Thanksgiving is one of the most wonderful times of the year, filled with family, friends, delicious food — and, inevitably, political debates around the dinner table.
So what happens when this year’s biggest news stories come up at your Thanksgiving celebration? We’ve got you covered! MSNBC has put together a guide detailing what you need to know about some of the biggest news stories this year. So when Uncle Joe wants to talk about Syrian refugees, you’ll have all the facts at your fingertips.
When your dad wonders what’s going on with Syrian refugees trying to come to the US …
When grandpa wonders what can be done about the recent spate of mass shootings and gun violence …
- As of October, there have already been 294 mass shootings in the U.S. this year alone.
- While we can’t stop all violence, the government can make it much more difficult for people to obtain weapons and it can restrict certain types of weapons. The federal government passed a Federal Assault Weapons Ban in 1994, but it expired in 2004 and was not renewed by Congress. In the years since, the Senate has attempted to revive an assault weapons ban, but it has not yet been successful.
RELATED: Witnesses describe chaos as Paris attacks unfolded
In Australia, the nation passed extremely strict gun control after a gunman killed 35 in 1996. After that tragedy, the country announced bi-partisan legislation that bought back more than 600,000 semi-automatic guns and rifles, prohibited private sales and required gun buyers to present a legitimate reason for why they needed a weapon. Since those restrictions were put in place, there hasn’t been a single mass shooting in Australia. When your mom wants to know what’s going on with Caitlyn Jenner … When your uncle wants to discuss the Black Lives Matter movement and whether it should be “all lives matter” … When your cousin wants to talk about Charlie Sheen’s revelation that he has HIV, here’s what you need to know about the disease … It is very difficult for HIV to be transmitted by someone who is HIV-positive and who is consistently taking their medications and has an undetectable viral load like Charlie Sheen. While final results won’t be released until 2017, no one with an undetectable viral load transmitted HIV to their partner within the first two years of the current and comprehensive PARTNER study. The study has so far found that, if someone has a suppressed viral load, the chance they will transmit the virus is at most 4% for anal sex (which carries the highest risk for HIV transmission). While in countries like the U.S. and Europe, the majority of HIV cases are among men who have sex with men, for the majority of the world, HIV is a virus that disproportionately affects women, the majority of whom contract HIV through heterosexual sexual activity. RELATED: UN: AIDS can be stopped by 2030, but stigma remains a barrier Just because you don’t engage in high-risk sexual activity or use drugs, doesn’t mean you’re not at risk. The single highest risk factor for HIV infection is being in a committed relationship, in particular for straight women, who have been infected by their husbands or partners who have seroconverted. Many people in committed relationships do not practice safe sex or get regularly tested for STIs, including HIV. When we ignore this fact and discriminate against drug users, sex workers, and LGBT people, HIV/AIDS remains an illness that affects the most marginalized. Drug use itself does not itself spread HIV. Sharing needles does and making bad decisions while impaired does.
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