"Home"Less Veterans

Political Cartoon about Homeless Veterans  

Studies from the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness show that more than 3.5 million people experience homelessness each year, and 23% of these people are military veterans. Phoenix, Arizona has reached an amazing achievement, becoming the first city to reduce the number of chronically homeless veterans living in the city to zero. A 56 year old veteran named Robert Stone fell into alcoholism and a failing heart after serving at California naval bases for 3 years. He said “I’m coming up on nine months sober, and a big part of it is because I have a roof over my head” (Santos). The government has made it a top priority to get U.S. veterans off the streets by 2015.  To read more about Phoenix’s plan click here, and to read more about the government’s opinion on homeless veterans click here.

You may ask why the government has made this a top priority. Why not focus on the national debt or crime rates in major cities? The simple answer is that the veterans deserve a better life than homelessness. They have spent many years serving in the military, protecting and supporting the nation from behind closed doors. People who have dedicated their lives to protect their "home" should not be "home"less.

After reading this article I thought about Jane Addams, the creator of the Hull House. The Hull House was the first homeless shelter built in Chicago, IL and considered one of the most influential settlement houses in the nation. The idea of homeless shelters have passed down from 1889 to 2013. I find it ironic that the Hull House was directed toward immigrants coming into the U.S., but now, it is the defenders of our country who need this basic assistance. 

How do you think Jane Addams would react to this turn of events? What does this issue of homelessness REALLY say about U.S.'s military spending and care for its citizens?

The Data Leak

Right after Christmas, 4.6 million people received a special gift from a group of hackers. 4.6 million people had their usernames, phone numbers, and their region area displayed on http://www.snapchatdb.info/. The last two digits of the phone numbers had an "x", but anyone can figure out the numbers with trials of combinations. To see if your information was leaked, click here. Unfortunately, even if you delete your snapchat, your phone number still remains on the list. Some people wonder why this leak hurts anyone at all, but by having the information of the snapchatter, hackers can use that information to get into other accounts connected to that phone number. For example, Google accounts, Facebook, and other sources of social media connected to that number can be accessed. Read this article for more information about this leak. To read more about the dangers of this leak, click here.

After hearing about the leak I checked to see if I was on the list: and I was. I took down my phone number from all my other social media accounts. This leak made me think about the security of my information on all my social media accounts. Chris Gayomali of "The Week" writes: 

     Snapchat is a messaging service that destroys pictures after they are sent. It is very popular. The company prides itself on security and privacy, and maintaining the trust of its users is paramount to its success.

Knowing that even Snapchat, a company that "prides itself on security and privacy" got hacked, worries me about the amount of security Americans have in all their accounts, from snapchat to the bank.

How much security do you think Americans really have? Do we have full control over our own accounts? If not, will we ever?