Chuck, Elizabeth. "Ohio Cop Refuses to Resort to Deadly Force: 'I Wanted to Be Absolutely Sure'" NBC News. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/officer-refuses-resort-deadly-force-i-wanted-be-absolutely-sure-n344011

“Ohio Cop Refuses to Resort to Deadly Force: ‘I Wanted to Be Absolutely Sure’”

            Last Thursday, a man accused of killing his fiancée and his best friend confronted Ohio police officer Jesse Kidder, who had only been on force for a year. The man ran to the officer, shouting for the cop to shoot him, but the officer refused to take his life and instead told him to back up. The officer’s nonviolence became a positive example of what a police officer should do in this type of situation. The controversy surrounding officers’ use of force being the prevalent issue here, Kidder is praised for handling the situation well, despite being a rookie cop.

            I was glad to come across a positive cop encounter story, and one that didn’t involve a victimized African-American and a white policer officer deemed racist. Gun control is a huge issue in America and the world, and so is controlling police officers’ use of force. Some people believe that it simply cannot be done, than cops are all trigger-happy and racist and will shoot the first suspect they see, but this article proves differently. The video in the article is absolutely terrifying—the suspect could have pulled a gun out of his pocket and shot Kidder at any moment, yet Kidder held his ground and refused to shoot in defense of himself just so that he did not have to shoot the suspect without being sure that he was armed. A major issue with police officers shooting unarmed or cooperative men is that they, as anyone would be, fear for their life and would not risk being shot over ensuring the safety of the suspect. This article is important for anyone concerned with safety around police officers, as it shows that not every cop encounter is bad.

"Atheists: In Godlessness We Trust." CBSNews. CBS Interactive. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. . http://www.cbsnews.com/news/atheists-in-godlessness-we-trust/

“Atheists: In Godlessness We Trust.”

            Neil Carter, a former Sunday school teacher in Jackson, Mississippi, converted to atheism after college. After this, his wife left him, and he was transferred from the middle school where he taught history. He has joined a group called “Openly Secular,” a sort of support group for atheists. The article discusses the discrimination American atheists face, in society, politics, etc.

            I firmly believe that one should not be discriminated whatsoever based on their religion; religion is a belief and no one can justify that their religion is better than someone else’s, or that members of a certain religion will have a worse life than others. Unfortunately, the situation in America today is that there is much religious discrimination, whether conscious of unconscious. Muslims are insulted and even killed just because some radical members of the religion were the terrorists behind 9/11, and atheists aren’t in a much better situation. I’ve seen news documentaries and such where people talk about how difficult it was to “come out” to the world as atheists; this in no way should have to be the case for anyone of any religion. The article states that fifty-three percent of Americans say they wouldn’t be very supportive of an atheist president, which is just as ridiculous as not supporting a woman or gay president because they could be the president that save’s America’s economy and does the most for unemployment, yet they wouldn’t get elected just because they don’t believe in an all-powerful deity that no one can even prove exists.

Boyle, Alan. "45 Years of Earth Day: How Environmentalism Has Evolved." NBC News. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. http://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/45-years-earth-day-how-environmentalism-has-evolved-n343886

“45 Years of Earth Day: How Environmentalism Has Evolved.”

            This article discusses the history of Earth Day, and how since its start is has grown into a global phenomenon with over 1 billion participants. There is information showing how our work to help protect and better the environment has brought major positive changes in every environmental field, encompassing the entire planet with our human aid to animals and nature. It also discusses the looming problems of climate change and pollution, and the hunt for cleaner energy sources.

            I believe that working on saving our environment is the most important issue in the world, since if we do not protect our planet there will be no one left to discuss other issues anyhow. We are quickly draining our oil supplies and other natural resources, and by 2040 the world population is estimated to be twice as large as it is now—we cannot possibly keep up with our own consumption and reproduction, and it is a very real concern that we as a species may no longer be able to live on Earth. In the current day, our planet and the nature around us has been a constant since the beginning of humanity, so it is very difficult to realize the situation at hand. Earth’s nature is now just an exponentially decreasing space of land we have not yet built a city on, and I believe events and movements such as the ones brought about by Earth Day are the most important thing any human could commit themselves to, and the mission of saving our planet, while sounding completely sci-fi and ridiculous, really does matter for the future of our species.