Commitment, A Major Key

Stores that produce the most revenue are typically the ones that are the most convenient for customers. These stores provide a space where customers want to spend their money because of good quality of their service. Walmart and Target, two big box steady retail stores, make efforts to lure their customers with advertisements that guarantee the costumer’s satisfaction. Although they both guarantee satisfaction, there is clear evidence that proves Walmart is a better source for shoppers than Target because of their commitment to their customers above all else.  

One way that Walmart shows their customers that they value them is through policies such as their loyalty programing. According to the news on Walmart's website, Walmart’s 3-2-1, is a new way save money for Walmart prepaid and Walmart money cards. Their 3-2-1 rewards program includes, 3% back on purchases made on Walmart.com. It also offers 2% back on fuel purchases at Walmart gas stations and 1 % back on purchases made at Walmart stores. In comparison, Target’s has a savings system called Cartwheel Perks. Cartwheel Perks is a program which allows Target shoppers to earn points every time a purchase is made and redeem the points for apparel, food, and other items. As reported by couponsinthenews.com, Target’s program is currently in the process of ending because of they are making adjustments regarding to issues that was found by the perk users. The negative feedback that states as such, “experiencing pricing errors when buying items.” Target shutting down their program, leaves both the old user and the new user with nothing to depend on when purchasing items. Loyalty programs brings more customers to the store because of the discounts the program provides.

Besides customer service, another key component to Wal Mart's business is advertising. Advertisement  creates an immediate impact that will keep customers engaged to what is called the “better buy.” Social media accounts make contributions to relevant benefits and opportunities for the customer. Walmart is socially involved but also uses the media nationally and locally. For example, Walmart reaches out to other store locations around the world by establishing Facebook pages for each located store. Interfering with social media accounts, promotes a company or brand, genuine intentions  to create a motivation for customers so they can be interested. Most importantly, these social accounts provides a platform for their customer’s voices to be heard and taken seriously. For instance, Walmart has a website where mothers can talk about their shopping experiences. Target’s Twitter and Facebook social media accounts has community involvement that is equal to social involvement. Being socially involved with the community is a positive because it shows sincerity and shows support to the customers in the community. However, Target receives more negative feedback based on a customer's shopping experience found on consumeraffairs.com.

Walmart’s mission is phrases that they commit to build opportunities to customers and communities worldwide:, Save Money, Live better .On the contrary, Target consistently fulfills the Expect More. Pay Less brand. These two persuasive slogans that have different meanings. However the proof that is shown is that Walmart follows through on their slogan and constantly dominates Target.  Based on the research given by investopedia.com, WMT, Walmart Store Inc, is the world’s largest retail company with 10,700 stores, with 4,500 of those store in the U.S. Target has 1,806 stores that are only to be found in the U.S. Wal-Mart’s total assets were $203.7 billion, about five times larger than Target’s comparatively $41.4 billion. Consequently, Walmart is the “elephant in the room” when it comes to market capitalization, which is $240 billion, three times larger than Target’s $79 billion.  

Commitment is a key point in a relationship because it shows reliance and loyalty from one to another. Although, commitment may only seem important  to customers, it should in fact concern anyone who cares about saving a buck or two. This becomes especially evident for those who attempt to make a profit off of their relationships. Advertisment, revenue, and saving programs are all essential principles to a customer - store relationship. This shows that Walmart is faithful to their customers because they have not abandon the one thing that customers value.

Works CIted

Memphis, TN Damean of, et al. “Walmart MoneyCard.” ConsumerAffairs, www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/wal-mart-moneycard.html.

"Retail Advertising." Adage.Com, 2017, http://adage.com/article/adage-encyclopedia/retail-advertising/98854/.

"Retail Advertising." Adage.Com, 2017, http://adage.com/article/adage-encyclopedia/retail-advertising/98854/.

