Global Waming

Whether you believe in global warming or not, you can not deny the facts. With glaciers melting and California having more intense fires it is not hard to tell that something is wrong. The trump administration themselves have even issued a report stating how global warming is posing a threat to citizens. There was a point in time in which global warming was not as obvious and I recall people making the joke 'This is the coldest year in history, global warming can not exist'. Many people do not know that record breaking temperature drops is an direct effect of global warming and is proof that things are getting worse. As summers are getting hotter and winters are getting colder it does not seem as if the average citizen cares. Those who do care feel that them by themselves are not enough to make a difference or simply do not know how. There are many things that can be done to make a difference and reverse the effects of global warming. The media needs to make sure that people around the world are not only told the effects of global warming, but also how they can make a change. Only including the prior makes it seem as if global warming is inevitable when it truly is not.

Dress Code

Growing up everyone always wants to be the best dressed person at school. Some people are able to make second hand clothing look luxurious while others just buy high end brands. Recently in England, Designer coats were banned at Woodchurch High School. They believe this is a method to prevent bullying but I think it will do little to nothing to stop bullying. Rather than stopping teens from expressing themselves through fashion schools should teach their children the effects of bullying. Bullying does not rely on clothing and stopping kids from wearing a coat will not prevent bullying. Although it seems the high school had good intentions their efforts can be better. As far as the media goes, coverage should be spent on the effects of bullying. The measures in England are not enough to stop bullying but their are other methods used in schools around the world that can stop bullying if given good coverage.

Who is Georgia Governor?

On Tuesday night I kept tabs on who was leading the polls for governor in Georgia. I literally had a google chrome tab open for hours that gave live poll results. In the begging it seemed as if all hope was lost for Abrams as Kemp was winning by a landslide. As the votes continued to be counted Stacey Abrams was catching up and only trailing behind by a few thousand votes. It eventually got late into the night and I decided I would go to sleep and view the results in the morning. I was disappointed when I woke up the next day to see that Stacey Abrams did not win.
While scrolling through Instagram,  I started to notice people saying the race was not over. At the time I did not know that there can be recounts and runoffs. Apparently thousands of votes to this day still have not been counted so there is no official winner. There are enough uncounted votes that can change the results of the election. With all the voting difficulties that have come from this midterm election in Georgia there should be a runoff election. If there is a runoff election, poll locations should be checked in advance to make sure the polls work properly and that there are enough polls for everyone who is registered to vote at that location.

Not a 'Happy' Day

I was surprised to find out Pharrell Williams is able to sue Donald Trump for playing his music during one of his rallies. Although that was surprising it was not as surprising as finding out what song was played and when. On Saturday the 27th there was a mass murder of 11 people due to nationalist. On this same day Donald Trump hosted a political event in Indiana and played the song Happy by Pharrell Williams. Owning the exclusive rights to his song, Williams is able to decide when and where it is being played. 

I do not know what could have given the president the idea that playing the song "Happy" was a good idea.  There is nothing to be "happy" about after an event of such tragedy. If Donald Trump wants any part in being a president people can rely on when tragedies occur he must learn when it is not an appropriate time to play certain songs. 

Legal Recognition of Transgender Americans

Just yesterday Trump and his administration announced that they may end legal recognition of transgender Americans. This change could take away the gender identity of over 1.4 million Americans. In order for this to be done there would have to be a genetic test that could match a person's gender with whichever sex they were assigned at birth. The United States seemed to be making progress in making america feel equal to all under the Obama administration but under the administration of trump it seems we are moving backwards.
It is already difficult for trans men and trans women to find affordable healthcare as insurance does not cover these operations, but also healthcare for trans people is not even available in every state. Taking away the gender identity of trans people will only make it harder for american citizens to accept everyone for who they are.

