Jose Fernandez

Jose Fernandez died early Sunday morning in a fatal boating accident. Jose arrived in the US on his fourth attempt of fleeing Cuba. He has been previously put in prison for one of his attempts and saved his mother from drowning on another. David Ortiz said that it is sad to hear about this because Fernandez had such a great career going for him and to die at the age of 24 is tragic. Matt Gaetz a Florida state representative tweeted, "To all who kneel during the anthem today - remember that how Jose Fernandez risked his life just to stand for it.". This is a powerful quote because it started a political conversation between the supporters and non supporters of Colin Kaepernick. At a certain point his quote is a true one and people should respect it. For example playing at an international game kneeling during the anthem is something that shouldn't be done because you are representing the freedom and rights that no other country grants to you. Kneeling during an anthem is something that should be done at home and I think it is a great way to get attention but on a national level, not an international one.

Illegal Fishing is Part of National Security?

Secretary of State John Kerry and other world leaders are being gathered in Washington DC to talk about illegal fishing, pollution of waters, and the protection of marine parks. The number one topic to talk about though is illegal fishing. John Kerry is now considering that illegal fishing is a national security issue because it is linked with international organized crime. Fishing vessels is the number one leading cause of this because many drug traffickers use fishing vessels to transport drugs across international waters. In March the Australian Royal Navy seized a vessel that was hiding $2 billion of arms under fishing nets. There has also been a lot of violence between countries about fishing rights and territories. China mainly gets involved with many countries. Some countries have stated that they will use military force on vessels that are illegally fishing in their territory. None the less it is obvious to see how illegal fishing can be linked to a national security issue.

Cascade Mall Shooting

Late Friday night there was a shooting in Cascade Mall in Burlington Washington. The shooting happened around 7:45 and the mall went on lock down. Washington state police are still looking for the gunman. Witnesses said that he was last seen walking towards interstate 5 and due to the fact that the gunman wasn't found in the mall, a nearby high school football game was cancelled. I was shocked to find this article so fast since it just happened last night. This goes to show how fast the media finds and presents a story online. Though this article on the New York Times is not very long and detailed it still managed to get a story out that would grab people's attention. This story was not on the first page of the New York Times but it editors did give it a title that would attract readers as if a shooting happened in D.C.

Albertville Divide

Albertville, Alabama is a prime example of the divide of the US class on the issue of immigration. Albertville was once a small and neat town according to many of the residents who have lived there, but it was gradually increasing in its Hispanic population. Albertville national is known as the "fire hydrant city" because Meuller's manufacturing plant is there, but throughout the sate it is also known for its poultry processing. Many workers who were once working at Maulers has found that the immigrant population has affected the number of jobs available. Residents of Albertville said that they have moved out of their neighborhood once immigrants started moving in. These streets soon went down hill and are no longer nice neighborhoods. In 2011 the Alabama passed a law that scared off a lot of immigrants who had jobs to flee to neighboring states. A CNN/ Kaiser Family Foundation poll

found that over 55% of white working class residents believed that immigrants in Albertville has affected their family while 27% of whit college grads and students said that they have not been affected. Recently Haitian immigrants have been coming into Albertville to work in the same chicken processing plant and Albertville residents are worried about the number of jobs available.

Cuba Flight Safety

Texas Senator Marco Rubio has caught the Obama administration in a lie when he saying that he has failed to follow through on a commitment to place an air marshal on all fights going to and from Cuba. The Transportation Security Administration has claimed that there has not been an air marshall on any flights but on May 17 the Department of Homeland Security said that any flights without an air marshall on board could not proceed. Rubio has asked the white house to provide documents that gave approval that flights could leave and enter this country without an air marshall on board. The TSA had no comment on this act, but airlines seem to be okay with the absence of an air marshall. American Airlines, who conduct most of the flights to Cuba, says that they do not use any airport that doesn't have the highest standards of safety.

