Locate an article, news report, or social media post to respond to. You can also respond to any of the articles or topics discussed in the class.
First, summarize what the post is saying and what you understand them to be arguing. Second, respond to the article with what we have been learning in class.
- Point out fallacies if you see them.
- Evaluate the argument they are making.
- Explain any bias you see in the post.
- Point out unsupported claims.
- If you agree, help them better support their argument. If you disagree, explain why.
Make sure your journal response is at least 250 words long. Comment below with your response.
Professor Ramos' Blog 
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/19/politics/mueller-investigation-kushner-foreign-financing-efforts/index.html
The article is talking about Muller’s interest in Kushner and how it is growing to include his financing efforts. They are investigating his transition in financing 666 Fifth Avenue, a Kushner Companies-backed New York City office building reeling from financial troubles, according to people familiar with the special counsel investigation. It was brought to attention that Mueller’s team involves discussions Kushner had with Chinese investors during the transition.
While looking through different news sources, I see that each different source is trying to twist it toward where they side whether it be left or right. I see CNN would be more liberal while other news sources are the exact opposite. I believe this is bias on both sides considering no matter where we tune into get the news, we are not always getting the full story.
This is proof of an Ad Hominem fallacy. This is where the man is attacked rather than the actual argument he is talking about. This is where they attack a person’s ethical appeal rather than their logos. We see this on both sides were conservatives attack liberals based on their standing and vice versa. This could also fall under appeal to ignorance. A person could be arguing one side or supporting one side because they do not fully understand what they are arguing for.
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https://www.nbcnews.com/video/stoneman-douglas-student-we-will-not-be-silenced-1166743107853
This is a NBC News clip of a few students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School speaking on behalf of the “Never Again” protest. The movement is for stricter gun laws. These students want to be heard and taken seriously, not being swept under a rug because they are children. One student points out that they are “just kids”, but they still understand. He brings out issues that are associated with adults having experience with or caring about to show that they can be on the same level. Another student explains how people don’t think they are serious because they are children. They do not want to be “discredited” or “silenced”. Others go on to discuss how they cannot get a satisfactory answer to the question “why” this happened, how they are told nothing can be done, and how they want change. With confidence, they say how they will not back down. I understand these students’ points of view. They should not be ignored or pushed aside because they are children. They may or may not have the same understanding as adults on certain situations, but that goes both ways. Adults may not understand what it is like to be in a shooting. What they understand is what it is like to be faced with possible death. It doesn’t matter if they have an idea for a solution, it matters that they are heard. I chose this news clip because it ties into class with bias. It is bias to assume that children should be pushed aside because they may not have the same understanding as adults.
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http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/02/20/florida-school-shooting-survivor-media-is-using-tragedy-to-push-gun-control.html
The article from Fox News entitled “Florida school shooting survivor: Media using tragedy to push gun control” written by Caleb Parke explains how gun control was immediately pushed after the shooting that took place at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Its argument is stating that gun control was a larger topic than the shooting itself by the media to push this agenda for gun control rather than focusing on the shooting itself. Fox did an interview with a survivor whose views on gun control are “contrary to popular opinion”. Brandon Minoff, an 18-year-old senior, said “I wholeheartedly believe that the media is politicizing this tragedy,” Minoff said. “It seems that gun control laws is the major topic of conversation rather than focusing on the bigger issue of 17 innocent lives being taken at the hands of another human.”
This news article is pushing the rhetoric to its viewers that pro-gun control advocates do not care about the shooting itself and that they only care about their own personal agenda. When the fact of the matter is that the incident that occurred is the reason they feel gun control should be put in place more than ever. It goes without saying that Fox News is and always has been very Right-Winged and bias towards their side. The article uses key words like “brainwashed” and “uninformed” to try to convince people why their side is right. They also point out unnecessary information like “But, he noted, an assault rifle is an automatic weapon, and there wasn’t an assault rifle used in the Florida shooting — rather Cruz was armed with an AR-15.” Which is completely beyond the point pro-gun control advocated are making.