Legalizing Marijuana

Today, Canada has become the second country to fully legalize marijuana. Canada has followed the footsteps of Uruguay in legalizing marijuana throughout the whole nation. Many people are already in stores making purchases, while others are making their purchases through online cannabis stores. There are some rules and regulations when buying marijuana in Canada as different provinces have different minimum ages. There were three main goals of legalizing marijuana in Canada:

• Regulation
• Keep kids and communities safe
• Take profits away from criminals

Although some states in the U.S  have legalized marijuana it is still federally illegal. Things are starting to change though as more state are putting the legalization of marijuana on polls. Even Cobb county is trying to make a difference by having the legalization of a specific amount of marijuana on the ballots this November. If this is approved than Cobb would be similar to Atlanta by only giving citations of $75 for small amount of marijuana.

Kanye and Trump

Although both achieved fame for different reasons, Kanye and Trump are probably both well known for their random twitter rants. Earlier this week he two met for the second time in the White House for some sort of press release. All eyes and ears were on Kanye as he ranted on multiple topics, that even left fellow ranter Trump speechless. During their meetup Kanye calls Trump a hero, says his MAGA is like a superman cape, and discusses how much he loves Trump.
Trump and Kanye being friends is not as surprising as the amount of coverage being spent on this event. In the midst of Hurricane Micheal hitting parts of Florida and Georgia, you would think the media would have something better to cover. You would also think that the president of the country would be focused on making sure that citizens are safe. It seems the media would rather focus on entertainment than serious issues.

Presidential Alert

Everything our current president does eventually becomes a trending meme on social media. This week when President Trump sent out a presidential alert to almost every phone in the country, twitter was quick to turn that into a meme. Many people are even asking why are we giving a president who tweets his every thought, access to text us at anytime? Although the alert this week was only a test, how long will it be until our president uses this new way of communication the same way he uses his twitter account.
It seems the media has a way of turning everything into a joke. On a serious note, maybe this new alert system can be used to spread natural disaster warnings. USA Today says ' The goal is to warn residents of national emergencies such as dangerous weather.' Maybe we should be asking this more seriously than we currently are as this may be a way to help more people evacuate from being in the path of a natural disaster. Regardless, I know I will be waiting for the first ridiculous use Trump has to use the presidential alert.

The Sentence of Bill Cosby

You may know him as Cliff Huxtable the father of five or even as Lil Bill, but now Bill Cosby is relevant for a different reason. In the past few years Bill Cosby has been known for his many rape allegations. And although some were reported as false, many were proven to have happened and him admitting to giving some girls pill did not make anything better. Today, Bill Cosby has been sentenced to three to ten years in state prison. Being the age of 81 there is a very high chance that he may die of old age before being released.
The part of the case that does not make sense is that the psychologist at his case claims Bill Cosby has a personality disorder. Often times when convicts reportedly have a mental  they are sentenced to a mental institute rather than Bill Cosby. If this is the case Bill Cosby should not be treated any differently. This is a good example of  'If I let one person do it, I have to let everyone do it'. I do feel that what Cosby did was wrong but I also think that he needs to receive the same sentencing that others before him have received.

Iphone XS

Today is a big day for Apple Inc. Today is the day they release their iPhone XS series. This series features three new phones: iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR. Along with the new iPhone's there is also the release of the new Apple Watch Series 4. There are plenty of people lined up outside of apple stores around the world to try and be the first one with the new phone. Many of those who are not lined up, have scheduled pre-orders weeks ago and should be receiving their new phones soon. I am an Apple Inc. consumer and have had an iPhone over the past 7 years. Unlike those who have pre-orders or wait overnight in lines I try to get the version that came the previous year. Whenever new phones are released the previous versions all have substantially lower prices.
Apple Inc. is very well known for taking away certain features on a phone and then selling it back separately to the consumers. For example, Apple Inc. took away the headphone jack on the iPhone products and sold adapter pieces for earphones separately. When speaking on who runs the media Apple Inc. should be one of the names mentioned. Regardless of how Apple Inc. were to change its products they know that consumers will still line up to purchase an iPhone, iPad, iMac, etc.

