Birthright Citizenship in the United States

Birthright Citizenship in the United States Birthright citizenship in the United States is the legal principle that any person born on U.S. soil automatically and immediately becomes a U.S. citizen. It contrasts with U.S. citizenship obtained through naturalization or acquisition- citizenship granted by virtue of being born abroad to at least one U.S. citizen parent. A â€Å"birthright† is defined as any right or privilege to which a person is entitled by virtue of birth. Long challenged in both the courts of law and public opinion, the policy of birthright citizenship remains highly controversial today, particularly when applied to children born to undocumented immigrant parents. Key Takeaways: Birthright Citizenship Birthright citizenship is the legal principle that any person born on U.S. soil automatically becomes a citizen of the United States.Birthright citizenship was established in1868 by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and confirmed by the US Supreme Court in the 1898 case of United States v. Wong Kim Ark.Birthright citizenship is granted to persons born in the 50 U.S. states and the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.Today, birthright citizenship is a highly controversial issue as it applies to children born to parents who have entered the United States illegally. Jus Soli and Jus Sanguinis Citizenship Birthright citizenship is based on the principle of â€Å"jus soli,† a Latin term meaning â€Å"right of the soil.† According to jus soli, a person’s citizenship is determined by their place of birth. As in the United States, jus soli is the most common means by which citizenship is acquired. Jus Soli is in contrast to â€Å"jus sanguinis,† meaning â€Å"right of the blood,† the principle that a person’s citizenship is determined or acquired by the nationality of one or both parents. In the United States, citizenship can be acquired by either jus soli, or less commonly, by jus sanguinis.   Legal Basis of US Birthright Citizenship In the United States, the policy of birthright citizenship is based in the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, stating â€Å"[a]ll persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.† Ratified in 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment was enacted to override the 1857 U.S. Supreme Court’s Dred Scott v. Sandford decision which had denied citizenship to former African American slaves. In the 1898 case of United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed that under the Fourteenth Amendment, full U.S. citizenship cannot be denied to any person born within the United States, regardless of the citizenship status of the parents at the time. Under the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, birthright citizenship is similarly granted to any person born in the United States to a member of an Indian, Eskimo, Aleutian, or other aboriginal tribe. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, U.S. jus soli birthright citizenship, as established by the Fourteenth Amendment, is automatically granted to any person born within any of the 50 states and the territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In addition, jus sanguinis birthright citizenship is granted (with some exceptions) to persons born to U.S. citizens while in other countries.   The above statutes and subsequent legislative amendments are compiled and codified into the United States Code of Federal Laws at 8 U.S.C.  § 1401 to define who becomes a United States citizen at birth. According to federal law, the following persons shall be deemed U.S. citizens at birth: A person born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.A person born in the United States to a member of an Indian, Eskimo, Aleutian, or other aboriginal tribe.A person born in an outlying possession of the United States of parents one of whom is a citizen of the United States who has been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for a continuous period of one year at any time prior to the birth of such person.A person of unknown parentage found in the United States while under the age of five years, until shown, prior to his attaining the age of twenty-one years, not to have been born in the United States. The Birthright Citizenship Debate While the legal concept of birthright citizenship has withstood years of challenges in the courts of law, its policy of automatically granting U.S. citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants has not fared as well in the court of public opinion. For example, a 2015 Pew Research Center survey found that 53% of Republicans, 23% of Democrats, and 42% of Americans overall favor changing the Constitution to bar citizenship for children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrant parents. Many opponents of birthright citizenship argue that it encourages expectant parents to come to the U.S. simply to give birth in order to improve their own chances of attaining legal resident (green card) status- a practice often called â€Å"birth tourism.† According to a Pew Hispanic Center analysis of Census Bureau data, an estimated 340,000 of the 4.3 million babies born in the United States in 2008 were born to â€Å"unauthorized immigrants.† The Pew study further estimates that a total of about four million American-born children of unauthorized immigrant parents lived in the U.S. in 2009, along with about 1.1 million foreign-born children of unauthorized immigrant parents. Controversially calling it the â€Å"anchor baby† situation, some lawmakers have suggested legislation to change how and when birthright citizenship is granted. The 2015 Pew analysis found that birthright citizenship was granted to about 275,000 babies born to undocumented immigrant parents in 2014, or about 7% of all births in the U.S. that year. That number represents a drop from the peak year of illegal immigration in 2006 when about 370,000 children- about 9% of all births- were born to undocumented immigrants. In addition, about 90% of undocumented immigrants who give birth in the U.S. have resided in the country for more than two years before giving birth. On October 30, 2018, President Donald Trump escalated the debate by stating that he intended to issue an executive order completely removing the right of citizenship to people born in the U.S. to foreign nationals under any circumstances- an act some argue would essentially repeal the Fourteenth Amendment. The president set no timeline for his proposed order, so birthright citizenship- as established by the Fourteenth Amendment and United States v. Wong Kim Ark- remains the law of the land. Other Countries With Birthright Citizenship According to the independent, non-partisan Center for Immigration Studies, the United States along with Canada and 37 other countries, most of which are in the Western Hemisphere, offer largely unrestricted jus soli birthright citizenship. No Western Europe countries offer unrestricted birthright citizenship to all children born within their borders. Over the last decade, many countries, including France, New Zealand, and Australia, have abandoned birthright citizenship. In 2005, Ireland became the last country in the European Union to abolish birthright citizenship. Sources and Further Reference Arthur, Andrew R. (November 5, 2018). Birthright Citizenship: An Overview. Center for Immigration Studies.Smith, Rogers M. (2009). Birthright Citizenship and the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868 and 2008. University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law.Lee, Margaret (May 12, 2006). U.S. Citizenship of Persons Born in the United States to Alien Parents. Congressional Research Service.Da Silva, Chantal. (October 30, 2018). Trump Says He Plans to Sign Executive Order to Terminate Birthright Citizenship. CNN.

