Sunday, May 1, 2011

Osama Bin Laden has been killed (UPDATED SOURCES)


Emergency blog post sequence initiated.

This is incredibly late considering news that Osama bin Laden had been killed hit around 7:30PM.

Osama bin Laden has been killed.

He was found in a mansion near Abbottabad, Pakistan

This area has been referred to as a suburb of Islamabad, Pakistan and home to retired generals

A team of U.S. Navy SEALs on the ground engaged bin Laden

Bin Laden was shot in the head during a firefight

U.S. forces have taken custody of bin Laden's body

President Obama addressed the nation

Watch the video, it's short and important



Obama made a few key points that I think are worth posting:

"We must reaffirm the United States is not and never will be at war with Islam. I have made clear, just as President Bush did shortly after 9-11, our war is not against Islam. He was not a Muslim leader. He was a mass murderer of Muslims. Al Qaeda slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own. His demise should be welcomed by those who believe in peace and human dignity."

Referred to the United States as a single family, thus affirming the need for unity at this time

The Obama administration had acquired information about Osama Bin Laden's whereabouts in late August of last year

It is remarkable that this information has only just now gotten out

The White House has buffed up security around the country and is warning about potential counter attacks

Right now it is unclear what will happen with al Qaeda in the wake of Osama bin Laden's death

Anti-American sentiment is expected to rise

Al Qaeda has lost its first in command, but it is unclear if this will affect the already fragmented group

Will he become a martyr for the cause and in turn up recruitment to the terrorist organization?

Will this demoralize Al Qaeda and drop recruitment rates?

Right now I certainly do not know.





Sources (these are all links):
Osama bin Laden is Dead Talking Points Memo


Monday, April 18, 2011

Request Wednesday!

Guess what, fine readers. News for College kids, the blog, is now News for College Kids the email address! That email address is of course, newsforcollegekids@gmail.com.

Now, here's what I have planned for that email. You (the reader) probably hear about the news from other sources and catch glimpses of stories that sound interesting or that you want to know more about. If you email your questions (about a current event, recent story, or topic you would like to know more about) I'll write up a post about the question you send me! I'll post these on Wednesdays, hence, Request Wednesdays!

A regular post about real news will be up later this tonight (I mean this week).

Thanks for reading.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Egypt and its transition from revolution!

Protesters gather at Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo


Oh, funny seeing you here, reader.


Want to hear about Egypt and the revolution it had? I know you can't hear me. Just read it. I typed it out for you.


Let's start off with a little comparison:


1981-January 2011: President Hosni Mubarak is the President of Egypt


1981-January 2011: Jimmy Carter is president. Ronald Reagan is president.  George H. W. Bush is president. Bill Clinton is president. George W. Bush is president. Barack Obama is president.


That's 30 years, you guys. 30 YEARS.


During this time Egypt faced poverty, high unemployment, and government corruption


Also, Mubarak rigged elections but that seems obvious since he was in power for 30 YEARS (THIRTY YEARS)


January 25: It's Police day in Egypt! A national holiday to commemorate the police!


January 25: It's a "Day of Rage" in Egypt! A time where Egyptians flooded Tahrir Square in Cairo  and protested the government while calling for Mubarak to step down.


The protests were a youth-led movement. (You hear that youth? What have you done lately? Huh?)


Tahrir Square, also known as Liberation Square, is in downtown Cairo and is where most of the protests took place. 


Protests continue and police use tear gas, water cannons, and batons to discourage crowds from protesting.


As the protests continue, police and Egyptians across the country fight with rocks and firebombs.


Egyptians call for Mubarak to step down, but he refuses.


Mubarak fires his entire cabinet in a "Is this enough for you?" move to appease Egyptians.


Egyptians not amused.


Internet and cell phone services are disrupted by the government during the protests to prevent communication between young, Twitter savvy protesters


February 1: Mubarak gives a speech. It goes a little like this.


  Mubarak: "Hi, I'm not running for re-election."


  Egyptian Protestors: "HELL NO YOU'RE NOT. YES!"


  Mubarak: "But I'm not stepping down."


  Egyptian Protestors:" >:[ "


  Mubarak: "Also, I didn't really want power, you guys, I was just doing my job."











During the protests, pro-Mubarak forces (police officers dressed in civilian clothes) fired on protestors and whipped protestors from atop the horses and camels they were riding.


