My Shiznappy Opinion

Ok everyone! We need to make this Middle Eastern conflict clear and concise, because it is truly important for us to know what is ACTUALLY going on the world.

Celebrities like Rihanna and Selena Gomez have been hash tagging “FreePalestine”. However, they have their information wrong. You see, we all acknowledge that western media warps and sends false information to their viewers, but no one is acknowledging or even second guessing their information on the Israeli and Palestinian conflict! After tons of research and talking to friends personally connected to this war, I have an unbiased and truthful summary of what is actually going on.

Israel has been stereotyped as a bloodshed country who advocates war. However, they have actually been rounding the corner into humane fighting as a democratic country. In Palestine, there is an ACKNOWLEDGED terrorist organization known as the “Hamas” who is firing rockets into Israel. As this war rages on, the Hamas group, which has broken multiple cease-fire agreements with Israel, stages deaths and gore FOR western media and blames it on the civilian-slaughtering Israeli Defense Forces. This is false. The Israeli cannot just stand there while the Hamas is murdering so many of their own people (in all honesty, I would call this a genocide).  Therefore, they are sending in bombs to deplete the Hamas rocket sources. The Hamas caught on to this, and have hidden their weapons in schools, hospitals, and civilian homes in the Gaza strip. The Hamas then force their Palestine people to act as human shields and stay by their rockets although they know they are bomb targets. In efforts to save the Palestine civilians being forced by the Hamas to stay in danger, Israel then sent out texts, flyers, and radio messages to warn them when and where they would drop bombs; they even made an app that gives them some time  to get out of the structure being targeted. There is obviously more to this story and the Hamas’s wrath on Palestine and Israel, but here was a brief rundown.

Technically speaking, #FreePalestine is correct. However, you are trying to free Palestine from the Hamas, NOT Israel. Israel is doing everything in their power to help the Palestine civilians while being attacked themselves.

Here are some sources for more information: http://www.thecommentator.com/article/5136/fear_and_trembling_western_media_and_hamas

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Who-is-the-war-criminal-369833

Here is a GREAT video summary that I learned a lot from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-63mlog2UM&list=LL4VBHcZwF_v1If73vvQQrUg#t=44

Fidgeting is a real problem. It is a strong indicator that children are not getting enough movement throughout the day. We need to fix the underlying issue....

Hey all! Normally I would do more research into this topic and give you guys an overall summary of multiple articles, but I found this was really well written and conclusive. It is something really interesting for anyone who is considering being an elementary or kindergarten teacher. Enjoy!

Article By: Huffingtonpost

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highschool-prep-rally/high-school-football-team-undergoes-full-navy-seal-183712588.html

I think this is the coolest thing. There are SO many benefits to doing something like this when training young athletes.

1) Differentiate the workouts. This can help avoid boredom.

2) Motivation. 

3) Real life experience. This shows the high school team how real world workouts are like, and how if they work hard enough, they can also get to that level.

4) Once in a lifetime experience. If you aren't going to become a Navy SEAL, then there are few chances you'd get to complete one of their workouts. This is something that you may only get to do once.

5) INCREDIBLE team bonding. To get through something as tough as this, you need to rely on your teammates and friends to help push you through it, as well as push them through it. 

6) Cross Training is awesome. On top of that, they also incorporated football drills into the workout.

7) It's a safe environment to push your limits. You are encouraged to see how far you can go, and you have trained professionals creating personal relationships with the athletes to make sure they are safe. 

8) Give you an edge. Something like this isn't a normal workout, and therefore you wont benefit from it like a normal workout. You will get much better results that will give you a little something more that other teams don't.

9) An Opportunity to discover a career path. There is a chance that you could fall in love with the message and job that Navy SEAL's promote, and exposure to such rare opportunities as these are incredibly important to high schoolers. 

US Obesity Rates have been on the rise for years, and in 2010 hit a a point where 36% of US adults were obese.  The US Economy has been showing the opposite pattern, as it has been dwindling down to miserable lows but has now hit a gentle plateau or maybe even the start of a slight upwards trend.

There is a relationship between US Obesity rates and the US Economy connected by household income rates and food advertising. However, this is not just in the simple terms of “richer people can buy more Jillian Michaels work-out DVDs”.  (No dissing towards Jillian. I adore her.) I mean that those with less money “can’t afford nutritional meals”.  

Now, I know a lot of people would just suggest going to a fruit and vegetable high-way stand, and declaring that eating healthier can be less expensive, but as well as that taking an immense amount of time to track down certain products, with the advertising world today combined with the Economic recession junk food is advertised as less expensive. Of course, this isn’t just by the prices, this is because of the well known production theory that lesser quality = cheaper. So why not assume the same about food?

Well, because it wasn’t true until the food companies figured out they could play the audience. After all, that’s what advertising is all about, right?