The Easiest Ways to Embrace Big Trends in Digital Marketing

The Easiest Ways to Embrace Big Trends in Digital Marketing Digital marketing  is predicted to change a lot in the coming years and its moving fast. Technology is disrupting the way people discover your brand and consume your content, and now is the perfect time to prepare. At the beginning of this year, Sujan Patel did a great article looking at the  biggest and most exciting marketing trends  to adapt to. Feeling inspired, I decided to follow up giving actionable tips on how we can actually embrace those trends using emerging marketing software that is there to help content marketers to innovate. Check Out ’s Entire Marketing Toolstack Before digging into these actionable tips, check out s own marketing toolstack. Voice Search Becomes More Prominent With the ever-growing market of smartphones, as well as with the fast adoption of smart speaker assistants, voice search is quickly making it way into the online marketing world. Voice search growth presents a few challenges to content marketers, including: Organic search discoverability: Being #1 is the only way to get any exposure from voice search. New content consumption journey: On-the-go voice searchers need solutions immediately, right now. Performance tracking: Too much is going on to be able to effectively analyze what helps and what hurts your organic search visibility. Luckily, there are tools for all three challenges: Competing for #1 on Voice Search By default, there's only one search result being presented to a voice search user. While we were previously competing for top 5 positions, we are now going to compete for one. The good news, where there's a challenge, there's an opportunity. The searching behavior is changing: Search queries are getting longer, more varied and less predictable. We previously knew pretty well what we were optimizing our content for (and so did our competitors). Nowadays marketers are dealing with a much wider variety of ways our content can be discovered via search. Spoken speech is less standardized than written text. When speaking a search query to a machine, we are less confined by the rules of grammar and we are less influenced by popular search suggestions. Thanks to voice search, SEO relies more on natural language and less on SERPs design and algorithmic matching. With that in mind, what can really be done? Unlike what you may have heard, SEO is not going to die any time soon, neither is  keyword research. You still need to research keyword queries people use when searching. The difference is: (Even)  more attention to long-tail, less popular queries  (Those are more likely to be generated by voice search users). A wider variety of keyword research sources  allowing you to aggregate data and dig deeper into possible searching behaviors. These should include both standard keyword research tools (  Spyfu,  Majestic,  Ahrefs,  Wordstream, etc.) and non-SEO sources, like Twitter monitoring and customer support emails. Recommended Reading: The Most Massive SEO Copywriting Guide That Will Make Your Traffic Soar So with a wider variety of queries and more keyword data sources, how to make sense of those lists and turn them into actual content plans? Keyword clustering (i.e. grouping) is the answer. Keyword clustering  means grouping your keywords by relevance. Serpstat  offers a unique  clustering feature  allowing you to submit long keyword lists and breaking those queries into categories based on how similar Google SERPs for each of them are. The logic is as follows: The more overlapping results (i.e. pages) Google returns for two queries, the more related those queries (i.e. keywords) are,  so there's no reason to create two separate landing pages to catch each of those. Put simply, clustering helps you optimize one content asset for a wider variety of keywords making it possible to cater to a wider variety of voice-search-driven queries. Recommended Reading: What Are Topic Clusters (And How Can They Boost Your Traffic)? Optimizing for the Immediate Need Another opportunity brought forward by voice searching is optimizing for "on-the-go" needs.   Google  claims that more than 90%  of their users turn to mobile devices and voice search for inspiration while in the middle of the task. New consumers need information "right here" and "right now". Those brands that optimize their content for these searching "micro-moments" satisfying an immediate need at any given moment will win the organic search game. Micro-moment content optimization involves: Optimizing for featured snippets  (news outlets can also use  Google Speakable  to record an audio which Google will read in response to a voice query). Optimizing for questions, lots of them (this includes using "People Also Ask" boxes for inspiration). Optimizing for  search intent. All of the three tactics above are not isolated: There's no need to create a separate strategy to hit each of them. Featured rankings depend on your overall organic rankings, answering questions helps you get featured, and whether your content is satisfying the query search intent determines how high you show up in Google. In other words, it's all inter-connected and luckily today's SEO software can help you on all those fronts. Text Optimizer  is one of my recent discoveries that uses semantic analysis to help you create content that: Matches the search intent Includes related and neighboring terms Answers popular questions on each topic Using TextOptimizer is easy: Run your core query you are creating content around (TextOptimizer runs your query in Google, extracts search result snippet and comes up with related terms to help you match Google's expectations better). Select 20-25 of the suggested terms you feel will fit your future content best and include them in your copy naturally. Use suggested questions to cover in your copy and structure it better (using subheads). Run the tool again, this time using your written content, to see how well you did optimizing your copy. Google  claims that more than 90%  of their users turn to mobile devices and voice search for...Monitoring Your Efforts Closely Finally, with mobile and voice search on the rise, it has become much more challenging to monitor all your content marketing assets and, more importantly, identify the actual impact of each new (optimization) tactic you have experimented with. I am still trying to figure that part out (content analytics is never a finished task really), but what I started doing differently recently is recording all my content and website updates on a micro-level to see a bigger picture over time. Rankedy  is an interesting tool allowing you to create a micro-journal for each of your important queries allowing you to track if any of your content marketing tactics is bringing the desired ranking growth. I am using it to record everything I am doing to the site to later see the impact. Rankedy tracks both mobile and desktop rankings helping you understand the impact of your content marketing efforts. Video Marketing is Still on the Rise Video content has been on the rise for a few years now bringing in new customers' expectations. Your audience expects  to find your brand on Youtube and for many queries they expect to engage with the video rather than text content. Youtube being the second biggest search engine in the world and Google giving more and more organic search visibility to videos (through video carousels and video featured snippets), failing to embrace video marketing means failing to get found  online. There are a few reasons why many brands still shy away from video marketing: Video production is hard to scale. Video market seems already over-cluttered. Video marketing requires solid investment (either in time or money or both). Last year I did a detailed  step-by-step tutorial  on how to overcome all those challenges using content re-packaging tactics. The video creation tools that I listed there include: Blue Jeans to put together video interviews  with influencers  and customers. Filmora to create screencasts and how-to videos. Animatron to create professional entertaining or instructional videos. All in all, there are many more video creation tools (as well as both  video footage  and  free image  resources) allowing you to launch your video marketing strategy on a low budget and helping you find your style and voice in this fast-growing industry. When it comes to researching your video marketing opportunities, there's a tool for that too!   Video SEO Tool  (Disclaimer: This tool has been developed by the company I work for)  grabs your domain’s most important queries and returns the list of videos that rank for each of them stealing your clicks from organic search results. Simply enter your domain and see video opportunities for each high-performing page of your site: Now use the tools above to create better, more up-to-date, videos than those currently ranking in Google and you are in the video marketing game. Personalization Finally, another big marketing trend that is disrupting digital marketing in general and content marketing, in particular, is advanced personalization. While there's a lot being said about personalized marketing, not many businesses clearly understand the concept. Personalized marketing is often confused with these two older (but still valid) marketing tactics: Segmentation Persona building If you are doing either (or both) of the above (which you probably should), it doesn't mean you are embracing personalized marketing just yet. To help you out: Personalized marketing is not making other â€Å"customization-based† marketing obsolete. You still need to segment your optin lists to send more engaging emails. And persona building is still a valid way to better understand your target audience and create more relatable and engaging content. But what about personalized marketing? Is there any way to adopt this more complicated trend? While personalized marketing seems a bit intimidating, it's what your target customer may be expecting from you. With the biggest digital marketing players (e.g. Amazon and Netflix) already offering artificial-intelligence-driven personalized shopping experience and many digital brands offering on-demand and  over-the-top  content, more and more customers are willing to see the same level of personalization from other (smaller) publishers. The good news is, marketing technology is catching up: With tools like  Alter  you can offer personalized marketing experience to your audience on a small budget, with no in-house technology investment needed.

