Well, Trump was out of the country this week, and even though he was doing some obnoxious garbage out and about in the world, it wasn't happening in our borders. I did my best to ignore him, give myself a week off from thinking about him. And it's Memorial Day weekend and I am enjoying the heck out of it, so this week is an "I care just enough to do the very least" week, and I am not sorry for that! No question of the week, just the highlights of what happened back here on the homefront. Take some time to check in with the big stories of the week and then go out there and enjoy the sun!
Russia
This week in the Russia investigation, including a strange-looking chart, and a timeline of events leading up to now.
Trump asked top members of the intelligence community to deny that there is any evidence between Russia and his campaign.
Some more information about the Russia investigations this week. Yes, that is plural. This is the America we live in now.
Jeff Sessions seriously just needs to go.
Miscellaneous
I know, I know, yes, it's Fox News. This person tells a first-person account of what happened with Gianforte body slamming the reporter earlier this week. I thought it was important that it was a story being told on Fox News, and therefore, I am sharing it.
This is why we can't have nice things. I'm sure Tillerson was very happy to have to make this apology.
More gerrymandering has been struck down by the Supreme Court. This time for the state of North Carolina.
This week in science, fossil evidence has challenged the long-held thought that all hominins(not to be confused with hominids)evolved in Africa. This new evidence would put them north of Africa, in the Mediterranean region of Europe. This evidence does not alter the still-held belief that Homo Sapiens started and evolved in Africa. It would just mean that at some point in time, another species traveled south, to Africa, and eventually evolved and/or bred into the species known as Homo Sapiens.
The FCC has finished their investigation into the Stephen Colbert Trump joke complaints, and have chosen not to do anything about it.
An investigation into an airstrike by the US in March shows that we killed about 140 civilians when we bombed a building in Mosul, Iraq.
Checking back in with the state of the Senate's work on the Affordable Care Act repeal. Spoiler alert: It's not going well...
Sunday, May 28, 2017
Sunday, May 21, 2017
05/21/17 Week in Review
There is so much going on this week I can't really even keep it all straight. But all of it is making me wonder how much longer Trump will remain in power before the GOP members of Congress no longer want to deal with his drama. I don't understand why they stick with him when dumping him would allow them to get a lot more done. I think while their voting base remains standing behind Trump, they will too. As soon as the voters start turning on Trump, Congress will too. I've always said a Pence presidency makes a lot more sense for them, but that also means our fight gets harder. More skilled people, more stable people in power trying to pass their conservative agenda and liberals resting on their laurels, still high on their success of beating Trump, will need even more fight than they've been putting in so far. The real fight begins when Trump leaves office.
But, it is all so interesting and exciting right now that it's nice to just sit back and enjoy it all. Mueller's appointment to the investigation will bring stability, and the latest revelation that Trump called Comey a "nut job" and told the Russians that he hoped it would end the attention on the Russia investigation, is a game changer. I just don't see how he can come back from this one. It will take time, maybe a long time, but sit back, make some popcorn, and enjoy it like
Russia Russia Russia
Flynn is going to go down as the bane of Trump's existence, when all is said and done.
The dominoes of the new administration have always been teetering, but they began to fall in earnest this past Tuesday with news of leaking information to Russian officials during their visit to the White House.
Trump's reaction to the revelation of his leaking of classified information to the Russians.
Here's a good list of what happened when this week. It's getting harder and harder to keep track of it all.
Trump calling anybody else "nuts" is rich, but then again, he's allegedly a very rich man...
Really, it was either Robert Mueller or Captain America who could properly take over the investigation into all of this garbage going on. This is a nice opinion piece talking about Mueller's appointment this week.
Miscellaneous
Jason Chaffetz, the Republican Congressman from Utah is going to be stepping down from his job at the end of June.
Trump made a speech on Sunday about Islam. Apparently he managed to not insult the entire Islamic world.
A refugee camp in Jordan is the first refugee camp in the world to be run solely on solar power.
Scientists have successfully used a 3D printer to create an artificial ovary for a mouse that allowed it to reproduce successfully. They would like to use this for women have have had cancer and want to have children. What will they think of next?!
No question of the week this week, just make sure to keep paying attention to the news, and find opportunities to contact your representatives when the need arises. To quote from Harry Potter, "Constant Vigilance!"
