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.