Nadia Blanton-Ringling Brothers Cancel the Continuation of The Circus

Summary: Several organizations that advocate for the benefit of animals believe that the canceling of the circus is a huge success and turning point in history. The audience size was decreasing drastically and the public was no longer in favor of animal entertainment.
Lisa Lange of PETA thinks social media is a major influence on spending the awareness.

Analysis: Activists share the common idea that the public view on the treatment of animals will change dramatically after this event.  Social media allows the perspective of everyone to be molded differently by each source provided to the viewer. Controversial incidents can easy be shared with people with the click of a button. This is convenient for activists and for those who wish to get involved.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2017/05/21/528982484/ringling-bros-curtain-call-is-latest-victory-for-animal-welfare-activists

Grace Schwall- UN workers killed

A few weeks ago two workers from the United Nations were killed while working in Congo. Many are alarmed by the danger their job put them in. It has recently been debated whether the work the UN is doing in these dangerous locales is worth the lives of their workers.

I think it's so sad that this unfortunate event occured. Though the peace the UN works towards is super important maybe there should be a few more precautionary measures for those involved. This is like how UN members were hurt during the Korean War.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/20/world/africa/congo-zaida-catalan-michael-j-sharp-united-nations-democratic-republic-of-congo.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

Hannah Howell- Students Sprayed With Pepper Spray

Summary: A high school in Ohio did something crazy. For a class in law and public safety, the students had the option to sign up to get sprayed with pepper spray to experience what it is like. This was purely for educational purposes, but some think that it was too far. There is a viral video show they students getting sprayed and to say the least, it made people very uncomfortable. Student Madison Garland said "As it went on and people kept screaming I'm like, 'That's not funny... it's uncalled for.'"


Analysis: I first saw this video on twitter; it was all over my feed. I was extremely shocked. This is a good idea in theory, but I don't think it was appropriate for school. Definitely not worth the extra credit points in my book.


http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/18/health/students-pepper-sprayed-trnd/?iid=ob_homepage_deskrecommended_pool

Police Use Hancuffs to Restrain 7-Year-Old

Dallas school district police are being accused of using extreme force to restrain a 7-year-old boy. Yosio Lopez, a student who was diagnosed with ADHD, had recently had an outburst and started banging his head against the wall. So to restrain him, the officers bruised, tased, and handcuffed the student and later sent him (without his mother's permission) to a mental health facility for a week.

There's a lot that concerns me with this story. The first is that I don't understand why it took all of that force just a for a little boy. Wouldn't actions like that just risk making his outbursts worst?? Also why didn't the police at least inform the mother of the decision before sending him to the facility??
I just hope that the correct consequences can be brought upon the officers. And that a thing like this won't happen again.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/16/us/boy-handcuffs-dallas-school-trnd/index.html

Mollie Hamman - 1st - Climate change

Many countries such as Guatemala and Vietnam are suffering due to climate change. Since the Paris deal, the Climate Vulnerable Forum has stated that meeting the agreement is the "lifeline" for these countries, and all countries involved in the CVF need to put as much effort into decreasing climate change as they can. One suggestion is trying to move to 100% renewable energy as fast as possible.

All these countries need to act fast and view climate change as one of the top priorities, because if it is not prioritized, there could be terrible results. Countries who are suffering because of this such as Guatemala and Vietnam need the support of the countries and need them to meet the Paris agreement in order to do well.

 Getty Images, Guatemala
 Getty Images, Vietnam

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39954423

Gay Chechens Fleeing Russia Denied US Visa- Austin Wallace

As many as 40 Chechens have applied for US visas while attempting to flee the country. All of them haven been denied, and only two have been able to secure visas to safe countries at all. The ruler of Chechnya is Ramzan Kadyrov, a man who only answers to Putin, and rules semi-atonimously over his provence with an iron fist. Recently a Russian newspaper broke the story about the secret prisons within Chechnya, torturing and even killing gay men. Kadyrov of course denies any claims of these torture camps because, "There are no such people (gay men) in Chechnya."

This is a horrific and continuously evolving tragedy happening in Russia, and I have been following the situation quite closely. There are secret organizations, such as the Rainbow Railroad, which are working to help people escape persecution in the country, but when no other countries are willing to take them, they might as well be dead anyway. America, I think, has a moral responsibility to help these people. The fact that this administration continues to do nothing shows further evidence of their Illegal collusion with Russia.

This can be synthesized to the fugitive slave act, when runaway slaves who fled to the north, where slavery was illegal, were hunted down and forced to return to the south.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/chechnya-gay-men-us-visas-denied-trump-government-crackdown-flee-536-a7741901.html?amp

One Butthurt President - Evan Daane

Donald Trump (Lizard in an orange peel) has been recently quoted as saying that he is the most poorly treated politician in history. He goes on to blame the media and the other politicians. His speech turns into a motivational speaker speech as he talks about how you must ignore the naysayers as they only bring you down. Then in Trump fashion, he went on to talk about how he's so great or whatever.

He can't even say he's the most poorly treated politician because he's not a politician. He's an overzealous howler monkey with a cat's ass for a mouth. He's not treated poorly either because much of what he says is nay saying and hate speech is just facts. Facts are apparently hate speech. Who knew? He's just one butthurt balding jackass. See that's hate speech. If I said "global warming is real" he'd take it as a personal attack, even though it's a goddamn fact.