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

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

How to finagle something for nothing from an airline

To finagle something from someone is to use deception or deceit or various tricks to get something from a person that he/she does not really want to give you.

United Airlines has been having a bad year. They have experienced a lot of bad publicity (bad stories about the company). The latest bad publicity was the death of Kokito - the French bulldog - in one of their overhead bins.

In this article we hear that a person was 'bumped' from a United flight because a seat on the plane was broken and one passenger had to be removed. 

United has a policy of asking for volunteers when passengers have to be removed and they reward the volunteers with a voucher for free travel if they help by leaving the plane.

If nobody volunteers, they 'bump' or remove the person who bought the cheapest ticket. Why? I am guessing they feel that the person who paid the least for a ticket will complain the least. This person is also given a voucher.

So they decided to bump someone who is a communications director for a company. This person has over 2,000 Twitter followers and when she was bumped she started bad-mouthing United to her twitter friends, hoping to create a new scandal for the airline (I am guessing). In order to avoid another scandal United gave this person a $10,000 voucher (so that she would shut up). But she did not shut up - she began boasting about how she finagled something valuable from the airline. So United just cannot seem to win these days.

Personally, I think she took advantage of the airline and she should be ashamed of herself. People do not even try to look at situations through anyone else's perspective any more. What else was the airline going to do? She only paid $160 for a ticket and they offered her a $1,000 voucher. Be a good person, take the $1,000 voucher and get on the next plane. No? Why does everyone have to be such a drama queen?

Please show some sympathy for United Airlines...

The article:

https://nypost.com/2018/03/23/passenger-scores-10k-flight-voucher-thanks-to-twitter-rant/

Vocabulary from the article:

a bumped passenger - a passenger who is removed from an airline flight, often because the airline has sold more tickets than seats available

to score a voucher - to win a voucher, to score something is to get something valuable for free or at a discount.  e.g. Hey! I scored free tickets to the Chicago Sympathy Orchestra concert tonight! My roommate can't go and he gave them to me!

k  - 1,000, so 10K = 10,000

a tirade - a long speech where a person expresses anger; when a person expresses anger verbally for a long time. e.g. Our boss was so angry about losing this client that he went on a 30 minute tirade telling us all that we suck!

to finagle something from someone - to get something you do not deserve by using psychological games or by tricking the other person

to be smarting - to be suffering, to be feeling pain.  Even though I fell skiing 3 days ago, my left knee is still smarting.

a string of something - a sequence of something. So if you have had 5 bad boyfriends in a row, you might say, "Wow, I have had a string of 5 bad boyfriends, when is my luck going to change?!"

public relations - every big company has a public relations department. This department tries to make the company look good. If you have a public relations disaster, it means things have happened to make your company look bad.  

smarting from a string of public relations disasters - United is suffering from a bunch of bad news stories in a row

a company rep - a company representative

she got the boot - she got kicked off the plane, she was removed from the plane.  e.g. Wow our company is firing a lot of people these days! I heard three people from our department got the boot today. or: Our boss gave the boot to three people from our department today.

to be enraged - to be very, very angry

to vent about something - to complain about something in order to make yourself feel better. e.g. Sorry for calling you and telling you this, I just had to vent!

if nobody bites - if nobody accepts the offer.  If you go fishing you put something attractive to the fish on your hook and hope a fish bites. If you offer something to a group of people, you hope someone bites.

on the upside - the good news is

I wasn't physically dragged off the plane etc. - this is sarcasm, she is saying thank God United didn't beat me up like Dr. Dao or kill my dog like Kokito.

United upped its offer - it increased its offer

to toss in a perk - to throw in an extra benefit; a perk is an added benefit

People in Chile express their disgust toward the Catholic Church as the Pope arrives

{{{A sarcastic cartoon about how the Catholic Church has failed to protect children from sexually abusive priests. Obviously, there has been more than just one victim, there have been thousands throughout the world.}}}

It seems that many people in Chile are outraged by the number of Chilean Catholic priests who have sexually attacked children. They expressed this anger at the Pope when he visited Chile.

