Response: Megan Lomas: Bathroom Law Battle Begins to Take Hold in Texas

    My fellow colleague, Megan Lomas, has brought up some excellent points in her article, Bathroom Law Battle Begins to Take Hold in Texas. She is against Texas's movement towards mimicking North Carolina's law recent law banning people with male body parts from using women's restrooms no matter what that person identifies as. Lomas states that law's like these only push violence against Trans people, and I couldn't agree more. Acting out against a certain class of people with negativity will only perpetuate hate. 

    She also brings up the uncomfortable truth about why the majority of people are uncomfortable with Gender Neutral Bathrooms, for a lot of people think it's unsafe; nonetheless, there hasn't been any evidence indicating more unsafe bathrooms. She is completely right when she states that if one doesn't feel "comfortable" with Trans gendered people using the restroom, then one shouldn't use it. I believe that the belief's of one group of people shouldn't stop law's from being set into place that push for equality for everyone, for if those laws aren't enacted, that's doing an injustice towards fellow Americans.
    All in all, I like Lomas's points as to why Transgendered people should be able to use the bathroom, for it isn't fair to make someone, who identifies as a woman, use the men's resroom. I couldn't imagine how that must feel. Come on Texan's, let's catch up with 2016, for this is a great place to start; Equality for all is never a bad thing.

Texas should put more time and effort into tending to the needs of the many children that are within it's borders

While many of us, Texans and United States Citizens, realize that there are a multitude of children in the foster care system, I'm not quite sure whether we understand how neglected they are. Once a child is in the foster care system, it's the states responsibility to look after the well being of the child; therefore, it pains me to find out that Texas doesn't take care of it's children as well as it should. Texas should be paying more attention to it's children and funding programs to help give these children the lives they deserve.

Firstly, the neglect and lack of supervision that Texas Foster Care Children are faced with lead to very difficult lives full of addiction, mental issues and prison sentences. According to an article, by Leah Kashar, in The Daily Texan, Texas must reform system to help foster children, eighty-percent of the 29,000 foster care children suffer from the issues listed above. The evidence is very telling that we, the state of Texas, are doing an incredibly poor job at taking care of our children. No child should be left behind, and according to these statistics, 23,200 children have been left behind. Social workers are overloaded with cases which leads to less state supervision on each child; therefore, it makes sense as to why so many children "fall through the cracks". They are taught from the beginning that they don't matter, for no one makes the effort to even do a routine check up. Texas needs to combat this before the percentage becomes higher, for our children deserve at least that. We are essentially a parent, so we need to start acting like one.

Also, Texas is not only neglecting its children, but we're running out of space to put them. According to an article, by Madlin Mekelburg, in the Texas Tribune, Judge Blocks State From Licensing Family Detention Center, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services wanted to issue childcare licenses to immigration detention centers. Thankfully, a judge stopped the licenses from being distributed due to enough organizations protesting the act. The state of Texas not only is neglecting it's children, but now, we are treating them as if they are such a burden, that they should be sent to prison. In the article, it references that the Immigration Detention Centers are nothing but jails, for they aren't meant to hold children that have done nothing wrong. This is one more step in the wrong direction, for if we start treating these children like criminals, they'll start acting like them and lead a life full of crime. And the sad thing is, we let it happen. 

All in all, I think the state of Texas has a lot of work to do when it comes to the Foster Care System. Like I said, we're talking about children. These people are the future of this state, hell, this country. Texans pride themselves on being honest and giving, well, we need to start acting like it to the people that need it the most. Texas needs to put more money and effort towards this system fast before it's too late. Let's live up to the standards that we're all so fast to brag about. 

Texas is Far from Perfect: Austin Mckee

    My fellow Colleague, Austin Mckee, wrote a great opinion article, "Dear Texas: You're Far From Perfect, So Stop Pointing Your Finger," on why Texas, and more specifically, Texans need to stop shaming women who receive abortions. Throughout her article, she writes about the stigma and shame that come with getting such a procedure, and I couldn't agree more. As someone who is a huge advocate and supporter of abortions and sexual education, birth control and the like, I find it appalling that as a society in 2016, we still frown upon this specific medical procedure. 

