Current Events 3.2 

1) In the house of representatives they voted overwhelmingly Thursday to slap stringent - new screening procedures on refugees from Syria seeking resettlement. The bill would require that the director of the FBI, the secretary of the Department Homeland Security and the director of national intelligence confirm that each applicant from Syria and Iraq poses not threat. The measure received significant support from democrats. The senate is expected to take up the measure after Thanksgiving recess. 

Obama's response was a request for an explicit authorization of force against the Islamic State. The Obama administrative repeatedly said it would undermine American leadership in a region where Republicans have side it is lacking, and would undercut Washington's ability to command a coalition against the security threats in Syria.

2) On Thursday the Austin City Council voted to ease regulations for building garage apartments. The two primary benefits of the decision are that it provides less expensive housing and is a way to also provide supplemental income. The objection District 9 Council Member Kathie Tovo raised is that allowing garage apartments could override some neighborhood plans that had decided against
them. The similar point made by Tommy Ates was that because he lived in a garage apartment he know that it is an affordable way to live. District 3 council member Sabino "Pio" Renteria says that he also leases a backyard cottage to a tenant on his own property, which helps him remain in his longtime home. I think that people having a garage apartment is okay because it let's people to have a home in the neighborhood they want without having to spend as much money.

3) Leslie Pool is the Austin City Council member that serves my neighborhood.

4) Federal regulators on Thursday approved a genetically engineered salmon as fit for consumption, the salmon would now be the first genetically altered animal to reach U.S. supermarkets and dinner tables. One of the arguments made by the consumers and environmental groups was that if the genetically engineered fish were to escape into the oceans it could alter other wild salmon. The approval took so long because it was fist approval of it's kind and was wary of a political backlash. Ronald Stotish, the chief executive of AquaBounty said he was delighted and somewhat surprised by the approval after all this time.
One conclusion of the graph that went with the story is that the number of genetically modified foods is going up significantly and is at 115 products that are now GMO products, when in 1992 there were zero.

5) Don Zimmerman proposed a resolution that would block Austin's governments from spending money to help Syrian refugees resettle inside the city. Council member Greg Casar responded by saying "If council made any statement, it would be to express our support for families fleeing bloody conflict in Syria and refugees from all parts of the world." Mayor Steve Adler responded by saying "That's the kind of city we are and I want the rest of the world to know. Helping those in need and ensuring the safety of Austinites are not mutually exclusive goals." In Travis County, 1,225 refugees arrived in the 2013 fiscal year. The Facebook post from Sid Miller shows a mass of refugees and another depicting a cluster of snakes that says "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." Texas Democrats accused Miller of fanning "the flames of fear and xenophobia."

6) Raphael Holiday was executed for setting a fire that killed his 18-month-old daughter and her two young half-sisters at an East Texas home 15 years ago. This would be Texas's 13 execution of the year. It has accounted for half of all executions in the U.S. so far this year. Lawyer Gretchen Sween argued that Holiday's court-appointed attorneys abandoned him after the justices in June refused to review his case. Holiday's attorney died an appeal saying the conviction and some trial testimony were both improper.

7)

Extra Credit

                         The Craft of Writing Editorials

1) The lead describes the details on working in a kitchen and the dangers that could come along with it. They then talk about about how the minimum wage frequently does not exceed the state minimum wage of $8 an hour.

2) The restaurant industry in the United States is exploding, just as the income gap is widening. 

3) She argues that the policies for anti-raising wages are very unimpressive and dismisses them by talking about how the number of employed citizens has increased since they stopped giving out below minimum wages. 

4) She talks about how the restaurants should raise the wages for the employees so they can take care of their children.

5) The 13 million-plus restaurant workers in the U.S. face a poverty rate that is nearly three times that of the rest of the country's workforce. It is seven on the 10 worst paying American jobs according to federal labor statistics. 

6) consumers must begin to pressure the industry or little will improve. The lawmakers should summon the courage to reject the demands of National Restaurant Association.

7) National Restaurant Association is largely responsible for Massachusetts "tipped minimum wage" under which restaurants are allowed to pay workers just $2.63 with the hard-to-enforce understanding that tips will make up the rest of the way to at least $8 per hour.

8) The restaurant owner blame these problems on slim profit margins amid these intense competition.

9) She says that raising wages would not change competition because every restaurant would have to abide.

Bring Home the Bacon (Or Not)

1) The World Health Organization reported that processed meats raises the risk of colon cancer. 

2) The meat industry reacted to this finding by saying that because the risk off getting cancer is pretty low that people shouldn't worry. The environmental groups respond by saying they want more warning labels on packaged meats. 