Article about this issue:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/01/19/in-chile-pope-met-by-protests-threats-burned-churches.html

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

a protest - when a large group of people meet publicly because they are upset about something. This group expresses its anger or outrage, usually peacefully. If a protest becomes violent it is often called a riot.

a threat - a statement that someone makes to indicate that he intends to hurt another person

papal - relating to the pope. The pope is the leader of the Catholic Church.

wept - cried, to weep = weep, wept, wept

hostility - anger

anti-pope - people against the pope; pro-pope would be people in favor of the pope

tear gas - a type of gas police around the world use which hurts the eyes of protesters or rioters and often produces tears

pamphlets - little booklets

cassock - the robe he wears

unprecedented - it has never happened before

friction - conflict, anger caused by disagreement with something

a fluke - something uncommon, something that just happened once and won't happen again

a harbinger - something which indicates that something will happen again or even over and over again; like a prediction

to ban demonstrations - Peru will not let people gather because the government is afraid they will express anger toward the pope as well.

to impact the image of the country - Peru is afraid that Peru will look bad in the eyes of the world if people demonstrate against (protest against) the pope.

to condemn - to attack something verbally and to strongly say it is wrong

condoms - those rubber birth control devices used by men...the Catholic Church has declared that it is wrong for men to use condoms. The Church says the condoms kill sperm cells. 

ferocity - extreme aggression; if a dog is ferocious, it will attack and seriously hurt a person.

theology - the study of God

changed radically - changed completely

a pedophile priest - a priest who enjoys thinking of having sex with children

a bungled response - to bungle something means to mess things up; not to handle things as well as you should have

to accelerate - to speed up

contested - to contest something is to oppose it, to argue against it

notorious - famous for the wrong reasons

to sour in regard to something - if a person becomes soured on/in regard to something, he used to have favorable feelings about that thing but now feels bad about it. i.e. At first our boss seemed like a nice guy, but under pressure he snaps and becomes very angry. The whole office has soured against him.

were torched - were set on fire

arson attacks - arson is when a building is started on fire

indigenous - the first people of an area, the people of Chile whose ancestors lived there before the Europeans

ancestral lands - the territory of their ancestors was taken away from them years ago

discrimination - when people are not allowed rights because of their identity. Remember, prejudice is an attitude while discrimination is action.

his homily - a speech a priest gives during a religious service

to take someone to task - to blame someone

an elegant agreement - an agreement that looks good but does not mean anything

a tactic - something done as part of a larger strategy, something done to get someone else to do something you want them to do

employed by - used by

a radical group - usually a far leftist group, a group that is anti-capitalist or pro-socialist or strongly anti-government

to be disgruntled - a disgruntled person is an unhappy person, a person very upset because things are wrong and they are not changing

moral authority - to have moral authority is to be recognized as a good person with power who has a right to tell other people what they should do

to celebrate mass - to hold a Catholic religious service, a Catholic religious service is called a mass

LGBT - lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender

a socialist - someone who does not believe in capitalism, someone who believes that wealth should be shared among everyone in a society

to be resolved - to be taken care off satisfactorily

an accomplice - someone who helps a criminal to do something. So the protesters are accusing the Church of helping priests who were attacking children

overshadowed his visit - if something overshadows something else it shows itself to be more significant or important then what is supposed to be important

a protege - someone coached or guided by someone else

slanderous - when a statement is deliberately (not accidentally) untrue and meant to hurt the reputation of another person

proof - evidence that something actually happened, something which shows that something really happened

his reception - his greeting, the way people would receive him

A Corrupt NY Politician Goes to Jail (but the More Things Change the More They Stay the Same)

Sheldon Silver

When foreign students ask me what the difference is between Republicans and Democrats, I tell them that this answer is easy: Republicans are evil and Democrats are corrupt.

What does corrupt mean? If someone is corrupt he/she is not ethical and does not act rightly. A corrupt politician might take bribes or use his/her position to make extra money or to help people he/she knows in return for favors from them.

Frankly, Republicans are evil. They believe that America is about strong individuals who can take care of themselves. They don't want to have any social programs and if you were starving (without food) a Republican would say, "Well, either get a job or starve. And if you do starve to death, be happy, you are helping to make sure that weak people like you die so strong people like us can survive." These "strong" Republicans usually come from families with lots of money.

It's funny because most Republicans don't believe in Darwin's theory of evolution (they are often super religious) but they refer to Darwinian survival principles when they explain their political philosophy.

Frankly, Democrats are corrupt. Super corrupt. I doubt there's even one honest Democratic politician. They are always doing favors, taking stuff for favors, doing all kinds of unethical things. The irony is that they like to present themselves as good people. They are always giving away free things. NY State has a Democratic Governor (leader) and now if you are poor and want a sex change (you are a guy and want to be a girl or vice versa) NY State will give you a FREE sex change. Isn't the Governor such a wonderful person! >_<  This is why NY State taxes are so high.

