McDonalds Workers Protest Wages- Casey Lampert

McDonalds workers who were protesting their wages and calling for an increase of $15 an hour were arrested after swarming the Mickey D's headquarters. Over 100 employees of the food chain were arrested. The company is the largest fast food chain by revenue and the CEO makes outrageous sums, which has enraged the employees who are struggling to make ends meat. Over 2,00 people turned out for the rally to increase the minimum wage, with protesters calling for McDonalds to stop pretending that they can't afford an increase in pay for their labor.

It frustrates me that the corporate leaders are making huge sums of profit while their employees are struggling. While I agree with them that the minimum wage does need to increase, I think that the increase they're asking for is simply unrealistic. I also think that it wasn't right for the police to arrest them unless they were becoming violent, peaceful protest is protected by the amendments after all. Anyways, I hope that they get an increase in wages and that the leadership in McDonalds sees how wrong it is to refuse to up the wages when the cost of everything else is rising. 

http://news.yahoo.com/mcdonalds-workers-protest-low-wages-more-100-arrested-221231299--sector.html

Texas has 7 of the fastest growing cities- Casey Lampert

In a recently released U.S. Census report, 7 of the 15 fastest growing U.S. cities are in the state of Texas. The survey was for the period between July 2012 and July 2013 and used factors like population growth to determine the leaders. One interesting find from this census was that all of the fastest growing cities were located in the South or West. Experts say that people are attracted to the Lone Star State because it doesn't have an income tax and businesses don't have to undergo much regulation. The census also determined that Austin, Texas, is now the 11th largest city in the country.

I think it's awesome that people are coming down to Texas and the state is growing as a result. I love Texas and it's benefitting our economy so I'm all for it. It's also nice to see that our colleges are getting a lot students since the cities where the most growth is in is near college towns. Texas forever, y'all.

http://news.yahoo.com/texas-7-15-fastest-growing-u-cities-224243329.html

California Woman found after 10 years of Abduction- Casey Lampert

A 25 year old woman was recently found after being abducted ten years ago from her Californian home. Her captor would sexually abuse her and tell her that she would be deported if she tried to reach out for help. During the time she was kept with him, he forced her to marry him and she later had his child. She was finally found after she reached out to her sister through Facebook and then later contacting authorities.

It's a mixture of happiness and disgust that I feel after reading this article. Happy that she was eventually found and reunited with her family, but disgusted by what her kidnapper made her do. This story, along with the several other stories that have come up these past few years about kidnapped victims being found, terrifies me because it makes all those childhood scary stories real. I hope that people don't burden the victim with questions about why she hadn't escaped sooner and I hope that psychos like her captor are put away for good.

http://news.yahoo.com/california-woman-abducted-15-found-alive-decade-later-000051093.html

Four Rabbis Indicted for Kidnapping- Casey Lampert

Four Rabbis in New Jersey were indicted on the charges of kidnapping men and violently forcing them to divorce their wives. This is because orthodox women can't get a divorce until their husband signs a document called a "get". The rabbis allegedly would beat and torture the Jewish men until they decided to sign the get. If charged they could face life in prison.

Since I myself am Jewish this article was really confusing for me since I practice a different, less strict type of Judaism than these Orthodox men do. To hurt and torture people just to profit or receive a divorce just seems wildly absurd especially when you make it based on completing a document. It's incredibly sad that this would be how these men chose to behave since as Rabbis they're supposed to be a religious authority for the community. I hope that they are proven innocent but the alleged crimes are truly disappointing.

http://news.yahoo.com/four-rabbis-indicted-jersey-kidnapping-charges-012648488.html

Gunman Kills 7 in Drive-By Shooting- Casey Lampert

Earlier this week, a gunman killed seven people, including himself, and injured seven others in a drive-by shooting. A video surfaced that showed his intent after the crime was already committed, but in the video he spoke that his reasons for killing those people stemmed from the rejection he got from women. He angrily blames his loneliness on something inherently wrong with women's DNA, targeting them specifically for his victims. Just last month the gunman's parents called the police in fear that their son was suicidal or was going to act out violently.

I find this news to be incredibly sad because of how frequently we've begun to see these acts of violence in the media. This kid clearly had some sort of mental disability and wasn't fit to purchase a weapon but he was still allowed to anyways. It's giving mentally unstable people the ability to inflict serious harm on many people and it's not right. My sympathy is with the victims families not only because of the loss of their loved ones but also because this situation was easily avoidable.

http://news.yahoo.com/least-seven-people-killed-california-shooting-reports-111240848.html

Somalia Attack by Addison Jordan

Summary: The group Al- Shabaab launched an attack on Somalia’s parliament headquarters on Saturday. Officials say that there were 10 people killed in this attack and more than 11 people injured. Some members of parliament were injured after Al-Shabaab stormed their facility in Mogadishu.

            “Fighters used automatic rifles, heavy machine guns and explosives in an attack that lasted more than three hours,” witnesses said.

            Mohamed Madale, a police spokesman, said “security forces later secured the building after the fighters blew themselves up.” He said “the security forces killed several fighters during the attack.” Dahir Mohamed, a police officer who witnessed the attack, said “the attackers used a car filled with explosives to get into the parliament building, and killed some of the Somali forces guarding the building on their way in.”

            Smoke and fire took over the building as the ambulance showed up. Many bodies were recovered from this attack; some were Somali forces, civil servants and civilians who were unfortunately caught in the crossfire during attack.

Analysis: I don’t know why the group Al-Shabaab attacked the parliament headquarters.   Maybe they thought they was a good reason, but it still doesn’t mean that they should go and harm innocent people. That just isn’t right and they should be punished for their actions.

Link: http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/24/world/africa/somalia-attack/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

Tupac's LAst Words by: Taylor Grant-Gates

As Most of us all know Tupac Shakur was shot multiple times and killed in 1996. Chris Carroll a retired Las Vegas police officer has come out in a magazine claiming that he heard the last words that Tupac said: F**k You. As the Story goes there was a fight that broke out in the lobby of the MCM Grand hotel in Las Vegas during a Mike Tyson Boxing Match. Tupac and his bodyguards got into a scuffle with Orlando Anderson a well known gang member. While Tupac was stopped at a light a white Cadillac rolled up behind his car and fired through the back window. Carroll was the first officer to respond to the scene. he says that he kept walking up to Tupac's door and One of his bodyguards 'Knight' kept approaching him and he had to repeatedly tell him to "Back the F**k up". Finally  Carroll was able to get the door open and Tupac's limp body fell out of the vehicle. He says that as he pulls Tupac out of the vehicle there is another bodyguard "Suge" that keeps yelling "Pac,Pac!!" and Carroll recalls that Tupac seemed to ignore him at first, and seemed to be fighting to hold on to life, then Carroll states that his demeanor changed and Carroll asked " Who shot you?" and then Tupac took a deep breath and said "F**k You" then slipped into unconsciousness and when he got to the hospital and would not say anything there and then he slipped into a coma and then he never came back. Carroll state that the reason why he is coming out with this information is because he is now retired from the Police station and can legally talk about the case, and because before he didn't want Tupac to seem as a type of Martyr for saying F**k you to the police, but now he feels as if the time was right.

So this is sad obviously but honestly Tupac is a G for saying this. To be honest the only reason why he didn't say anything is because of "Street Code" and if you don't know what the street code is regarding people and the police.....you should. I will give you a hint, it involves "Snitches get stiches", but I am positive that Tupac wasn't afraid of getting stiches its just the principle If that make any sense. Tupac will always be a great in my book, and his legacy will live on.