http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/05/14/why-stephanopoulos-tarnished-credibility-by-hiding-clinton-foundation-donations/ In this article, the author writes about ABC News journalist George Stephanopoulos recently being exposed giving the $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation. The problem is that Stephanopoulos, a former part of Bill Clinton’s White House staff, has tried to demonstrate a neutral position in his work for ABC. By failing to disclose that he spent this amount of money in supporting Clinton, who is running for President next year, his credibility is tarnished. What is unfortunate about this situation, is that the act of donating this money to the Clinton Foundation, while questionable, is not necessarily the issue. His failure to make the donation known, thus appearing to cover it up, is central problem. The media already has a stigma of liberal bias. Stories like these do nothing to help it.
Stories like these spoil names, and always lead to more talk and more "picking apart" of people and their ideas. Why people think they can get away with things without people knowing... When they are literally targeted for this kind of this amazes me. Story after story and you think people would learn to just pipe up and be honest about things they know could ruin them and their name
Yeah, this is his own fault. I'm not saying that he should have covered up his donation, but he could at least done a better job. Especially since he had to make ABC believe he was neutral. He should have just come out and said he supported Clinton. There's no shame in being a little liberal.
This is a double wammy, because not only did he get caught, he tried to cover up. It looks even worse then when you get caught and admit. Its like your mom walking in on you making a sandwich at 1 am. Its very akward, and feeling guilty. Even if he's trying to remain neutral, you always going to lean one side, even its a little. You're just going ti favor it, its ineviteable. In the end, he should've known what the media would have done with him.
Its bad that he did this especially when news casters should be neutral when it comes to things like political affiliation. But if he did this donation in confidence he wasn't trying to influence ABC or any of its viewers. The bad thing is he lied and tried to cover it up. If he donated to any organization that's his business.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/05/15/obama-not-drawing-red-line-with-assad-amid-new-allegations-chemical-weapons-use/ In this article, the author slams President Obama for his seemingly apathetic attitude toward recent allegations that Syria is once again using chemical weapons. The author references specific statements made by President Obama in 2012 about drawing a “red line” and having zero tolerance for the Assad regime’s continued use of these tactics. There is certainly a fine line that the president must walk between getting involved in a significant military conflict and staying out of it altogether. It seems to me that the problem is a lack of respect being shown for the United States by Syria. Syria likely sees many of the things President Obama has said as empty threats, considering their continued use of inhumane methods of warfare. If the United States is going to garner any respect from Syria, some kind of action must be taken.
I agree with you, I didn't think I was when I first started reading, but what you said about Syria thinking Obama is making empty threats scared me. We need to make it known to Syria that we mean business and that we are not to be taken likely. Just to keep them in line. Not to start a war or anything, but we need to take action.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/08/politics/2016-elections-nsa-court-ruling/index.html In this article, the author writes about the curious divide seen among 2016 presidential candidates from both parties regarding responses to a federal appeals court decision on NSA spying. Republicans Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, as well as Democrat Hillary Clinton, all have supported the court’s ruling that NSA collection of telephone metadata is wrong. I think these candidates are smart to take this position on this issue, because it seems as though the majority of the American public stands in opposition to the NSA’s surveillance programs. I am certainly one of these people, as the overall lack of effectiveness exhibited by these programs does nothing to balance their intrusion of privacy.
The american people really don't know what they want. They want security and privacy at the same time. Well that doesn't happen. We want to be so separated from the government that they can't protect us. The NSA is using this surveillance to protect us. So we need to ask ourselves. Do we want privacy or protection from others that would do us wrong. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have some oversight. The candidates haven't taken a side on this because here hands are kind of bound. If they win they will rely on the NSA surveillance information to make accurate decisions. This will all go away in a few months.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/14/politics/jeb-bush-apple-watch-obamacare-answer/index.html In this article, the author writes about Jeb Bush’s recent shot at Obamacare, referencing the Apple Watch as a way that individuals could manage their own health care, without the need for extensive government involvement. While probably not very newsworthy, I do agree with Bush’s overall argument. The recent influx of “wearable” technologies that are able to take extensive data of a person’s health shine a light on the future of health care. On the other hand, if these devices are expected to be able to be trusted, they will likely have to be regulated by an agency such as the FDA, especially if they are to be seen as a part of the health care system.
It sounds good overall, but at the same time everyone knows there are eventually going to be regulations and rules regarding these devices, just like everything else technology coughs up. It seems like a reliable piece of equipment, but it will be interesting to see if it will eventually take over, like bush recommends, and like josh referenced, it's interesting to think of how fast technology is advancing and what could be in store for the future
This shows just how much influence per say the United States have over other countries decisions and just where the US ways in on things. Especially with something as big and important as nuclear issues and what should be done with them and who exactly should have them.
