My Body, My Rules

I completely agree with Nicolette's post "Dear Texas: Stay out of my health decisions" regarding Texas' unbelievable control with personal decisions such as restrictions on abortions. I also second the unnecessary restrictions of a counseling sessions as well as an ultrasound. This seems to invade a woman's privacy in a way to have her change her mind, as if abortion is bad or frowned upon. If a woman wants an abortion, she should be able to get an abortion without restrictions (other than crucial health obstacles) or any further additional obligations.

The Texas law that requires minors to have parental permission before getting an abortion is also somewhat invasive of their own personal privacy. I do believe that it is true that in many cases, minors need to have their parents with them in any medical reason, however at times this can be unnecessary and may even cause themselves even more harm. I believe should be the woman's individual decision to be able to get an abortion, regardless of age, and for minors I think that an  informational consultation should be necessary due to young women that may not have been educated properly in the sex education category.

It is absurd that the government is trying to regulate women's bodies. It is almost like the government is taking advantage of women by creating laws and regulations with the use of medical practice. I think this comes as unconstitutional as well as somewhat of an abuse of power. Women are in many ways in this world seen as inferior due to the patriarchal environment from past decades. It is time to stop this with completely equal rights for everyone, no matter what gender, and giving women their rights back is a good way to start.

Dump Trump

In all honesty, I don't understand how Donald Trump is even in the presidency. It is extremely appalling to me that he is still up and running. He has proven himself unworthy of a presidential candidate long ago when he stated racist, sexist, homophobic, and other discriminating statements.

Recently there was a terrorist attack on Istanbul's Ataturk Airport, killing at least 44 people and injuring over a hundred. During an interview, he endorsed tactics that can be categorized as torture, saying "we an have our disagreements, but we're going to have to get much tougher as a country. We're going to have to be a lot shaper and we're going to have to do things the are unthinkable almost." Reading this quote already scares me and inches towards abuse of power with the rights of the Constitution.

Regarding the attack at Istanbul, Trump thought the need to fight "fire with fire" in a battle of terrorism. I don't believe this is reasonable, and this also insinuates fear in me just due to his thought processes as what he would do as a president. On top of his terrible reputation, , for the terms of terrorism, he has repeatedly pledged to "ban all Muslims." This is unbelievable, and millennial really need to realize the downfall of the United States if Trump does get elected. The crazy part is that he actually has a chance, and it is so important for voters to understand that this cannot happen before it is too late.

Why should women have to pay more?

I completely agree with the commentary "Health benefits for women - Free for all" by Jane Kim . Although most birth control brands are free with insurance, which was a great decision, there are many people that do not have insurance and must manually pay for the medication itself, as well as the doctor's visit to get the prescription for the contraception itself. This prevents a large majority of the population for being able to get contraception, which should be free for all women due to rape, as well as ignorance to sex education, which can lead to unwanted pregnancy. If birth control cannot be afforded, then an abortion is completely out of the picture.

In addition, I believe that there is definitely a "pink tax," which is the theory that women pay more for simple feminine products in comparison to men's such as razors, clothes, shaving cream, etc. Also, there are incontinence products such as pads and tampons women must buy as well as be taxed for. It is not fair that from the day that women are born, they are determined to be required to buy taxed products on a regular basis from the beginning of puberty until menopause, which about 40 years of paying for pads and tampons. This is all just for being born a woman, and it does not seem fair that women have to pay more, and in addition get paid less due to the wage gap that exists.

The Issue on Gun Control

     There have been so many issues with gun violence all throughout history but the recent mass shooting in the Orlando nightclub seemed to be quite the wake up call for America. Now, the movement for the ban or reduction of guns is going viral from the news, blogs and social media. I think that something definitely must be done, and soon.

     Ways that can enforce gun control, as well as preventing further shootings and gun violence, are to begin with criminal background checks. There must be a specific way for this to ensure there are no way for fake or invalid checks such as a computer lookup for verification as well as an ID presented. A gun license would be reasonable as well. Because banning guns completely would be extremely difficult due to controversy as well as many people already owning guns, heavily taxing guns and possibly even more on ammunition is definitely a strategy.

     A concern about this no matter what regulations are put on in order to enforce gun control, there will be ways for unauthorized people to have access to guns, although it may be more difficult. There is also the possibility that this may increase crime due to the restrictions, such as illegally selling guns as well as people stealing guns.

    Before the concerns can even be addressed, laws must be voted up by the Senate, which may be more difficult that it seems due to four Senate gun measures that have already failed. This is extremely upsetting due to what measures these laws may be able to do, and it's better that we try and do something rather than just do nothing as gun violence continues.

