Use of Dollar Coins as Opposed to Dollar Bills in the US Essay

Use of Dollar Coins as Opposed to Dollar Bills in the US - Essay Example As the paper outlines. with the US budget deficit expected to reach the $1.5 trillion mark this year, the government is under immense pressure to initiate sustainable cost-cutting measures. Eliminating the dollar bill and replacing it with dollar coins should be one of the measures because the government will save the taxpayer more than $5 billion in the next 3 decades among other benefits. Cutting on spending is the biggest priority that the US government has so as to set the economy back in motion. The government currently spends a great deal of money printing and circulating the dollar bills. It will actually take 31 cents less to produce a dollar coin as opposed to a dollar bill according to Fiegerman. A coin will definitely last longer than a bill, therefore, saving on reprinting cost. The dollar bill is made of low-quality materials which tend to wear out within 3 years. This will not be the case with a dollar coin which can last for 34 years. It is also estimated that the doll ar bill will become more expensive to make owing to the fact that cotton prices are increasing steadily. This has shot up the cost of making paper by up to 50% as compared to the same time back in 2007. The EU and countries like Canada and Japan have relied on coins for their low denominations. Canada actually found that it saved more than 10 times their earlier estimated figures. Another issue relates to jamming of machines when producing the dollar bills. The Week states that more than $1 billion gets lost after vending machines jam thereby requiring repairs and companies losing on revenue from sales.  There are arguments that the dollar bill is one of the distinctive features of the United States economy and eliminating it will erode this uniqueness. There is also the belief that change to dollar coins will hurt the economy, especially in the current state.  

British Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

British Law - Essay Example This separate rule of law has made it possible for certain legal measures to be created in a balanced response to the needs and the demands of those individuals that are involved in certain considered situations. Besides that, the empowerment of the law is further aided through the effective separation of powers that the royalties and their subjects are under. Even though the entire European region answers to the central power of a royalty, the queen, they are still considered to be under very democratic governance in terms of realizing the society's freedom to do what they perceive to be rightfully lawful under the legal systems of the country. Why is this so Although the central command of the government comes from the queen, her subjects are the ones directly involved in the work3. There is even this thought that says "the queen reigns but the queen does not rule"; a particular line that dispenses the thought that the UK system of law does not rely only on one monarch's decision but that of her advisers who feed her with the ideas that conform to her beliefs, making possible changes in the society in case some adjustments need to be made. Democratic accountability is a huge consideration for the creators of the law. The people are free and ought to have their own rights even when dealing with the most serious issues in the society4. In every law, it is then recognized that the rights of the people are rightly realized and given proper attention to. Hence, from creating the law towards implementing it, it could be noticed how the UK government intends to give each individual the rightful cause of their being through providing them the respect and recognition of rights that they deserve to have. 2. Making reference to relevant case law, explain and critically examine the different approaches adopted by the courts in deciding whether a particular decision is unlawful on the ground of bias. The British court receives the greatest if not the highest recognition in the UK society. Standing as the judge of all, and the law implementation agent in the society, the British court is noted for its unbiased view of the people, both those who are in power and those who are not. The principle of the rule of law which suggests that "no one is above the law, even those who are in power" depicts a great fact that is recognized by the British court every time it handles cases that involves different parties having disagreements between each other5. This principle subjects everyone accountable to the law without any exceptions given. However, as it could be realized, humans make mistakes and the British court is ruled by human individuals and are thus expected to make mistakes every now and then but of course not all the time. No matter, the British court recognizes mistakes and definitely puts an end to it. The legal guidelines on investigating particular cases that involve ground bias provides a clearer explanation as to how agents of the law who becomes biased during a

Assignment #2 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

