Immigration, Deportation, and the Ban Issues
More information about the new guidelines about immigration and deportation.
I try to avoid articles based on speculation, but this had some good ideas on gauging the deportation situation.
Fall out from last week's Day Without Immigrants protests around the country.
Trump is reworking the travel ban. Time will tell of its Constitutionality.
The DHS has released information about the immigration rule changes. What ICE can and cannot do, etc.
Conspiracy theory of the week. The Justice Department will now use private prisons again. This will open up many large facilities across the nation to put prisoners. ICE will begin rounding up and placing people here, most likely without trials, to be forgotten about. Who needs Gitmo when you have this? Further conspiracy: You hear chatter occasionally about people wanting to use prison labor to replace undocumented workers. Why not replace them with them? Now you have unfree prisoners who were undocumented workers, who you can pay even less than before to do the same amount of work, if not more. It's the perfect solution to people who want to get as close to the return to slavery as possible without actually breaking the law. (This is purely my speculation.)
Actual facts and figures are presented in this opinion piece on the alleged immigration crisis in this country.
People are pledging their homes to help hide others in danger of being deported. I never thought we'd need another Underground Railroad again, but here we are...
Confirmation that religious profiling has begun at US airports.
Money Issues
Last week's bid by Kraft Heinz seems to be off the table after all.
But it might not be completely done and over with. Keep your eyes and ears out for this one, folks.
The DNC
There's an election coming up. The DNC needs a new leader and several people have thrown their hats into the race. Read about all of them here!
The DNC has elected a new leader.
LGBT Issues
In the surprising plot twist nobody saw coming, apparently Betsy DeVos was actually in favor of keeping the transgender student protections because she felt students need to feel safe at school. My personal opinion: This is actually really important to keep in mind. This is clearly what Trump wants to use his nominees for positions for, to further do his bidding. At least in this situation, DeVos is supposed to just sit and look pretty and do what Trump wants, or he'll find somebody else to do it. I don't know if we'll see things like this coming from positions that have been filled by men, or if it's just the positions filled by women, which aren't that many so far. Keep an eye on this behavior to see if a pattern builds.
Here is the official statement released by Betsy DeVos regarding rescinding nationwide protection for transgender students.
This isn't an article as much as it is a list of things we can do to help transgender students and adults during this tough time.
Local Issues
Seattle Mayor Murray is prepared to sue the president over sanctuary cities.
Here's some good information on a local tent city that's trying to raise money to build tiny houses for their people.
A church in Washington state is suing the president because the immigration ban violates their religion and their right to practice it.
Antisemitism
The vice president has taken a stand against the attack at a Jewish cemetery earlier this week.
Ivanka Trump speaks out against the recent rash of bomb threats made against Jewish Community Centers.
Muslims around the country have raised money to help pay to fix the defaced headstones at the cemetery.
Africa
South Sudan is experiencing a famine. Millions of lives are at stake.
South Sudan's president has vowed to let his people have access to food and other aid when it arrives.
An informative article about famines, and why they still exist in 2017.
Opinion Pieces
Here is a good article written by a Muslim woman who used to work in the White House.
Miscellaneous
This is a great example of how perception is more important than reality. Trump's supporters see nothing but success and amazing changes, because that's what they want to see. A coworker of mine once said something very wise to me. He said that people are "feeling" creatures, not "thinking" creatures, and articles like this show just how true that is.
A Maryland court has upheld a ban on assault weapons in their state. Could this spread to other states too?
Actor David Cassidy has revealed that he's battling dementia.
Things to keep an eye on regarding Trump's policies.
The importance of comparing apples to apples when studying polls and comparing them to one another.
As of Thursday, where DAPL and Standing Rock stand.
The national arts funding looks like it will be cut out of the budget.
The Russian investigation is taking some interesting twists and turns, so far...
I never thought I'd miss John Boehner, but here we are...Speculation on where the Affordable Care Act will end up.
And on a happy note, here's some good things that happened this week! Thanks, Natasha, for finding this for me!
Civics 101:
In this week's continuation of the Declaration of Independence...Remember, in this and the next several passages, the "he" refers to the King of England. We're entering into the laundry list of the many wrongs he's committed to the colonies. I don't know about you, but as we will continue on with the list of wrongs, I am seeing more and more connections between the current administration in the White House and this King of England, from whom we sought independence. The comparison, as you will see, is rather uncanny...
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
Question of the Week and also Video of the Week:
What is "single payer insurance"? I don't know about you, but I have been hearing this term thrown around a lot lately in the discussion of what to do about the Affordable Care Act and what could be done to improve the health insurance system. If you're like me, you actually don't automatically know what this means, and might need to look it up. Well, that's exactly what I did last night. And it turns out, that the answer to "what is single payer insurance?" is super dry and boring and I have no desire to write about it. But, I also realized that there is a perfect musical answer to the question that basically represents what single payer insurance is. So, I present that to you here, as both the answer to the question, and my video of the week. Enjoy! And just google it if you want to find out what single payer insurance is, it's actually pretty simplistic. And also super not interesting to write about...
Do One Thing:
Last week's do one thing was a continuation of the week before because I didn't feel like I achieved it. I think I did a little better at it this week. I didn't have any sort of long, meaningful interactions with strangers, but I did have some interactions with people on the bus, so I'm going to count it. So, for this week's do one thing, I'm going to say...Tackle my phone issues. I am not a big cell phone person. I'm not a big phone person in general. But, I need to master texting, and I need to definitively find out how long distance works on my cell phone, because I don't have it on my landline. These might not seem important for a blog about politics or news, but long distance calls are needed to contact my representatives by phone. This is the first step in that. I am generally phone-phobic, so the thought of calling my reps on the phone terrifies me, but I am determined to overcome it. Baby steps, one at a time...
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