So here's an article about a guy (Sheldon Silver) who was corrupt for many years. He was one of the most powerful politicians in NY State. Everybody knew he was corrupt. The NY Post would publish articles basically saying: "Wow! This mother father is really corrupt!" (The NY Times supported the guy - they support all Democrats as long as they haven't been thrown in jail yet.) 

Nobody did anything. For 20 years nobody did anything. They worked with him because they were corrupt themselves. The Mayor of NY City (leader of NY City) even said that Silver was a "man of integrity" - a man of great honesty who never broke the law and cared about acting rightly.

What really irritates me is that the guy is an Orthodox Jewish guy. "Orthodox" means that they try to live according to the Bible. Where does it say in the Bible that you can be so corrupt as to help to destroy NY State government for generations? 

Any way, the Federal Government (Washington D.C.) finally arrested the guy and he'll be thrown in jail. 

The article:

http://nypost.com/2016/05/03/sheldon-silver-gets-12-years-in-prison-for-corruption/

Vocabulary from the article:

federal court - this is a court established by the US government. NY State government loved Silver and protected him. 

former Assembly Speaker - former means he used to hold this position. The Assembly is NY State's Congress - where the laws are made. Corrupt people can make a lot of money by getting into a Congress. He was the "Speaker" of the Assembly - the leader.

to be sentenced to - when someone is found guilty a judge will 'sentence' him/her to a punishment

a penitentiary - a jail

a judge -

scheming - someone who makes plans to do things that are illegal

to fork over - to hand over money (this is slang);to provide money

ill-gotten gains - money made illegally, gains would be money...the money was gotten (was received) in an 'ill' or wrong manner

disgraced - the opposite of honorable; to be disgraced means everyone looks down on you, you are ashamed, deeply embarrassed

ex-pol - ex politician (he used to be a politician - someone elected to a government office)

criminal counts - specific crimes

fraud - making money illegally

extortion- threatening people to get money, scaring people to make money

money laundering - getting illegal money but processing it to make it seem like legal money

concurrently - one after the other

hefty - big

capped - it is the very top of something

stellar run - an amazing number of successes (steallar means like the stars, a run is a series of events) 

Preet Bharara - an honest lawyer for the US government who has been throwing lots of corrupt politicians in jail.

justice meted out - the justice delivered

a stiff sentence - an extreme, harsh, punishment

humbled - no longer arrogant; very embarrassed

I let down my family - I disappointed my family

constituents - the people who voted for him (no...they elected one of his friends to take his place)

rendered - delivered

stoic - strong, not showing any emotional pain

lit into her husband - to light into someone is to verbally attack the person for something the person did that was wrong

extra-marital affairs - he had sex with women who wanted things from him

filings - extra papers to the judge

a lobbyist - someone who tries to influence politicians to make laws favorable to their clients

cushy - easy, a cushy job pays well and is easy

a minimum security camp - instead of a real jail, they are going to send him to a camp where he can play tennis every day and take classes,watch movies, eat nice food etc.

to impose on someone - to force on someone

a kick-back - when you help someone make money and he gives you a share

for one's better angels to take over - for one's better part of his/her nature to help the person make the right decision

put him on the straight and narrow - the straight and narrow refers to a life where you follow a narrow road of doing good things

legislator - someone who makes laws

slammed - criticized, attacked

the max - the maximum sentence

draconian - after Draco an ancient Greek leader who killed people for minor crimes. A guideline sentence is a sentence the Congress recommends for a criminal.

leniency - mercy, showing forgiveness, making the punishment lesser

home confinement - forcing someone to stay at home

a modest upbringing - growing up without much money

incarceration - to be thrown in jail

rendered - given

to weather a storm - to get through a difficult period of time

devastated - a feeling of being destroyed, shocked, 

an obituary - a notice that someone has died

deliberation - thinking, considering

cozy - comfortable

hooking them up -connecting them

to sustain each conviction - to preserve, to keep

an appeal - an attempt to g oto someone higher in a system to get a better decision
--------------------

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Is there 'free speech' in US news sources?

No. There is very little 'free speech" in US newspapers and mainstream internet news sources.

In fact, the US comes in at 49th in the world in regard to freedom of speech in its newspapers.

I would say that even the New York Times does not show freedom of speech. For example, the NY Times has many political biases (prejudices or orientations - likes/dislikes). It tends to write good stories about Democratic politicians, even if these politicians are corrupt (dishonest).