#2 - Assignment Example One time when dad was the only one at home, I tried talking to him about my day. I had a really bad day but I don’t want to just blurt it out to him because to me, the feelings are painful and I want to be assured that I will be listened to. So I asked him how his day went. He replied with a brief story about what happened at the office. When he didn’t ask me, I tried asking him another set of questions and none of them seemed to give him the signal that it’s time for him to ask me. When I got upset, I told him, â€Å"Aren’t you even going to ask me about my day?† I felt really bad. But he apologized and said, â€Å"Sweetie, I didn’t even know you wanted to say something. You kept asking me. If you want to tell me about your day, go right ahead.† Only then did I realize that men don’t instinctively know this â€Å"non-spoken rule† among women. For them, if you ask a question, it is a message that you just want information and not comforting. As it was pointed out by Maltz and Broker, one tendency of a woman when it comes to communication is to ask questions. (A Cultural Approach, 38) In my experience in that conversation with my dad, this proved to be true. I believe that this miscommunication was due to gender differences because whenever I ask my mom or my girlfriends about their day or feelings, they always return the question to me. We always ask each other questions but I don’t recall my dad or brother asking me. As it was explained in men’s features, men make more direct declarations of fact or opinion than do women. (A Cultural Approach, 38) When they want to say something, they don’t ask me first, they go right ahead. Another factor that may have affected the miscommunication in my example is sex role. As it was said in Explanations Offered, having been taught to speak and act like â€Å"ladies† women become as unassertive and insecure as they have been made to sound. (A Cultural Approach,

Professional development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Professional development - Essay Example Part 2 (1) Reflection on the nature of professionalism required in chosen career The chosen career is related to the management consultancy; the nature of professionalism required in the specific career will be depended on the following criteria: a) the personal skills and capabilities – as revealed through appropriately customized self-assessment questionnaires and through the feedback of colleagues and friends; b) the conditions of the target market, meaning the requirements set by employers for the specific job position, as these requirements have been identified though job adverts and the websites of organizations supporting the professional development of employees in the particular industry and c) the responses of the environment, as they have been estimated by reviewing relevant literature. In any case, reference should be made primarily to professionalism, as a framework that can influence the performance on the chosen career. In accordance with a definition published by the Oxford Dictionary online, the term professionalism is used in order to show â€Å"the competence or skill expected of a professional: the key to quality and efficiency is professionalism† (Oxford Dictionary online, 2011). In the chosen career, professionalism is expected to have certain form, which will be related to a series of different criteria, such as values, ethics, attitude, knowledge and so on. These criteria/ elements of professionalism can be identified primarily through the literature published in the particular field. Then, additional evidence can be used in order to verify the effectiveness of the literature findings – referring to the studies focusing on the examination and the evaluation of professionalism as a key element for the successful performance of individuals in the workplace. It should be noted that the term ‘professionalism’ in consultancy might include different elements and respond to different needs compared to other car eer paths (Rhoton et al. 2001). In any case, the professional development cannot be completed before the entrance in the workplace; this means, that the period of study and training – as a preparatory phase before applying for a particular position – cannot fully support the professional development of an individual (Hristozova, 2006). Through another approach Scott (2000) made clear that professional development is continuous, being similar to the self-development which is likely to be continuous; thus, professional development, as an aspect of self-development, need also to be continuous securing the improvement of the employee’s position within his organization. The skills of consultants, which would help them to develop a high level of professionalism, can be retrieved through the literature published on the specific field. In accordance with Margerison (2011, p.31) the key advantage of consultants would be the self-organizing, i.e. their ability to categori ze and appropriately evaluated the material related to a specific social/ scientific area (see Table 1, Appendix). On the other hand, Niewiem (2005) noted that the most important skill of consultants would be their interaction ability (meaning the ability to communicate with others and use appropriate evidence for

Fast Food Nation Essay Example for Free

