Rhetoric & Writing

Kreps, Daniel. “See 2 Chainz School Nancy Grace on Weed Legalization.”Rolling Stone. HLN, 14 Jan. 2015. Web. 29 July 2015.

http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/videos/2-chainz-debate-weed-legalization-nancy-grace-20150114

The controversies of marijuana are overwhelming and there are so many instances where marijuana appears to be a brutal drug. Thus people cannot control their actions after being hypnotized by marijuana. Recently a viral video displayed a mother allowing her young daughter to smoke marijuana. It was embarrassing to see this mother because she is putting her child’s life in danger. As a result of this absurd video the debate between Nancy Grace and 2Chainz triggered. The debate was over why 2Chainz supports the legalization of marijuana. Grace also argued that many people looked up to 2chainz and his stance on marijuana was a negative influence on the youth of our society.

Further 2Chainz is an intellectual person and he graduated from Alabama State University with a 4.0 GPA. His credentials are essential because Grace argues that he should have an alternative stance on marijuana based on his intellect. Grace also says, “why are you an advocate for marijuana? When you hear stories of what I’m talking about”. Grace is disgusted as well as confused because she believes someone as intelligent as 2Chainz should understand what pot can do to people. 2Chainz response to Grace is that “alcohol was involved” in the video where the mother allowed her daughter to smoke. He is trying to convey that alcohol played a significant factor in the mother’s ridiculous actions toward her daughter. 2Chainz further adds “you cannot put an umbrella on the whole community on the instances you gave”. 2Chainz thinks people are stereotyping the community of marijuana and that these absurd events are only triggered by marijuana. However Grace explains that she is not “defining” the community. She is only trying to prove that marijuana ends up in senseless stories like in the mother daughter situation. Besides marijuana being in these senseless stories, she states marijuana can have a bad influence on the future of our world.

Although Grace had portrayed a great argument concerning the effects on marijuana toward people, 2Chainz had some points as well. 2Chainz highlights that he has two kids and how much he cares for them. He also states “It’s about governing your own household. It’s about taking care of your own property. It’s about having some kind of structure in anything, any drug.” He is employing that people need to set regulations and people need to be more responsible. Moreover 2Chainz comments that the legalization of marijuana would lead to the cut of “overcrowding of prisons, as far as putting it on our criminal record to prevent us from getting loans, to prevent us from getting homes”. It is not fair for people who have been charged with marijuana because they are hindered financially. 2Chainz asserts that he used to sell pot in high school to provide for his family and he sacrificed everything for them. He understands what these people had to go through and he thinks people who are in jail for marijuana deserve a second chance. Additionally he believes that several states would be able to improve their infrastructure by legalizing pot because there will be extra funds from marijuana.

All in all this debate broadened my aspect on marijuana in terms of why people would sell marijuana. People will do anything to have food on their tables for their families. Grace and 2Chaniz discuss both sides of marijuana. It is impossible to come to a conclusion concerning marijuana because there are abundant amount of controversies that surround it.

Ferrera, America. “Thank You, Donald Trump!” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 03 July 2015. Web. 29 July 2015.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/america-ferrera/thank-you-donald-trump_b_7709126.html

Of Honduran descent, America Ferrera was born and raised in Los Angeles. She is a graduate of the University of Southern California with a degree in International Relations. Ferrera is an award winning actress and a positive image of Latinos in popular culture, serving as a mentor to young Latinas and working to empower Latino community. In her open letter to Donald Trump, Ferrera responds to Trump’s comments about Latino immigrants. Ferrera reminds Trump that he called Latino immigrants people who bring drugs, crime and rape to America. Ferrera argues that even though his comments were, in Ferrara’s words, “incredibly ignorant and racist”, she is writing him not to chastise him, but to thank him instead.

Ferrara begins her argument by stating that she thinks that Trump’s comments about Latino immigrants are worth addressing, however she feels as though his business partners, Univison and NBC, have the power to scold him where it hurts. Instead, she satirically thanks Trump. According to Ferrara, Trump sent Latino voters straight to the polls with his comments. She admits that his tactic proves to be more effective when it comes to getting Latinos to vote. She goes on to write that Trump’s remarks brilliantly energized Latino voters and increased turnout on election day to vote against him.

