There is no way to sugar coat the numbers... currently there is an estimated 100,000 children in the United States being held captive in the sex trade/trafficking industry.  Up until recently the way law enforcement tried to deal with prostitution was to arrest the prostitutes and the pimps organizing the business transactions... this strategy has proven to be ineffective. 

Many women in this industry are adults however there is a growing number of minors being forced into what essentially amounts to modern slavery.  A few weeks ago police rescued a 14 year old girl in New York who had run away from home and ended up being locked up by pimps and sold for sex.  She eventually was able to call 911 and alert the police.

Police around the country, for the first time, are looking at this illegal industry from a business model standpoint. The basic law of capitalist economics is supply and demand, and if it is too difficult or ineffective to eliminate the supply, then perhaps eliminating demand is the way to go.  The focus for law enforcement has shifted somewhat from the prostitute to the customer. 

It is estimated that 15% of American men have purchased the services of prostitutes at least once in their lifetime and based on national statistics a man has a 1 in 100,000 chance of being arrested while trying to or successfully purchasing sex.  If police focus on this customer base, demand will decrease and based on the business model, the supply will as well.  

The men purchasing sex are the ones truly driving this industry, and they must be held accountable for their part in the proliferation and continuation of this in our society.

Thoughts? 

Scientists are developing, and to a certain degree have already developed methods of uploading information directly into your brain!  Check out John Stewart's interview with theoretical physicist Michio Kaku.  

The Southern Poverty Law Center has released its annual "Year in Hate and Extremism" report which chronicles active hate social groups operating in the United States.  According to the report there are 939 active hate groups in the country which is actually down from 2012 when there were over 2000 such groups. 

Social theorists are arguing that the decline of such groups is not due to a lack of belief in such doctrines, but the fact that many ultra-right wing beliefs have become more mainstream.  (see the proposed Arizona anti-gay law as an example.)

Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Law Center, says that while acts of violence and terror have declined discriminating laws have been on the rise.  Major politicians have been backed by all sorts of extremists groups including, the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan, the anti-gay Liberty Counsel, the black separatist Nation of Islam, the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement, and a host of groups including anti-Semitic organizations, anti-Muslim, and Holocaust Deniers.

According to the latest information the top states for hate groups are California with 77, Florida with 58, and Texas with 57.

Thoughts? 

This week the Food and Drug administration will present its findings concerning radical biological procedures that could be used to create genetically modified human beings.  The procedure would modify every cell in the body of the child being born, and these alterations would then be passed down in perpetuity to future generations of offspring.  

The procedure in question is called mitochondrial manipulation and addresses children in danger of being born with mitochondrial disease. This disease results in infected mitochondrial DNA being unable to convert food into energy causing various parts of the brain and the body to malfunction.

Essentially the process would include taking the nuclear DNA from the father and mother and the mitochondrial DNA of a female donor; the result would be a child born with the genetic material of three different people.  The process could save the lives of thousands of children born each year with this debilitating condition, however there is no way to predict potential long term side effects of a procedure which changes the DNA of every cell in the body (with the exception of red blood cells.)  And if there are negative effects, those effects will be passed down to decedents. 

This procedure may be the first step in our ability to completely engineer our ideal human.  Are their moral or social implications to such abilities? Does the fact that we CAN do something mean we SHOULD do something?  Perhaps only time will tell..

Thoughts? 

Known for being a bastion of conservatism, the Arizona State legislature has passed a controversial law allowing businesses to refuse to serve gay people on the basis of religious beliefs.  Arizona is the only state in the country to pass such a law, and the implication of the law could be far reaching.

Once Governor Jan Brewer signs the bill into law gay couples could be refused service at restaurants, stores, or any other private business.  A major issue however is how a business owner would establish a customer's sexual orientation.

Supporters of the bill claim that to force businesses to serve homosexuals would violate their First Amendment Rights, however opponents claim that the law creates second-class citizens in much the same manner that Jim Crow laws did for African American citizens... images of "No Coloreds" signs come to mind as we could very easily see signs reading "No Gays".  Lawyers have argued that the law violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1991. 