Fast Food Nation Essay Summary: All Americans effect the huge growth of fast food but adolescents play even more of a vital role in than the average consumer. Not only do teenagers consume fast food, but they work for it and steal from it because they are attracted to it the most. The fast food industry provides the easiest way for young people to get started and continue to succeed in our Fast Food Nation. Our country loves fast food, there is speedy service with cheap tasty food in over one million restaurants world wide. Though we all love it, we do not like the stories behind it. In 2004, Americans spent over 110 billion dollars on fast food, thats more than higher education, computers, computer software and new cars combined (Scholosser, 3). Teenagers provide a huge role in the fast food industry. Teenagers work at these restaurants, eat at these restaurants, are objects of advertisements by these restaurants and steal from these restaurants more than any other age group. Ever since the age of three more than 75 percent of American children can recognize the face of Ronald McDonald. Since our nation is currently being raised around fast food it is only inevitable that as children grow, they only become more of a part of it everyday. The average American child begins to work around the age of 16 doing low wage low labor jobs. At anytime a teenager can walk into any fast food restaurant and apply for a job. Fast food restaurants prefer to employ teenagers because they are easily trained, less expensive to tend to than adults and are easier to control. Also since most teenagers still live at home they can afford to work for wages too low to even support an adult. No other industry in the United States had a workforce so dominated by adolescents. About two-thirds of the nations fast food workers are under the age of twenty (Scholosser, 68). Working in McDonalds is not difficult, but just tedious and long. Since most fast food restaurants are run my machines, it is up to these 17 year-old employs to push buttons and say commands. All Burger King wants is for things to get done faster, not how much effort is put into work, so teenagers feel working at Taco Bell or KFC wont be as difficult as it will a strain. Any teenager working behind the counter at any fast food restaurant is given less respect than animals at the pet store. ... she hates the job and is desperate to quit. Working at the counter she has to deal with rude remarks and complaints. She is often yelled at by strangers angry that their foods taking to long or that something is wrong with their order. One elderly woman threw a hamburger at her because there was too much mustard on it (Scholosser, 81). Though rudeness is a downside to a fast food job, there are perks for kids who do not need a lot. Many of the 200 dollar a week salary is used for teenage spending; clothes, nights out, cars and other desirable things. Teenagers run and continue the fast food work force every day, not because they have to but because its the best option available to them. Though we may not like the way the food is cooked or served; the way it tastes is still great. McDonalds makes a huge profit off of everything; soda fries and sandwiches all profit so largely, and teenagers are one of the most popular customers. A medium soda in McDonalds is $1. 29, it cost McDonalds $4. 25 per gallon of soda syrup, only about 9 cents worth of syrup is used in a medium drink, giving McDonalds almost a 95% profit. Soda consumption among teenagers has doubled within the past 20 years, reaching an average of twelve ounces of soda a day per child. (Scholosser, 54). With French fries McDonalds buy them frozen for 30 cents a pound, then sells them reheated in oil for 6 dollars a pound, pure profit pulled from the hands of teenagers. McDonalds makes billions upon billions of dollars annually by selling things for such a low price but really making the largest profit possible. Recently, fast food restaurants have become more attractive to armed robbers than a clothing store or gas station. Since fast food industries do almost all of their business in cash, others rely on credit card transactions. Robbery in fast food chains is not uncommon at all, even when most of it happens by their own employees, underage teenagers who are desperate for money. Though most of these robberies occur early in the morning or late at night when few people are working. The typical employee stole about $218 a year and according to industry studies, about two thirds of the robberies at fast food restaurants involve current or former employees. (Scholosser, 84). Employees have low pay, high turnover and know the restaurant, why not steal? McDonalds is already a billion dollar industry, many of the people think, its not going to hurt their business, they wont even notice. However these robberies have led to deaths and injuries, and make teenagers realize what horrible conditions they are working in. All Americans effect the huge growth of fast food but adolescents play even more of a vital role in than the average consumer. Not only do teenagers consume fast food, but they work for it and steal from it because they are attracted to it the most. The fast food industry provides the easiest way for young people to get started and continue to succeed in our Fast Food Nation.

