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.