Intruder Killed in New York Synagogue

http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/09/us/new-york-synagogue-stabbing/index.html?hpt=ju_c2

Police kill intruder who stabbed student in New York synagogue

By Greg Botelho and Holly Yan, CNN

 

 Levi Rosenblat was studying the Torah when he was stabbed by an intruder. Although he is in stable condition now a knife wound to the head is not an easy injury to recover from. Rosenbalt would have most likely been the only victim that night; however, police arrived promptly at the scene and faced a show down with the intruder, Calvin Peters. After lunging to attack an officer, he was shot in the chest and later pronounced dead.

 

I think that this just goes to show that people are plain stupid sometimes. Not only did the attacker stab someone, but her then tried to do the same to a police officer. A cop that was holding a gun! I really think that the police officer's actions were justified, and he should not face any ramifications for them. This just leads me to wonder when the next cop will be in the news for shooting someone.

New York Cop Let of the Hook

http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/03/justice/new-york-grand-jury-chokehold/index.html?hpt=us_c1

Protests after N.Y. cop not indicted in chokehold death; feds reviewing case

By Ray Sanchez and Shimon Prokupecz, CNN

Another police officer was not indicted after killing an unarmed man. Eric Garner was choked to death in July while he was being arrested for selling untaxed cigarettes, a rather minor offense. Not only was he unarmed, but the chokehold is prohibited from police use. In reaction, protestors took to the streets of New York on Wednesday to fight the corruption of the criminal justice system and the unjust discrimination against racial minorities.

A similar case happened in Ferguson, Missouri, which as resulted and riots and anarchy. I don't have much comment on this matter because I haven not gathered enough information besides what I have heard at school and to form an educated opinion. I do think that the policeman in Eric Garner's homicide should have been indicted and probably sent to jail; the video shows that Garner was not threatening the officer or others. However, the case of Michael Brown is much more obscure to me since there is only witnesses to the incident and no actual video. Either way I think racial discrimination is a HUGE issue in our society and justice system, and the only way to fix it is to prosecute those who are guilty.

Married and Mentally Disabled

http://abcnews.go.com/US/mentally-disabled-couples-legal-battle-ends-home/story?id=19237103&page=2

Mentally Disabled Couple's Legal Battle Ends with New Home
By Kevin Dolak

Paul Forziano, 30, and Hava Samuels, 36 are a newly married couple living in the state of New York; however, they are both mentally handicapped. They resided in state funded home before their marriage and wished to cohabit a home together after they were married, but this was not permissible. Independent Group Home Living Program (IGAL) and the Maryhaven Center for Hope stated that the couple was not capable of consenting to marriage or living together because they couldn't even care for themselves. In reaction, the couple's families took the state of New York to court on the grounds that the couple's rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Housing Act and the 14th Amendment were being violated.

The couple was eventually allowed to move into a an IGAL apartment, but the they are still taking the case to court so that the state is forced to make a decision on the matter. The family wishes for all injustices to be correct and form mentally disabled people to be treated the same as everyone else.

From a constitutional standpoint there argument makes sense. Mentally disabled people are still citizens with right. But from a societal stand point it allowing mentally incapacitated people to be married and possibly have children does not make sense, especially if they are living off state assistance.

Senate Flipped

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/04/politics/election-day-story/index.html

The article titled "Republicans seize Senate, gaining full control of Congress" discusses the flip of the Senate from a Democratic majority to a Republican majority. Some states that flipped include Iowa, Arkansas, and North Carolina. This is a major blow to the Democratic cause because both the House of Representatives and the Senate contain a Republican majority. However, it is predicted that in the next election that the Senate could flip again due to changing demographics.

 I am very pleased with the results of the Senate races. I had a feeling that the Senate would be switched to a Republican majority due to many failed Democratic campaigns. This just goes to show that America is not pleased with the Obama Administration and those that were in the Legislature. This is just a prediction, but it is my opinion that the next presidential election will go to Republicans as well. America needs a change, and it starts now.

Democrates Rasing the White Flag in Senate Race?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/28/democrats-south-dakota_n_6063558.html

"Democrats Scale Back Spending in South Dakota Senate Race" discusses how there has been a clear reduction in the amount of funding from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in the South Dakota Senate race. This has sparked speculation that the Democratic Party has drastically reduced its interest in winning the South Dakota Senate position. Furthermore,  Rick Weiland, the Democratic candidate, held a press conference attacking the DSCC; he said that their campaigns actually hurt his chances for winning the race, and that they benefitted the Independent party candidate,  Larry Pressler, more than him.

I think that this is an excellent example on how funding from investors can change the way that the a political race can turn out. It is actually very unfortunate that peoples choices are based so much on propaganda and mud racking that they hear in the media. All citizens should become more informed and analyze the objective facts about each candidate and not just base their vote on what they are being told. I have become so fed up with these advertisement that whenever they come on the radio I instantly change the channel. What do you think?

 

Illegal Immagrants on Voting Rolls

http://watchdog.org/178516/non-citizens-voter-rolls/

In North Carolina almost 10,000 non-citizens are registered to vote because of an Obama program. The passing of the  DACA (Differed Action for Childhood Arrivals program) allows immigrants protected under the DACA to freeze their deportation which in some states--such as North Carolina-- allows these illegal aliens to obtain a drivers licenses. Those  illegal immigrants that had drivers licenses also found a way to register to vote. Jay DeLancy, executive director of the Voter Integrity Project of North Carolina stated that there had to be a system failure and that the issue should be fixed before voting commences next Thursday.

