5 English vocab words (3)

 

a glitch – a technical problem. i.e. Ladies and gentlemen, please bear with us, there has been a technical glitch in our sound equipment, but we are confident we can fix it shortly. Or: The rollout of the new model of the cell phone was delayed because engineers discovered a glitch in the system and were not sure how to fix it.

to overhaul something – to fix something so that it works better. i.e. My car was pretty old and it was not running well, so I went to the mechanic and he was able to overhaul it so that it runs perfectly now. Or: Our accounting department has been working too slowly, so its supervisor decided to overhaul it by replacing some accountants and hiring new ones.

a temptation – something that makes you want to do something that you know you shouldn’t do. i.e. That cake was a real temptation for me to eat, but because I am on a diet I was able to resist the temptation and I am so proud of myself. Or: Quitting this stressful job was a real temptation, but because I need to make a living, I resisted the temptation and I still work here.

your carbon footprint – this means the amount of carbon dioxide you have used or are currently using. Carbon dioxide is a gas that results when electricity is generated or when you use a car. Global warming is due to the carbon dioxide building up in the atmosphere. Your footprint is the mark you leave with your foot as you walk, so your ‘carbon footprint’ is the carbon dioxide you cause to be created in the world as you live. i.e. I try to turn off the lights when I don’t need them, and I use a fan instead of air conditioning. In this way I hope to reduce my carbon footprint. Or: Joe is so irresponsible. He takes 30-minute hot baths, runs his air conditioning all the time, never shuts off his lights – his carbon footprint is huge.

a moocher – this is someone who tries to get lots of free things from others. i.e. Someone I know from Guangzhou decided to visit me in Shenzhen. Little did I know he was a moocher who would never pay for any of the meals we ate at restaurants or any of the tickets for events we attended. I was bleeding money while this moocher was in town because I paid for everything. Or: Bob’s brother-in-law came to stay for a week. The moocher ate all the food in the refrigerator and never bought anything for Bob’s family. 

Three useful words for the ESL student

to enforce something – when the government or police make sure that people are following a law. i.e. The Chinese government has started to enforce its work-visa laws more strongly. They are now arresting and deporting people who work without the proper visas. Enforcing the work-visa law will make sure the quality of English teaching is better in China.

to hunker down – to really focus and work hard on something because a deadline is coming up. i.e. I have a tight deadline for this project and I am running out of time. I need to hunker down and start working harder and more efficiently or I am not going to be able to finish on time.

an encore – this is when a performer comes back on stage after a performance and does more performing (even though he/she doesn’t have to). For example, a pianist who finishes a scheduled hour-long piano recital might come back and play some extra piano pieces. Or a rock and roll band might come back on stage and do extra songs when their show is officially over.  i.e. I went to the Shenzhen Concert Hall to see a pianist play four Beethoven sonatas. I expected him to do an encore of a couple more piano pieces, but he was too tired and he didn’t do an encore.

Emotional-support pets on airplanes. A good or bad idea?

From the Pettravel.com website:

Emotional support animals are used in Animal Assisted Therapy to improve the physical, social, emotional and cognitive condition of the patient. Most emotional support animals are dogs and cats, however this therapy can also include parrots, horses, elephants, lizards, and monkeys. The DOT is currently considering the addition of pigs to the list. These pet animals are now recognized as providing a valuable service to the elderly and to others with a medical disability and have recently reached the status of Service Animals.

A "cognitive" condition means "thinking" condition. The DOT = The U.S. Department of Transportation

Basically, if I understand this correctly, people who do not like to fly and who feel anxious (worried, stressed, nervous) while flying are allowed to bring these emotional support animals onto an airplane for free. The animals make them feel more comfortable.

However, I really do not like little pets, especially those crazy little designer dogs that some people have to make them seem richer than other people...those dogs that cannot stop barking: yip yip yip yip yip! OMG!

So if someone brings one of these crazy little dogs on an airplane to make him/her feel less stress, it is going to add to my stress! Also, as you can see from the quote above, and from the article linked below, people try to bring weird (strange) pets onto airplanes. Some people try to bring snakes and spiders. Do you want to sit next to a giant hairy spider for 13 hours?

All of my students seem to think this is a terrible idea and many airlines are beginning to take measures to end this practice. Everyone seems to agree that REAL "service" animals (for people who cannot see, for example) are fine. Bring a spider on an airplane to feel safer, well, not too many people would agree with that.

What do you think? One of my students suggested that there are other ways to make people feel more comfortable on planes. Free soothing music, free movies, herbal tea - there are many other things than a big hairy spider that can make a person feel safe. How do you think this whole situation got started?

