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By republicanviews.org
Intended Audience: Republicans

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Health care has risen to the forefront of political issues in recent months, especially in terms of the Republican Party's opposition to the Affordable Care Act. In this article we'll explain the Republican views on health care, the Republican Party's ideas for health care reform, and important Republican politicians' views on health care.

The Republican Party believes in a patient-centered health care system, which is based in free markets, fostering competition and driving health care costs down. They believe that a health care system that is run by the government will reduce both the efficiency and the standard of care, as well as compromise the patient-physician relationship, and increase waiting periods within the health care system, as evidenced by government-centered health care systems throughout the world.

Medical Savings Accounts

Republicans support the idea of individuals being able to manage their own health care costs through Medical Savings Accounts and Flexible Savings Accounts. Furthermore, they believe that individuals who have Flexible Spending Accounts should be able to roll over their unspent money each year, rather than losing it, and that Medical Savings Accounts should be offered to all workers, with no restrictions, as a permanent fixture within tax law. As a whole, the Republican Party believes that the more freedom the people have in choosing their health care, and their own way of managing their health care costs, the more effectively the entire system will run.

Medicare Reform

Republicans strongly believe in a reformed Medicare, which will provide seniors with more options. They believe seniors should be offered the same insurance plan that Congress is, including the option of Medical Savings Accounts. The administrative complexities must be reduced within Medicare, they argue, so that providers will be able to financially continue for patients. The Republican Party argues that Medicare should be designed to give older Americans choices, rather than as a one-size-fits-all institution.

Tort Reform

It is believed by the Republican Party that current malpractice laws actually encourage health care providers to conceal simple and innocent mistakes, due to the risk of trial lawyers vilifying these mistakes if they are revealed and taken to court. Republicans argue that a reform in these laws would encourage patient safety, as providers would be more willing to admit mistakes, and therefore patients would be better able to seek appropriate compensation. The most important part of this reform, Republicans believe, would be to open up the flow of information concerning medical errors.

Abortion

The Republican Party believes in an abstinence-only approach to sexual education, as well as educational plans that teach and advocate for healthy relationships. Republicans are strongly against federal funding for abortion, as they view abortion as the destruction of life, and do not believe that the government should be supporting such an action. In relation to HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, they support prevention methods involving early and frequent testing, abstinence, faithfulness, and behavioral changes that will eliminate the risk of exposure.

Medical Research

Republicans support medical research, as long as it does not undermine what they view to be the ethical principles of this country. They strongly support research via adult stem cells and cord blood stem cells, but are against research performed on embryonic stem cells, as this is an unnecessary destruction of life. For the same reason, Republicans oppose human cloning for research purposes.

Treating The Terminally Ill

The party opposes euthanasia and assisted suicide, as well as any non-consensual withholding of treatment for any reason. They believe that health care efforts should instead be focused on research to treat terminally ill patients, as well as pain relief and care of these patients, so that the rest of their lives are more comfortable.

Republicans on the Affordable Care Act

In the 2012 Republican Part Platform, Republicans spoke out against the Affordable Care Act, stating that the Democrats used it more as an assertion of power than they used it to improve health care conditions in this country, and in doing so they detrimentally damaged the health of this nation. The Republican Party views the requirement for United States citizens to purchase health insurance as an attack on the Constitution. They believe that the financial burden it would bring upon the country, and specifically on individual states, through the expansion of Medicaid is unsustainable, and will harm the nation as a whole. The act was so firmly opposed by the Republican Party that not a single Republican voted for the final version that Obama signed into law.

Democrats vs. Republicans on Health Care

In regards to the Affordable Care Act, Republican views have been widely disregarded by the current administration, despite the party's willingness to discuss options and bring fresh ideas to the table. On December 3 rd of 2013, President Obama declared that he "will work with anybody to implement and improve this law effectively. Now, you got good ideas? Bring 'em to me. Let's go." The Republican Study Committee sent Obama a letter, requesting to meet with him to present their ideas to reform the health care laws. To this day, they have received no response.

Republicans believe not only in repealing the current administration's health care laws, but also in replacing them entirely with laws that will better serve the public. The Republican Party's greatest concern with the Affordable Care Act is the exorbitant amount of money it will cost the American people to implement it, and the risk this cost creates to small businesses in particular.

The Republican Study Committee has created the American Health Care Reform Act, which outlines the party's ideas to reform healthcare in a more effective way. This act would repeal the Affordable Care Act entirely, in order to save tax money and rule out the many unworkable regulations that the act contains. It would lower health care costs by increasing the number of health care options available to both individuals and businesses, which would encourage competition between insurance providers. The act would provide options for individuals to deduct health care costs, reform malpractice laws to better protect patients and reduce the amount spent on lawyers, expand access to Health Savings Accounts, and help guarantee access to insurance by individuals with pre-existing conditions. This act has garnered a good deal of support but, as mentioned above, has not been acknowledged by the President. Other Republicans have also proposed alternatives, which were also ignored. Dr. Tom Price of Georgia introduced the Empowering Patients First Act, which was based on many of the same principles as the Affordable Care Act, but went about implementing them in different ways. Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah and Congressman Fred Upton of Michigan proposed ways to improve Medicaid for the more vulnerable populations. House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan proposed Medicare reforms which would not only provide seniors with the options that Republicans are advocating for, but would guarantee the continued existence of Medicare for future generations.

Another large problem Republicans have with the current health care reform bill are the broken promises contained within it. Americans were promised that they would be able to keep their health care plans if they wanted to, and were later informed that this was not true. They were also told they could keep their doctors if they wanted to, and later found out that they could, but only if they were willing and able to pay more to do so. Republicans see this as a blatant misuse of trust on the part of the administration, and it has caused them to fight against the Affordable Care Act all the more adamantly.

George W. Bush on Health Care

During his time in office, George W. Bush advocated for HIV/AIDS relief, HIV prevention, and abstinence-only education. He implemented the ABC method of HIV prevention (Abstinence, Be faithful, otherwise use a Condom). He also worked towards HIV relief and prevention through efforts that emphasized regular testing, early diagnosis, ongoing monitoring, and the elimination of HIV/AIDS in newborns. He also increased the amount spent on abstinence-only education. Bush also restricted federal funding for stem cell research (which has since been overturned by President Obama) and created a ban on human cloning and the creation of human embryos that were solely for experimental purposes. During his time in office, he also restored a policy that banned the use of controlled substances for assisted suicide.