Iran is like a child. The more you tell them that they can't have something ,the more they want it. All the united states is doing is trying to prevent them from creating nuclear weapons. However these efforts are just making it an issue of national pride. No one wants to be at the mercy of someone else. We are attacking there pride and expect them not to fight back. We did so why would they be any different.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/15/opinion/end-immigration-detention.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss Here we go with the possibility of taking advantage of funds. By allowing the states, through certain grants and funds, to choose just where exactly the money given to the city/ state from the government, you have to expect some chaos and corruption on what exactly the money is going to and in this case, the corruption came light.
Washington is really faraway. They don't know what the real problems in there state are. If money is going to go towards things like this they should let the states use it. There going to be able to get the most result for the cheapest cost because they know there state. Washington is too far away to make decisions when there is a much better way to do this. There should be some oversight to make sure the state don't abuse it ,but the majority should be left up to the states.
This is great in the sense that the victims families may not have at least a little bit of closer on the issue and can begin moving on with their lives and try to put the incident in the past the best they can. Justice in the courts this time really did work and the families feel satisfied with the verdict.
Incidents like these really test the government in the way that it allows the people to see how exactly they handle disasters and chaos and what plans they have in place for when things like these occur. Hopefully this wont be another Katrina incident in which there is no plan and things just go around as a blame game between the states and the government.
I also think that we need to have a plan and not stray away from that plan. I hope that our country works together to create a plan that the states and national government can work together on, which goes with what you said about the blame game. Lessons should be learned the first time instead of recreating bad situations that can effect many people.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/opinion/david-brooks-learning-from-mistakes.html?ref=opinion&_r=0 So this article is actually very interesting to me because it touches a very important topic. The fact that history in some ways has been very destructive but also lead us to where we are today. World War 2 lead to women in the workforce, which inevitably lead to more freedom overall. The article brought up how most people would love to kill Hitler themselves if they could, but if Hitler never took over then war wouldn't of happened, which then a lot of other great things accomplished wouldn't of happened.
I agree that sometimes dark times can lead to bright futures. However, I think that referring to world war 2 as a positive thing simply because it paved a path for rights is just plain inaccurate. Millions of people died in this dark time of world history and I don't believe that there is anything positive that came from that.
In order for you to truly know happiness there must be dark times. Dark times define who we are as a person and a nation. It shows who's willing to make the tough decisions that won't win them any recognition from anyone. Dark times make people and a world that is better for us to live in. It can also destroy something that is corrupt. If there is a grave injustice in the world sometimes only a bad thing can fix it. The bad things also make us appreciate what we have.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/opinion/roger-cohen-the-presence-of-the-past.html?ref=opinion This article referes to how the past has a lot to do with how things are today, such as the way people lived back then are somewhat reflected to how things are today. Culture continues to live on no matter how much time passes and thats really important for the world, to have consistency in where there from, so that people always have something to go back to.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/19/us/alabama-rape-bait-federal-court/index.html I don't like the fact that a teacher took advantage of a special needs student just to try and get a 16 year old boy who was accused of sexual assault, thats wrong on the part of the teacher. Even if it was to try and do something right to get the student in trouble, I think the courts should interfere and handle this instead of an adminitrator.
That is awful. I can't even imagine something like this. It's a shame when people do things like this. I hope the parents will try to go through the justice department for this situation. And if they do I hope the teacher gets punished to the fullest extent.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/20/opinion/thomas-friedman-hillary-jeb-facebook-and-disorder.html?ref=opinion&_r=0 Hilary is probably avoiding the big issues because its so early in the campaign that she probably wants to gain a good amount of supporters before establishing her opinion on such issues that could make or break her. Especially things such as nuclear weapons in Iran, something like that could cause people to not support her so in order to avoid losing supporters she wants to wait to address certain things.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/opinion/the-sins-of-angelenos.html?ref=opinion&_r=0 This article is very interesting and eye opening at the same time. It is about global warming and how California has had a "never ending spring" that is due to taking poor care of the state. California usually takes the lead and other states follow which is negative in this case because we arent taking care of our ecosystem like we should be. Our decisions influence the future more than we think so we should wake up and take care of our country before its to late.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/22/us/texas-biker-shootout/index.html Honestly, this article scares me a little bit because biker gangs are a very big problem in Texas and I feel as if this problem could easily spread. More than 300 weapons were left behind and some were even stashed away which means they werent counted. 300 weapons!! If this broke out in a worse situation it would be very hard to contain which is a scary thought.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/watch-mom-shames-daughter-posing-freak-facebook-article-1.2229767 This article is about a mom who made a facebook video about her 13 year old daughters facebook. In my opinion, this decision is going to follow her daughter for the rest of her life and she shouldve handled the situation in a more private manner. 13 year olds are in a very weird phase and I think it was wrong for her mom to embarrass her in front of the entire country.
