Friday Information in Mid October 2017.

The ending of the ACA subsidies is very evil. Donald Trump is an evil person and a person who has called neo-Confederate deceivers "fine people." These subsidies help millions of poor Americans. The subsidies are worth $7 billion. They have saved lives. With the subsidies gone, many people will die. I want to emphasize that again. The policies of Trump will cause more uninsured in America and people will die. The policy of Trump will drive up the costs of premiums for many people. Like we have said for a long time, Trump is representative of the right wing counterrevolution. He is the biggest, domestic threat against America right now. He will also decertify the Iranian nuclear deal, which has worked. He will then allow Congress to approve it or not. Trump is a person without compassion. He also wants to do this on purpose before the enrollment period and he wants to shorten the enrollment period too. He is trying to target low income people, because he doesn't care about the poor. Trump is notorious for being a liar and being a coward by not speaking the truth or endorsing justice. Anyone that supports Trump (no matter their race or background) endorses white supremacy, sexism, racism, and far right wing extremism. Trump supporters should be ashamed of themselves. The truth is that social justice is what we will continue to endorse forever.



It is important to understand about South Africa too. For decades, it has suffered under apartheid. For centuries, it experienced imperialism and colonialism. Many grassroots people (including the heroes that we know like Nelson Mandela, Chris Hani, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Steve Biko, etc.) fought so vigorously to end apartheid once and for all. This movement of social change caused South Africa to democratically elect its first black President in 1994. His name was Nelson Mandela. This came after the end of the Cold War. Western powers like the IMF has implemented neoliberal policies after 1994 too (from austerity to payments to the IMF and World Bank). Today, South Africa legitimately has social changes that ended apartheid. Many people still suffer economic inequality, lack of infrastructure, xenophobia, and anti-black racism. That is why new activists in South Africa are rising up to demand justice. People desire land, wealth redistribution, electricity, healthcare, education, and all other human rights that they are entitled to. Mthetho Xali, Alex Hotz, and others are in our generation who are opposing economic injustice and the agenda of Trump in South Africa. We want South Africa to experience its highest potential.




The Anabaptists evolved from the Protestant views. The difference was that the Anabaptists went further in their reform than even what the Protestants had enacted. While many Anapatists baptized people who believed in adult age, Protestants back then readily baptized babies. While many Protestants had a union of church and state, Anabaptists believed in the separation of church and state. Anabaptists wanted people old enough to decide for his or herself before getting baptized. Anabaptist came from a Greek word meaning "baptize again." The Anabaptists also believed in not fighting in any wars, because of the words in the New Testament about not being involved of the things of the world (and our kingdom is not of this world). They shared possessions too. Both Protestants and Catholics persecuted Anabaptists viciously. Anabaptists evolved into the Mennonites and the Amish today. Also, the Quakers and the Baptists (who came out of the Anglican Church by the early 17th century) would be influenced greatly by Anabaptist teachings. During the early years of the Reformation, women had a prominent role. One example is how the sister of King Francis I (she is Marguertie of Navarre) protected John Calvin from in executed because of religious beliefs in France. Many noblewomen protected reformers. Katherina on Bora played a behind the scenes role as Luther's wife. Women fought for equality during the Reformation including Luther's wife. Unfortunately, it would take long years and centuries for women to get leadership roles in clergy on a higher level.



Sister Maya Wiley in our generation has been a life long social justice advocate. It is important to acknowledge our modern heroes. She has promoted not only democratic rights, but she has been on the front lines to defend our voting rights and to fight against police brutality. We honor her contributions and we praise her strength.  Also, it is important to not let today's events eliminate our hope and faith. Nothing in this Universe will cause me to lose my faith. Humanity experienced World War 2, and other events and we survived. Many of our ancestors defeated Nazism, defeated legalized slavery in America, and defeated Jim Crow. Therefore, we have the power to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The Golden Rule is a universal principle that is not only morally right. It has worked. It has worked to advance the labor rights movement. It has worked greatly to get policies changed in our civil rights movement. It will work in order to strengthen the cause to defeat the bad policies from the Trump regime. The Golden Rule is not about compromising, condoning evil, or going along to get along. It is about fair treatment, a demanding of real social change, and human activism to positively and constructively achieve human justice.

One of the most important subjects in the world is mathematics. It deals with how we count a vast number of things, how we engineer buildings, and how we evaluate nature. Mathematics is beautiful, because it is definite in its composition. It is not ambiguous. It deals with precise calculations (from basic factorization to concepts dealing with infinity) and it's fun. Mathematics can be basic from learning about prime and composite numbers (prime numbers have only 2 factors and composite numbers have 3 or more factors. Divisibility rules involve various numbers too) to complex calculus (which is about the evaluation of how functions and derivatives operate. To learn calculus is to learn about slopes, functions, and line curves in an advanced level involving a graph). In our generation, many kids struggle with math and more people are doing their part to help children understand the purpose of mathematics as well. Math is a life learning process too. People of any age can learn and there is no shame of anyone of any age receiving guidance to improve his or her math skills. We are all here for the purpose of helping others and reaching our own goals as human beings.



By Timothy