Have you been so busy with #WorkForest that you don’t have time to follow the news? Here is some news from this week that you may not have heard or want more info. on. Disclaimer: this is not everything that happened everywhere, just a few tidbits.
Image from ibitimes.com
Say What? Last weekend, Diana Nyad became the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the help of a shark cage. Homegirl was 64 years old and successfully completed the journey after her fifth attempt in a little over 52 hours. What a breeze.
One step closer…This week the Justice Department announced that it would stop enforcing the law that veterans’ benefits are not extended to gay couples. This announcement comes after the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling this summer that extends federal benefits to married gay couples. Bravo, Eric Holder, bravo.
So what’s the deal with Syria? In case you’ve been sitting under a rock the past few weeks, you have probably been hearing a lot about Syria. And even if you have, you may not understand exactly what is happening there. Well no fear, I’m here to help out.
So basically Syria is ruled by what we would consider a non-democratic government, lead by President Bashar al-Assad (he was preceded as president by his father, who was in office for 30 years). Ever since 2011, Syria has been experiencing political turmoil with a civil war that sprung off of the uprisings and movements of the Arab Spring. A large part of the Syrian movement was in opposition to President Assad’s regime. An opposition coalition created an alternative form of government, the Syrian National Coalition, which is recognized as legitimate by the United States. The civil war has been dragging on there for several years now and hundreds of thousands have been killed.
In August 2013 President Assad’s government was suspected of using chemical weapons on its civilians, a big no-no for world leaders everywhere. Footage of this attack started showing up on social media on August 21st, showing graphic images of its victims. Over 1,000 people were killed. The Syrian Government and President Assad have continuously denied using chemical weapons, though everyone thinks they did, including the United States.
Image from the Washington Post
What are we going to do about it? Luckily, investigators from the UN were already in Syria looking into previous suspicions of chemical attacks there. They spent time there speaking to victims, hospitals, taking samples, etc. They are now awaiting the results of their findings. However, there is some VERY STRONG evidence that this happened and many countries believe President Assad’s regime to have ordered the attack.
President Obama has said continuously that the use of chemical weapons would be a “red line” not to cross. If it was crossed the U.S. would have to do something, which would probably be a military strike. However, President Obama has been pretty wishy washy with his response, waiting on providing a definitive answer of what the U.S. will do. On August 31st he finally decided that the U.S. would take military action against these actions. He also included that he would seek authorization from Congress for the strike, which he doesn’t have to do. He is really just playing nice, an interesting notion considering his past dealings with Congress…
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed a resolution that would give President Obama the authority to strike. The resolution will face all of Congress next week for a vote. Another interesting component is whether other countries will respond. President Obama believes it is the international community that set this “red line” so it is really not solely the United States’ responsibility.
Stay tuned as we track the situation in Syria!
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Kickin’ it in Russia…Could get a little awkward. This Thursday marked the beginning of the G-20 summit, a meeting of all of the world’s leaders of the largest economies. Usually they talk about global economic thangs but this time they have been consumed with one thing, Syria. It’s also a little awkward that this meeting is in Russia considering the country’s choice to give asylum to Edward Snowden. Also, Russia’s LGBT laws have been a pretty thorny issue. Basically, Russia faces a very unique and difficult human rights climate, with laws that prevent gay pride and “propaganda” of non-traditional relationships. It’s not a great place to be an LGBT. And since the next Olympics will be there people are very worried about the rights of athletes.
In response to the G20 meetings this week, LGBT activists around the world have been organized by “All Out,” a gay rights organization. Protests were held across the globe in support of Russia’s LGBT activists with criticism of President Putin.
Image from Patheos.com
Oh Alec, you slay me. The paparazzi-hating funny man, Alec Baldwin, will be getting his own show this fall on MSNBC every Friday night. MSNBC is known for liberal-leaning politics news so it will be interesting to see what kind of show good-ole Alec ends up having. I know we’ll be watching.
Interesting…Electronic cigarettes have become really popular in recent years among high school students. These little contraptions are a lot more healthy than regular cigarettes but still contain nicotine and a few other bad ingredients. In addition, public health officials are really concerned that they will be a gateway to real cigarettes, which none of us want. They are also not regulated by the FDA, yet. Yikes-a-bee.