The Pentagon misled Congress by using inaccurate or vague information about sexual assault cases in an effort to blunt support for a Senate bill that would make a major change in how the military handles allegations of sexual misconduct, an Associated Press investigation found.
Read the rest of this troubling AP article: Pentagon misled lawmakers on military sexual assault cases.
A person who holds a “huge” rally to raise money to benefit our veterans and manages to raise $6 million should be praised–unless he doesn’t get that money to the 24 organizations he promised it to. Yes, some donors gave money directly to the charities rather than through the Donald J. Trump Foundation, and about half of the amount has found its way to the charities. Where’s the rest? Will the other charities ever get their checks? Some have, once the Foundation was reminded. How much reminding and media pressure will it take to get the promised funds to the charities?
Our veterans, who are struggling with health, mental, and financial difficulties as a result of their service to our nation, deserve better treatment.
(Read story in the Washington Post article “What ever happened to all that money Trump raised for the veterans?”
Come on, who’d do that in our enlightened, animal-loving country? Actually, there are tens of thousands of people who enjoy this illegal “sport.” Where do these dogs come from? How are they raised (in isolation), fed (fighting for every morsel), and drugged (steroids)? What happens in a dog fight? What happens to the losers, injured, and too-old-to-fight dogs? And the people–who are they and why do they get involved?
Today, which is National Dog Fighting Awareness Day, is a good time to find the answers to these questions Read “Is Dog Fighting More Common than you Think,” then speak out against this inhumane practice.
According to the EPA, climate change can affect our mental health. The EPA report just released says that man-made global warming is making us sicker, both mentally and physically. The Surgeon General agrees, saying that doctors are seeing more and more climate-related cases. Asthma is worsening because of it. Extraordinary heat is killing tens of thousands of people.
This is no flimsy White-House-conspiracy report; it’s based on 1800 scientific studies. And our governmental health agencies aren’t doing enough about the situation.
Read more details at “Fever: Federal Report Says Global Warming physical health,White House,EPAMaking US Sick.”
One in every 110 U.S. kids has it, and 3.5 million Americans live with an autism spectrum disorder. Between 2000 and 2010, autism in our nation’s children increased by 119.4%, and it’s still increasing. In fact, autism is the fastest-growing developmental disability in the U.S.
You probably know someone with it but think of the person as “a little off” because you don’t recognize his or her autism.
This is good month to learn about it, because it’s National Autism Awareness Month. http://www.whathealth.com/awareness/event/nationalautismmonth.html gives an excellent summary of how autism affects a person, the characteristics you might notice, and how the American Autism Society is trying to spread the word about this condition with no known cause (no, vaccines don’t bring it on).
Another very good site is offered by Easter Seals, “Autism Signs and Symptoms,” including a list of behaviors with which you can evaluate your own child.
These sites are worth looking at, if for no other reason than they may lead people to be more tolerant and understanding rather than writing someone off as “odd,” “cold,” or “stand-offish.”
As the weather turns nicer, thoughts turn to gardening. But the soil is even more important than we usually think of it.
Enjoy the fun of the day, but, please, consider the person you’re pranking. We’ve all been the butt of cruel April Fools jokes that have humiliated us, or watched jokes pulled on others that were obviously an expression of the jokester’s prejudices, using the day as an excuse. These tricks not only feel bad but seem to give some legitimacy to cruelty and prejudices.
There are so many pranks that are harmless and so ingrained in our culture that few people are terribly embarrassed by them, like the Whoopie Cushion, switching the Push and Pull signs on a door, and putting hundreds of post-its all around someone’s office.
But something that is dangerous, will clearly mortify someone, makes a person look stupid, or is based on ethnics, gender, religion, or sexual orientation is not okay. And that means no posting of the victim online, which makes it even worse.
So, go ahead and enjoy the day. But be mindful of the person you’re pranking and how it will affect him or her. Remember that your joke reflects who you are as a person.
By the way, the title of today’s posting is from St. Paul. If you want to know the context and meaning, you can find it at 2 Corinthians, verse 11:19.