The article:

http://www.businessinsider.com/emotional-support-animals-big-problem-airlines-want-to-stop-them-2018-6

Vocabulary:

emotional support - this means when someone gets some help in regard to dealing with a painful emotion or emotions. If a friend of yours is depressed, you might try to provide emotional support by taking him/her out, making the person laugh or just by being there to listen to your friend.

vague rules - not clear rules, not well-defined rules

to cheat the system - to get around/avoid the system's rules unfairly or in a deceitful or sneaky way

to the detriment of - to the harm of; detriment is the opposite of benefit

to tighten its definition - to make its definition more exact, more precise

to exclude - to eliminate

a trade group - a organization that represents a number of companies in one industry

unscrupulous - lacking morals, not having ethics, an unscrupulous person does not care about what is right or wrong (pronounced: un SCREW pyul us)

fraudulent documentation - fraudulent means fake or not real, if a person commits an act of fraud, he makes money illegally; so fraudulent documentation means fake documents to get these animals on airplanes (I am not sure whether this is a crime - it probably should be.)

posing as - to pose as someone or something means to pretend to be someone or something

to be mauled - to be bitten badly by an animal

defecating pigs - pigs pooping on the airplane (how's that for your emotional support - fly 7 hours with pig poop)

to weed out the impostors -  an impostor is a faker or someone who is pretending to be something he/she is not. To weed someone or something out means to eliminate someone or something. Let's say you are hiring 5 people for a job and 30 people apply. You have to weed out 25 people - like pulling weeds to support the flowers. So the Department of Transportation is allowing airlines the right to refuse emotional support animals access to airplanes.

to codify regulations - to put these regulations in writing and to make sure the regulations are followed everywhere in the country

giving airlines discretion - giving airlines the ability to make their own choices based on their own judgment

How many calories do you burn while doing nothing?

So the good news is that you burn about 700 calories just sleeping 8 hours a day. Then, even if you do nothing, just sitting at a desk, sitting in a chair, you'll burn another 1,000 or so calories throughout the day. So your body is burning about 1,700 calories a day for you for free - no effort needed. Now, if you want to lose weight, you just have to cut back on the amount of food you eat and increase your activities a little more. The weight should start flying off!

to lose weight - many students will say, "I need to lose my weight." or "Joe is trying to lose his weight." There is no need, however, for a possessive pronoun. 

You should say, "I need to lose weight." or: "Joe needs to lose weight."

Interesting article about burning calories while doing nothing.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/461950-how-many-calories-can-you-burn-daily-just-from-sitting-walking-around-a-house/

Vocabulary from the article:

bowling - I don't know why they included bowling along with these other activities. I have not been bowling in 20 years and I don't think I know one person who regularly bowls. Here is an image of a bowling ball hitting some pins in a bowling alley:

thermal energy - heat energy

body composition - what your body is made up of, the proportion of fat to muscle to bone etc.

There is very simple vocabulary in this article, I just wanted to point out that you don't have to use a possessive pronoun with 'weight'.

Also, as someone who is trying to lose weight, I found this article useful.

Elon Musk's plan to use a new business model to help save the planet

Elon Musk was the founder of Paypal and he is now, among other things, the CEO of Tesla Motors.

What's interesting about the NY Times article below is that it seems to indicate that Musk has developed a new business model based on his awareness of human nature and his concern for the environment. 

For example, everybody knows that gas-burning cars pollute the environment. Few people have, however, abandoned their gas-burning cars because these cars make their lives easier. So although people know they are polluting the environment, they just don't seem to think about it nor does this make them want to switch to electrically generated cars (which would not contribute to adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere).

Therefore, Musk wants to appeal to everyone's self interest since appealing to the interests of the planet does not seem to work. It is Musk's intention to make a car that is better and cheaper than fossil-fuel (gas-burning) cars so that people will want to switch to cars which are better for the environment, and they will switch for completely selfish reasons.

Here is an interesting and thought-provoking article followed by interesting vocabulary from the article and some good discussion questions. 

The article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/25/business/despite-roadblocks-for-tesla-elon-musk-is-moving-full-speed-ahead.html?_r=0

Vocabulary:

to be unveiled - to be revealed

to hit a speed bump - a speed bump is a literal bump in the road that drivers have to slow down for; these speed bumps are often placed near schools so that drivers will not speed through areas where there are children. Figuratively, a speed bump is anything that slows your progress down. The speed bump in this article is the fact that a man died while driving a Tesla run by auto-pilot and this is causing problems for Tesla.

premature - too early

fatality - a death

to hail something as - to praise something as 

to be bent on - to be committed to; if you are bent on something, you have determined you are going to do something and it might not be possible to stop you

muttering - when you are upset and can't stop saying something quietly to yourself, but you don't want others to hear what you are saying

schadenfreude - this is a German word...it means to feel happy when someone you don't like is suffering 

a sheer need - a pure or obvious need

to crank out - to produce

ramping up production - increasing production

his wit is dry and understated - his sense of humor is very subtle

the turd in the punch bowl - a turd is a piece of crap or shit; a punch bowl is a bowl filled with a type of fruit drink that you often find at parties (people scoop the punch out of the bowl with a scooper and fill their cups with it). So to have a turd in your punch bowl is to have something disgusting in something you would like to use. He is saying that we are ignoring these greenhouse gases but we would not ignore a turd in a punch bowl.

to epitomize - to be the best example of (so here the Paris accords (meetings) were the perfect example of how slowly the governments around the world work to solve problems)

to be agile - to be flexible

resentment - when you dislike someone or something because you think they have hurt you

a disruptive entrepreneur - usually the word disruptive has a negative meaning but here it means Musk has disrupted the way entrepreneurs usually do business and he is forcing them to change

a nagging question - a question that won't go away; one person nags another person if he keeps bothering him: i.e. Did you take out the garbage? When will you take out the garbage? Didn't you say you were going to do this? Can you do this soon? etc.

volatile - unstable

audacity - being bold, showing courage when nobody expects you to

to muse about something - to think deeply about something

the advent of something - the beginning of something

flaws - problems or errors in some type of system 

detractors - people who disagree with Musk

full throttle forward - to go forward as fast as possible

Questions:

What do you think motivates Elon Musk?