I agree, at that age, children are in a very weird phase. No child should have to have something like this following them. I think the mother in this situation is being very childish. If this mother knew what was best for her child she would have not made this a public matter. I don't think parents realize that this is a form of cyber bullying on their own kid.
This article really reflects how america has been fighting our wars. This article states " Over the past nine months, the United States and a small network of allies have carried out more than 4,050 strikes in Iraq and Syria in an attempt to weaken the Islamic State, a stunningly resilient terrorist group that poses an enormous menace to the region and the West." I peronally think it is a good thing that we are trying to weaken the Islamic State. The Obama administration argued that the war authorizations Congress passed in support of the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan more than a decade ago provided sufficient legal cover. That claim was flimsy, and still is today.
Our country has been paying a high cost for a lot of dirty fuels. "Some countries sell gasoline and diesel at prices lower than the cost of producing or importing those fuels. But by far the biggest way countries reduce the price of energy is by not taxing it enough to account for the damage that burning fossil fuels causes to human health and to the climate." Every fossil fuel has a huge impact on a humans health. Some benifits of cutting these would be that the climate would benefit by reducing greenhouse gases. Eliminating subsidies,would cut emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, by more than 20 percent a year. Another benefit would be to increase government revenue, which could be used to invest in health care, renewable energy, and other public services.
I think that the world is very dependent on fossil fuels. But I do not think that the way to reduce the impact of these fuels is higher taxes on them or cutting them out. The answer is fuel efficiency. Instead of taxing and regulating how about the government put some resources toward bulging better more fuel efficient cars and other things? Oh wait, that's not profitable.
The Sins of Angelenos http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/opinion/the-sins-of-angelenos.html I thought that it was interesting that the author of this article blamed himself for the horriable climate the California has been facing. I do not find it surprising that they are having these problems. The earth is not designed to support that amount of people living in such a huge cluster. Take Beijing China for example. The only reason it is worse there is they do not having the government standards that we have.
On trade, don't leave workers behindhttp://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/opinion/on-trade-dont-leave-workers-behind.html Why do corporations send jobs overseas? Because it is cheaper to do so. This is important for our economy. With cheaper production costs these savings are then passed on to the consumer. Look at it from the business point of view. If you can produce a part for a car here in the us for 20 dollars but you can make it overseas for 10 dollars, which one would you choose? I don't know about you but I would produce it overseas.
http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/a-welcome-call-for-change-in-the-boy-scouts/?ref=opinion I think this is pretty interesting. Bob Gates, a former national security aide in the White House, former Central Intelligence chief, former Secretary of Defense, and a current Republican became the president of the Boy Scouts a year ago and now he is pushing for the Scouts to allow openly gay boys and adults to join the organization. And this is coming from what sounds like a really conservative guy. He says that with all the Supreme Court cases and the pending ruling on equal marriage, the Scouts either need to change or the court will force them to. I think a lot more people need to take this mentality. Like it or not, gay marriage and equality are just a thing now, and its getting pretty hard to avoid at this point.
The climate has been going through a drastic change and much of it has affected the ocean and its inhabitants. The inhabitants known as microbes have been studied for a long time and until recent years they have show lots of change in behavior and their own existence. These creatures are what's thought to be in the evolutionary step of man. These tiny creatures have been affected by the change in temperature over the past years due to climate change. What's happening to these microbes is a prime example of mans effect on the environment destroying our world and its other inhabitants and if we want to continue living on this world we need to clean it up or else we will live in a world with no beauty.
With Saudi Arabia on the UNs council of human rights you would think that they wouldn't execute. Well wrong. Saudi Arabia is actually looking for more executioners, with 85 people already executed this year alone, much more are expected to be executed. So Saudi Arabia is looking to fulfill eight more executioner positions that require beheadings and amputations for smaller offenses. This job requires low skill, and gives a low tier of pay. With executions in the rise since last August, some are questioning the basis for these killings. Especially drug related offenses, which have no real harm.
http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/how-the-pentagon-wasted-36-million/?ref=opinion In this article the author talks about how the Pentagon can get whatever it wants, in terms of funds, which I thought was pretty funny. But the Pentagon, yet again as I understand it, has wasted tax dollars. They built a facility in Afghanistan that wasn't didn't needed or wanted, and it will most likely get torn down anyway. The project was originally proposed for the surge of American troops in Afghanistan, but the leader stationed in the area where the project would be started said that they didn't need it. Unfortunately, the claim overruled by a third guy. Then boom. Money wasted. The three men involved all do not feel like they are responsible. As long as people don't have personal accountability, this like this will continue to happen.
