A drunk man is not an uncommon sight in the underground subways of New York City, but a belligerently racist man made quite the scene on two days ago on the L train. He repeatedly shouted the slur "ni**er" at black passengers on the subway, and as the train approached the next stop, the angry protesters began to push him towards the sliding doors. Once they reached the platform, the man was shoved off, and a woman doused him with the soup that she had. Do you believe that the behavior of the passengers was justified? Why or why not?
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Spain is in the middle of a troublesome situation at the moment because one of its provinces, Catalonia, has held an illegal vote in favor of independence. The Spanish government warned the Catalan government with a threat to suspend Catalan autonomy, and police were sent out to seize voting ballots and prevent voters from entering the poll stations. Because of police and voter presence, violence escalated quickly. Catalan medical officials have reported 844 injuries.
Despite the massive effort from the central Spanish government to prevent the voting, nearly 2.2 million out of 5.3 million registered voters voted, and a whopping 90 percent of voters chose secession. Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, declared, "With this day of hope and suffering, the citizens of Catalonia have won the right to an independent state in the form of a republic." However, the central Spanish government will not freely allow Catalonia to leave Spain. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said that the people of Catalonia have been fooled into taking an illegal vote. He believes that the vote is not purely about Catalan independence, and that the national government will intervene if pushed further. What are your thoughts on the Catalan referendum? Do you believe that the voting was justified? Do you believe that the national government has threatened too drastic an action? In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico is being treated like a third-world country despite of it being an American commonwealth. Puerto Ricans - like myself - really won't shut up about the conditions of our island, but with good reason. We boast around about our Boricua pride because we find that there is little comfort in us claiming American pride.
Puerto Ricans became citizens out of need for soldiers for WWI, but they were not given the right to govern themselves. Puerto Rico even had a gag law that suppressed the spread of the independence movement. It made the Puerto Rican flag, patriotic tunes, and correspondence with a member of the independence movement illegal. The gag law was signed into effect by the assigned governor from the States, Jesús T. Pinero. Luckily, the Supreme Court deemed the gag law unconstitutional nine years later, stating that it went against the right to free speech in the Bill of Rights. Puerto Ricans finally got the right to vote for its own governor in 1949, with Luis Muños Marín as the first elected governor. Despite all of this, Puerto Rico has not been granted statehood, so its citizens cannot vote in federal elections or run for federal office. American society has been alienating Puerto Rico since it was annexed into the United States, and it is no different in this case. Puerto Ricans are suffering in desperation, but where is the American unity that we saw for victims in Florida and Texas? We saw how the nation rallied to bring comfort to the survivors, and celebrities even participated in Kevin Hart's "25K Challenge", yet when we speak about Puerto Rico's largest natural crisis in recorded history, most don't even bat an eye. They're not like us. They speak differently. They can go and deal with their own country's problems. We can't fix everyone's issues. We've got our own to deal with. This is the mentality that many Americans seem to have about Puerto Rico, despite the fact that Puerto Ricans have fought in every war since WWI with an American flag stitched onto their uniforms. So, I ask: do you believe that the United States should feel obligated to help Puerto Rico? Is the portrayal the media has of Puerto Rico correct? On July 26, 2017, University of Utah Hospital Alex Shaffer was arrested by a police officer for refusing to draw the blood of a patient under her care. The officer, Salt Lake City Police Department detective Jeff Payne, charged her on the grounds of obstruction of justice. However, after the footage from the Payne's body camera was released to the media, to the country went into uproar over the unfair arrest and the manner in which she was arrested.
The University of Utah Hospital policy requires that in order to draw the blood of a patient for something other than medical use, then the patient must be under arrest, able to give consent, or have a warrant put against him. None of these circumstances applied, as the attorney for the hospital explained. However, that was not the only issue. Shaffer was thrown against the wall as she was screaming that she was in pain. Payne's partner assisted him in the arrest. Shaffer stated that the incident was very traumatizing, and that she was perplexed that someone would arrest her so harshly. Because of this incident, Utah Legislature’s Judiciary Interim Committee voted unanimously on Wednesday to draft a bill that will clarify when police may and may not draw blood. It is a law that will prevent the abuse of police power on medical professionals, and I completely agree on this issue. It is upsetting that it took such a large issue in order to grant these long-awaited rights to medical staff, but this will hopefully prevent another incident such as this from occurring again. According to Townhall.com:
"... the U.S. National Debt hit the $20 trillion mark this week. The grim milestone comes as lawmakers on Capitol Hill grapple with tax reform and just one week after President Trump struck a deal with Democrats to lift the debt ceiling by $318 billion. It was a temporary measure and will need to be revisited by Congress before December. “Every man, woman, and child in America now owns more than $61,000 in our debt. As Congress approaches a bold effort on tax reform, we need to remember that debt is deferred taxes. By punting on any reforms to address the national debt, we are promising tax increases that will be paid for by our children and grandchildren," Republican Study Commission Chairman Mark Walker said. “We can do better. We must do better! Before Congress agrees to increase the debt limit again, it is imperative we pass new laws that will change this disturbing trend instead of ignoring the root cause of our nation’s debt problems.” National Debt Clock I would like to know your thoughts on the matter. Some questions you might want to consider are: Is the national debt the most dangerous issue facing America? Is uncontrolled spending unpatriotic? What can be done to curb the national debt? Are American willing to do what it take to get the debt under control? National debt is clearly the effect of a plethora of decisions that were made with only immediate results in mind, leaving our generation and our successors' generations to clean up after their mess. As the government created more and more federal programs that were made to tackle immediate issues, corruption followed with it. For example, the federal government took out funds from the Social Security program in the late 60s and early 70s just to pay for the Vietnam War. In my opinion, uncontrolled spending on behalf of the United States government is what led to the absolute chaos that our economy has today. As for what can be done to cure the national debt, I believe that the answer lies in the largest government-owned industry: the military. Reducing foreign military presence in issues that aren't directly involved with American affairs would drastically reduce the amount of taxpayer money spent on foreign affairs, therefore leaving more money open to be spent on paying debts. Will it take an effort? Yes. However, it will lessen the weight that our generation has to bear when - and yes: not if, when - taxes are raised. |
Gracemarie Cepero-LopezJust a high school senior trying to pass with all A's. |