Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in The Swamp.
What Good Has Come Out of Coronavirus?
Coronavirus has less pollution happening on this planet, since people are in stay home mode. The Bay Area traffic, which gets very bad, has thinned out. I'm happy I get to stay home rather than drag myself to therapy. I was doing really well getting out of the house daily when the virus hit with the stay at home order. Staying at home is a more humane way of dealing with it when the United States is coming undone, lacking the resources to do something worse to the population. I leave it up to you to decide what that is about. Businesses now let people work from home when they said that was not an option. They cannot fire people for being ill if they send them to work from home. I feel for essential workers though since they are exposing themselves to the virus. I want to interview people after the fact, over Skype if need be. I haven't used my Skype in months if not a year or two by now. Coronavirus did come from a lab at the very least, I believe it did anyway. What scares me is that they pretty much know this but aren't telling people this was the case. They are trying to see why this happened so that it can be prevented. Sure, but people need to work together on a vaccine. Countries with better health care systems ought to be working with the United States. But no, we are drifting further into xenophobia because of the travel bans. And now there are threats of not bailing out the postal service, when in fact billionaires could step up and fund them with their money. Who is willing to step up and do this? Not everybody wants to do that. Keeping the postal service functional is necessary because shutting it down is unconstitutional and cannot be done. Some people, if they have gotten sick from the virus, can now see that our country is being led by someone-with ill-will towards the people. His supporters are dwindling in number. That is an outlandish, and crazy suggestion coming from someone who is going to eventually have a full-blown crying fit nervous breakdown. Of that, we could only hope, if he's the unstable hot mess that some have thought he is. His followers lack objectivity because they think he's fine. But have faith normal people, they are becoming less in number. Much good can come from this virus though, like a better, closer to free, health care system. There are still insurance plans available. The stimulus check is coming tomorrow, I suppose, and I'm pretty much okay now since I got sent some extra income, seeing as extended family doesn't send me money at all. How does the Chilean currency exchange these days anyway? For the good of the planet, we all need to work together. And also, how does the Euro exchange? I do not know this. But anyway, the stimulus check is something I can save money with. Having class online is not so bad, staying home isn't so bad either. Not going to the office is also not so bad. Keeping yourself at home isn't that bad either, because there is no grocery shortage. You can order delivery but I'm holding off until my birthday. Keeping myself well right now is a full-time job. I'm trying to avoid the virus, and despite having anti-vaxxer friends, I have to say that I'm getting the vaccine. On my Facebook page, there is a general rule of do not criticize my health care choices. That makes you the same category as my family. By working together on this planet, we could work to improve our global health care system, in which the virus has exposed many flaws. We need to help each other fix things, we cannot stay lone wolves with that fact. It is self-destructive as a species not to ask for help. Fixing our broken health care system should be our top priority if only because so many people rely on it. The fact is that healthcare on this planet sucks. It needs work, it needs to be put back together or built into something that can be managed better. Health is everybody's human right except in the United States. So let's make our priority to fix it.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez6 years ago in The Swamp
The Lesser Evil for the Greater Good
I live in California, blessed to be sheltering-in-place while my husband works from home. Sure, the past month I’ve been stripped of many of my basic rights. Hell, today the neighborhood forest trail where I walk several times a week to keep fit and sane has closed, even though I see more people in my neighborhood walking my dogs than I ever have walking that path. Regardless, it’s a state park and it’s now off limits.
By Nicole Anderson6 years ago in The Swamp
Stop with the comparisons
As you can see from this image, it is Donald J. Trump being depicted as the Joker, the clown prince of crime. However, the fact that both the Joker and Trump are both psychopaths that would have no qualms about killing and stealing is where the comparison ends.
By Johann Hollar6 years ago in The Swamp
American rights during Covid-19
It's no secret that the response of the United States to the Covid-19 pandemic was late. Even though information was readily available that pointed clearly to acting quickly in order to slow the spread of the virus, as well as the examples of other countries that had devastating results, our country's government chose to wait until the virus was already at an uncontrollable spread throughout the nation to take any serious measure. While it is sadly not surprising that these are the decisions President Donald Trump has made, what is surprising is some people's lack of humanity now. With all the information provided by scientists and doctors who are recommending we practice social distancing and only go out for necessary reasons, why is it that thousands of Americans are still not listening? Is it possible that the American mindset of holding onto our rights is actually preventing us from showing basic human kindness?
By Madeline Keys6 years ago in The Swamp
Reason Why Iran and Israel Are In Enimity With Each Other
Note: Before I begin, I would love to thank my teacher; Dr. James Ukeme, a lecturer of history and international studies, University of Nigeria Nsukka who helped me when I was making detailed research about the Conflict between Iran and Israel, I owe him a lot.
By Ivar'slovezone6 years ago in The Swamp
Globalization on Africa
Today I will be speaking on the topic of to what extent do the legacies of historical globalization affect the people of Africa. What does this mean? To what extent has the choices of Imperial powers and past African leaders affected the continent today. In many African countries, when imperial forces left, there was a massive power imbalance, poverty, and war. Before the scramble for Africa, people in Africa were doing fine. Were there still wars, yes, but it wouldn't be as gruesome as the ones we have today. When imperial powers conquered these countries, new technologies were introduced, groups would be granted special privileges due to their looks and their ideals. In my country, Sudan, before the imperial powers invaded, we saw a lot of Muslims due to the many Arab invasions, but when the British came, they tried to convert them to Christianity. That is a legacy by itself, and this is why we see such a mix of culture in Sudan and many other African countries. Languages were changed, perceptions were altered, government systems changed, and resources depleted. These are all consequences of historical globalization.