How does he want to contribute to saving the planet?

Should he be held accountable for the man who died in the auto-pilot car?

Is Tesla using its drivers as guinea pigs? (A guinea pig is a small furry animal that some scientists use for experiments. So let's say there is a new restaurant in your neighborhood but you don't know whether it is good. And let's say your roommate says he is hungry and looking for a restaurant. You might tell him to go to the new restaurant because you want to use him as a guinea pig - you want to test the restaurant on him first before you try it.)

Was the death a big deal to you?

Why do energy companies view Tesla 'warily'?

How might Musk be the Henry Ford of this era?

What will finally motivate people to buy electric cars?

Who would be more successful in regard to protecting the environment - business or government?

How is the government helping business to create 'greener' technology?

What impact will Tesla cars have in the immediate future?

How is Musk influencing other businesses?

Should more scientists try to be entrepreneurs?

What is Musk's background?

Do we really need autopilot cars?

Can autopilot ever really work?

Did Brown cause his own death?

An anti-overdose drug will now be available 'over-the-counter' in NY

It seems that many people have been dying due to overdoses of the illegal drug heroin in NY City.

(an 'overdose' is when you take too much of something that can kill you - heroin is an illegal and highly addictive narcotic drug) 

(if a drug is available 'over-the-counter', this means that you do not need a doctor's permission to buy the drug...US pharmacies often have lots of over-the-counter drugs on display that a person can buy, but a doctor's prescription (note) can only be filled by a licensed pharmacist behind a counter)

There is a drug which can be taken if a person feels he/she is dying from an overdose of heroin, and this drug can save the person's life. This drug is called naloxone. 

Until recently only a doctor could provide the medicine directly or a person needed a prescription (a notice that a person could legally buy the medicine from a pharmacy).

Because so many people have been dying, heroin users may now buy the drug naloxone and keep it with them while they are using heroin, in case they lose the ability to breathe (naloxone apparently helps a person breathe again after an overdose, thus saving the person's life).

What do you think about this? Some folks say that by making naloxone easy to get we are encouraging people to use heroin. They argue that if it is safer to take heroin, more young people will now take heroin. Yet, it's true that there has been an increase in the number of young people who are dying from heroin overdoses. Should we allow some young people die in order not to encourage others to try heroin?

An article about this:

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/anti-overdose-medication-nyc-pharmacies-article-1.2458390

Vocabulary from the article:

anti - this means to be against something; pro means to be for something

opiates - these are drugs that come from the poppy plant; they are, basically, pain-killers

a pharmacy - a place to buy medication, either over-the-counter or through a doctor's prescription

De Blasio - the mayor (leader) of New York City

sobering - information is sobering if it shocks you; the opposite of sober is drunk

new stats - new statistics,new numbers about something

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An American sports reporter is videotaped acting very nasty

Britt McHenry is a reporter for the American cable channel ESPN - a sports channel.

Apparently her car was parked illegally and a towing service took it away.

This is a tow truck:

When McHenry came to get her car back from the towing service, she verbally attacked the person at the business.

This has become a hot issue in the USA because it shows the arrogance (feeling of superiority) that celebrities sometimes have and it just shows a human being at her very worst. McHenry has not even had the decency, apparently, to apologize to the woman she attacked.

Also, it points to the fact that even if a person is angry he/she does not have the right to attack another person in the way McHenry attacked this poor woman. We don't teach ethics or kindness in this country. 

Furthermore, it looks as if there was an attempt to cover up this story - it took several days for the videotape to finally go public.

http://bustedcoverage.com/2015/04/16/britt-mchenry-tow-truck-video-gina-michelle/

This is a good opportunity, however, for you, the English learner, to be exposed to some truly nasty words in the English language. Here are some things McHenry said:

McHenry: "I'm in the news sweetheart. I'll fucking sue this place."

The term 'sweetheart' is often used toward someone you love or feel affection for. Here the word 'sweetheart' is being used 'sarcastically'.

to sue - this means she will hire a lawyer and take the company to court to punish the company. But, the company didn't do anything wrong.  So this was perceived as an example of a celebrity threatening an innocent person with the power that a celebrity has.

fucking - many low-class people in the USA use the word 'fucking' as an adverb. I'll fucking kill you! I'll fucking sue you!  I'll fucking + verb + object pronoun.

McHenry: "That's why I have a degree and you don't."