Descartes vs. Spinoza Essay Example for Free

Descartes vs. Spinoza Essay What I will do in this following paper is to discuss two very interesting philosophers, Rene Descartes and Benedictus de Spinoza. I will discuss each philosopher’s perspectives and insights on their most recognized theories and thoughts. I will then evaluate them and then give my opinion on the given topic. By doing this, I will contrast the similarities and differences between the two genius minds. By the end of the paper I will have discarded some ideas and opinions from each of the two and will have my own judgment that consists of thoughts from Spinoza, Descartes and my self put together. Themes On Descartes: Existence of God- Descartes’ View One of the most famous and debatable theories Descartes had was his proof of the existence of God. He had for steps on the ladder to prove this. 1) Everything including our ideas has a cause. 2) We have an idea of God. 3) Nothing less than God is adequate to be the cause of our idea of God. An lastly 4) Therefore God exists. My View Considering the fact that Descartes was a rationalist and a very religious man, you can see why he would desperately try to make sense of everything, including God. I believe his proof that he has laid out for us that God exists is false. What Descartes is trying to tell us is that our idea of God comes directly from God himself and that we cannot create something in our minds that we have not already witnessed by our senses. But I believe we can implant the idea of God in our minds without God planting it for us. Since man has been on this planet, we have been evolving. I believe our idea of God is a collection of thoughts and ideas that has evolved. Ideas such as security, peace, direction, order, separating good and evil, questions to our existence, comfort, space, answers to questions no one has. It is all these thoughts, ideas and more put together in our minds overtime that create this all mighty powerful being who knows all and is all that we call God. The U-Turn- Descartes’ View One of the aspects Descartes strived to find was â€Å"certainty†, searching for absolute foundation. He felt in order to come across certainty; we must first doubt everything we know. To help people comprehend his idea, he created the U-Turn as a visual reference to understand. As we go down the â€Å"U† we first doubt common sense, then we doubt awake/sleep since he believes we can’t distinguish the difference. We continue to go down the â€Å"U† by doubting mathematics because there could be an â€Å"Evil Genius† that tricks us into believing something untrue. At the bottom of this U we reach the point where nothing is certain except one thing according to Descartes, which is our existence. He says â€Å"I think, therefore I am†, which means the only thing we can be certain about is our own existence. He then stops and says if we exist, then there must be a God, and this is where the U takes its turn and moves upwards. He then says if God exists he would not deceive us because he is all loving and caring, therefore we have no reason to doubt mathematics, followed by ourselves (body/mind) and lastly we can then be certain about the physical world, no need to doubt it. My View I find this to be an interesting concept that Descartes has formulated in his mind, one that is most definitely worth thinking about and taking into consideration. But in my point of view, there is a break in his chain. From the moment he mentions we doubt being awake and asleep is where I think his U-Turn collapses. Descartes says we can not distinguish the difference between the two, but that’s only true to a certain point. As humans we have logic, common sense and we are aware of most of the knowledge we obtain. We know that we live a life every day and that we need rest every night; and we know that sleeping is a form of rest which sometimes includes bizarre, twisted, chaotic scenarios which we call dreams or nightmares. The argument he made on this segment of his U-Turn concept was only half true. He was right on the fact that we can not distinguish the difference when in a dream state but wrong on the idea that same goes for when we are awake. As human begins we may not be able to have any reasoning, logic or understand the fact that we are dreaming but when we are not dreaming we can logically know we are awake and be able to know the difference between awake/sleep which means we don’t have to doubt common sense or mathematics anymore. If this is the case then Descartes U-Turn theory is wrong and the idea that the only thing we can be â€Å"certain† about is our own existence is false. Themes On Spinoza: Conception of God- Spinoza’s’ View Spinoza went on a whole different direction when it came to God. Up to his point in time most people believed in a transcendent God, this meant that they believed in a personal God that was all loving, caring and would not deceive us human beings. People would prey to this personal God for various things like comfort and security, but Spinoza had his own belief. His conception was quite different from that of anyone else. His conception of God was non-personal (Non- Transcendent) and was the totality of everything that is immanent. He explained that our infinite Universe is one that has no outside and is also one big web where everything in it is connected. What he is basically trying to say is that God=Nature, God is the totality of everything that is. My View Spinoza’s conception of God is quite absurd. There may or may not be a God but if there is, it is definitely not the totality of everything that is. The meaning of God is a higher supreme being that would have a higher consciousness than humans. There is a difference between