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 12

Marketing - Essay Example Marketing is a particularly fundamental function for strategy formulation in a business. It informs a strategy, counsels it, reviews it and provides insights into strategy formulation in an organization. An outstanding marketing department is involved in a continuous cycle of measure-analyze-plan-measure. This cycle is as well a key ingredient of strategic business management function. Therefore, in essence, marketing is a key element of strategic management function. Great marketing can help the company in identifying and addressing improvement strategies to customers in either product differentiation or distribution channels (Kotler et al 2009). For example, forecasting is part of strategic planning, sales and marketing forecasts as always the main tools used in budgeting for the marketing function. In marketing research, the Research and Development personnel are essential for effective results analyses and interpretation. Kotler et al (2009), the chief aim of strategic planning i s promoting the discernment of the company in the minds of the customers and consequently to increase customer relation and profitability of the business. Business strategic planning has to be undertaken to ensure the evaluation of all the options in a given situation. In such considerations, only the marketing function and research and development function are involved in result oriented research for improvement of service to the customer. Marketing Function versus Other Organizational Functions The marketing function of a business is the process that combines the product with pricing, promotion and distribution to reach the respective customers or end users. Marketing is one of the most significant functions of a business since it has a direct impact on sales and profitability of the business as well as customer relation. Because of this importance, the marketing function has a greater interrelation with other business functions like finance, accounting, production, research and d evelopment, technology, procurement and human resource among others. Building a profitable customer relationship in the marketing function requires interaction with the other business functions (Kotler et al 2009). I. Finance and marketing Every marketing plan always includes a primary financial dimension. Key aspects of a marketing planning and control are budgeting and profitability analysis. These issues require high resolution on significant financial issues like the definition of profits (e.g. Returns to equity or returns to investment) and determination on the appropriate controls for such profits (e.g. Taxes or inventory evaluation). All marketing decisions are investment decisions aiming at profitable customer relation hence adequate financial information is significant. Nevertheless, marketing is essential for the finance department since the information generated from marketing is used in financial analysis and forecasting (Kotler et al 2009). For example, the marketing te am in organization utilizes the annual company financial reports and other financial documents to help them with budgeting. This helps to reduce duplication of work in the marketing team for employing financial personnel since the financial personnel are already available in the company. The marketing team is, therefore, able to apply financial performance indicators to their relevant respective market segments to ensure that they always remain relevant to customers. II.

Contemporary Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Contemporary Management - Assignment Example Companies that have employed the excellence tool have reported increased agility, reduced costs, increased sales, and increase in people or personnel. Although the changes may not be visible immediately, it does not take more than five years for a company to report profitability and improved performance. The paper ends by urging companies to develop performance monitoring and increase strategies that include the use of EFQM. Over the years, the number of companies using organisational evaluation to identify and advance their competitive position to cope with the ever-evolving milieu has been on the rise. Since the EFQM model came into existence in 1992, its use in companies across Europe as an outline for organisational self-evaluation has increased (Morden, 2004, p. 132).The model is now a popular self-assessment tool all over Europe, as capital markets all over the world are developing increasing attention on the potential earnings and anticipated earnings of cooperate organisations (Hakes 2007). The model lies at the centre of evaluation attracting a host of reactions as to whether it is essential in influencing the bottom line of organisations. Understanding the dynamics of this model is important to many to understand its place in organisation’s self-assessment. This report assesses a wide range of literature and data to highlight the importance of the EFQM model to highlight its importance in organisations. The European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model stands as a basis for self-assessment and has a long and rich history. EFQM is a derivative of Total Quality Management along with other performance frameworks such as the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA, together with the Deming Prize (Boulter et al. 2013, p.198). It is used to attain the national awards such as the European Quality Award by external review started after its introduction by presidents of several

Hobsons Choice Essay Example for Free

Hobsons Choice Essay Maggie is the eldest of Hobsons three daughters. Of the three she is the most intelligent and most valuable to Hobson. She has a very hardened appearance and almost mothers the other three, Hobson, Vicky and Alice. In the beginning of the book, she works in Hobsons shoe shop along with her two sisters. She is a great sales woman and because of this, she is very valuable to Hobson, Hobson himself says Maggies to useful to part with. Brighouse has written Maggie into the play to be very forcefully and dominant. She does not let a customer go out of the shop without making a purchase. This happened when Albert Prosser came into see Alice, his girlfriend. Maggie turned to him and exclaimed This is a shop, you know. Were not here to let people go out without buying. These qualities make Maggie a very successful businessperson. It is these qualities that make Maggie so important to her father, Hobson. If Maggie were to leave then the business would cease and Hobson would be in a very big mess. I think Maggie struggles when it comes to love and marriage, which inevitably creates problems for her. I do not think she knows how to express her feelings properly without hurting others feelings. She does not think courting should be carried out before marriage. Maggie states Courtings like that my lass. All glitter and no use to anybody. I think this is why Will Mossop is so surprised when Maggie asks him to marry her. They had not courted at all before Maggies proposal. I think Brighouse has made Maggies character seem even stranger by this as it was very unusual for a proposal to come from a woman in those days. I think she has this problem because she is so dominant and strong. In the shop she is so used to getting her way first time round that she expects it to happen every time. Will Mossop does eventually agree to marry her but only after some persuasion. Maggies knows her father inside out. She knows that Hobson drinks a lot of alcohol. The book starts with a conversation between Maggie, Alice and Vicky. Vicky asks Maggie if Hobson has had breakfast yet and Maggie replies Breakfast! With a Masons meeting last night? Every time Hobson goes out, he is always late back and has always had too much to drink. This irritates Maggie as he is always late for dinner and results in her nagging her farther. Maggie can be rude in the way she teats people. Just before she proposes to Will, she says its a pity youre a natural fool at all else. She also treats her sisters in a horrid way. Its as if she is jealous of something they have that she does not. I think Brighouse wants the audience to see Maggie as a strong minded, dominant character and portrays her as such by making her an important lead in the story. She is the centre hub upon which all the other characters depend to interact in the story. She is a key character who plays a very large role in the first act.