No joke there. There was a tactical camel crowd control unit. 


Seriously.


February 11: Mubarak resigns and hands over power to the army!


The army is well respected and promises to help with the transition. 


The army says it will hold elections in September.


Mubarak denies he did anything wrong as he hides from Egyptians.


Prosecutors in Egypt call in Mubarak for interrogation.


Mubarak has a heart attack right before this interview.


Mubarak and his sons are detained by Egyptian authorities.


They will appear before a court in Cairo on April 19.


That's the story so far!


Below is a great video about the people involved in the movement and it also has footage of Tahrir Square after protests and clashes between protestors and the police/pro-Mubarak forces. The place looked like a warzone.







SOURCES:
Egypt: Seeds of change - People & Power - Al Jazeera English
Egyptian Prosecutors to Question Mubarak - The Wall Street Journal
Hosni Mubarak has heart attack before questioning
Mubarak and sons detained in Egypt- Al Jazeera English
Mubarak Denies Corruption and Defends His Legacy- The New York Times
Timeline: Egypt's revolution- Al Jazeera

Friday, April 8, 2011

Crisis averted!





Ho ho ho, dear readers,

Crisis averted! Huzzah! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! Go visit that national park you love and renew that passport, because you can! Probably. What happened before the government shutdown? How did we avoid assured disaster?  

At 11:20PM a stopgap resolution was passed after negotiations between Harry Reid, John Boehner, and President Obama

Negotiations yielded a proposed budget that would cut $38 billion out of the fiscal year

Fiscal year ends in about 6 months.

This will buy enough time to finalize the budget that was negotiated

Proposed budget will cut $38 billion this year

And cut $500 billion in the next decade

Planned Parenthood is safe, for now

EPA safe too

Funds for education programs kept

Pentagon gets $514 billion, a $5.3 billion increase! Score. The Pentagon can finally finish its dog shaped back pack holder. (It's so agile!) 

Watch out Defense, you're not free from the cuts

Foreign aid to be cut by $40 billion

This savings is to be kept under the presidential mattress in case of emergencies

So far, a budget hasn't been passed into law but one is on the way. There's more time to negotiate it thanks to the stopgap resolution that we weren't supposed to get. The government lives another day.



Government Shutdown Update









Good evening, 


I'm here to give you all the information I have on the government shutdown. The government will shut down if a budget is not passed. Without a budget, there is no way to fund the government and many of its services will stop. The last time this happened was in 1996 under the Clinton administration. This shutdown was led by Newt Gingrich, a current Senator and potential presidential candidate.


Why don't we have a budget?
The fiscal budget for 2011 was supposed to be passed in October, 2010


Harry Reid pulled the budget off the Senate floor, preventing a vote


Why. . .why would he do that?


        Left Leaning Opinion:    
Harry Reid faced a filibuster from Republicans in the senate that would have stalled other legislation


This would have wasted time in the Senate when other pressing issues needed to be dealt with


Instead of dealing with a filibuster that would have wasted valuable time, he pulled the budget from a vote


       Right Leaning Opinion:
Democrats had a majority in the Senate and could have passed the bill anyway


Harry Reid and President Obama failed as leaders to organize their party to vote


What have we been doing without a budget?
Congress has been passing "stop gap resolutions"


These resolutions have funded the government about 1-2 weeks at a time


The U.S. government has basically been given an allowance so it can go out on Friday nights and buy snacks at lunch


Why don't I get my allowance? You guys are the worst parents ever and I hate you. (Why aren't we passing any more resolutions?)


President Obama has promised to veto any new stopgap resolutions


This will force Congress to pass a budget by midnight tonight


At midnight tonight, the last stopgap resolution will stop funding the government


No more money for many government services, except those deemed essential


Papa Obama is putting his foot down


But what am I going to do without a budget!? I totally have stuff to buy and I need my allowance and I still hate you
(What happens if the government shuts down?)


The already fragile economy will take a huge hit and possibly fall into another recession


800,000 Federal workers that are considered nonessential will not receive their pay or they will be furloughed


Essential workers like soldiers and Postal Workers will have to work
Soldiers will get back pay or half a paycheck for the month, postal workers will most likely not be paid


Nonessential military personnel will not be paid


National parks, museums, and monuments will close


Passports and visas will not be processed


Small businesses contracted by the government will not receive their pay


Veterans' benefits and claims will be delayed


Garbage will not be collected in Washington D.C.


