Hero Or Zero

Gary Webb, was he a journalist hero, or a journalist zero? I believe that he was a journalist hero, but I also believe that he did a few things in his personal life that he could have done better. I believe that Gary Webb uncovered a lot of things that our government was hiding. Yes, not a lot of people believed Gary Webb because he was just a small journalist from a small newspaper company. Why would people from across the country believe him? Is he very reliable, does he have the credibility like the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times for a story of this magnitude? Maybe not, but all those people at these big named newspaper companies were too worried about ruining their reputation or losing their job, but not Gary Webb. Like I said before, he worked for the little company called the San Jose Mercury News. He did not have much of a reputation than right there in San Jose. When he decided to start writing this story and researching the story, he was going all over the world, just so he could find out the truth on what happened with this whole ordeal. He traveled to South Central, California, to New York, Washington D.C., Nicaragua, and I am sure there were countless of other places he went. He talked to just about anyone and everyone he could that was involved and got his story. Granted that yes his sources were not very credible because who is going to believe a bunch of convicted drug dealers about what is going on in our nation’s government. The government realized that Gary Webb was about to figure out the truth, so they decided to start saying things weren’t true, that his work is invalid, and that he is making it all up with no proof. Typical is it not of our government to lie to its own people. They started messing with his head and things started happening to him, things like his bike getting stolen, they started telling people about what happened between him, his wife and another woman in Cleveland. But, did Gary Webb ever give up? No, and that’s why I think he is a journalist hero. He took it upon himself to go out there in the dangerous world to fight against the government and to finally get the truth. I think that there needs to be more people like him in this world.

Game Theory Reflection

Nash equilibrium- creating a strategy to better the situation that one may be in
Game theory- you try and figure out an opponent’s strategy, it only benefits yourself
Prisoner dilemma- two people work together, it would benefit both

When I played the game a time or two, I found a sort of pattern. I found that if I just continuously cooperated, the game would cooperate with me, but the second that I started competing, it would compete with me until I chose to start cooperating again. The game is based off of my move, and it’s just very interesting to see how my reactions or move can influence the whole game.