But, it is all so interesting and exciting right now that it's nice to just sit back and enjoy it all. Mueller's appointment to the investigation will bring stability, and the latest revelation that Trump called Comey a "nut job" and told the Russians that he hoped it would end the attention on the Russia investigation, is a game changer. I just don't see how he can come back from this one. It will take time, maybe a long time, but sit back, make some popcorn, and enjoy it like
Russia Russia Russia
Flynn is going to go down as the bane of Trump's existence, when all is said and done.
The dominoes of the new administration have always been teetering, but they began to fall in earnest this past Tuesday with news of leaking information to Russian officials during their visit to the White House.
Trump's reaction to the revelation of his leaking of classified information to the Russians.
Here's a good list of what happened when this week. It's getting harder and harder to keep track of it all.
Trump calling anybody else "nuts" is rich, but then again, he's allegedly a very rich man...
Really, it was either Robert Mueller or Captain America who could properly take over the investigation into all of this garbage going on. This is a nice opinion piece talking about Mueller's appointment this week.
Miscellaneous
Jason Chaffetz, the Republican Congressman from Utah is going to be stepping down from his job at the end of June.
Trump made a speech on Sunday about Islam. Apparently he managed to not insult the entire Islamic world.
A refugee camp in Jordan is the first refugee camp in the world to be run solely on solar power.
Scientists have successfully used a 3D printer to create an artificial ovary for a mouse that allowed it to reproduce successfully. They would like to use this for women have have had cancer and want to have children. What will they think of next?!
No question of the week this week, just make sure to keep paying attention to the news, and find opportunities to contact your representatives when the need arises. To quote from Harry Potter, "Constant Vigilance!"
Sunday, May 14, 2017
05/14/17 Week in Review
Well, this was one of the biggest news weeks since the election. I think we're all still reeling and trying to take it all in. Comey's firing, though not completely shocking, and not entirely undeserved, definitely threw all of us off our game this week. This is the time to really start paying attention to everything being reported, and questioning all of it. Also, ask yourself, Trump is good at doing something to distract us from other things. What things did we miss this week when we were all focusing on Comey? Was this a botched attempt to get our minds off of "the Russia thing" or was it worth it to him to deal with that so he could distract us from something else? Just something to keep in mind as we go into next week.
Comey's Firing*
These subpoenas were issued just hours before Trump fired Comey.
This is a good, straight-forward article about the Comey firing and how it all happened.
At least Senator McCain is fighting the good fight with the Democrats over Comey's firing.
If only Speaker Ryan would join the fight as well. Alas, he seems disinclined to.
The current administration has conflicting stories about how the Comey firing happened and why.
Trump met with the Russian Foreign Minister the day after firing Comey.
*-Though these articles have not necessarily been written in chronological order, I placed them in chronological order as the events unfolded, to give you a better sense of how the story went down last week.
The Koreas
South Korea has a new president.
With a new president in South Korea, North Korea is apparently testing the waters with a ballistic missile that landed close to Russian waters on Sunday morning, their time.
Dan Coats
The US Intel Chief spoke to a Senate panel this week and updated them on a laundry list of issues. Check them all out here.
More information the US Intel Chief shared with the Senate panel.
Miscellaneous
Due to the current accusations against him, Seattle's mayor, Ed Murray has decided not to run for re-election.
It wasn't all bad news. This week, the Senate passed on the chance to turn back the clock on greenhouse gas emissions.
Question of the Week
This confirms what I've been thinking for a while. Liberals have issues with tolerance and prejudice as well. And before you object and say, "But that's because 'they're' trying to oppress us!" remember that "they" think the same thing about "us".
"[T]hey see exactly what Donald Trump has taught them: that the entire media landscape loathes them, their values, their family, and their religion."
Are liberals contributing to the great divide in this country more than we think we are? Both of the articles here would suggest that we are in fact doing so. The more I think about late-night comedies and how they handle conservatives, two words keep popping into my head: Bullying, and Prejudice. Bullying doesn't always mean beating somebody up or harassing them on the internet. It comes in many forms. And prejudice doesn't always mean denying somebody a job. And it can happen between people with the same skin color.
