The African American guys arrested at the Philadelphia Starbucks tell their side of the story

Two African American guys went to a Starbucks to meet a guy with whom they were working on a business project. They did not bother to buy anything. One of them tried to use the bathroom and was told he could not do so unless he bought something first. The manager then told the guys they could not sit and wait without buying anything. They would not buy anything and they would not leave.

So the manager of the Starbucks called the police and the police told the men they had to buy something or leave. They did not do either thing - they told the police they were waiting for someone.

The police arrested the men, but later (after 8 hours) released them.

Starbucks fired the manager and apologized. They are going to provide a training program to teach all of their staff members how not to discriminate against people at Starbucks. (prejudice is an attitude, something a person feels; discrimination is action taken against people because of prejudice)

The Philadelphia Police Department (this happened in Philadelphia) claims that the police did the right thing. If you walk into a coffee shop, you have to buy something, you cannot use the space for free.

How do you feel about this?

An article:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/News/men-arrested-starbucks-business-meeting-hoping-change-lives/story?id=54578217

Vocabulary:

to be arrested: this is when the police take a person into custody (they take a person to the police station because they believe he/she has committed a crime)

to be accused of something: when someone says you have done something wrong

trespassing - going some place you were not allowed to go (often this means you entered onto land that doesn't belong to you - here it means they entered a restaurant and didn't buy anything)

an entrepreneur - a business person, someone who wants to get involved in a business activity

a barista - at Starbucks, the people behind the counter are called baristas

to decline - to say 'no'

real estate - property

ultimately - finally

to handcuff someone - to put a metal device around a person's two wrists so that he cannot fight

escorted them - led them, removed them from the store

a squad car - a police car

the charges they were facing - the accusations against them, what they were accused of, what they supposedly had done wrong

the charges were dropped - the police said, "OK, we are removing any accusations against you, you may go."

prompted protests - caused protests

a protest - when a group of people come together publicly to complain about something they feel is wrong

minding their own business - not bothering any one

their Miranda rights - whenever anyone in America is arrested, the police have to tell the person his/her rights - "You have the right to remain silent, you don't have to say anything, you also have the right to get a lawyer immediately..." Miranda was a person who was arrested but he wasn't told his rights and he complained about this. So now there is a la named after him requiring the police to tell every arrested person what his/her rights are.

defiant trespassing - you are someplace you shouldn't be and you won't leave (you are defiant - you say "No! I won't do that!")

a video testimonial - a video statement

candidly - completely honestly

to spot something - to see something, to realize something

unconscious bias - bias means prejudice; unconscious bias means you are not even aware that you are acting because you are prejudiced against certain people

reprehensible - very, very wrong, disgustingly wrong

subsequently - later, afterwards

A Lyft driver abandoned a pilot mid-ride due to the low price of a fare

So what would you have done? 

Let's say you are a Lyft driver and you pick a guy up and start driving him to the airport. After a few minutes you realize you are going to travel an hour and only make $6. Well, you picked the guy up and started driving him, so you have to finish your job, correct?

Well, one Lyft driver didn't see things that way. He just stopped his car and forced an airline pilot out in the middle of nowhere. The pilot was late for his flight due to this. 

Thankfully the pilot recorded enough of this exchange to prove what really happened.

So, obviously, if you pick a guy up, you have to finish the job, correct? If the fare is too little for you, do not pick the guy up. 

But, whose fault is this ultimately? 

The article:
http://kfor.com/2018/04/08/pilot-says-lyft-driver-kicked-him-out-after-realizing-airport-was-just-a-6-trip/

Vocabulary:

to kick someone out of some place - to force the person to leave

to drop someone off at a place - to drive a person somewhere

a random spot - not a chosen spot, just any spot, a spot decided on arbitrarily or randomly or not due to a rational or deliberate choice

a tight schedule - he did not have much extra time, a schedule that does not give you much extra time

abruptly - suddenly

to be worth it - super useful: It wasn't worth it for him to....It wasn't worth it for me to... It was worth it to go to the beach today because it was free and I was able to relax.