Mitt Romney on Health Care

Republican Mitt Romney agrees with the principle that having all citizens insured would benefit the country as a whole, but points out that a government mandate is not the most efficient way to do this. During his time as governor of Massachusetts, Romney created a health insurance program that was incredibly successful, and that he believes could be a good model for national reform. Those who opposed the reform made claims that the reform created uncontrollable costs within Massachusetts, but the Massachusetts Taxpayer Foundation, a non-partisan group, has since deemed these claims a myth. The Foundation's report stated that the "cost to taxpayers of achieving near universal coverage has been relatively modest and well within initial projections of how much the state would have to spend to implement reform, in part because many of the newly insured have enrolled in employer-sponsored plans at no public expense." In terms of national health care reform, Romney argues that the government should "center reforms at the state level. Open the door to state plans designed to meet the various needs of their citizens. Before imposing a one-size-fits-all federal program, let the states serve as 'the laboratories of democracy.'" Romney also supports a utilization of innovations such as electronic medical records to streamline record keeping and make it more efficient to reduce costs.

Orrin Hatch, Tom Coburn, and Richard Burr on Health Care

More recently, senators Orrin Hatch of Utah, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, and Richard Burr of North Carolina have headed up the Republican fight on health care. Their proposal was named the Patient Choice, Affordability, Responsibility and Empowerment Act, and is based upon the principle of providing more flexibility and purchasing power to the individual. It shares some important similarities with the Affordable Care Act, such as the requirement to allow dependent coverage through the age of 26, and the inability of insurance companies to provide lifetime limits. When the three senators released their proposal, Burr stated "The American people have found out what is in ObamaCare - broken promises in the form of increased health care costs, costly mandates and government bureaucracy. We can lower costs and expand access to quality coverage and care by empowering individuals and their families to make their own health care decisions, rather than empowering the government to make those decisions for them." The group stated that their proposal is designed to be "roughly budget neutral" over the first 10 years, leaving the financial burden on the American people at nothing. Coburn commented that they created this proposal because "It's critical we chart another path forward. Our health care system wasn't working well before ObamaCare and it is worse after ObamaCare."

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Health care has risen to the forefront of political issues in recent months, especially in terms of the Republican Party's opposition to the Affordable Care Act. In this article we'll explain the Republican views on health care, the Republican Party's ideas for health care reform, and important Republican politicians' views on health care.

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Local Politics: How to Start a Successful Political Blog 

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Local Politics: How to Start a Successful Political Blog 

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By Political Campaign Tips

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Are you thinking about starting your own local political blog, but aren't quite sure what steps you need to take in order to make it a widely-read success?

The Blogosphere is home to thousands of politics websites, thanks in large part to the development of user-friendly, inexpensive blogging platforms like WordPress and Blogger. Most local political blogs, though, are only read by a small audience-and don't have very long lifespans.

I live in Ohio, and two of my favorite local blogs that cover Buckeye State politics are Third Base Politics and Plunderbund. Third Base Politics is an unabashedly Republican blog, and Plunderbund is unabashedly Democrat. I'm subscribed to both blogs, and always look forward to reading their posts . . . although they often have very different viewpoints on Ohio politics.

Third Base Politics and Plnderbund are very popular in their respective partisan corners, which is why I'm using them as case studies in this post. If you want to ensure that your politics blog quickly becomes a popular online hub for the local political community, there are some simple steps you can take to help ensure success . . . and these two Ohio blogs are great examples of how to do it.

1. Optimize Your Blog for Local Political Keywords to Generate Relevant Organic Traffic

Many local political bloggers make the mistake of jumping right into their first website without doing any competitive keyword research or search engine optimization planning. If you want more free traffic for your politics blog, then you need to make sure it's optimized to rank highly in search engines like Google for phrases that locals are actually searching for.

One of the most powerful things you can do to rank highly for a specific keyword is making sure that it's included in your website's domain name. If you're kicking off a politics blog that focuses on Cleveland, Ohio, for example, then you want to make sure that you try to include the keywords "Cleveland," "Ohio" or "Politics" in the URL.

One word of warning, however: don't stuff your domain name with too many keywords and make it difficult to remember. It's equally important to practice good branding, and a blog that has a short URL is much easier for new readers to remember and recommend to their political friends.

There are other important on-site search engine optimization rules to keep in mind for your new local political blog, too. Make sure that you intersperse your targeted keyword phrases throughout your site, in sidebars and footers, to help your site rank higher and faster. And when you're writing posts, put some thought into your titles. Always include a keyword phrases that locals might type in if they're looking for information about your post topic.

2. Build Backlinks & Followers by Forming Relationships with Other Local Political Bloggers

Building good links back to your political blog is vital to driving new traffic and subscribers, and not just because people will click on the links and find your site. The search engine algorithms put a lot of weight on the number of incoming links that a website has when calculating its authority. In layman's terms, that means that the more high-quality links your new blog has pointing to it from other websites, the more free traffic you'll get from Google.

If you want to make your politics blog popular fast, then you should be aggressive in building high-quality backlinks. You can do that through link exchanges with other like-minded political websites, by guest posting on other blogs, and by publishing shout-outs to other local bloggers in hopes of a reciprocal link. It's actually easier to build incoming links to political blogs than most other websites; local bloggers are very likely to include you in their blogroll if they like what you're writing.

Third Base Politics and Plunderbund are good examples of political blogs that are deeply involved in the local blogging community, with extensive blogrolls and incoming links from other Ohio politics websites.

3. Keep Things Partisan for More Reader Interaction, Controversy & Attention

We keep things strictly non-partisan here, because our target audience consists of political candidates who run as Democrats, Republicans and everything in-between. You can take the high road and keep things non-partisan on your local politics blog, as well, but writing with a partisan slant will generate far more buzz, interaction and traffic.

Reader interaction is one of the best Key Performance Indicators that a blog can have, and if your posts are generating a lot of comments and links then you know you're on the track to success. By keeping things partisan on your blog, you'll be providing like-minded readers with red meat that will make them coming back for more . . . and you'll give your detractors plenty of stuff to get worked up about and mention on their own blogs.

Remember: the more mentions your political blog gets on other websites and social media outlets, the faster you'll build success. It doesn't matter if your incoming links are from people who love your blog or hate it; controversy is one of the best ways for a new site to rocket into the spotlight and generate huge amounts of traffic. If you steer away from partisanship, you might have a very well-written, impartial blog . . . but most people will find it too boring to comment on and link to.

When it comes to delivering partisan red meat for their readers, both Third Base Politics and Plunderbund do an outstanding job. Their supporters love them, and their detractors hate them. That's exactly the kind of formula that leads to huge success for a local politics blog.

4. Gossip & Scoops are Good, but Libel & Slander are Downright Dangerous

In order to generate attention, there's nothing better than being the first to break some local political news or get the dish on link-worthy gossip. In fact, one of the reasons that many main-stream journalists dislike politics blogs is that the smaller local sites often get the scoop on big media organizations. The elite media doesn't like to play catch-up on juicy stories they missed or ignored, and local bloggers often do a better job than professional reporters at digging up great scoops on local politicians and political issues.

Here's an important aside, however: while breaking a story or publishing the "word on the street" can help build traffic, you need to be very careful that your juicy posts don't stray into the realm of libel and slander. If you're publishing a scoop about a politician, candidate, group or organization, then you had better ensure it's substantiated . . . or make it clear that your information is unconfirmed. The best practice is to never publish anything on your politics blog unless you've done your homework and can provide proof of your claims.

