Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. We have made it through our first week of the new year, and I hope you’ve had a restful January thus far. I, for one, spent most of this past weekend sifting through bins of old jeans and used army jackets at several flea markets, can honestly say that I don’t smell incredible presently, but that’s beside the point. I assume each and every one of you has enjoyed the first six, or so, days of the new year and will take advantage of every moment presented to you. Nevertheless, we must not forget that if we ever had one shot, one opportunity to seize everything we ever wanted in one moment, the only way we could capture this, and not let it slip through our fingers, is by learning what happened the day prior, so without further adieu, here’s what you missed in the news this past weekend.
Please Wait, Your Government Is Rebooting
As many of you know, President Trump has been frustrated that no one will lend him $5 billion for milk money/a large wall along the US-Mexico border, prompting a partial shutdown of the federal government for several weeks now. According to recent reports, it seems as if we may never see a scenario in which the Democratic leadership and the President come to an agreement and see to it that the government shutdown is ended. Over the weekend, Russell T. Vought, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, sent a letter to congressional leaders demanding President Trump’s funding request, with a smidgeon of progress where the letter suggested that “an additional $800 million would be allocated to address urgent humanitarian needs” if Democrats agree to give Trump his money.
On a less positive note, in light of the shutdown, the National Park Service has been forced to shut down several of its own parks after park visitors left human excrement on service roads, and several hikers died because no park rangers were present.
“As the lapse in appropriation continues, it has become clear that highly visited parks with limited staff have urgent needs that cannot be addressed solely through the generosity of our partners. We are taking this extraordinary step to ensure that parks are protected and that visitors can continue to access parks with limited basic services.”
–P. Daniel Smith, National Park Service Deputy Director
Superman That Mudslide
The West Coast has been receiving quite a bit of nasty weather due to the recent winter storm that has been taking place. After much of Southern California’s coast was devastated by wildfires, recent rain has triggered mudslides, causing drivers to be trapped and several roads closed on main highways, according to USA Today.
“Some drivers actually stopped by our fire station and ran our doorbell to tell us there was flooding and people were trapped. These folks just happened to be in the worst part of it, and they just got stuck.”
-Dennis O’Shea, Ventura Country Fire Captain
In slightly more humorous news, one of the many people burdened by the recent mudslides over the weekend hip-hop artist Soulja Boy, who told reporters that his car got stuck and almost went into the ocean. Soulja Boy, tell em’!
