Trump mocks man with Disability

When Trump referred to Kovaleski's reporting during a speech this week in Myrtle Beach, he was trying to make the point that he witnessed thousands of Arab-Americans in Jersey City celebrating the attacks of 9/11. To this, Kovaleski said he never witnessed this at all. Trump mocked Kovaleski, hunching his shoulders and moving his arms in imitation of the reporter and saying "the poor guy. You ought to see this guy. 'Oh, I don't know what I said! Ah, I don't remember!" When this offended many people and made headlines, he responded with, "They said I was mocking him. I would never mock a person that has difficulty. I would never do that, I'm telling you. I would never do it. I made a statement that - I was talking about groveling - a reporter was groveling. He took back a statement he wrote 14 years ago." Moral of the story, Trump refused to take anything back. He kept saying "This guy doesn't even know me. Give me a break.", calling it disgraceful that he would use his condition in this context. He says, "The Times is a disgusting newspaper and CNN in particular is extremely unfair in their coverage of my campaign. I think the NY Times frankly should give me an apology. I'd love to have it before they go out of business." Yikes. This story hits all the spots. News coverage slamming the guy in the spotlight for mocking someone with a disability and him calling them out right back. Sometimes this all goes a little too far. How is this even news? He was trying to make a point about Arab-Americans and somehow we end up in a discussion about people with disabilities. This is why I hate the news. It never seems to really talk about the issues we have at hand. Its ridiculous. Obviously he was making fun of him, clearly that is wrong, but why is this headline news instead of what Trump's speech was actually about? 

Carson's stance on refugees

In his recent interview with Brianna Keilar, Carson announced that he believes Syrian refugees would be happier if they relocated to another part of Syria instead of in the U.S. "The thing that I really learned in listening to the refugees themselves is their intense desire is to return to their country and repatriated," Carson said. He goes on to say, "There's so many people who think the ideal for everybody is to come to America and be resettled here but that is not the ideal for everybody and we need to be looking at mechanisms that already exist. Why do you want to recreate the wheel when you have something that's working? Let's maximize that and then let's think about if we need recreate other wheels." He supports spending more money to aid the refugee camps, rather than resettling small numbers of those refugees. He says that getting them money is what is really important. He said refugees told him that "their desire, their true desire is to be resettled in Syria." I personally believe that if that is true, that what they really want is to be in Syria, but adequately funded to make living there better, then that's what we should do. However, I really don't think that's the case. Syria is an unstable place and no amount of money that we donate is going to fix the problems they have there. So, even though Carson supports sending money and not taking refugees in, I really don't think that's the best option. There are a lot of Americans though that would prefer to have no refugees come into our country and so I think that this idea that Carson supports will be popular among a lot of Americans. 

Gun Violence Again in Question

On Sunday, there was a shooting in Colorado at a Planned Parenthood clinic. Three people were killed and nine were wounded. The governor of Colorado declared it an "act of terrorism". The gunman was Robert L. Dear Jr., who surrendered and is currently held without bond. John Hickenlooper made a connection between this shooting and the mass shooting at the black church in Charleston. We, as Americans in a free country, once again go head to head with the issue of how far our own personal rights go. Should we let people have guns, knowing the risk it presents to the public if one person goes off the deep end? We are forced to think about events like at Columbine High School and the Aurora Theater and wonder if it's worth it. Mike Huckabee also calls this event a form of domestic terrorism. At the church where one of the killed victims attended, church goers and priests prayed for the shooter, Mr. Dear. Mr. Dear will appear in court on Monday and face charges of murder and hate crime. Mr. Dear was caught in an interview rambling about "no more baby parts" after his arrest. No one can determine the specific motivation yet. Vicki Cowart is the President of Planned Parenthood in the Rockies and blames much of the tension against abortion clinics on government officials. Huckabee said, “There’s no excuse for killing other people, whether it’s happening inside the Planned Parent headquarters, inside their clinics, where many millions of babies die, or whether it’s people attacking Planned Parenthood." I personally support what Huckabee is saying. I agree that this event is unacceptable. I'm also against Planned Parenthood. It's hard to say how to fix either issue. Gun violence can't be prevented if everyone has the right to bear arms. Abortion can't be prevented if it is legal. What's the right answer? Everyone has a different opinion. 