In history: The Cuban Missile Crisis, whether sending missiles to a hostile country or not sending the missiles
In Government: When the government negotiating trades with other countries, whether trading with allied countries or just any country we please
In economics: Stores setting prices on merchandise, whether to charge a little more or to charge less than competing stores in the area
related to sociology: When making a decision that can affect the others around you, like breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend
related to psychology: When making any emotional decision, whether or not to make a risky or safe decision
In your everyday life: Deciding what I should eat for supper, whether or not eating something healthy like a salad, or just throwing a pizza on the stove

~~~ The Government Is Corrupted ~~~

Did the United States recall lose its innocence after the John Kennedy assassination? I believe that we did. America was known as a place for people to come from every corner of the earth to start a new life, full of peace and new beginnings. Once Kennedy was shot and killed, and people found out that it could have been a conspiracy, I think people realized that America was not as great and amazing as we thought it was. Do I think that the killing of the president left a psychological and sociological effect on the American peoples’ mind? Yes I do, people today that can remember back to that day, have just about every detail from the day engraved in their mind down to them time and places they were. I feel like this not only had effect on the American people but on everyone across the world. Like I said above, when the assassination took place, people realized that America wasn’t the place that everyone made it out for, now the United States was a dangerous place, full of murder and violence. People from other countries felt bad for us, but they started forming ideas about how the U.S is run, and if our government really is the type of government everyone should have. The future of the U.S as we know it includes more death, and more war. JFK could have ended all of that for us. His views on how we as a country should run, would have led us to a time of peace and tranquility.

Do I think that 9/11 had an effect on America and its people? Of course I do! 9/11 may have been one of the most tragic events in the United States’ history. From these attacks, nearly three thousand people died. This event was the attacks of four strategically planned attacks by Al-Qaeda on some of the United States’ most known symbolic places in America. People lost their children, their kids, their wife or husband, and any other loved ones. These attacks left people devastated. They thought the world was ending. People were losing their trust and faith in our government. They thought, “If our government is so powerful and amazing as they tell us, then why did they allow this to happen? How could they let this country to be vulnerable enough to get attacked?” They have every right to think that, because I am right there with them. I also would like to know how this could have happened. But I do think that people were blaming themselves for this.

Who do I think killed John F. Kennedy? I believe that the government killed John Kennedy. I believe that he was doing so many things that were good for the American public, but the government was not about that life. John Kennedy wanted to take our troops out of Vietnam and avoid any type of war. The government had other plans. They wanted war, they wanted to go into any country possible and kill everyone in sight. So when Kennedy made plans to end it all, the government decided to end him. I do not understand how they executed everything so perfectly, but I know for a fact that they covered it up. With all of the facts about all of the shootings, the bullets, and just the cold hard facts, there is no way that Lee Harvey Oswald could have “single-handedly” killed John Kennedy. I am not saying that he didn’t help in taking part of the conspiracy, but I don’t think that there is any way possible that one man could execute this assassination by himself. So the next question is “Was it a coincidence that Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Junior were killed in a few years after John Kennedy was killed?” I believe that it was not a coincidence. Robert Kennedy decided that he wanted to run for president and he was going to have the same views as his brother. He had just won the California primary and was giving a speech, and I believe that the government knew the American public would elect him, so they decided to end him then instead of when he became president. I believe that this might have opened the eyes of millions of people across America. The government had almost successfully covered up the John Kennedy assassination, but then they went and screwed up by killing his brother. How could this be a coincidence? When two brothers are assassinated just years apart, because of the things they were going to do while they were president or were president. I just can’t find or figure out how the government could think that this wasn’t their doing. But what about Martin Luther King; was he killed due to a man just murdering him, or did the government set it all up and just put the blame on a man they brain washed? Me, I personally think that the government is doing all of these assassinations because they can’t comprehend the fact that someone can rally millions of people to do what is right for America, but not for the governments views of war and conquer.

Conspiracy is a funny word that seems to be widely associated with our government. Why? All the people that would lead us into a time of peace and war free, why does the government kill them off, what on earth could these people do to have led to their assassination? Would you like to know what I really think? I think that all of the governments in the world are actually run by a small group of people. They have created all of these different forms of government to create conflict between all of the people in the world. When someone like JFK and MLK have people behind them to create peace, they kill them off, because what fun would it be if they couldn’t have people dying over race, religion, or government. Do you want to know what the name of this small group of people is? This small group of people that control all of the world’s governments is called………..The Illuminati

                                                                     Much Love,

                                                                    2Pac Shakur 

                                                                         XoXo

Taxes.....Flat Rates VS. Progressive Rates

Is a flat tax better than a progressive tax is a big question when it comes to talking about taxes and what each person should have to pay? Some people think that a flat tax for all people would be the fairest way for the government to get money and keep people happy. Others believe that a progressive tax is the correct way to go because then they feel it is more fair because they get to see the rich people who make a lot more money than them, having to pay more than those of the lower class who don’t make near as much money.

An example from this article that I got was that if a person who makes $100,000 pays a twenty percent flat tax rate, and then they would end up paying $20,000, compared to someone who makes $50,000 would then have to pay that same flat rate of twenty percent, and then they would end up only having to pay $10,000. A lot of people think this is the fairest way to do it. Some people feel that everyone should have to pay the exact same rate. I see their point and I do agree that a flat rate would be the fairest way for all of the people when it comes to paying taxes. But yet at the same time, others still think this is “not fair” because they feel it affects the lower class more than it does the upper class. A flat tax rate would also make things so much easier when it comes to tax season because it would take away things like the deductions, and exemptions that we have right now with our taxing system. With this straight up flat tax idea, things would be a lot easier, and would help people to figure how much they would have to pay for their taxes because now they know that it is just a simple, fixed flat rate without having to worry about all those penalties, deductions, exemptions and etc.

Straight Outta Compton

NWA

Our art is a reflection of our reality