According to Ferrera, Latinos are the largest, youngest and fastest-growing constituency in the United States. Ferrera states, “That’s right! You are running for President in a country where the Latino population grew by over 49 percent from 2000-2012, while the rest of the country grew by 5.8 percent.” Ferrera points out that Trump made comments towards a community that could be the determining factor on whether or not he receives the necessary votes to be President. Ferrara also claims that Latinos are the future and that they aren’t going anywhere.
Ferrara points out to Trump that without the Latino vote, there is no chance of him ever winning the election. Ferrara emphasizes to Trump that if he doesn’t believe her to ask former President Bush or President Obama.

Ferrara goes on to remind Trump of America’s recent milestones such as marriage equality, universal healthcare, and the removal of the confederate flag. She points out the positive direction the country is moving in which is why racist remarks won’t change anything. She asserts that Trump’s racist remarks will only rally more Latino voters to the polls and ignite a fire in the community. Ferrara once again thanks Mr. Trump.

Ferrara continues by thanking Trump for reminding the Latino community that there are still bigots in the country that need to be combated and to not sit at home on election day, but to run to the polls. Ferrara thanks Trump for sending out the rallying cry. She stresses that Trump fails to see that immigrants made up the nation. Ferrara concludes by telling Trump that he will not reduce the Latino community to drug dealers and rapist. Ferrara emphasizes that people of the Latino community are valedictorians and honor students. They are college graduates, bankers, police officers, entertainers, teachers, the future of America, and so much more. Ferrara ends her letter by telling Trump to “Keep it up!”

Jack Quinn, Mike Castle, Steve LaTourette, and Connie Morella. “Raising the Minimum Wage Is Common Sense: Column.” USA Today. Gannett, 09 Oct. 2014. Web. 29 July 2015.

The controversy related to this article is raising minimum wage. This source is relevant to the minimum wage debate because all four authors of the article were members of their respective states’ house of representatives; Jack Quinn represented New York, Mike Castle represented Delaware, Connie Morella represented Maryland, and Steve LaTourette represented Ohio.

I believe this article is a credible source over the minimum wage debate because as state representatives, the article’s authors have firsthand knowledge about the US and it’s inner-working economy. The speakers write in a credible way as they cite a lot of statistical data but also mention their political work as a way to make themselves seem more knowledgeable in the matter. The venue of the article is USA Today which is a widely known news source. Due to the fact that the source represents itself as the face of current US news and strives to do just that, it is respected by Americans and probably those in international communities that follow world news. The authors of the article embedded many links to websites of the sources where they got their information. This shows that the authors actually researched and thought out their argument instead of just stating their opinion with no facts. The authors approach their argument in a straightforward and responsible manner because they are appealing to their former colleagues who are politicians.

Jack Quinn, Mike Castle, Connie Morella, and Steve LaTourette are all former state representatives that are calling their former political colleagues to raise minimum wage all over the country. They start of by saying that when they worked in Congress, they all voted in support of raising the minimum wage and encouraged others to do so. The authors then explain that the “the last time Congress voted to raise the wage to its current rate of $7.25 an hour was seven years ago.” Since that time, things like groceries, gas, and college have all increased in price. The authors state that inflation had not been kept up with in terms of wage. They then note that low minimum wage isn’t mostly affecting teenagers but parents who’s “average age is 35” and have to support children. The authors explain the unfairness of people working long hours and yet still being “stuck in poverty.” When they worked in Congress, the authors paired “minimum wage increases with pro-tax reform.” This strategy was met with majority approval. The authors argue that it’s time for the “Republican Caucus to take back our party” by addressing the issue of minimum wage accordingly. They explain that even an increase of the minimum wage to $10.10 would allow “one in five US workers” to benefit. In conclusion of their argument, the authors call on their former colleagues to raise the minimum wage because its “simple common sense.

Children nowadays have been exposed to so much when compared to past generations.  As time passes, things change, whether it be people, norms or technology.  Recently, there has been arguments whether marijuana should be legalized and more specifically, if it is legalized, “how will it affect children and young adults?”  Many would argue that if legalized, there would be set boundaries for people underage however that argument could be debated if compared to the “set boundaries” on alcohol.

