Entry #3 February 18th, 2016

Nike Ends Endorsement Contract with Manny Pacquiao
ESPN, Darren Rovell

Overview:
   On February 17th, Nike terminated their endorsement contract with professional Filipino boxer, Manny Pacquiao. While appearing in a Filipino television station, Pacquiao stated that people who have same-sex relationships are worse than animals. 
   "Have you seen any animals having male-to-male or female-female relations?" Pacquiao said. "If you have male-to-male or female-to-female relationships, then people are worse than animals."
   Hours later, Pacquiao tweeted out that he was sorry for comparing homosexuals to animals but that he is still against same-sex marriages. In fact, he even said that he was happy that people were shocked by the truth of how he feels about this dispute.
   Nike then dropped him after the comments he made went out to the public. Nike has stated that the comments Manny Pacquiao made were "abhorrent." His endorsement contract was dropped because Nike has history of supporting "rights for the LGBT community."
   In 2012, Pacquiao made other comments about same-sex marriage being wrong because it was "the law of God." Manny Pacquiao is currently the most popular athlete and person from the Philippines. He is the run for a Senate seat which is believed to lead him to Presidency.

Nike cuts ties with Manny Pacquiao after derogatory comments

Opinion:

   I think Manny Pacquiao's comments were discriminating and just unfair towards people who have same-sex relations. Manny Pacquiao is a world-renowned boxer and role-model. Anyone who is a professional athlete and an Ambassador for their country, is highly looked up to. The Philippines do not accept gay and lesbian marriages as easily as North Americans do. For someone that famous, he should know better than do say something discriminatory like that. Even if he doesn't accept gay and lesbians, he can't say something negative towards a certain group of people. The fact that he made the comment that these people are worse than animals is not even the worse part. He said something inappropriate and then apologized right after he said it. It is quite clear that he is not sincerely sorry about what he said. How can some one make a negative comment towards a group of people and then try and make things better by saying something that you they don't actually mean. Manny Pacquiao needs to realize that there are a lot of people out there who look up to him but are having second thoughts because he voiced an opinion on something that did not need to be voiced.

Entry #2 February 8th, 2016

Chicago Police Officer sues victim's family over shooting

BBC News, no author listed

Overview:

   Last December, 2014, a 19 year old Quintonio LeGrier was shot and killed by police officer Robert Rialmo who also ended up killing LeGrier's neighbour, Bettie Jones in the shooting. 

   Over a year later and Officer Rialmo is trying to sue LeGrier's family for $10 000 000 for causing him "severe emotional trauma."

   Rialmo was sent to Mr. LeGrier's residents responding to a domestic disturbance call. The police were called by Quintonio LeGrier himself. Rialmo claims that LeGrier "came charging down the stairs and swung a baseball bat at his head." Rialmo has also stated that he yelled at LeGrier to drop the bat but shot him once he swung repeatedly. He fired six shots which killed Quintonio LeGrier and his neighbour, Bettie Jones, who was watching the event.

   "The fact that LeGrier's actions had forced Officer Rialmo to end LeGrier's life and to accidentally take the innocent life of Bettie Jones has caused, and will continue to cause, Officer Rialmo to suffer extreme emotional trauma, the lawsuit says." 

   LeGrier's lawyers have stated that Mr. Rialmo was at least 20 ft. away from Quintonio when he fired the six shots. The lawyers also asked why LeGrier would attempt to attack the officer when he was the one who called the police in the first place.

Friends and family held pictures of the victim, Quintonio LeGrier, at a vigil in Chicago

Opinion

   This traumatic event is another example of how white police officers act against black civilians. This isn't the first time something like this has happened recently. There has been over 20 other cases of civil right violations in the U.S. in the last few years. 

   If this student had happened to be white then would he have lived that day. Police officers are not the only examples of people being prejudicial.

   People all over the world have to realize when they are being discriminatory. Someone so stubborn like Officer Rialmo might not even realized he acted over stereotypes. I don't think that anyone would want to have to deal with a handful of lawsuits so the faster that everyone can accept another human over the colour of their skin, then lives like Quintonio LeGrier will not be mistreated.

Entry #1 February 1st 2016

Explosion on Plane Causes Passenger to Plunge to Death

Daily Mail, Omar Nor

Overview:
   On February 2nd, there was an explosion on the Daallo Airlines Flight D3159 just 5 minutes after take off. The plane was flying from Somalian capital, Mogadishu to Djibouti.
   The explosion created a 6'ft by 3'ft hole into the side of the aircraft. Hassan Mohamed Nur claims to have seen a passenger in his early 60's engulfed in flames moments before he was sucked out of the plane. The airplane was at a height of 14,000 ft when the incident happened. 
   The man's charred body was found by investigators just 18 miles from the airport that the D3159 Flight took off from.
   The 74 passengers who were involved in this tragedy, were flown safely back to Mogadishu with only 2 injuries. "One minute he was sat in his seat, the next it he was gone. He’d been sucked out of the plane," Mr. Nur, a survivor of the event, told Daily Mail. "People were screaming. We all thought we were going to die." 
   Investigators have stated that they do not think the blast in the side of the plane was caused because of a bomb. Zero evidence was found of a bomb being the cause of the incident. However, they have not ruled out the possibility. Vlatko Vodopivec, pilot of the Daallo flight claims the following information, "Smoke came into the cockpit, but it was mostly concentrated in the back of the aircraft." He also said that he thinks the explosion was caused from a bomb.
   U.S. investigators are still looking into the matter of what caused the explosion, etc. while the Daallo Airlines Flight D3159 has been put away for maintenance.

Gaping hole of Daallo Airlines Flight D3159 that passenger plunged to death through

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3428090/Pictured-Fire-breaks-passenger-jet-minutes-leaving-gaping-hole-aircraft.html

Opinion

   Whether the explosion on the plane was caused by a bomb or not, it still brings different views on the incident. I do not have a personal opinion on the fact that a bomb might have been on the plane. I do know that this is just a prime example of why airports should increase their security with what gets on airplanes. 

   Isis is a threat to everywhere in the world at the moment. It is very possible that they could have put a bomb meant to go off in the air on this flight. Even if they didn't and it was just a fluke blast it doesn't mean they won't try something like that in the future. We have seen examples of terrorists using airplanes in the past. Airports should be on their toes and use this horrific accident as an example of what could happen if they are not careful.