If you're a local politics blogger, everything you write is going to be underneath a microscope and examined for accuracy by your enemies. And believe me: if you make a mistake, they will never let you live it down. In fact, there are plenty of local political bloggers who have been sued for publishing stories without checking their facts first.

I've seen some great political gossip and scoops published on Third Base Politics and Plunderbund, but neither (as far as I know) has ever gone as far as slandering a political adversary. While the other side might not like their posts, Third Base Politics and Plunderbund both seem to do a good job of checking their facts before hitting the "publish" button.

5. Don't Damage Your Career with Careless Writing or Publicity Stunts

You might love being involved in politics and generating controversy on your blog now, but keep in mind that the things you write today could come back to haunt you if your career goals change or your employer catches wind of what you're publishing online.

Local politics blogs, while they can be very fun and personally rewarding, almost never become a full-time income generator for their owners. The vast majority of local political bloggers have day jobs outside of politics (although some are lucky enough to work for local parties and politicians), and they need to be careful about offending current or potential employers.

Here's the thing about the Internet: you can safely assume that everything you write online is going to be there forever, available for anyone in the world to read. Even if you decide to publish as an "anonymous" blogger, you always run the risk of being outed by someone online and being forever associated with all of the stuff you posted on your site.

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Local Politics: How to Start a Successful Political Blog

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Are you thinking about starting your own local political blog, but aren't quite sure what steps you need to take in order to make it a widely-read success? The Blogosphere is home to thousands of politics websites, thanks in large part to the development of user-friendly, inexpensive blogging platforms like WordPress and Blogger.

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Californians strongly oppose Trump — and 53% say state's members of Congress should 'never' work with him

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Californians strongly oppose Trump — and 53% say state's members of Congress should 'never' work with him

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By the Los Angeles Times
Intended Audience: Californians, democrats

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A year after his election, President Trump remains wildly unpopular in California, and the state's voters are split over whether members of Congress should work with him when possible, a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll has found.

The percentage of voters seeking cooperation overall - 47% - dropped somewhat when it came to Trump's immigration policies, which the state's Democratic officeholders have fought with legislation and lawsuits.

Most California voters praised immigrants and rejected negative characterizations of them that have come from the president and some of his supporters. Eight in 10 said immigrants here without proper documentation were seeking work, not "a handout," and that they improve the communities in which they live.

Those sentiments were not shared by the bulk of Republicans, a strong majority of whom remain loyal to Trump. Nearly two-thirds of Republicans said they approved of the job he was doing as president; overall only 22% of California voters gave Trump positive marks as president.

The diversity of views pointed to a continuing truth about California: Under its lopsided support for Democrats in statewide offices rests a state with persistent political schisms.

Voters who are older and white, and who live in inland California, represent the president's most loyal supporters here and wanted most for their representatives to work with him. That said, they were more enthusiastic about Trump's policies than about Trump himself.

Younger and more diverse voters, who have propelled California in one generation from reliably Republican in statewide races to an ocean of political blue, were far harsher in their verdict on Trump and strongly opposed their elected officials cooperating with him.

Among those ages 45 and over, for example, majorities believed that representatives should work with Trump on either immigration or other fronts.

Yet of those under age 35, 62% said elected officials should "never" cooperate with Trump, and more than 7 in 10 said California should not work with him on immigration.

The USC/Times poll questioned 1,504 Californians, including 1,296 registered voters, online from Oct. 27 through Nov. 6, a year before the 2018 midterm election. The poll has a margin of sampling error of 4 points in either direction for registered voters; larger margins apply to smaller voter groups.

The president's unpopularity in California comes as no surprise; he lost the state to Hillary Clinton by more than 30 percentage points. But the poll made clear that he has done nothing to improve his standing since. In fact, it has worsened.

Antipathy toward the president was key to Democratic victories in Tuesday's general election in multiple states, but it is not clear from the poll whether the sentiment will influence contests here next year. Democrats are fighting for at least seven Republican-held congressional seats in California as part of their effort to take control of the House.

Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, was rated as twice as popular as Trump; the state's Democratic senators, Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, also were far more popular. Only Congress, perennially dismissed by Californians and now favorably looked upon by 1 in 10 voters, was less popular than the president.

Trump's positive impression of 20% meant that both his popularity and his job approval rating were substantially lower than the 31.6% of the vote he won in the state last November.

Among the voter groups most inclined to support Trump - Republicans, white voters and those living in the Central Valley and the Inland Empire - agreement with Trump's policies was consistently higher than his popularity or job approval rating. That reflected those voters' backing of Trump's policy objectives rather than his methods of accomplishing them.

Among Republicans, for example, 59% said they had a positive impression of the president, and 65% supported the job he has done in Washington. Yet 71% said they agreed with his policies.

"Even some people who like his policies probably don't like his tweeting ... don't like the sense of creating division and havoc," said Robert Shrum, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC, which sponsored the poll.

On the other side of the political divide, however, views of Trump were unrelentingly harsh. Among members of the state's largest political party, the Democrats, only 4% had a positive view of Trump and only 5% approved of the job he is doing. Eight percent backed his policies.

Latinos, whom Trump has often criticized, were among the most critical of the president. Only 14% gave him positive ratings either personally or for his job, and only 15% backed his policies.

White voters, who make up most of the Republican Party, were more positive, although Trump remained in negative territory. Fewer than 3 in 10 voters approved of him or his handling of the job, and only 34% supported his policies. (The poll did not include enough voters from other racial groups to break them out independently.)

In the polarized political environment, age, too, marked a division. About 1 in 10 under age 35 gave him good marks personally and in his job, and only 15% approved of his policies, contributing to lackluster 26% support across the state for his policies.

Trump's unpopularity has led to fierce infighting among Democrats about how and whether to cooperate with his administration - something rarely considered optional during past presidencies.

Amid a range of California voters, the answer was ambivalence.

More than 3 in 5 California voters disagreed with the president's policies, but a smaller 53% said elected representatives should never cooperate with Trump.

Almost 9 in 10 Democrats disagreed with Trump's policies, but 42% of them said members of Congress should try to work with him, compared with 58% who said they should not.

Opposition to working with Trump was fiercest among Latinos, those under 35 and those making less than $50,000 per year. Close to two-thirds of those groups preferred that their representatives stiff-arm the president.

Disagreement followed on the question of whether California officials should cooperate with Trump's immigration policies.

Overall, only 21% said California should cooperate completely with Trump's immigration policies, and 19% said California should cooperate most of the time. Sentiment against cooperation was more extreme, with 33% saying the state should never cooperate and 27% saying it should not cooperate most of the time.
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But the responses differed sharply by political affiliation - 86% of Republicans favored cooperation, while only 16% of Democrats did. Nonpartisan voters were in the middle, with 43% saying cooperation should occur all or most of the time.