Step Forward in Banning Guns

In the article by M. Thomas Davis, "Strict military gun control should be our model," this article discusses how strict control of guns is how it should be, and how this can be achieved. The intended audience seems to be directed towards citizens of the United States, but can also be addressed to the general public.

The author's credibility comes from him living 40 years with strict controlled access to guns, and according to him, this seemed to work out quite well. There was a unified understanding of guns and that they are capable of. In addition, anyone who can touch a gun must be trained, licensed, and the gun must be registered. Ammunition was in strict control as well, and this environment was the U.S. Army.

To support the system of the army even more, the military is drug free, made up of people with high education levels, and is managed by a leader system. In order to go through with this, the author acknowledged that banning guns would be a difficult task, but though some rules and laws passed, this may facilitate the ban. This starts with a renewal of the ban on assault weapons, ammunition, background checks, and living heavy taxes on arms and ammo.

I actually strongly agree with the author and like the thought process, however I do not think it would be this simple. People may revolt and this can be dangerous, because the people revolting would have guns, and emotions of anger and revenge are what causes people to use these guns at many times. For example, people who enjoy hunting may be angry due to the loss or minimized recreational sport, as well as for those who want to protect themselves from intruders. Cops are also a great example; although they are in control and managed, there has been lots of controversy in cops abusing their power with weapons, which I do believe is a big issue as well.

Orlando Shooting

In the editorial "The shooting in Orlando is an attack on all of us," I agree with the author in everything they are saying, about why this American citizen choose this day, if he was associated with anyone, how, if it could be stopped, and why a specific target. The author's intended audience seems to be anyone, mostly leaning towards people living in America. This may also apply to the LGBTQ community worldwide. The credibility of the author seems to state facts to back up his opinions, and mentions past events in history in relation to the Orlando shooting.

The author's argument includes how this was a gay hate crime, as well as the fault of the allowance of the assault rifle by Congress, and the shooter was anti-gay because he was Muslim. I do believe that the minority of the LGBTQ community was targeted specifically, and this is a continuing problem in America. Religion gets in the way of many people's opinions, and due to everyone having different and varied outlooks on religion, this makes arguments even more complicated. I do not believe that religion should cause hate, despite the different views people have on varied religions. As for the gun, it is true that this facilitated the shooting, but the author mentions "...once restricted under federal law, at least until Congress shamefully allowed the assault rifle ban to expire in 2004," implying that they should be banned.

I do understand this point of view but Congress cannot be blamed for the shooting due to this. Ideally it would be great to be able to ban guns, but in a realistic point of view, people are still going to have guns, and if not they will find a way to access them (despite the legality) and possibly use them. There is also the case where some states may allow guns and some states may not, and the issue with cops with guns as well. Although there may be exceptions to authority with guns, issues can get extremely complicated and controversial very fast.

The author throws in a part about a previously segregated city of Louisville and the passing of Muhammad Ali, which seems almost random. Was this thrown in due to Muhammed Ali and his Islamic beliefs in comparison to the shootings? Although it does set an example, I do not understand the point of that section, it just seems to be thrown in randomly and is unrelated. I think that this article should've been geared more towards the sympathy towards the LGBTQ community rather than the criticism with blame on Congress. I would also like to mention, he is an American citizen and automatic assumption of association with ISIS is considered stereotypical. His ethnicity alone is not a valid excuse to assume this way.

White Privilege

The news about the rapist Brock Turner, a swimmer and student at Stanford University has recently gone viral. Rather than taking responsibility of his terrible actions, he blames it on "party culture," "alcohol," and "influences from his swim team." In addition, according to an article from USA Today, the Santa Clara County jail list that his release date is HALF his already insufficient jail to three months. The article also says that the assaulter "consented to sex," which is obviously a lie due to her being unconscious. He should have faced over ten years in prison for the charges as the consequence for assault and penetration with intention to rape an intoxicated or unconscious person. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky reduced the sentence from six years to six months due to being behind bars for that long would have "a severe impact" on Turner. This is no valid reason and does not do justice. 

It is also enraging how his picture in these articles is not even his actual mugshot. In any other articled picture of a colored man or woman, their mugshot is clearly pictured. The same goes for jail time. A white, young male is only given not even over a decade, not even six months, but a mere three months in jail as a consequence for his crippling actions, and for a minority, such as Bernard Noble, the mere (as well as harmless) action of having possession of marijuana (two joints) would be 13 years in prison.

I think this article is worth reading because it reveals clearly how white privilege is projected, even through the judges working for the government. I am glad that the majority of the world is as enraged as I am, and hope that this brings awareness to preventing and eliminating rape culture due to the effects. I still believe that there should be more severe consequences because of this.It truly brings me to tears knowing that things are still like this and that an innocent girl is now scarred and has to suffer through extreme emotional pain, while a rapist goes through extremely minimal consequences.