McHenry insults (makes a statement to hurt the employee) the employee by saying that she, McHenry, went to college but the employee didn't. Actually, McHenry went to a little college in Florida which does not seem to be such a great school.

McHenry: "I wouldn't work at a scumbag place like this."

Scum is dirt. If a person is a scumbag, he/she is like dirt, something very low and disgusting. A scumbag place is a crappy, ugly, dirty place.

McHenry: "Makes my skin crawl just being here."

It makes my skin crawl just being here <--- It makes me feel disgusted being here; I feel as if bugs are crawling on my skin.

McHenry: "Yep that's all you care about is just taking other people's money."

For having a university degree, her English kind of sucks. "Yep, that's all you care about: just taking other people's money.

McHenry: "With no education, no skill set, just wanted to clarify that."

Again, this is in broken English. I think she meant to say: "You don't have any education nor any skills. I just wanted to point that out."  Dear foreign students!!!!  If you are going to verbally attack someone, please do it in grammatically correct English - it sounds much better!

McHenry: "So I could be a college dropout and do the same thing?"

I'm not sure what skill sets are required to be a sports reporter but she attacks the employee again but implying she does not have an education.

McHenry: "Why cause I have a brain and you don't."

Well, if McHenry truly had a brain she wouldn't have destroyed her career like this. Also, please use "because" and not 'cause' <--- frankly, only stupid people use 'cause'.

McHenry: "Maybe if I was missing some teeth they would hire me, huh?"

She makes it seem as if the employee is so poor that she can't properly take care of her teeth. Actually, this is an unreal situation so it should have been: "..if I were missing teeth..."  I guess reporters for ESPN do not have the skill set to use the subjunctive mood in English.

McHenry: "Cause I'm on television and you're in a fucking trailer, honey."

So fucking can also be an adjective. A trailer - some poor people live in trailer parks. Honey is also a term one usually uses for someone he/she likes. Here it is sarcasm again.

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The US Government cracks down on illegal 'ghost' schools run by 3 Koreans in Los Angeles

U.S. Attorney Stephanie Yonekura from the Federal Government

In the book I wrote: "New York City Sucks, but You'll Want to Come Here Anyway" I wrote about 'ghost' schools or F-1 Visa schools in New York City. http://www.amazon.com/York-Sucks-Youll-Wanna-Anyway-ebook/dp/B004TSPAQS

This is a type of (illegal) place where foreign students pay money to get an F-1 student visa, but they don't have to go to classes. These are places which call themselves schools, but which are not really schools.  They are able to do the paper work to give students an F-1 student visa and students can stay in the USA and enjoy themselves. They have to pay the 'ghost' schools, but the amount is less than what they would pay for a real school.

Some students I have worked with in the past have attended 'ghost' schools in New York City. There is a government agency called The New York State Education Department which is supposed to investigate 'ghost' schools, but my students have told me NYSED sucks and doesn't care. Indeed, NY state is one of the most corrupt (dishonest) states in the USA and there are lots of people in positions of power who simply don't care about doing proper investigations. 

Someone told me that NYSED gets much of its funding money by fees the schools it investigates pays to them. So if they close down these schools, they receive less funding money. Some of my students have told me that NYSED will give a 'school' notice that it will be investigated on a certain day. So on this day people actually show up and pretend to be students. After this day, nobody shows up.

So thank goodness the Federal Government cares. They shut down some ghost schools in Los Angeles. These fake schools were being run by some Koreans who were making millions of dollars illegally. They need to come to New York City.

Here is an article from the LA Times:

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-feds-allege-sweeping-immigration-fraud-in-la-trade-schools-20150311-story.html

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

to crack down on something - to take forceful action to stop something

feds - investigators from the federal government - Washington D.C. There are 50 states with state governments and one federal government in Washington D.C. with power over the states.

to allege - to claim, to assert, to state that something is true

fraud - illegal activity in which money is stolen

trade schools - these are schools which teach skills, including languages

to arrest - when the police believe a person has committed a crime and they take him/her in to the police station to charge the person with a crime (to formally accuse a person of having done something wrong). The person then has to go to trial in a courtroom.

a scam - an illegal activity

foreign nationals - people from foreign countries.

to tap, tapped - to tap something or tap into something means to reach something or gain access to something

booming - increasing

suspects - the people who were believed to be running the ghost schools

an indictment - pronounced in DITE ment, when the court system agrees that there is enough evidence for a person who has been arrested to go to jail. A 21 count indictment means the court believes the people arrested should be charged with 21 crimes.

a federal grand jury - this is a collection of citizens who determine whether there is enough evidence for the people accused of the crimes to go to a trial in a court room.

to enroll - to take in as students

abused their responsibility - they acted illegally, they were not responsible

to ensure - to make sure

legitimate - lawful, those who follow the law

integrity - honesty

arraigned - another legal term meaning they'll go before a judge and say whether they want a trial or they want to say they are guilty

money laundering - a legal term for a type of crime where money is hidden or not reported properly

the culmination - the final result

The key to the scam was an immigration document that allows shows - this doesn't make sense, remove "shows" for this sentence in the article to work.  Someone didn't edit this article very well.

to fake something - to make something seem real when it isn't

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The Chinese government will force artists to live in rural areas - is this as bad as the Western press says it is?

