2017 Year in Review: Day 4 | Social + Civil Rights

6-word summary of social rights movements in 2017: Progress and plenty of persistent push-back (one-word)

• Here's a comprehensive list of all of the male actors, businessmen, and politicians accused of sexual assault. It's an exhaustive list, but that comes to show how common sexual assault is, not only in the entertainment and political industries but also anywhere, any industry, any neighborhood. Let's do something about that.
• This arose the #MeToo movement, encouraging victims of sexual assault to share their stories, because their stories are important and justice needs to be served to their assaulters. Very vocal victims of sexual assault were on the cover of TIME magazine and featured as the person of the year in their 2017 issue.
• Australia and Germany voted "yes" on same-sex marriage. Additionally, Taiwan has become the first nation in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. That is so fetch!

  

  Courtesy of Top Draw Inc.

• The number of Syrian children dying or being forced to fight for their country has been the most they have ever been in 2016, according to a UNICEF report.
• Legislation that'd ban LGBTQ+-related discrimination is being proposed by Democrats in Congress.
• The Chechenya government has reportedly lynched gay man, as speculated from the disappearance of gay men. A government official justified this by saying, "You cannot arrest or repress people who just don't exist in the republic," suggesting that the Chechen government doesn't believe in gay men, as if they are Santa or a fairy tale. 
• LGBTQ+ men in Uganda, which had illegalized LGBTQ+ rights, and specifically Tanzania, are being violated by police and medical officials in an effort to forcibly decrease HIV/AIDS.  
• The fight to end female genital mutilation (FGM).
• The body of a female Muslim judge was discovered by the New York's Hudson River. 
• Trump de-funded family planning from Planned Parenthood.

Women's March

• 3 times as many people protested in the international women's march than attended Trump's inauguration, according to the New York Times. Oh, snap!
• The Washington Post estimates that 4,465,169 people protested internationally, with 4,157,894 or 1 in 100 Americans marching. This spanned not only in major cities but also in all states, even red states, and other nations (with about 261 sister marches occurring internationally).
• And aren't the pink pussy beanies cute? 

2017 Year in Review: Day 3 | Economics, Business, and STEM

6-word summary of business, economics, and STEM in 2017: Booming economy/sexual allegations slow businesses.

• Scientists urge that more people in STEM should run for office and the also had a march to protest Brexit and Trump.
• Apple has delayed the release of their HomePod, which is a competitor to Amazon's Echo and Google Home, until 2018.
• Twitter expanded its word limit to 280 characters, a step up from the 140-character limit the site launched with.
• NASA has delayed their plans to launch a rocket to 2019.
• Cyperransom became a thing.
• Apple patented its own pizza box design.
• House Republicans passed a bill that'd dismantle the strict banking laws introduced after the financial crisis.
• Youtube TV
• The FCC repealed net neutrality.
• Facebook has hired many people to monitor violence on their site, while companies like Uber have fired employees who have been accused of sexual assault.

  

  Courtesy of Youtube

• Twitter has developed Twitter Lite for developing nations who have slow internet connections on cheap phone devices.
• Amazon has devised a system to help parents monitor their children's browsing--parental controls.
• Trump has defunded family planning for Planned Parenthood.
• Ikea + pet furniture = furry fun
• Congress has increased funding for medical research by $2 billion.
• Youtube is on the crackdown of videos that exploit children in inappropriate or suggestible situations or positions, especially with adults, even from their own site's verified channels.
• U.S. wars have cost an average of $23,386 since 9/11.
• Twitter has developed a bot to listen to the comments, complaints, and suggestions of their users in order to improve their site.
• Google has developed AutoDraw to edit drawings and other images.
• Corporate landlords are listing thousands of apartments on Airbnb.

  

  Courtesy of Egypt Innovate

• Uruguay is the first nation in the world to sell recreational cannabis. 
• Banks are increasing rates for taking out loans and credit cards.
• In other news, for-profit colleges are beginning to suck? Did I say "beginning"? Yeah, they've been sucking since they've been conceptualized. As a result, the U.S. Education Department is converting such colleges as Kaplan University and the Art Institutes into non-profit colleges.
• Women of color are booming in the cosmetics industry.
• The 2017 Nobel Prize for Physics has been awarded to three scientists who discovered more about gravitational waves.
• According to CNN Money, the unemployment rate is 4.1%, a record low for 84 consecutive months, the longest streak in U.S. history. Additionally, wages and inflation haven't increased as much as economists and data analysts have expected.

2017 Year in Review: Day 1 | Politics

6-word summary of global politics in 2017: Time-travel (one word) to pre-Civil War is possible?

Here we go!

The Wall

Trump is still optimistic, but the experienced businessman he is, he ironically doesn't realize how unrealistic the costs to build the will are.

In other words, it didn't happen. Period.

Missile roundup

North Korea has launched 23 nuclear missiles, the first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) being fired on July 4 (perfect in time for the U.S. Independence Day--nothing says "independence" than nuclear fireworks). One in September, was a "success," having reached a magnitude of 6.3 on the Richter earthquake scale and spanning over 1,000 kilometers or roughly 620 miles toward Japan. Here's a summary of the country's missile launches this year and everything you need to know, from how concerned you should be to emergency procedures. Trump responded to North Korea's unabashed nuclear threat by saying that the nation "will be met with fire and fury."

Russian Collusion

Here's everything we've found out and you need to know about the Trump administration's collusion with Russia, all in one video. You're welcome.

Terrorism

To date, there have been 1,096 attacks and 7,456 casualties internationally.

According to the Global Terrorism Index 2017 edition (you can find a PDF of this online) though it contains data from 2016. Data regarding terrorism in 2017 will be issued next year.

You can also see a visual, a map of the magnitude or amount of impact per nation, all compiled in one map.

DACA

Trump threatened to revoke DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), which the Obama administration passed in 2012, and the benefits it offers undocumented children. Nothing has been set in stone, so DREAMers will have to wait for a decision from legislators after the winter vacation, in January. Multiple schools have provided shelters for families and sued Trump for the inconvenience that the revocation has on the families. According to an advocacy group, 122 immigrants lose their DACA protection every day.

Roundup of Politicians Who Resigned Due to Sexual Assault Allegations

1. Minnesota Sen. Al Franken (DFL)
2. Texas GOP Rep. Blake Farenthold (R)
3. Oregon Former Senator Bob Packwood (R)
4. Washington Sen. Brock Adams (D)
5. Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas (R)
6. Kentucky State Rep. Dan Johnson (R)
7. Oregon Rep. David Wu (D)
8. Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R)
9. NY Rep. Eric Massa (D)
10. Former president George H.W. Bush (R)
11. Georgia 2012 presidential nominee Herman Cain (R)
12. Michigan Rep. John Conyers (D)
13. Florida Former Rep. Mark Foley (R)
14. CA State Assemblyman Matt Dababneh (D)
15. Illinois Former Rep. Mel Reynolds (D)
16. Majority whip for CA State Assembly Raul Bocanegra (D)
17. Alabama GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore (R)
18. Nevada Rep. Ruben Kihuen (D)
19. Arizona Rep. Trent Franks (R)

Roundup of Everyone Trump Has Fired

Here's a summary from the Washington Post. It gives a visual and reasons as to why Trump fired or threatened to fire his employees. Long story short, does he really have reasons when he doesn't really know why he's doing and talking about? Yeah, there's not as much reason as there is a tantrum.