Doron
Posting #4
Technology
Facebook's Prospects May Rest on Trove of Data
Somini Sengupta
The New York Times
May 14, 2012
2 pages

            Who would've thought that social networks could be such an important party of our nation, and not only our nations but our nation's economy. Facebook is continuing to grow, and even though there are great debates over how big it might be and how much it might be worth, it all discusses tens of billions, and that is impressive. The article above mainly focuses on Facebook's future. Some investors think that Facebook's value stands at $104 billion and some thing it is at $85 billion with a great potential to grow. The part that is most astonishing about the article is towards the end when the author refers to a recent video released by Zuckerberg where he's discussing the future of Facebook. In the video Zuckerberg says that he thinks that we would reach a point where Facebook is a part of almost everything that we do on the internet and that there wouldn't be a way around it. As a teenager, strangely enough I see this as more than just another ambitious idea of Zuckerberg's, Facebook's role in our lives has been great since the very first day and I don't see it going away any time soon. Experts say that within 10 years the phenomenon will disappear, but that just seems like a stretch, given that Facebook's role continues to grow. I think Mark is a representation to all Americans, a representation of ambition and the meaning of the phrase 'I am here to stay'. I am not sure how the world operated before Facebook, but then again I'm quite young. I just think that Facebook is sort of like when Adam and Eve ate the apple, there was no going back. Going back to the article once more, we see a great deal of discussion about lost profit on cellular phone applications, since on the browser we see ads but when we open our Facebook App there are no ads, companies hat advertise ads through Facebook aren't able to get a full understanding of how much of their advertising is actually being shown. I think that part of the beauty of Facebook is the that it's always there, supplying one with information that is actually interesting to them, and not some ads. I'm curious to see what the future holds for Facebook. 

Doron
Posting #3
Civil Rights
Obama's Switch On Same-Sex Marriage stirs Skepticism
Peter Baker and Dalia Sussman
The New York Times
May 14, 2012
1 page

              While it is nice to sometimes sink into our high schools accepting atmosphere, it is articles like these that provide a reality check and help me realize the world is much bigger and far more controversial than our high school. Yes, I would like to wake up every morning knowing that same-sex marriage is not an issue, but our world doesn't allow it, certainly not our government, and therefore our candidates are to present their opinion about the subject at one point or another. Recently our President Obama 'came out' with his views on same-sex marriage, saying that he supports gays people's right to get married. And society, being as suspicious and distrusting as it tends to be, began to question Mr.Obama's timing. According to the article 67% of voters said that Obama's only reason of presenting his views was related to the upcoming election, and 24% of the people said that he truly just wanted to speak his mind. The article also lists a few other polls that were conducted in relation to the announcement, one of which saying that Obama might actually be losing a great amount of voters because of this sudden exclamation, in hope of getting these votes from the young Americans that have been waiting for a president to support gay rights. Overall however it seems that Mr.Obama's opponent, Mr. Romney might even be happy with the revelation. Another part of he article that I would like to address is how it mentions that some African-American voters would vote for Mr.Romney because of this event. Now I understand that the statistics might show that African-American are more conservative or less accepting of gays, but it is frustrating for a teenager like me to feel that we have come so far, from segregation to women's rights, and still there is a need to present such statistics. I doubt that an African-American was going to vote for Mr.Obama just because he was black, and it is not a surprise to me that they would choose to vote for a white candidate that has the same world views as them. The article didn't seem to have a specific conclusion as to what the future holds, and I try to remain hopeful that us Americans will overcome this struggle that is splitting us and become almost united again. 

Sheriff to Face Civil Rights Suit Over Claims That Include Profiling

       

Alex Beroza

Posting #4

Sheriff to Face Civil Rights Suit Over Claims That Include Profiling

NY Times Associated Press

5/9/12

1 Page

       In Maricopa County in Arizona, a familiar problem has come up once again: profiling of Latino Americans. There has been a huge influx of illegal immigrants coming to America to seek better living opportunities. unfortunately this has led to many illegal immigrants that could be let it legally if more visas were to be issued by our government. Because all of this, many states touching the boarder of Mexico now have large amounts of residents feeling ill will towards the Latino Community as a whole. This has lead to cases like that here in Maricopa County. Sheriff Joe Ariapo has been charged with several accounts of civil rights violations. Although it is not clear that he himself has been pulling over too many Latino citizens, as Sheriff he is responsible. It appears that his police force has been using random traffic spots to pull over Latinos. Although this is technically legal, the data that has come out easily points to blatant racism in these traffic stops. The plan was to add a court monitor to make sure that Latinos weren't getting pulled over too much, but Sheriff Ariapo has stated that this would take away all of his power as Sheriff. This is the stage that the trail is currently at. 

      It seems obvious that such happenings need to be more closely monitored by higher forms of government. There needs to be more federal regulation of this blatant use of power by local police departments. This racism can't be tolerated, especially by the very people who are supposed to be protecting us. The real solution to all of this however, is to fix how immigrants get here in the first place. The US needs policies that ease border tension on our southern states. With this, documented workers can  help boost the economy, and have millions if not billions of dollars spent on finding them and deporting them.