Most Chinese would say that one of the most horrible periods of time in 20th century Chinese history was the "Cultural Revolution". This was when Mao Tse Tung used force to try to take away privileges that educated and wealthy Chinese people might have gained from their parents or families.

So if a person had a university education, Mao basically said, "You got your education only because your family was able to make money under the previous capitalist system. There were many people who were not as lucky as you. So now you will have to live the type of life that those unlucky people had to live!"  Many educated Chinese were forced to work at jobs that did not require their high level of education and this greatly harmed Chinese society and the Chinese economy.

Now there is a story that the current leader of China will be forcing Chinese artists to live at least one month per year in the countryside.  The reason for this, according to the government, is to help Chinese artists create more meaningful art work.  The perception among government officials seems to be that Chinese artists are adopting Western 'art market' attitudes and that art is no longer being used in a socially relevant way in China.

Some members of the Western press (journalists) seem to feel that the current leader of China is repeating some of the mistakes of Mao's Cultural Revolution.   

Yet, it also seems apparent that the Western press is using this decision by Xi to create anti-Chinese propaganda. (Propaganda is a story meant to make a country look better or worse than it is - it seems that western news sources are using this story to attack the Chinese government and make the government seem as bad as Mao's was during the Cultural Revolution.)  For example, the BBC classifies this decision by Xi as an attempt at 're-education.' In the West, re-education means 'brainwashing' or forcing people to believe what a government wants them to believe.  So the BBC is not presenting an 'objective' or fair story by using a headline which uses the word "re-education".  This is obvious anti-Chinese propaganda (propaganda against China). The government of China never used the word 're-education.'

Indeed, someone could argue that American artists should be forced to spend time among America's poor, since American visual art is often meant to be consumed by wealthy patrons (buyers) and does not seem to be exposing terrible social problems like racism, government corruption and poverty.  We have a terrible racial situation in the USA and artists in the USA seem to be ignoring it. Initially, I felt the Chinese government was doing something wrong; now I'm not so sure. 

So what do you think about the Chinese government's decision?

The article:

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-30297853

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

re-education - 're' means again. re-education means that one has to go through a new type of education. Often 're-education' means 'brainwashing' or forcing a person to believe something a government wants him/her to believe

a heyday - a successful time, a time of prosperity

the masses - the people

an echo - you hear the same sound twice

well-trodden - to trod is to walk on; a well-trodden path is a path that many people have walked on before

wayward artists - artists who are not presenting the type of art the government wants them to present

recruits - people chosen

deemed - considered

drafted - selected and brought into the program

media watchdog - the agency that monitors or watches what is being done by the media

the stench of money - the smell of money

dissent - when someone disagrees with the government

censorship - when the government prevents someone from expressing him/herself freely

Beijing is attempting to control future Hong Kong elections. Is this a good or bad thing?

One thing I like about writing this blog is that I often find good examples of how American values differ from other values of other societies around the world.

The Chinese government, for example, certainly does not value "American style" democracy. Indeed, there are many problems with the electoral and political system in the USA that the Chinese government would like to avoid. So the values in China would seem to reflect a desire to avoid the conflicts that a two party political system can cause - as is evident in the USA.  Of course there are problems with a one-party system as well, but this is the system that is in place in China currently and the government wants to make changes within this system instead of abandoning it and replacing it with 'democracy'.

Hong Kong used to be an English colony.  The city was literally stolen from China by England at the end of the Opium War in the middle 1800s.  But Hong Kong was never a democracy under England - the Queen appointed leaders..  Yet, many people in Hong Kong now suddenly oppose any attempts by the Chinese government to control the way things work in Hong Kong.  Indeed, when Hong Kong was absorbed into China, the Chinese government seemed very tolerant and did not seem to interfere much in the life of the people there.

Now, however, Beijing is trying harder to integrate Hong Kong more into the overall Chinese system (Beijing is trying to make the way life in Hong Kong more similar to the way life in China is in general).

Here's an article on this topic:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-29004025

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

Occupy Central - this is a group of people who believe in democracy in Hong Kong. They believe Hong Kong should be separate from the government in Beijing.

a ruling - a decision by thos ein authority in the government

vowed - promised

legislature - the group that makes the laws

to nominate - to offer names for an election; a nominating committee is a group that will offer names for an election

an activist - someone who works to fight against or for something

to protest - when a group publicly expresses anger over some type of issue

unanimously - everyone agreed

the worst-case scenario - the worst thing that could have happened

pan-democratic - this is a political group that supports total democracy in Hong Kong

chaotic - wild, unorganized

meddling - interfering, disturbing

rallies - protests, public gatherings to express disapproval in regard to an issue

Should the Mexican 'vigilantes' give up their weapons?