I completely disagree with this article and argument based on the fact that you can smell the bias off the computer screen to push their own personal agenda which /probably/ has something to do with views and profits from the right or the NRA
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2018/02/22/trump-blames-violent-video-games-for-school-shootings-heres-why-hes-wrong/
In lieu the tragic shooting in Parkland, Florida last week, millions are speaking up regarding the issue of recurring gun violence and mass shootings in the United States. Protests have been planned throughout the country to demand stricter gun regulations, if not a complete ban on semi-automatic firearms. In a response to the uproar from concerned Americans, Donald Trump suggested violent video games as a culprit for the unbridled desensitization of violence in the country. Trump suggested the implementation of a rating system for video games, although, he was unaware such a system had already been in place for decades. In this article of Forbes Magazine, it is stated that many have accused violent media as a source of violent behavior, as well as a potential cause for mass shootings. As stated in the article, as well as many researchers and analysts, there is no evidence to suggest that violence in media directly corresponds to real-world violence. I would have to agree, simply given that there have been years of research dedicated to the study of violence in video games and its impact on real-life behavior. Facts aside, it is easy to see that Donald Trump is known for such fear-mongering, especially when such accusations fit a particular agenda. According to multiple news sources, Donald Trump has donated over $3M to the National Rifle Association and has even suggested arming school teachers after the fatal shooting in Parkland. Although Trump supposedly plans on implementing stricter gun control laws, we will not soon forget his adamant defense of the “guns don’t kill people” argument, the feeble blaming of video game violence, nor the $3M donated to the NRA.
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https://t.co/ckgkMAwe07
I have not yet seen the movie Black Panther, but I now it has abundant amount of African American actors playing strong rolls. There is not many movies with strong african American rolls especially Marvel superhero movies. It has been said to be a cultural phenomenon. This movie is a good thing in many ways. One is African American children seeing this movie and can relate to it more. Seeing it on the big screen and thinking “they are just like me”. Yes, they can look up to other superheroes, but most of them are not African American.
While I was on twitter I came across a tweet about the movie Black Panther. Basically saying it is being criticized for lack of LGBT representation. Then someone subtweeting it saying everything doesn’t have to be gay. I selected this tweet, because it goes to show that things can’t please everyone and someone will always have criticism. This tweet made an argument that everything doesn’t have to represent the LGBT community even though it is a big issue. There is other issues as well like equality and different cultures. Which the movie represent more of the African American community. The first person that tweeted that said it does not represent the LGBT community needs to look out of their own perspective and look at the bigger picture. It might not help the issue they are concerned about, but it does help another one. A problem with this tweet is the grammar so even though whoever composed this tweet made a point they do not seem as credible due to grammar.
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In this article experts in gun statistics are constantly proposing the relationship between how many guns are accessible to how many firearm casualties occur in the U.S.
For simplicity the article is only discussing the total mass shootings that have occured in the United States (So far in 2017 there have been 273 mass shootings, in the last 24 hours there have been at least 30 shootings according to the gun violence archive) this number considers all shootings of 5 or more people as “mass shootings”. The article emphasizes that gun ownership/accessibility is directly correlative to the casualty count in the U.S. which as of february 2018 is – 2,150 total deaths by firearms excluding suicides with a total of 7,832 total incidents (taken from the national Gun Violence Archive’s complete study of the USA). Among these incidents lies a number of mass shootings similar to the most recent Florida mass shooting that took place in Parkland, FL. Just looking at the past shows the horrific reliable numbers of how many people are directly affected by firearms, but that is the thing so many people choose to be ignorant and try to keep these numbers silent for personal reasons whatever they may be. The fact of the matter is none of these tragic events and moments of mass hysteria will spark any large movement in the anti-gun agenda because the sad truth is that many lawmakers and politicians including donald trump do not see the flaws in these statistics and are blind to the immediate problems they pose. In my opinion many people in the U.S. (including many people who have suffered direct affect of gun violence! I’m sorry what ? you must be lacking the brain power to render you observant of your surroundings and I pity you because you should honestly suffer instead of the poor joyous