How the latest ACA repeal plan would harm women

  The latest attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) comes from a working group led by former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) and several conservative think tanks and puts in place many of the repeal efforts in the 2017 Graham-Cassidy repeal bill, which failed to pass the U.S. Congress last fall. Despite that millions of people have stood up to say how important access to health care insurance is for their health and financial security, many groups are still trying to take away health care from people, including women and families, across the country. Not only would this so-called Graham-Cassidy 2.0 plan leave millions without coverage, but it would raise prices for people with pre-existing conditions and eliminate essential health benefits that women need, such as maternity care.

The Intersection of youth activism and faith-based values

  At times, young activists have been accused of being apathetic to the world around them, but history shows that they have played an important role in efforts to achieve critical change through progressive social movements. Today, student activists—some of whom are motivated by their faith—continue to drive such movements. On March 24, 2018, more than one month after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Fla., students organized the March for Our Lives, a massive rally demanding policy change to prevent gun violence and increase public safety. With an estimated 800,000 people in Washington, D.C., joined by approximately 800 sister marches across the country and throughout the world, the March for Our Lives was one of the largest youth protests since the Vietnam War.

Michael Conathan: Trump’s war on oceans

  In 2008, when President George W. Bush issued the traditional proclamation declaring June to be National Ocean Month, it was peppered with platitudes about America’s “precious waters” and included a shout out to the newly minted Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument he had established two years earlier.

  The proclamation President Donald J. Trump issued on May 31 of this year—as Toronto Star Washington correspondent Daniel Dale pointed out on Twitter—took rather a different tone. Trump’s language kicks off by mentioning the “mighty oceans and their extraordinary resources.” It then bemoans how “underutilized” these resources are and how much more money the ocean could generate from energy extraction and increased fisheries production.