3) It was put into a group 1 category meaning that there is sufficient evidence that the processed meats will lead to cancer. The chairman of disease prevention says that the risk of cancer or other risks is lower than smoking and alcohol, so you can still have red meats in your diet but cutting down would probably be a good choice.

4) The cartoon shows that people are too ignorant and don't care enough to stop eating meat, even if they know it's bad for them.

5) I think the opinion Randy Bish has is that people should go vegetarian at least because they probably would't even care enough to make a comic of this topic without wanting people to stop and think about their decision to eat meat.

6) Yes, I do eat meat, and I would say kinda often, and nothing from the report is really news to me as I have read A TON of things relating to vegan/vegetarian life styles because I find them motivational as I have tried to go vegetarian before and want to in the future.

Music shaming at McCallum High School?

 A student currently attending McCallum overhears a classmate being teased for liking thrash metal, they were saying things like "ew, she likes that?" or "she's so emo!" which then resulted in unnecessary music shaming. 

 Like all people our music tastes differ from one another, just like our personalities. Many think that a combination of our social environments and our "nature" can influence our musical tastes. Does this give anyone the right to put others down for liking certain kinds of music? of course not! This is what music shaming is, basically the act of criticizing someone for having musical preferences that differ from your own. It is seen/experienced so often that it is not recognized as being much of a problem yet it definitely is, for instance you wouldn't criticize someone for liking a burger with cheese just because you like yours plain. So does music shaming happen at McCallum?

 To be sure I went to our freshman class president Isabella Hernandez to ask her thoughts and experiences on the matter. "My music taste varies from Alternative pop and I've been exposed to many classic rock due to my dad always playing Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and many other amazing bands and musicians" Hernandez says. I found this to be important because it goes back to how some of our favorite music is due to our influences. She also states that she has "never experienced direct shaming" for her music tastes, yet she also mentioned how people assume her personality based on her choice in music and stereotyping her, which she said happened at McCallum, so she concludes by saying "Yes I have experienced some shaming for my music".

 I then went to senior Maddie Moore to see if she had any experiences in music shaming or has seen it happen. "My favorite type of music is mostly electronic and though I have experienced music shaming at McCallum, it has never been at all extreme. It's mostly just comments like 'that isn't real music' ect."

 Though both Moore and Hernandez have experienced music shaming in some form. Me and many others feel the same pressure mentally like when someone new asks "what type of music do you like?" I or someone else might say something they don't mean because they don't want to deal with another persons judgement.

 I do believe that music shaming happens at McCallum to a lot of students and should be recognized more for being a type of bullying if it were to ever result in a fight, or put someone down mentally. "why start an argument when you don't have to." Moore says

Current Events Activity 2.2 

1) The two possible causes of the Hidden Pines fire in Bastrop might have been an "intentionally set" burn pile or just a "farm accident". At 10:30 am officials let displaced residents who live in the  burn area to return to their properties. The damage the fire has done (which burned 34,000 acres and destroyed 1,600 homes) is estimated to cost around "hundreds of millions of dollars". 

The interviews impacted me reading the story because it shows just how much trauma people went through during the fires and how some people lost basically everything they had.

2) In the Austin area school systems there has been a shift in textbook use, meaning they are being offered online and not in paper form so much anymore. The benefits for this change are they are cheaper and help prepare students for their computer-dependent futures. The Robertson family found a problem with the online textbooks "It's hard to flip between the examples and instructional pages with the problem" he says. So they decided to get a paper copy instead. The opinion teacher Melissa Prepster had on the story was that this is not a super new thing meaning how the digital transition gained momentum about four years ago, with things like videos full of content. What separates the Eanes district from other districts implementing technology on their campus is the Eanes district is one of the few districts that make a device available to each student.
 At McCallum so far I haven't even had to use textbooks outside of class (even though most of them are available online) so I haven't had much experience with this shift, but I know from past experiences with having to carry around textbooks that it was a hassle and sometimes unnecessary weight so having it online would make things a lot easier for for me because I have access to a computer. I do think there is a problem though because other students may not have that access, with this being a debate I would say it would be a good news story for The Shield.

3) The big news outside of Canada yesterday was that the country reclaimed liberal identity with the new prime minister. Justin Turdeau has promised some major policy changes, like legalizing marijuana, dropping out of the U.S.-led bombing campaign against the Islamic State and deficit spending to pump up the economy and rebuild infrastructure. The relationship between the U.S. and Canada will most likely get stronger because Obama And Turdeau are similar.

4) Alan Guckian is among 25 semifinalists for a Grammy-related award. The award is for the 2016 Music Educator Award from the Recording Academy and the Grammy Foundation. Local inspirational musician SaulPaul said Guckian was an obvious choice for the award. Guckian later says if he won he would have a pizza party with his kids.