I find this to be incredibly selfish on the part of the government. I mean like hey, lets build a facility we don't need at all, then abandon it. Sure we spent a lot of money on this, but it's okay because we don't feel responsible for this. We try strategies to help economy, yet here we are just wasting money recklessly.
I agree so much with McCain in this situation about the failure of President Obama's "strategy" with ISIS. His ideas of trying to handle it has been just unsuccessful whatsoever. I agree with McCain in his plan on actually putting boots are the ground. We can't be in between doing secret ops, and just sit midway between the sideline and on the field. If we are going to do this, we should go all out and declare war.
This article is talking about the continuation of establishing a friendship between Cuba and the US. The "talk" about this is still undergoing, but lacks some issues. For one; Cuba leader, Raul Castro, would like to have Cuba removed from a list regarding them being involved with terrorism. Obama sent a letter in requesting to remove Cuba from the list to congress. The wait is on for them to pass it and move this along
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/23/us/some-california-farmers-to-cut-water-use-to-ease-drought.html?_r=1 This is about another thing going on in California. That would be the terrible drought that has been going on. This has led to many of the residents of that state to cut down water usage. As stated in the article they "let their lawns turn brown and limit their showers". This is what the people have been doing. But now what is going happen is the farmers of the state will begin to reduce their water usage. They use most of the water that is used in the state. Although people from around America get their fruit from California. Although in the article it claims it won't effect food prices. So what is going to occur with the farmers is they are going to begin to not use a piece of their land or find a way to reduce water. This is a good idea considering the situation they are in. But it may lead to higher prices because of supply and demand. With farmers making less fruit the prices may go up despite the article saying it won't. I wonder how this all will play out.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/military-leaders-face-discipline-over-waste-449662019531 This is about the horrible oil spill that occurred in Santa Barbara. About an estimated 1,500 gallons of crude oil was spilled in the land and water. This is effecting many things such as the animals and the lands. Many animals have been drastically hurt. There are many images that show animals drenched in the oil and very hurt. They haven't released the amount of animals that have died or been hurt. Although there are many people working on helping aid the animals. Not only are workers but many volunteers have taken matters in there own hands by cleaning up the oil and helping the animals. There has been an investigation that has begun to determine just exactly how the spill happened. By what is known the company responsible for this spill has had many violations in the past 9 years. Another thing is they didn't have the equipment to stop the spill automatically if it were to occur. Many oil companies have this and they didn't. So this could have stopped the entire oil spill. I just hope they can help out the animals that are being hurt. As well as the environment which will likely be effected by this. I wonder if the EPA will try and make oil companies have more regulation after this?
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/23/europe/ireland-referendum-same-sex-marriage/index.html I think this is so nice that Ireland is starting to be like this. They from what the article says they are very conservative. They just now permitted divorce and abortion not to long ago. So the fact that they are starting to actually allow same sex relationships is great. It shows that that they have changed. In all honestly same sex marriage doesn't effect anybody but the people in the relationship. So why restrict them from loving the person they love baffles me. But the vote seams to be very popular among young people. The article says that they are traveling from around the world to vote. Proving younger people do tend to be more liberal. So I hope people will be happy with whatever happens.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/23/middleeast/isis-iraq-syria/index.html I think its great that Iraq is fighting back against ISIS. They have been showing a severe threat to the world and they need to be stopped. Iraq used one of their allies to combat them and make them go back away from their military base and their capital. If they would have gotten their they would have likely have taken over Iraq since that area is mainly where Iraqs power is at. I just hope that ISIS will be stopped soon before they hurt more innocent people.
Bernie Sanders has just announced his running for presidency. Bernie Sanders is currently a Senator and has served in the house and been mayor in the the town of Burlington Vermont. He has already lashed out at Hillary Clinton for her emails. I don't know if he will gain enough momentum. Hillary despite her recent issues seems to be the most likely to win.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/05/14/why-stephanopoulos-tarnished-credibility-by-hiding-clinton-foundation-donations/
ReplyDeleteIn this article, the author writes about ABC News journalist George Stephanopoulos recently being exposed giving the $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation. The problem is that Stephanopoulos, a former part of Bill Clinton’s White House staff, has tried to demonstrate a neutral position in his work for ABC. By failing to disclose that he spent this amount of money in supporting Clinton, who is running for President next year, his credibility is tarnished. What is unfortunate about this situation, is that the act of donating this money to the Clinton Foundation, while questionable, is not necessarily the issue. His failure to make the donation known, thus appearing to cover it up, is central problem. The media already has a stigma of liberal bias. Stories like these do nothing to help it.