Philosophy of Education Essay -- Education Teacher

My beliefs and values about early childhood education is based upon understanding that all children are unique individuals who need a caring, nurturing, and secure environment in which to grow and develop socially, emotionally, cognitively, and physically. Children under the age of three are in critical stages of development, it is my belief that a quality child care environment will have a positive impact on a child’s development and make a significant difference in the life of a child and his or her family. My philosophy of early childhood education and the elements I believe are necessary in developing a developmentally appropriate child care environment is rooted in my views and beliefs about experimentalism, progressivism, multiculturalism, and the influence of philosophers such as Dewey, Piaget, Montessori, and Vygotsky. Furthermore, I believe young children will thrive and grow in developmentally appropriate child care programs that possess the following elements: (1 ) teachers who see themselves as intentional, responsive and respectful facilitators of learning, (2) the ability to build a community of learners, (3) implement an effective curriculum that allow children to explore their natural curiosity about the world. Although there are many educational philosophies, the two that most inspire my belief about early childhood education are experimentalism and progressivism. John Dewey’s experimentalism â€Å"saw thinking and doing as a unified flow of ongoing experience† (Gutek, 2009, p. 81). I view the world as an ever-changing place; therefore, I believe in teaching children to solve problems by examining and making discovers based on real life experiences. In combination with my experimentalist view, I value aspects of p... ...hildhood teachers, I will continue to encourage them to grow as professionals to ensure they are providing a caring, nurturing, and secure environment that promotes growth and development in young children. My philosophy of early childhood education is reminds me of why I do the work that I do. I remember that children are active, curious individuals that will grow up to be active, curious, and hopefully productive members of society. It all begins at birth. Works Cited Bredekamp, S., & Copple, C. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practices in early childhood programs. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children. Gutek, G.L. (2009). New perspectives on philosophy and education. Upper Saddle, NJ: Pearson. Mooney, C.G. (2000). An introduction to Dewey, Montessori, Erickson, Piaget & Vygotsky. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.

Gun Control: Research Paper Essay

People of this country have the right to protect themselves and own guns, so long as they are capable and responsible. Even though guns are dangerous, being defenseless is even more dangerous and everyone should have the right to defend themselves, whether or not firearms are used. As people of this country we should have the right to defend ourselves, and that should include defense by firearms. The gun owner does not have to pull the trigger of a firearm. Sometimes the threat of the gun and the possibility of it being fired is enough to send those who intend harm away. Statistics show that in true life instances of self-defense with firearms, firing the gun was necessary only one third to one half of the time, the rest of the time the mere presence of a gun was enough to scare away the attacker† (Moore 5). Some people are more defenseless than others including the elderly and smaller men and women. People have the right to defend themselves, but sometimes they are limited in doing so by inadequate physical ability, age and other factors. Statistics show that people who are attacked by a criminal are safer if they use a weapon to resist their attacker than if they do not resist. In addition, those who resist with a gun are less likely to be injured than those who use a less effective weapon, such as a knife. (Moore 5) Although there are means of defense other than guns, they are the most effective form of protection from someone trying to harm you. A knife is threatening, but there is not much you can do from a long distance, and throwing it won’t be the best option, since you would essentially be losing your weapon if you miss. Self-defense such as karate and other martial arts techniques also really can’t be used at a long distance, and are of no match to a criminal threat with a gun. Larry Pratt says, â€Å"Evil is in our hearts, not in the guns† (Burbaker1). Many advocates for gun restrictions and bans like to state that â€Å"Guns kill; people do not† (Zaremski1). I find this to be a faulty argument. It is people who kill, a gun will not kill unless the person holding it decides to use it to kill, and pulls the trigger. A gun lying around is not going to do any harm a gun is not making the decision to kill or to shoot its bullets; it does not have a mind. It is when a person picks up that gun that it is fired, the person with thoughts and a mind, he or she is killing not the gun. Anything can be fashioned into a weapon, and there are so many already made weapons out there. We should have the right to our guns, just as we have the right to any weapon out there. None of these weapons are doing any harm to us unless someone makes that happen. We should have the right to defend ourselves with a firearm if necessary if we are threatened by someone. The second amendment of the constitution states that, â€Å"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. † Back then, a militia was comprised of ordinary, common male citizens, who not only had the right, but the duty to own guns to protect the country and form a militia. Don Kates states that, â€Å"The amendment, in guaranteeing the arms of each citizen, simultaneously guaranteed arms for the militia† (2347). The founding fathers set it up so that the people had means of defense from anyone, including other citizens, foreigners, and even their own government. People such as James Madison, who was the one to introduce the Bill of Rights stated that the amendments in it â€Å"relate first to private rights† (NRA-ILA). He is stating that the Bill of Rights relates to private rights of the citizens before it relates to state or national rights, proving that it is the right of the people to own a firearm for protection. The second amendment talks about us as citizens owning guns for defense, not just the government. It would be going against the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights to take away or limit gun ownership and usage. Yes, this privilege should be taken away from those who abuse it and harm others or have the potential to harm, but not from regular, responsible citizens. This amendment is not only for personal and military defense, but also was intended to protect citizens from a tyrannical government, so that if it happens, people are able to defend themselves. Moore also states that, â€Å"The Founding Fathers of our country won our freedom with firearms. After we won our independence the Founding Fathers included the right to keep and bear arms in the Constitution to ensure that the freedom they fought for would last† (6). They put this in so that we had the right not only to defend ourselves from any harm from others or even animals, but also so that we had a defense to protect our freedom if it was ever threatened by the government. By taking away our guns, you are in a sense taking away part of our freedom as the people of this country. Some people argue that we have the right to protect ourselves from all dangers, including guns, and that there should be a more restrictive gun control. While it is true that we should make sure that guns should stay out of the hands of felons and mentally unstable people, they should not be banned from regular, responsible citizen’s hands. Moore defines what a responsible citizen is, The citizen must be law-abiding, with no felony record, must not abuse alcohol or drugs, must not be mentally ill, must not have renounced U. S. citizenship, must not have been dishonorably discharged from the military, and must be in the U. S. legally (2). Upon purchasing a gun you have to take a class on gun safety and use and are required to have a full criminal background check and to give your full set of fingerprints. I do not think that this is being enforced enough and shouldn’t