Displaying items by tag: USA

All across the Midwest, preparations have been under way for a bone-deep, relentless chill called a polar vortex. Extreme cold, which is expected to break all records, has already been blamed for one death in Minnesota. Officer Kraig Kalka is spending his time driving between homeless shelters, arranging transportation for those stuck on the streets, and collecting blankets and hand warmers to dole out downtown for some of Madison's most vulnerable residents. ‘What we're going to see, I don't remember ever seeing something like that before.’ The cold has caused statewide declarations of emergency, school closures, postal service interruptions, and 1,000 airline flight cancellations. Diesel fuel can turn to gel, clogging vehicles' fuel filters and leading to breakdowns. If a bus falters on a rural route, the wait for help can be lengthy.

The partial federal government shutdown is in its fourth week. When a Baptist pastor in Memphis, Donald Johnson, realised that people in his congregation would be affected by what the president was doing, he stepped in to help them weather an uncertain period of missed paychecks. Having found eight people on the church's database who were federal workers, he collected an offering and had the church's financial board match what was collected. He was able to raise $8,000, enough for $1,000 each.

President Erdogan has snubbed US national security advisor John Bolton, who was visiting the region to discuss the withdrawal of US troops from Syria and future US involvement there. Bolton asked for assurances that Turkey would not harm Kurdish fighters in Syria in future. He held discussions with Turkish officials, but President Erdogan refused to meet him and described his comments as ‘a serious mistake’, adding: ‘We cannot make any concessions. Those involved in a Syrian terror corridor will receive the necessary punishment.’ A commentator said, ‘Everyone is jockeying for position in Syria because the war is winding down. There is concern over the US leaving Turkey in charge.’

Since Donald Trump became  president, people are talking of renewed Christian political advocacy. With Democrats retaking Congress, and headline-grabbing activism around the migrant ‘caravans’ on the Mexican border, religious liberals could sway policy debates in 2019. Meanwhile the United Methodist Church’s bishops will hold a special conference in February to resolve a year-long debate about its current stance on homosexuality. It currently bans ordaining non-celibate homosexuals or blessing same-sex marriages. Many within and outside the denomination expect the conference to lead to a schism. A 1,300-page report has detailed how 301 Catholic priests abused 1,000+ children over several decades while the hierarchy shielded perpetrators from accountability. On 2 January, bishops began a prayer retreat over this problem, with a summit of Catholic leaders scheduled for February.

Donald Trump is prepared to prolong the current government shutdown because the ‘humanitarian and national security crisis on the southern border’ necessitates funding a wall. This plan is popular with his fanbase, but most Americans oppose it by a 10-to-20 point margin. Trump has Republican support, but Democrats feel they have public support; so the standoff about the shutdown continues. Also, before signing an anti-human trafficking measure on 9 January, Trump said, ‘Israel put up a wall to protect them, and they don’t have a problem any more’. He seems to equate Hezbollah terrorists, Hamas, IS, and the Palestinian ‘second intifada’ attacks with a few thousand migrant families at the Mexican border. See

In a New Year speech, Kim Jong Un has said that he is prepared to meet Donald Trump at any time, while warning he would pursue an alternative course if Washington kept up sanctions on Pyongyang. He wanted an outcome that would be ‘welcomed by the international community’, but warned the US not to ‘misjudge our patience by unilaterally demanding certain things and pushing ahead with sanctions and pressure’. Kim also said the US should continue its halt to joint military exercises with South Korea and not deploy strategic military assets there. He also called for stronger inter-Korean cooperation, stating that he is ready to resume operations at a jointly-run factory park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong and to restart South Korean tours to the North's Diamond Mountain resort. Neither is possible unless sanctions are removed.

On 19 December, a week after his special coalition envoy to defeat IS said that US troops would be in Syria for the foreseeable future, Donald Trump has ordered a complete, rapid withdrawal of 2,000 military personnel. He tweeted, ‘We have defeated IS in Syria, my only reason for being there.’ Earlier this year he said, ‘I want to get out. I want to bring our troops home and start rebuilding our nation’. He has always said the money spent on the struggle would be better spent at home. Britain has distanced itself from Trump’s perception of the situation, which has also led to the resignation of his defence secretary James Mattis (see). US allies and Kurdish militias feel abandoned, as this decision hands Iran and Russia more leverage across the country. A group of Kurdish and Arab units raised by Washington specifically to fight IS said that the move would have ‘dangerous implications for international stability’. See

US artist Chance the Rapper has revealed he is taking a ‘sabbatical’ to ‘learn the word of God’. He said he made the decision in order to set a good example to his newborn nephew. In an Instagram post liked by over 1.3 million people, the I'm the One hit maker said, ‘I'm on a plane headed out of the country on my first sabbatical. I'm going away to learn the Word of God, which I am admittedly very unfamiliar with. I've been brought up by my family to know Christ, but I haven't taken it upon myself to really just take a couple of days and read my Bible. We all quote scripture and tell each other what God likes and doesn't like, but how much time do we spend as followers of Jesus to really just read and KNOW his Word?’ Earlier this year he won three Grammy awards, and when accepting one of them he said, ‘Glory be to God. I claim this victory in the name of the Lord.’

Although Donald Trump and President Xi recently announced a trade agreement between the US and China, some believe 5G mobile networks might yet spark a further ‘trade war’. These mobile data networks will be rolled out commercially over the next decade, preparing the way for driverless cars and smart cities. Some say 5G technology, 100 times faster than today’s connections, could be a bigger leap forward than the original internet, and countries using it successfully will dominate 21st-century trade and commerce. Whoever builds and controls the new networks will take on huge political and economic importance. The US now wants to stop Chinese technology companies from taking a lead in this field. China is racing to gain a head start in these new technologies, and views 5G as potentially the key to 21st-century superpower status. See also UK article 3.

On 10 December over two hundred faith leaders from different traditions will converge on the US-Mexico border in support of the migrant caravans and all those who seek refuge in the US. The event, organised by a Quaker organisation which has worked with migrants and refugees for over a hundred years, will begin a nation-wide week of mass action called Love Knows No Borders, between Human Rights Day (10 December) and International Migrants’ Day (18 December). Participants are calling on the US government to end the detention and deportation of immigrants, respect the human right to migrate, and end the militarisation of border communities. A volunteer helping the migrants said, ‘I met a Mexican family so scared for their lives that they took the next bus out of town, leaving everything else behind.’ The majority of people were fleeing violence or wanting to earn enough to care for their children. See