Police Brutality: And Feeling Threatened

When I was in seventh grade, my friends and I liked to shoot "airsoft" guns at each other for fun. Looking back on it, it was stupid and an all around bad idea, but I didn't care. We would run around the woods behind my house and pretend like we were in the military. Of course, it was all in good fun, until one day when we were surrounded by the whole Winnetka Police Department after someone called 911 to report a shooter. Luckily, we had the sense of mind to put the guns down and calmly approach the officers. They took our guns and called our parents to tell them what happened. I remember being just about ready to shit myself, because I was afraid of what my dad would say when he found out. Fortunately, he just laughed and got a kick out of the fact that I was almost arrested. I look at the situation now and say, 'at least the officer on the scene didn't unload a clip into my chest'. 

In Santa Rosa County this past Tuesday, a thirteen year old, Andy Lopez Cruz, was killed when his airsoft gun was "mistaken" for an assault rifle. The official statement says "that as the subject was turning toward him the barrel of the assault rifle was rising up and turning in his direction. The deputy feared for his safety, the safety of his partner, and the safety of the community members in the area" (Sheriff Deputy's statement). This makes me sick, as an officer of the law your sole responsibility is to protect the safety of your community. And if you feel like your life is being threatened while doing so, well you need to deal with that situation in a more reasonable fashion. Not pull out your gun and shoot an innocent kid. These kinds of police brutalities are happening all around the Country, and are maliciously targeted at minorities. How can we claim to be an equal society if the people who swear to serve and protect us are profiling and gunning down citizens whenever they fear "for [their] safety". I believe we should not let officers of the law be above the law, but instead be treated just like every other citizen. And if they commit an unlawful murder on their watch, they should be tried and convicted like a normal citizen.

What do you think about police brutality? Should having a gun and a badge and claiming to feel threatened justify killing innocent people? Please leave your comments below. 

Bitcoin: The Online Currency

As we enter the new age of technology, we open new avenues for possibility and success. One of these avenues is Bitcoin, the first ever online cryptocurrency. It has been receiving a lot of attention recently, enough attention that the Senate is holding a meeting this Monday to discuss the legality, and proper use of the currency. I was first introduced to Bitcoin about a year and half ago; a friend of mine, let's call him Greg (for privacy) explained to me the deep and intricate hidden website, Silk Road. The Silk Road was an encrypted website, that sold a variety of drugs, guns, forged documents, and other popular black market items through an anonymous browser called Tor. Instead of traveling half way across the world to get the items, you could simply sit down at your computer and order what you wanted through the internet. Your "package" would then be inconspicuously delivered via FedEx or UPS, and at your doorstep within the week. I know what you are thinking, this is ludicrous, dangerous, stupid and down right illegal. I can tell you that I have never personally ordered anything off of the website, but I know people who have. Not once have they been caught, and not once have they gotten in any sort of trouble. And it astounds me that a black market so sophisticated, and fascinating can exist right under the noses of the very people who try and stop it.


Around the time I found out about Bitcoin, Greg told me the unit price was only $32 a coin. Can you guess what the price is today? Just one Bitcoin has a weighted average of $460 on the Toyko-based Mt. Gox exchange. That means if you bought 10 Bitcoin for $32 back in 2012 (32 * 10 = $320), and sold them at todays value ($4,600), you would have made a profit of over $4,200. Make it fifty Bitcoin, and you would have had a profit of over $21,000. And now that the Silk Road has been officially shutdown by the government, the Senate can focus on the legal options for Bitcoin use. As Nick Wingfield of the New York Times puts it, "Instead of using Bitcoin to buy illegal guns in the recesses of the web, ordinary consumers will use it to buy legal goods from legal retailers — and as easily as they now swipe their credit cards or exchange paper bills" (Wingfield). Jim Breyer, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist who has invested over 9 million dollars into start up companies for making Bitcoin available for legal retail use, says he is "confident you will see major worldwide retailers adopting systems built on Bitcoin” (Breyer). Bitcoin advocates are also excited about the currency's future possibility of lowering payment processing costs for credit cards. Without a third party company, like Visa or Mastercard, you don't need to have any extra costs. Without a website like the Silk Road, I believe Bitcoin would not be as widely known as it is today. Now that wealthy investors, such as Jim Breyer, have seen what kind of profit the currency can bring in, they are flooding to the gates in anticipation of the economic boom Bitcoin will provide. Or not. Only time will tell.

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What are your thoughts on Bitcoin, and it's possible currency use for online retail shopping? Do you think the currency is just a big hoax? Or do you actually think there might be a future for Bitcoin? Please leave your thoughts and comments below!