Target Officially Kills Off Cartwheel Perks.” Coupons in the News, 20 July 2017, couponsinthenews.com/2017/07/19/thanks-scammers-target-officially-kills-off-cartwheel-perks/.

FRM, Elvin Mirzayev CFA. “Target Vs. Walmart: Who's Winning The Big Box War?” Investopedia, 7 July 2015, www.investopedia.com/articles/active-trading/070715/target-vs-walmart-whos-winning-big-box-war.asp.

Call Them What They Are (The analysis of the word terrorist)

Who counts as a terrorist? After the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, the use of the word terrorism and terrorist has skyrocketed to the forefront of the news outlets vocabulary whenever an attack happens. However even though terrorism has been tragically performed by people of all races, only  people who are black and brown get called terrorist. The news media is more hesitant to call white people who commit crimes terrorist because it helps separate white people from the terrible incidents that happened in this country and keeps a white supremacist regime alive.

The word terrorism is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “the systematic use of terror, especially as means of coercion.” Then the dictionary goes on to define the word terrorist as “ an advocate for practitioner of terrorism” This means that any time a person intentionally harms people with intent to make them do something or make a statement, they are a terrorist and committing terrorism blatantly. However, there have been debates in the media between news outlets on deciding what incidents to call terrorism. It’s been common for people who commit terrorism in their own country, domestic terrorism, to not be labeled “terrorist’ by the media, because new reporters allow these people to get “name passes” so the United States doesn’t look as bad in hindsight.

Since what seems like the beginning of time, it seem like this label has been reserved for back, brown, and muslim people. Based on the data from the Google Ngram Viewer, which measures the mention of a word in text and media in different years, the word terrorism which had a slight downfall in the mid nineties had a boost in mentions in the year 2001. This has also lead to people associating terrorism and terrorist with people who are Muslim. This label has pinned the word to a specific race of people. From a survey done  in 2015 by Pewresearch.org it was estimated that there are about 1.8 billion Muslim people in the world. Of that 1.8 billion, 3.3 million of them live in the United States. That is way too many people to try to accurately to label all people of as a stereotype.

As an alternative to the name terrorist, labels of mentally ill have been given to white people who have committed the same acts as their non-white “terrorist” counterparts . Individuals that have been privileged to get the label of “sick” have been able to escape punishment, while people of color don’t have the chance to define themselves before a label is slapped on them. According to the Washington Post, when white male Dylan Roof fatally shot 9 members of Emanuel AME Church, the media outlets immediately started to label him as mentally ill. It seemed that white people that were called mentally ill were only given that title when they committed crimes against people of color but that is not the case. In December of 2012 a man named Adam Lanza went into Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 28 people, most of the victims were children and white children at that. Yet again the media did not call him a terrorist, he was labeled as mentally ill. Also 2017 when 64 year old Stephen Paddock killed 59 people at a Las Vegas concert he was called a “lone wolf” This allowed white people to be separated from terrible acts by saying that no “normal” white person could have done this they had to have something wrong with them.

The media’s avoidance of the “terrorist” term is problematic because when someone distances themselves from the truth it only makes them weaker and less aware. It is important that people are either given appropriate labels or no labels at all. If a situation arises that involves “the systematic use of terror especially as means of coercion” the person that commited the crime should be called a terrorist regardless of their race, religion, or country of origin. Although the average American might not think that who gets that label of terrorist matters much,its influence goes beyond just a news story to how groups of people are viewed in society. It can have a detrimental effect on how future generation of those people view themselves as a whole.

Works CIted

Shane, Scott. “Terrorizing if Not Clearly Terrorist: What to Call the Las Vegas Attack?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 2 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/10/02/us/politics/terrorism-las-vegas-attack.html.

Tylt, The. “Is there a double standard for who gets called a terrorist?” The Tylt, The Tylt, 27 Sept. 2016, thetylt.com/culture/is-there-a-double-standard-for-who-gets-called-a-terrorist.

“Terrorism.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/terrorism.

