Economics Article Q4W8

How the Republican bill would change Obamacare

 House Republicans finally have the votes to try to repeal and replace Obamacare. Lawmakers are scheduled to vote Thursday after some last-minute changes to the legislation convinced enough conservatives and moderates to support it. the American Health Care Act goes a long way to fulfilling the Republicans' seven-year pledge to repeal former President Obama's landmark health reform law. And it would erase the coverage gains of the last few years and leave 24 million more people uninsured by 2026 than under Obamacare, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis of an earlier version of the bill. The GOP's plan would eliminate the Obamacare subsidies, which are refundable tax credits based on a person's income and cost of coverage in their area. I think all these changes that will be made will affect many Obamacare patients to health issues based on the different benefits Obamacare has.

Economics Article Q4W7

How U.S. health care stacks up against global systems

Obamacare may be on the way out and replaced by a new plan, Trump says. The House of Representatives is expected to vote Thursday on a bill aimed at repealing the Affordable Care Act. Many people outside the United States find bewildering. The U.K.'s public health system is called the NHS. It's financed through tax and compulsory national insurance contributions, but faces serious financial problems. The U.K's health care system is free but short of cash. Germany has a multi-layered system financed by a system of mutual insurance funds.Germany has lots of choice and lots of efficiency. The generous French health system has been ranked highly by the WHO and Euro Health Consumer Index. France is generous but short on money. Canada has a government-run national health insurance, funded by tax receipts. It is organized on a regional basis, with each province adopting slightly different rules. Canada's health care is good, but you may have to wait on service. In the U.S we have major political issues. I think all countries should help each other out in a way and save human lives.

Economics Article Q4W6

T.I. speaks out on police brutality

Last month, CNN interviewed T.I, where the Grammy-winning rapper and actor premiered his latest passion project, "Us or Else" A short film that examines the relationship between police and the black community. President Donald Trump slammed the Black Lives Matter movement as a candidate, lamented a "war on police" and accused the group of helping to instigate police shootings through their protests and rallies against police brutality. T.I., who participated in Black Lives Matter protests, has been one of Trump's most outspoken critics in hip-hop, most recently slamming the President in a series of colorful insults on Instagram following Trump's feud with rapper Snoop Dogg. The rapper also wrote a series of open letters in December to Obama and to Trump in January, and a letter advocating for civil engagement addressed to Americans. I think that Donald Trump needs to give more attention on black lives being killed by Police because they are just as human as police are too.

Economics Article Q4W5

Many Europeans want to kill the euro

The 34-year-old economist, Sergi Cutillas, wants Spain to abandon the euro. He's far from alone: 25% of the people who use the common currency want to ditch it, according to the latest European Union poll. The threat to the euro is most acute in France, where people will vote Sunday in the first round of a presidential election that features Marine Le Pen. The far right politician, who wants to take France out of the currency union, is expected to advance to a runoff vote against one other candidate on May 7. Some Europeans want to kill the euro because "Europe is not a nation." Italy's president, Alberto Bagni, the case against the currency boils down to this: European countries are not the same, and so they shouldn't use the same currency. Optical illusion, The interest rates that Spain, Greece and Italy needed to pay creditors plummeted after they joined the euro, putting them on a par with Germany. I think, Europeans should not kill the euro if they can come to an agreement because if that happens in years the euro will not exist.

Economics Article Q4W4

Why undocumented immigrants pay taxes

Every tax season year, undocumented immigrants file their taxes with the federal government, getting away with it easily. Out of the nearly 11.1 million undocumented immigrants estimated to be living in the U.S., Pew Reasearch projected that there were about 8 million in the workforce in 2014. Nearly half, or 3.4 million, of those workers paid Social Security taxes, according to 2014 estimates from the Social Security administration. And while the agency doesn't have a figure for how much this group paid in taxes that year, it said that unauthorized immigrant workers and their employers contributed $13 billion in payroll taxes in 2010, its most current estimate.A policy attorney at the Immigration Resource Center, Jose Salgado, said that that millions of undocumented immigrants file their taxes because immigrants are trying to abide by the law and are fulfilling their civic and financial responsibilities. I honestly think that undocumented immigrants that have payed their taxes every year, but have been deported should get all their tax money back.