The people of a certain Mexican province (area) did not feel that the Mexican government was protecting them from a powerful drug cartel (an illegal drug organization).  Therefore, they felt compelled to (they felt they had to) defend themselves.  I am not sure where they acquired their guns but they formed a little army of their own and they have been fighting against the drug cartel.

Now the Mexican government is asking them to give up their weapons and stop fighting. The government is saying they will begin to protect the people of that area.  The problem is, nobody seems to believe the government.  So the 'vigilantes' are refusing to give up their guns.  The government is calling this group a 'vigilante' group.  Vigilantes are people who do not trust the police or their government, and who try to enforce the law by themselves (they try to fight criminals by themselves).

When you read the following article, you can think about whether you think these men who formed this vigilante group were justified (right) in doing so and you can think about what you would have done.  Would you have joined such a group? If you were in this type of group, would you stop fighting and trust the government?

Here is an article about the Mexican 'vigilantes.'

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-01-13/news/sns-rt-us-mexico-violence-20140113_1_vigilantes-apatzingan-knights-templar

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

vigilantes - people who do not trust the police and who go after criminals themselves (like Zoro or Batman :P)

to urge - to encourage, to persuade

to stand down - to stop fighting, to give up fighting

to pledge - to promise

masked - the 'vigilantes' wear masks so that neither the drug cartel nor the government will know who they are.

a cartel - an illegal organization

The Knights Templar cartel - this cartel is named after a group of soldiers that fought in Europe for the Catholic Church from about 1100 AD to 1300 AD.

converging on - they are all moving toward this town from different directions

a stronghold - an area where the gang has a lot of power and control

urban battle - a battle in a city where many innocent people might be killed

federal forces - government forces/soldiers

to contain the violence - to control the violence

grinding violence - violence that never seems to stop and which is always a source of trouble. To grind something is to rub against the thing hard in order to remove little bits of the thing.  

a steady stream of killings - a lot of killings that keep happening, like a stream of water that keeps flowing

plagued his predecessor - that caused nothing but extreme trouble for his predecessor (a predecessor is someone who comes before someone else)

drug trafficking gangs - gangs that sell drugs 

waging battles - fighting battles

a siege - an attempt to attack and take control of a city

to spark - to cause

law enforcement - making sure the laws are carried out and that criminals are captured and brought to trial

rising extortion - increasing extortion.  Extortion is when someone demands money or he will harm someone.

to tolerate - to allow

to oust - to get rid of, to remove

a push - an initiative, an attempt to reach a goal

toted - carried (these guys have modern, effective weapons, unlike other groups of poorer vigilantes)

barreled into - forced their way into like a rolling barrel

a convoy - a collection of cars and trucks

to liberate something - to free something

greeted by sporadic gunfire - sporadic means a few gun shots here and a few gun shots there...nothing very long or hard.  They were 'greeted by' this shooting - they experienced this type of shooting.

improvised masks - masks created quickly out of whatever was available

bandannas - a piece of cloth you can tie around your forehead

a mixed message - if you get a mixed message from someone the message is partly a 'yes' and partly a 'no.'

legitimate concerns - real concerns, concerns that are right or which should be taken seriously

their ascendance - their rise

a checkpoint - a point in a road which you cannot pass unless the soldiers know who you are

bearing arms - carrying weapons

incursions - invasions

a rival - a competitor, someone who is a threat to you

low-intensity wars - little wars

deteriorated - got worse, safety got worse after the government troops started fighting

peaked - reached a high point

marijuana plantations - farms where marijuana is grown. So farmers began growing plants that would produce stronger drugs.  I guess they were offered more money by the cartels to do this or their lives were threatened by the cartels so they had to do this.

mutilated corpses - a corpse is a dead body.  A mutilated corpse is a corpse that has been cut up.

a mass grave - a hole in the ground with many dead bodies in it

Test your higher-level English vocabulary

1. to capitulate - to give up, to surrender
2. to feel dismayed - to suddenly lose your excitement for something due to a bad experience, to be shocked and to lose interest in doing something
3. to denote something, to be denoted - to indicate something
4. woeful - something that fills one with deep grief or extreme sadness
5. a paroxysm (of) - when emotion comes pouring out,  an outburst of emotion



I had been listening to him lie to me for about an hour.  Suddenly I exploded in a ________________ of anger! I yelled, "You disgusting liar!  How dare you lie to me!"

The coach of the football team was so __________________ after his team's loss, that he quit his job and went into retirement.

Goethe's novel The Sorrows of Young Werther told such a ______________ story, that many people killed themselves after reading it in the 1800s.

In the contract, the obligations of the purchaser are __________________ in paragraph 3.

In the 1700s, pirates gave captains of the ships they attacked two choices.  The captains could try to defend their ships and fight the pirates, or the captains could ______________ without a fight.  If they fought and lost, the pirates would kill everyone on the ship; otherwise the pirates would not hurt anyone on the ship, but would take all the valuables on board.

answers are below:





answers:


paroxysm
dismayed
woeful
denoted
capitulate

New York City has a new mayor who cares about the poor

A mayor is the leader of a city.  For the past 12 years New York City had Michael Bloomberg as mayor. Bloomberg was a billionaire businessman.  That means that he had over $1,000,000,000 in money.  In fact, he seems to currently have over 15 or 20 billion dollars. Unfortunately, this billionaire mayor did not care about the poor or homeless, and the numbers of poor and homeless people in New York City grew. New York City started to become a city for the wealthy/rich.