be taken lightly. If we can keep the guns out of the wrong hands, we can eliminate most of the crimes caused by them. â€Å"By definition, a criminal is someone who breaks the law. Criminals have many ways to obtain weapons without going through the process mandated by the Brady Bill. Two obvious examples are theft and black market purchases. According to studies only one firearm of every six used in a crime is obtained legally† (Moore 3). Eliminating guns in this country will do nothing, stopping the wrong people to get their hands on it could. We are not going to ban cars because someone crashed it and they died. Many things are dangerous, it is up to the person to be responsible with it. Most products have a warning label or say what not to do with them, such as do not use your hair dryer in the bath, but, it is up to you as a person to be responsible with it and to protect yourself from harm. If another person lacks that responsibility, and uses something to harm you, such as a weapon, you should be able to defend yourself, even with a gun. Think about how well it went in the 1920’s when the prohibition happened and alcohol was made illegal, people still got alcohol through the black market, and because of that demand, the black market grew. The same is true today with the ban on drugs, they are illegal, but people can still get them, and people still use them. The same thing is going to happen, only with guns. Many surveys suggest criminals obtain their weapons through this illegal firearms market. One study indicated that in 37 percent of their arrests the criminal said they could obtain a gun in less than a week, while another 20 percent said they could get a firearm in a day or less. (O’Niell 1). You everyday criminals don’t just walk to the gun store and buy a gun; they get it from the black-market. These guns are usually stolen guns and unregistered. Taking away our right to legally have and buy guns is only going to lead to guns being in the wrong hands and ordinary citizens will be defenseless. Chicago, once seen as one of those go-to American cities, with its sweeping skyline and the lake, is now seen and is a haven for gun violence and crime. It has the strictest gun laws in the country; the question is what went wrong. Houston is very similar to Chicago in terms of socioeconomic factors such as population, density, and segregation. Houston, like Chicago, is a major center for illegal activities such as the drug trade and human trafficking. Despite all this, Houston has a murder rate  two-thirds [than]  that of Chicago. This is because the people of Houston are well armed, while innocents in Chicago have been condemned to be sitting ducks. (Vidal1) Many of the guns in Chicago that are used for these shootings are illegally obtained and are in the hands of criminals and gangs. You are able to get a gun in Chicago now, but you have to go through a firearms training class, 2 background checks, and have a firearm’s owner I. D. card. Only 7,640 people legally own a gun in Chicago, the rest are illegally had, 7,400 illegal guns last year were confiscated from crimes (Maass 1). The gun free law in Chicago is clearly not working if more guns are being confiscated from criminals than responsible citizens who own guns. Many people complain about the high rate of crimes involving guns and gun use in America. A law banning guns probably won’t lower this number at all. If we don’t have means to protect ourselves, we would have to find a way to call for help, such as law enforcement. There are not enough police to go around and protect everybody, and sometimes they come and too late. In that time it took for the cops to get there, that could have been the last few moments of that person’s life. We need to be able to defend ourselves. â€Å"Laws are not enough to protect people from aggression. We must allow people the means to protect themselves. Protection is a major reason that about half of all Americans own a firearm† (Moore 5). Yes firearms can be used against us, but they can also be used for us. We need to have more effective criminal regulations and crime control, rather than more gun control. This is the only way to stop crimes whether or not they involve guns. The tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut was unsettling, killing twenty-seven people, including twenty school children and seven adults. This school, just like all in the United States, is a gun-free zone, but should that mean those teachers and other staff, such as the cop in the school should not have access to guns? The gun free zone did not stop Adam Lanza, the shooter from bringing in his three guns to the school and killing 20 students and six adults. â€Å"Police and other first responders arrived on scene about 20 minutes after the first calls† (Sandy Hook 1). Had these teachers and staff had a gun or any means of protection at all, he may have been stopped before he killed anybody or at an even lower number, especially since the police arrived that long after calls. Pratt states, â€Å"Virtually all mass murders in the past 20 years have occurred in gun-free zones† (1). A mass murder is considered three or more deaths. The main reason that these have happened in gun free zones is because no one other than a police officer has a gun and can stop him and by that time one shows up there is a relatively high chance that more than three people are dead. I do believe that teachers should have a gun in their desk and ready just in case of another incident such as the Sandy Hook Tragedy or at least a cop in every school. Guns should be allowed on these gun-free zones by honest citizens. Criminal are not obeying the rules about the gun-free zones, so why should we take the chance and leave the school children, or mall goers at risk? Taking away guns is not going to solve anything, but instead leave the guns in the hands of criminals. Guns should be kept legal, and yes there should be regulations and better eye on who has it, but making them illegal all together will just cause us to be defenseless and a black market will start up for guns, just like all illegal things. We just need to better regulate the criminals, mental patients, and those on prescription drugs that could alter personality and rationality, not have guns. We need to have better crime control, rather than gun control and teach responsibility and safety and risks of guns. Making everyone well-educated on the topic and of guns themselves will overall help. Even making it mandatory to have a background check and mental health check every few years to make sure that these guns are in the right hands would help out a lot. Most of the time it’s not normal citizens that commit the crimes but criminals, and by taking away guns from normal good, people, we will be essentially leaving them in the wrong hands and taking away our protection. Works Cited Burbaker, Elisabeth. â€Å"Larry Pratt on Guns in America: â€Å"Evil’s in Our Hearts. Not in the Guns†Ã¢â‚¬ Piers Morgan RSS. Cable News Network, 8 Dec. 2012. Web. 29 Mar. 2013. KATES, DON B. , Jr. â€Å"Second Amendment. †Ã‚  Encyclopedia of the American Constitution. Ed. Leonard W. Levy and Kenneth L. Karst. 2nd ed. Vol. 5. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2000. 2346-2347. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 10 Mar. 2013. Maass, Harold. â€Å"Chicago’s Rising Murder Rate: Has Gun Control Failed? – The Week. †Ã‚  The Week. N. p. , 31 Jan. 2013. Web. 17 Apr. 2013. Moore, Richard. Gun Control. Rep. N. p. : n. p. , 1995. Print â€Å"2013 NRA-ILA Firearms Fact Card. †Ã‚  NRA-ILA. N. p. , 8 Jan. 2013. Web. 1 Apr. 2013. ;lt;http://www. nraila. org;gt;. O’Neill, Kevin. â€Å"Gun Control, Unregistered Firearms and the Black Market. †Ã‚  Examiner. com. N. p. , 9 Nov. 2010. Web. 17 Apr. 2013. Pratt, Larry. Blood – Gun Owners of America. †Ã‚  Gun Owners of America. GOA, 16 Dec. 2012. Web. 29 Mar. 2013 â€Å"Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting: What Happened? †Ã‚  CNN. Cable News Network, n. d. Web. 29 Mar. 2013. Woodhill, Louis. â€Å"The Sandy Hook Horror Begs Us To Have The Courage To Do Nothing. â€Å"Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 27 Dec. 2012. Web. 17 Apr. 2013. Vidal, Charlie. â€Å"PolicyMic. †Ã‚  PolicyMic. N. p. , Feb. 2013. Web. 17 Apr. 2013. Zaremski, Miles J. â€Å"Guns: Screaming in Silence Is No Longer an Option. †Ã‚  The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost. com, 11 Jan. 2013. Web. 29 Mar. 2013

