I’ve said this time and time again, athletes are role models to the younger generation. The negative rhetoric from our President has once again affirmed my faith in our athletes. Across both the NBA and NFL we have seen the utmost positive responses. The reason this topic is so important to me is that I believe the most fundamental thing we possess as Americans relative to the rest of the world, even some of the most developed nations, is our First Amendment. It is something that allows the disenfranchised to speak, it allows those who are underrepresented to stand up with one another and make their voices heard, and it lets athletes go against the societal norms of patriotism to show disdain for the direction of our country. That right is a fundamental right for everything American, and Mr. President you seem to fail to understand that. I will be taking a knee with our fellow athletes this season in respect not only for their desire to discuss the importance of social injustice in our black communities, but also I will be taking a knee as that is the right thing to do to protect our freedom of speech.

Something tragic happened today. The great Chester Bennington took his own life. Suicide is a very close personal matter to me. Having seen those close to me struggle with thoughts like this has taught me how serious mental illness is. It’s chronic, and it’s not easy to remotely ask for help. With other illness you can describe your symptoms and what is not right, but when a primary symptom of the illness is actually wanting you to hide these destructive thoughts then it becomes the hardest thing to treat. All I can say to anyone feeling this way is that you’re not alone, and to anyone seeing someone struggle please reach out to them. We are sadly in a world where we can be so close to one another in communication, but so distant in the truest feelings.

As for Chester, he is survived by his wife and six children. He didn’t live his life in vain, from every person that he and Linkin Park have touched. From the earthquake victims in Haiti, to the plenty of kids like me that wouldn’t appreciate music the way I do without him. There’s a reason behind their success, and I think the people they are is equally as important to their music. There’s something sadistic and ironic about your death falling on the same day as your best friend Chris Cornell in the same way, but maybe that’s part of mental illness, the craziest coincidences turn out to be caused by that of an irrational mind. But to the wonderful man who my first vision of involves you taking your shirt off and jumping into a crowd of people, thank you and rest in piece.

I’d like to urge anyone reading this to donate to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention or any other charity helping those in need. I truly believe we as a society can help reduce the suffering of mental illness and only by discussion and learning to recognize it can we begin this process. I’ll leave you with my first favorite song.

The first organization to thank, and the one that is going to be fighting for our rights the next four years is the ACLU. The first people greatly affected by this ban were two Iraqi men named Hameed Khalid Darweesh and Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi, both of these men had the right to be in the United States, yet they were detained. Immediately the ACLU responded by sending lawyers to JFK to fight for these men. At the time of writing this artcile Mr. Darweesh has been released, but Mr. Alshawi and others remain in detention. You can follow the ACLU’s response to this here. In addition to this I urge anyone that can to donate to the ACLU. This is the best organization to fight against those trying to destroy our liberties and I believe in them wholeheartedly.

The next people to thank are your everyday citizens whom are showing up to airports to exercise their first amendment rights to show peaceful that what Donald has done is wrong.

Crowds at JFK honking to support protesters #RefugeesWelcome #MuslimBan #jfkterminal4 pic.twitter.com/JK8u5X4bY9

— ACLU National (@ACLU) January 28, 2017

Reactions like this, like the wonderful women’s march, show that the hope that our previous President, Mr. Barack Obama instilled in us reigns supreme, and that we can move forward as a more unified country, against hate. The speed at which these protestors assembled is phenomenal, with only three hours since the executive order was executed at the writing of this article, and mass crowds assembling.

The last group of people I would like to thank is those Democratic Congressmen and Senators who aren’t being silenced by the party in power, and those that are realizing that despite all electoral efforts, the Democratic party represent the majority of Americans, and they will fight for all Americans. The support of those speaking out is needed, and we as Americans need to stick together to fight for the fabric of democracy.

At this point, it’s not the semantics of policy that the parties are arguing, it’s the essence of our American democracy. Let’s not forget this fact, and let’s not let false equivalencies reign in an error of the war on information.

This game was one shaping up to be a blow out. Louisville came into the game 9-2 on the season, the 11th ranked team in the country, with the likely Heisman Trophy winner behind center, a 24-point favorite, and not to mention a five year winning streak. Louisville received the kickoff, and on the opening drive of the game in the matter of minutes they looked to be putting the nail in the coffin of Kentucky immediately with a quick touchdown. I thought to myself that this was it, it’s Kentucky football we’re talking about, and they are out matched versus a Louisville team that had been in the playoff picture all season until an unexpected loss to Houston last week.

I was wrong. Immediately after Kentucky received the kickoff and started their drive on the 25, Kentucky’s offensive coordinator Eddie Gran made potentially the ballsiest play call to give Kentucky all the momentum they needed to win the game. Now when you’re the underdog you don’t really have nothing to lose. When no one expects you to win, when you try your hardest and fail, then it’s no big deal. You get to keep your pride and say you tried your hardest, but you have to try. Eddie Gran proved that with this call, he drew up a deep pass which had Garrett Johnson walking into the end zone with a 75-yard touchdown after only one snap.