Butler, Anthea. “Shooters of color are called 'terrorists' and 'thugs.' Why are white shooters called 'mentally ill'?” The Washington Post, WP Company, 18 June 2015, www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/06/18/call-the-charleston-church-shooting-what-it-is-terrorism/?utm_term=.502243741417.

Sometimes a “Forever Home” is Not Supposed to be Forever

Many assume adoption is always the best option, that adoption is in every child's best interest. Some believe that the life of an adoptive human being, no matter the circumstances, is superior to being an orphan. While this can be true on many occasions, this is not true for everyone. A child that is adopted into a home does not have to be happy. While it is the goal of child services to find a permanent home for children who need one, it is also the goal to find homes that fit an adoptive child’s personality, but many times this does not happen. Some who are adopted are only adopted for government checks. Those who are adopted as children, and are able to make it out of their substandard adoptions tend to struggle to live a whole life, having their adoptive parents hang over their heads like the sword of Damocles. Adolescent and adults who want to annul their adoption, have the right to annul their adoptions because they are given way without their consent.

Many adults are theoretically independent from their families, but those trying to nullify their adoption are not independent. They must get their parent consent to annul their adoptions. Adolescents have less of a right. They must continue until their adoptive parents until their eighteenth birthday, and it is nearly impossible to annul an adoption before then. Many run away, on average adopted children run away almost four times the national average. The runaway average from adoptive children is 30.1%. Many of these children end up homeless, never to return home. The parents of these children will often times keep receive government funding for the child in hopes the child would return. The funding is supposed to be saved for the child, but instead, the adoptive parents may use it as a meal ticket on a spree for themselves.

Homelessness is no laughing matter. About 1.56 million people in the United States are homeless. In the United States alone, the average for teen homeless rates 2 million kids experiencing a period of homelessness every year. Many of those children are a child of adoption who were kicked out or forced to run away. “Young people who have been in foster care are 3 to 10 times more likely than their peers to experience homelessness.” (American Journal of Public Health, 2013).  Many of these young people have run away because their personalities didn’t pair up with the ones that they were placed with. This created a tense and hostile environment that was impossible to hide from. 57% of the children who ran away from their adoptive parents go at least a day without a meal every single month (Covenant House). This causes the loss of many young lives that no one will never know the name of.

Never having a choose who loves them, while those who are supposed to love the hardest give them away can never be easy.  Kaye Pearse, a writer for new source The Guardian, was adopted twice and her experience wasn't one that Lifetime decided to make a happy-go-lucky-movie about. Her parents gave her up at a young age, an agreement between the state and her biological parents, she had no parts of this contract, but would have to abide by it her entire life unless she could get it annulled (Guardian). Annulment isn't an easy process, as an adult, the only option is to get an attorney to aid the convincing of a judge to nullify an adoption. As a teenager, it can be even harder. They must also file a petition to annul an adoption. This petition must be signed by the biological parents or by the adoptive parents, as well make a case against the adoptive parents (Legalbeagle). The parents rule in this case as well the once child in this adoption still doesn't have the right to void his contract. And many will say that a child raised by their genetic components can’t end their contracts either, but they can apply for early emancipation.  Early emancipation allows for a child to be able to be free of their parents, and change their legal paperwork, such as their birth certificate say their legal name in replacement of their mother and, or, fathers names.

Many would say that annulling or reversing the adoption as an adoptive parent must be difficult as well. Adoptive parents actually have a much easier time when an adoption fails. An adoptive parent has the right to call for a disturbance in a child. This means that they can claim that the child is a disturbance in the home. In an article in Today, by Diane Mapes author of How to Date in a Post-Dating World, writes a rather serious article in a parent who have to reverse their adoption. Many of the parents are dealing with older children that they have adopted and couldn't handle. They were not use to children who scream inappropriate things in a public setting or children who ran across the street without looking (Today). They struggle to see the child's point of view of constantly craving the attention that biological children have received their entire lives. To reverse an adoption as a parent they must go into a courtroom and claim a disturbance in the child. They often times will refer them to a therapist before they allow them to annul the adoption. If the parents are not happy during the therapy sessions and it is shown to the child as well as the therapist, they then can reverse a child’s adoption and remove their name from the child.

