Current Event: OPINION Shrunken seat sizes endanger passengers: Column

The last time I was in a plane I did notice that it was not as roomy as a plane I flew on about 3 years ago. Now most people would consider this no big deal at all, but when you take a good look into it, it’s a serious health and safety issue. Since the 1970’s the average length between rows has dropped by a good 35 inches! People with major health issues involving blood flow to their legs are in grave danger. On longer flights they need to be able to stretch out their legs. I believe that this is wrong and should be taken care of immediately. This effects me and the world because millions of people get on planes every single day and the smaller the seats get the more the risk is of people getting injured or even death.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/02/22/airline-shrunken-seat-sizes-faa-regulations-safety-health-column/80753468/

Current Event: OPINION One issue the candidates should be talking about

The devastating Syrian war took out a big chunk of the population. Over 250,000 people were killed during the war. Now, thousands of Syrians are slowly dying because o starvation and the government will not do anything about it. Because of this, over four million Syrians have fled the country and over seven million have been displaced in Syria. The problem is they have nowhere to go now. A neighboring country, Turkey, has closed its borders. Our presidential candidates never bring this up though. Although the Islamic terrorists are abig issue, this is a big deal too. I believe that this is wrong because although they are not from our country, they are still living innocent people and America should be there to aid them in their time of need. This effects both me and the world because the presidential candidates do not talk about these off to the side topics that are huge and if we elect the wrong president, nothing will be accomplished.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/11/opinions/syria-candidates-should-discuss-ghitis/index.html

Current Event: Opinion Why North Korea’s satellite launch is troubling

North Korea’s second satlleite launched Saturday at 7:30 pm into outer space. North Koreans said that it was nothing more than a “puppy barking at the moon.” They are making it seem like a peaceful launch but the international community seems to think differently. Clearly the existence of a space craft is hard to hide, but the use of a spacecraft is something we csnnot determine. North Korea is taking advantage of the duel-use nature of space technology, to develope missles. Though the range of the missles at this moment is only to Japan and South Korea, does not mean that eventually they can’t reach Europe and the Americas. They have tried to send satellites into space many other times but failed on almost every account.  I believe that this is very troubling and it should be.  One of the worst countries in the world has active missles in space. Something must be done. This definitely effect me and the world because if those missles were to be launched it would turn into WORLD WAR 3. And I cannot imagine anyone wanting that outcome to become a reality.

http://http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/09/opinions/north-korea-satellite-launch-freese/index.html

 

Current Event: OPINION Resist the value-added tax: Opposing view

Republican Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky are proposing the VAT (Value Added Taxes) to pay for cuts in income taxes. The Value Added Tax can pull in billions every year. Congress will never fully take away taxes, it would layer the VAT on top of existing levies. Only going up one percent can still bring in $150 million in revenue per year. Congress keeps steadily and steadily raising our taxes year after year by small fractions that do not seem like a lot but they are. I strongly do not want the VAT to go into effect because there is no reason for people to continuously pay more and more every year to our government. This will effect the world and me because it will start riots and boycotts because I’m sure no one else wants to pay more money for taxes that go to our goverment.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/02/03/value-added-tax-vat-economics-congress-editorials-debates/79778902/

Editorial: OPINION For Trump, Honesty isn’t best Policy

Politifact checked 77 of Donald Trumps statements he made last year in 2015 and found three quarters of them to be very wrong. This earns Trump the Lie of the Year award from the non-partisan fact checking organization. All Trump seems to do is lie about everything he says to get him votes. Trump even accuses others of lying to take the attention off of him. He even went as far back as the 9/11 attack on America and said that before the attacks the highjackers sent their wives back home to Saudi Arabia and they knew exactly what was happening. Although it sounds true, it is complete fiction. Research has been proven that the highjackers were almost all unmarried and none brought female companions to the United States. This is just one of the many lies he is telling America. I believe that because of this he should not be able to hold the office as president of our country. Our nation needs to be built back up, not tore down as it already is. This effects me and the whole country because we need a good president. One that we can trust. One that does not lie and hide the truth. One that will build our nation back up to what it was long ago.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/01/26/donald-trump-lie-of-the-year-ted-cruz-iowa-caucuses-editorials-debates/79372648/