Now this wasn’t the end of the game for Louisville, through four quarters the game went back and forth. With about five minutes remaining, the game was tied up 38-38, Kentucky had the ball. While trying to milk the clock and still score to put the pressure on Louisville, the last of hope seemed to have disappeared. Benny Snell Jr., the phenomenal freshman running back, ended up fumbling the ball around midfield giving Louisville the ball back at the worst possible moment. This wasn’t a play that you could fault Snell, but at this point no matter what happened Kentucky had given this game their all and could walk out of the stadium with their heads held high.

Little did we expect, there was one last sliver of hope. I truly believe that the underdogs have a cosmic advantage when it comes to sports. Things can transcend skill and athleticism to change the course of a game, and this is why sports themselves are always better than sports movies. Lamar Jackson drove his Cardinals into field goal range, and with time on the clock still kept moving forward. After picking up a first down on 3rd-and-12, Kentucky looked for sure dead in the water, but magic happened on the next play. On a designed quarterback run, Lamar Jackson’s specialty, Kentucky’s defense clogged up the hole forcing Jackson to change direction on the play, he stumbled, and the ball popped out of his hand with Courtney Love (no relation to the musician) recovering it for Kentucky. The destiny shifted and Kentucky had just under two minutes to get at least into field goal range and score to win the game, and that’s just what they did.

There is such a beauty in the underdog, especially in rivalries. Rivalries are a battle for pride, nothing more, and the underdog possess an extra will to win, they have nothing to lose, and they seem to take their mantra from words spoken by the great Stuart Scott. Sure most of the time the better team comes out on top, but sometimes their are underdog stories that end up defining a whole team, community, or even generation.

So if you ever find yourself as the underdog with the deck stacked against you just listen to Stuart Scott, “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.”

Now this wasn’t the first time I’d seen the video. I saw it the night before on the front page of reddit. At the time I first saw it I didn’t expect it to be more than one of the never ending cycle of funny videos you’d see on reddit, but the moment I walked into class the and saw this I knew this was different. I figured maybe my English teacher played it just as a funny thing to wake us up and get us ready for the day, but it turns out every teacher I had that day did the same. An hour-and-a-half later in my second period, class started off the exact same way, and an hour-and-a-half the same thing.

The way my schedule was setup in high school was that after my first three class I would commute to the University of Kentucky to take my differential equations class. I assumed that once I left high school that day I wouldn’t see Friday again, but sure enough I walk into my differential equations class, slightly late, and am witnessing my professor play Friday. I just chuckled to myself and then told my professor that it was the fourth time I’ve seen the video today. The viral nature of Friday was real. Over the next few weeks the talk of the video would be how many dislikes the video could receive. There were parodies of the video, redubbings, and general buzz. The downside was the swarth of hateful comments that continued to spew and eventually led to the video’s removal.

For most of us this was the end of Rebecca Black. She was just the girl with that silly song that we could laugh at and make fun of. Once this viral sensation, or meme as you will, died our concern for Rebecca Black was gone. Since Friday, we’ve learned that Rebecca Black dropped out of high school after mass amounts of bullying. Not something anyone would wish upon the girl. We’ve also learned that she is resilient. She’s started her own YouTube channel, which now has 1.3 million subscribers, she’s reuploaded Friday and is making content for he fans to follow.

I also realized, Rebecca Black is an inspiration. Friday could have been embarrassing enough to discourage even some of the strongest of us to continue our passion, but Rebecca Black embraced her passion, she could only go up from there. Today I was remembering the viral sensation and wanted to see what Rebecca Black is up to today. So I ventured over to her YouTube channel. I found that two months ago she has released a new song. I didn’t really know what to expect, maybe something like one of the songs released after Friday, songs that weren’t as bad, but still not good. Boy was I wrong. This new song, The Great Divide (I highly recommend a listen immediately) just goes to show that if you work at your passion, you can achieve your dreams.

Rebecca Black has transformed from a somewhat whiney tweener voice, to one that rivals some professional artists. Her voice sounds like a mix of Selena Gomez and Katy Perry, and her vocal range is exceptional. What seemed to be a girl whose career could be described in one flash in the pan viral video has completely shifted to one of our potential pop stars. A girl that could have been destroyed by bullying and embarrassment has blossomed into a strong young adult following her dreams.

This past week has been quite an introspective one for me; analyzing where we’ve been, analyzing where we’re going. I’ve questioned every single choice I’ve made in my own life and where I am going. I’ve questioned my aspirations. I’ve almost felt lost. Today, I feel different, looking at Rebecca Black’s metamorphosis over the past five years has inspired me. I realize that anything is attainable as long as I can put my heart in it and work as much as possible at it.