I think our intentions are good. We need a bit of comic relief, and we need to showcase how silly some of this stuff out there is. But is humiliating somebody for their belief the right way to do that? Regardless of what we think about the rightness or wrongness of the other person's belief, has bullying a person ever, in the history of the world, successfully led to that person changing their belief to yours? By using mockery and shaming to showcase the rightness of our beliefs, don't we just push people in the opposite direction? Even if they were inclined to think about it a different way or have a glimmer of an open mind, they're not going to, just to spite us.
I know I have experienced this myself with various political beliefs I don't necessarily share with some of my fellow liberals. The bullying I have encountered didn't make me see or share their belief, it made me loathe it, as well as the people they were promoting. It made me want to have nothing to do with them whatsoever, and even though it was last year, I still resent it. Have you ever been made to feel like that by somebody else in your own political party? I would encourage you to recall those emotions, and ask yourself if doing this to other people makes us the better party. Like the Atlantic article mentions, Michelle Obama's quote last year about when others go low, we go high, are we really taking the high road? Or are we just lowering ourselves for the laugh? Are we hurting our party and our country in the long run? Would we like to be the subject of those comedy programs? If one existed on the conservative side that tore our beliefs apart and made us to look like buffoons, would it make us open our hearts and minds to them? Or would it make us want to destroy them at all costs? I think we know the answer to that...
I was going to share one of the SNL skits from last night on today's post. I thought it was pretty funny and I did share it last night on my FB page. But in light of this question of the week, I am going to skip it. I am going to think long and hard about my own role in all of this and how I can help our country get out of this hole it's dug itself into. I can't necessarily change the world or the country, but I can change my own actions. In the end, it's the only thing any of us can really do.
Comey's Firing*
These subpoenas were issued just hours before Trump fired Comey.
This is a good, straight-forward article about the Comey firing and how it all happened.
At least Senator McCain is fighting the good fight with the Democrats over Comey's firing.
If only Speaker Ryan would join the fight as well. Alas, he seems disinclined to.
The current administration has conflicting stories about how the Comey firing happened and why.
Trump met with the Russian Foreign Minister the day after firing Comey.
*-Though these articles have not necessarily been written in chronological order, I placed them in chronological order as the events unfolded, to give you a better sense of how the story went down last week.
The Koreas
South Korea has a new president.
With a new president in South Korea, North Korea is apparently testing the waters with a ballistic missile that landed close to Russian waters on Sunday morning, their time.
Dan Coats
The US Intel Chief spoke to a Senate panel this week and updated them on a laundry list of issues. Check them all out here.
More information the US Intel Chief shared with the Senate panel.
Miscellaneous
Due to the current accusations against him, Seattle's mayor, Ed Murray has decided not to run for re-election.
It wasn't all bad news. This week, the Senate passed on the chance to turn back the clock on greenhouse gas emissions.
Question of the Week
This confirms what I've been thinking for a while. Liberals have issues with tolerance and prejudice as well. And before you object and say, "But that's because 'they're' trying to oppress us!" remember that "they" think the same thing about "us".
"[T]hey see exactly what Donald Trump has taught them: that the entire media landscape loathes them, their values, their family, and their religion."
Are liberals contributing to the great divide in this country more than we think we are? Both of the articles here would suggest that we are in fact doing so. The more I think about late-night comedies and how they handle conservatives, two words keep popping into my head: Bullying, and Prejudice. Bullying doesn't always mean beating somebody up or harassing them on the internet. It comes in many forms. And prejudice doesn't always mean denying somebody a job. And it can happen between people with the same skin color.
I think our intentions are good. We need a bit of comic relief, and we need to showcase how silly some of this stuff out there is. But is humiliating somebody for their belief the right way to do that? Regardless of what we think about the rightness or wrongness of the other person's belief, has bullying a person ever, in the history of the world, successfully led to that person changing their belief to yours? By using mockery and shaming to showcase the rightness of our beliefs, don't we just push people in the opposite direction? Even if they were inclined to think about it a different way or have a glimmer of an open mind, they're not going to, just to spite us.
