For Super Bowl 50, NFL courts LGBT businesses

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For the first time ever, the NFL is outreaching to businesses owned by lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders for the year of 2016.  Robb Fleischer, president of the Golden Gate Business Association, claims San Francisco is going to be the best place to create history for the LGBT community.  The NFL tries to target small businesses owned by minorities, women, and disabled veterans for their Business Connection program; the LGBT community is thrilled to be included in their organization.  The Business Connection program helps get businesses become incorporated in presentations from representatives of the NFL and the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee staff and corporate sponsors.  Nathan Ballard, a spokesman for the NFL, claims these outreach programs are not exclusively beneficial to the NFL, but the entire business world.  Do you believe there will be backlash against the NFL for associating with LGBT?  Does this make a progressive step towards equality?  Do you think more companies should corporate with the LGBT community?        

Republicans seize Senate, gaining full control of Congress

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/04/politics/election-day-story/index.html

The GOP, or the Grand Old Party, won the over the senate this year. The GOP is better known as the Republican Party which is one of the two major political parties in America today. Being the majority in the Senate is a good thing for the republicans. The senate is able to do many things which includes opposing/rejecting proposed treaties or laws, and they also help elect federal executive officials. Many republicans openly contested Obama's recent health care plan but were unsuccessful on rejecting this plan because they were the minority in the Senate. Now that the republicans have control of the Senate they have the power to reject any of Obama's bills. I am not if this is a good thing or not. Certainly having the upperhand in the Senate helps the republicans try to make America the way they want it. It may also help improve America overall; because now there will be two different point of views trying to push their points across, and thus, giving us all the best we can get from them.Do you think that the GOP deserved to win? How will this impact the US?

Teachers File Lawsuit Against Principal for Discrimination

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Three former teachers from Bailey's Elementary School are filing a lawsuit against the school's principal, Marie Lemmon, for discrimination against race, religion, and gender. It also appears that this isn't the first time any charges have been filed against Lemmon's discrimination, but none of the previous affidavits by other teachers have been acknowledged by the school system. Years have passed since the Civil War and women's rights movements, yet discrimination is still very much alive and active in this country. And often times, especially in the case of schools, the matter is quietly shoved to the side to hopefully be forgotten. I believe that the education system should properly punish those who display discrimination as much as Lemmon does instead of attempting to protect the school's image. What do you guys think? Do you think discrimination occurring in schools should receive more attention, or is it too minor of a matter to be worried about?

Mandatory Mandarin: Portuguese kids take compulsory Chinese class

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The Portuguese town of Sao Joao da Madeira has recently made learning Mandarin compulsive for children 8 and 9 years old. This town has a large shoe industry and most of these children will end up making shoes or working for footwear companies. By mandating that children learn Mandarin, authorities hope that they will be able to work with or in China, whose footwear market is the biggest in the world. I think that it is good that these children are given this opportunity so early in their education, so that they can continue to use Mandarin throughout life and in their careers. The unemployment rate throughout Portugal is 13.6%, so it makes sense to give these children some way to succeed in the highly competitive job market. In early 1800s America, during the slave trade, slaves were forced to learn English and could not continue speaking their native languages. This could be seen as a historical connection because the children have no choice on whether or not they want to learn Mandarin. On the other hand, I think that this is much more like Reconstruction where the freedmen were finally allowed to learn English and most of them pursued it happily. What do you think? Is it right to make learning a language non-native to your country mandatory? Should the children be able to choose?

Connecticut girl barred from school amid Ebola fears; family sues

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The family of a third-grader, Ikeoluwa, in Connecticut filed a lawsuit against Milford Public School because they have banned their daughter from school for 21 days due to Ebola fears. Her family has just returned from a trip in Lagos, Nigeria for a family wedding, and she was banned from school “based on fears.” Rumors and panic started in Meadowside Elementary School in Milford, and Ikeoluwa was said to have “suffered severe emotional distress” from the decision to ban her. Stephen Opayemi, her father, was told that if he tried to bring his daughter to school, police would be there to remove her.  Ikeoluwa has not been diagnosed with Ebola, and she has not shown any of the symptoms. Do you think that it is right to ban Ikeoluwa? Is it right to make this decision based on fear, not medical information? 

Lava Flows up 2,000 degrees may destroy dozens of homes to Hawaiians

October 28,2014 people are waking up to the smell of burning to find out that its the lava slowly burning away at their homes. This lava flow is measured up to be at least 2,000 degrees and increasing.This lava is coming from molten rock from the Kilauea Volcano which is about 350 yards from the nearest house.The hawaiians in the 350 yard range of the Volcano have already been warned since the first sighting on tuesday. Till now people are still in their homes waiting and preparing to abandon their homes. WHat should the government do in the future for those who would be homeless? Leave them in the streets or what?