nature and God. I feel nature is more on the lines of what he is trying to say but uses the word â€Å"God†. God can not be everything that is because then that would mean we are part of the make up of God and that is absurd. How can everything in the universe that has no conception of God be a part of God? His thoughts and ideas on this subject don’t add up in the end and don’t seem like an acceptable solution to the questions revolving around â€Å"God†. Ethics: On Interconnected Self- Spinoza’s’ View Spinoza said that freedom of choice is an illusion and that everything that happens is part of a necessary order witch is completely rational. My View If freedom of choice is an illusion and everything is already set to happen before it occurs†¦then why are we making choices in the first place? I believe we do have freedom of choice and that we set our own destiny. Everything will be set but is not set yet. We must make choices and decisions to get to where we want to or do not want to. This can be compared to a video game, the programmer and the player. The programmer sets al these scenarios, levels, obstacles, directions and gives the gamer various choices to make. The player goes through these obstacles, and makes choices where many possibilities are presented to him/her. Ultimately the game will finish one way or the other with the choices that the player makes. All these various different possibilities were laid out (each which had its own outcome) but the player made the decision to get to where he/she is now. Overall Comparison: After taking in everything these two philosophers have presented and evaluating their ideas, I have come up with my own thoughts. I believe Descartes had a much more reasonable and acceptable point of view than Spinoza. Descartes thoughts and concepts were easier to understand and coupe with. I disagree a lot with both of the two but my mind has a greater understanding of Descartes perspective. Spinoza was so special in his own way because of his unique ideas but his concepts on God and ethics seemed to far fetch. Descartes seemed to be on a perfect track until he took a couple things too far like God, trying to prove his existence. If we are to gain knowledge through sense experience then technically we have no knowledge of God, jus a compound of thoughts and ideas to create such a being. Overall I like Descartes philosophical way of thinking more than any other philosopher and feel we can learn a lot from him including helping ourselves to think in a more abstract philosophical manner. Sources Of Information: 1) A History of Western Philosophy : Hobbes to Hume (Second Edition) 2) individual. utoronto. ca/mtlin/god. pdf 3) www. utm. edu/research/iep/s/spinoza. htm 4) http://serendip. brynmawr. edu/Mind/17th. html 5) www. trincoll. edu/depts/phil/philo/phils/descartes. html 6) www. connect. net/ron/descartes. html.

Role of the First Amendment in Freedom of Speech and Social Media

Role of the First Amendment in Freedom of Speech and Social Media Freedom Speech in The Age of Social Media Summary: This paper discusses the First Amendment and its role and relevance in the Internet and Social Media. It touches base on violation of First Amendment Rights through censorship, and libel cases that were not protected by the First Amendment on Social Media. The First Amendment of the Constitution can be found in the First section, which is called the Bill of Rights, which are known to be the most significant part of the US Constitution. The First Amendment entitles US citizens the vital freedoms of speech, religion and expression. Not all countries give these rights to their citizens and this is why US citizens are so fortunate because they have the freedom to express themselves and to stand up for what they believe in or what they don’t. The Founding Fathers ‘Framers’ of the US Constitution had a vision for the United States and for its citizens to have these vital freedoms, the problem is that these amendments were written centuries ago, and with time and new technologies come many changes and the interpretation of these rights has changes because of these technologies, especially now in the age of Social Media. Most of modern interaction and conversation is now done on Social Media platforms with the help of the Internet and a problem with this is that there are very few laws that regulate what happens online. Thanks to the internet and the new technologies, most people have access to social media platforms, therefore people have access to information and opinions in the palm of their hands. The internet has proven that speech is easy on these Social Media Platforms, because most people can access the internet and basically write or speak their minds through videos or blogs. An amazing example of this can be sites like Yelp, where people are able to give restaurants and hotels ratings and they can say whatever they want and it is not considered libel. Many people take it online to rant about things that happen to them, other like to speak their mind, but recently many Social Media platforms have been banning certain words that might be offensive to others and deleting this that might affect others, this is a violation of freedom a speech. Pages such as Facebook will not let you type in certain words that other’s might find offensive, or they will directly delete a comment or photograph that is inappropriate or that might hurt somebody else. Although these censorships help save people’s lives from cyberbullying or prevent people from using strong words, it is censorship nonetheless. Social Media and the Internet has altered the way that people communicate and as new technologies emerge people have to learn to adapt to them. Thanks to the usage of chat forms, instant messaging, picture & video sharing, social networking, blogs, image collecting boards among many other things, people are adapting more than ever. Throughout out the last 20 years, the Internet has quickly expanded and matured as new technologies are being developed. With the invention of social media platforms, the way that people network and communicate has completely changed, even the way that they read and consumer the news. Social media platforms have given individuals a freedom that they never thought was possible, they feel free to access whatever they want and to express however they want to express themselves, they even have the protection of speaking and posting anomalously, and many people hide behind their computers.   