<span>A. My teacher wants me to consider joining the advanced journalism class next spring.
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Loretta, despite her alcoholism and subservience to Iggy, a gang boss, is sympathetic towards Max because of his low station in life. At first, she is only concerned with keeping herself safe first from Iggy's anger and then from Kenny Kane, Max's father, who is violent and bad-tempered. When Loretta discovers that Kenny is keeping Max tied up, she tries to help him escape:
"Keeping your own kid tied up, it ain't right. He ain't the man I thought I remembered, that's for sure."
Loretta thought that she remembered Kenny being a better man, but is shocked out of her obedience by this cruel act. She still has some humanity, despite the abuse she suffers from Iggy and Kenny, and so she tries to redeem herself in a small way by helping Max. Her actions are selfless and she almost dies for standing up to Kenny.
President Wilson is trying to convince his listeners that going to war is not about emotions but about defending the nation.
The phrase, a decent respect for the opinions of mankind, was intended to convey a respect for what mankind thinks. Opinions are biases indulged by mankind inside their thought-matrices. Mankind is the species known as Homo Sapiens Sapiens.
