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Weekly Political Updates
From The Youth, For The Youth
Weekly Updates
Domestic
Political Landscape
What you should know about the Government Shutdown
Cause? Republicans and Democrats in congress could not decide on a budget to pass for the coming fiscal (money) year which starts Oct. 1st.
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The primary point of disagreement was that Democrats wanted to extend tax credits from the Affordable Care Act (ACA originally passed by former President Obama) which were not included in the proposed budget. The extension of these tax credits would reverse President Trump's cuts to Medicaid as apart of his Big Beautiful Bill, which restore cheaper healthcare (44-75% lower annual premiums/payments) for about 22 million citizens.
Effects? 1.4 million federal workers are on unpaid leave or are working without pay
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All workers considered non-essential, about 175,000, have been furloughed (temporarily on unpaid leave)
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The Trump administration has moved to fire 4,000 federal workers, and intends to continue mass firings during the shutdown. A federal judge blocked this motion which the White House intends to appeal (retrial the case in a high court in search of an overturn of the lower court's decision)
Today, October 21st, the Government has been shutdown for 21 days
The longest shutdown in American history occurred during President Trump's last presidency and lasted 35 days long
Judicial Updates
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Transgender Passport Issues: A federal judge issued a court order in order to prevent the enforcement of changes to passport policies that were targeted at individuals who identify as “transgender”. The ruling cited constitutional violations, including equal protection concerns.
July 14th: the Supreme court approved trumps motion to begin dismantling the Department of Education.
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1,400 federal employees will be fired
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The majority judges did not realease a statement explaining their decision
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Justice Sonya Sotomayor, Justice Jackson, and Justcie Kagen wrote a dissent
In New Jersey, a judge decided that Alina Habba’s appointment as U.S. Attorney General did not gain Senate approval, which sets back many important cases.
At the national level, the Supreme Court made large decisions about how much power federal agencies can have, which could affect businesses, environmental practices, and daily policies.
Another major issue has been seen in privacy. After an increase in cyberattacks on medical centers, the government has been implementing tougher HIPAA rules to better protect the medical information of patients.
In June, the Supreme Court upheld a Texas law requiring pornography websites to verify their users’ ages, arguing that the state has a right to protect minors on these inappropriate sites.
These cases prove that this summer’s issues aren’t limited to the courtroom, these cases shape our daily lives.
Sources
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crrj1znp0pyo
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/20/government-shutdown-republicans-longest-history
https://www.hipaajournal.com/covenant-health-cyberattack/
https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/06/court-allows-texas-law-on-age-verification-for-pornography-sites/
Global Affairs
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May 6th: India launches missile strikes on Pakistan border towns claiming they are targeting terrorist entities, the missile strikes killed 24 civilians. Pakistan responds by shooting down 5 Indian jets and one Indian drone using Chinese missiles.
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August 15th: U.S. President Trump and Russian President Putin met at a summit in Alaska discussing signing a permanent peace treaty in Ukraine, trump said that the meeting reached a great deal of agreement but failed to reach a successful peace treaty, this sets up foundation for further negotiations with Zelenskyy.
Sources
- https://www.brookings.edu/articles/xi-jinpings-moscow-visit-highlights-chinas-strategic-vulnerabilities/
- https://www.newsweek.com/us-news-aircraft-carrier-nimitz-south-china-sea-philippines-coast-2068000
- https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/
- https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c2kzn1nw1d4t
Technology
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Engineers are starting to use AI to preserve indigenous cultures that are rapidly decaying because of the globalized state of the current world.
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Chinese AI assistant Deepseek is performing at a greater scale, according to professionals, than other current AI companies. Deepseek rose to the #1 spot on the app store.
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February 25th: Microsoft released a new quantum computing chip, along with it inventing a new state of matter, shortening the expected use of quantum computing to happen in the next few years instead of next few decades.
Environmental
News
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Dozens who failed to escape were killed in Los Angeles, CA wildfires. With fires spreading at a rate of five football fields a minute, hundreds of families were deeply devastated.
