Original blog post:http://jvsandoval.blogspot.com/2015/11/travis-county-attacks-homelessness.html

"Homelessness, is one of many problems seen all around the world. Texas should do more to help people facing homelessness because its not only the right thing to do, but it helps give hope to the community. Community First!, a program was established to help homeless people, has for nearly 15 years lifted homeless people off the streets and into their own home in RV Parks scattered throughout Seattle. However it also has been on a mission for more than 10 years to get as many people as possible of the streets of Travis county. It's been estimated that there are 6,000 people living in the streets in the county.

With this program, Travis County has just taken a big step forward to help its residents in need. This community is privately funded and it includes RV's, tiny homes, and canvas-sided cottages. The goal of this project is to give homeless individuals, safe, secure and refined homes. Its intention is in no way an attempt to get these people in need out of sight. It's a way to help them have a better life.

The village will eventually shelter 200 people who face homelessness and will provide them essential tools such as social, medical and employment services. This all will be provided in order to help them overcome the challenges that forced them to be homeless. They will however be required to pay rent which is estimated to be around $225 to $380 and they will also be required to follow civil and community law. This will be a perfect way to help residents facing this issue because its a sincere help from people who care. It also reminds them that they are not alone and that they are part of our society."


My comment:http://jvsandoval.blogspot.com/2015/11/travis-county-attacks-homelessness.html

"I agree with this 100%.
Homelessness is a sad and important issue that needs to be addressed, and I'm happy to read that it is on its way to being done.
I think all homeless people need a pick me up, and need to be shown that there are people who are willing to help, but they do need to be met halfway. You can't just help someone who isn't willing to put forth the effort to try to attempt to change their situation. I see people all over town with signs asking for help, but not everyone of them are homeless. It's sad to see that people are lazy and just ask for handouts. If you are homeless, seek help at the shelter, make the effort to change. Basically, don't sit and beg. I think if you need help, and have to meet certain requirements in order to keep the help you have been given, why not do something in order to keep it?"

Sexual Assault Exams at UT

Sexual assault is no joke and unfortunately happens too often. The Safe Campus Act is being discussed in Congress right now, but UT has already taken steps to establish sexual assault clinic/exams on campus.
The University Health Services started offering post-assualt medical exams in the Student Services Building on November 16, 2015. The University Health Services brought in nurses from SafePlace Austin, you originally would have to go to the Riverside location but with a new location on UT it'll be more convenient for people to access closer to campus.
Its very important for sexual assault victims to feel the safety and take the pressure off from being assaulted. With the new location on campus, it'll not only benefit people with travel time, but will give some great benefits to students.
A lot of people and universities are against this new potential act, which would prevent universities from being able to investigate the sexual assault of a student. It would all be in the hands of the local police department. Many victims don't want to spend the money to get tested nor have to go out of their way. It's embarrassing enough, and will help take the anxiety off with the being able to walk right in and get it done, it also helps the universities since a wide majority of sexual assaults happen to students on campus. It's almost a no brainer- who wouldn't want the help and easy access to get through a difficult time?

Original blog post: http://caringisarequirement.blogspot.com

"The biggest problem in Texas is racial division. Texas is controlled by “Anglo-Saxon” oil barons who are thedescendants of slave owning, Native American genocide favoring, Mexican hating thugs. Everywhere I look (in Austin) it seems that the big problem is white dominance followed by the minorities’ retaliations. In turn, retaliation is met with police brutality and never-ending fines and probation that rob minorities of time to pursue opportunities at bettering their financial standing.

African Americans are being financially bullied out of a city that their families have lived in for generations. A city that suburban white kids from California, the East-coast, and the Midwest come to trying to prove something to their christian parents by spending their trust-fund money on covering themselves with tattoos and practically drinking themselves to death every night. The cost of living is going up and that's fine for the rich kids moving in but it's hell for poor African American families. 

Mexican-Americans are treated like second class citizens. If they fights back, "the oil baron race" has the police to subdue them. Police are often college drop-outs with deeply ingrained mentalities of hate towards minorities. police will fine Mexican Americans for minor drug felonies while avoiding areas where rich white kids are committing the same and more serious felonies. Both African Americans and Mexican Americans constantly live under the threat of being victimized by police brutality.

The city of Austin wants to increase its tax base by allowing waves of implants (rich whites) to move here and yet Austin is not adequately prepared to support the increasing population. This doesn't effect the wealthy (who are mostly white) but it does effect the poor (who are predominately minorities). It's the rich whites who are making the decisions of where to spend this tax money. The tax money should be spent remedying the externalities of increasing rich white kid population that plagues the lives of minorities living in Austin."

My Comment to blog post:http://caringisarequirement.blogspot.com/2015/11/i-think-biggest-problem-in-texas-is.html#comment-form 