Millions of people in the United States are adopted and many aren't happy with their adoptive parents and struggle to be happy, feeling locked into a forever binding contract. When asked, adults trying to get annulled might say that it is impossible to get annulled as an adult, But on closer inspection, they have a fixed mindset when it comes down to it, getting annulled at any age is very difficult but it is possible with a lot of determination. The reason a person may want to be annulled is never loving the people who adopted them, feeling like they never were given the choice of who would or wouldn’t love them. Adults who never felt this love fight many battles and lose battles due to needing signatures for their biological or adoptive parents, but many also win this battle, forcing a parent or a biological parent to give them this signature. This may not help the entire world directly. But with a teenager who can now get annulled, and put up for readoption can now be moved into foster or group homes that can help them move forward from all they lived through to become better adults. And for an adult, this may create a happier adult. And a deeper understanding for those who weren't adopted, to get to know the struggle of being adopted and not happy.

Works CIted

Pearse, Kaye. “Adoptees should be able to annul their relationship with their adoptive parents | Kaye Pearse.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 4 Aug. 2015, www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/04/adoptees-annul-relationship-adoptive-parents.  

“How to Nullify an Adoption for an Adult.” Legal Beagle, legalbeagle.com/7929259-nullify-adoption-adult.html.

“When a Forever Home Isn't Forever: The Reality of Adoption Dissolution.” Foster Care Newsletter, 1 Sept. 2014, foster-care-newsletter.com/forever-home-isnt-forever-reality-adoption-dissolution/.

“Child Welfare Information Gateway.” Child Welfare, Sept. 2011, www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/adopted0708.pdf. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

Mapes, Diane. “It takes more than love: What happens when adoption fails.” TODAY.com, TODAY, 1 Aug. 2012, 6:14am, www.today.com/parents/it-takes-more-love-what-happens-when-adoption-fails-918076.

“Third Party Statistics - National Runaway Safeline | National Runaway Safeline.” Https://Www.1800runaway.Org/, www.1800runaway.org/runaway-statistics/third-party-statistics/.

“Homelessness in America.” Statistics on Homeless Youth in America | Covenant House, www.covenanthouse.org/homeless-teen-issues/statistics.

Imani Murray

Sweatshops are some worst working environments there are. They violate labor laws and basic human rights.  The workers have to endure unfair pay, long unreasonable hours, and child labor. Despite these problems, Sweatshops are used by many clothing companies that are very popular, including  Forever 21, H&M and Urban Outfitters..Even though these practices are known to the public, these companies continue to be popular among shoppers because of their less expensive prices.

According to an article published in Businessweek “Sweatshops are work environments that possess three major characteristics—long hours, low pay, and unsafe or unhealthy working conditions. Sweatshops may also have policies that severely restrict workers' freedoms, including limiting bathroom breaks and even conversations with fellow workers. At its worst, violence is used”  Sweatshops are mainly located in places like South America, Asia, China, India. These people are desperate to work, due to living conditions and many other specific reasons. In most cases if these workers from other countries, are stripped of their passports. These leaves them trapped in the country and the sweatshops, because if seen they would be sent back from where they came from.Although these people make less than 64 cent an hour, they would much rather endure these hardships than return home  empty handed. The ages of their workers can start as young as five years old. H&M feel comfortable with doing this because no matter what they feel like people are going to buy their clothes.  People can pass out from a lot but the most common things that people in sweatshops pass out from is : prolonged working hours, very hot places, exhaustion, and hunger. According to “The Sun” website “Almost 8,000 Cambodian workers have reportedly collapsed since 2010 while making stock for H&M.” H&M has had problems with the way they have their sweatshops are set up for many years. They have made statements saying that they are going to do better with the working conditions that they have their workers in but still haven’t. They work people until they can’t work anymore. Once before H&M has been exploited for their sweatshops and yet they didn’t lose money or hear about it on the news. Only little websites talked about it. So therefore H&M feels like they are undefeated