Recently one of the most corrupt Democratic politicians in history was arrested by the US Government. Everyone in NY State knew that Sheldon Silver was a corrupt guy, but you never read any articles in the NY Times about this.  There are several corrupt Democratic politicians who are left alone by the NY Times. (Interestingly, the NY Post seems to be the paper that attacks corrupt politicians the most.) In the article below, however, it seems that the NY Times no longer likes Obama and is very critical of him.

So although this article states that the amount of freedom newspapers have is limited because of Obama's policies, I would argue that the newspapers themselves are often corrupt and dishonest and they often do not present the news fairly or objectively.

Here's an article about the lack of freedom of speech in the USA.

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/02/12/u-s-drops-49th-world-press-freedom-rankings-second-lowest-ever/

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

drops to 49th - they had a higher ranking but fell

worst ranking since Obama became president - they seem to imply that Obama is trying to control the news in the USA

to abridge - to shorten or hurt (in this case)

fared even worse - did even worse

banning - prohibiting; so Israel killed foreign journalists and stopped other Israelis from going on TV to complain about all the children being killed by Israel in a war

cited - indicated

persecution - if someone is persecuted, he is unfairly or illegally attacked. Jim Risen had received secret information from someone in the government about Iran's nuclear program and Risen published this information. Obama wanted Risen to tell the government the name of the person in the US government who gave Risen the information. Risen would not.  The government threatened to throw him in jail but dropped matters completely instead. So this wasn't really a 'persecution.'

an arrest - when the police take someone to the police station for a supposed crime

to plummet - to drop quickly

scathing - harsh

a denunciation - an attack against something felt to be wrong

eroded - worn away, slowly gotten rid of something

leaks - when secret information is given to journalists

a precedent - an example from before

echoed - reinforced, repeated

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

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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

Does Harvard discriminate against Asians?

It looks as if there are so many well-qualified Asian students who are applying to Harvard that many are being rejected just because they are Asian.  It's hard to say for sure, however, since every private school has it's own way of choosing students, and diversity might be an important goal for a private school and it might be possible to reach the goal of 'racial' diversity without breaking US law. 

I don't think the Asian students who are suing Harvard are going to win their legal case. Harvard takes a look at each applicant (supposedly) and chooses whom they want.  This seems to be legal.  The students don't seem to realize that SAT scores are not the biggest deal for an Ivy League admission.  They are, basically, trying to 'hijack' Harvard's admissions process and make it work in their favor. (to hijack an airplane is to take control of the airplane away from its pilots)

{By the way, the SAT is a test which measures reading, vocabulary, writing and math skills. Many US universities require that students take this exam. This is because many American high schools differ in their levels of difficulty.  Some high-schools are incredibly easy, so if a student presents good grades from this easy school while another student presents less good grades from a more difficult school, the SAT results should reveal a student's basic academic ability.}

What was shocking to me, however, was the fact that an acceptable SAT score for 'white' students at Harvard was only 1320.  This comes out to (theoretically) 660 on the verbal and 660 on the math. Frankly, those are not elite numbers.  After reading this article and seeing the numbers, I am not sure that Harvard really lives up to its reputation.

It could be that Harvard accepts many relatively stupid rich kids or accepts many 'legacy' admissions (students who had parents who went to Harvard) - perhaps this is why the SAT scores can be so low. I think the big question should be whether such 'legacy' admissions are legal.  If my dad and his grand-dad went to Harvard, I can automatically get in?  What? 

So, coming from the 'working class', I attended a state university for my BA and then an Ivy university for my MA.  To be candid (honest) with you, I feel the University of Wisconsin at Madison was better than Columbia University.  I saw a lot of cheating, ignorance, hypocrisy and worse at Columbia.  Students regularly received high grades for handing in mediocre (average) work because they were paying such a high amount for tuition.  I think the Ivy League is over-rated.

Furthermore, there was a study of American Nobel Prize winners done awhile ago and most Nobel winners hadn't even gone to schools like Harvard or MIT - they went to 'good' schools and worked hard.  So the goal should be getting into a good school where you can learn and work hard.

You can read the full article below. So what do you think? Do you think Harvard is discriminating against Asians?  Are the Asian students over-reacting and trying to force Harvard to accept them?

