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):

Analysis: Bin Laden death gives US reason to cheer Associated Press

Inside the raid that killed Osama bin Laden Associated Press

Official: bin Laden buried at see Associated Press

Osama bin Laden is dead, Obama says CNN

Osama bin Laden is Dead Talking Points Memo

Osama bin Laden killed in Pakistan Aljazeera

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.

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

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.

SOURCES:
'Historic' deal to avoid government shutdown- Associated Press

Government shutdown averted, White House and Republicans reach Deal- Politico

Deal at Last Minute Averts Shutdown; $38 Billion in Cuts to Spending This Year- The New York Times

Government shutdown averted: Congress agrees to budget deal, stopgap funding- The Washington Post

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

"Three Percent of Planned Parenthood's health services are abortions"

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

Taxpayers should not be funding abortions

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.

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.