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It's not just Meals on Wheels. These 15 other programs get the ax under Trump's budget.

The problems with President Trump's much-derided 2018 budget don't end with funding cuts for Meals on Wheels and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Photo by Olivier Douliery/Getty Images.

While cuts to programs that ensure homebound seniors can have human contact and a hot meal and poor kids can watch Big Bird immediately struck much of America as misguided — even cruel — the cuts to those programs are just the tip of the iceberg. According to a report in The Atlantic, the proposed budget looks to defund more than a dozen federal agencies entirely — many of which administer programs families across the country don't even realize they depend on.


Here are 15 ways Trump's budget cuts could negatively affect the lives of Americans and people around the world.

They're not as flashy, but just as concerning.

1. Deadly chemical accidents could become more common.

Photo by Tom Hindman/Getty Images.

The Chemical Safety Board, which has its funding zeroed out by Trump's budget, is tasked with investigating the causes of hazardous material spills and disasters and making recommendations to prevent them from reoccurring.

Eliminating the agency would be "standing up for death and destruction," according to chemical safety consultant Paul Orum in an interview with the Houston Chronicle.

2. If you live in parts of these eight states, finding a doctor could become much harder.

Photo by Robyn Beck/Getty Images.

Delta Doctors, a program that brings foreign-born doctors trained in the United States to underserved areas of Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, and Mississippi is run by the Delta Regional Authority, an agency whose funding is eliminated by the budget.

People who are poor or elderly are further out of luck. As part of their visa requirements, the Delta Doctors "must provide care to the indigent, Medicaid recipients, and Medicare recipients."

3. Homeless veterans could have an even rougher go of it.

Photo by Frederic J. Brown/Getty Images.

Trump's budget eliminates the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, which helps communities across America provide for their most vulnerable populations, including developing special strategies to aid those who served in the military.

4. More Alaskan towns could wind up underwater.

A home near Anchorage tips on its due to beach erosion. Photo by Gabriel Bouys/Getty Images.

Since 2015, the tiny Denali Commission has been working on protecting, repairing, and relocating Alaskan villages that have been damaged, threatened, and uprooted by climate change. Under Trump's proposed budget, that would go away.

5. American companies looking to sell stuff in countries that are just starting to build up their infrastructure would lose out.

Photo by Wang Zhao/Getty Images.

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency sounds sort of boring, but it helps U.S. companies get a leg up on selling their wares to other countries that are building roads, bridges, hospitals, airports, and mobile networks, helping solidify U.S. ties to those countries and create jobs back home.

The agency has enlisted American firms to help build a gigantic solar farm in Jordan, to work on Istanbul's IT systems, and to collaborate with China on aviation. These opportunities would go away under the Trump budget.

6. Coal mining communities in Appalachia could see more potholes and worse medical care.

A coal miner at work in Portage, Pennsylvania. Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images.

Trump's budget axes the Appalachian Regional Commission, which invests in boosting health services, improving physical infrastructure, and developing the economy in coal country.

7. Young people who want to make the world a better place through AmeriCorps would lose one of their best opportunities to do so.

An AmeriCorps volunteer works in Missouri. Photo by Julie Denesha/Getty Images.

Started by President Clinton in 1993, AmeriCorps sends thousands of Americans on volunteer service trips around the country and world, helping struggling communities rebuild, providing job training, and improving America's image globally.

AmeriCorps is run by the Corporation for National and Community Service, which, under Trump's budget, loses all its funding.

8. Struggling communities in rural New England could also see less help for their economic development.

Photo by Sarah Rice/Getty Images.

The budget eliminates the Northern Border Regional Commission, which recently helped a college in Maine build a new manufacturing lab, an airport in New Hampshire build a new hanger, and made dozens of other investments in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, and upstate New York.

9. We'd also know less about how to prevent war from breaking out around the world...

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

The U.S. Institute of Peace, which Trump's budget defunds, brings analysts, experts, and conflict survivors from around the world together to discuss and innovate strategies for avoiding violent conflict.

10. ...and less about issues of global concern in general, like how to train more women leaders.

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images.

The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, which studies many areas of international public policy, would also be gutted.

The Center runs The Women in Public Service Project, which sponsors training sessions around the world to cultivate the next generation of female politicians, CEOs, and heads of state.

11. Rural communities across the country could lose one of their best sources of free high-speed internet access.

The proposed budget cuts funding to the Institute of Museum and Library services, which, in recent years, has invested millions of dollars bringing broadband Wi-Fi to libraries in small towns across America, according to an agency statement.

Internet access and online freedom, by the way, were declared a human right by the U.N. in July 2016.

12. Our relations with our neighbors to the south could get even worse...

The destruction of Hurricane Matthew in Haiti. Photo by Nicolas Garcia/Getty Images.

The Inter-American Foundation, which invests in local grassroots development and humanitarian relief projects in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America is also slated to have its budget cut to zero.

13. ...and our relations with countries on distant continents could deteriorate too.

A solar farm in Morocco. Photo by Fadel Senna/Getty Images.

If the U.S. African Development Foundation goes away, similar grassroots and humanitarian projects in Africa would also be on the chopping block.

14. Hundreds of Americans in danger of losing their homes could have a harder time staying put.

Photo by John Moore/Getty Images.

Trump's budget eliminates funding for NeighborWorks America, officially known as Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, which recently invested $40 million in helping American families avoid foreclosure, according to a HousingWire report.

15. Domestic violence victims looking for protection who can't afford lawyers could find themselves out of luck.

Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images.

The Legal Services Corporation, which helps underprivileged Americans — including victims of abuse, shady creditors, and housing malfeasance — get their day in court by providing them with legal aid, is also slated to go under the 2018 budget proposal.

The good news? This budget is just a proposal ... for now.

