Current Events Quiz 3.2

1. The House voted to have tough new screening procedures for Syrian refugees. The reason this measure is so popular is because of the recent Paris terrorist attacks. The next step of the bill is to be taken up by the Senate after Thanksgiving. Obama said that he would veto the bill because he believes that it is insensitive by discriminating against Muslims and would hurt American foreign policy with this discrimination. The administration feels that this bill is unnecessary because refugees are already rigorously checked before entering the country.

2. City Council has decided to ease regulations for building garage apartments, by eliminating the requirement that the owner must ass paved parking on the property. Benefits of the decision would be easier access to affordable living in Austin and it being a provider of supplemental income. Council member Kathie Tovo brought up the objection that allowing garage apartments could override the neighborhood plans of those which had decided against them. Both Tommy Ates and Sabino "Pio" Renteria are pro-garage apartment, saying that it is an affordable way to live in a nice neighborhood. I am definitely pro-affordable housing in Austin, so I agree with Ates and Renteria.

3. Sheri Gallo-District 10

4. The FDA announced on Thursday that genetically engineered salmon was ok for consumption, making it the first genetically altered animal to be able to be consumed by the public. Consumer and environmental groups have argued that the study was inadequate and that it's putting wild salmon populations at risk because there is a chance that genetically engineered fish could escape into oceans and rivers. The process of decision took a long time because it is the first of it's kind. The chief executive of AquaBounty says he is delighted and somewhat surprised by the decision. A conclusion that I draw from the graphs presented is that a lot more plants are genetically modified than I would've thought.

5. Zimmerman proposed a resolution that would prevent the city of Austin from spending money to help Syrian refugees. Both City Council member Greg Casar and mayor Steve Adler responded by expressing their opposition towards the proposal. 1,225 refugees came to Travis County in 2013. Sid Miller compared refugees to rattle snakes in a Facebook post, asking "can you tell me which of these rattlers won’t bite you? Sure some of them won’t, but tell me which ones so we can bring them into the house.” Manny Garcia deputy executive director of the Texas Democratic Party responded by saying that this fear towards refugees would not help protect Americans.

6. Holiday was convicted for killing his young daughter and her two half-sisters. Texas has executed 13 people this year, including Holiday. The other 49 states have executed 13 people all together. Gretchen Sween argued that Holiday's case should be appealed because his court appointed attorneys abandoned him after the justices refused to review his case. Holiday's trial attorney believed the case should be appealed because the conviction and some trial testimony were improper. The Texas attorney general's office overturned the appeals.

7. National Security: I know that this isn't exactly what the article is about but I always hear people ragging on the government (Obama in particular) for tapping into our phones and computers but I don't think we should really complain about this. The government does this for our safety so if you complain about the NSA listening in on some trivial conversation of yours or knowing that you've been looking at pictures of Jake Gyllenhaal holding dogs for the past hour but you're perfectly willing to go through airport security, you should probably reconsider your opinions.

The Craft of Writing Columns Questions

1. Robbing a convenience store and killing a police officer and a store clerk.
2. That he was innocent and falsely accused.
3. October 2005
4. May 2014
5. That he was in his girlfriend's apartment at the time of the crime and that he had made a call from there at around 10:00 am.
6. There was no evidence to support his claim.
7. Phone logs supporting Brown's claim were found in the garage of a homicide investigator.
8. There was also a document found that said that the prosecutors had requested to see the phone records. I think that Lisa Falkenberg is correct in thinking that it was more than just an innocent oversight.
9. The appeals court has yet to okay a new trial.
10. Falkenberg states that Brown is entitled to a fair trial and that unless the judges hurry up, an innocent man could be executed.
11. I think, or at least i hope, that he, by this time, has been released from prison.
12. The piece simultaneously tells a story, states an opinion, and creates an argument. I think this is pretty typical of an op-ed as columns are usually opinionated.

The Craft of Writing Editorials Questions

1. The editorial opens with a description of the horrible conditions a low ranked kitchen worker works in. With this, Kingsbury has already created an argument and most likely gotten the reader on her side. The lead tells the reader the topic of the editorial (working conditions of restaurant workers) and draws the reader in with the pathos of the paragraph.

2. The rise of the restaurant industry in America and the widening income gap.

3. That raising the wages of restaurant workers would result in less jobs. She disproves this by using California as an example. California has just raised the wages of their restaurant workers and it has actually resulted in growth in the industry.

4. Fairness, concern for the children of workers, it would combat income inequality.

5. Restaurant workers face a poverty rate of nearly 3 times that of the rest of the workforce.

6. She says consumers must pressure the industry to change and that lawmakers should reject the demands of the National Restaurant Association.