End of The Street Lawyer Blog

My prediction to Michael’s future is continuing to be the voice for the homeless who have been evicted. When Mister came into Drake & Sweeney Law Firm and held eight lawyers hostage, Michael saw a sniper shoot Mister. Michael noticed something was wrong; he noticed that all Mister wanted to do was warn them about their lifestyle being homeless by breaking the law. Lawyers seem to pay no attention to what homeless people were going through. This traumatic event, lead Michael to be more involved in helping the homeless. He changed his job from evicting people, to preventing them from being evicted. I think he will stay at the 14^th Street Clinic helping the poor from being evicted from their homes. Everything he witnessed with Mister gave Michael a clue that he at least needs one out of eight lawyers needs to give attention to the homeless. If Michael continues to put effort into preventing evictions and the homeless, the clinic will change in very good ways. He will be known as the voice for the homeless and a huge support for them, to the point he could one day change the people from the environment and increase awareness about homelessness. Although, his relationship status with Claire was not working out because he dedicated his time more on his job, they got divorced and now he is starting a new life. I think he will begin a relationship will Megan because they have similar passions and seem to work things out together. Along with starting a new life, a drug addicted woman, Ruby, enters the Clinic seeking for help to gain her son’s custody due to her addiction of drugs. Megan and Michael start to help Ruby get sober. I think they will be successful in helping Ruby because she really loves her son and she is really motivated to change. As long as Ruby is still willing to put forth effort there will be a good chance for her to be a success.

The Cleveland Street Chronicle and the 14^th Street Clinic are similar in one way because they work with people who have the same problems such as; drug addiction, alcohol addiction, and homelessness. Also, homeless people came to both places and were able to tell their stories. At the 14^th Street Clinic people came to talk to Michael about their problems and what they needed help with. In the Cleveland Street Chronicle people were able to put their stories on paper. On the other hand, these places help in different ways because at the 14^th Street Clinic they help the homeless by giving them jobs to sell papers, and they can build their customer service skills. This is different than the work they do at 14^th Street Clinic. Housing First and the 14^th Street Clinic are also working with the same type of people. At both places people are provided a home; Ruby was given a hotel room for free by the 14^th Street Clinic and the homeless individuals were given a free apartment by Housing First. One difference is that at the 14^th Street Clinic they were primarily giving legal help and at Housing First they were giving free services, laundry facilities, a computer lab, and a 24-hour staffed desk. Another difference is, Ruby was given a hotel room for a while and Housing First gave homeless people permanent apartments for free.

Economics Article Q4W3

Venezuela brain drain: I miss mom, but don't want to go back

 Alejandro Nava is leaving his home in Venezuela, and he doesn't plan on coming back. Alejandro gave himself an idea of moving on because he lost hope in his country which is out of control due to its economic crisis. Their economic crisis has turned into serious problems from violent crime to health care. In addition to, Alejandro received an immigrant US visa and plans to stay. His plans are to work as a paralegal while he applies at Ivy League law school. Nearly 2 million Venezuelans have left their country since 1999 when a populist government took over. I think that what the Venezuelen citizens are going through should be justified and get help from the US.

The Street Lawyer Blog 3

 Michael and Mister are alike in the fact that they are both trying to bring awareness to a homeless problem. The events that Mister caused by holding the eight lawyers hostage is what got Michael thinking about the problem. Mister and Michael both didn’t have anybody who really cared for them. Mister was a lonely man who was just looking for justice and Michael seemed to be denied by his ex wife Claire who seemed to only have interest in Michael because of the money. Mister was trying to be the voice for the homeless; Michael also became the voice for the homeless once he realized that people are wrong for evicting families. They both broke the law; Mister came to Drake & Sweeney Firm and held hostage to lawyers and Michael stole a file of people who have been evicted.

                Ruby illustrates the plight of the homeless in not having a safe job all to keep her son happy and giving him everything he needs. Her difficulties of the homeless tell her drug addiction causing her to lose custody of her son. The effect that she has on Michael is noticing that there is much more to live and accomplish without the use of drugs and fighting back for custody of her son. She expresses to his narrative by giving herself the chance to reflect on herself and allow for Michael and Brock to help her out so she can see her son again. When she showed up at the clinic seeking for help to see her son who was taken under custody of the family who she used to work as a maid for, Michael felt empathy for her and she accepts to get help. She goes out of the city with Michael to help her cope and have the feeling of starting a new life hoping one day soon to get her son back and make him proud of her.

Economic Article Q4W1

US healthcare bill: Knife-edge vote looms for 'Trumpcare'

In Los Angeles there is an emotional protest against Donald Trump's healthcare bill. US President Donald Trump is heading for a too-close-to-call vote on his troubled healthcare bill in the House. On Thursday, Mr Trump reportedly told mutinous Republicans that if they did not vote for his bill - dubbed Trumpcare by Democrats - they would be stuck with President Obama's act for good. White House officials told the representatives at a meeting earlier that day that Mr Trump had finished negotiating and would move on with the rest of his agenda if the bill failed. Mr Trump needs a minimum of 216 Republicans to vote for the bill. If 22 join the Democrats, the bill will fail. But US media tallies suggest between 28 and 35 Republicans still remain opposed. I think that it is selfish how Trump wants to replace Obamacare for 'Trumpcare' because everything Obama had left Trump wants to get rid of when it will affect a lot of U.S Citizens and residents.

