The Founding Era

I came into this assignment knowing little about the United States Supreme Court. In these videos I learned so much that I didn't know. The information about the three beck rock principles really interested me. I was shocked to learn that the first amendment right is not absolute. I always assumed that there are some exceptions in the first amendment. I grew up thinking and was taught that the first amendment right is non negotiable. The shank case was a perfect example of why the first law of bedrock was made. It also talks about how the first amendment does not protect violent actions either which makes complete sense. The example he used was protestors burning cars and buildings and that is why the first law of bedrock is so important because we have to remember there are exceptions. Thinking about it more I actually like the first bedrock principle because there are certain cases in which I believe people should be held accountable for what they say. I think it is rare cases but they do happen and we cannot overlook that. 

The second law of bedrock also puts things into perspective for me in the sense that I never thought about people claiming they can be allowed to do something illegal because it is in their religion. This law is just reenforcing equality basically saying that nobody is subject to break the law and they all apply to every single United States citizen. 

After watching these videos my ideas of the supreme court changed a lot. I used to think that it was kind of pointless and they had too much power. What they do though, is an important job and it keeps people in line/check. I believe that sometimes they make the wrong choices but nobody is perfect at the end of the day. 

The issues with technology

 

The main issue brought up while watching these videos is privacy. I find it appalling that the government can legally track your car and see where you go throughout the day. What has this country come to if we can not go where we want when we want without being monitored by law enforcement/government. The idea of digital tattoos is also very interesting to me. I never realized that feature on the iPhone where after you take a picture sometimes it tells you who it is if they are in your contacts with a photo. It irks me to think that technology can facially recognize us because I feel as though that is a breach of privacy. Overall the government should set serious guidelines on what they can and cannot track. I understand if they track criminals or people who have done something illegal but common citizens should not be tracked by law enforcement or government without probable cause or a reason that should have to be approved by somebody. If you get hacked somebody can read your emails. Emails can tell you a lot about a person such as their interests, who they know, where they are from and even where they are going. One email being read does not seem that bad but if somebody reads all of your emails how would that make you feel. Personally I would be terrified because somebody could learn so much about me. 

Something I always do to protect myself from these sorts of issues is I put a sticky note over my camera when I am not on FaceTime because people now have the ability to hack somebody's computer remotely and they can access your video camera and watch/record what you are doing. At the end of the day after watching all of these videos I have realized that even after we are gone our digital footprint will still be alive and if you say something on the internet you can never take it back even if you delete it because somewhere out there is a record of it.  

Videos

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Top Five News Sources

1. At this point in my life the news I tend to read is sports related so for that reason my number one news source has to be ESPN.com. I tend to follow many major sports teams throughout their seasons and ESPN does an amazing job keeping up with teams, players, drafts, trades and injury news. 

2.  As I explained before a lot of my news in my life right now is sports related so I tend to use twitter a lot. I only look at two accounts on twitter because I trust these reporters and what they have to say. Adrian Wojnarowski is a trusted national basketball reporter who tweets the biggest NBA news when they happen. If something big in the NBA happens he is the first one to tweet about it. The other account is Adam Schefter who is an NFL analyst and insider who like Adrian Wojnarowski lets the public know before anybody else if something major happens in the sport wether that be a rule change, injury report or a player gets traded. 

3. When I actually rarely decide to read about real world issues and news I read the Associated Press. I find a lot of their articles very interesting and it gives me different perspectives of stories. They tend to not pick sides but rather just give facts. 

4. A sports outlet I really enjoy getting news from is Sports Illustrated. I grew up reading their articles and magazines my entire life. They tend to provide a more in depth analysis than a lot of other sports outlets. I used to just read the magazines but as I got older I have enjoyed their articles much more. 

5. My final source of news is family and friends. Whenever something important is on the news or is spreading I always tend to hear it from people close to me early on. News spreads like wildfire through just talking in my experience. No matter how big or small the news is it always seems to be spread through talking with other people.