Stuff YOU Should Know

Shooting at Fort Hood

On April 2, Army Specialist Ivan Lopez opened fire on his colleagues at the Fort Hood military base located in central Texas. Three people were killed and sixteen others were wounded before the gunman killed himself. A 34-year-old veteran of the Iraq War , Lopez was said to have been distraught over the recent deaths of his mother and grandfather. A complication in the process of applying for a leave of absence request to attend his mother’s funeral may have upset him further. After a verbal disagreement with some fellow soldiers, Lopez entered two buildings on the Fort Hood property and fired his .45-caliber pistol. This event has heightened again the national debate over both gun control and mental illness.

In his nine years of military service, Lopez received many awards. He was also reportedly diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety after returning home from a tour in Iraq. In light of last year’s Washington Navy Yard shooting, where a troubled contractor killed 12 people and injured 3 others, there is also a growing debate on how best to keep our service men and women safe. Some say legislators should allow soldiers to carry weapons on base–which is currently not allowed. Others disagree, saying that would only intensify the problem.

View President Obama’s remarks at the April 9 memorial service held at Ft. Hood:

What Do You Think? Find two differing opinions on one of the issues above (gun control in general, mental heath laws or arming soldiers on military bases). With whose opinion do you agree most? Why?

Changes in Campaign Finance

Speaking of debates, there has been a long-running one regarding the amount of taxpayer money that should be spent to fund political campaigns. There have been two recent and major changes made to political fundraising. The first was regarding the funding of nominating conventions that are held by both the Republican and Democratic parties in the months leading up to the general election. On April 4, President Obama signed legislation limiting the amount of money set aside in the national budget for the conventions.

In a related recent ruling, the Supreme Court voted to remove existing limits on the amount of money any one individual can contribute towards federal campaigns. The biggest hurdle in the decision centered around interpretations of the First Amendment as it relates to the role of the federal government in campaign contributions. At a ruling of 5-to-4, it was a close call. The Justice’s on the majority side said that, “participating in electing our political leaders is a fundamental basic right.” Those opposed feared the decision could cause a dangerous precedent.

Dig Deeper It has been announced that the money once designated for political nominating conventions will be put toward the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act. What is this, and what are the initial reactions to this decision?

“Goldilocks” Jobs Report

The end of 2013 proved to be a disappointing time for those looking for work. btw is happy to have some better news this time. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its latest monthly Jobs Report, with overall favorable results. All of the 192,000 new jobs were created by private employers. While the unemployment rate remained steady at 6.7 percent, analysts say that more people were looking for work, which is better than the trend at the end of the year were job seekers gave up and dropped out of the search pool.

Economists are calling this report a “Goldilocks” (after the fictional fairy tale character) because it is considered not strong enough or weak enough to trigger reactionary measures in the stock market. More good news included in this report is that there are now more private sector jobs available than there were before the recession began. On the questionably positive side, there has been a surge of “temporary” jobs, which could be good news or bad news depending on how long they endure.

Dig Deeper It will take more than one month of good news to know whether we are involved in a full-blown “recovery. Take a look at any early predictions for April. Do you think it will be positive or negative? Why?

Late Night Legend Announces Retirement

You may have heard of Late Show host David Letterman because of his famous Top Ten lists and a history of wacky stunts.  When he came on the scene, Letterman deviated wildly from the typical talk show format. While he gave a monologue and interviewed guests, his show was packed with irreverent segments where he routinely destroyed things (often by throwing them off the roof), invited ordinary people to display “stupid pet tricks,” and regularly engaged with a variety of oddball characters. Letterman, 66, who has been on the air a total of 32 years (21 in his current role at CBS and 11 on NBC) recently informed his bosses that he would not renew his contract, which is up next year.

With then announcement of Letterman’s retirement came speculation on who might take his place. Many consider hosting the Tonight Show (recently taken over by Jimmy Fallon) and Letterman’s Late Show to be the most enviable in the talk show field. On Thursday, CBS that Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report, would take over Letterman’s time slot. Colbert (typically) made a joke about the announcement on his Twitter feed.

 

Let’s see…what to tweet about, what to tweet about? I got nothing. What’s new with you?

— Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome) April 10, 2014

 

What Do You Think? Some commentators say that the traditional late night show as we know it is becoming old fashioned and that young people are becoming less interested. Why might this be true?