Stuff YOU Should Know
Trump Campaign Manager Charged
Last month Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump’s campaign manager, was charged with one count of “simple battery.” The charge stems from an incident at a March campaign rally in Jupiter, Florida. A reporter named Michelle Fields was allegedly asking Trump a question in a crowd of people and was grabbed and shoved by Lewandowski, leaving her bruised. The altercation was captured on a surveillance camera video. A court date has been set for May.
In responding to the allegations, Trump has defended his campaign manager’s actions. First, in a statement, he called Lewandowski, absolutely innocent. Later, in an interview with CNN, he said that Secret Service was fearful of a pen in her hand. This was not Lewandowski’s first altercation at a Trump rally. Just a few weeks before Florida, he was accused (but not charged) of grabbing the collar of a protester at a rally in Tucson, Arizona. As for Fields, she reigned from Breitbart, the conservative news and opinion website she was representing, claiming that the publication did not adequately support her claim against Lewandowski.
What Do You Think? Do you think this incident will have any kind of effect on Trump’s candidacy? Why or why not? Cite at least one source that gives an in-depth opinion on either side.
Taming the Internet?
While the Internet has become a tool for instant and global connection, it has also become a breeding ground for hate-filled speech and threatening behavior. Reddit, the general-interest, online discussion forum (sometimes called a bulletin board), recently announced new policies aimed at reducing hostility and abuse. One feature allows users to block other users engaged in harassment against him or her. The response to Reddit’s changes generated more than 2,300 comments (both positive and negative) within just hours of the announcement.
Whether the action will have any impact on influencing behavior is mixed. Some feel the restriction goes against the site’s original philosophy to allow posters to express themselves however they wish. Others say that it has taken the company too long to address a long history of racist and misogynistic subcultures. Management at Reddit maintains that the inappropriate posts make up a very small fraction of the millions of posts on a wide variety of topics. Twitter and Gawker have been faced with similar criticisms.
What Do You Think? Are you involved in any online communities? If so, have you been subject to any negative comments (or worse)? If so, how did you deal with them and what actions (if any) have been taken on your behalf?
Economic Recovery, City-by-City
btw has given you regular updates of general economic recovery for many years now. This week, we thought we’d break the numbers down to get a sense of what’s going on around the country. Overall, unemployment has consistently fallen, but some cities have shown a lower dip than others. Denver, Colorado currently has the lowest unemployment rate, at 2.7 percent, while San Jose, California has experienced the greatest change in employment.
Other cities with significant increases in earning opportunities or overall economic health include Anchorage, Alaska; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Fayetteville, Arkansas. Four cities in Texas (Lubbock, Corpus Christi, Houston, and El Paso) made it into a list of the top ten “most recovered cites” published by the daily financial online magazine, Walletpop. On the other end of the spectrum, Stockton and San Bernardino (both in California) and Detroit, Michigan were ranked as having the lowest decrease in the poverty rate and the lowest home price appreciation. In 2013, we reported that Detroit, Michigan had declared bankruptcy. But since 2009, a total of 14 separate “municipalities” have done the same.
Dig Deeper Where do you live? Do some research on the specific economic growth of your state. How does it compare to the rest of the country?
The Future of Home Cooking?
Would you cook food mailed to you? Credit: Shutterstock / Nickola_Che
Our culture is no stranger to convenience services. An growing awareness of eating healthier and fresh foods is another. One of the latest ventures into bridging the gap between the two is Blue Apron. Based in New York, Blue Apron is just one of more than 100 companies that offer home-delivered meal kits. All of the ingredients for a single meal arrive packaged in exact proportions and are accompanied by detailed recipe cards.
Opinions vary of the longevity of the home cooking business. Some call it a trend that could go the way of the grocery delivery service that fizzled out a few years ago. Others believe it could replace our fundamental relationship with the way we cook, like frozen foods did in beginning in the 1960s and microwaves in the ‘70s. In the meantime, Blue Apron ships approximately eight million meals every month. The influence appears to be a combination of cable cooking shows and the “eat local/farmers market” movement.