Trump's plan would mean a lot of pain for a lot of people, but for the moment, a plan is all it is. In order for the budget to take effect, it still has to make it through the House and Senate.

If less war, more art, and fewer chemical burns seem like your jam, call your member of Congress and tell them to oppose it!

Pop Culture

Here’s a paycheck for a McDonald’s worker. And here's my jaw dropping to the floor.

So we've all heard the numbers, but what does that mean in reality? Here's one year's wages — yes, *full-time* wages. Woo.

Making a little over 10,000 for a yearly salary.


I've written tons of things about minimum wage, backed up by fact-checkers and economists and scholarly studies. All of them point to raising the minimum wage as a solution to lifting people out of poverty and getting folks off of public assistance. It's slowly happening, and there's much more to be done.

But when it comes right down to it, where the rubber meets the road is what it means for everyday workers who have to live with those wages. I honestly don't know how they do it.

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5-star Scottish resort offers whimsical afternoon tea experience with 'naughty sheep'

Cameron House's Woolly Wellness retreat includes tea in the garden with adorably rude guests.

Cameron House/Naughty Sheep

Cameron House's Woolly Wellness retreat includes a unique sheep encounter.

Remember when "goat yoga" was all the rage? And then "cow cuddling" and "turkey cuddling" made everyone's bucket lists?

Now we can add "nuzzling with naughty sheep" to the mix, but with a fancy Scottish twist.

Less than an hour from Glasgow, Scotland, the Cameron House resort sits on the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond, looking as if it were plucked straight out of a fairy tale. Sprawling green grounds, gorgeous lake views and a four-story castled mansion greet guests as their "home away from home" (only better), and a perusal of the reviews show guests raving about the 5-star resort's elegance, beauty and exceptional service.

I mean, just look at this place:

drone view of cameron house grounds and lakeCameron House sit on Lake Lochmond in Scotland.Cameron House


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A pitbull stares at the window, looking for the mailman.


Dogs are naturally driven by a sense of purpose and a need for belonging, which are all part of their instinctual pack behavior. When a dog has a job to do, it taps into its needs for structure, purpose, and the feeling of contributing to its pack, which in a domestic setting translates to its human family.

But let’s be honest: In a traditional domestic setting, dogs have fewer chores they can do as they would on a farm or as part of a rescue unit. A doggy mom in Vancouver Island, Canada had fun with her dog’s purposeful uselessness by sharing the 5 “chores” her pitbull-Lab mix does around the house.

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Wait, so 90's fashion is in, but 90's hair is out?

Every era has its own version of what’s attractive. And very rarely does that aesthetic hold power with the following generation. In fact, it often becomes the opposite of cool.

Just think of Elvis. He might have been a universal sex symbol for a time, but it also wasn’t long before his pompadour became passé. Same goes for Paul Newman’s rugged manliness, David Cassidy’s babyface, Tom Selleck’s mustache. Indeed, for everything a season.

Which brings us to the 90s. The age of beach blonde surfer boys (real surfing skills not required, but a plus). Of flannel, lots of flannel, and super chiseled bodies. Let’s not forget this was the dawning of the term “metrosexual,” and also the time period that brought us that Calvin Klein ad with Mark Wahlburg.

How exactly would these guys measure up with the Gen Z kids today?

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A wild Eurasian crow befriended a toddler and won't leave his side

Crows are so much smarter than we think.

A Eurasian crow.

A family from Denmark has created a touching video montage documenting their unique friendship with a wild Eurasian crow. This crow, affectionately named Russell, has become an honorary member of their household, forming special bonds with each family member, including the pets.

However, the crow's relationship with their son, 2-year-old Otto, is truly extraordinary. “They could spend hours just playing,” Otto’s mother, Laerke Luna, says in a video shared by The Dodo. "When Otto is outside, he will never leave Otto’s side.”

Russell, the free-spirited crow, ventures away from the family's home from time to time, but never for too long. He always comes back and announces his return by tapping on the door, swooping in to lounge on the sofa, or awaiting Otto's return from school atop their roof.

“When we are inside, he will sit inside the window because he wants Otto to go outside with him,” Laerke said.

The family’s relationship with Russell didn’t come out of nowhere. When Russell was a young bird, he had health problems so the family took him and nursed the bird back to health. Eventually, they witnessed his first attempts to fly.

Recently, Russell became friends with another family member, their second child, Hedwig. Although he does get a little annoyed with the bird’s frequent attempts to nab his pacifier.

Even though it’s rare for humans to strike up such a close bond with a crow, according to research, it’s not that surprising. Audubon says that crows are “some of the smartest animals in the world” with an intelligence “on par with chimpanzees.” They are also very social and family-oriented, so no wonder Russell loves Otto and his family.

Crow Named Russell Waits For His Favorite Kid To Get Home From School | The Dodo


Learning

Why you shouldn't throw your dishwasher pod into the bottom of your dishwasher

Dishwashers actually use the dirty water to know how to wash your dishes.

Photos by cottonbro studio and PhotoMIX Ltd. via Canva

Why your detergent shouldn't go in the bottom of the dishwasher

There always seem to be something going on with the pods and powders you're supposed to use in the dishwasher to clean your dishes. Either the pods don't dissolve completely or the powder gets all goopy and hard, never really fully dispensing into the dishwasher.

The inconsistency in product dispensing can leave you wondering if the dishes are even getting cleaned, causing some to toss the detergent pod into the bottom of the dishwasher. It would seem that placing the detergent at the bottom would allow for it to actually reach your dirty dishes. But Melissa Pateras, a domestic expert, explains that doing it that way isn't doing what you think it's doing.

Pateras actually breaks down exactly how dishwashers work to clean your dishes while explaining why putting the detergent on the bottom is ineffective.

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