Part of the reluctance flowed from the multiethnic makeup of California, where Latinos have become a powerful voting bloc and Asian voters, also often affected by immigration policies, are growing in prominence.

Californians of every demographic description, for example, said that immigrants here without papers had come not for benefits but for work. Even among Republicans, a majority, 57%, said immigrants sought work, while 43% said benefits were their goal. (Immigrants in the country illegally do not qualify for most paid government benefits.)

Only 12% of Latinos thought immigrants came here for benefits, while 25% of white voters, who tend to be older and more conservative, shared that view.

Strong majorities of Californians in many groups defended specific criticisms of immigrants in the country illegally.

Most Californians said immigrants strengthen the economy rather than take jobs that would otherwise be filled by citizens. By almost 2 to 1, Californians also said such immigrants help revitalize their communities rather than increase crime.

Republicans took exception to those views. Almost 3 in 4 said immigrants here illegally take jobs that otherwise would be filled by citizens. And 73% of Republicans said immigrants increase crime rather than serve as a positive in their communities.

Essentially, these GOP voters share views expressed by the president to whom they remain loyal.

"The people who remain in the party, not just here but around the country, rally around Trump," Shrum said.
cathleen.decker@latimes.com Twitter: @cathleendecker ALSO Full methodology and crosstabs It's a tightening race for governor, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein holds strong lead for reelection Democratic surge in suburbs forecasts a potentially rough 2018 for Republicans Virginia tests a likely 2018 election strategy: Racially fraught appeals The latest from Washington Coverage of California politics

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Californians strongly oppose Trump - and 53% say state's members of Congress should 'never' work with him

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A year after his election, President Trump remains wildly unpopular in California, and the state's voters are split over whether members of Congress should work with him when possible, a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll has found.

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By NASA
Intended Audience: People who know Global Warming is real, scientists, the U.N.

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Global Warming

Throughout its long history, Earth has warmed and cooled time and again. Climate has changed when the planet received more or less sunlight due to subtle shifts in its orbit, as the atmosphere or surface changed, or when the Sun's energy varied. But in the past century, another force has started to influence Earth's climate: humanity

How does this warming compare to previous changes in Earth's climate? How can we be certain that human-released greenhouse gases are causing the warming? How much more will the Earth warm? How will Earth respond? Answering these questions is perhaps the most significant scientific challenge of our time.

What is Global Warming?

Global warming is the unusually rapid increase in Earth's average surface temperature over the past century primarily due to the greenhouse gases released as people burn fossil fuels. The global average surface temperature rose 0.6 to 0.9 degrees Celsius (1.1 to 1.6° F) between 1906 and 2005, and the rate of temperature increase has nearly doubled in the last 50 years. Temperatures are certain to go up further.

Earth's natural greenhouse effect

Earth's temperature begins with the Sun. Roughly 30 percent of incoming sunlight is reflected back into space by bright surfaces like clouds and ice. Of the remaining 70 percent, most is absorbed by the land and ocean, and the rest is absorbed by the atmosphere. The absorbed solar energy heats our planet.

As the rocks, the air, and the seas warm, they radiate "heat" energy (thermal infrared radiation). From the surface, this energy travels into the atmosphere where much of it is absorbed by water vapor and long-lived greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane.

When they absorb the energy radiating from Earth's surface, microscopic water or greenhouse gas molecules turn into tiny heaters- like the bricks in a fireplace, they radiate heat even after the fire goes out. They radiate in all directions. The energy that radiates back toward Earth heats both the lower atmosphere and the surface, enhancing the heating they get from direct sunlight.

This absorption and radiation of heat by the atmosphere-the natural greenhouse effect-is beneficial for life on Earth. If there were no greenhouse effect, the Earth's average surface temperature would be a very chilly -18°C (0°F) instead of the comfortable 15°C (59°F) that it is today.

See Climate and Earth's Energy Budget to read more about how sunlight fuels Earth's climate.

The enhanced greenhouse effect

What has scientists concerned now is that over the past 250 years, humans have been artificially raising the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at an ever-increasing rate, mostly by burning fossil fuels, but also from cutting down carbon-absorbing forests. Since the Industrial Revolution began in about 1750, carbon dioxide levels have increased nearly 38 percent as of 2009 and methane levels have increased 148 percent.

The atmosphere today contains more greenhouse gas molecules, so more of the infrared energy emitted by the surface ends up being absorbed by the atmosphere. Since some of the extra energy from a warmer atmosphere radiates back down to the surface, Earth's surface temperature rises. By increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases, we are making Earth's atmosphere a more efficient greenhouse.

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Global warming is happening now, and scientists are confident that greenhouse gases are responsible. To understand what this means for humanity, it is necessary to understand what global warming is, how scientists know it's happening, and how they predict future climate.

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By the Congressional Budget Office
Intended Audience: Congress

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CBO's regular budget publications include semiannual reports on the budget and economic outlook, annual reports on the President's budget and the long-term budget picture, and a biannual set of options for reducing budget deficits. CBO also prepares cost estimates and mandate statements for nearly all bills that are reported by Congressional committees.

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By: Democratic Party Platform
Intended Audience: People with democratic views on jobs and the economyc

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By The New York Times
A collection of articles written about health care by The New York Times
Intended Audience: Lower/Middle class, Immigrants, anyone who could loose their healthcare

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News about health care reform. Commentary and archival information about health care reform from The New York Times.

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Middle East Crisis: Is the U.S. Part of the Problem?

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Middle East Crisis: Is the U.S. Part of the Problem?

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By Muqtedar Khan
Intended Audience: U.S. political officials, Middle Easterners, U.S. Citizens

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This opinion has also been published at Middle East Online, Alarab Online, Aljazeerah, Altmuslim, OpEdNews, The American Muslim, and Naseeb

We are presently witnessing in Lebanon the third humanitarian disaster in which US President George W. Bush has had a direct or indirect hand. In Iraq over 50,000 are dead and dying thanks to Bush's decision to invade and occupy the country in 2003, without a sufficient number of troops necessary to secure the country. In New Orleans, the administration's incompetent preparation and slow response exacerbated the humanitarian crisis. And now hundreds of innocent people are dying in a war in Lebanon that could be stopped by the international community if it were not handcuffed by the Bush administration. We may recall that Israel failed to undermine a much weaker Hizbullah even after 18 years of warfare and occupation of Southern Lebanon. Why expect success now?

The United States has so far achieved only two things since the Lebanese conflict began on July 12 - indeed in the month since the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier prompted Israel to unleash its ruthless war machine.

One, it has acted to ensure that no effort by the international community would succeed in stopping the mayhem in Lebanon. Three times the US has subverted the processes of peace, at the United Nations, at the Group of Eight summit and at the Rome conference.

Two, even during the conflict, instead of working toward peace, we are arming one side with rockets and powerful bombs which, in the words of Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, are "cutting Lebanon to pieces." We are even smuggling these weapons through Britain, somewhat like Iran smuggling weapons to Hizbullah via Syria. Unlike Syria, however, Britain is protesting.

