Stuff YOU Should Know
Angry Americans
You’re walking to class and someone accidentally bumps into you, knocking your things to the ground. How do you respond? If you get angry at the person, you’re not alone. A new study shows that Americans are angrier than ever before–and that this trend applies to Americans of all ages. The study also shows that not only are we angrier than we were a generation ago, but we are also significantly angrier than we were just last year.
Why? According to the study data, the news seems to be at least partially to blame. Nearly two-thirds of Americans surveyed said that they often or sometimes feel angry while reading the news. For younger people, social media is also a factor, with a significant number of people under 35 saying they are often angry when checking social media.
So aside from just making life unpleasant for the people around you, is being angry necessarily a bad thing? Scientists say that anger can actually have a negative impact on your physical health. It floods your body with stress hormones, which raises your heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration. Sometimes, however, anger can be a powerful motivating force that can help you work harder at sports or school. Experts agree that a great way to manage anger is to identify or name the kind of anger you are feeling and why, and then try to reduce it using exercise, meditation, and other tools. It’s also helpful to look at what tends to trigger your angry emotions..
What Do You Think? Do you consider yourself an angry person? Do you think you’re more angry than you used to be? What are some tools you use to manage your own anger? Explain.
Mueller to Testify Before the House
In April, Special Counsel Robert Mueller released his final report on his investigation into Russian tampering in the 2016 election. You may have thought that meant the case was closed. But Mueller’s report left some political room for Democrats to maybe investigate further. For example, the report said that there was not enough evidence to convict Trump of obstruction of justice for trying to halt the investigation. But the report did not say that the president was completely innocent either. And so, Mueller has agreed to testify before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees. This will be the first time, Democrats will be able to directly question him about his findings. And maybe things will become clearer?
It’s expected that Mueller will be asked to explain the process he and his team went through as they conducted their report, and also to explain specific evidence that was found. This is important because, so far, President Trump has used the power of executive privilege to keep Congress from being able to access the full contents of the 448-page report. Executive privilege is a principle stating that communications of the executive branch should remain confidential to protect national security. Many presidents before Trump has claimed executive privilege for a variety of reasons.
Congressional Democrats are excited for this opportunity to receive direct testimony from Mueller, and to question him in front of a national TV audience. Some Congressional Republicans are also on board, saying that they hope hearing directly from Mueller will finally allow Democrats to put the matter to a close. For his part, Trump has outright accused House Democrats of harassment.
Mueller’s testimony before the House will take place on July 17.
Dig Deeper Using Internet resources, locate research that shows what percentage of Americans believe that Trump should be impeached. Do you think hearing Mueller’s testimony will make people more or less likely to want to begin impeachment proceedings? Explain.
New Olympic Games in 2024?
Much of the United States is focused right now on 2020 and the upcoming presidential election. But Paris is already looking forward to 2024, when it will be hosting the 134th session of the Summer Olympic Games. In fact, last week, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) started setting its sports program for the games, including four new sports. (This is the second time that a city has been allowed to suggest the inclusion of new games into the program. The first was the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.)
The new sports being considered are breaking (a high-energy, freestyle dance also known as breakdancing); sport climbing (a form of rock climbing using permanent anchors fixed to the rocks); skateboarding; and surfing. According to the IOC, these were chosen because they appeal to younger athletes and they provide a greater gender balance to the games. This speaks to the IOC’s mission of making these athletic contests more inclusive. Since the rules were revised to include more sports in 2020, the only rule for new games is that they must have an international federation recognized by the IOC. Beyond that, each host city gets to suggest what it wants. In the case of the 2020 Olympics, Paris wanted its games to be more youth-centered, urban-focused, and gender-balanced.
At this point, the new sports have only been included provisionally. The Olympic Programme Commission still has to go through the process of observing and approving of them. A final decision will be made by the IOC Executive Board in December 2020.
What Do You Think? Imagine that you serve on the Olympic Programme Commission. Would you approve the decision to include the new sports in the 2024 Olympics? Why or why not?
Tubman $20 in 2020–Or Not?
You may remember that in 2016, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that it would overhaul the $20 bill, replacing the face of President Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman, an enslaved woman who later became a well-known abolitionist. This would have made Tubman the first African American, and only the second woman, to appear on U.S. currency. The initial plan was for this change to occur by 2020, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment, which guaranteed women the right to vote. Last month, however, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the redesign won’t happen until 2028.
Why such a significant delay? According to Mnuchin, it’s because the $10 and the $50 are going to be redesigned first. But many people felt that wasn’t a satisfactory answer, so now the Treasury Department has announced that it plans to launch an investigation into the process. This investigation, headed up by acting Inspector General Rich Delmar and backed by Ohio Representative Joyce Beatty and other Democratic leaders, will take an estimated ten months to complete and will look into everyone involved in the redesign process, from the Federal Reserve to the White House itself, to make sure that the delay isn’t being caused by political reasons. The original decision to replace Jackson with Tubman was made in the Obama era, under Mnuchin’s predecessor, former Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew. Trump has spoken out in the past against the change, saying that he thinks it’s disrespectful to remove Jackson’s image and that Tubman should appear on a different bill denomination instead.