In the article the author, Sue Rusche explains how the legalization of marijuana can have a negative impact for the younger generation because of the higher chance of becoming addicted.  Rusche explains how in California, where medical marijuana is legal, how eventually children could react to the substance if it were to be legalized for recreational use.   Rusche research comes from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health where it states, “The younger kids are when they start using addictive drugs, the more likely they’ll become addicted. Children who start drinking or smoking pot at age 14 or before are eight times more likely to become addicted to alcohol, six times more likely to become addicted to marijuana than those who start in their 20s.”  She explains with this research, just how high the chances are of children becoming addicted to the substance compared to alcohol.  It demonstrates just how “strong” the law is on underage drinking, and how easy it would be for children to break the law against underage consuming of marijuana.  With those two in comparison it only demonstrates and proves Rushe’s point of how dangerous it could be for children, if marijuana was legalized.

She explains how with the legalization, will not only hurt them now, but will eventually be carried on as adults because of the fact, that they were so young when exposed to the drug. “Keeping drugs illegal prevents commercial industries from emerging, ones that are free to advertise and market to increase consumption and free to target children, a given percentage of whom will become addicted—and lifetime customers.”  She wants people all over the country to be aware of the dangers it can cause to children if exposed to the substance, she believes that if legalized, it will have negative repercussions to the growing generation who was exposed to the substance at a very young age.  The limits that would be set if legalized, is not enough she says,  many children break the law of underage drinking, whats to say they wont break the law of consuming marijuana underage?

Imam, Jareen. “‘I like weed, and I’m a good person’: Pot smokers fight stereotypes.” CNN. CNN.com, 11 September 2014. Web. 29 July 2015.

In paragraphs 1-4, we are introduced to an anonymous 31 year old man who lives in Ohio. He’s a father, a registered voter with the Republican party, goes to church, donates to charity, is a business man at an insurance firm, and even gives piano lessons to disabled children. He sounds like a normal man doesn’t he? Well the only difference is, he smokes marijuana. He smokes it before putting on some Netflix to relieve his stressful day. He remains anonymous so his activities can’t be known in his small town because of the bad wrap surrounding marijuana.

Marijuana for the past couple years has always been given a bad wrap, but now in 2015 people are starting to realize that in fact, marijuana has way more benefits than detriments. According to a CNN International survey, 55% of Americans believe that cannabis should be legalized, with half of the respondents claiming that they have smoke the drug as well. Laws concerning marijuana prohibition should be amended, because as we saw in the earlier paragraphs, there are many normal everyday humans that enjoy it.
Paragraph 6 highlights the outcome of Colorado legalization, showing that marijuana purchases aren’t slowing down. In fact, Washington D.C. plus other states are following suit such as Washington, Oregon, Alaska (which already legalized after this article) and New Hampshire where the preliminary vote went through.

The following paragraphs highlight more normal people who would smoke marijuana once it becomes legal, including those who are engineers and college students. They say that it’s a “viable” alternative to alcohol, it’s relaxing, and stimulates creativity. According to another lady, who is 21, said it helps her fall asleep at night. She says it’s a “sleep remedy” after her long work hours as a security dispatcher at the university. In fact she seemed very enthusiastic about smoking because she wrote to CNN that “I LOVE POT!” because it does allow her to unwind and relax. She recommends that everyone should try it. Due to the consistent smoking in college, she says it keeps her well rested throughout the year and that it doesn’t affect her grades. She’s on the Dean’s List due to her straight A’s. Her parents know about her activity, but only worry about the legal aspect of the drug.

The rest of the article gives other productive members of society’s stories about why they smoke. One is a computer engineer with two degrees who uses it to keep him emotionally healthy and happy. He wants it to be legal in Hawaii because he says that it’s a “boon to society”. Another is a magazine write, author, and journalist. He says it allows her to be creative and cut down on drinking. He says it also allows him to be a productive citizen. One testimony is from a security guard who says he wants it legal because he would stop drinking alcohol immediately. He says alcohol makes him a bad angry person and he would prefer to smoke without causing problems. The last testimony is from a veteran and retired electrical engineer. He found that it would keep him in line with his studies and that allowed him to graduate with good grades.

All in all, this whole article is a great perspective with many testimonies from everyday normal people. They just simply enjoy marijuana to relax, concentrate, become creative, and much more.