Healthcare plans, budget cuts, and wiretap story denials, oh my! What a busy week for the current administration as they try to foist irresponsible cuts to the federal government on us, start nuclear wars, and insult other world leaders in the never-ending quest to prove that one is right. Here is the best of the best of what I read. Happy reading!
Trumpcare
Trump's epic response to the outpouring of anger against the GOP's healthcare plan. While his response is brilliant, read between the lines at what he isn't saying. I might be reading too much into this, but I think this is his fallback plan.
Trumpcare will most likely be front and center in the midterm elections in 2018. Read here to find out what the Democrats plan to do with it.
I know this generally breaks my rule about speculative articles, but it's just such a glorious read, I can't help but share it here. Trumpcare/Ryancare could be what takes out the GOP...If only...
Africa
Kofi Annan has some big energy plans for the continent of Africa. Can he make them come to pass? Let us hope so!
An update on the statue found in Egypt last week. It turns out it's not Ramses II, but it was still an important person in Egyptian history.
Trump
Monday brought with it the passing of another executive order, calling for the researching of federal government departments and their necessity. Money-saving is the stated motive behind this. According to this article, however, it will take the help of Congress to get any of this to work, however. Keep an eye out for this one, but I would advise not panicking just yet.
Here is the actual executive order passed on Monday.
A sad, insightful, and interesting look into the minds of some Trump supporters. This is worth a read, if only to see where they're coming from.
Trump definitely seems unwilling to admit he was wrong or that he lied when it comes to his wiretapping claims, and I think we should continue to act as though he is completely serious in all of this.
Trump's tax return explained. While I don't think the taxes are that important overall, for those who like reading about taxes, this is a good article about it.
Miscellaneous
There is a push for Scotland to hold another referendum to break away from England. It didn't work last time they tried, but with Brexit looming over their heads, and the fact that Scotland doesn't want to exit the EU, it might stick this time. Keep your eye out for this one, folks.
The city of Seattle is considering privatizing some of its community centers and pools.
American citizens, at least those who are Muslims or are of Middle Eastern descent, are having their cellphones searched upon return to the United States.
This blog post about non-GMO foods might make you rethink the foods you eat, and the foods you don't eat. It's definitely made me rethink my stance on the topic.
A disturbing, though not surprising piece about Monsanto and it's quest to get rid of a study showing the cancer risk of one of their top-selling chemicals.
Civics 101:
In this week's section of the Declaration of Independence, we finish out the long, very long list of wrongs that King George is being accused of:
"For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions."
Ahhh, those sad and disturbing times before we stopped thinking of Native Americans as "savages"...If I was to rewrite the Declaration of Independence, that part would definitely get some heavy editing!
Question of the Week:
This came to me after two separate things I read this week. The first was the list of budget cuts in Trump's budget proposal. So many things, including the funding for the National Endowment for the Arts(NEA). The other thing I read was an article in the Seattle Times regarding the famine in four African and Middle Eastern nations right now. The article also mentioned the fact that we currently have 20 million school-age children in the United States who rely on school lunches to guarantee that they get at least one meal a day. This also made me think of Flint, Michigan, which has been without potable water for years, with very little, if no, intervention from the federal government. All of these ideas whirled around my head, and I became very angry at all of it. The question that I thought of, might be shocking or controversial, but I feel I have to pose it anyway.
Do we, as a society, deserve things like the arts, when we do not take care of the people in our country? If we let 20 million children starve, what right do we have to enjoy art? If we look at this from the perspective of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, the first, largest bottom level is that of our basic needs. The things every human needs to survive, which includes food and water. Art, viewing it and creating it, would fall under the the highest category, Self-Actualization. We like the arts, we enjoy them, we get satisfaction and fulfillment from them, but in the end, they're extras. Things we can partake in and view, when all our other needs have been met. Do we not have a moral and ethical obligation to make sure that at the very least, all our fellow citizens of this country, have met their basic level of needs before we indulge in our highest?
Of course, this is not why Trump is proposing to cut funding to the NEA, nor is he using those funds to help feed the poor in this country. They're getting cuts too, tragically. And I don't suppose this has to be an either/or situation, really. We can fund both. We have funded both. But even when we did fund both, we still had 20 million school age children relying on school lunches for food. So clearly, it wasn't enough, was it?
Do One Thing:
So, I have been forgetting to do my one thing for a few weeks now, and I am happy to say that this week, I actually achieved half of the thing! I figured out how texting works on my cellphone. It turns out it's not as complicated as I expected, so that's good! Now I just need to figure out how long distance works on it to achieve the second half of my do one thing. That'll be for this week, hopefully. Maybe I should write myself a note so I don't forget again!
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