The majority of US citizens take the privilege of living in the United States, and what that the country allows them for granted. They have the privilege to go online and rant about their jobs and horrible bosses, give opinions about political candidates, and read what other people have to say about things. The reality is that the Internet allows people to express themselves, whether it is on a blog, social media platforms, or even their work email and people are constantly expressing themselves freely. This is a privilege that people in other countries do not necessarily have, countries like China, where it is prohibited to access any type of social media platform (Ferguson), or where speaking their minds could land them in jail. Although the Internet is moderately new, it has long become a part of people’s daily lives, especially those people living in the United States. The Internet has alleviated all the communication tensions people had, since it allows people to communication easily with one another and also mass communication like articles, videos, and blogs. One of the reason why the internet has become such a powerful communication tools is because it integrates several types of communication like Articles, podcasts, broadcasts, videos, letter communication among many other things (Ferguson).   Now a day most places have Wi-Fi and internet has become such an inexpensive thing to access, people can even connect to the internet in airplanes and during bus rides, mainly because â€Å"the Internet has the potential to be a tremendous force for development by providing quick and inexpensive information† (Sorensen). One problem with the Internet is that it has no country boundaries so measuring and enforcing US laws is very hard to do, since the US cannot control what other countries do or say, consequently the Internet cannot be virtually controlled by one country. What many countries do to have control over the internet is implementing thing such as filters on a server, which in the end limit people’s freedom of expression and is nonetheless censorship. Because the Internet is really a mass medium, because it can reach virtually anybody, it possesses a big threat to many governments, because anybody with internet can communicate to the mass audience. Censorship of information is in direct violation of the first amendment because it takes away people’s right to express themselves freely. There are many types of censorship over the internet, sometimes people do not even realize that content is being censored when infact it is. Many governments believe that censorship helps avoid unsafe or threatening information from spreading and that it keeps children safe from retrieving inappropriate content.   Some of these materials can be for example web-sites that promote eating disorders such as anorexia, or websites that tell people how to commit suicides or how to build home-made bombs and such things. Although many of these things are extremely controversial and may be offensive to some, in the end they are violating First Amendment, and these sites should be shielded by the freedom of speech. Some of the reasons why filter on servers are imposed make a lot a sense when it is for protection of minors, since most children know how to use a computer more than most adults, but when adult’s information is being filtered this is denying people a right they are entitled to. The United States has unsuccessfully made efforts at censoring offensive and/or inappropriate information and content on the internet. Firstly, was the Communication Decency Act (CDA), this act forbid people from using material online that was offensive to minors (Sorensen). The CDA directly violated the First Amendment and this why the Supreme Court overruled the act.   Their second attempt was the Child Pornography Prevention Act (CPPA) which stated the pornography, whether a video or an image on the internet of a child/minor acting in an explicit or sexual behavior. Again, the CPPA was also directly violating the First Amendment, and it was overruled by the Supreme Court. Then came the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), which is theoretically obligates Web-Site owners and publishers to guarantee that minors will not access material and content that is harmful to them on their designated websites (Sorensen). Copa was also in violation of First Amendment rights, therefore overrul ed.   