Sweatshop workers get paid less than minimum wage. Minimum wage isn’t even enough to pay rent and feed your family if your job is following the labor laws. Coming across an article published by the website “The World Counts” they talked about the pay that sweatshop workers get paid. “Sweatshop workers wages can be as low as 1 US cent per hour, and they work up to 100 hours a week in conditions of poor air quality and extreme heat.” Out of the 168 hours there are in a week, they are working 100 of them. On top of that there are workers that can make only a penny every hour they work.  that is only a dollar a week, that isn’t nearly enough to support a family or even just themselves. Companies like H&M, NIke, and Forever 21 use these sweatshops so that they don’t have to pay that much for people to make their clothes. Not only are they make a huge profit but they are also making money off those workers that work for so little.

Sweatshops are going to continue to be around and stay in the conditions that they are in if people don’t do anything to make them better and stop buying clothes because they are less expensive if they are treating their workers like animals. They will still have underpaid and overworked people making clothes. If people would think while they are shopping where the clothes that they are purchasing came from they could help change the conditions that people are working in.  Companies using these cheap alternatives are an ongoing trend that needs to be stopped.

Works CIted

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1851851/hm-in-factory-horror-as-workers-endure-outrageous-sweatshop-conditions-making-clothes-which-include-beyonces-own-line/

http://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/economics-business-and-labor/labor/sweatshops

Hamidou Doumbia

2Fer#1 Revision

November 2,2017

English 3

Drugs Vs Moneys

There are hundreds of sports that people love to indulge in one of most popular sports in the world is baseball. But what does it take to succeed at the sport? The majority of baseball players want to become successful at the sport, but their desire to become a star in the league needs to come with strength, power, and intelligence. Baseball athletes have an addiction with P.e.d, p.e.d stand for a performance-enhancing drug which helps athletes improve performance most athletes use anabolic steroids which is a form of p.e.d. Although it is illegal, baseball players still use performance-enhancing drugs because the potential to earn more outweighs the danger of getting caught.

    Also, using drugs can benefit the player to allowing them 162 games continuously because these medicines provide the adrenaline to do so. P.E.D has a huge effect on the player’s body. Baseball players have gained a lot of success in their career in a short amount of time due to these drugs.  The thought of the player taking care of their family and trying to spare enough time to go to the gym, the practice can really affect a human mindset. The effect player using P.E.D in major league is huge.

Major League Baseball has a policy about the use of P.E.D. The penalty for a first-time violation is being underpaid during 80 games, which can increase. The second violation is 162 games underpaid, meaning an entire season. The third violation is a ban from M.L.B. All of this data can be found on NbcSports under M.L.B, a news anchor website that is filled with facts and analysis. The effect of the day’s a player is suspended depends on how many people take the drug and the strength of the drug.  There are tests that can be taken to figure out about what kind of  P.E.D has been used. Their two methods that use urine cup and blood collection.  After taking these tests, it can be determined if a player used the drug, and then judge to defined the suspect. Also, a player can argue their case to make the suspense smaller or even win. A baseball player shouldn’t use these drugs because of all these rules. You have a risk of having these consequences that don't benefit you.