The administration claims that the Rome conference helped build a consensus for an international force to prevent future crisis. For those of us familiar with the history of the conflict, we know that it was only because of Israeli and American opposition that there is no real international force already in the area capable of policing the borders and keeping all parties peaceful. What US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice means by consensus is that finally Washington has agreed with the rest of the world on one issue involving Israel.

This strategy of American foreign policy to arm, encourage and support extended and open-ended Israeli military action, I am convinced, will fail miserably in realizing its goals. By the time the Israelis finish in Lebanon it will be a pile of debris with perhaps 1,000 innocent civilians dead and over 1 million homeless and displaced. All other major US goals in the region - democracy promotion, support for moderates, winning hearts and minds, undermining support for radicalism - will also be buried under the debris.

Hizbullah fighters will be regrouping to fight another day with more men, more support, thanks to the elevated levels of anti-US and anti-Israeli sentiment across the Middle East, and perhaps more deadlier weapons. They will also be more confident and experienced after their current showing. From their performance it is apparent that they are the best fighting force the Arabs have produced in a long time.

I see no light at the end of the tunnel except wishful thinking that Hizbullah will be destroyed and the rest of the world will send their soldiers to defend Israel. It is like the neocon pipe dream of Americans being received as liberators by Iraqis. After seeing the current form of Hizbullah, I will be surprised if any country will volunteer its forces. If Bush decides to send our troops, the party will move from Iraq to Lebanon. For Al-Qaeda and the jihadists, it will be like a "buy one, get one free deal," with the US and Israel together in the same fight.

The US up to now has said it will not talk to Syria or Iran because they are "part of the problem." From the steps taken so far, it is not clear to me that American foreign policy is part of the solution.

Remember that when Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, Hizbullah was born. It is scary to imagine what the current fighting will yield. American foreign policy is in wrong hands and is heading in the wrong direction. It is not in the interest of global peace, not good for America's many interests in the Middle East and will not make Israel safer.

With great power comes great responsibility. As the sole superpower, the US has responsibility to maintain the global order and nurture the international system, not become a destabilizing force. American foreign policy is a global public good and by acting in a highly partisan and shortsighted fashion in the current Arab-Israeli conflict we are abdicating our status as a global leader.

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Middle East Crisis: Is The U.S. Part of the Problem?

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This opinion has also been published at Middle East Online, Alarab Online, Aljazeerah, Altmuslim, OpEdNews, The American Muslim, and Naseeb We are presently witnessing in Lebanon the third humanitarian disaster in which US President George W. Bush has had a direct or indirect hand.

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By Joshua Fields Millburn
Intended Audience: Entrepreneurs, Activists (of any kind), anyone looking to start a bl

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Follow the step-by-step instructions to learn how you can begin starting a blog in less than an hour. We used this process to create our successful blog, which now has more than 4 million readers and has been featured in the New York Times, TIME magazine, and on the TODAY show.

Starting a Blog in Five Steps:

1. Choose a blogging platform, domain name, and hosting option.

2. Design your blog using a simple theme.

3. Modify your blog to get your desired look and feel.

4. Select the best plugins for your blog.

5. Write compelling content that adds value to readers.

NOTE: The Minimalists' blog is hosted by Bluehost. For only $2.95 a month, Bluehost can help you set up and host your blog. Because The Minimalists are a Bluehost affiliate partner, our readers can use this link to receive a 50% discount off the monthly price and a free domain.

How to Start a Blog: Step-by-Step Instructions

So you're thinking about starting a blog, but you don't have any idea where to start, right? Guess what-neither did we. We were clueless. When we created this blog a few years ago, we had no idea how to start a blog or how to be a blogger. Heck, we could hardly spell HTML, let alone build a blog.

But good news: it's easier than you think. We've learned a ton of lessons during our ascent to 4 million readers. And now you can learn from our pain and suffering to circumvent much of the tedium involved in setting up a blog.

Here's how we started our blog, step by step, followed by an instructional video, as well as additional rationale and insights:

1. Domain and Hosting. The first thing we did when starting our blog was go to Bluehost and register our domain. We didn't even need to set up a WordPress page first, which is the platform we use, since Bluehost does all that for you. Bluehost's basic price is $2.95 a month, which works for 99% of people (go to this link to receive a 50% discount off the monthly price and a free domain). Then, we did a simple, free, "one-click" install of WordPress through Bluehost. When we had questions we were able to chat with the "live chat" folks at Bluehost for free. They pointed us in the right direction and made starting our own blog super easy.

2. Theme. A good theme gives you the look and feel you want for your blog, allowing you to make a blog that looks exactly how you want it to look. If you're not a coder (we certainly weren't), then a theme makes the design work a million times easier. Plus, once you purchase a theme, which are inexpensive for the time they save you, you own it for life. A theme has two halves: the framework (the bones) and the Child Theme (the beauty):

Framework. There are several WordPress theme frameworks on the market, but Genesis is without a doubt the best and most flexible choice. Genesis is the first half of your theme. Many themes merely handle the aesthetics of your new blog, but Genesis provides a necessary foundation for your Child Theme. Simply go to StudioPress and purchase the Genesis Framework.

Child Theme. After you get your Genesis Framework, you'll want to find the right Child Theme (which is just a silly way to say "blog design"). The Minimalists uses the beautiful "tru" theme, which is available at BYLT, the Genesis Community Marketplace. Head on over to BYLT, browse their carefully curated collection of themes, and find the design that's right for you.

3. Modify Your Blog. Once we had our domain, hosting, WordPress, and theme, we spent a lot of time tweaking the theme to get the look and feel we wanted (i.e., making our vision a reality). Then we spent even more time tinkering with the theme and arguing about it and tweaking it some more. Once we had created our blog, we set up a free Feedburner account so people could subscribe to our site via email and RSS subscriptions. And then we established a free Google Analytics account to track our stats. Feedburner and Google Analytics were both easy to sign up for, and we still use both today.

4. Plugins. We use only a few plugins on our site: "Google Analytics for WordPress" and really simple Facebook and Twitter share-button plugins (since human beings are intrinsically wired to share value, it's important to make your posts easy to share with others). They take just a few seconds (literally a few seconds, it's just a click of a button) to install once you've started your blog. And if you really want to play around with some cool plugins, check out WPBeginner's Best WordPress Plugins.

5. Write Compelling Content. Last, via WordPress, we started writing and uploading the content for our pages: About Page, Contact Page, Start Here Page, Books Page, Tour Page, Archives Page, etc. Next, we designed our logo using free images we found online and text from a regular word-processing program. Then we put a picture of ourselves in the header (this is important because people identify with people, not logos). Finally we started writing new blog posts and publishing them regularly (at least once a week), accompanied by free photos from Unsplash, Pexels, and the Library of Congress. And the rest is history.

