Comment on Benny Leykun's Article

My colleague Benny Leykun recently wrote an article, which you can read here, about the current situation of police officers and about requiring them to wear body cameras. I go back and forth between the requirement of wearing a body camera for all police officers. Let me start off by saying that I am a criminal justice major, so I do want to become a cop someday. And with all that's going on lately in the media with the police, it's driving me even more to become one. The problem that officers face is that their job is a very public one, they serve the public but that means that their mistakes also become more public than many other jobs. The duties of a police officer are also more high risked than other jobs too, they often put their lives on the line for people they don't even know. I for one respect anyone who takes it upon themselves to become a police officer, but that does not mean I agree with what some of them have done. If you talk with any officer, most of them will also tell you that they do not approve of what some of those officers have done either. I don't think we should judge every officer based on the actions of a very small minority of them, and remember that there are "bad apples" in almost every job sector. There's bad lawyers and doctors and teachers and garbage men and office workers. We are all human and we're bound to make mistakes, but I do think something has to change with how policing is handled. I just don't know exactly what....

Trump, Russians, and the FBI

Recently, President Donald Trump fired (now former) FBI Director Jame Comey, allegedly because of how he chose to handle the Hillary Clinton email scandals. Whether or not you believe that is the actual reason is up to you, but there may be more to the story than that. Comey has been supervising the investigation into the Russians and any connection they had with the previous presidential election, where there were rumors of Trump consorting with the Russians to help win the election. While there has been no hard evidence to support this claim, it does raise up some questions and suspicions about why Trump would fire the FBI director who was supervising an investigation into him.

Despite the rumors as to if Trump was involved with the Russians to help him win the oval office, President Trump went on the record to say that his reasoning for firing Comey was because of a recommendation from Deputy Attorney Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein criticized Comey's handling of the Clinton investigation, saying that he was harsh in his dealings with the investigation and made it worse by reopening the case right before the elections. The truth of these remarks are another story all together, but I can't help but wonder if there is more going on to this than what Rosenstein and Trump are saying to the public. Maybe it's because I watch way too many crime shows, but what is said and what is the truth are not always the same thing. It is entirely possible that Trump fired Comey because of his investigation into the president, or it may be only because of how Comey handled Clinton's case. The point of the matter is that we may never know the full truth behind it all, and that we can only hope for an even better FBI Director to take his place.

In case Trump is reading this, I would be happy to apply for the position of FBI Director. I've seen Criminal Minds and I can be easily bribed to do your bidding (kidding. Or am I?)

-Austin

Comments on "Concern for Climate Change"

Recently one of my colleagues wrote an article called Concern for Climate Change. It's interesting to see how one person's views on a subject can influence everyone else's views on it, especially when that person is someone famous like the president of the United States. I'm not going to debate whether or not global warming is a real thing, because it's not something that I am particularly passionate about researching further, but the fact that the rise in people who see global warming as a threat because of Trump's personal statements does show how one person's opinions can have an effect on the masses. Even if I don't agree with everything that Trump says or does, it's at least comforting to know that his negligence can still have a positive effect on our society.