 People naturally assume that high quality food can be very expensive and often times overpriced. They have to look much harder to find reasonably priced produce, protein, etc., but if they work hard for less income, they have less time to track down the good deals.  Now, the food companies have figured this out, so they are leaning into it and subtly implying that their high quality food deserves high prices, when it COULD taste great but has little to no nutritional value. So although a lot of produce, protein, etc. IS overpriced, there are smaller companies that don’t lean into such extreme advertising and pricing measures to make profit. Those usually provide the better meal.

With all this information, people are trying to spread the word. However, how can this be effective? Those with little money but who need the lower costing and high nutritional food don’t have the time to scout out every little food stand and corner shop for the good deals because they are working! Those who have more money and who can afford the higher costing food that may or may not be nutritional don’t need to spend the time to find that food.

Now that more people have jobs and the economic recession is smoothing out/trending upwards, it’s easier for them to spend more money on food which means they can afford the highly advertised and highly priced nutritional food.

A balanced economy would therefore lead to a much lower obesity rate, simply for the fact that those in the lower and middle class didn’t have to work so much harder than the upper class to get the nutrition they need.

By: sassofrassoraus.tumblr.com 

California just passed a law declaring that transgender students are allowed to use opposite sex bathrooms, showers, changing rooms, and locker rooms. They also can choose which gender sports team to be on.

First of all, I take offense to this bill as a high school student who is a member of their school’s LGBT club because this is putting millions of children and teenagers at risk of sexual predators and unacceptable sexual encounters. Peter Sprigg, Senior Fellow for Policy Studies at the Family Research Council, disagrees with the law as well saying, “What is especially shocking with AB 1266, however, is that California already has a law barring ‘discrimination’ based on ‘gender identity’. The only purpose of this added law is to assure that the law does, in fact, apply to the most extreme possible applications--the use of facilities segregated by sex, such as restrooms, locker rooms, and showers; and programs segregated by sex because of the biological differences between the sexes, such as sports.” 

Quickly pausing for a moment to talk of sports, this is dangerous to girls in particular because of it being a scientific fact that boys go through a period of rapid development due to testosterone levels. Girls do not experience this. 

Schools have a mix of students going through puberty and bodily changes, as well as being a time for sexual exploration. How many scenarios of high school (and K-8) pranksters will we find in the oncoming school year taking advantage of this law before it is appealed? Boys and girls can declare that they are transgender and then proceed to use the opposite sex restroom, changing rooms, showers, and locker rooms as a prank, or as an opportunity to see the other gender partially or completely nude. All they have to say is I was transgender for that moment. I for one am extremely uncomfortable with the thought of using a locker room, shower, changing room or restroom now for myself and others because there are students who would use this opportunity immorally and inappropriately.  On top of that, many cases of sexual assault and harassment will be brought up because of people exposing themselves to an unwilling second party and being having to expose themselves to someone of the opposite biological sex.

Now, I understand how transgender kids can benefit from this law, and I acknowledge the amount of struggle and uncertainty they deal with on a daily basis.  If there weren't immoral people and sexual predators who would take advantage of this law, I would view this law in a completely different light. However, this literally  IS the perfect excuse for sexual predators, and this law puts millions of children in danger and in extremely uncomfortable/unfair situations regarding their sexual privacy.

By: sassofrassoraus.tumblr.com

Recently, a law has been passed in Russia making it a crime to, “promote homosexuality or non-traditional relationships”.

This current issue with the IOC and Russia’s anti-gay law is that all gay or pro-gay athletes, guests, coaches, and participants of the 2014 Sochi Olympics are in danger. Because the Olympic Games are a chance to explore other cultures and celebrate the diversity between different countries specializing in athletics, it is not ok for the IOC or Russia to put athletes or any person in danger (ESPECIALLY if it is due to a human rights BELIEF that differs between countries and cultures A.K.A the host country’s homophobia). Now, the IOC has a good point when they state they do not want this to turn into a human rights issue with different countries involved when the focus is solely competition of sports. HOWEVER, it is the IOC’s duty to make sure our athletes, guests, coaches, and participants of the Olympics are safe. Right now, those who are gay or “gay-friendly” are being threatened with punishment and arrest which personally reminds me of the Berlin Olympics, Hitler, and Jesse Owens. Those who were Jewish, Christian, and gay were then threatened with much more fatal forms of brutality, and after the fact the world acknowledged his cruel and unfair actions. Jesse Owens went to the Olympics in danger because of his skin and religion, and now people are going to be put in danger at the Olympics because of their sexual orientation and lifestyle. Although anti-gay might be Russia’s stance on homophobia (WHICH IS OK BECAUSE IT'S THEIR OPINION), because this is an internationally celebrated cultural event, they need to either withdraw their attacks and restraints on those who are gay or show pro-gay tendencies until the Olympics end. THEN may the fight for human rights begin for all who like, but right now this is not a place for human rights rallies or arguments to be interfering for anyone’s safe participation in the Games, whether onlooker or athlete.