Culture Watch

This Week: On Tuesday, the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion will hold a hearing, “Examining the Racial and Gender Wealth Gap in America;” On Wednesday a hearing, “Breaking the Silence: Addressing Military Sexual Trauma in the Military and Veteran Communities;” A bill to prohibit the approval of new abortion drugs, to prohibit investigational use exemptions for abortion drugs, and to impose additional regulatory requirements with respect to previously approved abortion drugs. more »

Financial Advisor Lex Zaharoff writes: "Given the reality that there will be a recession in our future, there is a natural tendency to want to adjust our investment strategy in advance of a market drop. Ideally we would like to sell stocks and buy longer maturity bonds of higher quality borrowers just before a recession starts. And before others recognize the recovery, we’d like to reverse those trades – buying back into stock markets and reducing our interest rate sensitivity in our bonds. Unfortunately, it is impossible to know the timing of market fluctuations with greater certainty than the rest of the market." more »

When travel plans go awry, airline passengers may take out their frustrations on customer service agents. We surveyed 104 customer service agents. About half said passengers had verbally threatened them and 10% said passengers had physically assaulted them in the past year. One prosecutor told GAO the transitory nature of airports makes it difficult to get witnesses to testify at trial; when prosecuted, passengers generally face misdemeanor charges. While stakeholders GAO interviewed generally did not identify gaps in resources, some said incidents could be further mitigated if, for example, airports made law enforcement’s presence more visible or airlines provided conflict de-escalation training to customer service agents. more »

A bill to improve obstetric care in rural areas; a bill to establish a National Commission on Fibrotic Diseases; A bill to ensure the safe use of cosmetics, and for other purposes; A bill to amend the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 relating to determinations with respect to efforts of foreign countries to reduce demand for commercial sex acts under the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; A bill to require federal law enforcement agencies to report on cases of missing or murdered Indians, and for other purposes; A resolution expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the relationships between firearm violence, misogyny, and violence against women and reaffirming the importance of preventing individuals with a history of violence against women from accessing a firearm. more »