    Firstly, she brings up the uncomfortable facts about the overwhelming amount of children in the foster care system and how they are being raised in neglectful and unsafe environments, for this isn't fair to the children. Unfortunately, Texas doesn't pay as much attention to the children after they're born, as they do while that child is medically/scientifically claimed a fetus; therefore, like Ms. Mckee states, the situation isn't managed as well as it could be. 

    Also, she mentions Planned Parenthood and that Texas should be supporting them, for the stigma against such corporations needs to stop. I also couldn't agree more with her argument. The supporting of Planned Parenthood would solve an immense amount of problems that woman face while being sexually active/pregnant. How is this a bad thing? I appreciate Ms. Mckee's specific statement, which says that  if Texas would publicly support Planned Parenthood, it would help reduce the stigma against abortions, for it would show the vast population that their state isn't going to stigmatize it any longer.

    Furthermore, Mckee ends her argument with stating that the stigma that is aimed against woman who receive/want abortions won't help anyone, for it only teaches people, and more importantly kids, how to judge. Children should be taught that their body is their own, and they should have the freedom to have control over it. Once again, Mckee makes an excellent argument, and it's fantastic to read an article that is preaching love and acceptance, instead of hate and judgement. 

Should Texas be funding Planned Parenthood?

What would you, the reader, think about a Health Care center that helps women, men, and children with STI/STD testing, contraceptive help, cancer screening, abortion's, etc? One would hope the reader would be in favor of such an establishment, for it's main goal is to help Texans, American's, stay healthy; therefore, the state of Texas should be funding Planned Parenthood due to the positive impact that it has on American's and most importantly, Texans.

Firstly, Planned Parenthood is a fantastic health care provider, and i'll inform you as to why. On Planned Parenthood's "Who We Are" section, they state, "These health centers provide a wide range of safe, reliable health care — and the majority is preventive, primary care, which helps prevent unintended pregnancies through contraception, reduce the spread of sexually transmitted infections through testing and treatment, and screen for cervical and other cancers." This health care provider's main goal is to help people become informed about safe sex, what to do in case a woman becomes accidentally pregnant, and to test people to see whether they have cancer or not. Those are fantastic goals for an organization, for it shows that their main priority is to help keep the public educated and safe. Planned Parenthood has also always been an establishment that supports a persons right , more specifically a woman's right, to have the freedom to do what they want with their bodies and how to be safe about it. 

Although Planned Parenthood is a fantastic organization that's aimed at helping and educating the public, they aren't funded in the Republican and Southern state of Texas. A major reason that Republican leader's don't want to fund Planned Parenthood is their active participation in performing abortions, but what they don't know, is that Planned Parenthood doesn't use any federal money to fund said abortions; According to a Washington Post article, How Planned Parenthood Actually Uses It's Funding, Planned Parenthood funds abortions with Donations, foundations and fee's which means that the Republican's and those who oppose the procedure wouldn't pay for them even if Planned Parenthood was funded. Also, according to the same article, abortions only make up 3% of all services that the health care center provides. I hope you, the reader, can start to understand how ludicrous it is that we, the state of Texas, still don't fund this organization even though the basis of the majority of the arguments made opposing the funding of such centers were just disproved. Yes, Texas is a typical southern and republican state, but even Republicans can't deny the facts. If one is a republican, now you can know that your tax dollars aren't funding abortions, for they're funding safety and health for all. 

All in all, Planned Parenthood should be funded in Texas, for they do more good than bad for Texan's. Planned Parenthood's main goal is to help people stay safe, become educated, and be healthy. How can one be against that? This health care provider has always had a special place in my heart due to it's continual fight towards a sexually educated, healthy, and happy population. I hope that Planned Parenthood gets funded sooner rather than later, for they've earned it and proved countless times that Texans, and Americans, are in their best interest. 

Grits for Breakfast: Why is the Federal Government continually finding what Texas Rangers cannot?

According to the blog Grits for Breakfast, the Texas State and Local Government isn't spending enough time digging into potential corruption within its own borders; therefore, the Federal Government is continually having to step in in order to find the truth, "Are Texas Rangers incompetent to confront corruption, or just disincentivized?"

