Commentary on : "U.S Airstrikes are Justified"

 I had't heard anything about our troops that still remained in Afghanistan, yet I am not so much of a news person, until I read "U.S Airstrikes are Justified" by Katherine Miller and these makes me feel both sad and proud at the same time to know that they are still over there. I am proud of the fact that even  when the President said that the war was over we did not leave all those people who are also being affected in their country by themselves without any protection at all. What makes me sad is the fact that we still have mother, fathers, brothers and sisters away from  home and that they may not be able to come back in a while depending on how things get.

  I know that many people think that they should have all come back when the end of war was announced but is that what we would like for it to happen if it was us who were being affected? I agree with Katherine about her opinion and I have to say that I am surprised to know that some people still support our troops sacrifices although it may mean that they are putting their lives at risk.

  These should make us appreciate every single person who is over there and the rest of our troops because thanks to them we are doing something about terrorism and helping others when they need it. All i wish is for everyone to understand and think about the good thing our troops are doing by helping others and trying to stop terrorism and ended before it grows more than what it already has. Thanks to our troops sacrifices people in Afghanistan will be safe and soon terrorism will be in the past.

The U.S and it's security system.

As we know in Baltimore, Maryland there have been riots claiming for justice due to the "homicide" of Freddie Gray by 6 police officers. This is not the only case we know about unfair treatment of police man against residents like for example when Walter Lamer Scott was shot by a police officer after he had already hit him with a stun gun, or the  Mexican man who was also killed by police officers in Pasco, Washington.
Most of us see this kind of news and get scared, angry and start to lose the trust we are suppose to have in our police officers. There have been a lot more offenses committed by officers against civilians that make us all question their use of force and how secure we are. As we all know we have officers because we need to make sure everyone follows the rule and of course to protect us all but what is gong on now a days? Their actions seem to show that they don't care about doing their job right like it happen with Freddie as it is said in the article " The Timeline of Freddie Gray's Arrest and the Charges Filed" on The New York Times, "Officer Goodson stopped the van .... and went back to observe Mr. Gray.  'Despite stopping for the purpose of checking on Mr Gray's condition, at no point did he seek nor did he render any medical assistance for Mr Gray,' Ms Mosby said." Because of the police indifference about Mr. Gray he ended up dying of the injuries he suffered and was not attended for in the van. Many believe that if the people of Baltimore had not done the riots no one would have filed charges against the officers and that peace has lost its credibility.
From my point of view I see the officers decisions as inappropriate or dumb. They clearly don't seem to know what they are doing, as if they hadn't been trained for the job they are assigned to do, I see many other decisions they could have taken before going with the one of taking someone's life away, many people seem to think like this because it is true, they are trained to deal with this type of cases and lately it seems like they have forgotten and don't care but recalling a "parent meeting" I attended with my parents about a week ago where they brought in an officer to answer our questions the officer presented said that because of the recent incidents happening with the police and people they are sending their staff into more training to be thought how to handle a similar situation. This to me made me wonder if this is something that needs to be enforced all around the country to change the situation.
I wonder if there is a bigger  reason I don't see of why officers seem to be acting irresponsibly against civilians when they are suppose to protect us and enforce the law but not to a degree of killing people. I do not know what being a police officer fully implies but I do know that it is a big major job that you have to be trained for and that needs every ounce of you to do it right to be able to protect civilians and carry out the law at the same time. It just seems like The U.S is loosing control of the security for the nation and the people.

