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Skimm'd while stuck on a train
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 QUOTE OF THE DAY  |
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"Oh my gosh, we're married" – Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder think they accidentally got hitched for real while filming a movie in the '90s. So...where do we send the wedding gift?
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The Story
People in Venezuela are freaking out over the prez's plan to fix the country's money problems.
Walk me through it.
The socialist, oil-rich country used to be rolling in the dough. But for the past few years it's been in crisis mode, thanks to years of economic mismanagement, corruption, and a global drop in oil prices. Inflation could hit 1,000,000% (yes, one million) this year. More than two million Venezuelans are estimated to have left the country in recent years. Late last week, President Maduro said 'I have an idea.'
Go on…
He said he's raising gas prices and taxes. He's also throwing a new currency into the mix. And he wants to raise the minimum wage by more than 3,000%…which would guarantee workers the equivalent of about $30 a month.
What are economists saying?
This is not a good idea.
What's Maduro saying?
This is the key to getting our country on the right track.
What are Venezuelans saying?
This is chaos. Many biz owners closed shop on Saturday to figure out if they'll be able to pay their workers the new wage. Banks are closed today to get ready for the new currency. And the opposition is calling for a nationwide strike and protests tomorrow.
theSkimm
Venezuela's tanking economy has made it so people can barely afford basics like food. No one knows what to expect with these new changes, but they're counting on it making a bad situation worse.
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What people are watching…
Kerala. The southern Indian state is experiencing its worst flooding in a century. More than 350 people have been killed since the monsoon season began in May – many of those in the past two weeks. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced. Heavy rains started more than a week ago, which have triggered floods and landslides. Rescuers are trying to help the thousands of people still stranded.
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Seems on trend. The Trump admin's getting ready to roll back guidelines on burning coal. Back in 2015, the Obama admin created the country's first plan to curb carbon pollution. Because, climate change. President Trump campaigned on giving the coal industry a boost. Now, he's expected to make things official this week. Rolling back these rules would give more power to the states to decide if or how much they'll curb carbon emissions. Also on the Trump admin's mind: special counsel Robert Mueller. A new report says Don McGahn (a White House lawyer) is very much cooperating with Mueller's Russia investigation. Trump apparently gave McGahn his blessing to do so. But some think he might not have realized how much McGahn would open up. Speaking of Trump's lawyers, Rudy Giuliani is still saying words on TV. When trying to explain why Trump shouldn't testify for Mueller, he said it's because "truth isn't truth." Got it?
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Who people are remembering…
Kofi Annan. Over the weekend, the former UN secretary-general from Ghana died at age 80. Before becoming the first black African secretary-general, he led UN peacekeeping operations in the '90s. During that time, he was criticized for how he handled the genocide in Rwanda as well as the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia. But he went on to lead the UN for 10 years, including post-9/11 – when the world was shifting its focus from the Cold War to terrorism around the world. He won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2001 (along with the UN) for their work towards "a better organized and more peaceful world." The UN's current Secretary-General António Guterres called him "a guiding force for good."
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What to say when you find a bug in your hotel bed…
Reporting this. Last week, the Dept of Housing and Urban Development (aka HUD) filed a complaint against Facebook, saying it let landlords and homeowners block ads to people who were interested in things like "mobility scooter" or "deaf culture." Which it says goes against the Fair Housing Act. On top of that, the Justice Dept threw its support behind fair housing advocates who are suing the co for similar issues. Facebook has said "there is no place for discrimination" on its platform. Status update, please.
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Who people are talking about...
Asia Argento. A new report says the Italian actress paid off an actor/musician who accused her of sexually assaulting him. Argento was one of the first women to speak up about Harvey Weinstein. And became a leading activist for the #MeToo movement. After she came out with her story, she reportedly paid almost $400k to a man who says she sexually assaulted him in a California hotel room in 2013 when he was 17. The age of consent there is 18. No word yet from Argento on all this.
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theSkimm50 West 23rd Street, Suite 5B; New York, NY, 10010, United States Update Profile
