legislation
The bills that Congress reject are as informative as the ones it does. Reviews of all the legislation that meet their fate in government halls.
By Unintelligent Design
One has to wonder ever since the 1990s how the United States plummeted from being the stalwart nation of the world to now a mere shadow of its former self. Some believe we have only ourselves to blame for the election of Donald Trump, while others put it more bluntly on the power brokers of both political parties and the main stream media. Maybe it was all by unintelligent design. We have to remember that the Democratic party did everything possible including fracturing the rule of law by thwarting Bernie Sanders' nomination. Then there was of course the media frenzy covering Trump's swagger, profanity, and uncouth demure. Lest we forget all the millions of dollars lavishly spent in securing the Republican nomination. No other candidate could come close in media coverage of the Trump campaign.
Dr. WilliamsPublished 5 years ago in The Swamp- Top Story - March 2018
Stop Confusing Gun Reform/Control with Losing Your Second Amendment Rights
Gun reform/ control can be defined as: “the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians.”
Anne & AnamesaPublished 6 years ago in The Swamp 
Health Care Crisis Update
The disaster that is the American health care system is hard to fix. There is no simple solution. We are digging our own grave daily. Your health care is dependent on your ability to work or the ability of a parent to work. Working out a vision is all well and good but we need to do something about what we currently have to deal with. What I’m reading is that Aetna was bought by CVS for $69 billion. Single payer has to be implemented in this incredibly rich company. Cigna and Anthem were about to merge in February 2017 along with rivals Aetna and Cigna who also wanted to merge but didn’t. The Justice Department blocked these massive, vertical mergers but they might have better luck if the merger is vertical.
Iria Vasquez-PaezPublished 6 years ago in The Swamp
Mental Health and Firearms
On December 14th, 2012, Adam Lanza committed the second most lethal mass shooting in American History. After killing his own mother and then twenty-six adults and children at the local elementary school, America was left with the burning question of not only why this happened, but how it could have been prevented(1). Lanza was clearly mentally ill, and it played a major role in him committing this atrocity. It did not take New York State’s Governor, Andrew Cuomo, and the State Senate and Assembly long to respond to this tragedy. On January 15th, 2013, the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act, or SAFE Act, was signed into law(2). The SAFE Act has many different components, but one section that has bothered both Second Amendment supporters and mental health professionals is that regarding mental hygiene. Specifically, section 9.46. This section requires that a mental health professional file a report to the local director of community services if he or she feels that the patient is, “’likely to engage in conduct that would result in serious harm to self or others(3).’” While this sounds reasonable and productive in preventing future tragedies like Newtown, this law is deeply flawed when it comes to mental health.
Evan BradyPublished 6 years ago in The Swamp
The Quiet Battle To Return Pre-Existing Conditions to What It Was
There is a quiet war being waged on people with disabilities also known as a pre-existing condition. As a child, I knew about this war since getting covered for my type-1 diabetes was hard. Many people have pre-existing conditions. Heartless politicians want to make sure these people do not get coverage. The American Health Care Act is a step backwards even if they still cannot charge sick people more for insurance. The House has no idea what they are doing with regard to how this impacts people with pre-existing conditions. Insurers can stop covering, even for people with continuous coverage.
Iria Vasquez-PaezPublished 6 years ago in The Swamp
Crisis Point
Thinking back to the financial crisis of 2008, one would think that another such economic catastrophe would somehow elude us. It was just ten years ago that the United States plunged the world into the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. Yet here we are, a decade later, no wiser and even more foolish. You would have thought that we would have learned from our mistakes, but time and time again, history proves that we are still prone to repeat mistakes of the past. When will we ever learn? Today, what we have is déjà vu of the 2008 financial crisis. So what we have now are almost the same set of circumstances that are poised to unleash an economic debacle more sinister and more devastating than the one in 2008. To understand how this is happening, we first have to look at what transpired leading up to the 2008 crash.
Dr. WilliamsPublished 6 years ago in The Swamp
Brain Scan
I halted all medical treatments for Attention Deficit Disorder in the year 2000 when I was sixteen years old. My grades had never shown any improvement, and each drug seemed to come with a worse side effect than the last. When I was on Luvox, I couldn’t sleep or have an orgasm for weeks at a time. When I was on Desipramine, I started hating all my friends, hating my favorite foods, and hating the movies I knew I loved. Both my mother and my psychiatrist tried to convince me that this new, miserable version of myself was the real one; that I was seeing the world more clearly as it is and should continue. I was sleeping 16 hours a day. I ended up having to leave home and go live with my dad in order to escape that situation.
Thoughts and Prayers
Another school shooting. Seventeen amazing young people and teachers murdered in a Florida high school. A dozen more injured. Hundreds traumatized by the event. Tragic. We send our thoughts and prayers.
Dan McGinnisPublished 6 years ago in The Swamp
Should Self Identification Replace Gender Recognition Certificates?
I'm in quite a unique position to write this piece; as both a transgender woman and a budding journalist, I'm seeing two sides to a heated debate—and I'm seeing the reasonable points of both sides.
Skylar Rose PridgeonPublished 6 years ago in The Swamp
Health Promotion
The Ottawa Charter was the First International Conference on Health Promotion (1986). The Charter’s main aim was to continue identifying action to help achieve targets from the World Health Organisation (W.H.O.), "Health for all by the year 2000" (1981). It was a response to rising expectations for a new public health movement around the world. Many involved in health education were critical of the medical model of health and the blaming of people for their individual behaviour. The Ottawa Charter brought together a growing recognition that illness was highly related to health education and promotion, and that promotion required a wide interpretation with the active participation of people and stakeholders.
Elizabeth KeigherPublished 6 years ago in The Swamp
Is Britain Today an Ageist Society?
Ageism is defined by The Oxford English Dictionary as “Prejudice or discrimination against people on the grounds of age.” Over the last 25 years, Britain has undergone noticeable demographic changes, particularly among older people. A study by the Rowntree Foundation in 2010 revealed that not only are people living longer – the population of people aged 85 years and above had risen by almost 680,000 over the last two and a half decades, there is also a change in living arrangements. The extended family is no longer a trend, due to changes within family units in general, and the cost and implications of residential care meaning that increasing numbers of older people are living alone, with or without help from outside agencies, (Falkingham et al, 2010). Given these demographic and social changes it is concerning that ageism is ubiquitous in Britain, often unconsciously (Donnellan, 2005). This essay will focus on two key issues where ageism exists; employment and healthcare. It will provide evidence to prove that ageism is a problem; conversely it will also discuss the measures that are being taken to combat the issue.
Michelle SpittlePublished 6 years ago in The Swamp
Truth, Reconciliation, and the Responsibility to Protect
Truth, Reconciliation and the Responsibility to Protect: The 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) found Canada responsible for perpetrating "cultural, physical, and biological genocide against Aboriginal populations." Canada is a signatory to the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG), which renders the convention legally binding domestically. Canada has further committed to the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) principle, which is not legally binding per se, but can spur the action of the international community. As Canada has ratified these international commitments, and in light of the recent findings of the TRC, how has Canada failed Indigenous populations under the guidelines of these legal instruments?
