Photo by Rhododendrites via Wikimedia Commons
At a crossroads: One of the few "Ws" of Trump's administration is the passage of the travel ban, which had been blocked by lower courts until a recent Supreme Court decision. The high court didn't approve the ban in full but agreed to hear arguments for the case in the fall when they reconvene. In the meantime, the travel ban is in partial effect and only people with "bona fide" relationships with someone in the US are allowed to enter.But defining "bona fide" is tricky. According to The Guardian, anyone from the six-Muslim majority countries must have either parent, spouse, child, adult son or daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law or sibling already in the US to be eligible for entry. The ban is now in effect and puts many would-be immigrants in flux.Back to the drawing board: Senate Republicans have delayed the vote on their healthcare bill after a not-so-warm reception by nearly everyone. Their plan cuts federal funding for Medicaid and Planned Parenthood, which saves the government millions at the expense of more than 20 million people who would lose health coverage over the next decade. Whether or not Trump can take the reins and guide the GOP to a consensus on the bill will be a defining moment of his presidency.Wedding bells are ringing: Finally, LGBTQ German citizens won the right to same-sex marriage. Today, German parliament ended their deliberation and voted yes for equality. For more than a decade, Germany has allowed same-sex couples to enter into civil unions, but those don't have the same legal guarantees as a marriage. Most Germans supported marriage equality and put the pressure on Prime Minister Angela Merkel to do something about it. Congratulations Germany, or rather Glückwünsche.
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Free at last: Three Chinese activists have finally been freed from jail after they went undercover at a factory in China that made products for Ivanka Trump and other retailers. They were investigating labor practices in facilities that were alleged to be sweatshops. In May, the Chinese government detained the activists for their undercover probe, but now they've been released and are awaiting trial. China doesn't have the best track record of dealing with political dissidents, but freeing the activists is a sign of good faith.Mormons get a bit more chill: The Church of Latter-day Saints now offers paid maternity leave to its full-time employees in the US. Although this shouldn't seem like a radical move, it is. Religious institutions aren't known for ensuring adequate family leave, which is ironic since many of these organizations are anti-choice.According to the Washington Post, organizations like Focus on the Family and Catholic Charities only give 12 weeks of unpaid leave, forcing employees to use their vacation time, sick days or a paid time off to make ends meet. The Mormon Church also rockets into the 21st century by relaxing their dress code and allowing women to wear pants where before they were limited to dresses and skirts — yay, equality!Unbreakable: Thousands of Planned Parenthood supporters and other opponents of the Senate's proposed healthcare bill formed a human chain around the Capitol on Wednesday. They marched in protest of GOP plans to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood for a year, and in resistance to the proposed reduction of Medicaid coverage for vulnerable Americans across the country. Protesters wore pink PP shirts and chanted: "What do we want? Healthcare! When do we want it? Now!" in a display of solidarity and support for those threatened by the Senate's new bill.
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Watch some more video from VICE:
Free at last: Three Chinese activists have finally been freed from jail after they went undercover at a factory in China that made products for Ivanka Trump and other retailers. They were investigating labor practices in facilities that were alleged to be sweatshops. In May, the Chinese government detained the activists for their undercover probe, but now they've been released and are awaiting trial. China doesn't have the best track record of dealing with political dissidents, but freeing the activists is a sign of good faith.Mormons get a bit more chill: The Church of Latter-day Saints now offers paid maternity leave to its full-time employees in the US. Although this shouldn't seem like a radical move, it is. Religious institutions aren't known for ensuring adequate family leave, which is ironic since many of these organizations are anti-choice.According to the Washington Post, organizations like Focus on the Family and Catholic Charities only give 12 weeks of unpaid leave, forcing employees to use their vacation time, sick days or a paid time off to make ends meet. The Mormon Church also rockets into the 21st century by relaxing their dress code and allowing women to wear pants where before they were limited to dresses and skirts — yay, equality!Unbreakable: Thousands of Planned Parenthood supporters and other opponents of the Senate's proposed healthcare bill formed a human chain around the Capitol on Wednesday. They marched in protest of GOP plans to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood for a year, and in resistance to the proposed reduction of Medicaid coverage for vulnerable Americans across the country. Protesters wore pink PP shirts and chanted: "What do we want? Healthcare! When do we want it? Now!" in a display of solidarity and support for those threatened by the Senate's new bill.