Writer, wanderer, word wizard
Along with the 52.5% of American voters who tried to elect candidates other Donald Trump for president, I am scared. Honestly, I assumed Hillary Clinton would win. I know, assuming makes an ass out of u and me, but I did it. I didn’t stay up until the result was announced last night. I posted …
Continue reading America already WAS great. Let’s keep it that way.
The overarching narrative of climate change cannot replace the localized stories of environmental degradation being written all over our Earth. Climate change is such an extensive problem that even many who acknowledge its causes are too frozen to act on it. All of us are responsible to varying degrees, and there is currently no one capable of forcing the …
Continue reading There’s more to “The Environment” than climate change
You know what I realized recently? Even though I complain about the abundance of bad things happening every day, from Donald Trump's continued presidential candidacy to actual crimes against humanity, there IS good news out there. But when I come across it, I don't bother to read it because it's not "important." The refugee crisis …
A two-year-old sitting in a shopping cart next to his mom's purse reached into it, as children, cats, and pickpockets alike are wont to do, pulled out something to play with, eat, or throw on the floor, and killed his mother with it. Whether or not you're from a town where carrying a loaded weapon …
Continue reading Toddlers: the next frontier of the gun debate
As in a good-news poem, not necessarily a good news-poem. Obama made an executive call To give America's Cuba policy an overhaul. Some Republicans in Congress are pretty pissed, But soon enough I doubt the embargo will be missed. Global temperatures are still on the rise, But more of New York's gas will remain where …
In the middle of the night on April 14th, hundreds of militants descended on a girls’ school in the northeast Nigerian town of Chibok. After killing the guards and setting the school ablaze, the parade of pickup trucks and motorcycles disappeared into the Sambisa forest, and with them nearly 300 young girls. The girls had …
I have yet to come across anyone who claims that violence in schools is something to be proud of - and I would run the other way if I did. Students, teachers, school administrators, law enforcement personnel, and the general public would all like to see less of it. Great! We agree, so now we …
In Weather: 34 have been killed across the US By several tornadoes causing phenomenal distress. In sports: a recording of Donald Sterling left the NBA dismayed By the outright racism the LA Clippers owner displayed. Vermont is poised to become the first state to require That genetically modified foods be labeled for the buyer. California's governor links …
Continue reading Newsem of the Week: US and Global News That Rhymes
Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez died this week at 87 years old. Many of us frequently wake up confused, But for one Czech man that state has fused. He woke up an amnesiac in a Norwegian snowbank, And spent months under investigation, drawing a blank. Despite deadly clashes Ukraine may soon see peace, As they …
Continue reading Newsem of the Week: US and Global News That Rhymes
The World Health Organization reports that air pollution is serious shit: In 2012 approximately 7 million were killed by it. Russia has been kicked out of the Group of Eight, And some of us wonder if a G7 will carry as much weight. MH370 has been ruled “beyond a reasonable doubt” To have been lost …
Continue reading International Newsem: Global News That Rhymes
The Netflix CEO’s claim that he will continue fight For a neutral internet loses its bite When the next headline reads that Netflix will pay For prioritized access at the end of the day. A mudslide in Washington has left a death toll of 24, And with over 100 missing, it could still be more. …
Scientists have made a discovery both new and old: A dinosaur species that humans had yet to behold. They may have looked like lizards combined with birds, Described by a paleontologist as “really bizarre, even by dinosaur standards.” As those of us who have thawed can surely attest, This year’s weather has left many of …
Continue reading Newsem of the Week: US and Global News That Rhymes
A polio vaccination team in Pakistan was attacked And the Taliban is suspected of committing the act. In February alone 700 were killed in Iraq, Most of them civilians who could not fight back. As US drone strikes in Yemen continue, The European Parliament condemns them anew. A vote last week passed a ban on …
Continue reading International Newsem: Global News That Rhymes
In September of last year, the German authorities decided to investigate and prosecute former Nazi death camp guards as accessories to murder before they were all dead. Remember that WWII was almost 70 years ago now, so survivors on all sides are dwindling. This has been in the news lately because several men in their …
Continue reading Forgetting is a choice (unless you have Alzheimer’s)
Pollution has become so bad in Beijing That an Orange Alert warns against breathing [outside]. Some factories have closed to mitigate the smog, And a nearby man is suing his city over the fog. In a move unexpected and and without explanation, The entire Egyptian cabinet gave its resignation. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former minister …
Continue reading International Newsem: Global News That Rhymes
International news will follow as soon as I can make something rhyme with Turchynov... Our Secretary of Defense released a downsizing plan That would scale our force size back to when World War II began. He wants fewer on active duty and smaller benefits, But expanded special operations for the next surprise blitz. The …
So much has happened in the Ukraine, That to summarize all of it here might explode my brain. This week was the deadliest since the protests began, But Yanukovych was dismissed, and now Turchynov is their man. Last week’s Syria talks accomplished even less Than the first round of talks, which failed to impress. The …
Continue reading International Newsem: Global News That Rhymes
New York state prisons will no longer assign Those under 18 to be solitarily confined. And after 22 years in a Pennsylvania cell alone, An aging Black Panther was released from this zone. Now to an ex-congressman who has been in jail, Melvin Reynolds's welcome in Zimbabwe has gone stale. Convicted of 12 counts …
Let’s start with what most on the East Coast already know: There’s a killer storm beating us with ice and snow. 500,000 have been left without power, And at least 13 saw their final hour. But some on the West Coast have cause to celebrate, As the death penalty is gone in Washington state. …
The Copenhagen Zoo shot a giraffe dead Because he was a “surplus” and couldn’t be bred. Although many offered to take him and protest was widespread, The zoo had its way and fed him to the lions instead. East Asia will soon see two official meetings of note: Between both Koreas, rendering dialogue less remote; …
Continue reading International Newsem: Global News That Rhymes