Loans for small businesses and homes will be halted


No processing of tax refunds 


What isn't affected?


FEDERAL STUDENT AID CONTINUES


Social Security still goes out


Congress men and women will still get paid
(wtf why: the government is bound by the Constitution to pay members of Congress)


Why haven't we passed a budget?


Riders on the bill have split Democrats and Republicans


The riders, if passed, will

  • defund Planned Parenthood
  • defund the Affordable Healthcare Act
  • defund the EPA
  • defund a program that subsidizes lunches for low income students
But. . .I love lunch.

Well, too bad. 

The most contentious issue at the moment is funding Planned Parenthood.

     Left Leaning Opinion:

Planned Parenthood provides vital health services to women, especially low income women

PP provides family planning services and provides birth control and contraception to the masses


The Hyde Amendment prevents any federal funding given to PP to be used for performing abortions

     Right Leaning Opinion:

Planned Parenthood performs abortions which are morally wrong




PP profits off of performing abortions


PP is the largest abortion provider in the U.S.


"Abortions account for 90% of Planned parenthood's service"
-Sen. John Kyl


Cutting funding to PP will be cutting spending and saving the government money


As of this moment, talks about a budget are still ongoing. There may be a three day resolution to temporarily avert a government shutdown. 


I'll keep you posted and update you throughout the night if crisis is averted or imminent. If there's anything you think I missed or need to know, leave a comment and I'll answer as soon as possible.




SOURCES:
News on the budget:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/04/08/congress.budget/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SPENDING_SHOWDOWN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-04-08-19-17-33


What happens during government shutdown
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/07/10-things-that-could-ruin-your-day-if-the-government-shuts-down/

http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/04/07/government.shutdown.list/index.html

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2011/02/22/what-a-government-shutdown-would-look-like

Planned Parenthood and the Budget
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SPENDING_SHOWDOWN_PLANNED_PARENTHOOD?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-04-08-19-01-16

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/who-we-are/planned-parenthood-glance-5552.htm






Developing Shutdown

Dear everyone,


Hey, how are you? Good, great. So, the government might partially shutdown at midnight tonight. Last night, Obama said he expected word from Congress in the morning. That word is: "Well . . ." The government is still on track for a shutdown. I'll have the full write up around 5, since this story is still developing. Until then, here are the key players:


President Barack Obama



  • President of the United States
  • Potential Muslim/Immigrant/Terror hybrid sent to destroy the United States
  • Has a lot of street cred for smoking marijuana
  • Has promised to veto any short term budget solutions known as "stopgap resolutions" and "CRs" or "Continuing Resolutions" forcing Congress to pass a budget to avoid government shutdown
House Speaker John Boehner
  • Speaker of the House, the bigger chamber of Congress
    • Fun fact: The House of Representatives has 435 members, not including the "delegates" from American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, and Guam who have no voting rights
  • Insists his name is pronounced "Bay-ner" not "Boner"
  • Cries on camera at least once a week
  • Republican from the 8th District of Ohio. 
  • Leader of the Republican majority in the House
Senate Majority LeaderHarry Reid

  • Majority Leader in the Senate, the small  chamber of Congress with 100 members
  • Democrat, from Nevada
  • Probably pretty good at poker
  • Pretty much has this attitude the entire work day (see picture above)
  • Decides which bills are presented in the Senate, thus setting the priority of bills as he sees fit
    • Will pull a bill off the floor of the Senate if it has no chance of passing or if it will be filibustered (held up with talking)
  • Was majority leader in October 2010 when the budget for this year should have been passed
    Representative Mike Pence 

    • Looks good in pictures
    • Original proponent of defunding Planned Parenthood
    • Still wants to defund it
    • Republican representative of Indiana's 6th District. 
    Obama, Reid, and Boehner have been discussing the budget and ways to avoid government shutdown. 

    The shutdown will occur if no budget is decided on and passed. 

    One of the biggest issues at this point is a rider on the budget bill that asks for the defunding of Planned Parenthood. 
             Riders are add-ons to bills that are often unrelated to the main word of the bill

    Republicans are adamant on defunding Planned Parenthood since it will cut spending. 

    Democrats believe it will do more harm than good by eliminating healthcare services for women across the country and only saves a small amount of money.


    I'll do my best to keep you updated.

    Thursday, April 7, 2011

    Government Shutdown!