7. The National Restaurant Association is mostly responsible for the tipped minimum wage in Massachusetts. Tipped minimum wage is in which restaurants pay workers 2.63 with the expectation that tips will make up for the rest of it.

8. Restaurant owners blame slim profit margins and intense competition for these low wages and working conditions.

9. She says that raising wages wouldn't change competition because every restaurant would have to abide.

10. They work more than one job in order to stay afloat. Oftentimes they're also supporting their family both here and in their home country if they're an immigrant.

11. The paragraph about Filiberto Lopez humanizes the issue by providing the story of someone directly affected by the low pay and working conditions of restaurant workers.

12. Restaurant owners routinely do not pay their workers overtime, break child labor laws, and often either fail to pay minimum wage or to even pay workers at all.

13. Fairly common, the US Department of Labor conducted 165 investigations in the restaurant industry in 2013 and retrieved more that $1.7 million in back wages.

14. Kingsbury advises the mayor of Boston to pass an ordinance preventing those who are guilty of wage theft from getting or renewing permits, preventing them from doing business.

15. The conclusive paragraph is written with a proposed solution for the problem. I think it is effective because it gives the reader the impression that the problem can be fixed if we are proactive. It's different than other conclusions because, other than wrapping up the idea and closing it, the conclusive paragraph leaves it open.

Current Events Activity 3.1

1. The Texas abortion restrictions may be reviewed by the Supreme Court. Orders will be published on Monday morning, letting people know whether they will review it or not. People feel that it should be reviewed because the closing of the majority of Texas abortion clinics make it difficult for a woman to procure one. The Texas attorney general disagrees, saying that the closing of the clinics were meant to improve the medical standards in which abortions are performed.

2. Officer Kleinert was shielded from criminal charges by a 125 year old law meant to protect federal agents in the old West. The Supremacy Clause is a US constitutional provision that declares the Constitution the primary law of the land. This could have some far reaching effects because by using this law in this situation, people are wondering if it applies to the whole police task force. 

3. UT didn't do as much cultural prep work as the University of Washington has done with their players and has no plans to go sight-seeing. This will be the first regular season intercollegiate game played in China and more college athletic departments are exploring playing games internationally than ever before. Smart is worried for his team's strength and eating habits and is concerned because not only is it his first game at UT but he's also missing the first day recruits can sign a national letter of intent.

4. The decision in the election will determine whether Myanmar will continue existing under military rule. The day was described as being "full of excitement and energy." The main fight is between Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy and the Union Solidarity Development Party. Suu Kyi is expected to secure victory.

5. Pope Francis says that the theft of documents describing financial malfeasance inside the Holy See is a crime. He said this because documents had been published in two books last week, detailing the misdeeds and mismanagement of the Catholic Church, such as the high cost of sainthood and how money meant for the poor was used to pay the Vatican administration. Pope Francis says measures have been made to stop the actions revealed in these documents and yet he is upset that they are now public knowledge, implying that perhaps not everything is fixed.

6. Sanctuary cities are cities in the United States that have a policy of not persecuting illegal aliens. The two opinions expressed in these columns are that the Republican Party's policy on immigration will not solve immigration issues and that ending the policy of sanctuary cities would decrease crime rates. The author of the first column supports his argument by giving the reader an example of how Republicans don't want to talk about immigration and yet they consider it an important issue. The second author supports his argument by giving the reader an instance in which a crime could have been prevented with deportation. Both cartoons reflect the attitudes of the columns, that Republicans see all immigration as bad even though America is a country predominately founded by immigrants, and that sanctuary cities are just attracting criminals. I do think that Republican opinion on these issues are hindering progress but I do not think it is right to deport illegal aliens who pose no threat to society, so I disagree with the second column.

This editorial page allows readers to voice their opinions on the subject via Facebook or email. I think this is a good idea because it gives the public a voice and a chance to debate with each other.

Bring Home the Bacon (Or Not)

1. Eating processed red meat raises the risk of colon cancer.
2. The meat industry resisted the findings of the report while some environmental groups called for warning labels to be put on meat.
3. Processed meats being placed in Group 1 means that their is sufficient evidence that it can cause cancer. The chairmen of disease prevention at Stanford, Dr. John Ioannidis,  clarifies that being placed in Group 1 does not mean it has the same hazards as cigarettes or alcohol.
4. Randy Bish explains that most people don't really care and will continue to eat processed meats.
5. I think the opinion of the cartoon is sort of like "so what? who cares? people are still going to eat meat."
6. I probably eat meat about one a week at most and I will continue to eat processed meats when I do. I eat meat rarely enough that I'm not worried about cancer.