Ultimately baseball players usually care about gaining money more than playing fair and equal for their fans. Houston Astros paid Roger Clemens, a pitcher. Roger Clemens was very good at the base and was almost inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Due to P.E.D helped his performance, he would make 18,000,000 dollars and $25,00 in bonus money. This is referenced by nytimes.com news outlet. When so many players use P.E.D to gain more money, most players already have to use the money before sign the contract. Then not playing for few month doesn’t really affect if the player already has their life-saving.  There are a lot of players, even Rafael Palmeiro, who was an extraordinary player, who could have been in the hall of fame if he didn’t violate the policy.  This can be from the pressure that comes with financial needs. Developing a new idea to overcome the issue of M.L.B players is money because money is the overall majority of issues in America. Money makes people involved in thinking of how much they are going to spend taking care of their family if they are in a different situation.  Depending on how the player going use the money can affect what will they’re willing to do it.

If the M.L.B player stopped to think about it, they would realize that P.ED is not just about helping the player gain more money, but it affects the player body long term as well. There are a lot of risks the only to stop P.E.D to continue in M.L.B. M.L.B needs a  rehab center to clean sports player. If rehab is included with the suspense policy then it helps a lot of players to clear their mind. This one of the many activities that help player personally. Trying not play so much game or cover a certain amount of player financial issue. Thesis idea could save a lot player from using unnecessary reason to use these drugs.          

Works CIted

“MLB, MLBPA announce stronger testing, harsher penalties for PEDs.” NBc sport, Craig Calcaterra, 28 May 2014, mlb.nbcsports.com/2014/03/28/mlb-mlbpa-announce-stronger-testing-harsher-penalties-for-peds/. Accessed 19 Sept. 2017.

Chass, Murray. “Resolution, and Doubts, Regarding Palmeiro.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Nov. 2005, www.nytimes.com/2005/11/13/sports/baseball/resolution-and-doubts-regarding-palmeiro.html. Accessed 19 Sept. 2017.

Your Draft Here:

In some parts of the United States of America (U.S)  the legal minimum drinking age is twenty-one years old. By contrast, China has no legal drinking age and Cuba has it as low as the age of sixteen. With other countries legal drinking age being a low age or not being existent at all shows huge trust in their citizens and shows that they believe their citizens are responsible.  The 21-and-over drinking age in the United States reflects the fact that adults do not trust young people in the united states.

The U.S needs to show trust in it’s millennials and that trust will also come with confidence and responsibility and this is what the millennials need since in their everyday life they are being looked down upon by the adults.  According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). “Finally, in 1984, the federal government ordered all 50 states to raise their legal drinking age to 21 years old or suffer a 10 percent cut in their annual federal highway dollars.” This all started thirty-three years ago and now it is a whole new generation aka the millennials that are around today. U.S are punishing the new generation because of the mistakes and irresponsibility of the generation before them. The millennials deserve to have the same chances of those who came before them.

The U.S changing the legal drinking age to 18 isn’t  that much to ask for considering  that other countries have their drinking age as low as the age of 16. A study done by the World Health Organization found that “In many European countries where the drinking age is 18 or younger, 15 and 16 year-old teens have more drinking occasions per month, but fewer occasions of dangerous intoxication than their American counterparts.” The results of this study came out this way because European countries trust their citizens with alcohol at a younger age so they basically grow with the ability to drink. While the U.S on the other hand have many different penalties when It comes down to minors possessing alcohol, this leads to people tending to go out and get completely wasted on their twenty-first birthday in celebration for being legally able to drink. Since they are getting completely wasted the chance of something dangerous or fatal happening exponentially increases.

If the adults stopped to think about it, they will realize that the legal drinking age is not just about safety but it is also about building trust in society. If the legal drinking age is indeed changed to eighteen the trust that would be brought along would be very strong and it would really increase the bond between the millennials and the adults. This is why the U.S needs to change their minimum legal drinking age to eighteen throughout the U.S.

Works CIted

Caleb Daniloff. Video by Robin Berghaus. “Drinking: 18 vs. 21 | BU Today | Boston University.” BU Today, www.bu.edu/today/2010/drinking-18-vs-21/.

Responsibility, Choose. Choose Responsibility, www.chooseresponsibility.org/drinking_and_culture/.