individuals whose names have fallen on deaf ears for more than a decade because anyone who is blind to this phenomena are more deserving of death than those who have been known as victims) will never open their eyes and sadly this cycle could be repeated again and again until the end of time, unless these shootings and astronomical casualty count consumes them and their loved ones in the process. Again this is just my opinion, I mean it is 100% right because the numbers don’t lie and I like to believe in numbers rather than what leaves the voice boxes of these bullshit politicians … but hey that’s just my two cents. I will also address a counter-argument many people have that oppose a total gun ban or a majority gun ban. Many Americans have very wishful thinking when it comes to the power of our government and quite literally what they can do if they please, and trust me this is not a conspiracy, the government has the man/machine/economic power to completely illegalize all forms of civilian firearms in the U.S. and deal with anyone who fights to retain their firearms post-ban. Large scale death is very scary I know but keep in mind that if you chose to take other approaches towards this issue such as arming more people with more guns and more stores with more weapons, you aren’t considering the success rates vs. the higher accessibility which leads to the higher casualty count of innocent people whether it is kids like you and me, or adults young and old (777)
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In this video, Emma Gonzalez, a survivor from the Parkland School Shooting, address the need for gun regulations in the United States. Before her speech, she gives a moment of silence for the fourteen students and three teachers lost in the Parkland, Florida shooting. First, Emma acknowledges the lack of response from government officials to implement gun safety. She acknowledges a multitude of problems concerning guns specifically in Florida, such as no background checks, no gun licenses or permits, and no limitation restricting the number of guns that can be purchased by one person in a single transaction. Secondly, she addresses that the second amendment right is out to date considering that guns are more modernized today. In order to support her claim, she illustrates that other countries, such as Australia, Japan, Canada, and the United Kingdom have successfully implemented gun safety laws and regulations. Emma acknowledges that we, the students, need to fight for gun safety. Additionally, Emma envisions the Parkland, Florida shooting to be the last school shooting in the U.S. because students are speaking up and taking action.
This video relates to our class because Emma detects fallacies and “BS” from Trump, government officials, special interest groups, and companies. For example, Emma states, “Companies trying to make caricatures of the teenagers nowadays, saying that all we are is self-involved and trend obsessed, and they hush us into submissions when our messages doesn’t reach the ears of the nation. We are prepared to call BS.” In this quote, Emma recognizes that some adults and people in power tend to be bias towards teenagers because of our age or we are too young to understand how to the government works; however, Emma proves that students are more knowledgeable than they believe because she refers to students are debating about guns in their classes and she applies was she has learned so far in her advance placement government class. I strongly agree with Emma’s argument that the government should be regulating guns and implementing gun safety. In addition, I support that student’s voices can fight for gun regulations because school and gun safety directly effect and concern us.
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https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.nytimes.com/2018/02/22/us/politics/trump-guns-school-shootings.amp.html
This article talks a little about the NRA and the comments made by Donald Trumo about the recent shooting that happened in Stomeman Douglas High School. Donald Trump also added that 10 percent to 40 percent of school employees would be qualified to handle a weapon. Thus increasing people with guns at school. Later on he takes back his claims. Then soon after he is influenced to reverse back to his thinking and support for more guns with comments like “You give them a little bit of a bonus, so practically for free, you have now made the school into a hardened target,”. He then later talks about changing the age from 18 to 21 tonown a gun and increase background checks when trying to legally purchase a gun. Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers Held a Congress with 60,000 educators on the issue. “The response was universal, even from educators who are gun owners: Teachers don’t want to be armed, we want to teach,”The comments made by Mr. Trump are always with question as to why does he say what he says but without any information as to when he said 10-40% could be qualified to hold a gun but had no data for proof. What I am addressing is the fallacy of logic that our president Donald Trump tries to display. Such as Trump routinely points to the improved economy and stock market as a result of his brief presidency. He always seems to be talking about issues with no real concrete details or information on the subject matter. Also he appointed his son in law Kushner to seek peace in the Middle East. As well as appoint his own daughter to address core economics and trade issues of the US. As we talked about fallacies this week in class the best and most current example that comes to mind in Donald Trump. Especially since it’s very recent that the issue of gun control is still fresh with the recent tragedy that took place in Florida happened only a week ago