Democrat wins Louisiana governor's race

Democrat John Bel Edwards won Louisiana governor's race. He became the first Democratic governor to win election in the Deep South in 12 years, countering the prevailing narrative in recent years that Democrats have lost the ability to win in that portion of the country. Edwards says, "This election shows us that the people of Louisiana in a time of deep cynicism about our politics, and also about our future, that the people have chosen hope over scorn, over negativity." Even though he probably owes a lot of his election to the fact that his opponent was involved in an 8 year scandal with prostitution. Senator Vitter had been struggling from the beginning of this bid about his reported history with hookers. In 2007, he apologized for committing "a serious sin" after his phone number appeared on the client list of Deborah Jeane Palfrey, known as the "D.C. Madam." Democrats tried to make it an issue in his 2010 re-election bid. But in a heavily Republican year, he skated to victory. A state trial lawyers' group ran an independent spot prior to the October 24 all-party "jungle primary" hitting Vitter for the alleged past solicitation.Other Republican rivals endorsed Edwards to keep Vitter out. Vitter's campaign tried to change the subject by talking about controversy over whether Syrian refuges should be allowed into the United States. Edwards' position, opposing resettlement on American soil, was almost exactly the same as Vitter's, but didn't talk about it. Republicans said they will keep control of the Legislature.

Paris Attacks

On Friday, November 13th, Paris was attacked by ISIS. It was catastrophic and deadly and hundreds of innocent people were killed by gunshot or explosions. Now, much of the focus has moved to President Barack Obama. He warned of the long road that lies ahead in the global effort to defeat ISIS. "It's going to be a multiyear task," he said at a regional conference in the Philippines. "And we're not going to be able to fully succeed in eliminating their safe havens until we have a political settlement of some sort in Syria."

The U.S. House of Representatives approved pausing the processing of Syrian refugees by insisting certification by the Secretary of Homeland Security. Democrats are ignoring White House pleas to oppose the bill, which is giving Republicans enough support to have a veto-proof majority. It's unknown when the Senate would take up the bill, but Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid has said his caucus will block the bill from passing in the Senate. Then, there's the issue of the ISIS threat to attack NYC. They haven't failed in their attacks yet and its terrifying to think that New York could be next. ISIS released a video Wednesday warning of the impending attack. Mayor Bill de Blasio said police are "taking all necessary precautions" in areas shown in the video and throughout the city. As if the police would actually be able to stop a full blown ISIS attack on the major city. "Stoking fear is the goal of terrorist organizations," he said, "but New York City will not be intimidated." In ISIS' Dabiq magazine, the terrorist group includes a list of the latest attacks for which it claims responsibility, including the downing the Russian passenger plane in Sinai, the suicide attacks in Lebanon and the attacks in Paris .If they can't be stopped, what will happen next? So far, they have been extremely successful in recruiting and carrying out their plans. If they successfully attack NYC, I don't want to know what will happen next...

Americans TV News

What might be seen as the top 10 facts a person can learn from this article?  Aim for a mix of facts that are surprising, obvious-but-important, or important for policymakers to take into account.

1. Almost three out of four U.S. adults (71%) watch local television news and 65% view network newscasts over the course of a month.

2.The largest portion of Americans watch local and network TV news at home, those who tune into cable news do so for an average of 25 minutes a day.

3. There is a very large gap between the heaviest news consumers and everyone else.

4. The most dedicated cable news viewers average 72 minutes, more than an hour, of home viewing a day. That compares with about 32 minutes for the heaviest network news viewers and 22 minutes for the most engaged local news audience.

5. Fully 90% of network news viewers also watch local news and 82% of local news viewers also tune in to network news. The result is that more than half (58%) of U.S. adults watch both network and local news.

6. Even the heavy viewers of local and network news spend more time watching cable news than they do watching network and local news.

7. The Nielsen data clearly indicate that those who watch television news on one platform are likely to watch it on another—particularly when it comes to broadcast news. The greatest overlap occurs between local and network newscasts, which often are on the same channel.

8. More than half of adult Americans watch more than one form of television news. The biggest cross platform viewing involves the broadcast platforms, with 58% of the adult population watching both local and network news.

9. The three major cable news competitors differ somewhat in their viewership levels, with CNN reaching 20% of U.S. adults, Fox News reaching 18% and MSNBC reaching 14%.

10. There is even more crossover viewing when it comes to CNN. Slightly more than half (54%) of MSNBC viewers watch CNN, while 44% of Fox News viewers tune in to CNN. Healthy segments of the CNN audience also watch Fox News (39%) and MSNBC (38%).

Israel Political Party Project

Israel is a Parliamentary system

"The Prime Minister of Israel is the head of government and leader of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in the Knesset. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The political system of the State of Israel and its main principles are set out in 11 Basic Laws. Israel does not have a written constitution."