5) UT coach Shaka Smart is trying to change the mindset of his players heading into the upcoming season by saying that the pursuit of wisdom is "one of the oldest and most enduring human intellectual enterprises." In order to make this change happen Texas must first get beyond it's confusing, dysfunctional past which appears to be fouling up the present.

Current Events Experience 2.1

1) The perk that is "raising eyebrows" is that at ACL (Austin city limits) the people who are part of the "city's parks and recreation board" get to have two free VIP passes for one entire weekend of the music festival and also a free parking pass. The person to receive the perk was Tom Donovan, a 71 year old man who was a member of the Parks and Recreation Board. The Austin Parks Foundation defended providing it to him by saying the free tickets and parking passes are for "work purposes only" for everyone who is a member in the council. Board members Rick Cofer and council member Don Zimmerman were "foregoing" the perk because they "felt uncomfortable" taking the passes because "it doesn't seem necessary to receive two free three-day passes and a three-day parking pass for my role as a parks board member" Cofer also says "I don't think that my presence there is worth basically an $800 expense." Sabine Romero of the city's ethics and compliance division expressed to the council in an email that it's OK for the mayor and council members to accept the tickets. Council members Ann Kitchen accepted the passes and will be attending the upcoming show. Council member Ora Houston said that she gave the passes as a "thank you" to 311 operators who are filling in at her office while a staffer is on maternity leave. I don't think that giving the city's parks and recreation board free tickets is a bad thing, I just think that if one of the workers wants to not accept the tickets they shouldn't have to.

2) Oklahoma implemented a stay of all deaths because last week, two hours before an execution of Richard E. Glossip officials realized that the state supplier had sent the prison officials the wrong drug. Other states are dealing with similar issues like how in Tennessee if the lethal-injection drugs were unavailable prison officials would authorize the use of the electric chair. Also in Montana, on Tuesday, a judge blocked the state from carrying out executions, ruling that one of the two drugs it planned to use did not comply with the state law governing lethal injections. Midazolam is a short-acting sedative and is the heart of this story because midazolam, combined with a drug shortage caused by manufacturers' ceasing production or limiting how drugs could be used.

3) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel barred his ministers from visiting a contested Old City holy site. He also ordered police to stop members of parliament from going there because he also did not want them to go to the holy site. Mhuhanad Halabi was a law student at Al Quds University who was shot dead by Israeli security forces and he relates to this issue because he was apart of the defending of al-Aqsa and he got killed doing so.

4) Svetlana Alexievich won the Nobel Prize for literature on October 8th. She is most famous for her deeply researched works about female Russian soldiers in World War 2 and the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. It's "a rarity" that she won because her work is mainly nonfictional. Blended in her works are both literature and journalism. She looks to the future by not letting herself slide "but much work remains ahead of me, and many new turns. Now I cannot let myself slide." she says

5) The carrier decision Professor Emeritus Daniel S. Hamermesh has made is to retire from his job due to the "carry law" which he told to the Statesman reporter directly. Hamermesh's is a first for UT in the way of him being the first to actually leave because of this. Other factors that contributed to his decision are the number of students he has in each term (around 475) and he says with that many students he would not be able to tell is they have become "disgruntled" or have "mental health issues".

observation (400 Words)

 On senior picture day at McCallum I observed students in the small gym. They where in the small gym because a few other students were exercising and playing volleyball in the big gym. Around half of the seniors were in line getting ready for their pictures while wearing black gowns over their clothes. seniors do this (and not any other grade) so their pictures can be more professional. I could hear mumbling and talking between the seniors in the room, but no one was yelling. There was two camera set ups that they could go to. I also could hear the cameras as they flashed and made beeping sounds that indicated the picture had been taken. The room smelled of robust dust and wood polish as most gyms often do, it was pretty strong as well. The smell that was less strong was the smell of clothes and sweat from people doing passed exercises. Flashes from the camera went off pretty often, around thirty seconds or so apart. The majority of the teenagers in line were guys, while most of the girls were sitting against the wall in back of the gym. Not only were there people in the back of the gym but also a lot of backpacks in a array of colors, a lot of the backpacks were small and were Jansport and they aligned the side and back walls. The bottom portion of the walls were a beige brick color and the top color of the walls were a white paint color, and they both had a glossy finish. Attached to the walls there were four basketball hoops. The ceiling was painted white  and had bars going across it for support. Though because of the glossy finish on floor you could see the reflection of the bright white lights from the ceiling. The floor was a light brown color and you could see the wood panels under the smooth gloss it also had thin red, black and light green lines on it. Sitting on the floor was a teacher on his laptop computer. He was also sitting next to three tether ball polls that were attached one tire each and a couple of people were playing on them, and they were not seniors, but probably other freshman that were observing the room. The seniors were taking their pictures through out the entire 6th period, but I did not stay till they left