How to Create a Blog: Video

Watch our step-by-step instructional video, which includes screenshots of the entire starting-a-blog process:

15 Reasons You Should Start a Blog

We were inspired to research and write this essay after reading Joshua Becker's 15 Reasons I Think You Should Blog, in which he discusses 15 great reasons why you should start a blog. Why being the key word here. In other words, he talks about the purpose of blogging, not just how to start a blog. That's what all these other blogs about blogging seem to miss; they miss the purpose-the why behind starting a blog.

3 Reasons You Should Not Start a Blog

So now you have 15 reasons why you should start a blog, and we've shown you how to create a blog, step-by-step, based on our personal experience. But after giving you those detailed instructions, which could save you the hundreds of hours of wasted time, we also want to give you some good reasons why you should not start a blog. (Keep in mind that these reasons are just our opinions, and we do not pretend to offer them up as some sort of collection of empirical blogging maxims.)

1. Money. You should not start a blog to make money. We need to get that out of the way first. If your primary objective is to replace your full-time income from blogging, forget about it. It doesn't work that way. Do you think that Jimi Hendrix picked up his first guitar so he could "supplement his income"? No, he didn't. Rather, he did it for the love of it, for the joy and fulfillment he received, and the income came thereafter, much later actually.

2. Notoriety. Don't plan on getting "Internet famous" right away. Not every site grows as fast as ours did, but that's totally OK. The truth is that we kind of got lucky. We got a great domain name, we cobbled together a logo and site design that people really liked, we write fairly well, and our content connects with people in a unique way. We didn't start this site to become "famous" though. That'd be ridiculous. Our notoriety and quick rise to "fame" came as a surprise to us, and was a result of a little luck and a lot of hard, passionate work.

3. Traffic. Not all traffic is good traffic (as we explained here), so don't worry about getting thousands of readers right away.

The funny thing is that all these things can happen. You could make a full-time income from building a blog. We do it, Corbett Barr does it, and so do many others. And you could become Internet famous like Leo Babauta or Chris Brogan. But if these are the sole reasons why you start blogging, you'll be miserable, because it will seem like a job, and if it feels like a job you won't be passionate about it, and so you'll either (a) hate it, (b) fall flat on your face, or (c) hate it and fall flat on your face.

Instead, write because you're passionate about it...

20 Recommendations for Your Blog

We receive plenty of emails asking for advice about starting a blog, about how to blog, about blog topics, and about creating meaningful content-even a few questions about whether we wear boxers or briefs. These are the answers and recommendations we tend to give.

1. Find Your Niche. You needn't have a niche, but it helps. When learning how to be a blogger, it's important to ask yourself what you're passionate about. Running? Cooking? Being a parent? Have you found your passion? If so, whatever it is, write about that. If not, then you must first find your passion. (Note: We generally recommend that people don't start a blog about minimalism or the paleo diet or any other heavily saturated topic. But what we really mean when we say this is: don't create a blog about something unless you have a unique perspective. If you've embraced simple living and have a unique perspective, then by all means have at it. Enjoy yourself.)

2. Define Your Ideal Readers. Once you've found your niche, you need to know who will be reading your blog. For example, we blog about living intentionally. Thus, our ideal readers are people who are interested in exploring minimalism so they can clear the path toward more meaningful lives. If you want to write about your newborn baby growing up, that's wonderful: your ideal readers are probably your friends and family. If you want to write about restoring classic cars, that's cool, too. Tailor your writing to your readers (whether it's your family or local community or whoever else will read your blog).

3. Add Value. Your blog must add value to its readers' lives. This is the only way you will get Great Quality Readers to your site (and keep them coming back). Adding value is the only way to get someone's long-term buy-in. We both learned this after a decade of leading and managing people in the corporate world.

4. Be Original. Yes, there are other blogs out there about the same thing you want to write about. Question: So why is your blog different? Answer: Because of you. You are what makes your blog different. It's about your perspective, your creativity, the value that you add.

5. Be Interesting. Write epic, awesome content. Especially if you want people to share it with others.

6. Be Yourself. Part of being interesting is telling your story. Every person is unique, and your story is an important one. The important part of storytelling, however, is removing the superfluous details that make the story uninteresting. A great storyteller removes 99% of what really happens-the absorptive details-and leaves the interesting 1% for the reader.

7. Be Honest. Your blog needs to be authentic-it needs to feel real-if you want people to read it. You can be your blog, or your blog can be you. That is, do you really embody the stuff you write about? If not, people will see through you. "Be the change you want to see in the world," is the famous Gandhi quote. Perhaps bloggers should build the blog they want to write for the world.

8. Transparency. Being transparent is different from being honest. You needn't share every detail about your life just for the sake of being honest. Always be honest, and be transparent when it adds value to what you're writing. (You won't ever see pictures of us using the restroom on our site, because that's just not relevant.)

9. Time. Once you've learned how to start a blog, you'll learn that blogging takes a lot of time, especially if you're as neurotic as we are (we spent over 10 hours testing the fonts on this site). And see those black Twitter and Facebook icons in the header? We spent hours on those, deciding what was right for us). That said, once you have your design set up, don't tweak it too much. Instead, spend the time on your writing.

10. Vision. The reason our site design looks good is because we have a great host, we have a great theme, and most important, we had a vision of how we wanted our blog to look. Once we had the vision, we worked hard to make that vision a reality. (Note: neither of us had any design experience prior to starting a blog.) It's hard to create a beautiful blog if you don't know what you want it to look like.

11. Find Your Voice. Over time, good writers discover their voice and their writing tends to develop a certain aesthetic, one that is appealing to their readers. Finding your voice makes your writing feel more alive, more real, more urgent. For additional reading, check out Joshua's essay about Finding Your Voice.

12. We Instead of You. Use the the first-person plural when possible. Statements of we and our are more powerful than than you and your, especially when talking about negative behaviors or tendencies. The first person comes off as far less accusatory. Think of it this way: we're writing peer-to-peer-we are not gods.

13. When to Post. Question: When is the best day and time to publish a blog post? Answer: It doesn't really matter. We don't adhere to a particular schedule. Some weeks we post one essay; sometimes we post three. Yes, it is important to write consistently, but you needn't get too bogged down in the details.

14. Social Media. Yes, we recommend using Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to help connect with your audience and other bloggers, but don't get too caught up in it. Focus on the writing first, social media thereafter.

15. Ignore Negative Criticism and Stupidity. Sure, we get a lot of negative comments and stupid questions from ignorant people who aren't really our readers (e.g., negative comments like "You're not real minimalists" and stupid questions like "Are you guys gay?"). We call these people seagulls: they fly in, crap on your site, and fly away. But we pay them no mind, because we didn't start our blog for them. Delete their comment and move on.

16. Research. Spend time researching what you're writing about. The reason we are able to use so many helpful, relevant links in our essays is because we put in the time to research our topics.