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This tweet that I found on Twitter by Michelle Obama was rather interesting to me. It caught my attention because of the manner that she uses the movie “black panther” that recently came out to show how this would help our society especially with all the concurrent issues with diversity. The way that I interpreted it was how she was explaing that no matter where or what you came from, your dreams to achieve greater is possible. I think this helps a lot of young people that are struggling with issues of family, racism, bigotry and stereotypes to help them move foward. As I start thinking, many different individuals from different cultural backgrounds don’t or are afraid of what society would say to them. Some find the lackluster to not show where their beliefs or background come from. By thinking about this tweet it alludes me to think that just because you have different cultural backgrounds doesnt mean you have a lesser chance to achieve your ambitions. Like she stated “be the heroes of your own story”, this I think would impact a lot of young individuals to proceed and accept who they are without doubt or fear of what others say. This I would say connects with our class with the aspects of learning of integrity and accepting others point of views to help you understand both sides. By viewing how people suffer or are feared of what society says about them, culturally or by race, evaluating this helps you or others not judge individuals of different diversities but rather help them achieve their dreams.
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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/02/22/florida-shooting-survivor-cnn-gave-me-scripted-question-for-town-hall-quashed-question-on-armed-guards.html
Earlier this week, CNN hosted a town hall for some of the survivors of the Parkland School shooting in Florida to address their representatives as well as NRA officials. Following the shooting many of the survivors have become activists for common sense gun reform, working to bring attention to their suffering. This article, published by Fox News, shows a video of one of those students, who claims that CNN filtered questions the students could ask and had them practice their delivery. The article works to discredit CNN going so far as to call them a, “left leaning news network.” The student, Colton Haab, claimed that he wanted ask a question about putting armed security guards and was denied. CNN released a tweet claiming the story to be completely fabricated slander against the network.
Fox is clearly biased against CNN, as Fox is a clearly biased right-wing news station. After every major shooting, conspiracy theorists crawl forward from the woodwork; working to pretend as though the shooting was fabricated by anti-gun activists, working to take guns from 2nd Amendment loving, law abiding citizens. After Sandy Hook, conspiracy nutjobs claimed that the shooting was staged by the government, which hoped to sway public opinion enough to pass sweeping gun restrictions and usher in an age of totalitarian regimes. Fox is feeding these conspiracy theories by running stories that they have no backing for, simply to appease their base. I feel we should stand with survivors and listen to people who have actual suffered from the laws we have, or more so have failed to, pass.
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This image is of two different time periods placed side by side. The first image is of the Salem witch trials and how they would put these women the presumed to be witches on a trial that is vastly different from our own. This image is of a drowning trial and how if she dies, she’s innocent but if she survives, she’s guilty and they’ll kill her anyway. It is a different kind of trial than what we know because it was based on fears of that time. The second image is of the #metoo movement and how the viewpoints on this are very similar to that of the Salem witch trials. In this image it’s of a woman who seemingly spoke out against the person who sexually assaulted her in one form or another and the two men are saying virtually the same as the ones who killed people they believed to be witches: if she seems okay, then nothing happened but if she claims assault, then she’s just seeking attention.
In my opinion, this is a good comparison due to the fact the #metoo movement is being viewed as a witch Hunt because many people believe any and all allegations from these women and men coming out to tell their stories are just alleged happenings and that they didn’t actually happen. For many people as well, there’s always only this black and white picture. If she dies then she’s innocent and if she survives she’s guilty and we’ll kill her anyway. This form of thinking is called the black and white fallacy, also known as the either/or fallacy, which is when the person/people using said fallacy limit the options to a certain black and white scale. It’s a common fallacy but it can be a harmful one, as seen in the Salem witch trials as well as the #metoo movement. We must keep our options open and protect against fallacies such as these.