US disease expert argues against Ebola quarantine

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Scientists and politicians are disagreeing over whether or not to enact a 21 day quarantine - the incubation period for Ebola - on medical workers coming back to the United States from West Africa.  Dr. Anthony Fauci argues that this requirement would dissuade health care workers from providing their assistance in West Africa.  New Jersey governor Chris Christie responds to Dr. Fauci by saying that it will "'become a national policy sooner rather than later.'"  Dr. Fauci counters Christie's point by stating that other countries will be turned away from helping people in Africa, and the epidemic will continue to "roar."  Christie disagrees with Dr. Fauci on the matter.  Kaci Hickox, the first forcibly quarantined nurse in New Jersey states that she doesn't feel that she's been treated with "compassion and humanity."  US ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, agrees with Hickox and says that the US health care workers should be treated like heroes for the work they're doing.  Do you agree with Dr. Fauci, or with Chris Christie?  Should the returning medical workers be quarantined, and if they are, how do you think people will react?  Like Dr. Fauci predicts, or like Christie predicts?  What should the US do to prevent the spread of Ebola?

Iran executes woman who killed her alleged rapist

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A woman named Reyhaneh Jabbari in 2007 was sentenced to death for killing a man named Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi. This man allegedly raped her and the only reason Jabbari killed him was in self defense. However, she was still convicted of murder and the fact of her actions being self defense were ignored. She was held in solitary confinement for two months without access to a lawyer or her family. During those two months she was tortured as well. She had been waiting on death row for five years and her original execution date of September 30th was postponed due to public outcry against the execution. The United Nations and the The U.S. State Department had concerns about the trial saying that it was unfair and unjust. Although, Despite international pressure to spare her life she was hung. Iran has executed about 170 people this year and last year it executed the most people than any other country has. A connection in history that can be made to this event could be when the southerners hung black people who broke laws or went against white authority. They never got a fair trial and a lot of the time didn't even get their day in court. What do you think, Do you believe that Jabbari's sentence was unfair? Why do you think Jabbari was given such an unjust sentence? How do you feel about Iran executing so many people? What actions could the U.S. or other International organizations have taken to prevent this execution or countless others like this?

Golden Gate Bridge considers charging bicyclists, pedestrians

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The Golden Gate Bridge is known as one of the major landmark of San Francisco. What if someone told you that you have to pay walk or bike across the bridge? Would you do it? If the toll on the Golden Gate Bridge is approved, it would aim for July 2017 to start charges. I personally think they should not put a toll on the bride. Why should people who bike be tolled for not polluting the air? If the toll were to be approved I believe there would be less people would be biking. Although I do believe people would be willing to pay to go on the bridge but for those that bike daily on the bridge it isn't fair to them. What do you think? Would you pay the toll each time you wanted to go on the bridge?  Do you think its fair that pedestrians should pay sidewalk tolls since cars pay the bridge toll? 

Turkey Allows Kurdish Fighters Into Syria

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Since the formation of The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant better known by ISIS, the country of Turkey has not let the Kurds to use its borders to get into Syria from its northern borders. The fact that the Turkish officials have made this significant step, really helps the outcome of this ongoing war against this terrorist group. Someone has to give some credit to Turkey for their thoughtful action taken in the right path. Now the Kurds can send supplies to the cities that still have war going on in them faster, and more effectively. This really could be a turning point against the ISIS. This reminds of WWII where Persia (Iran) was used by the Allies to get supplies to the USSR southern borders against their war with the Nazi Germany. What do you think? Could Turkey's reaction endanger its territory by the ISIS? Or could it actually change the results of the war between the Kurds and the ISIS?

The country where it's apparently a crime to be rescued from slavery

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In Mauritania, the country with the world's highest incidence of modern slavery, it is apparent that being saved from such slavery charges that person for committing a crime. Why would anyone be charged for being saved from slavery? Mauritania was the last country in the world to abolish the practice of slavery, and yet, in 2007 it was only then that they considered owning humans was a criminal act. That should mean that escaping slavery is non-punishable then, right? Since the law states that it is a criminal act to own any humans. But that was not the case for 15 year-old girl, Mbeirika Mint M'bareck, who had been freed from slavery, yet had been charged for having sex outside marriage  (which can be punishable by death through stoning). Although it was not of her consent to be submitted into rape and commit adultery, that charge is looked upon more than the fact that she had been enslaved for adultery had been a longer standing law than slavery is.With these charges, it shows the sad, slow progress Mauritania is making towards equality. This 15 year-old girl is just a reminder that slavery goes on even in today's time, and that it should finally be brought to justice once and for all so that slavery is eradicated in every part of the world. So, as another country who looks upon this, how does this relate back to slavery in America with African-Americans? And, also (looking at the current situation at hand),  what are some ways that slavery can truly be abolished in Mauritania?