In August 2012, two high school football players from Steubenville, Ohio were arrested for raping a 16 year old girl who was greatly impaired by alcohol. Although the girl never said no, she also was too drunk to say yes. The boys were easily figured out from sending pictures over twitter and text messages, causing the mother of the victim to realize what had happened. The boys claimed they were innocent and the girl was aware what happened, she just didn’t remember the next morning. This past weekend, the two boys were found guilty. Trent Mays will stay in a juvenile detention center for at least two years; one for rape and one for distributing child pornography. Ma’lik Richmond will be there for one year, on a charge of rape. The decision has been rather controversial. Some believe the punishment was too lenient, some believe it was good, and others believe the boys were wronged. The belief that the boys may have been wronged has caused much controversy, especially because CNN stated that it was hard to watch these boys have their promising lives taken away from them. The reason that this is believed by some is because the girl may have been okay with what was happening at the time, and just does not remember what she decided to do the previous night. 

The movie Argo has causes uproar from Iran. The production is based on the on the rescue of the U.S. diplomats who were taken in the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. The movie was directed by Ben Affleck, who also stared in the movie. Ben Affleck was given a Golden Globe as a director. The movie was also given the prize of “best drama movie.” Iran first was going to make a movie response to Argo. Instead, they are now choosing to sue Hollywood and the filmmakers who helped with the film. They also plan to fund a movie called “The General Staff.” The movie will be about 20 hostages from America. Press Tv has stated, “"The Iranophobic American movie attempts to describe Iranians as overemotional, irrational, insane, and diabolical while at the same, the CIA agents are represented as heroically patriotic." 

                  Just recently the TSA has decided that they will once again allow pocket knives and small knives onboard. This is the first time that this will happen since the September 11 terrorist attacks. Federal air marshals and flight attendants have asked the TSA to reconsider their decision and are very outraged by the decision. It is believed that flight attendants will then become sitting ducks and that the TSA has not learned anything from the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The knives which will be allowed will not be able to have a blade longer that 2.36 inches or 4 centimeters. At the time of the 9/11 attacks there were knives allowed that were up to 4 inches long. There are other rules which state “the blade can be no more than 1/2 inch at its widest point, it cannot have a locking or fixed blade and cannot have a molded grip. Box cutters and razor blades are still not allowed inside the passenger cabin.” They have also decided that billard cues, ski poles, hockey sticks, lacrosse sticks, and golf clubs will be allowed as carry on items. These are items which all were prohibited in the bast.  People think that because all of the advancements of security on the plane, that prohibiting such items is no longer necessary. It is now much harder to enter the cockpit. There are also air marshals on some flights and people are more educated about terrorism and what to look out for. The head of the air marshals says that he is “appalled” and that he has received about 100 calls from the other marshals who think that this decision is completely wrong. The new laws will put air marshals, federal law agents, flight attendants, pilots, and passengers at a much larger risk. There are unions of flight attendants who are also voicing their anger about the new laws. 

For many years now there has been a large war on drugs streaming through US and Mexico. It has been hard for US and Mexican authorities to stop the drug trafficking, and the new creative inventions have been making it even harder. People have used human bodies, tunnels, cars and boats to smuggle drugs from Mexico into the US. The newest idea to get these drugs across is cannons. People would fire drugs from the cannon in Mexico and people in America would then come retrieve the drugs. The DEA and other authority figures are suprised by the new creative inventions that smugglers have come up with. The cannon can fire bags and cans over the Colorado River from Mexico. There has only been one cannon that has been confiscated, but they would not be suprised to find more in the future. They believe that the cannon was firing these bags to Arizona. If the smuggelers and other people continue to come up with new ideas, it will be even harder for authorties to end this drug war that has been going on for quite sometime now.

