5: Does Social Media Overpower Human Connection?

In a video from Julian West, society is portrayed as mindless beings obsessed with their phones.  The video follows someone who is lost in the world being the only one not completely immersed in his phone.  He wanders around watching terrible things happening that other people are either oblivious to or are filming for social media.  He is lost in a sea of people surrounded by phone screens.

Everyone else is seen moving around regardless of what is occurring around them, whether they are falling down an uncovered manhole or bumping into other people.  A man being beaten is not helped, but rather the surrounding group films what is happening to later be posted online.  A family sitting around a table eating completely ignores each other due to their phones.  A girl takes pictures of herself while there is a burning building behind her.  A woman is aggressively catcalled, but no one intervenes because they are all fully distracted by their phones.  Even the person that the video follows notices the situation and thinks about helping, but still does not.  A girl is portrayed as sad before taking a picture, but smiles for the camera to give social media a facade of positivity and beauty.  People are seen in jail cells shaped like smart phones.  Everyone worships a woman filled with botox.  Many other similar portrayals continue through the video to emphasize different aspects of the video's overall suggestion.

As the man wanders, he is unable to get anyone's attention away from their phone screens despite his best efforts.  He later sees a woman being filmed dancing without her phone and having fun.  The rest of the crowd films her and posts the dancing online calling it a fail for being bad dancing.  Everyone laughs at her and the video until she is on the ledge of a building's roof.  Rather than trying to stop her, the entire crowd films her jumping.  When the crowd clears, the man is seen standing there with a tear falling from his eye.  The video ends with everyone walking off of a cliff looking down at their phones.

I would like to consider myself like the self-aware man, but that would be the easy way out.  There are definitely instances that I have acted as the societal norm, and everyone has those moments.  The biggest take away from this video is that everyone needs to be mindful of their use of electronics.  Social media is a great invention, but it can be overused if people are not cautious.  Many of the situations in the video can be seen as extreme examples of modern day society.  If we are not careful, this could become reality rather than occasional circumstances.

4: Even more US Forces are being sent into the Middle East, but why?

According to an article from antiwar.com, the Pentagon plans on sending more troops into the Middle East. Defense Secretary Mark Esper says that the president has already approved the deployment, which will be focused on air and missile defense.

Workers at the Saudi Aramco oil facility in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia after it was attacked

While Saudi Arabia has the third most expensive military in the world, they have requested help from the United States to defend their oil facilities. Drones and missiles have been fired from Yemen at their facilities, and their defensive systems have not been effective in stopping them. The problem with this request is that the United States has already been selling Saudi Arabia its best gear, so sending more of it is not guaranteed to fend off future attacks. The politics behind the scenes are quite complicated, but Yemen's Houthis "have been very public about the fact that they launched the attack as retaliation for Saudi airstrikes." Even though they are claiming to be responsible, some officials believe that Iran was involved despite their denial. The president claims to want to avoid war, but continuously blaming things on Iran or accusing them of wrongdoing will not solve any problems. Tension in the Middle East has been high for a long time, and there does not seem to be an end coming soon.

3: Facebook's Monopoly is Being Challenged

As of September 6th, several states are starting antitrust investigations against Facebook. According to a CNN article, the states want to look at the impact Facebook has on "advertising prices, data and consumer privacy and the company's previous acquisitions, including Instagram and WhatsApp." The hope of the investigation is to determine the effects that Facebook's actions have on consumer data, the quality of choices for consumers, and the price of advertising. Amazon, Apple, and Google are expected to be targeted with similar investigations to evaluate "Silicon Valley's biggest players" and the effect they have on their competition, which ultimately also effects consumers. At a conference in June, Herbert Slatery III (attorney general of Tennessee) said that "structural change driven by the government may well be necessary" to deal with the industry of technology and its potential downfalls. Representatives from other states have also spoken out with similar notions. The concern of many people speaking out is that Facebook, as well as the other companies previously mentioned, holds too much power in its respective field. All of these companies are at the top of their industry, and they do not have much close competition. Being in a position like this allows them to control factors that they would not if their competition was more balanced. This is concerning for consumers as well as businesses. If these companies are so powerful, they can easily begin to shape advertising and consumer awareness. While this is a possibility, it does not guarantee the course of action that these companies will take. Facebook seems to want to cooperate with policymakers and work together to solve any issues. This situation could turn out to be much less troublesome than the term "antitrust investigation" makes it appear.

2: The Duties of a Supreme Court Justice

The Supreme Court is made up of 9 Justices who receive petitions to deal with a wide variety of cases.  Each Justice is appointed by a president, and they tend to serve around 16 years.  They are the most powerful judicial body on earth.  Their job requires them to interpret the Constitution and apply it to modern day cases, while also drawing boundaries for the other branches of our government.

The 9 current Supreme Court Justices

John Marshall was the first Chief Justice.  Under his leadership, the Supreme Court declared an act of Congress unconstitutional for the first time.  Marshall and the Court helped to shape the nation using the Constitution as a guide, which earned them respect from the rest of the country.  Twenty years later, Chief Justice Taney made a ruling that Congress did not have the power to ban slavery.  This diminished the Court's respect and authority.  The Civil War ultimately led to a change in the Constitution that defined citizenship to be more inclusive under the 14th Amendment.  The change effectively abolished slavery and granted voting rights.  From this point on, the Supreme Court built back up their status to be as respected as they are today.

The Supreme Court receives petitions for thousands of cases each year.  When deciding on cases, the Justices individually review each then gather to discuss which ones to take.  The cases that they take tend to hold national significance.  Once they decide on a case and it appears in their court, each side is given 30 minutes for oral argument.  This process consists of attorneys presenting their case and the Justices questioning different aspects of the case that they want further clarification on.  A few days later, the 9 Justices meet in private to vote.  Then, one of the Justices who voted on the side of the majority is assigned to write an opinion that explains the legal reasons for their decision.  The opinions written for each case that the Supreme Court rules on become precedent for all other courts in the future.  Any other Justice can also write an additional opinion disagreeing or agreeing with the result but for different reasons.  Every opinion is reviewed and revised among all of the Justices, which can go on for months.  The decisions and opinions are released in late June at the end of the term.

This information came from a two-part YouTube video (Part I, Part II).  These videos paint a clear picture of the duties of a Supreme Court Justice.  Being a Justice is a very prestigious position, and being on a panel of 9 judges with competing views on all of the different topics that they deal with shows a true passion for their work.  Discussing so many important cases and coming to a majority decision that applies to the entire nation is a position of tremendous influence and power; however, it seems that the Justices work together in a way that holds each other accountable and that is best for our country.

1: The Chicken Sandwich War of 2019

On August 12th, Popeyes started a war. This war was waged on Twitter among several fast food restaurants. The reason being... chicken sandwiches.

The original tweet from Popeyes

After Popeyes' initial tweet announcing their new chicken sandwich, many other fast food chains took notice and responded. Two of the most notable restaurants to reply were Chick-Fil-A and Wendy's. Chick-Fil-A claimed to be the original chicken sandwich, and Wendy's proclaimed that Popeyes and Chick-Fil-A were competing to have the second best chicken sandwich after themselves. According to an article from Fox News, these tweets back and forth created a lot more "social media buzz" than CEO Jose Cil expected, along with a 103.3 percent traffic increase that Popeyes saw in the first week after this tweet was put out. Many people took sides and tweeted about their personal preferences, but many people were also compelled to go out and try each of the contending sandwiches. Many people posted blindfolded taste tests or simply ranked the sandwiches after trying all three. While there may not be a definitive best chicken sandwich after this Twitter war, each restaurant received an increase in social media attention as well as sales.