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In this excerpt of his speech, Donald Trump is saying that America is gracious and that America as a nation helps rebuild other countries. He also states that we are rebuilding America while restoring our confidence and pride. He states that America is united by the values we hold, and that we defend the constitution and believe in the wisdom of our founding fathers.
In this excerpt of his speech, Trump focuses on flowery, albeit simple language. He says nothing too opinionated, and nothing that would seem to require support through facts. This excerpt is much like his usual speech style, all ethos and pathos, little to no logos. This excerpt actually does not contain a hint of logos as far as I can tell. He tries to focus on uplifting messages, possibly trying to deflect and distract from the true nature of his administration and state of this country. Trump also uses plenty of repetition, in lieu of actual facts. I know that repetition is something needed in a speech, however the way he uses it is too heavy handed to feel like anything other than ineloquent and just plain stupid. He states that America rebuilds other nations a total of three times, one right after the other. He states twice that we are rebuilding America in rapid succession. He does not elaborate on any of his claims really, and the one that he does say more than a few words for ends up being completely false. I do not agree with what he says. I say that America is divided. This nation is divided by conservative and liberal values. We also are not rebuilding ourselves, as if there was much to rebuild. We have things to improve, but nothing to rebuild. His claims that our nation is gracious by helping other countries and asking for nothing in return are entirely false. Just about every interaction with any southern American country has been for our gain, despite the seemingly altruistic qualities. The Monroe Doctrine is an example of this.
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https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/12/politics/trump-tough-shithole/index.html
In this article written by CNN they are talking about the recent comments that the president said about the “shit hole countries” he states that what he said was is being outspoken he s states that they he simply means that the united States has to be tough on the so called shit hole countries because they are bring the immigrants to the united States. Which is wrong in his part who likes to live in a city or country that has violence 24/7 cause I don’t I want to live in a country were I can go to the store without getting shot. A that’s what those countries want is some where its safe. The article also writes about how trump has to be tough on Korea, immigration but our so called president doesn’t known the difference between being tough and being a dumb-ass that talks straight from his ass. I for one do not agree with our president on this matter because all the countries that he called shit hole countries can come together and attack us because of the crap that comes from his mouth and it will also cause a big war with the other countries that he manged to piss off. From what I read the president just talks the talk and walks the walk which means that without action and a good purpose all he is doing is talking and not making any one happy and the other countries wont take us serious anymore because they see a clown leading us that sits on his ass sending tweets late at night.
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https://cameronharwick.com/blog/the-political-philosophy-of-star-trek/
This is a political analysis of the Federation in Star Trek . It goes into detail on what political ideologies are being put forward by the actions of the Federation and it’s captains, saying that the society seems to be a Socialist “utopia”. Due to the use of replicators, for food and materials, and warp drives, for star trekking, money is not necessary and thus society can flourish being free of the burden of starvation, taxes, or poverty, with the age before this period in history being called the age of confusion as unnecessary wars and all the troubles of man existed. However this utopia is flawed or misinformed with it’s actions with characters from the Star ship Enterprise explaining or doing the moral thing in the story arcs. It also explains that although it seems very anti-capitalist having replicators rids itself from the need for money, unless the owners are corrupt in which case it would be until wars or rebellion leave the machine in the hands of the victor.
Being that there is no need for money to purchase food there is very little incentive to build up society to be greater, as the only way society has ever progressed was when a limitation was put in front of it. Although this is true, society at first would thrive with replication of food effectively getting rid of world hunger uniting the world under a single government with unlimited boundaries and resources that became slowly more and more militarized and focused on expansion. As a child born in this society there were two options build up Earth and live out your life doing a job you could be great at, or do the same thing on a ship that is exploring the universe, with all of this used as propaganda to increase the size of the navy to spread their influence across the universe. With a majority of jobs being in the space navy, engineering and science were perfected to the point that there was little that could kill you except old age and murder, while most art and literature was over 400 years old,with examples being music from the 19th century and 18th century literature. Because there was little struggle, creativity seemed to die out leaving little to no interest in earth, instead moving to learn and “borrow” art from other races with different cultures in space. And the peaceful rules set in the show to “not interfere when asked not to” are ignored by the crews of the very ships who pledge to these ideas and although it is usually for the better, people and creatures end up dead because of these very reasons.