"I do agree with less than half of this. Yes, racism is a huge issue and its one that is brought up frequently and effects people every single day. It's sad that we can't see each other as equals and that people are constantly being labeled, or put into a specific stereo types. 
From what I can tell is that you dislike any and everything that labels, and discriminates against Mexican-Americans, African Americans. But you are being racist against "Anglo-Saxon's". Not all white people are rich/in the oil business, you're automatically stereotyping against that race. Yes, a vast majority of Texans are in the oil business, but there are also Mexican-Americans in the oil business, who I might add are plenty wealthy. Not everyone who wants and has moved to Austin are rich white people.. Rich, poor, black, white, or purple, people move to Austin- they all come from different backgrounds. 
I don't think its just the "Anglo-Saxons", have you ever heard of white Irish Slaves? We were all slaves at one point. There were black slave owners, along with white slave owners. Why do people seem to forget that? 
I think everyone is against gang banging thugs- who would want to be for that? But that doesn't mean that gang banging thugs are just set to one specific race- there are gang banging thugs in every race in America (African Americans, White Americans, Asian Americans, Mexican Americans, etc.)
I also don't think the public has any way in controlling tax increases, people are having to move out of their homes because of property taxes being increased- and thats all over the city (High, middle, and lower class neighborhoods). I do agree that Austin isn't prepared for all the people who want to live here. Who wouldn't want to live in Austin- the fun, cool, friendly city! 
I'm not trying to argue or put down what you believe, but I don't think you are giving a fair fight to ALL races.. 
Here are some links if you would like to check them out, maybe they will broaden your view. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Irish_sentimenthttp://www.globalresearch.ca/the-irish-slave-trade-the-forgotten-white-slaves/31076http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/15/black-activist-double-white-hate-fparis-hashtag/"

Home On The Range

On Friday, October 9th, The San Antonio Express News published an article titled "Let statewide elected officials live outside Austin" which is about Proposition 3.
Proposition 3 is one of the seven ballots for the upcoming Constitutional Amendment Election. Proposition 3 is a constitutional amendment that will repeal statewide elected officials from having to live in Austin. With Proposition 3 the statewide officials can live any where in Texas.
In this article the author thinks its unfair that statewide officials are forced to live here in. With the amount of technology we have these days, it is possible people to communicate and work from any where in the world. The author of the article, wants for Proposition 3 to win, and doesn't really see why it wouldn't be a good idea.
The article also explains some speculation that other people think about this proposition. One of the main concerns is that if statewide officials are "set free" that it will lead to corruption with local prosecutors if corruption cases come about. But according to the author, residency shouldn't really change the big picture of not living in Austin. Apparently they travel back and forth from their home towns to Austin all of the time.
The author is trying to persuade for us to stand up for change and vote YES on Proposition 3.

In my personal opinion, I don't really see why living here or not should be that big of an affect to the community. But, why change something that doesn't need to be fixed? Austin is the capitol of Texas, this is where big government things happen that affect the residents of Texas and elected officials. Why wouldn't elected officials want to live where they have to come to work when things go sour, ore even when everything is fine?
The idea of Proposition 3 is like being able to work from home, without moving to a different city. Yes the power of the internet gives us unlimited options for work, but it doesn't really seem realistic, especially when you have an important government title. They don't let the president live and work outside of the White House. So Proposition 3 sounds very nice (who doesn't want to live and work form their home?), but in reality it just doesn't seem reasonable.

Jail Culture for the Mentally Ill

On Friday, October 2, 2015 San Antonio Express News published "Jail culture, attitudes need change".  The article was about suicide prevention in the county jails in Texas. The article suggested that law makers and the Senate Criminal Justice Committee needs to make more of an effort besides passing new laws. There has been 29 suicides in the county jails recorded this year, and 22 in 2014. Chairman of Senate Criminal Justice Committee, John Whitmire, believes that the attitude and culture of the jail system needs to change in order for suicides to stop within in the jail system. Along with Mr. Whitmire's beliefs, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has instructed the committee to do more investigating for jail safety standards before the Legislature convenes in 2017.
Bexar County had the highest jail suicide rate in 2009, forcing the sheriff to consult a suicide prevention expert. At the Senate Criminal Justice Committee meeting that took place in September of 2015, Bexar County was cited on their successful program that keeps mentally ill patients out of jail. This program is encouraging law makers to keep working on the on going problem with jail suicides.
According to the author of this article, with the expense of incarnation, why waste it on the mentally ill, especially when they are trying to bring down the suicide rate.
The problem with this issue and article is you can't know off the bat who is mentally ill, and who isn't. Unfortunately, some people who are locked up see no other option besides committing suicide, but that doesn't mean they are mentally ill. Some people also fake being mentally ill to get the easy way out of what ever crime they have committed. So if someone sees that being mentally ill is going to get them out of the jail or into an easier program, what's to prevent someone from faking that?  I do agree that the suicide isn't the answer, but I don't see how they are going to pick and choose who is suicidal and who isn't till its too late.

Petition for removal of Williamson County Confederate Statue

On Monday, September 21st, 2015 the Statesman published an article about the petition in Williamson County for the removal the of the Confederate statue that sits in front of the historical court house.
According to the article, a Georgetown church congregation has a petition for the Confederate statue to be removed from the property of the courthouse and be put the International Order of Odd Fellows  (IOOF) Cemetery, which is located behind the university in Georgetown. The IOOF, also has some confederate solders buried on the grounds, which some residents think it'll be more historical with the statue being re-located there. The church feels that the statue being in the middle of town reminds people too frequently of the "ugly" history behind slavery.
Rev. Lou Sneed state in the article that "The point is not to erase history,"..."The point is to learn from history."
The petition hopes for 1,000 signatures from residences in Williamson County, but if they don't get high enough to their 1,000 signature goal they will drop the issue.
I think this article is worth the read because people need to be more aware that the there are people that still feel hurt about the war, and what the confederate army stood for.
However, removing a historical statue from a historical building isn't going to change the opinions of the residences in Williamson County. Just removing it and sticking some where else isn't going to make what ever issues they have with the history of slavery go away. It's still going to be in a public spot where people will be able to see it. Choosing to ignore, or forget the history behind the statue isn't going to make people feel any better or less about their personal views.

First Texas GOV. Post

Hello fellow classmates!