Tropical Storm Florence

North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and now Georgia have all declared state of emergency's due to the incoming Hurricane Florence. Hurricane Florence is not alone as it is followed by tropical storm Isaac and hurricane Helene. I have family in both Virginia and North Carolina and they have all decided to stay home instead of leaving. It has become a habit for people to choose to stay at their homes and fight through tropical storms rather than evacuate. I am beginning to wander if the reason in which people are staying in the eye of storms is because of their own stubbornness or because they are unaware of how serious the storms are.

With so many topics spreading in the news from pop culture to politics there does not seem to be enough media talking about severity of storms. Many people do not know that Hurricane Florence is being followed by two other tropical storms. Fake news has become so prominent that many people do not even care about the real news regardless of how severe it actually is.

Just Do It Campaign

Nike has just released a new campaign in which, former NFL player, Colin Kaepernick is the face. The ad also features a quote that states, "Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything." In response to this ad many people have shown their frustration by burning and throwing away all of their Nike products alongside #boycottNike. I find it amazing that a company like Nike has made this decision to ignore the backlash and fight for political issues.
The situation involving Colin Kaepernick and the NFL is the biggest example to date on fake news. The media has depicted Colin Kaepernick's decision to take a knee as a protest against veterans to cause people to be angry at him. The people who are listening to these news outlets fail to research the event themselves. Those who have taken the time to figure out why Kaepernick would do this immediately learned he was and still is protesting how the government and police are not treating the american citizens fairly. They also found out that before taking a knee, Kaepernick met with a veteran to discuss what the most respectful way to protest was and was told to take a knee. This situation has proven the use of fake news in the media.

Social Media Protest

There has been another mass shooting and once again it is being talked about on social media. This seems to be a recurring thing when something tragic happens. For the past couple years when there is a mass shooting the media spreads the news fast as lightning. The upside to this is that it spreads awareness and causes people to want to react. The downside is that this energy only last a few weeks or months and then most people move on to the with their lives like nothing happened. Social media has made spreading news easy, but with so much news spreading, important topics are not given the time or energy they need.
Malcolm Gladwell talks about this in his article Small Change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted. He states that social media 'makes it easier for activists to express themselves, and harder for that expression to have any impact'. It is known that we already have short attention spans but social media almost makes them shorter. We need to learn to not just tweet or retweet something tragic but also get off our phones and computers and make a change in our communities.

I am currently in Miami and while I am here I thought it would make sense to make this weeks post relate in some way to this beautiful city. School has just started in most cities and Miami-Dade County is not only welcoming returning students and teachers but also a new security system that will feature officers. This change has been implemented in both middle and elementary schools. According to the Miami Herald changes include new uniforms, new school IDs, and a 'unified network of 15,000 high definition cameras'.
I have just learned about this new change through a notification on my phone when I arrived to Miami. This week one of our course articles "A New Media Tells Different Stories" by Bruno Giussani discusses how the internet is not negatively affecting journalism but in a way becoming a way to reach a new audience. I must admit that if I would have never received the notification on the change in Miami- Dade county schools, I would have never knew of how schools were changing. Although some people believe that phones are bad for the new generation, I feel that if used correctly phones can help with spread news within seconds.

Sources:
Miami Herald
A New Media Tells Different Stories by Bruno Giussani

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog. I want to start by introducing myself. My name is Niamaka Pope. I am currently a senior at Kennesaw State University majoring in political science. I plan on graduating in May of 2019.
This blog is in correspondence to my POLS 3380 course called Mass Media and Politics. This blog will contain post, images, and videos that deal with the intersection between media and politics. I understand that media is sometimes seen as biased so I will do my best to keep my personal beliefs and opinions off of this blog.
I also made a twitter that will consist of topics in relation to media and politics. If you would to follow that twitter the username is @politicsgenie.