Caitlynne Simonton

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/three-years-later-sandy-hook-parents-continue-fight-for-change/
 Three years ago today, a horrible and deadly tragedy befell the students of Sandy Hook Elementary School, their friends and families, and our nation as a whole. We wept with those who were hurting after a insane terrorist entered the school and created one of the deadliest mass-shootings that our country has ever seen. The parents who lost their beloved children on that day have since been fighting for a change in gun regulation because there is an almost unbelievably high amount of deaths as a result of gun violence. In the days since the attack on Sandy Hook alone, there have been around 555 children killed at the hand of a gun. The trend in mass shootings has only gone up. The parents are saying that the time to act is now because this isn't going to just go away.

The movement to stop reckless gun violence and tighten gun control reminds me of the American Temperance Society that was active in the U.S. in the 1820's. Their goal was to completely stop the consumption of alcohol as they believed that it would lead to a decrease in violence and slovenliness and an increase in peace and happiness and success as a society.

This movement is in its earlier steps and its unclear as to whether it is likely to fall or fly. Hopefully, unlike the efforts made my the American Temperance Society, it will go far and have a huge positive impact on our society and eventually the world. I believe that an increase in gun regulation will impart a monumental change for the better.

Some Shiks starting to feel it's time to join with Muslims Rodney McDonald 9

Darsh Singh and his wife Lakhpreet Kaur are Shiks but their picture has been used for an anti-muslim meme. They feel that because of this meme they should join with muslims to stop the Islamic rhetoric that anyone with brown skin and a turban is of the muslim faith. They are Shiks a faith completely different than islam. "When rhetoric like this goes around it's our job to help...we can't sit on the sidelines."

This Islamaphobia has got to stop. This only seems that this incident could be caused from ignorance of religion. I can't tell if we need to educate them or just shut 'em up.

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20151214-sikhs-feel-vulnerable-join-with-muslims-to-combat-backlash.ece

Alexis Williams -Boycott Against the New Star Wars Movie

         There's been lots of talk about the new Star Wars movie. Though there been lots of love and people can't wait to see it, other oppose it. They say that since one of the main characters (John Boyega) is Africa American, it encourages white genocide. People have started the hashtag on Twitter #whitegenocide.
         I immediately linked this to the civil tights movement in the 1960s. This is just awful how people are going against such a great film for such a dumb reason. In the civil rights movement many blacks sacrificed lots of things for their rights. Many were injured or killed. People like Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks or even groups like the little rock nine who fought long and hard to get to where we are today. It was very tough especially in those times with things like the KKK and other racist people in America trying to hinder them from being equal. It's so sad that all that hard work and effort and fighting got us here. Where people can't deal with an African American man in a movie.

source:
http://denver.cbslocal.com/2015/10/19/people-on-twitter-claim-the-new-star-wars-movie-promotes-white-genocide/

NASA Satellite- Carli Copell Per.6

NASA Satellite images show most polluted countries in the world

This article is talking about a satellite that NASA has come up with to show us the most polluted countries. Nitrogen Dioxide is a common emission given off by factories and many manufacturing agency's that are found in cities. This creates the  brown haze w see hovering over the city, smog.

Synthesis:
This is a very important topic to bring up. If we keep living like this, and producing more and more pollutants into our world and cutting down trees and plants that provide oxygen for us, we will eventually run out. We cant keep living like this. This can not only relate to the past but to our future. If we don't stop now it will only get worse.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/16/world/nasa-air-quality-maps/index.html

Bill Cosby sues 7 women for defamation -Bob Cummins, Period 6

       Cosby counter-sued seven of the women who sued him on charges of defamation.  Cosby is suing on the defense that they were the ones that defamed him; because of their charges, they hurt his clean family reputation and caused NBC to pull the plug on the sitcom Cosby was planning.  Cosby's lawyer calls their accusations "malicious, opportunistic, and false and defamatory."  The lawyer of the women, Joseph Cammarata, said on Monday that his clients wanted to take the issue to court, saying that it's strange that Cosby only filed against these seven, "when there are scores of other women who have made similar allegations."  Because of these accusations, Cosby has lost awards, money, and shows.
       The way I see it, there's no way Cosby can be innocent of these crimes.  Never has he actually said, "No, I did not do that," and he gets uneasy whenever the subject is brought up.  Now it would be ridiculous if the claims from all over 40 of these women were true.  Obviously some are just opportunistic and want money or attention, but Cosby's lawyers are in for it in court.  Their point about defamation is rendered completely useless if it turns out that he actually raped women.  This situation is similar to that of Andrew Jackson's situation when he was running against John Quincy Adams, whose supporters told rumors about him to defame him; it's also strangely similar to the many accusations of Andrew Johnson from those who impeached him.  Some were true, but others were probably lies to hurry the coming sacking of Johnson.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/14/us/bill-cosby-sues-accusers/index.html

Brooks Norton 4th Period

Recently, thanks to social media, particularly Facebook and Twitter, political protests in the US are becoming more coordinated and unified. Students at Boston College have been creating and distributing information throughout the country on how to have an effective protest against institutionalized racism in colleges. Their distribution efforts have been very successful, as many colleges across the country have now tried their ideas.
College students have always been political protesters in the US, starting with joining the fight for the American Revolution in the late seventeen hundreds to the Civil Rights movement of the sixties. Hopefully this generation of political protesters will be able to get things changed in this country as their predecessors did.
 http://www.npr.org/2015/12/13/459514516/campus-protesters-across-the-country-swap-ideas-information 

Trump rises to 41%- Simon Waranch 3rd period

Everyone thought Trump was going down when Ben Carson took the lead a couple weeks ago, Last week, after Trump announced that he wanted to ban all muslim travel to the US, his poles skyrocketed. Earlier this week, a new national pole says that Trump has 41% of the republican vote. This pole put Ted Cruiz at second with 14%.

This is scary to think that a man as crazy as Donald Trump could have 41% of the republican voters. Donald Trump is a openly racist, he has said that we should build a wall on the border to stop immigrants from getting in, he has also said numerous incredibly negative comments toward women. His newest comment is to ban All muslim travel to the US. That is a big statement, saying that 1.6 billion people can't travel to the US? how can he be the number 1 republican? How can people actually support what this man is saying. The truth is, if Trump was elected as the republican nominee, that wouldn't be that bad. I think when it comes down to it, Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders would beat Trump in the election.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/14/politics/donald-trump-new-poll-monmouth/index.html