Here's the article:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/11/18/rejected-asian-students-sue-harvard-over-admissions-that-favor-other-minorities/

Vocabulary:

rejected - not accepted

to sue - to claim that someone or some place did something wrong to you and to take them to court to receive money from them as a punishment

minorities - anyone who is not 'white' is considered a minority in the USA

affirmative action policies - policies meant to make sure there is a diversity of students, by diversity they mean students of all races.  Affirmative means positive - so affirmative action means positive action to make campuses diverse

vaunted - highly regarded, highly esteemed, well-thought of, well-respected

to discriminate against - to treat someone unfairly because of his/her race; prejudice is a feeling or attitude, discrimination is action

A GPA - Grade Point Average For example, if a student gets an A in a class, he/she earns a 4, for a B - 3, for a C - 2 for a D - 1.  So the GPA of a student is his/her average after all his her classes were taken.  Funny thing, my GPA at Wisconsin and Columbia was 3.65.

filed the suit - he initiated or brought about the suit (the law case)

a quota - a certain number of a type of people who should be included in an activity.  For instance, I might set a quota - we want 40% white students, 20% black, 20% Latino and 20% Asian.

remanded it with orders - gave it orders or forced it to make sure it did not look at a student's race before determining the admission of the student

pending - we are waiting for it (this is confusing because previously it seems a decision was made)

disproportionately high - too high compared to other groups.  If Harvard accepted Asians based on their SAT scores compared to other groups, Harvard might have a student population of 80% Asians - that would be disproportionately high

a plaintiff - someone who is suing someone else. The person being sued is the defendant

holistic - looking at the whole picture

vibrant - exciting

aspirations - hopes

elite - the 'best'

to give a leg up to someone - to assist, to help

explicit - openly stated, openly revealed

unambiguously - there can be no ambiguity or doubt or mistakes

invidious - sneaky, not honest, undercover, hidden

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Should this stripper receive any money from H & M?

I like presenting stories from the news that can generate interesting discussions. This next story generated some interesting discussions among my private students and me.

A stripper is a person, usually a woman, who removes her clothing in a sexually provocative way (a way that will arouse or excite men) in order to make money.  To 'sue' someone is to take a person (or company) to court and try to get money from that person because that person did something wrong.  The money awarded is a type of punishment. The type of court you can sue people in, in America, is called a 'civil' court. In a 'criminal' court a person can be punished by being thrown in jail.

So in the following story you will read that a stripper was at H & M (a department store) and changing clothes in a dressing room.  Apparently an employee of H & M opened the dressing room door twice to try to force the woman (the stripper) to leave that particular room. The stripper seems to claim in the article that she was naked (totally without clothing) when the employee tried to chase her out.  It's my understanding that you are never supposed to be totally naked in a dressing room - aren't you supposed to keep your bra and panties on while you try on clothing?

So the stripper is claiming she has suffered psychologically because this employee looked at her twice and that other people saw her naked.  Yet, the newspaper writer seems to be saying, "Hey - she's a stripper!  How can she be embarrassed by having people see her naked?"

My students tended to disagree. They felt that stripping is her job while she deserved her privacy in the H & M dressing room.  However, many of my students did not seem to think she deserved any or much money from H & M.  They seemed to think that the employee should be punished and that this would be justice enough.

So what do you think? Do you think that this stripper is making a big deal out of nothing?  Do you feel she should be awarded money for being psychologically harmed?

The article:

http://nypost.com/2014/11/10/hm-clerk-opened-dressing-room-door-while-i-was-naked-ex-stripper/

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

a clerk - this is a general term for a person who works at a department store. Most clerks work behind counters where things are scanned and paid for.  There are also sales clerks.

Scores - a place to go in Manhattan to watch strippers

horny men - you hear the word 'horny' alot in the USA.  If a guy is a horny guy, he thinks about and wants sex a lot.  A horny guy is always thinking of sex or looking at women sexually.

violated her privacy - she had a right to her privacy but he broke a rule or law guaranteeing her privacy

to yank something - pull something very hard

garments - pieces of clothing

to burst into - to enter a place forcefully

ushered - guided

buxom - having large breasts/boobs

brunette - having brown hair

scrambled - quickly took action

belligerent - forceful, warlike, aggressive

imminent - soon (the stripper seems to be claiming that she was afraid she was going to be hit by the employee)

commotion - noise due to some type of argument or disagreement

to kick someone out of some place - to force a person to leave some place immediately

tantric masseuse - from what I have been able to determine, tantric massage is massage in which the masseuse (the person giving the massage) touches and rubs and strokes a male's penis.  What's a penis?  It's the thing that makes a guy a guy - you know, it's the thingee down there under his pants and underwear.  OK, so a cynical person (a person who always sees the negative side of things) might say, "Oh my God! She was a stripper and touches men's penises for a living...but she is so sensitive that she was psychologically harmed by being seen naked, when she probably shouldn't have been naked in a dressing room in the first place!"  I don't know, I wasn't there so I can't judge. 