Israel's political system, based on proportional representation, allows the 120-seat Knesset.

There are currently 11 parties represented:

Likud    

Zionist Union (Labor Party)         

Zionist Union (Hatnuah)        

Joint List              

Yesh Atid            

Kulanu 

The Jewish Home           

Shas      

United Torah Judaism   

Yisrael Beiteinu

Meretz

It is a Unitary State

The two parties with the largest representation in the Israeli Knesset are Labor and Likud.

Other parties not represented are:

Ahrayut

Ale Yarok

Brit Olam

Da'am Workers Party, Organization for Democratic Action

Dor

Eretz Hadasha

Green Movement

Yachad

HaYisraelim

Holocaust Survivors and Grown-Up Green Leaf Party

Kadima (held seats from 2005 to 2015)

Koah HaKesef

Koah LeHashpi'a

Lazuz

Leader

Lehem

Lev LaOlim

Man's Rights in the Family Party

Meimad (held seats between 1999 and 2009)

Or

Otzma Yehudit (held seats between 2012 and 2013)

Sons of the New Testament

The Greens

Tzabar

Tzomet (held seats between 1987 and 1999)

U'Bizchutan— founded in 2015 as an Orthodox Jewish women's party [3]

Yisrael Hazaka

Yisrael HaMithadeshet

"The politics of Israel is dominated by Zionist parties. They traditionally fall into three camps, the first two being the largest: Labor Zionism (social democrat), Revisionist Zionism (conservative) and Religious Zionism. There are also several non-Zionist Orthodox religious parties, non-Zionist left-wing groups, as well as non-Zionist and anti-Zionist Israeli Arab parties."  

Intro to Media Questions

Types (example:  TV) of media:

Cable TV

Internet

Netflix

Newspapers

Magazines

The corporations that actually own mainstream media outlets:

GE

Newscorp

Disney

TimeWarner 

Viacom

CBS

Find a list that identifies universities with what are considered the top programs for journalism.  Pick anyone you like, and then go to the website to investigate that school’s journalism program, as if you were a prospective student.  What can you learn about the professional values, standards, and practices associated with professional journalism?  

Northwestern Journalism Program is apart of the Medill school. They have an extensive network full of job opportunities and internships due to location and prestige. By just glancing at their journalism home page, you can see the achievement everywhere on the website. It talks about how it is a one of a kind program with interests all over the world and focuses also on helping people in need. You can see that they hold their students to a high level of education and standard. They have three levels of journalism education, all of which are highly regarded worldwide. 

Historically, the media in the United States has often been viewed as playing the role of “watchdog.”  Do research to understand the watchdog role of the media so that you can answer these questions:  Who is being watched?  Who is being protected?  And from what?

The government officials are being watched by the media. The goal is to protect the people of America from being scammed by the government and to unveil the dirty linen of the government. Unearth scandals and purposefully hidden information. 

What have you heard about “liberal bias”?  (Don’t do research for this one – just write down what you have heard about this phrase.  If you have never heard this phrase before, say so, and then explain what you think it might mean.)

I have never heard of this before but I think it means that someone who is presenting an issue or topic leans left and therefor influence other people's opinion by giving them incentive to also lean left on certain issues. 

Republican GOP debate

The Fox Business Network/Wall Street Journal debate occurred on November 10th. Rubio and others took the no-apologies stance in support of a stronger U.S. military. The response was that Rand Paul argued against military spending and intervention and questioned how Rubio could call himself a conservative while supporting bigger budgets. "I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt," Paul said, while Rubio called him a "committed isolationist." The middle- and lower-tier candidates refuse to cede ground in the race, even as Trump and Ben Carson dominate in the polls. Jeb Bush  took shots at President Obama's economic record and Trump's immigration plan. Bush said ""They're doing high fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this," of Trump's call to deport millions.Trump was asked whether he'd deport the millions in the country illegally, he said, "We have no choice." When told to consider the families by Kasich, he responded by saying that he didn't have to listen to what Kasich was saying. Back up by Jeb Bush, Kasich continued to slam Trump's plan on immigration. When Trump suggested the U.S. cannot be the world's policeman, Bush said "he is absolutely wrong on this" and the U.S. needs to be the "world's leader."

Fiorina stepped in saying "The U.S. needs to have the strongest military on the planet and everyone has to know it." Paul responded with: "You can be strong without being involved in every civil war in the world." Personally, I think Rand Paul did a great job with this debate. I agree with his stance that we should have a strong military, but we don't need to constantly be involved in wars. It's expensive and lots of lives are lost. I don't agree with a lot of what Trump says, and I definitely don't agree with his immigration plan. I think it is insensitive. Yes, illegal immigration is a problem in the US, but this is definitely not the right way to handle it. 