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Wildfire and climate scientist at Yale school of the environment, Jennifer Marlon believes there were many great factors that contributed to the cause of the wildfires. One being the warmest summer recorded in California which led to the drying out of vegetation that fueled the flames
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Tory Fielder, Red Cross disaster mental health manager, states that a majority of survivors often feel a sense of guilt and helplessness after disasters, especially ones of such great magnitude like the CA wildfires, from inability to help others
Trump’s First Month in Office:
- The Trump Administration, specifically Elon Musk and his DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) team, have begun the mass firing of federal employees. More than 110,000 workers have been fired by the Trump Administration. These firings were made to cut federal government spending.
- The annual inflation rate is currently 4.5% which is considered “a sign that inflation is heating up again after having cooled for much of 2024.” according to The Labor Department and The Federal Reserve
The Economy
- The stock market is typically a reflection of the current economic state of the country. In the Month of February, Indexes (a collection of stocks that track the performance of companies) had shown the following: NASDAQ has fallen 4% and Dow Jones Industrial Average has fallen 1.4%.
- Nasdaq and Dow Jones Industrial Average are considered two of the most well recognized Indexes in the market. The reason why the Nasdaq has fallen more than Dow Jones is because the Nasdaq has more representation of riskier tech companies. Dow Jones is more of a representation of lower risk economic staples so the price doesn’t vary as much.
Persecuted Communities
The persecution committed against the Sikh people, both within India and worldwide, is becoming increasingly prevalent; to cite current events such as the assassination of Sikh Canadian leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in 2023. After his killing in Canada, Prime Minister Trudeau had accused the Indian government of being involved. India has denied these allegations further contributing to pre-existing Sikh-Indian tensions.
The Indian army launched Operation Blue Star on June 5, 1984, which aimed at arresting and even killing militants holed up in the Golden Temple in Amritsar. This resulted with the murder of thousands of Sikh pilgrim. Anti-Sikh violence broke out in various parts of India after that, further straining relations. This has left an indelible mark on the Sikh psyche and hence their continuing grievances and enormous burden of injustice.
In India, Sikhs have been persistently excluded from mainstream political and social life because of their radical demands for autonomy. This desire began the time of their spiritual teacher, Guru Nanak. In spite of being a sizable minority, they feel disenfranchised to the point of a separate state, Khalistan. And to the Indian government, such demands aroused suspicions and hope of repression especially during the 1980s.
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autonomy - to right of a nation to self-govern
Sikhs are one of the most contributory populations to Indian society. Making up only 2% of the population in India, Sikhs make up most of the Indian army. The Sikh majority state, Punjab, covers about 2% of India's land, yet the state supports the Indian agricultural market produces nearly 20% of the nation's wheat and 12% of its rice. Further, Punjab sources 95% of India's woollen knitwear production. Despite this, Sikhs remain brutally persecuted.
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The Rohingya are a Muslim people from Western Myanmar, specifically, the state of Rakhine. The Rohingya have been persecuted by the nation’s Buddhist Nationalist government since the 1970s, but August 25, 2017 marked the beginning of a new kind of terror. The Tatmadaw (Myanmar’s military force), under the direction of Min Aung Hlaing, began a campaign or murder, rape, and displacement of the Rohingya population. Over 750,000 Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh since the beginning of the massacre, straining local resources. In 2019, the UNHRC* formally convicted the Burmese** government of genocide. Hlaing seized further power in a 2021 coup d'état, intensifying anti-Rohingya military campaigns. Since then, an estimated 75,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed, with over 100,000 displaced. In July of 2025 consolidated all power into the National Defense and Security Council before swiftly naming himself its commander. Despite an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court*** and sanctions by over ten countries, the genocide shows no signs of slowing.
*The United Nations Human Rights Council, the group that monitors human rights violations
**”Meaning “Of Myanmar"
***The UN agency which persecutes those accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity
https://www.dailysabah.com/world/asia-pacific/arakan-army-poses-new-threat-to-rohingya-muslims
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