an undisclosed amount of money - it is not known how much money she wants to get from H & M

a real estate magnate - a powerful real estate business owner

a scuffle - a small fight

his advances - his attempts to get her to go out with him

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

Moldova - caught and suffering between super-powers

Moldova is often classified as the 'poorest' country in Europe.

It's a small country of only a few million people and it is between Romania and Ukraine. Lately, due to the troubles between the USA and Russia, Moldova has been suffering a great deal. Very little is being written about this country in the US press since the country does not seem to be useful to the US government.

Yet, apparently, the current government of Moldova wants to have closer ties to western Europe and apparently Russia is punishing Moldova with a boycott of some of its fruit and vegetable produce. (a boycott is when someone or group or some country or group of countries refuses to buy products from a company or country). From what I have been able to tell, many people in Moldova are turning against the government because they do not feel it has acted in the interests of its people by pursuing a closer relationship with western Europe.

It's a shame that a ridiculous disagreement between the USA and Russia is hurting a country like Moldova. When the "Cold War" ended in 1989 everyone thought this would lead to a period of greater peace and harmony throughout Europe.  It's such a shame that politicians in the USA, Europe and Russia could not act with honesty and integrity (ethics, morals, goodness) to bring nations and peoples closer together.

Here is an article from the Guardian about Moldova:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/15/moldova-fights-back-russia-food-bans

Vocabulary to help you understand the article about Moldova:

a ban - if something is banned, people in a given area or society cannot buy or use it.  i.e. Cigarettes are now banned in nightclubs in New York City.

an embargo - this is more formal than a boycott.  An embargo is when one country bans something from another country.

begin to bite - begin to hurt

a raft of measures - a raft is a small structure that can be made to float small distances. A 'measure' is, in this case, a plan of action. I am guessing that a 'raft' of 'measures' means plans of action meant to help the Moldovan economy function despite the harm the Russian embargo is causing.

a crop - a fruit or vegetable is grown as a 'crop' - this is the whole group of a certain type of fruit or vegetable.  So a crop of grapes may include thousands of bunches of grapes.

a new market - a new place to0 have his produce bought.

fuming - to be very angry

scrapped - got rid of, ended

duty-free exemptions - an exemption is an exception.  So it means Russia charged duty fees (taxes) on imports, but allowed Moldova to send its goods to Russia without paying these taxes.

retaliation - revenge; if someone hurts you, you might hurt someone back as retaliation

encroaching on - trespassing on, crossing a line or boundary that should not have been crossed, going where one shouldn't go

former Soviet countries - countries that used to be controlled by Russia when Russia was a communist country called the Soviet Union.

government sponsored measures - actions brought about by the government

to promote - to encourage or increase

a largely symbolic farmer's market - it is largely symbolic because it isn't having any real effect.  A farmer's market is usually a place in a city where people can buy fresh produce.

a publicity stunt - something silly or crazy which is done to bring more attention to a product or issue or company etc.

pledged - promised

compensation - money

lost revenue - lost money

state-subsidized - the government pays for it

slated to - scheduled to

allocated - set aside

a think-tank - a place where experts get together to talk about different policies and to make recommendations to companies and governments

the incumbent government - the current government

protests - when groups of people gather publicly to express their anger over policies or actions

a convoy - this is usually a long line of cars or trucks

their financial plight - their financial troubles

to scrap - to end

discontent - unhappiness, dissatisfaction

minimal - hardly anything, the least possible

pesticides - chemicals to kill the bugs which eat plants

autonomous region - there seems to be a region of Moldova which does not agree with the current government and it is now independent of Moldova and is supported by Russia.

keeping the lid on something - keeping something from getting worse

may hinge on - may depend on, may be base don

a quota - an amount which has to be reached; in this case a certain amount of goods from Moldova have to be bought

not holding their breath - this means something will not happen soon; there is an expre4ssion: When do you think this will happen?  Well, don't hold your breath!

to put the squeeze on someone - to make things difficult for someone

a glut - when there is too much of something

poses a hurdle - presents a problem presents an obstacle

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