Now the new mayor is Bill De Blasio.  Here is a little article about him. As you can see by the picture above, ex-president Bill Clinton performed the ceremony to officially make De Blasio the mayor. As you can see from the photo, De Blasio is white and his wife is black.  Their children are of mixed race.

There is a lot of suffering and poverty (poorness) in this city. Now that there is a person in power who also sees the suffering, maybe things will begin to change in this city. Unfortunately, I am a bit pessimistic (I don't think something good will happen).  De Blasio has no real plan for job creation or economic development in poor areas.  His only plan seems to be to raise taxes on 'the rich.'  He wants to establish 'pre-k' programs (schools for children who are 4 years old) and 'after-school programs.' This is not a solution to poverty.

So I think De Blasio sees that there is a problem, but he doesn't have a solution for it.  I hope I am wrong.

Another problem is that the people of New York do not even seem to care any more. Only 26% of New York citizens voted in this last mayoral election.


http://gothamist.com/2014/01/01/clinton_swears_in_de_blasio_who_pro.php#photo-1

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

to swear someone in - this means to perform a ceremony to make someone something officially.  Barack Obama was sworn in as president in January of 2009.  De Blasio was sworn in as mayor of NY on January 1st 2014.  So he officially became the mayor on January 1, 2014.

inaugural speech - first speech as an elected official.  When a person is sworn in, it can also be said he was inaugurated.

to strive - to work hard to do something

the inequality gap - the inequality difference; some people in New York City are very very rich while some are very very poor

seemingly widened - apparently became bigger and bigger

to commend someone - to say good things about him; so Clinton said good things about Bloomberg, but he had to - it wouldn't have been appropriate to say anything negative.  

regime - administration, the De Blasio government organization 

to endorse something - to say that you approve of something or support something

his core campaign commitment - core means central; campaign refers to the time when De Blasio was running for mayor.  His commitment when he was running was to promise that he would help poor people gain more wealth and power.

prosperity - when things go well

to bedevil - to cause a problem for; so inequality causes problems for the entire USA

he wasted no time - he quickly did something

that colored most of his campaign - most of his campaign was about this

to take dead aim at - to really focus on something as if you were aiming or pointing a gun at it

The Tale of Two Cities - this was a book by Charles Dickens about the very rich and very poor; De Blasio is saying New York City is a city of two extremes.

all that we can muster - all we can bring together or create to change things

-------------------------

Yes, I created the scandal in Asia in 2010:

https://extrakorea.wordpress.com/2010/05/13/jyp-entertainment-admits-that-wonder-girls-health-insurance-expired/

India leads the world in: slavery

Some shocking statistics were released recently about slavery around the world.  Yes, slavery - especially 'sexual slavery' (where women and children are forced to be prostitutes - a prostitute offers sex for money) - is thriving (strongly surviving) in the world.  What is especially shocking to me is that about half the cases of slavery in the world are in India.  India is supposed to be a developed nation and a democracy. According to this report about 15 million of the world's 30 million slaves are located in India.

Here is an amazing documentary about the children of prostitutes in India and how they are expected to become prostitutes themselves.  This documentary won an Oscar and is worth watching.  I think the international community has to put pressure on the Indian government to change this type of problem.  The world simply cannot tolerate the lack of adequate concern and action for this type of situation.  The documentary is called:  Born into Brothels (a brothel is a place where women work as prostitutes).

Part of the problem might be the cultural and religious tradition of 'castes' and the belief in 'karma' in India.

A caste was a social class that a person was born into and which the person could never leave.  So for generations there was no social or economic mobility (movement up or down) in India. 

Furthermore, Hinduism involves the belief in 'karma.'  Karma is a religious concept meant to explain why bad things happen to good people.  Many Hindus believe that when a person dies, he/she becomes 'reincarnated.' To be reincarnated means to come back again in a different type of body (human or otherwise).  So if a person were born into a 'low' caste and had a hard life, it would be said, "Well, you deserve your suffering because in your previous life you must have done terrible things!'  So according to karma, we are all punished in this life for what we did in a past life.

So if a child is forced to work as a prostitute or a person is enslaved in India, the attitude might be, if the person believes in karma: "Well, that slave or prostitute must have done something terrible in a previous life, so he/she is suffering now."  In any case, that's my theory as to why slavery is so pervasive (all over the place) in India.  What's your theory? 

