Jay-Z's Open Letter to Obama

Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, Hip Hop Mogul, Entrepreneur, Rapper, Producer, and one of the most influential artists of all time. Jay-Z is known for his clever wordplay within songs but who knew his latest hit, “Open Letter” would stir up controversy on Pennsylvania Avenue. In Jay’s most recent song he addresses his trip to Cuba and in the middle of the song Jay states and I quote, “Obama said, ‘Chill you gone get me impeached.’ We don’t need this [explicative] anyway. Chill with me on the beach.” Many people are taking this statement in many different ways. They ask if Obama has done anything that he doesn’t want people to know about and Jay-Z is putting Obama under heat with this song. Jay-Z has reached the point in his career where if he speaks people are listening and people have listened to his words and watched his actions with a trip to Cuba and a trip to the White House where the world has wondered one, why did he take the trip to Cuba? And two, how did he get clearance to the White House the most heavily guarded place on earth (Have you not seen Olympus has fallen?). Some have wondered if the trip is to cover up some action or thing that Jay-Z knows about that he should not. Others have said that if it is anything it is a publicity stunt. Who knows! In a recent statement from the White House Press Secretary the topic arose and he said it is simply just a coincidence and nothing to be worried about. Do you agree with the White House or do you think there is more than meets the eye (Insert Transformer voice)? Tell me more in the comments below!  

Original Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/11/jay-z-open-letter-havana_n_3059874.html

Rainbow House fights Westboro with love

Original Article

Westboro Baptist Church, based in the city of Topeka, Kansas has become well known over the past few years for their rash behaviors towards veterans and members of the LGBT community. Three years ago Westboro even paid a visit to Omaha and on this day they were greeted by Creighton Prep students donning pink articles and blaring Hannah Montana through their car speakers. Nevertheless Westboro is a group known by many and generally seen as unacceptable in the community. Particularly known for their hatred toward U.S veterans and homophobic qualities they protest funerals of Soldiers with appalling picket signs (ones I’d rather not discuss on this blog post). With Westboro known as homophobic Aaron Jackson, the co-founder of the charity Planting Peace took it upon himself to make a stand against the group. Jackson while scrolling through Google Earth found a house in Topeka and wanted to buy it and paint it the colors of the gay pride flag. Sadly the house was no longer for sale. After searching he found another house right across the street and made the purchase. The house soon attracted the attention of the country and the members of Westboro Baptist Church. Westboro now says they think the “paint job” is great as it keeps the message out so no one will “have same sex marriage.” I think the whole idea is great as the house is now the base for an anti-bullying program and it is something to rival the Westboro Baptist Church. Please tell me what you think of the actions of Aaron Jackson and Westboro Baptist Church.

C'Mon Chicago

Original Link: http://rt.com/usa/news/chicago-police-longer-crime-505/

Now this is my second post about Chicago and their violence (First Post: http://nicholasdavis220.blogspot.com/2013/01/chicago-violence.html). Now I think this new rule in the city of Chicago is absolutely ridiculous. In the past few days the Chicago Police Department has made the decision to not send police officers to respond on scenes of low priority (i.e. burglaries, vehicle theft, or property damage). I think this is an absolute awful decision. I can understand the reason with the alarming rate of violence in the city but to deny citizens a police officer on the scene of a crime unless someone is injured or the suspect is still on the scene is outrageous. I feel that if the violence is that bad in Chicago then we have reached the point as a nation where we need to protect one another and help one another. Maybe it is a lot to ask for other police officers to come and help the city of Chicago. I think that it is okay to have a majority of the department focused on gun violence as long as there is a stable base for people to rely on for low priority crime. People don’t pay taxes (more taxes thanks to that fiscal cliff, but that’s another post) to not have officers respond when crime comes their way. Maybe I am not seeing the big picture but the city of Chicago has had 42 homicides in the past month alone and is on the route to have over 700 homicides by the end of the year. Something needs to be done but not at the expense of other Chicago citizens. Tell me what you think is a better plan or anything like that in the comments below.  

NRA versus Obama

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/02/nra-obama-skeet-shooting_n_2608177.

