Texting and driving...it can wait

   We have all seen the commercials about texting and driving, with the slogan "It can wait". These commercials show the true danger of using your phone while driving. The second you take your eyes off the road to check FaceBook or send a text could be the second that your life could end. No text is worth your life or the lives of others. As we get older, we need to realize that new drivers look to us as an example, and if we are on our phone they think they can as well. But for every 5 seconds your eyes are off the road, that is the equivalent of driving the length of a football field without looking.
   To protect drivers across our great state, the Texas Legislature needs to pass a statewide law that outlaws the use of cell phones while driving or cycling. Along with outlawing this, law enforcement needs to makes sure that they fully enforce this law. If drivers are not scared about getting punished for still using their cell phones, they will continue to use them and risk people's safety. According to Business Insider, 23% of car accidents involve the use of cell phones that is a total of 1.3 million car accidents! That is 1.3 million accidents that could have been totally prevented if using your cell phone while was illegal. If a driver has an emergency and needs to use his/ her phone they can easily pull off the road and use their device, no text is worth someone's life.

Republicans say the darnedest things!

In Harold Cook's hilarious editorial entitled "Republicans say the darnedest things!", he took a swing at the Republicans and what nominees they try to keep around for the longest. Being the democrat that Cook is, we know that some of this article could be overly exaggerated to add the comedic aspect for his democratic readers. While also shedding on light on the fact that he believes Republicans often put blinders on when focusing on the candidates and only seeing the things that they agree with.  Donald Trump's campaign is a prime example of this with his views on immigration, while having completely contradictory views than most republicans on other topics. Trump's firm stance on immigration during his announcement speech drove up his numbers in the polls. While Cook then points out that Trump has spoken out about other issues, and has been labeled as "pro-choice, pro-universal health care, and pro-assault weapons ban." This is what the author was trying to point out in his editorial, and it is exactly what is taking place. Most of the republicans will just see one thing they agree with on a campaign and then completely ignore the other parts that are completely different from their views. He also claims that we like to keep candidates around for comedic factor, so that we can actually enjoy the political debates. Previous Republican candidates have also brought this comedy, such as Rick Perry and Michelle Bachman with the outrageous things they say that bring them to the top of the Republican pile. Until Republicans finally take the blinders off and these candidates, plunge down from grace.

Mother and daughter holding truancy court sheet. The student
must get it signed daily by her teachers, to ensure her attendance.

On June 22, 2015 Tony Gonzalez an established and credible editorialist for the Dallas Morning News, wrote an article entitled "No more criminal prosecution of school truants in Texas". In this article, Gonzalez discussed Gregg Abbotts new bill that got rid of charging school truants with a class C misdemeanor. In this article aimed at students and their families, he claims that getting rid of that previous bill is exactly what needed to be done. With charging these students with a
riminal misdemeanor, it costs an enormous amount of time and money for not only that student, but their parents as well. This bill could have also caused enormous self esteem problems, as when students were charged with truancy they were escorted off the school grounds in handcuffs for all of their classmates to see.  He provided a statistic that at least 1,283 students have spent time in jail during the previous law's existence. And while their children are battling these cases, the parents have to take time off of work, and miss wages that are so desperately needed to support their family.
I completely agree with Gonzalez's claim, I believe that children should spend as much time as possible in the classroom learning, and not in jail getting punished. We do need to crack down on school attendance, but in a way that ends up helping the students rather than punishing them. If we prosecute these children, they are just going to resent their education even more than they already do. Our education system should be a place where everyone feels safe and where students want to actively engage in what is taking place.

Texas politicians react to Iran nuclear deal

      On July 14th, KVUE posted an article entitled "Texas politicians react to Iran nuclear deal", in this article numerous different political leaders from both parties spoke their mind on the deal that the United States government just made with Iran. As expected U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R), was furious with this decision he believes that President Obama is negating with terrorists  and putting the safety of our country into jeopardy. Congressman Rodger Williams (R) was extremely upset as well, claiming, "Never in my life would I have pictured the United States sitting at a negotiating table with a country that our own State Department labels a state sponsor of terrorism".  Although the Republicans all voiced their opinions in a negative way, Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D), considered the negotiations a success, even going further as to claim that we are "already safer".

 This article should be a must read for everyone. It not only fills you in on what is going on around the world, it also shows you great examples of the different ideologies of the Republicans and Democrats.