    Approximately 29 hours until government shutdown, everyone!


     I'll have a full write-up tomorrow, but just so you know, if we don't get a budget by midnight on Friday lots of bad stuff will happen. That's a federal government shutdown, not state government.


    Brace yourselves. 

    Wednesday, April 6, 2011

    Libya Mini-Update

    A middle of the week update is here! A small update on the Libya situation straight from Gaddafi himself! Today, Gaddafi sent a letter directly to President Obama. Here are some of the highlights. 

    Gadhafi misspelled Obama's name "Baraka Hussein Abu oumama"

    Qaddafi referred to Obama as "our son" and "excellency"

    Qaddaffi referred to himself as "Leader of the Revolution"

    He also wished  Obama good luck in the 2012 election. Gaddafi/Obama 2012 maybe?

    Gaddafi had an interesting take on the whole situation:

    "Our dear son, Excellency, Baraka Hussein Abu oumama, your intervention is the name of the U.S.A. is a must, so that Nato would withdraw finally from the Libyan affair"

    An unverified source says that Gaddafi then wrote: 

    "Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?"

    (EDIT) The unverified source was me and I lied. Gaddaffi didn't say that.

    This is not related to the letter but, Gaddafi gets his name spelled a different way in every article I read. Gadhafi. Qaddafi. Khadafi. Qaddaffi.

    It seems like all the missiles and airstrikes have scared Gaddafi to the point where he has thrown away all sense of reason and grammar to appeal to President Obama. I recommend just reading the article posted below for the full story. 

    Good luck out there and remember to proofread.

    Source:

    Monday, April 4, 2011

    Wisconsin and Public Unions

    The Wisconsin Capitol building occupied by opponents of the bill



         Hello everyone. There's a few quick things to get through before getting into the story. These are the things you should know for this story:


    Governor Scott Walker: Governor of Wisconsin, Republican, strong supporter of bill, originally introduced bill


    David Koch: Billionaire, Conservative, industrialist who allegedly funds the Tea Party movement and certain conservative elected officials


    People affected by the Wisconsin Bill: Teachers, municipal workers, librarians, garbage collectors, university professors


    People not affected: Policemen, firefighters, state troopers


    Republicans in Wisconsin State legislature: 19


    Democrats in Wisconsin State legislature: 14
                       
      And now, for Wisconsin news:


    Due to the deficit in Wisconsin, a budget repair bill was proposed by Gov. Scott Walker


    Bill includes provision that limits collective bargaining rights for some and completely eliminates them for others.


    This provision would prevent most state workers from negotiating their wages.


    Bill also proposes cutting wages of public workers while having them contribute to their pensions and healthcare plans.


    Public unions agree to wage cuts and contributing to benefits if they can keep collective bargaining rights.


    NO DEAL.


    To prevent the bill from passing, the 14 Democrats in the state legislature flee the state.


    One Democrat almost caught after arranging a "conjugal visit" with his wife.


    Public workers, students, and other supporters occupy capitol building in protest.


    Totally sweet drum circle ensues.


    Gov. Walker claims that layoffs will happen if Democrats don't return.

    Editor of Buffalo Beast Ian Murphy pretends to be David Koch and calls Walker.


     I'm sorry about the title of this video.

    "Koch" says after Walker "crushes the Democrat bastards" he'll fly him out to California for a good time.

    "Koch" says he'll plant troublemakers into the crowds of protesters. 

    Walker said he already thought of that. Great minds think alike.

    Republicans in Wisconsin pass the bill without Democrats.

    Open meeting laws require that laws are passed in areas open to the public and that there is public notice of the act.

    Passing of the bill violates open meeting laws?

    Court answers question above by preventing law from taking effect.

    Other states like Ohio plan to pass the same type of law.

    And there you have it. Wisconsin might stop public unions and other states are doing the same. The fate of the rights public workers is in the hands of the courts now.

    The following video was produced, filmed, and edited by two college students and their type of reporting is in line with the goals of this blog! So, here is their video.



    Sources:
    Power to limit unions

    Open Meeting Laws

    Collective Bargaining

    General Wisconsin Timeline and news









    Sunday, April 3, 2011

    Infrequent update about updates!

    Tomorrow will be a breakdown of the Wisconsin protests! U.S. news about labor unions, wages, and legislation. It is old news, but important news nonetheless.