So to Miss Rebecca Black, Thank You.

Welcome to the live blog for the 2016 United States elections. Here’s our thoughts and information as the election day progresses.

Let’s take this from a perspective something Donald claims to be the most knowledgable about, the economy. Back in 2011, the Republican led congress fought the increase of the national debt ceiling. This fight ultimately faltered, but the delays over it caused S&P to downgrade the credit rating of the United States. Knowing that these delays cause a negative impact to our economy should have been enough for the Republicans to not let something like this happen again, but in 2013 they led another fight to not raise the debt ceiling. This time it started well before the deadline, so at this point it’s only words so to say. Yet, another credit agency, Fitch Ratings, warned that more deadlock over the debt ceiling would force them to consider lowering the credit rating. Four days after this warning a global credit agency, Dagong Global lowered the United States credit rating. This was all due to words and threats, with no actual delay, or action, to the debt ceiling at this point. Donald, words matter.

You may think this may seem a little distant, what does a national credit rating ultimately mean for the average person? And I agree that my example here is a little contrived, so let’s take a different approach. To quote Michelle Obama’s moving speech at the DNC, “this election, and every election, is about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives”. I truly believe in this sentiment with politics, so what is something children can relate to. We are in the age of social media, and there’s no denying the existence of cyberbullying. Well what is cyberbullying? It’s words. Donald, it’s only words. So by this logic it shouldn’t matter. Should it matter to Bart Palosz, a 15-year-old from Connecticut who was harassed online by his peers? Should it matter to Bart Palosz’s family who has to deal everyday with their son committing suicide due to just words? Or should it matter to Viviana Aguirre and her family who suffered the same fate? Donald, words matter. (As an aside I would like to urge anyone that has spare money to contribute to wonderful anti-bullying charities such as Stomp Out Bullying or It Gets Better).

If it’s not clear enough actions aren’t the only thing we should judge people on. Now let’s look at what you’ve said. What kicked this all off is when you used your words to essentially say sexual assault is okay if you’re a celebrity. You’ve insinuated that Ivanka should switch companies if sexually harassed such as those suffering from Roger Ailes at Fox News. You’ve insulted the family of a man who died serving this country and protecting our democracy. You’ve insulted already suffering veterans to feel even weaker for dealing with suicide and mental health issues. You’ve parroted a lie that our magnificent President, Barack Obama wasn’t born in this country and have further created a division in our country. You say you want to increase libel and slander laws to protect your image, but words don’t matter? And tonight. You were asked about Islamphobia in this country, and instead of discussing how to combat it you decided to use Islamphobia with your favorite phrase “radical Islamic terrorism”.  You lied about your position on the Iraq war. You openly disagreed with the one man in the country you should be unified with, your running mate Mike Pence. But worst of all, you said you would hire a special prosecutor to jail your opponent Hillary Clinton. This is the thing of tyrants. The kind of people who we learn about in history so we don’t repeat those mistakes. Donald, words matter.

Donald, when you present us with no record of success (tax returns please), no concrete policy that will tell us how you will improve our country, no actions showing you could be fit to be Commander in Chief, the only thing we have to judge you on is your words. Donald, words matter, so take responsibility for what you say.

You’re The Worst has just entered Season 3 of the show’s run on FXX. It follows the lives of Jimmy, a writer from England who is working on his second book, and Gretchen, the publicist of a rap group. They live together in Los Angeles and their relationship isn’t a fairy tale in the slightest. Their relationship involves two people with significant baggage, not your typical romantic comedy baggage, but deep personality flaws. One being the crippling depression of Gretchen. It’s real. Aya Cash’s portrayal of this is entirely real. The show perfectly draws you in to their lives and drives your spectrum of emotions through the process. It’s extremely relatable, and there’s no guarantee of a happy ending.

In addition to Jimmy and Gretchen, the show features a spectrum of characters. Jimmy’s roommate Edgar is a veteran who served in Iraq with serious PTSD. Gretchen’s best friend Lindsay is extremely narcissistic with little grasp on the consequences of her actions. Lindsay’s sister is Jimmy’s ex-girlfriend who is a textbook competitive older sibling, and her husband Vernon acts like he’s still in a frat, but has also lost a lot of money being a money slave. This supporting cast helps to show that everyone has their own problems. You’re The Worst doesn’t shy away from showing the worst parts of people and that’s what makes it real.

There are ultimately two categories of visual media, one gives you an escape from reality, the kind that transports you into another world where your life isn’t affected in here. The other makes you question your own life. You’re The Worst falls into the latter. It gives you perspective on the issues in your life, and it allows you to feel. It get’s rough at times, but it’s an experience, and one that is entirely worth it. It’s the essence of life and is truly an amazingly produced show. I highly recommend watching it. Season 3 is out now at 10PM on Wednesday’s on FXX, and the first two seasons are up in their entirety on Hulu.