It was at this point in Alex’s life that he realized he spent one hour writing a rant on why Star Trek is socialist.
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https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/10/how-spot-reptilians-runing-us-government/354496/
This article is arguing that there are lizard people surrounding us throughout our daily interactions as well as running our country. The article also provides helpful ways to distinguish between human beings and lizards based off of physiology and/or personality traits. The author stresses that you could be simply unaware of the fact that you are a lizard person. The author also claims that thousands of years ago, lizard beings from outer space began inbreeding with human beings by recoding their DNA.
This article would be considered a conspiracy theory by many and the truth by few. I don’t quite understand the origin from which this idea spawned but it’s something I’ve been hearing my friends talk about time after time so I decided to look into it. I was really taken back by the large number of articles, videos, and even books that were out there covering this topic. I guess this is something that’s been talked about for quite some time now; sort of like the flat earth conspiracy. The most apparent bias that I see in this article is how it could ever be biologically possible for a human to be part lizard. I also have a hard time believing that any of this is non-fiction as there is no support for their argument that lizard people exist. The author tried using a video of barrack Obama swatting down a fly with his bare hand to somehow correlate to lizard-like activity but I don’t think this observation is enough to convince somebody of the president being part lizard. They also use a talk interview involving the former secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, who never denied being a lizard person during an interview.
As much as I would like to believe that our society is primarily governed by a lizard race from outer space or even the illuminati, I’m going to have to disagree with this article due to a lack of valid evidence and supporting details.
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In the video I linked, The Daily Show host Trevor Noah takes a look at the arguments that pro-gun advocates are using in the aftermath of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. He begins by summarizing the tragedy, then goes right into stating his stance on the topic of guns. He believes that the access to guns should be limited. Using sarcasm, he criticizes himself by saying how dumb he is for thinking that gun violence is related to guns. Continuing with the sarcasm, he mentions how a lot of people in America believe that advocating for gun control right after a shooting incident occurs is insensitive, because apparently, there should be a waiting period to attempt to make a change. For the remainder of the video, he highlights the things pro-gun Republicans (mostly Fox News correspondents) recommend to prevent future school shootings. One Fox News correspondent insists that students be trained in arm-to-arm combat to defend themselves. Students would totally be able to defend themselves from an active shooter with their hands. This idea would not at all likely result in a higher number of victims. In response to this suggestion, Trevor points out how hand-to-hand combat is only that when both people agree to use their hands. That alone renders this Fox News correspondent’s mistaken belief that ‘hand-to-hand’ combat training will help students save their lives in an active shooter event invalid. I disagree with this Fox News correspondent; someone with a gun (most likely an automatic or semi-automatic one) is always going to have an advantage against someone who is unarmed. ‘Hand-to- hand’ combat training is not the solution to students need to defend themselves.
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https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-says-tried-stop-parkland-shooter-bare-hands-175958787.html
This article talks about Donald Trump criticizing the lone deputy assigned at the high school in Parkland that was recently shot up and the two responding officers for all failing to do anything to the shooter. Trump went on to say that he would’ve done much more than they did and that he would’ve ran into the school even if he was unarmed. The writer of the article then presented evidence from an interview Trump has done before where he said that the sight of blood disgusts him. A man fell off a stage at a benefit he was attending, and Trump says that he thought he died and he thought the sight was disgusting because of the blood.
I think that the article does a good job of proving Trump’s hypocrisy in his comments by showing how he says he’d run into a gun fight with just his hands but has previously stated he saw someone he thought had died and didn’t do anything to help. I think the writer is biased, taking the stance of being anti-Trump, seeing as they keep including quotes that discredit and directly goes against whatever he says. For example, the writer also talks about how Trump thinks teachers should be armed because they love their students and the officers assigned to schools don’t. So, the writer includes a quote from a governor who opposed this idea that says that “We need to listen to educators and they should not be foisted upon this responsibility of packing heat… we need a little less tweeting here, a little more listening.”
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