Rape Kits Go Unprocessed

Original Article

There have been thousands of rape kits in Detroit that have gone unprocessed, and that is insane. 

In an abandoned Detroit Police storage facility, there were over 11,000 rape kits left unprocessed and untouched. Some of which were from as far back as the 1990s.

Since these were found, 1,600 have been processed and from that, "100 serial rapists and ten convicted rapists were identified."

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The only words that I can use to describe how I feel about this is "absolutely insane". This article makes me feel anger, sadness, more anger, and then a little bit more sadness.

This probably has caused hundreds, quite possibly thousands, of preventable rapes and molestations. Possibly thousands of terrible, awful things happening to thousands of people. That is insane. I hope that these kits get processed fast and soon, and the rapists that are out there get convicted.



"Detroit Rape Kits Finally Processed, 100 Serial Rapists Identified." SourceFed. Defranco   Creative, 13 March 2014. Web. 16 March 2014.

Auschwitz - USHM Article

Auschwitz was a concentration camp that the Nazi regime used during the Holocaust, and it was the largest of its kind. It was made up of three main camps: Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II (also referred to as Auschwitz-Birkenau), and Auschwitz III (also referred to as Auschwitz-Monowitz).

In November of 1943, Auschwitz-Birkenau and Auschwitz-Monowitz were made into independent camps, while Auschwitz I remained the headquarters of the SS offices. However in November of 1944, Auschwitz II and Auschwitz I were reunified. While Auschwitz III was renamed "Monowitz concentration camp."

Auschwitz I

Auschwitz I was built to fulfill three different purposes:

1... To imprison the accused enemies of "the Nazi regime and the German occupation."

2... To have forced laborers available when needed.

3... To serve as a facility to exterminate groups targeted by the  Nazis.


-Auschwitz I was equipped with a crematorium and a gas chamber, like most concentration camps.

-Here, medical experiments were carried out in Barrack 10 (the hospital). These false scientific experiments were carried out on infants, twins, dwarves, and adults.

Auschwitz II

-Out of all of the Auschwitz camps, Birkenau (Auschwitz II) had the largest population.

-Auschwitz-Birkenau was a main part in the plan to kill European Jews.

Deportation

-About "1.1 million Jews were deported to Auschwitz."

-The majority of arrivals at Birkenau were determined to be unfit and were immediately sent to the gas chambers.

Auschwitz III

-Auschwitz III, also known as Buna or Monowitz, was established to be a labor camp.

-It was mostly used to make rubber and fuels.

Liberation

-The liberation of the Auschwitz camps took place in mid-January, 1945.

-When the SS got word that the Soviet forces were advancing towards the camps, they began to evacuate. (Thousands were killed before they began the marches.)

-SS officials killed off hundreds of prisoners in Blechhammer, a sub camp in Auschwitz-Monowitz.

-January 27, 1945, the Soviet army liberated about 7000 prisoners from all three of the Auschwitz camps. The majority were sick and dying.


**It has been determined that 1.3 million people were taken to Auschwitz between 1940-1945. 1.1 million were murdered at the camps.




 "Auschwitz." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 10 June, 2013. Web.<http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005189>

This Could Actually Break Your Mind

Intitial Article

There's this thing called "The McCollough Effect" that can "alter the way your brain perceives information."

There is an image that, if stared at for long enough, can effect your sight. I'm not going to actually show the image, because it is harmful to your brain (so don't Google this and try it out).

In a sense, this image can make you colorblind for up to three months!

With this image, if stared at long enough, you'll get what you'd get with any other image. Inverse colors. If the picture is red, you'll see green, if it's green you'll see red, and etc.

This image doesn't just affect your eyesight, it affects how your brain works (in a sense). If you look at them for long enough, let's say 15 minutes (as given in the video), you'll see the pattern of inverse colors, on everything.

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First off.... wow. There is an image that can change how your brain functions for up to three months!! That is insane and amazing.

(And one again, don't look it up and try it for yourself. Putting yourself through things that alter the functionality of such an organ as the brain, is definitely NOT advised.)

My thought on this when I read the title of the article was: "Oh, they found something gross or creepy that made people "go insane" and, like, start murdering people...... let's check it out." Then I watched the video, and well, I was close......  not at all, really.

I guess it could make them go insane? Seeing that inverse pattern for three months would drive me mad, I think.

But seriously, AN IMAGE THAT CAN BREAK YOUR BRAIN!?!?!?

Cool.

(By the way, the image in this blog post is not the image mentioned.)

Lakhan, Shaheen. "Open head". 26 December, 2008. Drawing. 18 February, 2014. 

Heroin in Happy Meals!?

Initial Article

Shantia Dennis, an employee at a Pittsburgh McDonald's, had found an apparently foolproof plan to sell heroin. She was slipping it into Happy Meals.

Police say that if a customer ordered with the phrase "I'd like to order a toy," they would be slipped a little something-something in their meal (if you know what I mean).