Now that pragmatism is more well defined for this context, let’s talk about the death of it relative to US politics. If we look back to Bill Clinton’s administration, pragmatism was probably at it’s height in the modern era of politics. Congress had a Republican super majority, with a Democratic president. There were many issues that both sides had extreme disagreements on, yet we had a thriving economy, and a lot of progressive progress was made. I think the biggest attribution for both of these comes from the overall amount of political pragmatism from both Bill Clinton, and a Congress led by Speaker Newt Gingrich. Both sat down and discussed issues, and each issue had it’s own merit. Partisanship wasn’t that big of an issue when both sides of the aisle achieved progress from their relative view points. This willingness to compromise, when judged pragmatically, allowed everyone involved to be ethical.

After this era though, the usage of political pragmatism started to decline. During the George W. Bush’s presidency he had a Congress that was the same as his party, so this need to compromise was a lot less, so pragmatism wasn’t needed as often. Moving forward though, I think the major decline started after the 2010 elections with the Tea Party movement. This was the nail in the coffin to political pragmatism. This movement was moving forward with a message of obstructing the other side. This divisiveness came from a movement of conflicting virtue ethics. Both sides painted each other with character attacks, and a lot abandoned the act of looking at their actions and the issues as individual events relative to society. Most bills that make it through Congress seem to have unnecessary riders attached to them to try to progress unrelated causes. Congress should be able to pass a Zika bill to help those affected and hopefully prevent the spread of the virus, but every single bill to come through so far has had a rider attached with some sort of partisan language.

Since 2010, it has only gotten worse. Gerrymandering has allowed for many Congressional districts to be extremely uncompetitive, meaning a significant portion of Congress can keep their jobs without worrying about their political actions. The things that seem to bring down politicians now are entirely based on their characters, or from a virtue ethics standpoint. This has only gotten worse in this Presidential election thus far. On the left there was a battle between two candidates, one a champion of pragmatism, the other a ideologue who ran a campaign of character attacks. On the right there was a battle between seventeen candidates, all basing their ethics on one of the three frameworks discussed above, but a common theme was that they wouldn’t work with the remnants of the Obama administration, and wouldn’t compromise.

Here’s my plea to you. Bring back pragmatism. Use it with your vote. Look at all of the issues and figure out which candidate will do the best to improve society. Look at which candidate will be pragmatic too. Revolutionary change doesn’t happen without violence, but net change does happen with pragmatism. I urge you to fight for pragmatism, whether you agree with every issue or not.

If you’re not registered to vote, do so here: https://vote.usa.gov/. All I ask is that you go out research and vote.

Sports aren’t merely games, they transcend cultural boundaries and break language barriers to give people of all kinds pride. I think pride is one of the most underrated qualities a person can have. In a speech I gave once I once said that English author Charles Colton was wrong when he said “There is paradox in pride – it makes some men ridiculous, but prevents others from becoming so.” I don’t believe there’s a paradox, I believe it makes everyone beautiful. Sure there may be a fine line between pride and supremacy, but pride itself represents beauty. It brings people that may be polar opposites in their daily lives together for one common cause. It allows people to revel in the achievements of others, which I truly think makes society better.

Many of the detractors of sports fail to realize the emotional connection they bring. It’s not solely about being better than the other team, person, competitor. It’s about making others strive to be just as great. Sports inspire people. It’s the reason kids can escape the troubles of their environments to achieve greatness. It’s the reason Jackie Robinson was able to step out on the field in a time of a divisive society. Sports can improve peoples lives just through the hope they bring. The hope comes from poetry. The reason sports movies tend to be very bad is because there are much more poetic moments in real sports themselves. To Peyton Manning retiring with a Super Bowl, or Kobe Bryant going out with a 60 point game. To a California Chrome breaking the dry streak of Triple Crown winners. To Phil “The Power” Taylor winning 14 World Darts Championships. To a high school football team from Texas coming back to win with 3 minutes left while down by 24 points. These moments are better than anything that movie studios can write.

Yet nothing matches the value that the athletes and coaches bring by paying back to society. Jimmy Valvano gave one of the most inspirational speeches I’ve heard. As he stood up on the stage of the ESPYs, dying of cancer, he brought an entire room from tears to laughter, and through his foundation has raised over 150 Million dollars for cancer research. He inspired others to give back. Or the many NFL or NBA rookies, who are raised by a single mother, who gave everything to their child, giving back to their families and small communities.

Ultimately though the main reason why sports matter is that they make people happy. Shouldn’t we want the world to have as much happiness as possible. Sports matter.