 

 

JP Morgan Break-In

(pictured is Aaron, one of the three men involved)
On November 10th, three men were charged with and arrested for the largest bank data breach of all time. Their names are Gery Shalon, Ziv Orenstein and Joshua Samuel Aaron. All three men were charged in July with related crimes, though the hacking crimes were not specified then. These three men hacked the data base of JP Morgan Chase and Co. back in 2014, which is the bank with the largest amount of assets. The stole more than 83 million users records then and there are also millions of accounts from 2012 when these men stole millions of identity information. CBS covered the story and this is how it happened: "Over three years, the hackers bought penny stocks and drove up their prices. They then sent spam emails to the customers whose data was stolen, encouraging them to buy those stocks. When the prices went up, the suspects cashed out leaving investors with significant losses. It worked so well, Shalon allegedly bragged about it in emails contained in the court papers. When asked by an accomplice if it was easy to get Americans to buy stocks he replied: 'It's like drinking freaking vodka in Russia.'". Scottrade and Dow Jones have both stated recently they were among the victims of the group. "The indictment said one or more of the defendants also engaged in other criminal schemes since 2007, including U.S. securities market manipulation schemes and the operation of at least a dozen Internet casinos that violated U.S. laws." Aaron, a U.S. citizen believed to be residing in Moscow and Israel, was a fugitive. This is pretty scary stuff. Everyone knows the internet isn't a safe place, but when information like this gets released it makes it very hard to trust people and more specifically, banks to keep your money safe. 

Obama Joins Facebook and Makes a Big Statement

On Monday, President Barack Obama created his first Facebook account. He didn't waste any time posting his first post which included a message and video. The video is of him walking around his backyard. His message in this post was all about climate change. Obama is a big advocate for the preservation of nature and the air we breath. He states that he believes that even though we lead the world in fighting against air pollution, and have done a lot here in America to reduce carbon pollution, we can do more. I think that Facebook is a great platform for Obama to talk about issues like climate control. It's something that a lot of people agree with because we all want to live in a clean, safe world. He is reaching out to an older audience by going through Facebook and I think that is the right thing to do for this issue. There's not a lot teenagers and kids can do for this. The video can be watched here. I think Obama getting a Facebook account is a great thing for this. It's easy to get your word out on Facebook where you can say whatever you want and you know people will see it because 1) its the internet and 2) he's the president.

Governor Chris Christie has no support

New Jersey was recently polled and those polls state that even in his own state, Chris Christie is in fourth place in terms of support for his presidential campaign. He stands significantly behind Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and Marco Rubio with just 8% of the votes. I think this is a prime example of someone who doesn't understand that they really should not be running for president. The most votes he would probably get would be from his own state and even in that state he comes in a measly fourth place. The voters from New Jersey said "their governor should drop out of the Republican presidential race and come home." I personally agree with them, I think he would be a terrible president and if he stays in the presidential race much longer it will get embarrassing. Fox Business Network decided to exclude Christie from the main stage of its Tuesday night debate, the fourth of the GOP presidential nominating process. "In all of New Jersey's polls: 53% of republicans say he should stay in the race, while 40% say he should drop out. 77% of Democrats want him out, and just 16% who want him to stay in. 66% of independents agree, while 31% say he should stay in.

In total, 61% of New Jersey voters want Christie to exit the 2016 race, while 33% want him to see it through."

Chaos at MIZZOU

Racism. The topic that seems to be endlessly in the news. At the University of Missouri, there are 30 football players who are refusing to take the field because of racism on campus. The statement they released says, "Injustice Anywhere is a threat to Justice Everywhere. We will no longer participate in any football related activities until President Tim Wolfe resigns or is removed due to his negligence toward marginalized students' experience." When these 30 black players took a stand, white players and coaches of the team backed them up. That was really the kicker. Incidents on campus include openly using racial slurs, and someone used feces to draw a swastika. One kid is on a hunger strike. The administration is being accused of not caring for the student body. Yesterday, the President formally announced his resignation. Wolfe says, "It is my belief we stopped listening to each other; we didn't respond or react. Use my resignation to heal and start talking again." The response was students, faculty and staff converging on the Carnahan Quad linking arms and swaying side to side, singing, "We Shall Overcome." The protests are continuing but the football team is back on to play BYU on Friday.