Here's the shocking article:

http://news.msn.com/world/30-million-people-are-slaves-half-in-india

Vocabulary from the article:

bonded labor - when a person is forced to serve a person as a slave because he/she owes the other person money.  In this type of slavery, the 'bonded' person never seems to be able to pay off his/her debt and remains a slave forever.

commercial sex exploitation - let's say that a woman or child in a third-world country is very poor.  This type of person might be recruited by or encouraged to join a 'brothel" - a place where men can come to have sex.  This is a form of 'exploitation' - poor and vulnerable people are being used to make money for others by becoming prostitutes.

trafficked - basically this means 'kidnapped' and forced to work as a prostitute

manual labor - hand labor, machine work or sewing etc.

an index - a chart or series of statistics

a quarry - a place where materials have to be dug out of the earth

a kiln - a type of oven that produces food or goods

to quantify - to give a number to, to count

hereditary slavery - you 'inherit' your position as a slave, a person who is born into slavery

staggering - shocking

domestic workers - maids, house-cleaners

to be lured into something - to be attracted into something by a false promise.  Let's say that someone says there is a good job for you teaching in a village, but when you go there you are kidnapped and forced to work as a prostitute.

coercion - force

indentured servitude - this means a person works for free for a number of years, usually to pay off a debt

prevalence - how common something is.  The flu is prevalent in the winter.  Slavery is more prevalent in India than any other country.

allocating resources - putting money aside to deal with a problem

to devise policy - to create policy

-----------------------------------------
Do you agree that a caste system in the past and the belief in karma might be reasons for the situation of slavery in India?

Why do you think slavery is allowed in India?  Who is at fault?  Is it the people who don't care?  Is it the government's fault?

When South Africa treated black Africans terribly during the apartheid era, the world began to boycott South African goods.  Do you think it is time for the world to tell India that enough is enough and that millions of people simply cannot be treated this way?  India is generating great wealth (for some).  Do you think it is time for the world to take action toward a country that does not seem to care about its own people?

Was this woman shot illegally by the police in Washington D.C.?

A few days ago a woman seemed to try to drive her car past security guards toward the Capitol Building in Washington D.C., where the US Congress is located. The American public was then told that the woman was shot because she seemed to be dangerous.

Yet, it turns out that the woman was suffering from documented (proven, real) psychological problems, and it seems that she had not seriously hurt anyone and that she was shot while she was trying to escape. 

In the USA the police are not supposed to use 'deadly force' unless a person is a direct and obvious threat to a police officer or another innocent person.  The police are not supposed to shoot at people who are running away.

This woman had a family and she had a child.  I honestly do not believe anyone had to shoot her.

Here is an article about this situation.  There are some great vocabulary words in this article:

http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/04/20822396-was-police-shooting-of-unarmed-woman-outside-capitol-justified?lite

Here is vocabulary to help you understand the article:

First, I want to point out that news headlines are often abbreviated to save space.  The title of this article is: 'Was police shooting of unarmed woman outside Capitol justified?'  An unabbreviated title would be:  'Was the police shooting of an unarmed woman outside of the Capitol justified?'

to be justified - if something is justifiable or can be justified, this means the action was 'right' or acceptable.  

details emerged - details came out; if something emerges from the sea, it comes out of the sea - or a train can emerge from a tunnel

unarmed - no weapon

motorist - a car driver

left room for debate - there were reasons to discuss whether she should have been killed

to brief someone on the case - to provide the basic information about the case

26 rounds - 26 bullets were fired from the gun

Capitol Police and Secret Service officers - the US capitol building also has police officers and the Secret Service officers are supposed to protect the president and other members of the government.

whether they complied with - whether they followed the right rules

deadly force - when you shoot to kill someone instead of shooting to injure or wound someone

to be threatened by something - to feel that something is going to hurt or kill you

to pose a threat - you can use the verb 'to pose' with 'a threat,'  i.e.  Although the guy standing on the corner looked scary, he did not seem to pose a threat to anybody.

causing them to conclude - so apparently the police who shot the psychologically disturbed woman thought she had a gun because they heard a false report of her shooting at people.

to sue - to take a person to court in order to prove he/she did something wrong; if you sue a person, though, the person is punished by being forced to pay an amount of money

to allege - to make a statement saying that you believe something happened

brutality - very harmful and morally wrong action

erratic - strange, not predictable

to breach a barrier - to get through a barrier

lethal - deadly

more latitude - more freedom

protocols - the method that has to be used, the steps that have to be followed

delusions - false beliefs

to be under surveillance - if someone is under surveillance, he/she is being watched

anonymity - to hide one's identity

a barrier - some large object that can stop people from getting into an area

to pursue - to follow or chase

confirmed - acknowledged, verified, stated that this really happened

whipping the car around - turning it around very quickly

scattering the officers - making the officers move in different directions

circumnavigated - drove completely around it

unleashing - firing, shooting

to flee - to run away

a median - an area between two highway lanes

to contradict - to say something that is different from what had previously been said

a confrontation - when two people or groups meet each other face to face to deal with some issue or conflict

reckless - wild, not acting responsibly

a layman - a common person, a non-specialist

to de-escalate a situation - make it less scary, less violent, make it more calm

they didn't have the luxury of knowing that - they were not lucky enough to have that information, or there wasn't enough time to get that information. 

-------------------------------------

How do you feel about this situation?  Should this woman have been shot?

What if she had been shot because some police officers falsely thought that she had had a gun?  Should these officers be punished in any way?  Was this just an accident?