Interaction with classmate's blogs

I have never stopped to think about those people who run our government and their true role. I am surprise to find out that there are millions of dollars being wasted on campaigns just to get a say in the government. After reading "Needed: More time legislating and less time fundraising." written by Ashley Arnerich I have realized that I never really payed attention on how much money candidates spent on campaigns just to be able to have a say in our government, less likely I would know about all their "Supporters" whom help them out financially just because they also want a say in the government and they can't be there. It is really sad to realize that those running our government worry more about keeping their "supporters" happy to stay in office than fixing our problems. If they really wanted to keep our country in good shape they wouldn't let any person manipulate them with money but because they want that seat in Congress they lose the real reason of why they are running.
I agree that there should be restrictions  on how much money candidates should waste to keep it even and fair for everyone but also to make sure that they are not only doing it for the financial aid they get. Maybe our problems wouldn't be so serious. I may not make much sense because I just can't really see how it would be if we had regulations about this but think about it and read Ashley's post and then try to imagine if thing would be different. I believe everything would be better if not everything was about money and our problems could be more easily solved. 

The United States and its problems

The U.S is a country where many come to find opportunities they do not have in their countries and also it represents a threat to other countries and groups. It has many good things as well as bad  like for example in many states gay marriage has become legal, immigrant students have gotten an opportunity to go to college and work legally,etc. yet we also have many bad things going on like the threat of ISIS and the immigration reform and the constant fighting between the government branches about the decisions made about this things.

Throughout the years our country has come upon hard decision and problems many didn't know they could happen like the terrorist attacks and the immigration problems which seem to drag our country into constant battle within itself. As we know our country was build with these three branches of government that are supposed to keep the country in good shape and its suppose to keep it balanced, and it has or so it tries to. Those who represent our branches are selected every few years and problems change, because of this not everything stays the same, for example now Obama is trying to implement new laws and make it all better so that those who don't have a chance get one like immigrants yet the other branches do not agree on his decisions and try to stop it, which is not such a big deal if it doesn't affect you but when they try to make it possible and drag our country's safety into something totally irrelevant that is another thing. The House of Representatives tried doing this to bring our President's decision down yet it didn't work because many realized that it was just not something worth the risk, and although they tried their hardest to use the country's safety they lost the argument.

Our country has two different political parties who believe different things and who compete against each other just to win yet they do not realize that their job is to keep our country safe from external and internal problems. It seems like our government is not trying to work together to keep us safe and keep our country standing in good shape. There are many controversies going on about the decisions our President has been making but instead of the branches coming together to solve the problem they seem to be attacking each other instead of trying to keep our country in good shape and safe. If these keeps being a problem in the future our country will be destroyed.

Surviving to College admission madness

On March 15, 2015, Frank Bruni, an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times wrote the article called " How to Survive to College Admissions Madness ". In this article Bruni is targeting future and current college students and their parents to let them know that they do not have to go trough all that stressful admission process and debts to get a good career. Many students now a days worry about getting accepted at those big known colleges like the University of Texas, Texas A&M, and the University of Arkansas and work really hard to get in but what they don't know is that they can get the degree they want in another college where they may find their selves more comfortable and will not have to acquire a big debt for attending college.

Bruni wants to get their attention by the experiences of two students whom went to the same high school and had different expectations and another student whose parents made him realize that the college doesn't really matter that it is what you get out of it that matters the most. He uses these three stories to show that students can get were they want to without having to go to those colleges they desire and that they can end up in different situations from what they expected.
 The two students were different, Jenna was one of the top students while Peter was in the top third, yet they ended up both working at the office of the Boston Consultation Group.  Peter was rejected by the two colleges he wanted to attend and he ended up attending Indiana University where he became vice president of a business fraternity on campus, he started a small estate enterprise to fix up and rent houses to students and after working in the Boston Consulting Group he decided to get his masters' degree and is now at Harvard. While Jane was accepted to her dream school Yale, and had not struggled to get in had a harder time getting into another college due to her SAT  scores, she applied for more than half a dozen schools where she got rejected and ended up going to Scripps college where she realized that she was better there. After going trough that experience she realized that she had to take risks without fearing the consequences and now she has developed a charter school for low-income families in Phoenix. This shows that no matter where you attend college you can end up where you want.
The second story he uses is about the boy and his parents, where the parents help their son understand that getting into a high level college is not going to change what he is or can accomplish. Matt Levin was waiting to hear back from the colleges he had a pplied to when their parents decided to write him a letter, he didn't read it right away. Matt like many others decided to strive high and work hard to get into one of the best colleges, his options were Yale, Princeton and Brown. When he received the news he was very upset, he had been turned down by all three colleges. The next day he wore the shirt of his fourth option that had accepted him: the Lehigh University. He had already read the letter his parents had given him more than once, the letter said: 