Current Event: Ted Cruz Running for President

Our constitution clearly states that you can’t just live in the United States to hold the office of presidency but you must also be a natural born citizen. Ted Cruz is one of the cantidates running for president of the 2016 election, yet he was not born in the United States. He was born in Calgary Canada. So the question is, should we let him? I strongly believe that we as a nation should abide by what the constitution says. If we let a non-natural born citizen be our president, then that is basically saying the constitution is no longer of meaning to us. This will effect me not so much now but in 4 years I will have the opprotunity to vote for the leaders of our country.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/01/12/ted-cruz-donald-trump-birther-tellusatoday-your-say/78707766/

Current Event: OPINION Obama’s Proposal to Gun Control

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/01/05/obama-guns-gun-control-gun-restrictions-background-checks-editorials-debates/78320930/

After 3 years ago when the shooting of 20 kids and 6 adults at a school Obama tried to make stricter gun laws and is now yet again starting to focus on the removal of guns from citizens. His big speech tuesday made a huge impact on the voting for this to take action. As of right now, 48% of the population favors his idea of the removal of guns, 51% opposes the idea of citizens not being able to have guns and 1% took neither side. I strongly dissagree with his thoughts and what he is trying to do to our country. Taking away our guns is taking over one of our free rights that has been in the Bill of Rights ever since this country was born. I can see his argument and how there is a lot of shootings but even if we take away guns criminals will do everything they can to get their hands on them and they will. If Obama takes away our guns it gives him way more power than the president should have. I feel that this will greatly impact our world because we will have nothing to defend ourselves with and it is a free right that is being taken away from us. This greatly impacts me and my community in east texas because there will be complete outrage if guns are taken away because it’s a way of our life and something we like to do such as go hunting.

 

Current Event: San Bernardino shooter supported ISIS, was ‘fixated’ on Israel, father says

Last week there was a mass murdering in San Bernardino, California. 14 deaths and 21 injured at a holiday party left the rest of the community shaken and investgators anxious to not let this happen again. President Obama and law enforcement officals saw this as an act of terrorism. Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik were the two terrorists that killed all of these innocent people. It became apparent that this mass shooting was motivated by political ideologies. Farook and Malik, husband and wife, are most likely tied with ISIS but that has not yet been confirmed. The investigators even found out that just days before they made the attack, they were at a shooting range and practicing on targets. There is still much more things and speculations that have yet to be determined on this situation. This effects the world because it is making it believable that anybody anywhere could be a terrorist and could shoot anytime they please. This effects me because it can happen everywhere else in the U.S. too, not just California. As the years go on, more and more terrorist attacks have be occurring around the world more and more often so it could happen in my own community as well.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/07/us/san-bernardino-shooting/index.html

Current Event: Chicago threat suspect allegedly sought to avenge Laquan McDonald’s death

A 21 year old man, Jabari Dean was arrested on Monday because he was accused of threatening to kill students on the University of Chicago school campus. He said his justification for doing this is because Laquan McDonald was murdered and he wants to avenge his death. He posted on social media his plan to go to the quad at the University and shoot 16 white male students and or professors because McDonald was shot 16 times. For the students and teachers safety to school was closed all day Monday until 12 p.m. for safety precautions. As of right now the FBI is still investigating the situation. This effects the world because so many school shootings have occurred over the past 10 years then ever before all around the world. From primary students  to high school students and even college students have to wake up every morning knowing that there could be a chance of a shooter coming to their school. This is also why it effects me as well. No matter how safe they try and make our schools, if a shooter wants in, he will get in.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/30/us/university-of-chicago-closed-threat/index.html