A similar law was blocked in Kansas earlier this month when Republicans in the state legislature supported opposition Democrats arguing that the law legalized discrimination.   It would seem that this Arizona law may be destined for the U.S. Supreme Court.

Thoughts? 

As the Syrian Civil War reaches its third year, the West along with some major countries from the East are still at odds with how to respond and react.  Secretary of State John Kerry has been busy the past few months as he attempts to broker peace between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the opposition as well as working of a final peace settlement between the State of Israel and the Palestinians.  Recently a cease-fire was declared in Syria in an effort to provide food and medical supplies for civilians struggling in the cities of Homs, Aleppo and Deir Ezzor.

Upwards of 130,000 people have been killed during the three year conflict, many of them non-combatants.  President Assad has been accused of using chemical weapons against his own people and the international community continues to struggle with how to respond.

The forces fighting in Syria can hardly be divided into only two camps.  The United States opposes the government of al-Assad and has considered arming the insurgents.  The problem here is that many of the forces opposing al-Assad are members of splinter Al Qaeda groups and thus the United States can hardly help affiliates of those who perpetrated the September 11 attacks.  Russia supports al-Assad's government claiming that he helps to fight Islamic extremism and thus needs to stay in power regardless of how he treats the civilian population. 

Politics aside there is an estimated 800,000 people starving, on the verge of death in the above mentioned cities of Homs, Aleppo, and Deir Ezzor.  Syria has plenty of food and resources, however these supplies are being held back by al-Assad as part of his strategy to win the war.  Some have argued that the West must do more to help end the conflict, but this too becomes... complicated.

1.  The United States insists on excluding Iran in the Syrian negotiations.  Iran is a major ally of Syrai and al-Assad        and thus Syria is unlikely to negotiate without their key ally.

2.  Russia is also a major supplier for Syrian weapons because of Syria's fight against Islamic extremism.  Without        Russian support, intervention is Syria is unlikely.

3.  Saudi Arabia and Qatar send weapons to opposition forces within Syria and as long as they do this the fighting          will continue.   

4.  Turkey continues to allow foreign fighters into its country who then make their way across the Syrian/Turkey            border to join in the conflict.

The conflict in Syria threatens the stability of the entire region, and because the United States has allies in that region, this concerns the United States.  

Complicated enough?

Click Here for a short video on the realities people is Syria are facing right now. 

Last year much was made out of the fact that former NBA player Jason Collins announced that he was gay.  It was after the season had ended, and given his age and production, it was unlikely he was going to be signed by another team.  While his decision to come out was a difficult one for a person who grew up and made his professional career in the macho culture of the NBA, his professional career in that environment was over and he would not have to face any potential backlash in terms of his job.  The goal here is not to diminish in any way the the difficulty people have with regards to making public their sexuality, but merely to point out the distinction between what Collins did, and with what Michael Sam has done.

Michael Sam was a standout defensive end for the University of Missouri and is expected to be drafted in the second or third round of the upcoming NFL Draft in May.  This past week he publicly announced what his college teammates and coaches already knew, he is gay.  When he is drafted this May, he will become the first active athlete in any of the four major American sport leagues (NFL, NHL, MLB, NBA) to be openly gay.  

When he came out to his college teammates, he knew that some had world and religious views that would conflict with his lifestyle, but in Sam's view, he could not pretend to be someone else in order to make others feel comfortable.  Sam claims that there were no major conflicts throughout the season, and it was basically a non-issue with the possible exception that some of the slang-vernacular often associated with male athletes and that often includes derogatory words with regards to homosexuality changed.  People were careful and more sensitive with regards to saying anything which would offend Sam.

Being openly gay in the NFL, he may face distinct challenges and homophobia and he is not naive enough to think that everyone will accept him, but that is something he cannot control.  The fact of the matter is that if you have the talent and stay out of trouble, you are going to be on an NFL roster.  And by that measure, Sam will in all likelihood be on a roster.  Only time will tell how the other 52 players on that roster will react.