Giant Mustard

            Last year, there was an evening I went grocery shopping with my Tia Sylvia to Sam’s Club with her and her kids. As soon as we entered the building, we felt the cool air hit our skin. There were a lot of people and the employees looked really occupied. We went to aisle 14 to get ketchup, I look to my left and there was a jar of mustard that was a foot and a half tall. It looked nasty and pasty-yellow. I really don’t like the smell and the taste of mustard. I tapped my Tia on the shoulder to show her and she said “ew.” Her kids were looking at it very amazed and interesting and they never tried it. We kept walking towards the Dairy section of the store and continued grocery shopping. My cousins wouldn’t stop running and yelling so she had to give them a phone to keep them entertained. It was still so cold in the store I started exaggerating about the temperature and I wanted to leave already. I tried not to think about it too much, so I kept my mind busy and my body active walking around the perimeter of the store.

Article Q4W9

US charges Russian spies over Yahoo breach

 March 15, of this year, two Russian spies were spying four U.S Justice Department indicted individuals over a theft of Yahoo user accounts. The members of the Russian intelligence agency are being charged as conspired criminal hackers. The suspects that were named in a DOP press release are; Dmitry Aleksandrovich Dokuchaev, 33, a Russian national and FSB officer, Igor Anatolyevich Sushchin, 43, a Russian national and FSB officer, Alexsey Alexseyevich Belan, 29, a Russian national and resident, and Karim Baratov, 22, a Canadian and Kazakh national and a resident of Canada. Last year Yahoo passwords had to be reset. Russian spies should stay away from cyber criminology.

Carmen's 1984 Blog #2

Carmen Hernandez

March 8, 2017

The Street Lawyer Blog #2

1. At the end of chapter 16 Michael states that both he and Claire have lost.  Support or refute this statement. Michael and Claire both have lost in their matrimony because it wasn’t thrilled for them to be single again. When he drove away there had not been no type of feeling of liberation. He still had mixed feelings but showed no emotion.
2. Michael's activities become questionable and even illegal.  Are these actions justified? The actions are not justified because he was only trying to help the people who were and are suffering from poverty. Although, stealing files and threatening the police is not the best way to help himself to a better job to help the homeless.
3. Why does Hector Palma help Michael? Hector Palma helps Michael because he feels empathy after his divorce with Claire and his accident. He recognizes that Michael is very humorous and tries to help the families who are poor, with families who are dying.  
4. Is Michael's changing life a downward spiral?  Why or why not? Michael’s changing life is a downward spiral because just lost his matrimony with Claire when all she wanted was attention from her husband but he never took the time to make it feel like they were married. He spent all his time working and helping homeless people which is a good thing to feel empathy for them but he also needs to think about his future with Claire. Now it is late, he got kicked out his house and is now living in an apartment by himself in the ghetto.

Carmen's Blog Post - Street Lawyer

Carmen Hernandez

1. Why do you suppose Michael believes Mister wasn't going to kill the lawyers?

Michael believes Mister wasn’t going to kill the lawyers because maybe he thought that Mister would give them the chance to understand or come to an agreement to help Mister not aim the gun at the lawyers. I think that would happen because if it were me in his situation, I would try to convince Mister out to not kill anyone.

2. Describe Michael and Claire's relationship.  Could this contribute to Michael's decision to leave the firm?

Michael and Claire’s relationship is not very interacting and is not going well. When Michael is being examined by doctors, he wonders why his wife Claire, whom is a doctor, hasn’t came to see him. He works a lot and let’s his hours of work come between his marriage, so she started doing the same. Michael seems to be more involved with his job than his marriage. Claire started doing the same because she doesn’t have love or enough attention from Michael. They don’t sit down and eat together or even communicate enough.

3. What two worlds are juxtaposed in the opening two chapters of this book?  How are we made to feel about each? Two worlds that are juxtaposed in the opening two chapters of this book were the life of a homeless man and the life of a wealthy lawyer.

4. We learn that Mister was a Vietnam War Veteran named DeVon Hardy.  How are the situations that the homeless face similar to that of Vietnam Vets returning home?  Does this change how you view Mister? The situation that the homeless face is similar to that of Vietnam Vets returning home because people saw them as traitors, they suffered from PTSD, and they lost their jobs to the point they ended up in poverty. Yes, this does change how I view Mister.

5. Michael sees it as almost fitting that a group of lawyers be held hostage, instead of schools and theaters.  Why do you suppose this is? I suppose this is because Michael felt empathy for Mister after all he had been through.

6. Compare and contrast Michael Brock with Mordecai Green. Michael Brock’s is more of a corporate lawyer, he works with big businesses and monopolies. Mordecai is a lawyer who helps the homeless. They both plan to work with the homeless after he sees that his job doesn’t make any sense. They both feel empathy for the homeless people and help them as much as they can.