"Dear Matt,

On the night before you receive your first college response, we wanted to let you know that we could not be any prouder of you than we are today. Whether or not you get accepted does not determine how proud we are of everything you have accomplished and the wonderful person you have become. That will not change based on what admissions officers decide about your future. We will celebrate with joy wherever you get accepted — and the happier you are with those responses, the happier we will be. But your worth as a person, a student and our son is not diminished or influenced in the least by what these colleges have decided.

If it does not go your way, you’ll take a different route to get where you want. There is not a single college in this country that would not be lucky to have you, and you are capable of succeeding at any of them.

We love you as deep as the ocean, as high as the sky, all the way around the world and back again — and to wherever you are headed.

Mom and Dad "

Just like Peter and Jenna, Matt's parents helped him realize that all that truly matters is what he can get out of the college he attends not what the college's reputation is. 
This is an important message Bruni wants college students and their parents to know and understand, that no matter how good the school you attend to it will not change what you get out of it and the effort you put into it to get what you want without having to acquire a big debt.

Netanyahu's speech to Congress

Netanyahu's speech to Congress: What Israel's leader can and cannot say.

   Zev Chafets, a FOX news contributor, expressed his opinion about how our President's decisions are hurting our country and our allies trough his article "Natanyahu's speech to Congress..". In this article he is trying to inform us Americans the damage that has been caused by the decisions our President has made since he was elected, an example is when he decided to bring our troops back from Iraq although he had been told that this would lead to chaos, and now here we have ISIS our big threat now. Zev gives us many examples that are facts not just something he believes and also he uses the point of view of Israel's leader. 

   This is can be an eye opening for many Americans because this shows what many of us don't see, what our country has become, and what is being led to be. Zev believes that our President is hurting us without worrying what will happen after he leaves office and goes to leave a "normal" life. If things continue to go this direction we will soon be lost and may fall into a war that could have been avoided. 

    If we look at Zev's argument and analyse what is going on in our country at the moment we can see that our country is chaos, not only because we may not have a homeland security department but we are also in big threat by ISIS and our states are divided in a sense due to the immigration reform and our economy is not doing so good. Our country has gone from stable to being totally chaos within and out, and if our President doesn't do someting we will all go down.

Republicans struggle to avoid Homeland Security shutdown.

(Thursday, February 12,2015)

Republicans are struggling to pass a legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Securiy (DHS) due to the fact that they have decided to add some amendments to stop President Obama's imigration polices. This has turned out to be a big deal due to the fact that if the legislation is not passed the agency will be shut down after running out of the money by the end of February 2015. Why is this important? All those people who work to protect us like police officers, border patrol agents, will have to go to work without a pay and we will not be able to stay protected in case of a natural dissater or a terrorist attack, also many others would lose their job.

Even though the Republicans are trying to blame the Democrats claming that "The House has done its job" the Democrats keep insisting that they will only agree on a clean bill to fund the DHS. Although many Republicans and Democrats argue that they don't agree with the Presidents actions that they still believe it is not just to be playing with the DHS. If Republicans want to fight over the immigration polices they should do it separete from the funding for the DHS. 

The results for this legislation are unclear. They expect people to think about it more deeply to vote for a clean bill before the deadline February 27,2015. A fully funded DHS is necessary specially now a days, specilly with the problem with ISIS. 

http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/12/politics/congress-gop-dhs-shutdown/index.html