Stories like these spoil names, and always lead to more talk and more "picking apart" of people and their ideas. Why people think they can get away with things without people knowing... When they are literally targeted for this kind of this amazes me. Story after story and you think people would learn to just pipe up and be honest about things they know could ruin them and their name
DeleteYeah, this is his own fault. I'm not saying that he should have covered up his donation, but he could at least done a better job. Especially since he had to make ABC believe he was neutral. He should have just come out and said he supported Clinton. There's no shame in being a little liberal.
DeleteThis is a double wammy, because not only did he get caught, he tried to cover up. It looks even worse then when you get caught and admit. Its like your mom walking in on you making a sandwich at 1 am. Its very akward, and feeling guilty. Even if he's trying to remain neutral, you always going to lean one side, even its a little. You're just going ti favor it, its ineviteable. In the end, he should've known what the media would have done with him.
DeleteIts bad that he did this especially when news casters should be neutral when it comes to things like political affiliation. But if he did this donation in confidence he wasn't trying to influence ABC or any of its viewers. The bad thing is he lied and tried to cover it up. If he donated to any organization that's his business.
Delete
ReplyDeletehttp://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/05/15/obama-not-drawing-red-line-with-assad-amid-new-allegations-chemical-weapons-use/
In this article, the author slams President Obama for his seemingly apathetic attitude toward recent allegations that Syria is once again using chemical weapons. The author references specific statements made by President Obama in 2012 about drawing a “red line” and having zero tolerance for the Assad regime’s continued use of these tactics. There is certainly a fine line that the president must walk between getting involved in a significant military conflict and staying out of it altogether. It seems to me that the problem is a lack of respect being shown for the United States by Syria. Syria likely sees many of the things President Obama has said as empty threats, considering their continued use of inhumane methods of warfare. If the United States is going to garner any respect from Syria, some kind of action must be taken.
I agree with you, I didn't think I was when I first started reading, but what you said about Syria thinking Obama is making empty threats scared me. We need to make it known to Syria that we mean business and that we are not to be taken likely. Just to keep them in line. Not to start a war or anything, but we need to take action.
Deletehttp://www.cnn.com/2015/05/08/politics/2016-elections-nsa-court-ruling/index.html
ReplyDeleteIn this article, the author writes about the curious divide seen among 2016 presidential candidates from both parties regarding responses to a federal appeals court decision on NSA spying. Republicans Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, as well as Democrat Hillary Clinton, all have supported the court’s ruling that NSA collection of telephone metadata is wrong. I think these candidates are smart to take this position on this issue, because it seems as though the majority of the American public stands in opposition to the NSA’s surveillance programs. I am certainly one of these people, as the overall lack of effectiveness exhibited by these programs does nothing to balance their intrusion of privacy.
The american people really don't know what they want. They want security and privacy at the same time. Well that doesn't happen. We want to be so separated from the government that they can't protect us. The NSA is using this surveillance to protect us. So we need to ask ourselves. Do we want privacy or protection from others that would do us wrong. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have some oversight. The candidates haven't taken a side on this because here hands are kind of bound. If they win they will rely on the NSA surveillance information to make accurate decisions. This will all go away in a few months.
Deletehttp://www.cnn.com/2015/05/14/politics/jeb-bush-apple-watch-obamacare-answer/index.html
ReplyDeleteIn this article, the author writes about Jeb Bush’s recent shot at Obamacare, referencing the Apple Watch as a way that individuals could manage their own health care, without the need for extensive government involvement. While probably not very newsworthy, I do agree with Bush’s overall argument. The recent influx of “wearable” technologies that are able to take extensive data of a person’s health shine a light on the future of health care. On the other hand, if these devices are expected to be able to be trusted, they will likely have to be regulated by an agency such as the FDA, especially if they are to be seen as a part of the health care system.
It sounds good overall, but at the same time everyone knows there are eventually going to be regulations and rules regarding these devices, just like everything else technology coughs up. It seems like a reliable piece of equipment, but it will be interesting to see if it will eventually take over, like bush recommends, and like josh referenced, it's interesting to think of how fast technology is advancing and what could be in store for the future
Deletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/16/opinion/president-obama-and-the-gulf-arabs.html?ref=opinion&_r=0
ReplyDeleteThis shows just how much influence per say the United States have over other countries decisions and just where the US ways in on things. Especially with something as big and important as nuclear issues and what should be done with them and who exactly should have them.
Iran is like a child. The more you tell them that they can't have something ,the more they want it. All the united states is doing is trying to prevent them from creating nuclear weapons. However these efforts are just making it an issue of national pride. No one wants to be at the mercy of someone else. We are attacking there pride and expect them not to fight back. We did so why would they be any different.
Deletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/15/opinion/end-immigration-detention.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
ReplyDeleteHere we go with the possibility of taking advantage of funds. By allowing the states, through certain grants and funds, to choose just where exactly the money given to the city/ state from the government, you have to expect some chaos and corruption on what exactly the money is going to and in this case, the corruption came light.