To crack this smack seller or smack this crack seller, a couple officers from "a local narcotics enforcement team" went undercover and bought one of these "meals" after they got inside information from an informant. As stated in the article, "Police officers bought 10 bags of heroin in stamp-sized packets from Dennis and found another 50 bags on her person after making the buy."

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Well.... isn't that something... McDonald's being even more unhealthy. Honestly, this article isn't surprising. True, it isn't a good thing and I'm not impressed, but people will do anything nowadays. She wanted money, they wanted drugs. It just happened to take place at McDonald's.

I mean, think about it, it's a McDonald's employee who probably hates their job and isn't making very much money. Or it's just a drug addict/seller that needed a "clever" way to get their stuff out there.

I'm more surprised at the fact that it hasn't happened before. It's a simple way to get a dangerous thing out into the world.

Miller, Simon. "Big Mac." Photograph. Flickr. 15 June, 2006. Web.

Literacy Blog #10 // Obama blames 'bad apple' insurers for canceled coverage

Article

1) In the major public debate over health care reform, President Obama sought to assure people that the government was not going to take over health care, and that they could keep their old plan if they liked it. Why did he need to do this? Why wouldn't people trust the government to make health care decisions for them?

Well, a lot of people don't trust the government anyway. I doubt they would change their minds over him making decisions for them. Also, not everyone is so "on-board" with the new healthcare plan. They don't like the concept of it, so why would they want to take part in the change.

2) Why does Obama say that insurers not paying for care “limit[s] the care you receive”? To what extent is this true? Is care paid for by insurance the only care you can receive?

I think it means that "you get what you pay for". You can't pay 100 dollars and get the plan that costs 300. You are limited to what you are paying for. If you're getting "free healthcare", you are limited to that which is free. You can't get the premium if you aren't paying for it.

3) If you buy health insurance rather than paying for health care directly, to what extent are you losing your choices in health care spending? What if the government taxes everyone and pays for health care for everyone? How does this affect your level of choice?

You are limited to what your insurance pays for. If your insurance doesn't cover it, you can't get it. (I'm not sure about how to answer the next part.)

4) Is it ever right for a President to be untruthful to get the public to accept something he sincerely believes is for their own good? If so, in what circumstances?

No, not at all. It is the President's job to talk with the people and try to improve America. I understand that he might think that this is a great idea, but it might not be. If he tells the entire truth, every last detail, then other people who would usually have no chance of getting to evaluate his plan, get to. They might see a flaw that he was ignoring because he was blinded by how "great" he thought it was. And then it can be improved or thrown out if it is needed. It could keep things from getting worse than they already are.

Literacy Blog #8 // High School Athlete Suspended for Driving Friend

If I were Erin I would have demanded the police to document, with proof, that I was sober and had no part in the underage drinking. That way, if the school or police was to attempt to charge me, there would be proof that I was not guilty under any of the circumstances pertaining underage drinking or the possession of alcohol.

It's possible that the school's decision can affect her chances of getting a scholarship from some schools. It could even affect her chances of getting into certain schools. They'll see that the charges are on her record and then judge her accordingly.

The school is obviously standing for the principal against underage drinking. But I still think they need more proof before punishing someone. Let's say, for example, I was charged with assisting in murder because I was seen with the murderer 3 hours before the murder occurred. Although there was no evidence of me at the scene, and I had witnesses stating that I was somewhere else AND I had a police officer saying I wasn't there (referring to the statement saying that officer Brian Neely vouched for her sobriety). There is enough evidence to prove that I'm innocent, but I was still charged? Doesn't make much sense in my mind.

I think schools are involved in efforts to prevent teens from drinking for less of a meaningful reason, and more of a chance to make them look good. Honestly, I think if they wanted to look like their students didn't drink, they would just turn their heads while they hid the evidence. BUT because the cops showed up, they had to look like they were far more strict than they actually might be.

I don't know why the school suspended Erin. It doesn't make sense in my mind. She was doing her friend a favor, she wasn't drinking, "officer Brian Neeley [was] vouching for Erin's sobriety", I don't know what more they needed to see that she did nothing wrong.

Literacy Blog #7 // We Are Teaching High School Students To Write Terribly

Even though the main idea of this passage is the writing portion of the SAT, I couldn't help but focus on the fact that students only have 25 minutes to complete this section. In my opinion tests shouldn't be timed anyway. In the sense of a timed test, the test is measuring your ability of how fast you can recall information, and not on what you actually know. If someone works slower, or takes longer to recall information, they will be perceived as less intelligent than someone who works faster or is like a human form of Google. I know some people that can answer almost any question you give them in a matter of seconds; and other people can supply the same answer, just not as quickly. Does that make them any less capable of using the information? No. It doesn't. Also, more so on the subject of the passage, some people take longer to write things than others, as well. Someone who reads all the time and loves coming up with short stories might be faster with the writing portion than someone who is a math whiz.