The Host Chapter 37: Wanted

There was a pattern to the wins. If Jared and Kyle played together, they won. If Jared played with Ian, then that team would win. It seemed to me that Jared could not be defeated, until I saw the brothers play together. At first it seemed to be a strained thing, for Ian at least, playing as teammates with Kyle. But after a few minutes of running in the dark, they fell into a familiar pattern-a pattern that had existed since long before I'd come to this planet. Kyle knew what Ian would do before Ian did it, and vice versa. Without having to speak, they told each other everything. Even when Jared pulled all the best players to his side-Brandt, Andy, Wes, Aaron, Lily, and Maggie as goalie-Kyle and Ian were victorious. â€Å"Okay, okay,† Jeb said, catching Aaron's goal attempt with one hand and tucking the ball under his arm. â€Å"I think we all know the winners. Now, I hate to be a party pooper, but there's work waiting†¦ and, to be honest, I'm bushed.† There were a few halfhearted protests and a few moans, but more laughter. No one seemed too upset to have the fun end. From the way a few people sat down right where they were and put their heads between their knees to breathe, it was clear Jeb wasn't the only one who was tired out. People began to drift out in twos and threes. I scooted to one side of the corridor's mouth, making room for them to pass, probably on their way to the kitchen. It had to be past time for lunch, though it was hard to mark the hour in this black hole. Through the gaps in the line of exiting humans, I watched Kyle and Ian. When the game was called, Kyle had raised his hand for a high five, but Ian had stalked past him without acknowledging the gesture. Then Kyle caught his brother's shoulder and spun him around. Ian knocked Kyle's hand away. I tensed for a fight-and it seemed like one at first. Kyle threw a punch toward Ian's stomach. Ian dodged it easily, though, and I saw that there was no force behind it. Kyle laughed and used his superior reach to rub his fist into Ian's scalp. Ian smacked that hand away, but this time he halfway smiled. â€Å"Good game, bro,† I heard Kyle say. â€Å"You've still got it.† â€Å"You're such an idiot, Kyle,† Ian answered. â€Å"You got the brains; I got the looks. Seems fair.† Kyle threw another half-strength punch. This time, Ian caught it and twisted his brother into a headlock. Now he was really smiling, and Kyle was cussing and laughing at the same time. It all looked very violent to me; my eyes narrowed, tight with the stress of watching. But at the same time, it brought to mind one of Melanie's memories: three puppies rolling on the grass, yapping furiously and baring their teeth as if their only desire was to rip out their brothers' throats. Yes, they're playing, Melanie confirmed. The bonds of brotherhood go deep. As they should. This is right. If Kyle really doesn't kill us, this will be a good thing. If, Melanie repeated morosely. â€Å"Hungry?† I looked up, and my heart stopped beating for a slightly painful moment. It seemed that Jared was still a believer. I shook my head. This gave me the moment I needed to be able to speak to him. â€Å"I'm not sure why, since I've done nothing besides sit here, but I'm just tired.† He held out his hand. Get a hold of yourself, Melanie warned me. He's just being courteous. You think I don't know that? I tried to keep my hand from shaking as I reached for his. He pulled me carefully to my feet-to my foot, really. I balanced there on my good leg, not sure how to proceed. He was confused, too. He still held my hand, but there was a wide space between us. I thought of how ridiculous I would look hopping through the caves, and felt my neck get warm. My fingers curled around his, though I wasn't really using him for support. â€Å"Where to?† â€Å"Ah†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I frowned. â€Å"I don't really know. I suppose there's still a mat by the ho-in the storage area.† He frowned back, liking that idea no better than I did. And then a strong arm was under my arms, supporting my weight. â€Å"I'll get her where she needs to go,† Ian said. Jared's face was careful, the way he looked at me when he didn't want me to know what he was thinking. But he was looking at Ian now. â€Å"We were just discussing where exactly that would be. She's tired. Maybe the hospital†¦?† I shook my head at the same time Ian did. After the past horrible days spent there, I didn't think I could bear the room I'd once misguidedly feared. Especially Walter's empty bed†¦ â€Å"I've got a better place for her,† Ian said. â€Å"Those cots aren't much softer than rock, and she's got a lot of sore spots.† Jared still held my hand. Did he realize how tightly he was gripping it? The pressure was starting to get uncomfortable, but he didn't seem aware. And I certainly wasn't going to complain. â€Å"Why don't you get lunch?† Jared suggested to Ian. â€Å"You look hungry. I'll take her wherever you had planned†¦?† Ian chuckled, a low, dark sound. â€Å"I'm fine. And honestly, Jared, Wanda needs a bit more help than a hand. I don't know if you're†¦ comfortable enough with the situation to give her that. You see -â€Å" Ian paused to lean down and pull me quickly up into his arms. I gasped as the movement tugged at my side. Jared didn't free my hand. My fingertips were turning red. â€Å"-she's actually had enough exercise for one day, I think. You go on ahead to the kitchen.† They stared at each other while my fingertips turned purple. â€Å"I can carry her,† Jared finally said in a low voice. â€Å"Can you?† Ian challenged. He held me out, away from his body. An offer. Jared stared at my face for a long minute. Then he sighed and dropped my hand. Ow, that hurts! Melanie complained. She was referring to the sudden lance of pain that shot through my chest, not the return of blood to my fingers. Sorry. What do you want me to do about it? He's not yours. Yes. I know that. Ow. Sorry. â€Å"I think I'll tag along,† Jared said as Ian, with a tiny, triumphant smile hovering around the edges of his mouth, turned and headed toward the exit. â€Å"There's something I want to discuss with you.† â€Å"Suit yourself.† Jared didn't discuss anything at all as we walked through the dark tunnel. He was so quiet, I wasn't sure he was still there. But when we broke out into the light of the cornfield again, he was right beside us. He didn't speak until we were through the big plaza-until there was no one around but the three of us. â€Å"What's your take on Kyle?† he asked Ian. Ian snorted. â€Å"He prides himself on being a man of his word. Usually, I would trust a promise from him. In this situation†¦ I'm not letting her out of my sight.† â€Å"Good.† â€Å"It will be fine, Ian,† I said. â€Å"I'm not afraid.† â€Å"You don't have to be. I promise-no one is ever going to do something like this to you again. You will be safe here.† It was hard to look away from his eyes when they blazed like that. Hard to doubt anything he said. â€Å"Yes,† Jared agreed. â€Å"You will.† He was walking just behind Ian's shoulder. I couldn't see his expression. â€Å"Thanks,† I whispered. No one spoke again until Ian paused at the red and gray doors that leaned over the entrance to his cave. â€Å"Would you mind getting that?† Ian said to Jared, nodding toward the doors. Jared didn't move. Ian turned around so we could both see him; his face was careful again. â€Å"Your room? This is your better place?† Jared's voice was full of skepticism. â€Å"It's her room now.† I bit my lip. I wanted to tell Ian that of course this wasn't my room, but I didn't get a chance before Jared began questioning him. â€Å"Where's Kyle staying?