Naked Trump Statues

The anarchist collective INDECLINE has made and put up a naked Trump Statue by the entrance to the Holland Tunnel. Another statue was put up in Miami on a billboard in the vacant property of the former RC Cola Factory. Today Albelo who runs an event management team the oversees the property says that he will not take the statue down. He says that it will stay up not as a political statement but as an art statement. Commuters of the Holland tunnel seem to love the statue as well. An INDECLINE spokesman said that motorists will look at it a couple of times and then a smile will break out on their face. This may be the next form of political cartoons and another form of media as well.

Public Confidence in Media

Politico wrote up an article a Gallup poll which asked people if they trust mass media. The results of this poll was thirty two percent of the people polled trusted the media. This percentage is an all time low since 1972. Fourteen percent of people who identify as republicans said that they trust the media. This is a concerning number to hear because the presidential election is coming up soon and it will make for an interesting turnout, but it also means that our culture is becoming more polarized.

Gender Rights Cause Sporting Locations to Move

The Atlantic Coast Conference has decided on Wednesday that it would move all neutral game sites in North Carolina to outside of the state. This decisions was made shortly after a state law curbed anti-discrimination protections for lesbians, gay, or transgender people. The law pass is commonly known as House Bill 2 and it nullifies local government ability to establish anti-discrimination laws. The bill also states that lesbian, gay, or transgender people must use the bathroom according to the gender that is printed on their birth certificate. All institutions that participate in the sporting events are in favor of the move because they are all about inclusion.

Biggest Case On the Planet

Julia Olson is trying to help 21 kids sue President Obama for not creating any regulations on greenhouse emissions. She became interested in this case when she was pregnant with her son in 2006. She was watching a movie on climate change and was inspired to do something about it. Olson became worried about her son and the safety of the planet for her son and she felt that people of her generation are causing the problem. She claims that this law suit is to help the president and his administrations to feel the weight of responsibility of being a parent and the concern that she has. In a March hearing of this case the judge says, "'There is simply no constitutional right to a pollution-free environment'". Olson disagrees cause she believes that the kids are being violated of their constitutional right to "life, liberty, and property". This is where Olson or CNN is wrong when they wrote up this article. Every American has a constitutional right to life, liberty, and happiness, not property.

Obama's First Overruled Veto?

Just recently a bill that would allow family member who are victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorists attacks would be able to sue Saudi Arabia. The president met with a group of people that sponsored this act and decided to veto the bill. According to FoxNews 2/3 of congress is already standing by to overrule his veto. If congress does successfully overturn the veto, then this will be the first veto of President Obama that will be overturned. The president doesn't want to sign off on the bill because he believes that it will make diplomatic relations complicated in the future. He also believes that bills like the sin the future should not come up because you just cannot sue someone for creating war.

Will the U.S. Join the Climate Agreement Made in Paris?

President Obama is set to speak at Midway on Thursday to announce $40 million in programs to help countries that are vulnerable to climate change. After his announcement the president will be headed off to attend the G20 summit in China to hopefully join the agreement made in Paris last year. The new promos consist of USAID which will give $9 million to government to help create polices for climate change. Countries that will benefit from this are Micronesia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga and few others. The United States will also give $15 million toward disaster-risk reduction initiatives in the region. This reminds me of when Seth came and talked to our class about climate change and how some islands or costal communities are in danger if being flooded.

North Carolina Fail to Enact Strict Voting Law

The supreme court on Wednesday was in a 4-to-4 deadlock on letting North Carolina enforce strict voting laws. The federal court saw these laws unconstitutional as these laws were an effort to target African Americans. Governor Pat McCrory who is up for re-election believes that his states has been denied basic voting rights that other states have been approved for. The North Carolina law had five parts that were struck down: its voter ID requirements, a rollback of early voting 10 10 days from17, an elimination same-day registration and of preregistration of some teenagers, and the ban of counting votes casted in the wrong precinct.