Monday, December 14, 2015

Gunman shot, killed at Walmart in Pennsylvania



        Late Saturday night, a man with two handguns was shot and killed at a Walmart in Pennsylvania. The man walked into the store in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania and started pointing a gun at people. Stroud Area Regional Police were called and the officers arrived and told the man to drop his gun. After the man refused and pointed his gyn at the police, authorities shot the man in the upper chest area. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital, and no officers or anyone else at Walmart was injured. Police have not yet identified the gunman. I cannot possibly bring myself to empathize in these situations. It makes me scared, angry, and disgusted all at the same time that people can kill someone or have the idea of killing someone with no thought and for no apparent reason. 

Trump's Plan on Muslims



        A day after President Obama asked Americans to reject discrimination against Muslim Americans, Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, stated that all Muslims should be unable to enter the United States. In making this announcement, his reasoning behind this action was polls with evidence that large segments of Muslims hate Americans. As you can imagine, this announcement caused strong criticism, including some of his fellow Republican candidates and state party leaders. One of the people's comments that caught my eye was Matt Moore, the Chairman of the South Caroline Republican Party. Matt Moore tweeted, "As a conservative who truly cares about religious liberty, Donald Trump's bad idea and rhetoric send a shiver down my spine." While other people voting in polls agree with Donald Trump's idea but were just scared to speak up. Honestly, in my opinion I think this idea is ignorant. Think about it, not all Christians are bad and there are some people bombing abortion clinics out in the world. Not all muslims are bad. I think banning all Muslims will only cause more violence. If someone is willing to kill for their "god", then someone is willing to lie and say they are not part of the Muslim community. These people are extremist. There is a difference. 



Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Could E-cigs Give you 'Popcorn Lung'?





        E-Cigs seems to be getting more and more dangerous. 15 years ago when former workers in a microwave popcorn plant in Missouri fell sick with the irreversible disease no known as obliterative bronchiolitis (nickname: popcorn lung). It has come to people’s attention that the same chemical within that popcorn plantation is in E-cigs. This have brought upon a threat to a whole new group of people, especially young and ignorant teenage boys. The chemicals are found in flavors like “cupcake” or “cotton candy” that appeal to younger people, but that is just two of over 7,000 e-cig flavors. The suspected chemical is diacetyl, and several leading microwave popcorn brands have since pulled the chemical from their formulas. In analyzing 51 different flavored e-cigs, a team of scientists found at least one of the three top toxins- diacetyl, acetoin, and 2,3-pentanedione in 47 of the e-cigs. THIS IS SO SCARY!! I wish everyone was aware of these issues.

Fox News Suspends Two Commentators for Using Profanity While Criticizing Obama


        

        Two Fox News commentators were recently suspended for two weeks for using profanity while criticizing Obama. They simply got in trouble for speaking their minds on air, when others have much worse to say. Ralph Peters, a strategic analyst, called Obama a “totally pu*** who doesn’t want to hurt our enemies” And to follow the comment up, Stacey Dash, A Fox contributor, said the president “didn’t give a sh**” about Sunday night’s terrorism speech. The Fox senior executive, Bill Shine, addressed both of these comments as completely inappropriate and unacceptable. He said he does not allow that type of language on air and had suspended them for two weeks. Peters apologized for his actions but said he knows he has a lot of people on his side and continued to talk about a stronger military and action against ISIS. While Dash, had nothing to say besides, “Consequences. Some of us have to pay them. Gladly.” I agree and disagree with how this situation went down. I believe in freedom of speech but I also believe commentators should be mature on air and learn how to control their language. Two weeks of suspension is nothing for speaking your mind, I personally think they both feel better and it may have been worth it to get people talking about it.

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Butterfly Habitat Under Threat


        The population of monarch butterflies has declined dramatically in recent years. Will they go extinct? The milkweed population has declined, and the less milkweed results in fewer monarch butterflies. Monarchs lay their eggs exclusively on milkweed and it is the only thing the larvae or caterpillar will eat. One of the main reasons toward the decline of milkweed include the loss of forestland in Mexico. These are big changes throughout the world. 

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Mass Shooting In California

Who were Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik? 

Wednesday afternoon there was a mass shooting in San Barnido, California at a Christmas party. 14 people were killed and 17 people were injured. There has been question whether the shooters were from ISIS, and there has also been question whether there was a third suspect. Two of the suspects were discovered and killed by the police when they began shooting back at the police. The two suspects names were Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, husband and wife. The couple left their 6-month-old girl with Farook’s grandmother Wednesday and said they had a doctor’s appointment. The grandmother became concerned when she saw reports of the shooting and could not reach Farook. Farook was an American citizen, and was an environmental health specialist with the San Bernardino County health department. The party was hosted by the place where Farook worked. Apparently he was known as shy and not very talkative man, and apparently there were no indications that his job was in danger but he left the party early and came back with a gun. 

        

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

ISIS Beheads a Russian


         ISIS released a video on Wednesday morning/afternoon showing the beheading of a man that claimed he was joint the terrorist group, but in fact was a Russian spy. The member of ISIS did not only behead the spy on video but also threatened the Russian President Vladimir Putin and his country's citizens. Right before killing the Russian spy, the ISIS member says in Russian that the airstrikes ordered by Putin against the extremist group has made them understand they are doing the right thing by continuing the fight. They believe they have to return with violence. He then threatened all the Russian people, he threatened to kill all of their sons and destroy their homes. Wednesday's video was not the first time ISIS has accused a Russian of being a spy and killed them on live video. I personally just wish all of this violence would stop, there is a new thing every day.