Steubenville

A teen in Steubenville, Ohio made a video mocking a girl who was raped. Although he didnt commit any crime, he said he was very ashamed and embarrassed. this is terrible and embarassing for our country that people are making fun of rape victims. he made the video while intoxicated which, for some people, would let him off the hook a little. that should not be an excuse for him especially since he is underage. he clearly regrets it but its not something you can just forget. he has caused himself alot of trouble and hatred because of his actions. the rape victim has to feel even worse sicne she was mocked even though this is a very sensitive situation. i'm sure her family is also very upset and the guy is probable very disliked in the town right now. even though no crime was committed, he hurt alot of people and alot of families for the words he said. a couple of the other guys on the football team at the local high school in Steubenville were charged with sexually assaulting a girl after a party. there seems to be alot of negative actions going on in the town so this guys video just made everything so much worse.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/07/justice/ohio-steubenville-alleged-rape-case/index.html?hpt=hp_inthenews

Jenni Rivera

Jenni Rivera was killed sunday when her plane crashed in a mountainous area. it's very sad how she died and it's also kind of strange how so many famous people die in plane crashes. Jenni Rivera will always be remembered especially since she was so young, in fact too young to die. i read this crazy thing on the book of faces where a "psychic" believed she was still alive and that jenni and her makeup artist were trapped under a cave and were slowly dieing. it was funny because they had already found her remains but its interestiong what people say about these things. i'm sure the psychic lady would never say anything about a normal person whos missing, but a famous person gets all the attention. i'm not saying it's bad its just sad that so many people die and go missing everday yet we only acknowledge the famous ones. Jenni rivera was an amazing artist. the pilots should have landed imediatley after they lsot contact with air traffic control because they could've run into another plane. it was just a dangerous sitation that could have been avoided. her fans will forever miss her.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/13/showbiz/mexico-singer-plane/index.html?hpt=hp_inthenews

Syrians using sugar to make bombs

What is this world coming to? bombs can now be made with table sugar. the thought is scary how easily something so deadly can be made. its funny since we have been talking about bombs in class lately and the documentary in the Gaza Strip had lots of information about bombs and how they dispose of them. the Syrians making homemade bombs like this will mean an increase in the amount of bombs. the man who makes the bombs believes he doesn't have a choice but to make them since he lives in fear all the time. this is sad because we don't realize how lucky we are they we can get up and go places with minimal fear while people on the other side of the world are making bombs for protection. the rocket he made has a range of 12 km. which is insane to even think about considering its made from sugar. his assistant was killed while experimenting, so he now works alone. hopefully these bombs will only be used when necessary.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/11/world/meast/syria-bombmaker/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

Senkaku

The conflict between China and Japan over the Senakaku islands is getting out of hand. Japan had them first so they have all rights to those islands. With China changing leaders, tensions are even higher between the countries and the US might need to get involved. the US should not get involved because war does not need to break out over land that is owned by a coutry. Maybe China could try and buy it from japan but forcing them will only lead to bad things. The US has a plumeting economy so maybe war will get us out of it like with WW2 but we just got out of a major war so i really don't think it's what we need. China has a good economy so they really don't need the oil around the islands and since they belong to japan, China should respect that. If we get involved then other countries besdies us will get involved and it will lead to a huge mess if unneed problems. China and Japan should learn to deal with their issues civilly and without war. it will save all of their allies lots of problems if they just learned to get along.

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/20/could-u-s-get-sucked-into-china-japan-conflict/?iref=allsearch

Walmart Strike

The strike by Walmart employees is way overdue. the working conditions in China are horrific. they barley get payed anything and spend their entire lives working with barley any days off. the employees in the stores dont get good benefits for all the work they do. they have awful health insurance and depend on the state governments for aid to get health insurance for their kids and families. Walmart is then getting all the money that they dont give their employees for proper health benefits and keeping it. they have many law suits against them and had to pay like $4 million back to employees. hopefully the strike will force Walmart to change its ways so that their employees have good things to say about working there. If the employees dont all walk out as planned it will be very dissapointing because walmart will have to fire those few people who did and the rest will still continue to struggle to make ends meet which is very sad. if more awareness is raised about the issue hopefully the people who are able to choose where they shop will not choose Walmart. i know i wont be.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49886408

Superstorm Sandy

Sandy has proved to be way more devestaing than anyone ever imagined. The death toll continues to rise everday. People should have evactuated and not waited until the very last second. there was a father and son who drowned in their basement but why would they go in the basement? that would be the place where the flood water would go first. more people should have listened to the warnings that were sent. the death toll would have been reduced significantly. even if they decided to stay, they should have gotten to higher ground or used precaustions when walking. one lady was electrocuted when she stepped on a downed electrical line. it's so sad that she died from the after effects of the storm but it's also common sense. electricity and water are not a good mix and water will always fill the basements first. maybe the letter should have given precaustions of where to go if people decided to stay. it could have saved even a couple more people. they will forever be remembered.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/01/us/tropical-weather-sandy/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Last Presidential Debate

The last debate took place yesterday and was very heated. Obama was making a lot of personal attacks towards Romney. I think Obama won this one because he has strong statement about what he was going to do and solid evidence and statistics to back them up. Romney did however make sure Obama was stating true facts about him and called him out when he was wrong. The polls have showed that there is a dead heat between the two and only the final polls on election day will tell us exactly who our new president will be. i think it would be better to have a new president in office with new ideas because although our economy is getting better, it's not to the point it should be.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/23/politics/campaign-stretch-run/index.html?hpt=hp_c1