a ride hailing app - to hail a cab, or to hail a car is to literally wave on the sidewalk to get the driver's attention so that you can use his service. So a ride-hailing app is an app that helps you get a car ride without actually 'hailing' a cab on the street.

initial - first

to feel frustrated - to feel as if there is no solution to a problem or that you are in a bad situation and all the choices suck

his rank - the fact that he was an airline pilot

gunning it - that means he started driving the car super fast to get the ride over with as soon as possible

running stop signs - not stopping for stop signs

whipped out his cell phone - he pulled out his cell phone quickly

things were going downhill - things were getting worse

incredulous - if someone is incredulous he has a hard time believing something is happening

citing - indicating, pointing to

what transpired - what happened

a form letter - a letter that a company sends to everyone or to a certain group of people

Lula has been arrested

Lula was the president of Brasil from 2003 to the end of 2010. During those years 29 million people were assisted into the middle class through government programs and educational initiatives. He did amazing things with the Brasilian economy and helped his entire country to a better life. Barack Obama once said, "I love this guy!" and Tony Blair called Lula one of the most remarkable leaders of our age. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-11458409

So Lula decided to run for the office of presidency again. Now he has been arrested. He was charged with (accused of) illegally accepting a million dollar piece of property he has never lived in and for which there is zero proof that he accepted.

Basically, Lula seems to be an innocent man who helped millions of people, and he is probably now the victim of dirty politics. Certain folks in Brasil did not want Lula to run again, and so they threw him in jail.

In the following article you can read how his own supporters tried to stop him from surrendering to the police.

An article about his arrest: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/brazils-lula-creates-standoff-defiance-prison-order-54301463


Vocabulary from the article:

tense - scary, threatening, causing one to be afraid

a showdown - when two people or groups face each other in some type of conflict, a confrontation

to be in custody - the police has taken control of him and have taken away his freedom

capping - ending

intense - strong

underscored - highlighted, revealed, strongly showed

raw emotions - emotions that people can't control, that just come out strongly

the incarceration of - throwing a person into jail

engulfed by - literally: eaten by, surrounded by, overcome by

corruption - acting in a dishonest manner, not acting properly in regard to one's position so that money is stolen or jobs are not done properly

a conviction - to be found guilty

to be holed up in - to be hiding safely in

clashes - fights

scores - a score is a dozen people (12)

a whirlwind of events - a lot of events going by quickly

a petition - a document asking for something

to appeal his conviction - he was found guilty by a lower court but he 'appealed' to a higher court (asked the higher court) to overturn or get rid of the guilty verdict (conviction). He wanted to remain free while the higher court considered the appeal. The lower court would not allow him to remain free.

Car Wash cases - many instances of corruption have been investigated in Brasil and the whole group of cases or incidents are being called 'the car wash cases'. I am not sure why.

an arrest warrant - a document giving the police the authority to arrest a person; such a warrant is usually given by a judge

a 12 year sentence - a sentence is a period of time a person must remain in prison

to hunker down - to establish oneself more firmly in a place. e.g. I need to hunker down and study for this test!  or: You are experiencing a lot of bad luck lately, but don't worry, hunker down and things will get better.

improbable - unlikely, not expected

prosecutors - lawyers for the government who try to throw people in jail

to take refuge - to go to a safe place

trajectory - his path to the top, a trajectory is the path that a rocket or some other objecttakes as it rises (and sometimes falls)

allegations - complaints

trading favors - giving something to get something

to be upheld - to be confirmed, to be found to be right

colossal - huge, gigantic

a fall from grace - to go from a great, amazing place to a lousy, bad, rotten place

against steep odds - despite huge chances against him; to do something against the odds means few people have done it before. e,g. I come from a poor and working-class family and against steep (difficult) odds I was able to go to an Ivy League school.  Odds are chances of success. If you are definitely going to win something, you have 1-1 odds. If you are probably not going to be able to do something, but there is still a chance, your odds might be 50-1 or 100-1 or if you really will have a hard time doing something 1,000 - 1 etc.