As of today, there are no Internet Censorship Laws in the US in action, but nevertheless censorships still happen. Just as there are people who think censoring the internet is the correct thing to do, many people oppose it because they are firm believers of the vitality of First Amendment rights of free speech and expression. It is the first amendment that permits people to openly and freely discuss ideas and thoughts to other people and to society itself. It is unethical and unconstitutional for the government to take this vital right away from people, as they should feel free to express themselves in any way that they please. Along with the Internet come new ways of communication such a Social Media Platforms, which have rapidly landed in the hands of millions world-wide, these new evolutions in technology drastically change the definition of free speech, for example before nobody would knock on anybody’s door to tell them their opinions, now it is on all of people’s devices from their smart phones to their computers. People are being constantly hit by others opinions and beliefs, for example that person who always share their political affiliation and beliefs on their Facebook status, it is starting to become unavoidable. One of the first cases regarding freedom of speech was in July of 1995, Stratton Oakmont vs. Prodigy. Prodigy was a type of social media platform that had a board with a chat forum, one of the users left a chat/comment saying that the CEO of Stratton Oakmont committed fraudulent acts. As a result, Stratton Oakmont sued Prodigy for online libel, the case was ruled in favor of Prodigy since it was protected by the First Amendment and the comment was left by an anonymous internet user not Prodigy itself. These things are very hard to control, because for example that anonymous person who commented might be in another country and therefore they do not fall under US jurisdiction, this is why it is so hard to control the internet as a whole. After some of these chat forums began to pop up across the web, this was the birth of social media platforms. Rapidly many websites started to launch and their focus was the public, they wanted individuals to have their profiles and for them to express themselves and engage in communication with other members. Facebook and Twitter have been the long lasting two as they both have been around for over a decade (Somerson), and they revolve around people who express themselves freely. Four months after the launch of Facebook, the company integrated a new feature in their social media platform and this was called a ‘status’. Facebook was asking its users ‘what was on their mind’ and allowed people to speak their minds in a maximum of 356 characters, which is now unlimited on Facebook. Twitter quickly incorporated the same feature and allowed its users to speak their minds in 140 characters, which will probably soon increase. Many people engage in ranting on socia l media, and once something goes up on the internet it is there forever, even if deleted, with ranting many people can take it as defamation or libel, but in the end, it is people exercising their free speech. In 2009, there was a town re-election for Sheriff BJ Roberts in Hampton, Virginia and six deputies were not reinstated after it. These deputies stated that they were wrongfully terminated because they supported Jim Adams that was Sheriffs Roberts’ rival.   They had stated that they had shown support for Jim Adams by ‘liking’ his Facebook campaign and sharing his page on their profiles. As a result, Sheriff Roberts threatened the deputies and consequently did not reinstate them. Consequently, the deputies filed a lawsuit against Roberts, claiming that they were wrongfully terminated because of their behavior on social media. In an appeals court, it was agreed that the deputies should have been terminated because they should not partake on law-enforcement politics and siding with candidates and this is violation of First Amendment rights. When this case was taken to the Fourth Circuit, it was recognized that Sheriff Roberts was entitled immunity and that he had th e right to not reinstate them (Vogel). The First Amendment does not protect all speech and expression and this was a perfect example were people were not protected by their First Amendment Rights. Another famous case that was not protected under the first amendment is Elonis vs. Unites States. In 2010 Anthony Elonis was abandoned by his wife and he quickly took the matter to Facebook and started ranting through rap lyrics, most of these sounded like threats, with everything he posted he gave a disclaimer saying that they were just lyrics and nothing real (Liptak). Elonis rapped about things like having his ex’s head paraded like Marie Antoinette, among other horrible things. Ms. Elonis was afraid of all of his commentaries and lyrics and quickly took information to authorities. This was an extremely difficult case because Elonis argued that they were just lyrics and nothing more, that it was just a form of art and expression and that he did not intent to do anything that he rapped about. The Supreme Court stated that the First Amendment did not protect all speech and did not protect threats whether real or not, they were still treats (Liptak).   Elonis was found guilt y of violating the Anti-Threat stature and was convicted for 44 months in prison and three years of supervised release (Liptak). Many of these chat forums online like Twitter and Facebook are allowing people virtually everywhere to speak their minds and for them to express themselves in ways that they see fit. The problem is that many people are not aware of all of the consequences that their online ranting can have on their lives. Most people follow their favorite celebrities and athletes on Social Media, since this is how the engage with their fans, even President Trump engages in Social Media by his infamous ‘tweets’ on Twitter. Many brands and companies take advantage of the presence that celebrities have on social media platforms and they begin to endorse them so that the public sees them wearing their products or talking about their brands on the ‘tweets’ or ‘status’. In 2010 Rashard Mendenhall an NFL player of the Pittsburgh Steelers who was endorsed by brands like