Washington is really faraway. They don't know what the real problems in there state are. If money is going to go towards things like this they should let the states use it. There going to be able to get the most result for the cheapest cost because they know there state. Washington is too far away to make decisions when there is a much better way to do this. There should be some oversight to make sure the state don't abuse it ,but the majority should be left up to the states.
Deletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/us/death-sentence-for-boston-bomber-dzhokhar-tsarnaev-unsettles-city-he-tore-apart.html?rref=homepage&module=Ribbon&version=context®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Home%20Page&pgtype=article
ReplyDeleteThis is great in the sense that the victims families may not have at least a little bit of closer on the issue and can begin moving on with their lives and try to put the incident in the past the best they can. Justice in the courts this time really did work and the families feel satisfied with the verdict.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/16/us/amtrak-train-may-have-been-struck-before-it-derailed-officials-say.html?rref=homepage&module=Ribbon&version=origin®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Home%20Page&pgtype=article
ReplyDeleteIncidents like these really test the government in the way that it allows the people to see how exactly they handle disasters and chaos and what plans they have in place for when things like these occur. Hopefully this wont be another Katrina incident in which there is no plan and things just go around as a blame game between the states and the government.
I also think that we need to have a plan and not stray away from that plan. I hope that our country works together to create a plan that the states and national government can work together on, which goes with what you said about the blame game. Lessons should be learned the first time instead of recreating bad situations that can effect many people.
Deletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/opinion/david-brooks-learning-from-mistakes.html?ref=opinion&_r=0
ReplyDeleteSo this article is actually very interesting to me because it touches a very important topic. The fact that history in some ways has been very destructive but also lead us to where we are today. World War 2 lead to women in the workforce, which inevitably lead to more freedom overall. The article brought up how most people would love to kill Hitler themselves if they could, but if Hitler never took over then war wouldn't of happened, which then a lot of other great things accomplished wouldn't of happened.
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DeleteI agree that sometimes dark times can lead to bright futures. However, I think that referring to world war 2 as a positive thing simply because it paved a path for rights is just plain inaccurate. Millions of people died in this dark time of world history and I don't believe that there is anything positive that came from that.
DeleteIn order for you to truly know happiness there must be dark times. Dark times define who we are as a person and a nation. It shows who's willing to make the tough decisions that won't win them any recognition from anyone. Dark times make people and a world that is better for us to live in. It can also destroy something that is corrupt. If there is a grave injustice in the world sometimes only a bad thing can fix it. The bad things also make us appreciate what we have.
Deletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/opinion/roger-cohen-the-presence-of-the-past.html?ref=opinion
ReplyDeleteThis article referes to how the past has a lot to do with how things are today, such as the way people lived back then are somewhat reflected to how things are today. Culture continues to live on no matter how much time passes and thats really important for the world, to have consistency in where there from, so that people always have something to go back to.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/19/us/alabama-rape-bait-federal-court/index.html
ReplyDeleteI don't like the fact that a teacher took advantage of a special needs student just to try and get a 16 year old boy who was accused of sexual assault, thats wrong on the part of the teacher. Even if it was to try and do something right to get the student in trouble, I think the courts should interfere and handle this instead of an adminitrator.
That is awful. I can't even imagine something like this. It's a shame when people do things like this. I hope the parents will try to go through the justice department for this situation. And if they do I hope the teacher gets punished to the fullest extent.
Deletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/20/opinion/thomas-friedman-hillary-jeb-facebook-and-disorder.html?ref=opinion&_r=0
ReplyDeleteHilary is probably avoiding the big issues because its so early in the campaign that she probably wants to gain a good amount of supporters before establishing her opinion on such issues that could make or break her. Especially things such as nuclear weapons in Iran, something like that could cause people to not support her so in order to avoid losing supporters she wants to wait to address certain things.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/opinion/the-sins-of-angelenos.html?ref=opinion&_r=0
ReplyDeleteThis article is very interesting and eye opening at the same time. It is about global warming and how California has had a "never ending spring" that is due to taking poor care of the state. California usually takes the lead and other states follow which is negative in this case because we arent taking care of our ecosystem like we should be. Our decisions influence the future more than we think so we should wake up and take care of our country before its to late.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/22/us/texas-biker-shootout/index.html
ReplyDeleteHonestly, this article scares me a little bit because biker gangs are a very big problem in Texas and I feel as if this problem could easily spread. More than 300 weapons were left behind and some were even stashed away which means they werent counted. 300 weapons!! If this broke out in a worse situation it would be very hard to contain which is a scary thought.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/watch-mom-shames-daughter-posing-freak-facebook-article-1.2229767
ReplyDeleteThis article is about a mom who made a facebook video about her 13 year old daughters facebook. In my opinion, this decision is going to follow her daughter for the rest of her life and she shouldve handled the situation in a more private manner. 13 year olds are in a very weird phase and I think it was wrong for her mom to embarrass her in front of the entire country.