I know I have experienced this myself with various political beliefs I don't necessarily share with some of my fellow liberals. The bullying I have encountered didn't make me see or share their belief, it made me loathe it, as well as the people they were promoting. It made me want to have nothing to do with them whatsoever, and even though it was last year, I still resent it. Have you ever been made to feel like that by somebody else in your own political party? I would encourage you to recall those emotions, and ask yourself if doing this to other people makes us the better party. Like the Atlantic article mentions, Michelle Obama's quote last year about when others go low, we go high, are we really taking the high road? Or are we just lowering ourselves for the laugh? Are we hurting our party and our country in the long run? Would we like to be the subject of those comedy programs? If one existed on the conservative side that tore our beliefs apart and made us to look like buffoons, would it make us open our hearts and minds to them? Or would it make us want to destroy them at all costs? I think we know the answer to that...
I was going to share one of the SNL skits from last night on today's post. I thought it was pretty funny and I did share it last night on my FB page. But in light of this question of the week, I am going to skip it. I am going to think long and hard about my own role in all of this and how I can help our country get out of this hole it's dug itself into. I can't necessarily change the world or the country, but I can change my own actions. In the end, it's the only thing any of us can really do.
Sunday, May 7, 2017
05/06/17 Week in Review
Well, it was a whirlwind week of overwhelming bills and executive orders being passed. It's almost too much to think about, but we have to think about it. I would urge everybody to read all you can about the facts and figures of these issues, and contact your state representatives to let them know how you feel about them. They need to hear from us.
The Healthcare Bill
A well-written, non-hysterical article about the House voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act this week.
Another article explaining the health care bill passed this week.
This article describes the pre-existing conditions controversy from this week.
The healthcare bill now lies in the hands of the Senate. It will take time, but the final product is likely to look vastly different from what it looks like now. And that seems to be just fine with the House. For me, this is proof that this was just about getting a cheap victory to make them look less completely pathetic. This wasn't for the American people's benefit, it was for Congress's.
I normally don't share Washington Post articles because I know it's a limited site if you don't have a paid subscription to it, but if you haven't maxed out your free articles for the month yet, or have a subscription, please read this article very carefully. The healthcare bill that Congress passed this week is very upsetting, but the media, both social and news, are not helping very much to quell the hysteria and tell the truth. We need to fight this, but we need to know the facts and base our arguments on those and not our emotions built up from a meme we saw on Facebook or a news article designed to get you to read it and grow terrified so you'll make sure to keep checking back to the site.
Good News
82 of the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014 have been released.
It looks like PBS is safe for another year, in spite of all our worries!
Scientists have used technology to remove the HIV DNA code from mice, freeing mice from the disease. Could this work one day for humans? Only time and a lot of testing will tell.
LGBT Issues
Though this article veers from the original topic part way through, this is the first real "mainstream" news site talking about the alleged rounding up and torture of LGBT people in Chechnya, that I have seen.
And a follow-up article from the same news site explaining more about Chechnya.
This might not get passed, but at least some members of Congress are trying to do the right thing for our fellow LGBTQ American citizens.
The Supreme Court has refused to hear an argument to try and dismantle the ban on gay conversion therapy in the state of California. The ban is being upheld.
Miscellaneous
After a rather raunchy commentary on an episode of Stephen Colbert's night show this week, the FCC will be looking into the complaints it has received to see if any laws were broken.
One of Trump's latest executive orders is aimed at loosening the rules around churches and political speech. The next time you're at church, if you hear your pastor talking politics, you'll know where your religious institution stands on this issue...
The state of Texas is just a governor's signature away from banning sanctuary cities in their state.
Trump can't seem to get anybody to become Secretary of the Army. It's like they don't want to work for him, or something.
Question of the Week
The facts behind the woman arrested after laughing at Jeff Sessions, including a video of the actual incident.
"The US Department of Justice is literally prosecuting a woman for laughing at Jeff Sessions"-This is an actual headline for an article. This is my opinion, but this is not balanced news.
An actually well-balanced, non-hysterical article about the woman arrested after laughing at Jeff Sessions.
Are the Democrats guilty of crying wolf? One of the big headlines I saw a lot this week, besides the healthcare bill, was this one: A woman was arrested and jailed for laughing at Jeff Sessions and has now been found guilty. What isn't told in those headlines, is the context behind all of it. And while I understand that it sounds like a dangerous precedent that Sessions himself is setting, the reality is, none of this appears to have anything to do with him at all. The headlines make it sound like a woman laughed at him, and he had her carted off. If you watch the video of what happened, it paints a very different picture.