Man Fired After Finding Loaded Firearm

Daniel M

Posting #4

Detroit Groundskeeper Fired After Finding Loaded Gun, Handing it to Cops

By Taryn Asher, Fox News Detroit

May 15, 2012

1 Page

Gun rights has been a touchy topic for many years and has caused a split in the nation of whether or not to make it illegal to own or carry a firearm. Quite a few cases have been made for illegal possession and usage of firearms, but a strange case has been brought up by a Detroit groundskeeper that does not fit with other cases made. The case is not very spectacular, and the groundskeeper John Chevilott, did nothing wrong to get himself fired from his job. The story is, that while on duty with his crew mowing the grounds, Chevilott found a firearm hidden in the tall grasses. Upon finding said firearm he proceeded to secure it until after his shift and brought it to the police station and turned it over. The police said that he "did the right thing to get it off the street" and found that it was stolen from a store back in 2005 and had been missing since. 

Upon reporting the incident to his management, he was fired on accounts of having possession of a firearm in the work place, unauthorized usage of the road yard, and for insubordination. All three of which were to make sure that the firearm was secure and that nobody was injured or killed by the firearm. John Chevilott has filed a grievance with the union to get his job back, this is mainly due to being two years away from retirement, and wanting to finish so he can collect on it. 

Parents of special needs students say school district covered up abuse

Eric Cheng

Current Event Posting #4

Topic: Education

Title: Parents of special needs students say school district covered up abuse

Author: Julie Peterson,

Publication: CNN

Date of Publication: May 15th, 2012 05:01 PM ET

Length of Article: 1534 words



Parents of special needs students say school district covered up abuse. It was just another day at school for special needs student Alex Williams. Recently released court documents say Alex  was routinely abused by teacher Melanie Pickens at Atlanta-area Hopewell Middle   School between 2006-2007. Despite extensive abuse of Alex and other students that was substantiated by a Fulton County School district investigation in 2007, no charges have been filed against teacher Melanie Pickens or then-Principal Frances Boyd. There could've been a child abuse filed with many reports by teachers, school nurses, and staff, would automatically result in criminal charges  but only the teachers would. Back in 2004, special needs teacher Melanie Pickens taught a class of middle school students. Pickens has denied the abuse, and Boyd has stated that she actually reported the abuse to the Fulton County School District’s Personnel department and was told not to fire Pickens. The Fulton County School District was ordered to pay for 5 years of special instruction and therapies for now 19-year-old Alex Williams to help him. Avossa says there are new procedures in place to keep abuse allegations from going unnoticed. “We decided to develop a more robust reporting process so that we ensure that there’s no single point of failure,” says Avossa. “So you report it to the principal, you report it to HR, you report it to the state. ” He adds that in the instance of principal Frances Boyd, “People reported it to the principal allegedly, and that person didn’t act on it the way that they needed to. The school had replaced the current superintendent with someone new. District Attorney Paul Howard’s office and Fulton County school police tell CNN the school police continue to collect background – eight years after the substantiated abuse began.

Gay Rights and the Latino Community

Liana
Current Event #4 - Civil Rights
Obama's Gay Marriage Shift Energizes Immigration Activists
Jeri Clausing, Fox News Latino
May 15, 2012
2 Pgs

Many Latino organizations are overjoyed with Obama's supportive statement concerning gay marriage. The NCLR (National Council of La Raza), along with Somos Republicans of Phoenix Arizona, The Tequila Party, Florida Immigrant Coalition, and many more, are all supportive of gay marriage. These organizations are taking it as a very positive sign that Obama is being so supportive of a delicate subject such as gay marriage, because many Latino organizations are allies of activists for gay marriage. If Obama supports the gay cause, it follows that he will also support lessening immigration restrictions, considering he has already demonstrated a relatively immigration-friendly attitude. In addition, Latino leaders, such as Dee Dee Garcia Blasé and Juan Rodriguez, who is an immigrant himself, are encouraging their followers and supporters to learn from the gay community. "We need to take a lesson," says Blasé, "from the (lesbian and gay) community... We need to be more aggressive, and we realize it." Latino activists are working on shifting the support towards Obama, and are taking his statement on gay marriage as a starting point.
However, because NCLR data shows that two thirds of America's latinos identify themselves as Roman Catholics, in many cases there may be a long way to go in terms of gaining more support for, and from, that gay community, largely due to religious reasons. Luckily, of those polled, approximately 60% deemed discrimination against gays and lesbians as a sin, which implies that there is a great deal of support, regardless of religion. With gay and Latino activists joined (both very large groups), their general choice of presidential candidate could sway the presidential race considerably, and potentially lead to major gains for both groups in the end.

Whites Account for Under Half of Births in U.S.

Monica Chan
Posting #4
Politics
Whites Account for Under Half of Births in U.S.
Sabrina Tavernise
New York Times
May 14, 2012
2 pages



It has been recently recorded that "white" or Caucasians are no longer the majority in the United States. While non-Hispanic whites make up 49.6% of births, Asians, Hispanics, and blacks now account for 50.4%. This is the first time in U.S. history that these groups of races have combined to make up the majority of the population. This is a major turn in American history since segregation, slavery, and immigration discrimination were once present and thriving in this very country. Though the minorities have recently become the majority in younger populations, the adults of these children are still mostly white. Specialists wonder if older populations will be willing to pay for the education of a generation that doesn't look like them. Many wonder if this turning point will bring more positives or negatives to the culture of this country. Also, statistics have shown that while 13% of Hispanics and 18% of blacks have a college degree, 31% of whites have theirs. Specialists don't know how this will eventually play out in the future of our country. There are many advantages to have this change in non-white birth rates. European countries with low levels of immigration have younger populations too small to support older generations. They say that without the births of non-white races, the United States population would have become top heavy with old people and ultimately lead to the downfall of the country.