Recently a picture of Barack Obama surfaced that showed Obama holding a rifle and taking part in Skeet shooting. Now this is very controversial after the events of Sandy Hook and the outcry for a gun ban. Obama has especially been mocked by the National Rifle Association as they have different views on the gun ban.  Now skeet shooting is a common activity and some families it is tradition. I think many people are overreacting by this picture as it is simply a man trying to take part in a hobby. Nobody is getting hurt and it is just good clean fun. Now the NRA is complaining that Obama is a hypocrite for preaching stricter gun laws background checks and rifle bans but is shown shooting a rifle in a secure location, I believe this is outrageous, for the simple reasons that he is the President of the United States. I mean I hope we haven’t come to the point where we have to background check our leader. It was a simple supervised activity. I think the NRA was wrong to even comment on this picture. Now if it was Obama holding a firearm just anywhere on earth then we all have reason to be worried but thank the lord it isn't. Tell me what you think, was the NRA wrong for calling Obama a hypocrite for preaching gun laws and taking part in what is a family tradition for many people in our country?

Chicago Violence

Original Post

In recent media there has been a lot a talk as relating to the Sandy Hook massacre and where guns and violence plays a role in our country. While the Sandy Hook was and still is a major tragedy there has been major gun violence in our country for a while that I believe has been overlooked. Chicago, Illinois is a well known city that has helped shaped many entertainers and even the President of the United States; however Chicago has turned into the most violent city in the states in what seems like a very short time. Over the past year Chicago’s gun violence has increased a stunning 66%. My topic this week is not me talking about how this hasn't received enough attention (even though it would be a valid point) but rather how people are handling this situation. Of course since its birth rap music has been seen as an outlet for violence. The entire culture has been frowned upon and has been pushed away. Even though there are rap artists and people who represent the culture as negative that doesn't make the entire thing bad. There have been some rappers who show the culture for what it really is, positive, but since the outbreaks between gangs in Chicago rap music again has been pointed to as the scapegoat. The main rap artists that have been seen as the reason for the violence are rappers “Chief Keef” a 17 year old rapper who is serving a 60 day sentence in juvenile detention and “Lil Mouse” a 13 year old rapper who recently signed a record deal with Young Money (known for putting out rappers such as Drake, Nicki Minaj, and Lil Wayne). They both recently exploded in the media scene for negative reasons including possession of illegal firearms (Chief Keef) and for just simply being a 13 year old boy rapping about things he has no business with (Lil Mouse). Even though they put rap and hip hop in a bad light without them and without the music in general there would be no way for kids to speak about what is happening and we would never know there is crisis in the city of Chicago. My main thing I want to get into your head is that rap music is not a bad thing and it tells you a lot when you actually listen to it, I make music but do you really think I am a bad person? Chicago violence is awful but you can’t just blame it on rap music and think that you are going to stop it right there. The city of Chicago and the entire world needs to shed more light on the subject of gun violence in general and then we can figure out how to stop it.

Please tell me what you think of this problem in the comments.

Watch at your own risk

 Lil Mouse

Chief Keef

Blog Post #1 1/19/2013

This recent football season the story of Notre Dame and particularly the story of Manti Te'o became highlighted in the news. Everyone was inspired by his story of the death of his grandmother and "girlfriend.” Soon after however rumors came out to say that the existence of Te'o's girlfriend was a hoax. My blog post today talks about that situation and how it was handled which I feel could have been different. Now Te'o apparently had a relationship with a girl that he met online and that relationship became serious. The part of that entire thing that gets to me is the part in which Te'o wasn't even sure if his girlfriend was real. Now this story reminds me of a new television show called “Catfish: The TV Series.” This is literally a parallel to the story of Te'o. Young men and women go to a man to see if the person they met online is really who they proclaim to be. Sometimes it works out and other times it doesn't  This situation just happened to be one that landed on the bad end of the relationship spectrum. I've seen this happen before and I am shocked that anyone can fall victim to this hoax per say. In the year 2013 I find it hard to believe that anyone in a relationship does not have some kind of video communication. With the power of the internet and things like Skype, Face time, and Google Plus it is a regular practice to see someone through a screen. While it is not the most romantic way to communicate it still is something. And with that being said I feel Te'o could have been smarter about that entire relationship. I think it is rather foolish of anyone not just Te'o to fall victim to this trick. Finally, I want to say that this major headline could have been avoided by simply taking the time to video chat the person he was in the relationship with. In other words I hope Manti and a majority of the world learned a huge lesson by this and I hope those who were behind this learned a lesson as well. Even though Te'o could have possibly avoided this, the truth of the matter is he still has suffered a lot with this whole scandal and the lost of his grandmother. So while some of the blame goes to him of course he should not carry all of the weight on his shoulders for this one. 

(Original Link)

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