Over the past few years, space exploration has seemed to take quite a drop in the US agenda. Federal government taxes have not been much help for the very high priced agenda of NASA. Next week a nonprofit organization, Inspiration Mars Foundation, will be having a press conference. At this conference they will announce their plans to travel to Mars in January 2018. This trip will be called “Mission for America”. They have not stated for sure that there will be people also heading to Mars instead of just a rover, but as for now it is a strong belief that man will travel to mars as well. The trip is planned to be a total of 501 and says. Tito, the founder of the organization, gave the official description as follows: “This "Mission for America" will generate new knowledge, experience and momentum for the next great era of space exploration. It is intended to encourage all Americans to believe again in doing the hard things that make our nation great, while inspiring youth through Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and motivation.” In the upcoming weeks there will be much more news about the planned trip to Mars.

While we would usually think that cops were people who we could go to if we knew of a dangerous person on the lose, this past week it has actually been an ex cop who is putting people in danger. Christopher Dorner, an ex cop from Lost Angeles, California, was fired in 2009 for making some false accusations. Over the past few weeks he has plotted murders on some his his fellow police mates and there family. As of today, Dorner has already killed three people, one of them being to cop. There has been a 1 million dollar reward placed for anybody who is able to find Dorner, although nobody has had any luck yet. The current LAPD has made the search of Dorner a huge priority for everybody they could think of. Over 50 families have been placed under foverment protection because of what is happening. Most of these families are families with a cop in them. People are calling these shootings an act of domestic terrorism.

This past weekend, Northern Ireland was struck with protests. At least 52 police officers were hurt. The reason for these protests was because of the pro-British supporters. These protests took place in Belfast and have been happening there for about a month. Atleast 70 people have already been arrested because of violence. The reason for these protests is because on December 3 it was decided that they would stop flying the British flag at Belfast City Hall. The pro-British groups felt as if it was a concession to the Republicans because they want Northern Ireland to be a part of Ireland. This is not the first time in the past year that there have been violent riots and protests in Northern Ireland. Just in September there were violent fights between the Catholic and Protestant communities. Even these riots left numerous officers hurt. Hopefully in the near future Northern Ireland will be able to become closer to a stable and peaceful country, but as of right now there is much political unrest. 

After looking through news websites for 15 minutes, it was hard to not pick an article having to do with the recent shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. One of the most interesting articles I found was about a comment that was said to be made by Morgan Freeman. The truth is that Freeman did not make the statement or have any knowledge of it. The statement that was written was an anti-media statement, blaming them for the shooting. I find it odd that this was attributed to Morgan Freeman, for false information is usually negative instead of positive. Somewhere along the way, it was said that Freeman made this statement, showing that news sources are not always reliable. 
I personally believe that this statement is somewhat true. American media makes a huge deal about the negative things that happen in the world. Of course the shooting is a tragedy, but Adam Lanza will forever be someone who's name will be remembered. Pictures of the Virginia Tech shooter or the videos of 9/11 attacks are something that almost any American citizen can recognize, while many people would not be able to recognize the picture of someone who has saved many lives. I know that there must be some attention towards the recent tragedy, but people who commit these awful crimes are getting what they want. They are getting attention from the whole world. The shooting has once again brought more attention towards gun safety and regulation. Many actors and celebrities are stating their beliefs, especially direction Michael Moore who wrote Bowling for Columbine. This movie was one that talked greatly about the effects of the media on killers such as Dylan Klebold, Eric Harris, and now Adam Lanza. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/morgan-freeman-didn-write-anti-media-diatribe-article-1.1221958

    Paris Hilton has recently opened up a store in Mecca, the Muslim holy city in Saudi Arabia. Mecca is a city which attracts about three million Muslims every year. They are expected to make a pilgrimage to Mecca if they have the opportunity. This is not the first time that Mecca has seen luxurious stores, or even stores that carry clothing which is far from conservative.  The reason that many people are not accepting Hilton’s new store is because of her own personal image. In Hilton’s past she has been known to do scandalous things; things which are not acceptable in Saudi Arabia or the Muslim faith. Some people are also upset because they believe that the holy city of Mecca has become too commercialized by brands like Gucci and Christian Dior. Paris Hilton did have a reason to open her store in Mecca. Saudi Arabia has a high income rate, where many people have extra money to spend on designer clothes. Hilton believed that if she were to open a store in Mecca she would be able to gain money and the attention of supporters who had never seen many of her clothes before.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/20/world/meast/paris-hilton-store-mecca/index.html