By Chris Adams6 years ago in The Swamp
Economic View
Kanes idea of an economy is more to the left as he wanted more government intervention while Hanyek wanted an economy where the economy would take care of it self. When globalization came about these two had began to advance their ideas and take it to a new level. How these new factors like travelling and new ways to trade. Hanyes thought that his new impact would damage their society as their society was fragile. WWII destroyed 20 mil lives, it laid a whole continent to waste. Hanyek was a participant in the first world war, he strived to make the world a better place, a capitalistic economy.In 1917, there was a russian revolution people were divided and people wanted to smash capitalism. Car; Marks idea was to make the working class rise up and this would make equalization which is the basic idea of communism. They tried to make Trade, commerce and private property criminal acts and they promised to end the economic exploitation of man. Kanes was the rival of Hanyek ideology wise. He spent the first world war advising the government. Kane thought that the money that the british were demanding from Germany was disgusting, so he resigned. The idea of socialism is the mixed between both governments. Fairness and equality in a society so that the poor don't have to stay poor and they can become rich. Libertarians believe in people's personal choice. They dont care its your choice, basically extreme freedom. In Moscow 1922, the state controlled the economy everyone was equal. Small business where allowed but anything big was controlled by the soviet government. In Vienna 1923, germany and austria were forced to pay more money for peace. This caused inflation. Hanyek even received 208 pay raises. Pay inflation would lead to people not having enough money and items would become a lot of money due to hyperinflation. Hitler later comes along and promises to make things better and hopefully put an end to Germany paying money. America cities would be spending a lot of money they would buy new cars and most importantly stocks. Stocks would bubble and later the bubble would burst and a lot of people would lose a lot of money and this would later hurt economies in a very big way. This would later lead to the great depression as prices would become a lot and people would become poor and a lot of people who were spending a lot of money would spiral downward. This along with banks and stores. People waiting to withdraw all of their money and this would hurt banks would later close down because of the mass disappearance of money. Pure ideologies would fail no matter what way they were taken. A government can’t be a pure capitalistic if so it would hurt the country and later fail. In washington 1933, Rosevelt would later help america get out of the great depression. It became a soliclism type of government because the government would intervene and help the people. New industries would be made and refined. Governments would help and intervene and make the aviation industry safer for people and would make it more stable. Kaynes made a book or a report on how to fix the great depression. He wanted governments to have a fund of money to prepare for the future. MORE GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION. In world war II, pearl harbor was bombed. The depression was finally gone as the people had to prepare for the war and make new items like uniforms and weapons. Hanyek thought that kanes was taking society in a big step backwards. He wrote the road to serfdom and how kanes economy can make people come back to old ages were people would be “enslaved” and the government would be the new “monarch” in that economy. In New Hampshire 1944, delegates come from all over the world to talk about post world events the later made the world bank and other Global institutions. The goal was to make the economy stable and prevent another depression and they did a great job as they are not as many depressions as there would be more if this didn’t happen. V-E Day in 1945, the war was finally over and the troops came back.
By Chris Adams6 years ago in The Swamp
Stupid Old Men With Conspiracy Theories
Stupid Old Men With Conspiracy Theories With this self-isolation we are all suffering, I am spending too much time on Facebook. I purposefully do not have the app on my phone, nor do I subscribe to getting notifications from the site when I am not directly accessing it. Up until a few weeks ago I accessed the site for only a couple of times each day, but recently I have found myself perusing the site more often and for longer. I have put this down to being locked up inside more than I used to be, but it is a trend I must try to diminish.
By Ian McKenzie6 years ago in The Swamp
To Belong or Not to Belong
A couple of weeks into this pandemic and I have found myself contemplating the conditions of temporary existence. Not because social distancing is giving me an existential crisis (which I might be), but because as a "stateless" young woman I know better than to assume everyone is safe. While refugees, worldwide, are already vulnerable individuals, what happens when the conditions of citizenship are put to the test? Generally, in a fight against an international pandemic, countries assume the motto every man for themselves (excuse the sexist phrase). This covers everyone under the security of citizenship or even a temporary status like a study via- not to say that they are fully secure either; but what happens to those stuck in between?
By Waad Hassan6 years ago in The Swamp
'Covid' Ops: Protest and the drive for 5G
Once again, until the earth stood still I had very little interest or knowledge about 5G, but with all the doomsday talk I thought it important to try to find out what all the fuss is about. So, here we go, 5G in a nutshell, according to how I see it.
By Steve Harrison6 years ago in The Swamp
You Are On Stolen Land
Something that gets missed a lot in the conversation about Indigenous peoples around the world and the land that was taken from them is that even the most well meaning people are still on stolen land. Australia, Canada, The USA, the Congo, even most of Mexico was all stolen. Now to a lot of people this doesn't matter, but to some people it does or at least it should.
By Jessica Riffle6 years ago in The Swamp