I agree, at that age, children are in a very weird phase. No child should have to have something like this following them. I think the mother in this situation is being very childish. If this mother knew what was best for her child she would have not made this a public matter. I don't think parents realize that this is a form of cyber bullying on their own kid.
Deletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/opinion/the-escalation-of-unauthorized-wars.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0
ReplyDeleteThis article really reflects how america has been fighting our wars. This article states " Over the past nine months, the United States and a small network of allies have carried out more than 4,050 strikes in Iraq and Syria in an attempt to weaken the Islamic State, a stunningly resilient terrorist group that poses an enormous menace to the region and the West." I peronally think it is a good thing that we are trying to weaken the Islamic State. The Obama administration argued that the war authorizations Congress passed in support of the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan more than a decade ago provided sufficient legal cover. That claim was flimsy, and still is today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/21/opinion/the-high-cost-of-dirty-fuels.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
ReplyDeleteOur country has been paying a high cost for a lot of dirty fuels. "Some countries sell gasoline and diesel at prices lower than the cost of producing or importing those fuels. But by far the biggest way countries reduce the price of energy is by not taxing it enough to account for the damage that burning fossil fuels causes to human health and to the climate." Every fossil fuel has a huge impact on a humans health. Some benifits of cutting these would be that the climate would benefit by reducing greenhouse gases. Eliminating subsidies,would cut emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, by more than 20 percent a year. Another benefit would be to increase government revenue, which could be used to invest in health care, renewable energy, and other public services.
I think that the world is very dependent on fossil fuels. But I do not think that the way to reduce the impact of these fuels is higher taxes on them or cutting them out. The answer is fuel efficiency. Instead of taxing and regulating how about the government put some resources toward bulging better more fuel efficient cars and other things? Oh wait, that's not profitable.
DeleteThe Sins of Angelenos http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/opinion/the-sins-of-angelenos.html
ReplyDeleteI thought that it was interesting that the author of this article blamed himself for the horriable climate the California has been facing. I do not find it surprising that they are having these problems. The earth is not designed to support that amount of people living in such a huge cluster. Take Beijing China for example. The only reason it is worse there is they do not having the government standards that we have.
On trade, don't leave workers behindhttp://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/opinion/on-trade-dont-leave-workers-behind.html
ReplyDeleteWhy do corporations send jobs overseas? Because it is cheaper to do so. This is important for our economy. With cheaper production costs these savings are then passed on to the consumer. Look at it from the business point of view. If you can produce a part for a car here in the us for 20 dollars but you can make it overseas for 10 dollars, which one would you choose? I don't know about you but I would produce it overseas.
http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/a-welcome-call-for-change-in-the-boy-scouts/?ref=opinion
ReplyDeleteI think this is pretty interesting. Bob Gates, a former national security aide in the White House, former Central Intelligence chief, former Secretary of Defense, and a current Republican became the president of the Boy Scouts a year ago and now he is pushing for the Scouts to allow openly gay boys and adults to join the organization. And this is coming from what sounds like a really conservative guy. He says that with all the Supreme Court cases and the pending ruling on equal marriage, the Scouts either need to change or the court will force them to. I think a lot more people need to take this mentality. Like it or not, gay marriage and equality are just a thing now, and its getting pretty hard to avoid at this point.
The climate has been going through a drastic change and much of it has affected the ocean and its inhabitants. The inhabitants known as microbes have been studied for a long time and until recent years they have show lots of change in behavior and their own existence. These creatures are what's thought to be in the evolutionary step of man. These tiny creatures have been affected by the change in temperature over the past years due to climate change. What's happening to these microbes is a prime example of mans effect on the environment destroying our world and its other inhabitants and if we want to continue living on this world we need to clean it up or else we will live in a world with no beauty.
ReplyDeletehttp://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/science/scientists-sample-the-ocean-and-find-tiny-additions-to-the-tree-of-life.html?_r=0
With Saudi Arabia on the UNs council of human rights you would think that they wouldn't execute. Well wrong. Saudi Arabia is actually looking for more executioners, with 85 people already executed this year alone, much more are expected to be executed. So Saudi Arabia is looking to fulfill eight more executioner positions that require beheadings and amputations for smaller offenses. This job requires low skill, and gives a low tier of pay. With executions in the rise since last August, some are questioning the basis for these killings. Especially drug related offenses, which have no real harm.