Grits is an outraged blogger who's tired of hearing about their State Law Enforcement and Government letting corruption happen within it's borders due to border control being considered more important. As a Texas resident, it's incredibly frustrating to read about local officials "gassing" up their personal vehicles from the city yard, and yet, nothing was done about it by the local authorities. This article is aimed towards the state of Texas, and more specifically, towards the Texas Rangers who weren't diligent enough in their investigations. The blog states, "The DA said the Texas Rangers' investigation was "diligent," but it wasn't diligent enough to uncover wrongdoing. So how is it that the feds could get the job done? They found a "truckload of documents" they considered incriminating enough to seize as evidence and made numerous arrests." This is disheartening on a multitude of levels. The Texas Law Enforcement's main concern should be to keep corruption and illegal activity to a minimum within it's borders, but like Grits states, they're more concerned with the "corruption" on the opposite side of the border and the illegal border crossing. Grit's also believes that this could be due to the Texas Law Enforcement being "lazy" and knowing that the Federal Government will come and clean up the mess. It's almost as if they're treating the Local Law Enforcement as a child who will continually do something wrong because it's easier and quicker, and the National Government as the parent who will always sweep in to fix the mess. Is that claim too harsh? Not really. The Federal Government has a reputation for continually prosecuting corrupt officials and going farther in their investigations than the local law. While the Local law does nothing to investigate corruption, the corruption becomes stronger and the Local Law appears to be weaker.

Grits concludes their argument with stating that the corruption happening on Texas's, The United State's, side of the border is immensely more important than a potential "Nanny" or "Landscaper" illegally crossing the border. As a nation, we need to take care of the local injustices and stop embarrassing ourselves by continually proving to be incompetent when investigating local illegal activity. 

Texas Leaders Denying Uncomfortable Facts Resulting in the Downslide of Women's Health?

According to a myStatesman article written by Rep. Donna Howard, she portrays the notion that Texas State Leaders have ignored the negative results of the 2011 budget cuts and oust of Planned Parenthood from being a qualified medical provider, "Howard: Inconvenient Truths in Texas Women's Health Care." 

Howard is a member of the Texas House of Representatives (2006-present). She's directing this article towards the State of Texas, and more specifically, she's directing it towards the leaders who made the budget cuts and were derailing a study, done by the Peer-Reviewed New England Journal of Medicine, and were ignoring the uncomfortable outcomes that resulted in their decisions. I agree with Howard and her points. In the article, she references a study done by the New England Journal of Medicine, and it states, "the removal of Planned Parenthood from a Texas family planning program resulted in a reduction in claims for long-acting contraceptives and an increase in childbirths paid for by Medicaid, the state and federal health partnership for the poor and disabled." This is disheartening on a multitude of levels. It's unfortunate that the State Leaders decisions in removing Planned Parenthood resulted in less safe sex and more unwanted pregnancies, for these decisions ultimately don't affect the ones in power, but rather, the women who make a lower income and need clinics such as P.P.  In the article it states, "These critics ignored the explicit and limited scope of the study, as well as the inconvenient truth of the outcomes." Even after a reparable Journal of Medicine presented evidence showing the flaws in these decisions, the leaders refused to accept guilt. This is due to their more recent Texas Women's Health Program (TWHP) which has significantly increased the number of providers available, but once again, there's a hole in the story; the leaders failed to mention that despite there being a higher number of providers available to women, less are being seen. It's a cause and effect situation that's already negatively impacting the citizens of Texas.

Howard concludes her argument by stating that there is a newer "version" of Women's Health Care that will be used to help increase the number of women being seen for care, and it will bring the standards of Women's Health Care back to what it was before 2011. She ultimately states that no matter how much one denies the facts and statistics proving said facts, it doesn't change them, so one must take responsibility. The truth always has a way of getting out.

Racial Tensions at A&M University

On February 11, 2016, the Texas Tribune  published an article, Texas A&M Investigating After Black Highschoolers Harassed On Campus, which illustrated an incident where two African-American highschool students, touring A&M University with their school, were harassed due to their race. These two students were approached by a woman who was wearing Confederate Flag earrings, and they were asked to tell her how the earrings made them feel. This led to a group of, white, men and women harassing and insulting the the teens by using racial slurs. The A&M tour guides called the Campus Police, but no one involved was charged or disciplined. State Senator Royce West is outraged, and he stated, "A&M students involved in the taunting should be strongly disciplined, if not expelled." The University is concocting a thorough investigation, and after the inexcusable event, other students from A&M University reassured the highschool students that the majority of A&M would welcome them. It's disheartening to know that an experience which should be incredibly motivating and uplifting is jaded due to ignorance.