                The movie “Straight Outta Compton” was just straight up a great movie. The movie is about five young men from Compton, California. Using their rap music and their lyrics, they put their frustration and anger about their life in one of the most dangerous places in America into the most powerful thing they could think of; their music. This movie tells the story of how these “music rebels” stood up to the cops that were trying to keep them down and trying to force their authority upon these boys. NWA (Ni**az Wit Attitude) spoke the truth that no one in America knew, that life in the hood was awful, and that they were going to start a revolution to change life for everyone for the better.

                The movie starts out when Eazy-E (Eric Wright) goes to a drug house to try and make a deal, when the police raids come into town, and he gets away. The movie then goes to show Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren, and DJ Yella all meeting up with Eazy-E at a club called “Dooto’s”, which was incredibly famous back in the day. Dr. Dre gets the whole crew into a recording studio and they find out that Eazy-E just can’t rap. So he makes everyone get out of the studio, and it is only him and Dre in the studio. They boys start the record company called “Ruthless Records” and the album “Boyz-n-the-Hood” raised up the charts. A manager named Jerry Heller, talks to Eric and they make a deal to manage the group.

                The boys preform for a bunch of bigger record labels and a man from “Priority Records” signs the group. The boys make a bunch more songs and during one of their recording sessions, they get beat up and abused by the cops. This led Ice Cube to write the song “F*k tha Police”. With their old and new songs, Jerry Heller decides it is time to take the boys on tour. When they get to Detroit, the cops give them a huge talk about all the things that they cannot do during the show. They tell them that they are prohibited to play the song about the police because the song encouraged the people to fight back against them. The boys weren’t going to have any of that. So they did the song, the police arrested them and the riots in America started. The boys then went into an interview and people asked them why they were rapping about the things they were, and that is when Ice Cube said the famous words, “Our art is a reflection of our reality”. What that means is that, they just say what they have seen and what they have gone through and what they are currently going through.

                Ice Cube wants to get his contract, when he realizes that Jerry Heller is screwing him out of his money so Ice Cube decides he is done with Jerry’s business and signs solo with “Priority Records”. The rest of the guys that are still with NWA make a song about how Ice Cube is a trader, and a back stabber. Then a diss track war comes up and everyone gets mad at each other. After a while, Dr. Dre starts to realize that he is getting screwed by Jerry. So Dr. Dre decides he is going to leave and sign with “Death Row Records” which he started with Suge Knight. Suge and his crew beat up Eric to get him to release Dre from his contract situation. Dre then releases his new album “The Chronic”. Dre then starts finding all these new talents, people like Snoop Dogg, and Tupac. But all the while the Los Angeles Riots were still going at full force, and even got worse when four police officers beat up the innocent man named Rodney King. So what do all these boys do? They all start writing songs about the riots, and the police, and just everything that is going on. Again, this is where that phrase comes into place; their art is a reflection of their reality. They wanted people to hear what was going on; they wanted people to realize that the people who were rioting weren’t bad people. They were just people who wanted to be treated fairly; they just wanted people to hear their cries for help. Yes I agree that maybe rioting is not the correct way to get help from others, but they had the right idea.

                Now that Dre and Cube are gone, NWA is no more. Eric starts getting the hint that something is actually going on with this Jerry guy, and he finds out that Jerry has been stealing his money for years. So, he fires him. Eric feels awful about what he did to his friends and decides that he wants to get the group back together again. He calls up Dre and Cube and mends together any broken or torn parts of their lives together. When they are working on music, Eric collapses and finds out he has HIV. This breaks the hearts of not only the boys in the group, but everyone who has ever heard Eazy-E. I believe that this sad time started to bring back peace in the country. When Eazy dies, everyone everywhere couldn’t help but feel sorrow for a man, with the help of his boys, “single-handedly” started a revolution.

                Our art is a reflection of our reality. Think about that. All these boys did was rap. They didn’t take part in the riots, they didn’t get into fights with the police, and they didn’t do anything but write songs and rapped them. Their reality was the things they grew up seeing. Watching people get shot, seeing people lose their lives to drugs and alcohol, watching or maybe even experiencing innocent people get beat up, harassed, and abused by cops for no reason, other than them just being black. So what did they do? They wanted people to know that this is how it is, that these are the things that they are going through. Music was there answer, music was their release from the grasp that their reality had them in. Did they succeed? I feel so that yes they did succeed. They got people to listen to their music, they got people to fight back against the abuse, and they got people to realize the corruption that was happening on the west coast. Most importantly though, these boys were straight outta Compton.

Big White Ghetto Questions

v  1. What does the average coal miner make (wages per hour)?

               a. $25/hr

v  2. Who are some types of people a person might find in the big, “White Ghetto.”

               a. Very poor families  Kids with hardly any schooling

v  3. Why do you think the author calls it the “Big White Ghetto?”

               a. The Population of white people is so great, but it mimics the ghettos that are more African American dominant

v  4. What does the author suggests “keeps the underclass in place?”

               a. The government and their welfare program have turned Appalachia into one big housing project.

v  5. The author suggests that “poverty is the natural condition ____  _______  ________ _______.”

               a. Of the Human Animal

v  6. How does Pepsi play into this?

               a. They let people use their products that they are selling to the people

Facts

1. In Owsley County the unemployment rate is at 150%

2. People use Pepsi and other products as currency

3. Parents take their child or children out of school to get money for Social Security

4. Coal mining is heading west at a fast rate again

5. Your risk of dying could happen sooner than it normally should

Donald Trump? No......Bernie Sanders

In an article I read about Donald Trump on CNN, they talk about Donald Trump bashing our country and the people trying to run this country. He goes on about how this country is a weak country, and that it is going to take some toughness, strong, and very smart people to make America great again. Trump’s first example of this was that of Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders in a democrat who is running for presidency in 2016. Trump explains at a press conference in Michigan that in one of Sander’s campaign events how it was hijacked by a group of African American activists. He went on to say how it showed weakness, and that is one thing America can’t have. He then talks about Jeb Bush and how his idea that, illegal immigrants come here as an act of love for the United States to better their family, is once again, weakness, and that no act of love can ever make America great. This is a tough man’s country, and it is going to be taken care of. Trump calls himself a counterpuncher. He says that he doesn’t take the time to search and attack people for no reason, he only retaliates when someone “hits” him first. Later in the article, the leader of Russia, Vladimir Putin, says that Donald Trump hates Obama, and that he doesn’t respect him as a person. The reason why I bring Putin into this is because I have heard things on television and on radio talk shows, where people compare Trump to Putin. But, basically in this article, it just proves Donald Trump’s radical ideas, and thoughts. Should he be president? No, I don’t think so. So who should be president? Bernie Sanders vote for Bernie Sanders, and by doing so, he will make America great again.

The Donald gets all fired up in this article