17. Keep It Simple. This is where minimalism can be applied to starting any blog, irrespective of its genre. No need to place superfluous advertisements or widgets all over your site. Stick to the basics and remove anything you don't need. Remove anything that doesn't add value.

18. Picture. Put a picture of yourself on your blog. People identify with other people. If two goofy guys from Ohio aren't too afraid to put their pictures on their site, then you have nothing to worry about.

19. Comments. If you're going to have comments on your site, then read The Five Words That Kill Your Blog by Scott Stratten.

20. Live Your Life. You're blogging about your life (or about certain aspects of your life, at least), so you still need to live your life. There are things that we always put before writing: exercise, health, relationships, experiences, personal growth, contribution.

Now that you've learned how to start a blog-and why you should start a blog-you can subscribe to The Minimalists via email to receive free essays from Joshua and Ryan. (No spam. Ever. Spam is yucky!)

Reminder: TheMinimalists.com is a Bluehost affiliate partner, which means that in addition to using their service, we also receive a referral credit for referring new customers. To be fair, though, we would still use Bluehost even if we weren't an affiliate. Ergo, we don't recommend Bluehost just because we're an affiliate (every hosting company offers a similar affiliate program); we recommend Bluehost because they are the best, most reliable option. Plus, because we're a partner, Bluehost offers a special price for The Minimalists' readers: only $2.95 a month. That's a phenomenal price.

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How to Start a Successful Blog in 2017 | The Minimalists

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Follow the step-by-step instructions to learn how you can begin starting a blog in less than an hour. We used this process to create our successful blog, which now has more than 4 million readers and has been featured in the New York Times, TIME magazine, and on the TODAY show.

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Essential Politics: Democrats Celebrate Their Wins, Trump Takes on China

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Essential Politics: Democrats Celebrate Their Wins, Trump Takes on China

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By John Myers
Intended Audience: Democrats, Businessmen

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These are surely not the headlines President Trump wanted on the one-year anniversary of his stunning victory, an election that rocked American politics.

Instead, the past 24 hours have seen Trump 's plans thwarted. Twice.

The first time was relatively small, when his helicopter was stymied by fog from landing in the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea.

The second was much, much bigger: His party, from the top-of-the-ticket nominee to its legislative candidates, was rebuked by voters in Virginia and New Jersey.
A GOOD NIGHT FOR DEMOCRATS
Ralph Northam won a resounding victory in the race for governor of Virginia and Phil Murphy was elected governor of New Jersey - both Democrats, and both likely to be thorns in the side of the president.

But as Cathleen Decker notes, Virginia was the real story on election night. Northam's victory over Republican Ed Gillespie "sketched out a path that Democratic strategists hope other candidates can follow in next year's contest for control of Congress."

In short: Democrats turned out more of their base in the Old Dominion state than did Republicans.

Meanwhile, transgender candidate Democrat Danica Roem defeated Republican state Del. Bob Marshall, one of Virginia's longest-serving and most socially conservative lawmakers. Marshall, who sponsored a bill that would have restricted which bathrooms she could use, has held the seat since 1992. Roem will make history as the first openly transgender person elected and seated in a state legislature in the United States.
AWAY IN ASIA...
Trump quickly distanced himself from Gillespie on Tuesday night via a tweet that was strikingly different in tone from the praise he heaped on the former chairman of the Republican National Committee earlier.

The president has arrived in Beijing for meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping - a leader whose friendship he boasts about, but one with whom he must still strike difficult deals on trade and North Korea.

On Tuesday, Trump was in Seoul, where he urged North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to come to the negotiating table and "make a deal."
ONE YEAR LATER
It's been a year since Trump was elected president, and emotions are still running high. After his surprise victory, The Times received thousands of submissions responding to our simple question: How do you feel? This year, our team revisited those people who spoke out after election day. See what they had to say, then and now.

Michael Finnegan spoke to several of them, and found that even some Trump voters aren't thrilled with how he's conducted himself. And that coalition is crucial to Republicans' fight to keep control of Congress next year - and to the president's prospects for reelection in 2020.

Mark Z. Barabak takes a more lighthearted approach and asks why people are still so obsessed with an election that was a year ago.
NATIONAL POLITICS LIGHTNING ROUND
-- Without any viable challenger, incumbent New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio won Tuesday's election by a wide margin - despite a record that has not always endeared him to New Yorkers.

-- House Republicans remain on track for a swift vote next week on their sweeping tax overhaul. But Senate Republicans are taking a second look at the plan's deficit effects while pondering a more generous child tax credit for families.

-- Carter Page is the latest member of Trump's senior campaign team to belatedly acknowledge meeting with senior Russian officials, contradicting his previous public denials.

-- Fresh from questions about his business connections with Russia, embattled Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross faces accusations that he lied about his wealth.

-- Federal prosecutors have decided to drop a case against a woman arrested in the U.S. Capitol after she laughed during the confirmation hearing for Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions.

-- In the aftermath of the mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, the second-ranking Senate Republican said Tuesday that Congress would begin working on legislation to tighten background-check compliance for gun purchases. Perhaps as notable as his rank is his home state: The support comes from Texas Sen. John Cornyn.

-- Reality check on the item above: Trump said Tuesday that even with tighter vetting of gun buyers, "there would have been no difference" for those killed in the church mass shooting.

-- The Trump administration said Monday it will end a special reprieve from deportation for thousands of Nicaraguans who have been allowed to stay in the U.S. for years, but is delaying a decision on similar protections for those from Honduras.
TAX REFORM: THE CALIFORNIA SHOCK WAVES
The spate of potentially bad news for Californians about the GOP tax overhaul continues.

New to the debate is word that the House proposal eliminates the tax deduction for losses from wildfires and other disasters, but grandfathers in the tax break for victims of the recent severe hurricanes. Residents of California's wine country could be particularly hard hit by that change.

California's Republican delegation has largely stayed in lock-step on the tax bill, despite those kinds of effects.

But on Tuesday, one GOP lawmaker broke from the pack. Rep. Darrell Issa said he can't vote in favor of the current version of the bill. Issa said the bill's changes to the business tax code will stimulate the economy, but the individual tax cuts would hit some Americans unevenly.

"I think that we can do better than this," Issa said Tuesday.

And then there's this quote from Rep. Dana Rohrabacher about those who would be affected by the tax plan's effort to cap the deduction on mortgage interest payments.

"Those people do not represent a very high portion of the electorate," he told The Times' Sarah Wire.

Meantime, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Ivanka Trump were pitching the GOP tax reform proposal in Orange County this week, where Democrats targeting the county's four GOP members of Congress think the tax plan could be a potent issue in 2018.
TODAY'S ESSENTIALS
-- Former Rep. Loretta Sanchez, who's been mostly quiet since losing the U.S. Senate race last year, endorsed Gil Cisneros, a Democrat challenging Rep. Ed Royce in Orange County.

