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Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Tuesday, October 11th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news, and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
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<v Anti-government protests in Iran are getting more intense, with security forces cracking down harder on demonstrators. This is one of the biggest challenges to the Islamic Republic in decades. And it seems to have gained critical new allies>the country's oil workers. Iran expert and Carnegie Endowment senior fellow Karim Sadjadpour shared this video yesterday of plant workers marching and chanting.
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We'll talk about the importance of that in just a moment. But first, we were struck by the "Guardian's" coverage of a teenager whose death is energizing the protesters. Amnesty International says 16-year-old demonstrator Sarina Esmaeilzadeh was beaten to death by Iranian security forces. Iran claims that she died by suicide, which various human-rights groups have said is false. Esmaeilzadeh was a teenager, a student, a video blogger.
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Sarina Esmaeilzadeh: [SPEAKING IN PERSIAN]
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Her clips weren't all political. She talked about a lot of, you know, teenager stuff: school, music, makeup. But in some of her videos, Esmaeilzadeh talked about the need for more freedom for Iranian girls and women. Now, along with Mahsa Amini, the woman whose death in police custody sparked these protests, Esmaeilzadeh's memory is part of the fight.
Like many social protests, students have been on the front lines, holding strikes on university campuses. But as we mentioned, now there are reports that oil workers are striking too. That's important for two reasons. One is obvious. Oil is a vital source of money and power for the regime, even as international sanctions have made it harder to sell on the global market. Another reason this matters goes back to Iranian history. Oil workers were key players in the protests that help bring hardline Islamic clerics into power four decades ago. Losing their support could be a big problem for the Islamic government.
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The Supreme Court affects all of our lives. But today, it's hearing a case with impact that goes beyond humans.
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Yup, those are pigs. And justices will hear oral arguments in a case that could determine the fate of millions of them. "Vox" has the story of the dispute over how the pork industry treats animals. In 2018, Californians voted to ban putting pregnant pigs in cages. These cages are so small that expecting mothers can't even turn around while they're pregnant. Animal-rights advocates say the practice is inhumane and unsafe. As animal scientist Temple Grandin said, "It's like forcing a human to spend months in an airplane seat."
This law banning cages for pregnant pigs, it's a California law, but it has national implications because the state is such a big market. It consumes around 13% of American pork. Even if the pigs are raised in another state, to be sold in California, pork has to meet its standards to give pigs more space. So, pork companies sued. They say complying with California's rules is too expensive and would drive up prices for businesses and consumers. Also, they argue that California's law is a legal overreach because it affects how pork is made in other states.
This is where the Supreme Court comes in. A ruling isn't expected for several months. And "Vox" says it's tough to predict what's gonna happen here. Some might assume that a conservative-dominated Court would rule in favor of business. But some conservatives currently on the court have dismissed similar legal arguments in the past. And animal welfare issues don't necessarily follow predictable ideological lines. "Vox" spoke to Chris Green, executive director of Harvard Law School's animal law program. And he says, "Anyone who says they know what's going to happen is lying to you or themselves."
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The Big Lie is alive and well on the midterm campaign trail. With just weeks to go until the elections, many Republican candidates have repeated former president Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. That's the focus of our next episode in our special election series from "Apple News Today." My colleague Gideon Resnick is here to talk about it.
Basu: Hey, Gideon. Tell us more.
Gideon Resnick: So, yes. My guest in today's episode is Amy Gardner from "The Washington Post." She and her team did this really difficult grunt work of actually looking at every single candidate running for governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, U.S. Senate, U.S. House. Really, really comprehensive. Basically every single position that directly has involvement in overseeing various parts of American elections. And they identified 299 candidates who could win office this November who they qualify as election deniers.
Amy Gardner: That's 53%. It's a majority, and that's just an astonishing number for a variety of reasons. Because it shows how much the lie about the 2020 election has completely taken over the Republican party, how it has become a price of admission for many races in this country, primary races.
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Basu: So, what happens if these candidates lose their elections in November?
Resnick: She was saying that a number of Republican candidates they attempted to reach would not commit to accepting the results of this current election that they're in.
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Amy Gardner: And that's scary and means that chaos will happen if these individuals don't accept their results, but some experts out there said what's scarier really, it's if they win. And then they're in power in offices with authority over election administration. And they would be in those offices for the 2024 presidential race.
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Basu: And this is in spite of recounts. This is in spite of these cases going to courts, and in some cases, judges weighing in and saying: Yes, the election results were valid, they were fair. So, what is going on here? Why are these candidates continuing to repeat these lies?
Resnick: This is sort of a stupefying part of the conversation that we had 'cause Amy was basically saying you can't know what is in a candidate’s heart or mind, per se, but it is notable that some have started to kind of moderate their views since winning their primaries. In the episode, she mentions Don Bolduc, he's the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in New Hampshire. During his primary, he kind of came out pretty strong as an election denier but now that we're in the general election, he has pulled back a little bit, and done some qualifications and even some reversals. It's honestly hard to keep track. But I think what we landed on, and what Amy really landed on, is how much this is impacting voters. That's the important part.
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Amy Gardner: The grim reality is that if enough people continue to believe that our elections are not being fairly administered, there will be a violence again. January 6th was a beginning, it was not an ending. And I think every American needs to be aware of that and understand it.
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Basu: Gideon, thanks for the preview.
Resnick: Yeah, thank you for chatting.
You can hear Gideon's full interview with "Washington Post" reporter Amy Gardner, it'll be out in our feed today as a bonus episode. You can find that in both the News app and the Podcasts app. And if you're listening in the News app right now, we've got it queued up to play right after this episode. So, sit back, enjoy listening to that, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
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