My question is, is this good for us as a party to do? With people hurling accusations at us and the media for spreading fake news, are we really doing ourselves any favors by playing into their hands? If we overreact to things like this, when something actually vital happens, does that help spread the word or does it just dilute it because we've overreacted so many times before? The problem with these issues, and with the way the media portrays them, is that they play on our emotions. They're designed to make us terrified and/or outraged over the situation that none of us bothered to investigate beyond the meme we saw on Twitter or that headline we saw on HuffPo. This is irresponsible activism, if you can even call it activism. We must do better than this.
The Healthcare Bill
A well-written, non-hysterical article about the House voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act this week.
Another article explaining the health care bill passed this week.
This article describes the pre-existing conditions controversy from this week.
The healthcare bill now lies in the hands of the Senate. It will take time, but the final product is likely to look vastly different from what it looks like now. And that seems to be just fine with the House. For me, this is proof that this was just about getting a cheap victory to make them look less completely pathetic. This wasn't for the American people's benefit, it was for Congress's.
I normally don't share Washington Post articles because I know it's a limited site if you don't have a paid subscription to it, but if you haven't maxed out your free articles for the month yet, or have a subscription, please read this article very carefully. The healthcare bill that Congress passed this week is very upsetting, but the media, both social and news, are not helping very much to quell the hysteria and tell the truth. We need to fight this, but we need to know the facts and base our arguments on those and not our emotions built up from a meme we saw on Facebook or a news article designed to get you to read it and grow terrified so you'll make sure to keep checking back to the site.
Good News
82 of the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014 have been released.
It looks like PBS is safe for another year, in spite of all our worries!
Scientists have used technology to remove the HIV DNA code from mice, freeing mice from the disease. Could this work one day for humans? Only time and a lot of testing will tell.
LGBT Issues
Though this article veers from the original topic part way through, this is the first real "mainstream" news site talking about the alleged rounding up and torture of LGBT people in Chechnya, that I have seen.
And a follow-up article from the same news site explaining more about Chechnya.
This might not get passed, but at least some members of Congress are trying to do the right thing for our fellow LGBTQ American citizens.
The Supreme Court has refused to hear an argument to try and dismantle the ban on gay conversion therapy in the state of California. The ban is being upheld.
Miscellaneous
After a rather raunchy commentary on an episode of Stephen Colbert's night show this week, the FCC will be looking into the complaints it has received to see if any laws were broken.
One of Trump's latest executive orders is aimed at loosening the rules around churches and political speech. The next time you're at church, if you hear your pastor talking politics, you'll know where your religious institution stands on this issue...
The state of Texas is just a governor's signature away from banning sanctuary cities in their state.
Trump can't seem to get anybody to become Secretary of the Army. It's like they don't want to work for him, or something.
Question of the Week
The facts behind the woman arrested after laughing at Jeff Sessions, including a video of the actual incident.
"The US Department of Justice is literally prosecuting a woman for laughing at Jeff Sessions"-This is an actual headline for an article. This is my opinion, but this is not balanced news.
An actually well-balanced, non-hysterical article about the woman arrested after laughing at Jeff Sessions.
Are the Democrats guilty of crying wolf? One of the big headlines I saw a lot this week, besides the healthcare bill, was this one: A woman was arrested and jailed for laughing at Jeff Sessions and has now been found guilty. What isn't told in those headlines, is the context behind all of it. And while I understand that it sounds like a dangerous precedent that Sessions himself is setting, the reality is, none of this appears to have anything to do with him at all. The headlines make it sound like a woman laughed at him, and he had her carted off. If you watch the video of what happened, it paints a very different picture.
My question is, is this good for us as a party to do? With people hurling accusations at us and the media for spreading fake news, are we really doing ourselves any favors by playing into their hands? If we overreact to things like this, when something actually vital happens, does that help spread the word or does it just dilute it because we've overreacted so many times before? The problem with these issues, and with the way the media portrays them, is that they play on our emotions. They're designed to make us terrified and/or outraged over the situation that none of us bothered to investigate beyond the meme we saw on Twitter or that headline we saw on HuffPo. This is irresponsible activism, if you can even call it activism. We must do better than this.
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