04/09/17 Week in Review

What a week it's been. It feels like there's just more and more terrible news happening right now, but in spite of that, there was also some great things that happened this week too. Check it all out here!

This Week in "Trump Won't Give Up on His Wiretapping Tweet"

Susan Rice is this week's victim of Trump's desperation to prove his ridiculous wiretapping tweet right.

Susan Rice's response to being dragged into the drama.

Russia

David Nunes is stepping down from the Russia probe of the White House.

Things just aren't going well for Donald Trump's allies...

Twitter

The government is apparently trying to find out who's behind those rogue twitter accounts. Twitter is disinclined to acquiesce to their request. Keep an eye out for this one.

When the government decided not to pursue the matter any further, Twitter dropped their lawsuit against them. I still say to keep an eye out for this one. The government doesn't need to know who is behind these rogue accounts. If they keep this up, it will have to be sorted out in court.

White House Drama

Steve Bannon has apparently been removed from the National Security Council. This demotion can't be settling well with him.

And it seems that the Bannon drama is even more dramatic than first thought.

Good News

LGBT rights had a huge win this week. Workplace bias rules now protect against LGBT discrimination.

Here's an invention that would make saltwater drinkable. This could change the world!

Belated good news- This is from last week, but as it hasn't gotten a lot of attention, I am sharing it anyway. In spite of the climate rollback signed by Trump last week, it appears that a lot of businesses will not be taking him up on his offer.

The bids have come and gone for companies to build the Great Wall of Mexico. It appears, though, that there aren't as many takers as they had hoped there would be...

In spite of what feels like a lot of setbacks recently in the world of gender equality in the workplace, there are things being done. Use this article to find out what your state is doing to combat gender-based income inequality.

California's years-long drought is now over, but most of their conservation efforts will remain in effect.

Apparently, sexual harassment doesn't pay off, as Bill O'Reilly is finding out...


Bad News

Thursday night, Trump ordered military strikes against Syria in response to the chemical attack earlier in the week.

Is there a plus side for the Democrats to losing the filibuster? Unfortunately, these things swing both ways.

Neil Gorsuch has been confirmed to the Supreme Court.

Miscellaneous

Black women in the United States have a different set of rules for what they can and can't do to their hair, than white women. This can affect their ability to get a job or a promotion. The double standard is disturbing.

Is there hope for Democrats and Republicans ever being able to work together in Congress? We can only keep our fingers crossed and hope so.

Civics 101:
Last week we finished up the Declaration of Independence. Because there are so many annotations and changes to the Constitution, it's not really conducive for me to copy and paste it in pieces here. I am going to include the link for the entire Constitution here for people to bookmark and read on their own time. And since I'm not sure how much people were taking away from this section, anyway, I might not continue it after this.

The Constitution of the United States


Book Recommendation:

I have had thoughts swirling around in my head since I started reading this, but now that I've finished it, I'm having trouble putting them together into something coherent. This was one of the most profound pieces I have ever had the privilege to read. What W.E.B DuBois has to say about white privilege and how the system is set up to work against black people feels ahead of its time, because it's like he's describing how things are today. But when you realize that it's actually not ahead of it's time, it's relevant because nothing has changed since his time, you're overcome with a sense of sadness and anger about it. If he was still alive today, he wouldn't probably notice much difference between the Reconstruction Era, and now.

W.E.B DuBois was one of two big players in what we would call the Civil Rights movement, though it didn't really have a title in those days. DuBois and Booker T. Washington had opposing ideas on how to approach civil rights. They were the Malcolm X and MLK Jr. of their time. And I can't say for Booker T. Washington, but W.E.B DuBois had issues with Washington. So much so, that one of the essays in this book is devoted entirely to what he thinks is wrong with Washington's approach. Washington apparently had a more "work with the system" attitude, whereas DuBois saw that the system wasn't set up for people of color(an actual phrase he uses in this book, well before it become a phrase we use today) and that maybe they needed to not be a part of the system if they ever wanted to have any sort of true freedom or equality. If these men were alive today, I think they'd be engaged in an active Twitter feud.

I highly recommend this book to anybody who is trying to get a better idea of how white privilege works, and how the system we live in today actually started a very long time ago. Go into it knowing that he was a product of his times, though. He didn't seem to have much use for women, and they tend to be side notes in his essays, if they show up at all. I think what he has to say about equality and how slavery still affects the world today, is important enough to overlook this issue. Be prepared to be emotionally moved by this, even to the point of tears, which was sort of embarrassing because I was on the bus when that happened. The version I read was a Bantam Classic edition from 1989, with a foreword written by Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. The picture is of this version. If you can find that version, I recommend reading that intro too. Dr. Gates is a big-name voice today, and you can see how he too, was influenced by the words of this great author.

Question of the Week:
This isn't a question, so much as a thought I had this week. Hypocrisy and politics seem to go hand-in-hand so naturally. I am trying to train myself to spot hypocrisies in my own political thoughts and opinions and calling myself on them. If I am ok with something being supported by or undertaken by a Democrat, then I have to be ok with the same thing being done by a Republican. The opposite is also true. If I am not ok with a Republican doing something, then I must also not be ok with it when a Democrat does the same thing. The question is, do I support something because it's being done by a Democrat or do I support it because it's the right thing to do? If it's the right thing to do, then it doesn't matter who does it. It just matters that it's being done.

Do One Thing:
My goal this week was to get my apartment cleaned and under control. And of course that was a big fail, because cleaning sucks! I will get it done, eventually...Also, I am finding it difficult to remember these things and thinking of things to do, so I might discontinue this section as well. That's the good thing about this news blog project, it's something that can change over time depending on what works best.