In Myanmar in early March of this year, people began to attack and vandalize more than two dozen businesses. These rioters helped convince the military government of Myanmar to continue and to escalate the use of brutal crackdowns on all activists, up to and including the use of lethal force that left dozens dead over just one weekend in mid-March.
Currently, the United States spends at least three quarters of a trillion dollars each year on the Pentagon. The U.S. spends more on militarism than the next 10 countries combined; six of whom are allies. This amount excludes other military related spending like nuclear weapons (DOE), Homeland Security, and many other expenditures. Some say the total U.S. military spending is as high as $1.25 trillion/year.
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. To fully honor those resilient and brave Americans, it is our duty to learn more about our nation’s past and current relationship with them.
A little more than a year ago, as the pandemic tightened its lethal grip on the nation, a 43-year-old agricultural worker named Nancy Silva received a letter from her employer. The letter, which she subsequently carried in her wallet, informed her of a new Trump administration memorandum advising essential workers like her that they had a “special responsibility” to maintain their “normal work schedule(s).”
2020 was a year of reckoning in Washington state. As the coronavirus took its toll on the state, from the first confirmed case in January, to the first death in February and beyond, the pandemic exposed the stark realities of the country’s healthcare infrastructure. Even more so, it exposed the risk that out-of-pocket costs can have on the well-being of all Americans. Across the country, COVID-19 forced the issue of surprise bills like never before, as case counts and hospitalizations rose to numbers not before seen.
The school year is ending and the children of the Washougal School District have returned to our classrooms, to each other and to our teachers.
The year 2020 was a terrible time for vast numbers of people around the globe, who experienced not only a terrible disease pandemic, accompanied by widespread sickness and death, but severe economic hardship.
Colorado’s elections are a bipartisan success story, so when Major League baseball responded to Georgia’s new voting restrictions by moving the All-Star Game to Denver, it couldn’t have made a better choice.
The distribution of COVID-19 vaccines has accelerated across the country, including in Washington State, where vaccine eligibility will expand to all Washingtonians over the age of 16 years old on April 15. However, many community members still have questions, need support navigating misinformation, and assistance accessing resources or the vaccine.
Is it possible that the country is truly rebuilding itself … from the soul up?