-- Billionaire Democratic donor Tom Steyer has pulled off a rarity in this hyper-charged partisan age: He raised the ire of both Trump and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi thanks to his nationwide TV ads calling for the president's impeachment.

-- Impeachment is still not a popular idea among House Democratic leaders, but some congressional candidates in Orange County are starting to utter the "I-word."

-- Former GOP Congressman Doug Ose is considering entering the 2018 governor's race.

-- State flags in California were ordered to fly at half-staff on Monday in remembrance of the mass shooting at a Texas church over the weekend. In making the announcement, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom called for stricter federal gun laws.

-- Rep. Ted Lieu says he won't participate in moments of silence for gun violence any longer.

-- A new report from Treasurer John Chiang says California should look into the creation of a public bank to serve marijuana businesses, one of a handful of recommendations aimed at helping bring cannabis companies into the financial mainstream.

-- Americans increasingly say jobs are plentiful in their communities, but they continue to worry that their incomes are lagging, according to a new national poll.

-- Possibly coming to the statewide ballot next year: A plan to make rainwater storage systems installed in California yards exempt from property taxes.

-- California House members have paid up on their World Series bets.
LOGISTICS Essential Politics is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You can keep up with breaking news on our politics page throughout the day. And are you following us on Twitter at @latimespolitics? Miss Monday's newsletter? Here you go. Please send thoughts, concerns and news tips to politics@latimes.com. Did someone forward you this? Sign up here to get Essential Politics in your inbox.

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Essential Politics: Democrats celebrate their wins, Trump takes on China

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These are surely not the headlines President Trump wanted on the one-year anniversary of his stunning victory, an election that rocked American politics. Instead, the past 24 hours have seen Trump 's plans thwarted. Twice. The first time was relatively small, when his helicopter was stymied by fog from landing in the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea.

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Becoming a Mother Made Me Even More Pro-Choice

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Becoming a Mother Made Me Even More Pro-Choice

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By Maureen Shaw
Intended Audience: Pro-choice advocates, women's rights advocates

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As a woman and a pro-choice advocate, I've always respected a person's decision to seek abortion care. But it wasn't until I became a mother that I really understood their decision. Raising a child is an all-encompassing phenomenon, something you can never understand until you're in the thick of it-and definitely something you should bypass until you're ready.

Politicized stories have a way of painting an overly simplistic, two-dimensional picture of abortion (and by extension, parenthood). To hear right-wingers tell it, the person who gets an abortion is usually a thoughtless teenager or a young woman who uses abortion as birth control. In their narrative, these individuals are lining up around the block to carelessly do away with unwanted pregnancies instead of facing responsibility for not keeping their legs closed.

This supposition is laden with baseless judgments: that those who seek abortion care are selfish; that they do so because having a child would cramp their depraved lifestyles (obviously the "worst" reason to terminate a pregnancy); and that women and adolescents who choose to have abortions don't respect children, family, or motherhood.

It's also factually inaccurate. In reality, statistics upend those assumptions. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 61 percent of abortions are obtained by women with at least one child, and the majority of these women (60 percent) are in their 20s. Teenage girls account for less than one-fifth of all abortions. What's more, teen pregnancy, birth, and abortion rates have declined drastically in the United States and reached a historic low in 2011.

Of course, anti-choice activists and politicians don't seem to care about the facts (or maybe facts are just difficult to read from their high horses). They insist on perpetuating the impulsive abortion patient trope, infantilizing women in the process. This is perhaps most evident in pushes for anti-choice legislation requiring waiting periods, counseling, and forced ultrasounds for people seeking abortions-as if they can't or won't make informed decisions.

I know from personal experience how erroneous this typecasting is. I spent my 20s as an activist fighting for reproductive rights: I attended pro-choice rallies, met with local legislators, led volunteer groups, and spent time as a clinic escort. In this capacity, I met and spoke with countless women who had abortions. And contrary to what anti-choice activists and politicians would have you believe, so many of them were already mothers or wanted to be mothers-someday.

I've brought two lives into this world. Knowing now what it entails to be a mom-from pregnancy, labor, and delivery to meeting the endless demands of other human beings-I believe even more fiercely in abortion on demand and without apology. (And yes, you can be pro-choice and a parent; just read Pregnant, Parenting, and Pro-Choice for a smattering of stories). Everyone deserves to enter parenthood willingly, and every child deserves a parent who is willing to bear the responsibilities of this lifelong commitment. Children should be wanted and cherished, not forced into this world as punishment for their parents engaging in sex.

Women who seek abortion care understand this more than the Republican Party is willing to admit. Women and girls cite numerous reasons for wanting to terminate a pregnancy, from financial insecurity to a desire to avoid single motherhood to simply not being ready-and everything in between. The truth is, women and girls have abortions precisely because they respect children and motherhood, not because they are flippant or have no regard for family.

Women who obtain abortions should be not skewered or shamed. They acknowledge that they're unwilling or unable to parent (at that particular time or possibly ever), and they know children deserve to be loved and cherished. We should give them the same respect they've shown the institution of motherhood by doing so-conception is a biological function, but parenting is not.

Since becoming a parent, I am beyond grateful I was able to plan the number and spacing of my children; if I hadn't been able to, I question whether I would be as loving and patient of a mother.

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Becoming a Mother Made Me Even More Pro-Choice - Rewire.News

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As a woman and a pro-choice advocate, I've always respected a person's decision to seek abortion care. But it wasn't until I became a mother that I really understood their decision. Raising a child is an all-encompassing phenomenon, something you can never understand until you're in the thick of it-and definitely something you should bypass until you're ready.

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Trump Says Tougher Gun Laws Could've Worsened Texas Death Toll

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Trump Says Tougher Gun Laws Could've Worsened Texas Death Toll

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By Mark Landler
Intended Audience: Pro gun control advocates & democrats

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Mr. Kelley was shot twice by the armed bystander after he walked out of the church, having finished his killing spree inside. He might have continued his attack elsewhere, but the entire town of Sutherland Springs only has about 600 people.

Instead, a wounded Mr. Kelley led the bystander and another man on a dramatic car chase that ended in a crash. He was found dead in his car of what the police said was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The carnage in Texas has overshadowed Mr. Trump's trip to Asia, and his response to questions about it has hardened as the questions have kept coming. On Monday in Tokyo, he described the gunman as a "very deranged individual," saying, "I think that mental health is your problem here."

In Seoul, standing next to President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, Mr. Trump, as he has before, invoked street violence in Chicago as a reason to be suspicious of tighter gun regulations.

"The city with the strongest gun laws in our nation is Chicago," he said, "and Chicago is a disaster. It's a total disaster."

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sutherland springs  tex  shooting (2017)

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Trump Says Tougher Gun Laws Could've Worsened Texas Death Toll

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Mr. Kelley was shot twice by the armed bystander after he walked out of the church, having finished his killing spree inside. He might have continued his attack elsewhere, but the entire town of Sutherland Springs only has about 600 people.