death row is a thing

Wow I love everything 

1. Alfred Dwayne Brown was convicted for shooting Charles R. Clark, a veteran Houston police officer as well as the store clerk Alfredia Jones. 

2. Brown said that he committed no crime and was innocent.

3. October 2005, the jury sentenced him to death.

4. The article was published Wednesday, May 14, 2014

5. Brown said that he made a phone call on the morning of the crime at about 10  a.m to his girlfriend from to where she worked.

6. The prosecutors told the jurors that Brown was at an Apartment complex with the other perpetrators washing up and etc. 

7. After the case was closed, Browns attorneys found a phone log with him and his girlfriend talking at 10:08, which is pretty much when he said he had called her. 

8. A document was found that showed that the prosecutors had requested the records shortly after Brown's girlfriend talked about the phone call. 

9. The appeals court hasn't done anything in the last year to open a new trial, and no one is sure why.

10. Falkenberg says that we should do something, and reopen the trial. 

11. Brown is probably going to be killed, because the justice system sucks all the time no matter what.

12. I think it's really more of an informative piece, which is probably better as its a very important topic. I've seen a lot of columns/articles that are formatted this way, and it's not like it's really unique. The writer does put their opinion in at the end though so that's chill I guess.

 

I hate myself

editorial thing I guess???

1) Kingsbury uses visuals and descriptive diction to highlight the the physical harm and labor kitchen workers often have to go through. He talks about long scars lining the forearms of these workers, and people are always pretty interested in the morbid icky things, plus really it's unacceptable to put people through that kind of labor without citizens getting rightfully pissed. 

2)  the two related trends to provide context are the widening income gap and the exploding restaurant industry. 

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 the children of the workers and to think about they're wellbeing, as well as saying that raising the wages to minimum wage would be the best way to combat income equality where the gap between the wealthy and poor is a vast difference. 

5) she says that the restaurant industry has workers that have a poverty rate more than three times that of the rest of the countries workforce, along with the industry hosting seven of the ten worst paying jobs according to federal labor statistics.

6) according to Kingsbury, diners should argue that workers shouldn't support establishments that don't give their workers the wages that they deserve or any benefits that people who don't work in restaurants would get. Lawmakers should get the courage to reject the demands of the National Restaurant Association

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

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

9) but kingsbury says that it wouldn't change the competition, as every outlet would have to play under the same rules and demands. 

10) some bostonians are there illegally and have to string 2-3 jobs to make ends meet and barely even have living conditions.

11) the paragraph talking about Filiberto Lopez adds a feeling of connection and human interest that wasn't there before, as these people exist and deserve to be given better conditions

12) Wage theft is huge, and starts when employers don't pay overtime. 

13) wage theft in Boston is very common and collected more than 1.7 million in back wages in 2013

14) Kingsbury says that the mayor should streamline the permitting process, and to pass an ordinance prohibiting employers guilty of wage theft from getting/renewing their permits.

15) The article/column doesn't end in a quote, but does have a very final verdict. There is a vindication there that lets you know that wage theft and breaking the law is not to be tolerated or ignored. It's pretty typical I guess for a conclusion, I know that i've written conclusions like that before so idk. 

story thing wow amazing ahahahahahaha

Gender neutral bathrooms becoming topic of interest in schools

A student walks up to the door of the girls bathroom, hunching their shoulders and sighing wearily, distress clear in their features. Taking a deep breath, they open the door and walk in. This is everyday for the gender-variant students at most high schools. The lack of gender neutral bathrooms is leading to even worse dysphoria and anxiety in the growing numbers of gender-variant kids. Because of social media information is easier to get a hold of and these kids finally have terms and labels to put to how they feel, and this makes them understand themselves so much easier. But schools are still refusing to acknowledge this change, still believing in the set rules of the gender binary. Gender neutral bathrooms, and the protection of gender identity in general would help so much with school productivity and motivation, because when people feel valid and comfortable in their bodies and around other people, grades and participation and generally being a healthy happy person will improve. These bathrooms would start to lessen the epidemic of depression that is steadily rising in the majority of trans students. "I think that believing in a set gender binary is hurtful." Said freshman student Miranda Hynes. This just goes to show that despite the fact that we are teenagers and we are changing, we are still aware of the danger of the ideals the older generation is pushing onto us. It's okay to challenge people and to think these "strange' things, or to try and change to world into a better place that people can feel safe in. 

       "I can understand some teachers and administrators being concerned with boys and girls using the same bathroom, but then again, by doing that you aren't including everyone." said Hynes. How is it that kids from 14-18 can understand how hurtful this binary ideal is, but grown adults can't?  With the logic being used by some parents and teachers, they are more mature and knowledgeable about most everything that we are stilll learning about. 

Bring Home the Bacon (or not)

1. A panel of experts concluded on Monday that eating processed foods like hot dogs and etc, increases the risk of colon cancer, as well as a raised risk for other cancers where general red meat is concerned. 

      2.  many environmentalist groups have called for warning labels on packaged meats, and the meat industry is pretty outraged.

      3. Group 1 means that the processed meats have sufficient evidence that they will give you cancer. The chairman of disease prevention says that the risk of cancer or other risks is lower than smoking and alcohol, so it is imperative not to push people into denouncing red meats from their diet completely.

     4. The cartoon doesn't portray that at all. he's just an ignorant person. 

     5. Randy is more on the side on the opposing side of this whole "let's all the meat that has ever existed", as he makes the meat eating guy both super obese-probably because of all the meat-and also very bullheaded and ignorant. The guy abstaining from meat is in a suit, which gives the notion or perspective of higher class and education, making suit guy a lot more informed than the i-love-meat-guy. 

   6.  I do eat some processed meats, but not a lot as far as I know. Most of my meat is literally just meant with no additives.