Coronavirus? Whistleblowers?

Let me say this... WOW.




I thought reading this article was just going to give me more information on what the coronavirus is, how it was contracted, where it is spreading and how fast, etc. but I was very wrong.

Do not get me wrong, I know that China's government is terrible, but I do not think I realized to what capacity because I try and shield myself from that. From reading this article I learned that the coronavirus was started in China, in Wuhan, but I did not know that it was diagnosed and kept a secret....

A chinese doctor had diagnosed the virus and had said that he had in an online chat group. When Xi found out about that, the current leader, he disbanded the doctor and hatched a twisted plan to not inform any of China's citizens that it was contagious and in fact real!
Xi decided to keep the nature of the disease under wraps, endangering so many civilians. The few cases they had diagnosed were not in quarantine and were not being helped in a way that prevented further spreading of the disease. Because the citizens were in the dark, millions upon million were still traveling in and out of Wuhan while the infected were contaminating everything.
Xi decided to not tell the public, because that is what China does I suppose, and because of this 5  million people came in contact with the disease and could potentially have it.
Once this staggering knowledge was public, people were very upset with Xi.. rightfully so. After, doctors started finally quarantining the infected agents and trying to 'help' the situation.

The part of it all that really made me stand back and pick up my jaw from the floor was the fact that China had no idea this virus was there or spreading, but all of its neighboring countries did! Other countries knew the disease was in China, because China told everyone except their own people. Surrounding nations started to publicize this via social media and television, but China is so censored that all their social media and any way of them finding out was just blocked!
This has put a lot of people, especially journalists, in an outrage. But, it doesn't matter because China has the power to do that, and there is no harnessing that power. If you ask me, sounds like a violation of the first amendment....





Article Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/29/opinion/coronavirus-china-government.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

U.S. Supreme Court History + My Reaction

I have not ever really dove down deep, or even scratched the surface of, the supreme court. In my high school history courses, we did not touch upon the supreme court in as much depth as I would have thought necessary. Therefore, I did not know much about the supreme court until I watch these two videos. Here are the things I want to say and my findings.

After watching the two videos, I have concluded that the first one was far more interesting. I learned more from watching the first one than I did from watching the second one. For some reason, the man who was interviewing the few justices at the table in the end of the first film asked questions that I found intriguing and wanted to know the answers to.

I found it absolutely fascinating how little women were featured in this documentary. I suppose I had no predisposed notion as to how many women were or are serving on the court, but I was shocked to know it was only four and one of which does not serve any longer. With such a progressive way of life nowadays, I am just taken aback that more women were not honored to serve in this way. Going along with that, there was also only one man of African American decent featured in the film. Much like women, I thought this would be a higher statistic! I suppose, as well, that I can not be surprised because we did just have our first black president only ten years ago.

Something else I rather enjoyed about this video was how well all of the judges seemed to get along. They did such a remarkable job at letting each other speak when the interviewer asked the questions. No one interrupted each other, or even so much as batted an eye when the man asked questions. It was as if they knew already who was going to answer, and they were so respectful of each other even if they did not all agree. I really admired that; the interview was very quiet, calm, and collected. It reflected so well on the justices too, showing how they really are meticulous and patient in how they behave.

I learned that the average time a justice is appointed is around 16 years, but they have and can stayed as  much as double that! Since there have been so few justices in U.S. History, I think he said about 100, I am not too shocked that their 'term' was so long. It also says to  me that many of the justices enjoy and love their job and that it is so fulfilling they stay for decades. Many of them out- stay the president that appointed them, which was such a staggering statistic for me to hear, though makes sense.

Overall, I did learn more than I thought I was going to, and I am glad that it was in a slow paced format that was easy to follow. I found the history much more interesting than I thought I was going to and I can say that I am happy I watched both videos.





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWRoXYRsaeo&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca8qSuWxcG8&feature=youtu.be