† â€Å"With Wes, for now.† â€Å"And you?† â€Å"I'm not exactly sure.† They stared at each other with appraising eyes. â€Å"Ian, this is -† I started to say. â€Å"Oh,† he interrupted, as if just remembering me†¦ as if my weight was so insignificant that he'd forgotten I was here. â€Å"You're exhausted, aren't you? Jared, could you get the door, please?† Wordlessly, Jared wrenched the red door back with a bit too much force and shoved it on top of the gray one. I now really saw Ian's room for the first time, with the noon sun filtering down through the narrow cracks in the ceiling. It wasn't as bright as Jamie and Jared's room, or as tall. It was smaller, more proportionate. Roundish-sort of like my hole, only ten times the size. There were two twin mattresses on the floor, shoved against opposite walls to make a narrow aisle between them. Against the back wall, there was a long, low wooden cupboard; the left side had a pile of clothes on top, two books, and a stack of playing cards. The right side was completely empty, though there were shapes in the dust that indicated this was a recent occurrence. Ian set me carefully down on the right mattress, arranging my leg and straightening the pillow under my head. Jared stood in the doorway, facing the passageway. â€Å"That okay?† Ian asked me. â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"You look tired.† â€Å"I shouldn't be-I've done nothing but sleep lately.† â€Å"Your body needs sleep to heal.† I nodded. I couldn't deny that it was hard to hold up my eyelids. â€Å"I'll bring you food later-don't worry about anything.† â€Å"Thank you. Ian?† â€Å"Yeah?† â€Å"This is your room,† I mumbled. â€Å"You'll sleep here, of course.† â€Å"You don't mind?† â€Å"Why would I?† â€Å"It's probably a good idea-best way to keep an eye on you. Get some sleep.† â€Å"Okay.† My eyes were already closed. He patted my hand, and then I heard him get to his feet. A few seconds later, the wooden door clunked softly against stone. What do you think you're doing? Melanie demanded. What? What did I do now? Wanda, you're†¦ mostly human. You must realize what Ian will think of your invitation. Invitation? I could see the direction of her thoughts now. It's not like that. This is his room. There are two beds here. There aren't enough sleeping areas for me to have my own space. Of course we should share. Ian knows that. Does he? Wanda, open your eyes. He's starting to†¦ How do I explain it so that you'll understand right? To feel about you†¦ the way you feel about Jared. Can't you see that? I couldn't answer for two heartbeats. That's impossible, I finally said. â€Å"Do you think what happened this morning will influence Aaron or Brandt?† Ian asked in a low voice from the other side of the doors. â€Å"You mean Kyle getting a bye?† â€Å"Yeah. They didn't have to†¦ do anything before. Not when it looked so likely that Kyle would do it for them.† â€Å"I see your point. I'll speak to them.† â€Å"You think that will be enough?† Ian asked. â€Å"I've saved both their lives. They owe me. If I ask them for something, they'll do it.† â€Å"You'd bet her life on that?† There was a pause. â€Å"We'll keep an eye on her,† Jared finally said. Another long silence. â€Å"Aren't you going to go eat?† Jared asked. â€Å"I think I'll hang out here for a bit†¦ How about you?† Jared didn't answer. â€Å"What?† Ian asked. â€Å"Is there something you want to say to me, Jared?† â€Å"The girl in there†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Jared said slowly. â€Å"Yes?† â€Å"That body doesn't belong to her.† â€Å"Your point?† Jared's voice was hard when he answered. â€Å"Keep your hands off it.† A low chuckle from Ian. â€Å"Jealous, Howe?† â€Å"That's not really the issue.† â€Å"Really.† Ian was sarcastic now. â€Å"Wanda seems to be, more or less, cooperating with Melanie. It sounds like they're almost†¦ on friendly terms. But obviously Wanda's making the decisions. What if it were you? How would you feel if you were Melanie? What if you were the one†¦ invaded that way? What if you were trapped, and someone else was telling your body what to do? If you couldn't speak for yourself? Wouldn't you want your wishes-as much as they could be known-respected? At the very least by other humans?† â€Å"Okay, okay. Point taken. I'll keep that in mind.† â€Å"What do you mean, you'll keep that in mind?† Jared demanded. â€Å"I mean that I'll think about it.† â€Å"There's nothing to think about,† Jared retorted. I knew how he would look from the sound of his voice-teeth clenched, jaw strained. â€Å"The body and the person locked inside it belong to me.† â€Å"You're sure that Melanie still feels the -â€Å" â€Å"Melanie will always be mine. And I will always be hers.† Always. Melanie and I were suddenly at opposite ends of the spectrum. She was flying, elated. I was†¦ not. We waited anxiously through the next silence. â€Å"But what if it were you?† Ian asked in little more than a whisper. â€Å"What if you were stuffed in a human body and let loose on this planet, only to find yourself lost among your own kind? What if you were such a good†¦ person that you tried to save the life you'd taken, that you almost died trying to get her back to her family? What if you then found yourself surrounded by violent aliens who hated you and hurt you and tried to murder you, over and over again?† His voice faltered momentarily. â€Å"What if you just kept doing whatever you could to save and heal these people despite that? Wouldn't you deserve a life, too? Wouldn't you have earned that much?† Jared didn't answer. I felt my eyes getting moist. Did Ian really think so highly of me? Did he really think I'd earned the right to a life here? â€Å"Point taken?† Ian pressed. â€Å"I-I'll have to think about that one.† â€Å"Do that.† â€Å"But still -â€Å" Ian interrupted him with a sigh. â€Å"Don't get worked up. Wanda isn't exactly human, despite the body. She doesn't seem to respond to†¦ physical contact the same way a human would.† Now Jared laughed. â€Å"Is that your theory?† â€Å"What's funny?† â€Å"She is quite capable of responding to physical contact,† Jared informed him, his tone suddenly sober again. â€Å"She's human enough for that. Or her body is, anyway.† My face went hot. Ian was silent. â€Å"Jealous, O'Shea?† â€Å"Actually†¦ I am. Surprisingly so.† Ian's voice was strained. â€Å"How would you know that?† Now Jared hesitated. â€Å"It was†¦ sort of an experiment.† â€Å"An experiment?† â€Å"It didn't go the way I thought it would. Mel punched me.† I could hear that he was grinning at the memory, and I could see, in my head, the little lines fanning out around his eyes. â€Å"Melanie†¦ punched†¦ you?† â€Å"It sure wasn't Wanda. You should have seen her face†¦ What? Hey, Ian, easy, man!† â€Å"Did you think for one moment what that must have done to her?† Ian hissed. â€Å"Mel?† â€Å"No, you fool, Wanda!† â€Å"Done to Wanda?† Jared asked, sounding bewildered by the idea. â€Å"Oh, get out of here. Go eat something. Stay away from me for a few hours.† Ian didn't give him a chance to answer. He yanked the door out of his way-roughly but very quietly-and then slid into his room and put the door back in its place. He turned and met my gaze. From his expression, he was surprised to find me awake. Surprised and chagrined. The fire in his eyes blazed and then slowly dimmed. He pursed his lips. He cocked his head to one side, listening. I listened, too, but Jared's retreat made no sound. Ian waited for another moment, then sighed and plunked down on the edge of his mattress, across from me. â€Å"I guess we weren't as quiet as I thought,† he said. â€Å"Sound carries in these caves,† I whispered. He nodded. â€Å"So†¦Ã¢â‚¬  he finally said. â€Å"What do you think?†

