2017
June
29
Thursday

Monitor Daily Podcast

June 29, 2017
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Yvonne Zipp
Features Editor

What are a country’s obligations to those willing to serve it?

It’s a question being asked today by lawmakers in the wake of news that the Pentagon is considering canceling the enlistment contracts for 1,000 foreign-born military recruits. This would expose the recruits, who do not have legal immigration status, to deportation – an action Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Army veteran who was wounded in combat, called “a breach of contract.”

Since 2009, according to The Washington Post, 10,400 troops have served in positions the Pentagon identified as vital but hard to fill, including language specialties such as Russian and Pashto. Rep. Betty McCollum (D) of Minnesota was set to propose an amendment today that would keep the Pentagon from canceling the contracts.

It’s a question that was asked last month, when as part of its budget, the White House proposed ending a Bush-era program that forgave college loans in exchange for 10 years of public service. In that case, though, the proposal would affect only those who took out loans on or after July 1, 2018 – fulfilling the government’s commitment to those who worked for years in low-paying but vital jobs in tough-to-fill locations.

And it's a question in need of urgent answers when it comes to health care and other assistance for veterans.

In a nation where service to country has become voluntary, the question of how to repay those willing to step in and fill society’s needs, both on the homefront and overseas, is worthy of perennial consideration.


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Andrew Harnik/AP
South Korean President Moon Jae-in (second from r.) attended a meeting today with House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin on Capitol Hill in Washington. This week, with visits to the White House by two key Asian leaders – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also there Monday – the question arises: What comes after President Barack Obama’s Asia pivot?

Pulling out of a trade agreement – the Trans-Pacific Partnership – is one thing. But countries in Asia are also looking for broader American leadership – and without that, US friends may turn their eyes in new directions.

What a hot June might tell us about climate change

Heat waves at this time of year aren't unseasonal – but scientists say this summer's patterns could hold some clues about the planet.

SOURCE:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

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Jacob Turcotte/Staff
Stefan Wermuth/Reuters
A Muslim woman took part in a peace rally near the scene of the June 6 attack at London Bridge and Borough Market in central London earlier this month. 'We need a sea change in attitudes,' says the founder of an anti-extremism organization in Britain. 'We need to be upfront and honest in the Muslim community about violent and nonviolent extremists.'

How do members of a community help eradicate a serious social evil, like terrorism, without taking on undue blame for a stranger's actions? That's a question Europe's Muslims are wrestling with in a new way.

As with Aesop’s fable about “The Bundle of Sticks,” these women are stronger facing down an adversary – drought – together rather than trying to go it alone. Just substitute shovels for the sticks.

Need a break from the never-ending barrage of politics? Here are 10 good ways to spend a holiday weekend – including Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy’s first novel in 20 years, and "The Essex Serpent," one of the most charming historical novels I've read all year.


The Monitor's View

Reuters
Couples take part in a competition during a mass wedding of 64 doctoral student couples at Harbin Institute of Technology, in China June 4.

Good news: If young Americans follow a simple three-step formula they can greatly increase their chances of living the American dream as adults.

Bad news: It isn’t entirely clear whether the formula causes the good results or only reflects other causes. And promoting it won’t be a comfortable task for government when such personal life decisions are involved.

The “success sequence” argues that if youths do three things – graduate from high school, get a job, and wait until after marriage to have children – their chances of financial success will grow by leaps and bounds.

The concept received a boost from a recent study by the conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for Family Studies, which concentrated on Step 3 of the formula: a marriage before a baby carriage.

It found that 95 percent of Americans 28 to 34 years old who married before having children were not poor compared with 72 percent who had children before marriage.

The study also found that the better results from the “success sequence” were seen across income and racial lines, though white youths and youths from higher-income households saw the best results. In low-income families, for example, 71 percent who married before having children reached at least the middle class by ages 28 to 34, compared with only 41 percent who had children first.

Among blacks, 76 percent who married before having children avoided poverty, while only 39 percent of those who had children first did so. The statistics for Hispanics showed a similar margin (81 percent if married first, 54 percent if had children born before marriage).

But is the “success sequence” a cause or an effect? For example, many of those who chose to marry first, before having children, may have strong religious beliefs that contribute to their success throughout their lives in a variety of ways.

Waiting to have children until after marriage may suggest a mature and practical approach to life. But where do youths acquire these skills? At home? In school? Through religious affiliations? What appropriate role might government play in promoting them?

The study also found that a majority (55 percent) of those ages 28 to 34 are having children before marriage – and thus losing out on the benefits of the “success sequence.”

The issues of human relationships – love, marriage, and child-bearing – are complex and intensely personal. It would be dangerous to oversimplify by concluding that the “success sequence” alone guarantees financial stability.

And it would be wrong as well to conclude that single or unwed parents aren’t deserving of support or that they are incapable of being wonderful parents.

Low-income and minority youths face higher hurdles than white and affluent youths in achieving the first two steps in the “success sequence” – completing high school and finding jobs. If the “success sequence” is going to work for all youths these problems must be addressed as well.

Yet youths should be made aware of the greater likelihood of success if they follow the "sequence." The old playground rhyme "first comes love / then comes marriage / then comes the baby in the baby carriage"  suggests that the "success sequence" actually has a long history in American life – and contains valuable advice.


A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

Clean, accessible water for all. Is it really possible? With water scarcity and drought in many parts of the world, this may seem an impossible goal. According to United Nations reports, there is enough fresh water on our planet. But poor infrastructure and bad economic policies contribute to inadequate water supplies. The need is urgent in many parts of the world. So, as individuals, what can you and I do? I find prayer is a great starting point, even when problems seem overwhelming. Not prayer to a God who is unable or perhaps unwilling to respond to His creation’s needs. But prayer that acknowledges God as a benevolent Parent, lovingly and impartially caring for all of us, God’s spiritual creation – an all-wise divine Mind that is an infinite resource of intelligent ideas. This kind of prayer brings a change in mindset, a willingness to think less about ourselves and more about the greater good. Such change can ripple out from individuals to communities and nations in the form of immediate, practical solutions in support of efforts to make wiser economic decisions and build better infrastructure. Then, as the Bible says, we can all drink of the “fountain of the water of life freely” (Revelation 21:6). We begin to see how God’s intelligence and love are here to guide us all.


A message of love

Mary Altaffer/AP
Two of the newest members of the New York City Police Department embraced after their graduation ceremony today in New York. More than 400 men and women took the officers’ oath, pledging to protect and serve the people of the city in a ceremony held in The Theater at Madison Square Garden.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte. )

A look ahead

Thanks so much for joining us. Come back tomorrow, when the Monitor’s Whitney Eulich will examine the question of why Mexico is so interested in Venezuela's crises, when it stands to lose less than other Latin American countries.

More issues

2017
June
29
Thursday
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