I find this to be completely ridiculous. People that are not citizens of the United States should not EVER be on the voter registry; they are not even suppose to be in this country let alone voting on who runs it. Furthermore, I think that the DACA program should not have been passed. Just because someone was smuggled into the States at a fairly young age does not make them a citizen. I understand that is would be extremely hard for them to adjust to deportation, but the United States should be focusing more on legal residents than those who are not. I understand this is a touchy subject, but this is my stance.

Move!

Coroner: Dad collapses on infant daughter, she survives 3 days

  By Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/13/us/louisiana-infant-survives-dead-father/index.html?hpt=us_c2

Jason Fields had been dead for three days before his young son came to visit him in in home. When the boy went to his neighbors house to report his fathers death, they did not believe him, but they followed the juvenile home where Fields was indeed dead. However, what they found was more than a corpse: trapped beneath it was Fields' daughter, Betty Jean, who had survived the three days. It is amazing that she survived.  She was then transported to University Health Shreveport for treatment, and she is expected to be released soon.

When I first saw this article, I was baffled that two people could be missing for so long, and it go unnoticed. Yet, after thinking about it people are missing everyday, so it is rather amazing that these two were found when they were--a day longer and Betty Jean would probably have been dead. This just makes me feel extremely lucky that I have people that would miss me

Texas: Abortion restrictions

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/07/us/supreme-court-texas-abortion-clinics/index.html?iref=allsearch
A group of Texas abortion clinics are seeking help from the Supreme Court to be reopened. After the Texas state legislature passed restrictions last week which force 13 clinics to shut down. These restriction are claimed to make it virtually impossible to preform an abortion and abortion rights groups are furious. Critics of the law contend that it will force women to seek "back alley" abortions.

I find the Texas law makers to be rather clever. Their reasoning for imposing the regulations is to improve the health of the patients seen in abortion clinics while the more likely reason is that they are using health as a scapegoat for the real reason: they wish to prevent abortion. Of course this article was clearly written from a liberal point of view, it does make the previously stated valid point. I think that this law is just a foreshadowing of what is to come in the future; abortion will eventually be outlawed just like slavery. It is only a matter of time.

Is It the Plague?

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/01/health/ebola-us/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
"Hospital 'dropped the ball' with Ebola patient's travel history, NIH official says" by Catherine E. Shoichet, Ashley Fantz and Holly Yan.

A patient was releases from a hospital in Texas without a proper diagnosis. Normally, this wouldn’t be a huge concern except this patient had recently travelled to Liberia where he contracted Ebola. Failure to link the patient’s symptoms to the virus was due to the fact that doctors did not have a full history of his travels. Ebola has already killed thousands in Africa, and the failure to diagnose the virus caused possibly thousands of other people to be exposed to the virus.

Personally, I think that it was very neglectful of the doctors at fault. They not only put their patient at great risk, but possibly the entire nation. Ebola is obviously a very contagious disease, and it should have been monitored for more closely because it was only a matter of time before the disease transferred to other continents.

 

Marriage Equality Not Lie Abortion? Really?

One of the most controversial issues in modern day politics is whether gay marriage should be made legal and even more so if it is unconstitutional to forbid it. The article "Marriage Equality Not Like Abortion" written by Tim Holbrock contrasts the issue to that of abortion by stating that the issue of legalizing gay marriage is so much simpler because there are not numerous factors contributing to the dispute. For example,when questioning the constitutionality of abortion, the rights of both the mother and the "prospect of human life" must be taken into account whereas the authors states that gay marriage does not affect heterosexual couples at all. This article serves primarily as a devises to persuade readers to become proponents of gay marriage specifically the judges that will be making the decision.

Choosing to talk about marriage equality is always risky business and always brings up a mass of different arguments. I find the article to be persuasive, and it definitely accomplishes its goal; however, those firmly grounded in their beliefs would not change their minds because of one article.

Personally, I find that Holbrock makes many valid points, but his article was saturated with propaganda and his personal views that I did not enjoy reading it whatsoever. After reading the article, I began to look up facts as to how gay marriage would affect the rest of the population, and the only arguments I could find were made on religious websites. However, the only things they said were same sex marriage would affect their personal beliefs on the institution of marriage. In this blog I am not joining either side of the argument, but looking at it from a purely constitutional stand point. It seems to me that just like what religion one aligns himself with, whether it is Catholicism, Islam, or even sadism, is very similar to his personal beliefs on marriage.

C-Span Article Outrage

This blog is in the reaction to the C-Span article. Although I was not present when the "reporter", Ms. Colias was interviewing my fellow students,  it is the general consensus that her portrayals of the students were completely inaccurate, and she almost seemed to put words into her interviewee's mouths.  I was not impressed by this article or the journal’s defense of its journalist. The editor admitted to having a heavy hand while editing, yet he also claimed that he gives his journalist—I quote—“almost complete freedom.” From my point of view these two comments are completely contrary to each other and cannot both be true at the same time. “Mr. Pancake”, as a cleaver blogger coined him, had some valid points, but he also tried to weasel out of talking about many pressing questions that we had. In conclusion, the C-Span article is, in my opinion, a poor representation of the skill of journalism and fulfills the stereotype of sleaziness that often can be associated with the press.