ReplyDeletehttps://news.vice.com/article/with-executions-on-the-rise-saudi-arabia-is-now-hiring-even-more-executioners
http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/how-the-pentagon-wasted-36-million/?ref=opinion
ReplyDeleteIn this article the author talks about how the Pentagon can get whatever it wants, in terms of funds, which I thought was pretty funny. But the Pentagon, yet again as I understand it, has wasted tax dollars. They built a facility in Afghanistan that wasn't didn't needed or wanted, and it will most likely get torn down anyway. The project was originally proposed for the surge of American troops in Afghanistan, but the leader stationed in the area where the project would be started said that they didn't need it. Unfortunately, the claim overruled by a third guy. Then boom. Money wasted. The three men involved all do not feel like they are responsible. As long as people don't have personal accountability, this like this will continue to happen.
I find this to be incredibly selfish on the part of the government. I mean like hey, lets build a facility we don't need at all, then abandon it. Sure we spent a lot of money on this, but it's okay because we don't feel responsible for this. We try strategies to help economy, yet here we are just wasting money recklessly.
Deletehttp://www.cnn.com/2015/05/22/politics/mccain-obama-isis-mind-boggling/index.html
ReplyDeleteI agree so much with McCain in this situation about the failure of President Obama's "strategy" with ISIS. His ideas of trying to handle it has been just unsuccessful whatsoever. I agree with McCain in his plan on actually putting boots are the ground. We can't be in between doing secret ops, and just sit midway between the sideline and on the field. If we are going to do this, we should go all out and declare war.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/22/politics/cuba-embassy-talks-us-havana/index.html
DeleteThis article is talking about the continuation of establishing a friendship between Cuba and the US. The "talk" about this is still undergoing, but lacks some issues. For one; Cuba leader, Raul Castro, would like to have Cuba removed from a list regarding them being involved with terrorism. Obama sent a letter in requesting to remove Cuba from the list to congress. The wait is on for them to pass it and move this along
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/23/us/some-california-farmers-to-cut-water-use-to-ease-drought.html?_r=1
ReplyDeleteThis is about another thing going on in California. That would be the terrible drought that has been going on. This has led to many of the residents of that state to cut down water usage. As stated in the article they "let their lawns turn brown and limit their showers". This is what the people have been doing. But now what is going happen is the farmers of the state will begin to reduce their water usage. They use most of the water that is used in the state. Although people from around America get their fruit from California. Although in the article it claims it won't effect food prices. So what is going to occur with the farmers is they are going to begin to not use a piece of their land or find a way to reduce water. This is a good idea considering the situation they are in. But it may lead to higher prices because of supply and demand. With farmers making less fruit the prices may go up despite the article saying it won't. I wonder how this all will play out.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/military-leaders-face-discipline-over-waste-449662019531
ReplyDeleteThis is about the horrible oil spill that occurred in Santa Barbara. About an estimated 1,500 gallons of crude oil was spilled in the land and water. This is effecting many things such as the animals and the lands. Many animals have been drastically hurt. There are many images that show animals drenched in the oil and very hurt. They haven't released the amount of animals that have died or been hurt. Although there are many people working on helping aid the animals. Not only are workers but many volunteers have taken matters in there own hands by cleaning up the oil and helping the animals. There has been an investigation that has begun to determine just exactly how the spill happened. By what is known the company responsible for this spill has had many violations in the past 9 years. Another thing is they didn't have the equipment to stop the spill automatically if it were to occur. Many oil companies have this and they didn't. So this could have stopped the entire oil spill. I just hope they can help out the animals that are being hurt. As well as the environment which will likely be effected by this. I wonder if the EPA will try and make oil companies have more regulation after this?
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/23/europe/ireland-referendum-same-sex-marriage/index.html
ReplyDeleteI think this is so nice that Ireland is starting to be like this. They from what the article says they are very conservative. They just now permitted divorce and abortion not to long ago. So the fact that they are starting to actually allow same sex relationships is great. It shows that that they have changed. In all honestly same sex marriage doesn't effect anybody but the people in the relationship. So why restrict them from loving the person they love baffles me. But the vote seams to be very popular among young people. The article says that they are traveling from around the world to vote. Proving younger people do tend to be more liberal. So I hope people will be happy with whatever happens.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/23/middleeast/isis-iraq-syria/index.html
ReplyDeleteI think its great that Iraq is fighting back against ISIS. They have been showing a severe threat to the world and they need to be stopped. Iraq used one of their allies to combat them and make them go back away from their military base and their capital. If they would have gotten their they would have likely have taken over Iraq since that area is mainly where Iraqs power is at. I just hope that ISIS will be stopped soon before they hurt more innocent people.
Bernie Sanders has just announced his running for presidency. Bernie Sanders is currently a Senator and has served in the house and been mayor in the the town of Burlington Vermont. He has already lashed out at Hillary Clinton for her emails. I don't know if he will gain enough momentum. Hillary despite her recent issues seems to be the most likely to win.
ReplyDelete