pointed to the massive efforts the company has taken to combat these issues, citing $13 billion of internal investments and over 40,000 jobs dedicated to preserving user safety. Despite the negative press, both Facebook's revenue and user count actually grew over the last year. What about the other time suckers?

Congress summoned Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube to be questioned over their impact on bullying and body image issues in children and the TikTok vandalism trend that's destroying schools. Executives from all three companies defended the ways they protect kids online and vowed to share internal research related to their platform's influence on kids. We rarely know the effects of new technology until enough time has passed for us to develop hindsight. Christians should seek to grow in discernment on how to engage with the latest trendy apps and platforms. Romans 12.2 says, Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing

of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. Since Saddam's authoritarian president was ousted by a popular uprising in 2019, Saddam has been led by a military-civilian power-sharing government. On Monday, the military decided it didn't want to share anymore. General al-Burhan led a military coup, detaining Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok and other senior government officials. This wasn't unexpected as General al-Burhan led a failed coup attempt last month, try and try again and all that, but neither is it welcome. The U.S. quickly condemned the coup and suspended $700 million in aid, a significant blow to Sudan's $25 billion economy.

Within Sudan, clashes between protesters and the military have left at least 10 dead, though accurate reporting is difficult as the military has disabled internet and phone lines. has disabled internet and phone lines. There may be good reasons to be worried, scared, or feel hopeless about this day, month, or year. God does not promise good days. He promises a great eternity. As Edward Mote said in 1863, On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. Today's episode is sponsored by Haya. While Fred Flintstone may have been fun to watch, All other ground is sinking sand. other gummy junk growing kids should never eat. Enter Haya, the number one fastest growing children's vitamin, made with 12 organic fruits and vegetables and naturally sweetened with zero sugar and zero gummy junk, all with a taste kids love. It's not just healthy and yummy,

Haya is also eco-friendly, coming in a refillable glass bottle your kids can decorate. Get 50% off your first order with code POUROVER when you try it today. In other brews, it's time for a rapid round of updates. An FDA advisory panel voted unanimously, with one abstention, to recommend Pfizer's low-dose COVID vaccine for children ages 5 to 11. While children are at much lower risk of severe cases, the advisors wanted to empower parents to decide for their kids. This was a non-binding advisory vote. Authorization still requires votes by the FDA and CDC. Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' side hustle, announced plans to launch a 32,000-square-foot commercial space station called Orbital Reef between 2025 and 2030.

Blue Origin described the reef as a, quote, mixed-use business park, unquote, that could serve as a research lab, a film set, or even a space hotel. Space Hotel. The UN's nuclear watchdog says it can no longer monitor Iran's nuclear activity after Tehran refused to repair cameras at a key facility. The director-general of the UN agency says there's currently no indication Iran is creating a nuclear bomb, but called the breakdown of diplomacy very concerning. diplomacy very concerning. 500 Colombian special forces and 22 helicopters captured cartel leader Dairio Antonio Usuga in an event likened to the arrest of Pablo Escobar in 1993. Usuga has been a longtime fixture of the USDA's most wanted list and stands accused of exporting hundreds of tons of cocaine into the states. Sorry, King Solomon, Forbes magazine says Elon Musk is likely the wealthiest person to ever walk the planet,

after Hertz placed an order for 100,000 Teslas. The massive purchase pushed Tesla's market cap above $1 trillion and rocketed Elon's net worth to over $255 billion, more than Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg combined. That's all we have for today. Thanks so much for listening. And a special thank you to our TPO baristas who make this podcast and our newsletter possible. TPO baristas are those who choose to pay for what they could get for free. If you'd like to become a barista and support this podcast at a deeper level, go to thepourover.org slash barista. If you've made it this far into the episode, our guess is that you've enjoyed it at least a little, and we would really appreciate it if you would leave us a five-star rating.

If you're on Apple Podcasts, just scroll down until you see Tap to Rate. Otherwise, we will see you on Friday. Have a great day.