Teen life Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers, Research Papers

Teen life Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers, Research Papers Teen life Teen life I cant ever make up my mind The best answer I cant ever find My mom and dad yell You have to decide If only they were in my brain along for the ride People dont realize just how hard it can get To not disappoint without feeling regret It seems easier to have someone pick for me But I guess that just weakens my decision making ability I also wish someone would help me to choose Give me some advice that I could use Get me to get over this problem of mine Help me to realize all I need is time But it seems like I need to get over it right now Just practice and try even though I dont know how I could really face some problems in the years to come With this problem of mine that may seem quite dumb Im worried I will have to face a major consequence For when Im faced with the decision and I reply Im on the fence Just toughen up and buckle down Because the best choice I know can be found Ill be cured before you know it But right now Im not faking I protest everything that goes along, With decision making Im worried I will have to face a major consequence For when Im faced with the decision and I reply Im on the fence Just toughen up and buckle down Because the best choice I know can be found Ill be cured before you know it But right now Im not faking I protest everything that goes along, With decision making BY:

Simon Bolivar and the Battle of Boyaca

Simon Bolivar and the Battle of Boyaca On August 7, 1819, Simà ³n Bolà ­var engaged Spanish General Josà © Marà ­a Barreiro in battle near the Boyaca River in present-day Colombia. The Spanish force was spread out and divided, and Bolà ­var was able to kill or capture almost all of the enemy combatants. It was the decisive battle for the liberation of New Granada (now Colombia). Bolivar and the Independence Stalemate in Venezuela In early 1819, Venezuela was at war: Spanish and Patriot generals and warlords were fighting each other all over the region. New Granada was a different story: there was an uneasy peace, as the populace was ruled with an iron fist by Spanish Viceroy Juan Josà © de Smano from Bogota. Simon Bolivar, greatest of the rebel generals, was in Venezuela, dueling with Spanish General Pablo Morillo, but he knew that if he could just get to New Granada, Bogota was practically undefended. Bolivar Crosses the Andes Venezuela and Colombia are divided by a high arm of the Andes Mountains: parts of it are practically impassible. From May to July of 1819, however, Bolivar led his army over the pass of Pramo de Pisba. At 13,000 feet (4,000 meters), the pass was extremely treacherous: deadly winds chilled the bones, snow and ice made footing difficult, and ravines claimed pack animals and men to falls. Bolivar lost a third of his army in the crossing, but made it to the western side of the Andes in early July, 1819: the Spanish at first had no idea he was there. Battle of Vargas Swamp Bolivar quickly regrouped and recruited more soldiers from the eager population of New Granada. His men engaged the forces of young Spanish general Josà © Marà ­a Barreiro at the battle of Vargas Swamp on July 25: it ended in a draw, but showed the Spanish that Bolà ­var had arrived in force and was headed for Bogota. Bolivar moved quickly to the town of Tunja, finding supplies and weapons meant for Barreiro. Royalist Forces at the Battle of Boyaca Barreiro was a skilled general who had a trained, veteran army. Many of the soldiers, however, had been conscripted from New Granada and doubtless there were some whose sympathies were with the rebels. Barreiro moved to intercept Bolivar before he could reach Bogota. In the vanguard, he had some 850 men in the elite Numancia battalion and 160 skilled cavalry known as dragoons. In the main body of the army, he had about 1,800 soldiers and three cannons. The Battle of Boyaca Begins On August 7, Barreiro was moving his army, trying to get into position to keep Bolivar out of Bogota long enough for reinforcements to arrive. By the afternoon, the vanguard had gone ahead and crossed the river at a bridge. There they rested, waiting for the main army to catch up. Bolà ­var, who was much closer than Barreiro suspected, struck. He ordered General Francisco de Paula Santander to keep the elite vanguard forces occupied while he hammered away at the main force. A Stunning Victory It worked out even better than Bolivar had planned. Santander kept the Numancia Battalion and Dragoons pinned down, while Bolivar and General Anzotegui attacked the shocked, spread-out main Spanish army. Bolà ­var quickly surrounded the Spanish host. Surrounded and cut off from the best soldiers in his army, Barreiro quickly surrendered. All told, the royalists lost more than 200 killed and 1,600 captured. The patriot forces lost 13 killed and about 50 wounded. It was a total victory for Bolà ­var. On to Bogot With Barreiro’s army crushed, Bolà ­var quickly made for the city of Santa fà © de Bogot, where Viceroy Juan Josà © de Smano was the ranking Spanish official in Northern South America. The Spanish and royalists in the capital panicked and fled in the night, carrying all they could and leaving their homes and in some cases family members behind. Viceroy Smano himself was a cruel man who feared the retribution of the patriots, so he, too quickly departed, dressed as a peasant. Newly-converted â€Å"patriots† looted the homes of their former neighbors until Bolà ­var took the city unopposed on August 10, 1819, and restored order. Legacy of the Battle of Boyaca The Battle of Boyac and capture of Bogot resulted in a stunning checkmate for Bolà ­var against his enemies. In fact, the Viceroy had left in such haste that he even left money in the treasury. Back in Venezuela, the ranking royalist officer was General Pablo Morillo. When he learned of the battle and the fall of Bogot, he knew the royalist cause was lost. Bolà ­var, with the funds from the royal treasury, thousands of possible recruits in New Granada and undeniable momentum, would soon sweep back into Venezuela and crush any royalists still there. Morillo wrote to the King, desperately begging for more troops. 20,000 soldiers were recruited and were to be sent, but events in Spain prevented the force from ever departing. Instead, King Ferdinand sent Morillo a letter authorizing him to negotiate with the rebels, offering them some minor concessions in a new, more liberal constitution. Morillo knew the rebels had the upper hand and would never agree, but tried anyway. Bolà ­var, sensing the royalist desperation, agreed to a temporary armistice but pressed the attack. Less than two years later, the royalists would once again be defeated by Bolà ­var, this time at the Battle of Carabobo. This battle marked the last gasp of organized Spanish resistance in northern South America. The Battle of Boyac has gone down in history as one of the greatest of Bolà ­vars many triumphs. The stunning, complete victory broke the stalemate and gave Bolà ­var an advantage he never lost.

Speaker responce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Speaker responce - Essay Example Some choice of words does not make particular insight particularly for the goods. Example the insight can be about milk and related foods on particular chosen goods. This can real be challenging in that the milk is of particularly used by all the consumers of that good hence this choice may lead to lose of customers. The mention of milk may actually change a particular behavior of the consumer simply because of the natural dislike of the milk by the individual due to social background and believes (Johanna 26). Time is also an important factor on a particular presentation. Time here refers to the period that the product is presented to the potential customers. This actually depends on the demand not necessarily considering the supply chain of the product. Presenting a highly demanded good in the market does not necessarily mean the quality of the product is not up to date but simply means that the product is not required due to the fall in demand due to factors such as climatic change, change of population and probably the time factor that is the actual determinant (Johanna 21). In a presentation, the audience needs to be understood properly. The audience will choose to listen to the presentation depending on the relevance of the topic being presented to them via the speaker. Lack of proper choice of the topic will make the audience get bored and hence the aim and the objective of the theme may not be met. This can be termed as waste of time and resources on that particular presentation (Johanna 20). Insight is actually a broad term that refers to a penetrating observation of consumer behaviour that can be used to determine the growth and development on the insightful meaning of product or service being rendered to the person. The minutes spend talking on the negative insight means loss of energy that could be used to do a more benefiting task that the particular one that has been already done (Johanna 61). A presentation does not require