a booming economy - an economy that kept increasing

abject - hopeless

hardscrabble - something difficult, something requiring struggle to survive

to rise through the ranks - to start at the bottom of an organization and to keep getting higher and higher jobs

a union - an organization of workers 

a strike - when workers refuse to work until they receive a better salary or working conditions

to be polarized - most people are on one side or the other (we have a North Pole and a South Pole)

to be behind bars - to be in jail

detractors - people against someone or something

impunity - to do something wrong and to get away with it

to disqualify someone - to make it impossible for a person to do something because he/she is not "qualified" or does not meet the standards or criteria

to be ensnared - to be caught

a scandal - a situation in which famous or powerful people have been exposed or revealed to have been doing something wrong

the elite - the very famous, the very powerful, the few people who have become well-known

an illegal scheme - an illegal plan to make money secretly

a cartel - an illegal organization

to dole out - to hand out, to deliver

inflated - larger than normal

a kickback - I help you make money and you send some of this money to me.  e.g. You own a construction company and I have power in government. We need to hire a construction company to build a road. So, I tell you, give me an inflated figure for the construction of this road. I will make sure the government pays you this amount. You then kick some of that money back to me. 

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Feel free to contact me with comments or questions at djg51qu@gmail.com

Hungary's Two-Tailed Dog Party - Can They Save the World? I think so.

The sticker says: Look into my eyes, you will vote for us!

The Two-Tailed Dog Party of Hungary may be the greatest political party or political movement of all time. Please read the following article about them. If they gain power, they will distribute free beer and try to negotiate free trade agreements with alien civilizations (in other parts of the universe). They will take children to school in helicopters, and not in school buses. 

Yes, they are out-of-the-box thinkers. (They are also being very satirical - to be satirical means to make fun of or to laugh at an "important" or famous person or institution. Their campaign seems satirical in origin - they are laughing at evil political parties and politics in general, I believe.) 

(A political "party" is a political group that usually represents a particular belief system. The two-tailed dogs seem to be very open-minded and liberal.)

The article:

http://www.newsweek.com/hungarys-joke-party-dead-serious-about-election-875196

Vocabulary from the article:

a joke party - a political party that was created as a joke, initially, even though they are now, apparently, seriously running candidates for election. (notice: to run for election)

to be dead serious - to be really serious, to be super serious

to draw penises - a penis is the male sexual organ

ballot papers - the slips of paper used to vote in an election

a referendum - this is a special type of election in which the people of a country decide an important issue

European Union migration quotas - a quota is a number that has to be reached. So the EU wanted to establish a quota for each member country of how many refugees or migrants each country had to accept. Hungary's very conservative leader - Orban - did not want to accept the idea of a quota or many migrants. So he held a referendum hoping the people would support him and say "No" to a quota established by the EU.

to cast a vote - to submit a vote

to be deemed invalid - apparently 6.2 million people drew penises on their ballots and these were not considered to be real votes. If something is invalid, it is not legitimate, not to be accepted as real.

the poll - the referendum

grassroots - coming from the people, coming from the bottom up

to be offensive - this means some people are embarrassed by something or upset or shocked by it.

a euphemism for male genitalia - a 'nice' word for the male penis (so if a person doesn't want to say 'penis' in Hungary, I guess that person says 'tail').

dubious - doubtful, not real

to claim expense refunds - I think this means that if a party gets at least 500 votes for each of its candidates, the government pays them the amount of money they spent (or claimed to spend) running in the election. So the fake parties might be falsely claiming and receiving expenses if 500 people accidentally or stupidly vote for their candidates.

to perpetrate something - to cause something harmful or criminal

deemed - considered

a range - a wide variety of things

gorilla-guerrilla - a gorilla is a large ape, a guerrilla is a secret fighter

eternal life - life without end, no death

campaigning - running for office

perks - extra benefits of a job

a departure from clucking - clucking is a sound that chickens make. "Cluck cluck cluck!" He departed from clucking - he stopped clucking and moved to human speech.

spurring them into action - causing them to become more active; to spur something is to speed something up and make it happen faster

enhancing - making it better; so this party tries to take care of issues and matters the government neglects (doesn't pay attention to)

why did the chicken crossed the road? - should be: why did the chicken cross the road? This is an old joke. Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side.

opposition parties - political parties that are trying to take over from the powerful, well-established parties

to rally behind someone or something - to come together for someone or something

a rival - a competitor, someone you are working against

undecided voters - people who cannot make up their minds

The young man suffering from "affluenza" has been released from jail

As I mentioned in a previous post, "affluenza" is supposedly a psychological problem that some rich kids suffer from. Affluence means wealth. If you are affluent, you are wealthy or rich. Influenza is a disease - influenza is actually "the flu". So a lawyer combined affluence and influenza to get "affluenza". 