Thoughts?

We say all the right things.  We recognize that it is an illness like any other.  We have allowed treatment to be covered by insurance plans.  This may all be true, but the fact of the matter is in our country, those suffering from mental illness face a stigma not attached to physical illness.  People with mental illness are far less likely to seek treatment and as a result, many suffer needlessly from long term illnesses; illnesses which in some cases could be easily and effectively treated.

Aside from lack of treatment, those with mental illness are often treated more like criminals than as patients.  New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof deals with this topic in his Sunday column entitled Inside a Mental Hospital Called Jail. He discusses the fact that more than half of those incarcerated in the United States have documented and diagnosed mental illness, and that instead of offering long term care, the system offers short term incarceration.  For some, committing petty crimes is the only way they can receive treatment.  Without health insurance mental illness goes untreated, and so they commit crime in order to gain access to prison hospital treatment and prescription medication.  

This is another discrepancy with the mental health care system.  If you were to go to the emergency room with an obvious physical illness or injury you cannot be turned away due to lack of insurance,  the same is not necessarily true with one suffering from an obvious mental illness; more often than not the police rather than medical professionals are called in to deal with the "problem."  According to Thomas Dart the Cook County sheriff the system is "criminalizing mental illness."  He argues that on a daily basis he receives people suffering from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and psychotic disorders... these people need long term treatment, not repeditive short term incarceration.

Thoughts? 

Click Here to read Nicholas Kristof's Sunday Column. 

Students love the snow day!  And why not?  Instead of getting out of bed and facing the arctic temperatures that are offered by New England winters, students get to sleep later, watch movies, drink hot chocolate, and relax in the unexpected splendor of an extra day off.  I too enjoy the snow day, however from an educational point of view, there are some who argue that when mother nature necessitates a day off from the physical school environment, teachers and students should take part in virtual learning rather than take the day completely off.

Technology now allows for constant connectivity to which anyone with a smart phone can attest, and the argument is that because of the connective possibility, distance learning is also possible.  This debate has intensified recently because in Chicago, school has been canceled at record rates due to snow and dangerously low temperatures. Students are now having large time gaps between lessons which may harm the educational process.  Some are suggesting teachers upload virtual lessons for students to access at home so they can continue their studies during their otherwise relaxing days off.

This philosophy operates under the assumption that learning can only happen during formal instruction guided by an educational professional.  This philosophy may be short sighted.  There is value in rest, there is value in leisure activities and play, there is value in learning through experience, there are lessons which simply cannot be taught in a classroom setting... whether that setting be the physical classroom or the virtual one.  

Or perhaps I'm way off base here...

Thoughts?

Last week, Mary Porter, a 19 year veteran teacher lost her job after showing a rated-R film in her English class.  The film, Dolan's Cadillac was being used as a comparison to the class study of Edgar Allen Poe.  A few of the students in the class were not comfortable with the showing of the movie and complained to their parents.  When the school was notified, it placed Porter on administrative leave pending an investigation.  Instead of going through that investigation, Ms. Porter resigned.  She left the following message on the white board in her classroom,


"Kids, I want you to know that you are never too old to make a mistake, and I made a big one by playing a movie with my 10th-graders.  I will forever be sorry for my error in judgment. I want you to know I love each of you and wish you only the best.”


To support their teacher, students at the Mississippi school organized a walk out, have placed posters around the school and began a social media campaign on twitter with #bringmsporterback.  The school claims that it was not only the rating of the film, it was that Ms. Porter had failed to get permission from the principal to show a movie. School policy dictates that any film, regardless of rating or subject needs to be approved by the administration.  

Critics have pointed out that teachers have secured their positions after far more disturbing and egregious offenses than what was committed by Ms. Porter and that this was nothing more than an overreaction to a minor infraction by an otherwise effective, respected educator.

Does her mistake warrant the loss of her job?  Check out the twitter comments at #bringmrporterback 

Thoughts?