Activism Race

Pro-Trump Rally Causes Violence in Washington, D.C.

Four people were stabbed in Washington, D.C. this weekend when pro-Trump protesters fought with counterprotesters. Social media videos show that protesters were wearing the colors and insignia of the Proud Boys, a far-right white supremacist organization. Black Lives Matter signs were torn down from two historic Black churches in D.C., and then destroyed by pro-Trump […]

Health On the Hill

Trump Signs Order Aimed at Strengthening Telehealth and Rural Healthcare

On Monday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at empowering rural healthcare providers and expanding access to telehealth services. Medicare has greatly expanded its coverage of telehealth services as part of its coronavirus emergency response, but that expansion is set to expire once the public health emergency is over. The executive order calls […]

On the Hill Politics

Fact Check: Trump’s State of the Union Address

President Donald J. Trump delivered his third State of the Union address this Tuesday and spent approximately one and a half hours lying to the attending members of Congress, witnesses in the gallery, and the American public. Early on in his speech, Trump remarked that “jobs are booming” and “incomes are soaring,” but NPR Chief […]

Immigration

680 Arrested in Largest Recorded ICE Raid

This ongoing debate on immigration reform in the United States reached a new tipping point yesterday after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents invaded a food production plant in Morton, Mississippi, arresting 680 undocumented workers who were unable to provide identification. This is believed to be the largest single-state immigration arrest in the history […]

Courts Reproductive Rights

Federal Appeals Court Blocks Trump Administration’s Birth Control Exemptions

Last Friday, the 3rd U.S Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a nation-wide injunction to block the Trump administration from enforcing new rules that would allow employers to obtain exemptions from an ACA requirement that insurance must cover women’s birth control. This decision upheld a district court decision issued in January that blocked regulations issued by […]

Abortion Global

Study Proves that Global Gag Rule Increases Unplanned Pregnancies

The medical journal The Lancet released a study on Thursday examining the impact of the global gag rule, officially known as the Mexico City Policy, on the rate of abortions in sub-Saharan Africa. Researchers discovered that rather than decrease the amount of abortions as anti-choice advocates advertised, the policy increased abortion rates by approximately forty […]

Uncategorized

Supreme Court Rules against Citizenship Question on 2020 Census for now

This Thursday, the Supreme Court rejected the stated reasoning behind the citizenship question that the Trump Administration wanted to add to the 2020 Census, setting the efforts of the Trump administration further back. In the 5-4 ruling, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote that the reason behind the citizenship question which was provided by […]

Abortion Reproductive Rights

Appeals Court Rules that Trump’s Family Planning Restrictions can take Effect Immediately

Last week, the U.S Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that a family planning “gag rule,” which would strip federal Title X funding from any clinic that provides abortions or abortion referrals, could go into effect immediately. The new rules ban Title X funded-clinics—which serve approximately 4 million low-income Americans—from both making abortion […]

Uncategorized

Trump Administration hosts Concentration Camps at the Texas Border

This week, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted a link to an Esquire article titled “An Expert on Concentration Camps Says That’s Exactly What the U.S. Is Running at the Border” which sparked controversy over the Trump administration’s handling of refugees. AOC captioned her tweet “This administration has established concentration camps on the southern border of the United […]

Reproductive Rights

D.C. Appeals Court Blocks Policy that Prevents Undocumented Minors from Seeking Abortions

Today, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a Trump administration policy barring undocumented minors held in federal custody from obtaining an abortion. In their opinion, the Circuit Court judges wrote that “a person has a constitutional right to terminate her pregnancy” and “the government accepts the applicability of that settled framework to unaccompanied alien […]

Global LGBTQ

US Embassies fly Pride Flag Despite Denial from Trump Administration

Monday, Mike Pence came out in support of the Trump administration’s decision to repudiate U.S. embassies’ for flying the pride flag, making nationalist claims that only one flag can fly, after U.S Embassies in Vienna, India, and South Korea all flew the pride in celebration of the LGBTQ community, despite previous denial from Trump Administration, […]

Uncategorized

The Youth are Suing the Federal Government over Failure to act on Climate Change

On June 4th, the Court of Appeals in the 9th Circuit heard arguments from Juliana v. United States on whether or not US citizens’ have a constitutional right to be protected from man-made climate change. The students are challenging the executive government’s inaction on climate change, and argue that the younger generations will suffer the […]

Health

More than 1 Million Americans Lost Health Coverage in 2018

In 2018, more than 1 million Americans lost health coverage, continuing a pattern of decline since 2017 when Trump Administration and Congress decreased the Affordable Care Act requirements and regulations. In 2017, 29.3 million Americans did not have coverage and in 2018 this number increased to 30.4 million Americans, while previously the number of uninsured […]

Reproductive Rights Violence Against Women

UN Passes Anti-War Rape Resolution Despite US Opposition

On Tuesday, the United Nations amended resolution aimed at ending sexual violence in war passed 13-0, with Russia and China abstaining. This was after the United States threatened to use their veto power to demand that all references to sexual and reproductive health be cut out. The Trump administration called for this change because they claim the resolution “implies support for abortion.”

Uncategorized

Trump Transgender Military Ban Takes Effect

President Trump’s highly controversial and discriminatory military policy to ban all transgender individuals from serving in the United States Military will officially take effect today at the Pentagon. In addition to banning transgender individuals from military service, the Pentagon will also prevent using any DoD or DHS resources to fund sex reassignment procedures or surgeries, […]

Health

Trump Administration Argues the ACA is Unconstitutional

The Trump Administration is arguing that a federal appeals court should strike down the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA) as unconstitutional, including the popular provisions to protect individuals with pre-existing conditions, the expansion of Medicaid, and the ability for young adults to stay on their parents’ insurance plans until they are 26 years old. In […]

Uncategorized

Trump Rule will Eliminate SNAP Benefits for over 750,000 Individuals

The Trump administration is now receiving comments on a proposed rule that will eliminate Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for over 750,000 unemployed and underemployed individuals and cut $15 billion dollars from the program over 10 years. Trump originally wanted this to be included into a farm bill he signed into law; however since […]