Column
While Trump Flounders, the Rest of the World Burns
Here’s what you missed while refreshing your impeachment feeds
--
Phone calls and Ukraine and whistleblowers, oh my! It’s been about as insane a news week as ever, and that’s really saying something under the Trump administration. While I’m as carried away with the possibility of impeachment as anyone else, I’m trying my best to remember all of the other urgent issues that require the attention of Americans.
So if you need a break from House committee hearings or national security blowups, here are a few other things we still need to be thinking about:
The humanitarian crisis at the border
This week five women who were separated from their children at the border sued the Trump administration for abuse, noting that their children have post-traumatic symptoms. To date the government has taken away nearly 4,000 children from parents seeking to come to the United States.
Abortion rights
At NARAL Pro-Choice America’s 50th anniversary celebration this week, Stacey Abrams reminded us that while every Democrat running for president is pro-choice, “believing in something doesn’t mean you’re willing to fight for it,” and encouraged attendees to ask each candidate about their specific plans to protect choice. Nearly 40 new state-level restrictions on abortion have been adopted since the beginning of this year, the Trump administration has enforced a new abortion gag rule, and multiple states have passed sweeping anti-abortion bans.
Climate change
More than 4 million people marched across the world last week as part of the youth climate strike, and 16-year-old activist Greta Thunberg gave a barnburner speech at the United Nations. Meanwhile, a report released Wednesday from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that the sea level rise over the next decades will be even worse than previously thought.
Violence against women
In the wake of news that the murder of women by men has increased 20% over the last five years and that one in 16 women’s first experience with sexual intercourse will be rape, the woman once known as Emily Doe is speaking out in a new book. Chanel Miller, who captivated the country with her incredible victim-impact statement after being raped by Brock Turner, has released a memoir. The New York Times calls it “an act of reclamation.”
And if all that isn’t enough for you, it turns out that one of the dudes from Blink-182 is a UFO researcher now.
All of which is to say: The world keeps on turning, even if it feels like we’re stuck to Twitter or cable news.