    Friday, April 1, 2011

    Libya!

                                               Rebel commander leading men into battle.


    Ok, the situation in Libya. I'm going to break it down into bite sized pieces for now and I'll then post sources and links for your viewing pleasure.

    Tunisia and Egypt have revolutions which spark movements around the middle east and north Africa.

    Libyan people begin protesting the power of their leader, Muammar Gaddafi February 14, 2011.

    Gaddafi has been in power 40 years.

    Gaddafi claims that protesters are being given "hallucination pills" that make them protest.

    Nelly Furtado admits to having received money to perform for Gaddafi's son.

    Beyonce, Usher, and Mariah Carey also admit to this.

    Nelly Furtado donates the money to charity.

    Beyonce, Usher, and Mariah Carey don't.

    Gaddafi arms civilians to fight rebels.

    Gaddafi promises to slay rebels.

    Rebels call for help from western nations.

    As rebels fight Gaddafi's forces,  oil prices shoot up since Libya is an oil rich country.

    Obama helps create a coalition of the Arab League, NATO, and the U.N. to end Gaddafi's slaughter of Libyans.

    March 22, 2011: Operation Odyssey Dawn begins and the U.S. launches 122 tomahawk missiles from submarines off the coast of Libya.

    England fires 4.

    U.S. assures people there will be no ground troops in Libya.

    March 28, 2011: Obama addresses Libya issue in speech.

    If you have any questions or concerns, say so in the comments! You can comment with a gmail account if you don't have a blogspot. I'll be happy to answer questions or hunt down more information.

    Sources:
    Pictures of rebels
    http://apimages.ap.org/Search.aspx?st=det&sort=date&ids=Mideast%20Libya&showact=events&prds=10135&intv=3d&sh=10&kwstyle=or&adte=1301515186&pagez=20&cfasstyle=AND&

    Libya and oil
    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OIL_PRICES_LIBYA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

    Operation Details
    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AF_LIBYA_MAINBAR?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

    http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/login/Article_2011-03-22-AF-Libya/id-68f627f0783a46fb9acf112bfa0c8860

    Obama's Speech
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUXEiwJiKj4

    Thursday, March 31, 2011

    Whoa

    Totally dropped the ball already! I'm going to switch the update to Mondays and Fridays. It seems that I didn't have this whole blog thing planned out too well. First update will still be Libya.

    Monday, March 28, 2011

    News for College Kids is coming soon!


    Hello everyone! Welcome to what will be News for College Kids. First, a little back-story on how I came up with this idea and what my goals are with this blog.
    I’m a second year, political science major and I am constantly plugged in to CNN, the Associated Press, and a slew of websites leaning to the left and the right. As I read, I try to get the facts, the authors’ biases, and a few quick quotes so that I can hold my own when talking about a subject. Something I’ve witnessed a lot is how little college students around me know about the world outside of this campus, state, and country. I’ve heard people completely unaware of the situations in Egypt or even oblivious to shifting majorities in the House of Representatives. When I ask people why they didn’t know, the biggest reason I heard is, “I don’t have time for the news.” When I heard that from a student in a class that was about current events I sat back and thought about it.
                I don’t blame students for not reading the news. We’re all busy people and we all don’t have fluffy liberal arts majors that require us to keep up with the news. Some people have heavy math and science oriented majors that really do not leave any time for news. Some have heavy reading loads that barely leave time for the things they actually like doing. My goal with this blog is to get students and people who don’t regularly read the news to start slowly getting to know the world around them. The world beyond the syllabus we constantly look at for reading assignments and all those essays we don’t do until the night before.
                With each post, excluding this one of course, I will take a news story that people around me don’t know about or want to learn more about. I’ll break down the story into the main points, good quotes, and little snippets of the article. I’ll do my best to include sources for left, right, and neutral bias articles. By doing this, I hope people will read beyond what they’re used to reading. All those Fox News watchers can look at a New York Times article and all those Huffington Post readers can take a look at a conservative web magazine like Townhall. For neutral articles, I’ll use the Associated Press because it is, in most cases, truly objective and straightforward. My goal is to get college students to start reading and talking about the news and to challenge their beliefs.  
                I’ll do my best to update every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The first update will be about Libya and why the U.S. bombed it.
                Read some news, think about it, talk to someone about it, and challenge yourself!

    If you want to hear about a particular story, just say so in the comments!