According to this lawyer's definition of affluenza, some rich kids never learn the difference between right and wrong because their lives are so easy and comfortable. Their parents "spoil" them. To spoil a child means to not provide any discipline or guidelines for the child's behavior so that the child grows up to be completely selfish.

So when a young, rich guy became very drunk and killed 4 people, his lawyer claimed he was suffering from affluenza and should not be held accountable or responsible for his actions.

The article about this is here:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/affluenza-teen-ethan-couch-released-jail-years-article-1.3910034

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

to serve a sentence - if a person is thrown in jail, he 'serves' his 'sentence'. In this case, the sentence was two years. A sentence is a period of time someone found guilty of a crime has to serve in jail.

a parole violation - in the USA, even though 1% of the population is currently in jail, judges often seem to be very lenient. Lenient is the opposite of strict. Judges tend to show a lot of mercy or sympathy when they sentence criminals. So this young guy was initially sentenced to parole. This means that as long as he stayed out of trouble for a certain amount of time, he would not be thrown in jail. As you will read, he failed to do this and was thrown in jail for two years. So to be on parole means to be conditionally free - under the condition that you do not act badly.

they ushered him - they escorted him, they accompanied him, they went with him

a media scrum - a large crowd of journalists all struggling with each other to get the best photograph or the best position to ask an interview question. A scrum literally happens in the sport of rugby, where many players, in a crowd, struggle to gain control of the ball.

a probation office - if you are on probation, it is basically the same thing as parole - you are expected to live according to high standards or you will be punished

court-ordered ankle monitor - he has to wear an electronic device around the lower part of his leg so that it can be determined whether he is at home or not. This has been ordered by the judge.

a joyride - to ride a car around dangerously for fun

bratty - you are a brat if you act spoiled; if you are very selfish and disrespectful and lacking in maturity, you are a brat or bratty

arrogance - the attitude that you are better than others

a chaplain - a religious person, like a priest, minister, rabbi or imam

furious - very angry; Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is a group that advocates against drunk driving.

to adhere to his rules - to follow his rules

dysfunctional - it does not work the way it should; his family was not a normal family that could raise a mentally healthy kid

manslaughter - accidentally killing someone, but accidentally killing them through stupidity or a lack of caution

settled with relatives - they paid lots of money to these relatives

slain - killed

rehab - a process in which psychological experts help people overcome their addictions to alcohol

too broke - too poor

kicking it to taxpayers - passing it to taxpayers

treatment didn't seem to take - it didn't seem to work

beer pong - some stupid drinking game

blatant - obvious, no doubt about it

to be on the run - trying to escape from justice

extradited - sent from Mexico to the USA; if as person is extradited, he/she is wanted in another country and formally sent there

money laundering - I am not sure exactly what she did, but money laundering is usually when you use a business to hide the fact that you are making money illegally. So you might open a restaurant and claim that money you made illegally was made at the restaurant.

hindering the apprehension of a fugitive - to hinder means to make something more difficult; apprehension means catching someone; a fugitive means someone running from justice

a bid - an attempt

to toss or toss out - to throw away, get rid of

a model inmate - a perfect prisoner, someone very cooperative as a prisoner

a write up - if a jail guard 'writes up' a prisoner, it means the prisoner was accused of breaking a rule

impressive - if someone does something impressive, he has done something he/she should be proud of; to be impressed by someone means one thinks highly of that person or what that person did

a rampage - a wild and forceful action; the drunken driving of the car that led to a crash is referred to here as a rampage

rambunctious - not easily controlled, wild

a smirk - a smile someone makes to show he does not have respect for another person