BRING BACK UBER/LYFT

I am writing upon my classmate, Myriam Cisse's post, "Transportation network companies: Yes!". In her post, she talks about the struggle to keep Uber in our city. Myriam wrote this post during the Prop 1 campaign, and now Uber is completely out of Austin. I'm sure Myriam and I are not the only ones who are shocked that Prop 1 did not conquer a win. This lost should make us ALL question our government. How can something that provided safety, jobs, and a great overall experience for all of us citizens be taken away? All of us relied on Uber/Lyft for many reasons; transportation to work, school, the airport, and Downtown; eliminate drinking and driving; convenience on time, location, and affordable expenses; job opportunities;  and a 100% friendly environment satisfaction. Taxis do the complete opposite and are kinda like the "Dark Ages".

Bathroom Law = Donald Trump's Hair

We all can agree that the "bathroom law" in North Carolina has been the center of attention in all mainstream media nationwide for some time now, but even more-so this week. In response, the U.S. Justice Department warned the state for violating the federal law by discriminating sex; however, the Obama administration did not scare North Carolina's Governor, Pat McCrory. On Monday, Gov McCrory filed a petition against the Justice Department for this.

North Carolina has created an unnecessary law that has also created much unnecessary attention. Where and how did this become such a problem? Transgenders have been around for a long time, but all of a sudden they are viewed to be potentially "dangerous" and titled as "molesters"? The fact that federal leaders like Gov McCrory have given innocent people such harsh titles which brings fear in those newly, discriminating citizens who are boycotting in support of the "bathroom law". I firmly believe this has to be the most ridiculous thing happening, along with Donald Trump's horrible hair.

Go Green

  My commentary is on my classmate, Rachel’s blog, “Making Sense of Government”. In her post on “Legalization of Cannabis” provides a great statistical background on marijuana. Such as the deaths caused by marijuana compared to the much higher deaths caused by legal cigarette and alcohol consumption. She also provides the benefits of marijuana like health and tax revenue benefits. Rachel believes marijuana should be legalized based on these facts, but with only an legal age. The federal government classifies marijuana as a Schedule I drug. Schedule I drugs are considered to have the highest potential for abuse. The society provokes marijuana to be a gateway drug, and there are a lot of people in jail because of this plant. I think that is so crazy. How can the worst things out there like sugar be sold everywhere, while a innocent plant is banned. Sugar is highly addictive and there is an average of 70,000 deaths caused by diabetes annually, yet there is sugar being sold everywhere you go.

Where is the Love?

Gay rights has been expressed for decades now, and we as a nation has finally given the rights to the gay community to marry their loved ones. Ever since the Supreme Court declared legalization for gay marriage back in June 2015, while many states celebrated in happiness, there were still a few states standing against gay rights. Many southern states has protested against gay marriage to protect their own religious freedom. While some states illegally denied marrying same sex couples, Mississippi has made a move that allows their citizens to discriminate any gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. The governor of Mississippi recently signed a controversial bill that allows businesses to refuse service to gay couples based on religious beliefs. Why is this even happening? How is it possible to discriminate someone for who they are just because of one's beliefs. It saddens me that there are people who will do whatever they can to take away a couples happiness. Everyone deserves the chance to be happy in life! Americans are too worried and wrapped around what others do with their lives.

An Anti-Abortion Bill even Republicans do not support

In American culture, there are three topics to never talk about with others: money, religion, and politics. Of course there are plenty of us who do, but it takes guts to do so. Today,  I will be giving my input on a post about abortion rights by Tara Culp-Ressler of Think Process blog. In her post, she writes about an inhumane anti-abortion bill that is struggling to get support in Indiana, even Republicans are not wanting to endorse the bill. However, the bill was passed in both chambers of the legislature this week. Under this new bill it states that women would be prohibited from seeking an abortion if they discover their fetus has genetic abnormalities. In the post, she shares a statement from a Planned Parenthood which express in words, “the legislation is particularly cruel in that it’s designed to shame and demean a woman who is facing tragic circumstances with a lethal fetal anomaly.” Surprisingly, many Republicans are against the bill and share much concern to why it should not become a law. As a non-republican, I stand by the republicans on this one.

I will start off with my opinion on abortion. I stand for abortion for many reasons, but with certain circumstances. For example, I believe only early stage abortions can be done. Abortion can be done as early as 5-6 weeks. At that point, the pregnancy is considered to be in embryo development. There is an inadequate amount of education on abortion, which leads to a lot of uneducated anti-abortionist who goes along with the media and other influential agents. Now that I have let off some steam on my personal view on abortion, I can now let some more off on this harsh bill. The bill does not even do anything for the abnormal baby, but instead it demands women to suffer from an uncontrolled situation. To increase the chance of killing a mother by having a lethal fetus inside her just does not seem logical to me. What if that mother was single and had other children to take care of? To risk a life of mother and take a mother from her children is just cruel to me.

Privacy or Public?

 We live in a society where our cell phones are used for other important things rather than just for communication. Cell phones have evolved to be our paperless diaries, secrete room, and like a mobile safe. We keep everything on our phones, and we rely on the software to keep our privacy safe! However, the government thinks otherwise. Recently, the FBI attacked Apple and it’s consumer policy on privacy. The government is trying to get into an iPhone of one of the shooters from the San Bernardino shooting back in December, but Apple won't budge.

 According to David Lazarus, a reporter of Los Angeles Times, shares his agreement with the government. He believes that the government has the right to hack the iPhone in order for public safety. He used how the federal government was able to control the auto industry to demand for seat belts and airbags for driver’s safety, but that example he used is so irrelevant with the Apple case. The governments claims they only want to hack this one phone, but who believes that? I believe it is important to keep our privacy rights protected. Our smartphones holds personal data such as credit card and bank account information, Social Security and driver license numbers, and so on. I will be beyond terrified knowing that government was able to withhold and take over another one of my amendments.

"Tough On Crime"

An article by Matt Ferner, of Huffpost Politics, talks about how our nation’s unfair punishment system has finally been brought to notice. The article provides a recent poll that was released this past week. The results of the poll pronounced an overwhelming number of Americans wanting to reform our federal justice system. Not only did the voters agree on the need to change our court system; but also, the majority of the voters believe that far too many drug offenders are locked up in our federal prisons. In fact, statics shows that over half of the population in federal prisons are drug offenders, and 70% of those inmates in local jails are sentenced for way too long. Roughly, 2.3 million people are behind bars nationwide, making the U.S the “world’s leading jailer”. Currently, the over populated prisons is costing the U.S. an awful lot of money: over $80 billion a year. Is there a solution that will reduce these numbers? Of course. According to the same poll, majority of those voters favored to allow people to shorten their sentences by participating in programs like drug treatment and job-training classes. These ideas can help lower such high figures that our prisons unfortunately holds.

I strongly believe that this article is a very important read for everyone. It is shocking to see such high numbers of innocent people being locked up, and for the nation that I live in holds the title: world’s leading jailer!