Champion made a series of tweets after Osama Bin Ladin’s death that tarnished his online prese nce and reputation. Mendenhall tweeted that â€Å"what kind of person celebrates death? Its amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. Weve only heard one side(Mendenhall). He then continued by saying â€Å"well never know what really happened. I just have a hard time believing a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style†. Mendenhall was consequently dropped as a Champion Celebrity and he lost his endorsement deal, Mendenhall quickly deleted his tweets and said that he was just expressing his thoughts and that they were just mere opinions. Although he was protected by First Amendment and he was in all of his right to share his opinions and many conspiracy theorist do, he lost many fans in the process. Lawsuits that come from social media are most commonly those of claims of libel or defamation. Libel is a written or published untruthful statement that directly hurts the individual’s reputation (MacHenry). Because many people have dedicated themselves to ranting on social media, there are typically libel. In 2015, came another quite interesting libel case in social media, known as Desert Palm Surgical Group v. Petta. Sherry Petta underwent cosmetic surgery, a rhinoplasty to be exact at the Desert Palm Surgical Group. To give Petta a little background she was a big fan of cosmetic procedures and surgeries and had underwent several in the past. After her rhinoplasty Petta claimed that she was not healing properly and that the nose did not look as the doctors told her it would, she then took all of this ranting online on Myspace and created a website just to rant about her experience. On her site and her social media page Petta ranted that â€Å"the surgeons intentionally shor tened and curved her nose upward against her wishes† (MacHenry) and she uploaded images of her rhinoplasty. Consequently, Desert Palm Surgical Group started to lose a lot of business and sued Petta for libel and defamation along with 11 million dollars in damages caused by her pages. Petta pleaded that she was protected by the First Amendment right and that she was only speaking the truth about her experience with her surgery. The only thing that could have saved her from this defamation case was if what she said had been true, and it wasn’t most of the complications she had was because she did not take care of herself after her surgery and most things she had underwent in the past cosmetic surgeries and procedures. Petta was not protected under the First Amendment and consequently had to take down all of her post and her website and had to pay 12 million to the Desert Palm Surgical Group for all of the damages (MacHenry). Many of these libel cases that involve the use of social media as the source are repeatedly occurring and becoming extremely common and popular. The problem is that freedom of speech is not protected if there is a false statement involved, and it is no longer an opinion or a type of expression, it is a lie. Opinion in the end is not fully protected by First Amendment rights if there is a false or an untruthful statement involved, because it can have adverse effects on an individual’s image and reputation and it can even cost somebody money. Social media is a type of mass communications and people can easily reach mases of people, therefore when they decide to rant or to post their opinions there may be consequences since they have such a big audience. Many companies know that it is very hard to regulate was is being posted online, many companies are even going as far as creating departments to monitor their online presence (Liptak), the intent of this is for these departments to take care of things like that before they get out of hand. Many of these cases should be more known to the public, this way they can prevent something like this happening to them, being media literate and educated about how social media works and the laws of the country can prevent them from falling into trouble. In conclusion, new technologies such as the Internet and Social Media has integrated into individual’s daily lives. People cannot live a day without checking their social media platforms or reading the news online, people are communicating now more than ever, and many people have become reliant on it because it is so accessible. The problem is that Social Media and the Internet are still undiscovered territory when it comes to developing laws to regulate content, and a new definition for the First Amendment in regards to these new technologies should be made. The First Amendment is a grey area, because there is no right answer when it comes to how to define it, but it is very important to protect speech. Sources Chander, A., & Là ª, U.,P. (2015). Free speech.  Iowa Law Review,  100(2), 501-549.   Hardenbrook, J. A. (2013). First amendment rights: An encyclopedia: V.1: Traditional issues on the first amendment; v.2: Contemporary challenges to the first amendment.  Choice,  50(9), 1606-1606,1608. Holden, J. (2017).  Steelers react to Mendenhalls bin Laden tweets.  ESPN.com.   Liptak, A. (2017).  On the Next Docket: How the First Amendment Applies to Social Media.  Nytimes.com.   MacHenry, K. (2015).  The Top 10 Arizona verdicts.  Docplayer.net.   McChesney, R. W. (1998). The new theology of the first amendment: Class privilege over democracy.  Monthly Review,  49(10), 17-34. Sorensen, K. (1996), Human Rights Watch, â€Å"Silencing the Net: The Threat to Freedom of Expression On-Line,†. Electronic Privacy Information Center Vogel, P. (2017).  Using Facebook like is Free Speech | Internet, Information Technology & e-Discovery Blog.  Internet, Information Technology & e-Discovery Blog.