The President's Actions
Information about the publicly discussed matter regarding North Korea last weekend in Florida.
I must admit to being horribly ignorant to the goings on in Central and South America, but this seems like something worth keeping an eye on...
LGBTQ rights are bound to be attacked under this administration. It appears the first step in that has been taken.
What life in the White House is like. Approach with caution, as most of this is information submitted by anonymous sources.
How much money Trump's weekend trips to Florida are costing the American taxpayer so far.
Trump's words matter. They also echo words used by past tyrants.
Washington State
Senator Patty Murray is apparently doing a pretty good job in the Senate right now.
The well-known local case of the florist who discriminated against a gay couple wishing to have flowers prepared for their wedding has been heard by the state supreme court. Here is the verdict.
Kshama Sawant's response to Daniel Ramirez Medina's continued detention.
The GOP
Where do the GOP House members stand on Trump's executive orders? Read to find out!
Here is a video interview with Paul Ryan from earlier this month. Make special note of certain words he uses, like logic. I think people would do better to come at him from an angle of philosophical debate, rather than feelings. That is, if you want him to hear you and have him take you seriously.
Apparently, all is not well in the world of the GOP trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
The GOP has repealed a regulation that previously blocked mentally ill people from buying guns. I have to admit, though, their argument for it is ingenious. Well played, GOP, well played...
Flynn Drama
Out like Flynn...We hardly knew ye...
What Pence knew, and when.
Apparently it's not just Flynn who was in cahoots with the Russians...
I guess nobody wants Flynn's job...
More information about Flynn's resignation.
Immigration Issues
ICE questions and answers.
A Trump supporter has a taste of being a refugee himself as he is evacuated away from the Oroville Dam spill.
A woman trying to get a restraining order against her abusive partner is arrested by ICE, who are tipped off by said abusive partner. This is the America we're living in now.
People are choosing to be arrested in Canada in hopes of becoming a refugee there. Is this the beginning of a new Underground Railroad?
A man arrested in Seattle is being detained for being an illegal alien, is going to continue being detained, for the time being.
Resistance
Republican townhalls haven't been going too well of late.
Find a townhall in your area. Show up and have your voice heard!
The Day without Immigrants boycott and it's effects in Texas.
Libraries and librarians are good sources of information and now they are the source of resistance against the current administration!
Fact Checking
You may have seen the story going around social media about Melania Trump's security costing more than the arts budget. Here is a fact-checking piece about that.
Fact or fiction? Parsing out the now-infamous press conference from earlier this week.
Miscellaneous
What Captain America means in a time like now. (Team Cap now and forever.)
Fear not, garden fans. It appears that Michelle Obama's White House garden will remain intact during the next administration's run.
Norma McCorvey, the Jane Roe of Roe V. Wade, has passed away. Here is a short article about her life and times.
An update on The Gambia now that the new president has safely arrived and is able to begin a new era for the nation.
Another one bites the dust. Another Trump nominee has withdrawn his name for consideration.
Looks like there's a big deal in the works for the Kraft Heinz company.
Opinion Pieces
Trump seems to not be enjoying his dream job...
Civics 101:
In this week's continuation of the Declaration of Independence-
The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
Question of the Week: What is ICE?
With the increase in ICE raids starting late last week, I must admit that I am rather ignorant as to what exactly ICE is. Here are a few resources if you, like me, need to learn just what exactly ICE is, and what their role is.
Here is their actual website. If you look at the main page,
Here are a few articles about what ICE is currently doing, how it compares to past administrations, and what direction they seem to be headed in:
1.
2.
3.
Video of the Week:
Book Recommendation:
I actually have a book to recommend this week!
"I’ve been reading Common Sense by Thomas Paine,
So men say that I’m intense or I’m insane.
You want a revolution? I want a revelation,
So listen to my declaration: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident
That all men are created equal' And when I meet Thomas Jefferson, I’m ‘a compel him to include women in the sequel!"
Common Sense is actually an essay published on February 14, 1776, just about five months before the Revolutionary War began. I liked it for several reasons. It showed you what people were thinking about back then. What was important in their lives at that moment in time. They had some major decisions to make, bigger than we've ever been faced with before in our lifetime. What form of government should a new nation have? Should we become a new nation at all? What are the pros and cons of leaving or staying with Britain? Are we prepared for the consequences, because once we leave, there's no going back? These are ideas that we know the outcome of, because we are looking back at it, but just put yourself into the mind of somebody who is facing all of this at once, and has to make that decision. How incredibly daunting a task that must have been.
It also shows how people thought back then. The Bible is still being used as a main pop culture reference, the way Shakespeare used it in his plays some hundred(ish) years prior to this time period. I also like reading the language and seeing how similar it is to today's English. It doesn't read like Shakespeare, it's very much like today's language. I can imagine myself into this time and how I would speak to the people who lived then. And yes, there are passages in here that we would deem terribly racist in today's world, but it gives you an idea of how people thought back then.
And you can see the influence this essay had on the founding fathers and the people who came after. Read carefully and see if you can spot the passage referenced in a speech by Abraham Lincoln nearly a century later!
Here's a link to read online. I read an actual book copy I purchased for my book collection, but you can read it for free online if you like. Here are a couple of my favorite passages, I'll share them here with you.
On speaking about William the Conqueror, the first Norman king of England: "A French bastard landing with an armed banditti, and establishing himself king of England against the consent of the natives, is in plain terms a very paltry rascally original.--It certainly hath no divinity in it." I just love how he uses this example of how bad an outside group of people invading a land not their own and taking ownership of it is, while not even seeing that his adopted home is guilty of the exact same thing. It's just such a white person way to think...Nothing has changed over the years.
On hereditary inheritance of a throne of power: "Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions." I can't think of a single person that this applies to in this current world we find ourselves living in now. Not a single, solitary one...!
Do One Thing:
Last week I tasked myself with talking to a stranger or a neighbor. I have to admit to semi failing this one. I talked to several strangers, but in the course of my business. Going to the doctor and talking to receptionists, a new doctor, and the woman who drew my blood all count as strangers, but aren't really keeping in the spirit of what I meant. I did have an opportunity to talk to a neighbor earlier in the week, but it was early in the morning and I didn't feel like it. So, I feel like I can't say I did my one thing, which means, it becomes my one thing for this week. Let's hope I do it this time around!
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