Gruesome crimes barely shock Brazil

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/01/world/americas/brazil-crime/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

 “A pregnant 14-year-old raped, a grenade tossed into a crowd by robbers during a getaway. Those are just a few of the stories tucked inside Rio de Janeiro's main newspaper, O Globo, this week.” This is extremely shocking that so many bad things happened just this week in Brazil. Brazil is one of the top places where murder rate is high, even worse than Mexico. I had no clue that Brazil had some much crime in it. The article says that the killing of a former professional football player didn’t even make many newspaper headings. I can see why now, they are probably so used to crime that they forgot to mention another usual thing. I would never want to live in a country where they are so accustomed to it, it doesn’t seem that important.

“The news did, however, make headlines around the world, shining the spotlight yet again on violence in one of the host cities of the 2014 World Cup.” The news not really informing anybody about the terrible things happening in Brazil is very risky and not very respectful of the people. I would never ever want to go to the World Cup knowing about all this. The fact that the citizens are so used to crime it doesn’t really phase them that bad, is pretty much a warning sign. Even if you are a tourist staying for a couple days, a tragedy could still happen, whether the degree of it is high or low. In fact, being a tourist probably puts you at a higher risk. You aren’t accustomed to the type of things that happen in Brazil and what safety measures need to be taken.

“In Rio de Janeiro, cars drive through red lights at night. The drivers don't stop for fear of being robbed. Brazilians rarely carry cash, using debit cards even to pay for a cup of espresso. In Sao Paulo, criminal "sweeps" of restaurants and bars are common. An armed gang moves through in a matter of minutes, relieving patrons of all their valuables.” This is why tourist should be extra cautious because if you didn’t know this about Brazil, all these things could happen to you because you didn’t know what went on in Brazil. I think this article is very helpful, because now I’m going in further in depth with the situation. When you travel you should research the place so you are well informed of what to look out for and if you should take extra care of your money. 

Halloween just for kids?

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/30/world/disfigured-freaks-hellish-hounds-halloween-irpt/index.html?iid=article_sidebar

“It's that time of year when revelers can let loose with their desire to shock. Getting dressed up ready to terrorize friends, family and strangers in the street has long been the goal for the holiday -- but a few partiers are taking it to another level, with masterfully executed, Hollywood-standard disguises.”  I enjoy seeing all the different creations people can come up with. You can really tell when people actually go all out and try to create an original costume and not just go out and buy a store bought costume. The more scary costumes tend to be created since store bought ones are easily recognized to be “that one from the store we went to look for costumes...”

 "What is a Halloween costume if not to be scary?" asked 26-year-old Californian Amada Kroon, whose ripped-off flesh makeup shocked and turned stomachs. Borinnnnnggg! That’s what I think when I see generic costumes that unoriginal people wear. Of course I do it too, but I don’t care too much about making a scene. When I do see costumes that strike my eye and actually down right scare me, I give them props for it. I get tired of seeing the same slutty girl costumes and the same men costumes of being a vampire or some well-known scary movie character. So I find it so cool when I see someone go outside of the book and really express the Halloween spirit and try to really scare people. Some people do go a little over board and scare off their little trick or treater’s but to us older people it’s pretty cool.

"I think the more realistic the costume is, the better. Sure, vampires and zombies are cool, but what is really freaky are the costumes that are basically normal people, but with some type of creepy or disturbing element added." I completely agree with this statement, the more realistic, the more it will scare me truly. Also if you are used to a common costume it won’t scare you as much as one you haven’t seen before. It would be like going through the same haunted house 10 times, you would get old of it and be expectant of everything. Now if you go through a new one, new original costume, you aren’t expecting it and you think wow that really scared me! New things always appear to be better and they really are. Old things simply put are just old and boring. So next Halloween try something more original than your average store bought costume.  

Georgia father points out daughters burned body in trash can

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/02/us/georgia-girl-burned-body/index.html?hpt=us_c2

“The grisly episode began with a 911 call around 3:40 a.m. Saturday by a man who said he wanted to commit suicide, the Gwinnett County Police Department said.” The man had said that his daughter drunk a chemical and was poisoned. His daughter is said to be ten years old which makes the whole story not make much sense. If she was ten wouldn’t you think she’d know what to drink and what would be unsafe? I think that the father had made that up and she was found dead in the trash can for another reason. She would be smarter than to drink something with deadly chemicals in it, unless her parents didn’t teach her well and weren’t watching her.

It seems suspicious on why she wasn’t sent to the emergency room and getting checked out right away, I’m sure if the parents called 911 right away or even rushed her in she would have survived. The cops said that when they showed up they were outside the apartment complex and his daughter was dead in a trash can and he was just standing next to her. He must have been out of his mind because it doesn’t make sense to put your daughter in a trash can. I guarantee she didn’t just get in there, someone had to of put her inside it. The father seemed very suspicious because of all these weird events. He also said that he was considering committing suicide which didn’t make much sense if he didn’t do anything wrong. He had to of had hope his daughter would live because she was just poisoned and if you can get sent to the hospital right away they could of easily been able to help her.

“The slain girl's father and her stepmother were subsequently arrested. Gwinnett County police announced Saturday evening that both are being charged with felony murder, first-degree cruelty to children and concealing a body.” I find this to be easily believed because of everything I talked about. It seems to me he called the cops after beating her to death or whatever he happened to do to kill her, he might have actually poisoned her like he said but did not claim it was him at first. Either way, I think he called the police to make himself look better in the situation and said he wanted to commit suicide so they would feel he would never kill his daughter. With all the evidence, it seems to me and the police that he in fact did do this. 

Woman carries wounded pit bull down mountain

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/24/us/arizona-woman-rescues-dog/index.html?hpt=us_t3

                “She hesitated for a moment before approaching the pit bull, Nelson said. But when he lifted his head as she reached for her water bottle, Davis put her apprehension aside, gave him a drink and then lifted the 47-pound dog into her arms, Nelson said. Then, she began walking.” I’m so proud of this woman for doing what she did, even though it was not her responsibility and she could have just walked on instead of troubling herself by carrying this heavy dog. She seems to truly be a hero to this dog and everyone reading this story, especially those animal lovers, like me. Given the opportunity I would do the same thing, if I hadn’t I would feel like a terrible person. Even if I had nothing to do with it, I have compassion in my heart and couldn’t find the strength not to help out.

                “Doctors found an open abdominal wound, bullet fragments near his spinal cord and a bullet in the middle of his neck, Nelson said.” I don’t understand why anyone would ever shoot a dog and just abandonment and not feel any kind of guilt. Why even shoot a dog in the first place? They are so innocent and usually pretty faithful and loveable to anybody they meet. I just can’t quite comprehend what was going on in that person’s mind to make them such a terrible thing to such a good dog. The new owner of the dog, Jessi was very happy to see this dog alive and be able to have a dog of her own. It seems to me the dog is in a better place now and is doing great.

                “Nelson said it's unlikely any investigation will be conducted to find the person who injured Elijah since there isn't a clear timetable and no witnesses have come forward.” I think since the dog is in a better place now and has owner’s that truly care for him and went out of their way to save him, it is unnecessary to worry about who did this to the dog. Even though it would be even better to find what kind of cruel person would do this and make sure they pay for what they did. All that really matters though is that the dog is in better hands and will be safe for now on. I’m glad that the dog ended being alive after all this!

Missing parents, scared kids

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/26/us/immigration-parents-deported-children-left-behind/index.html?hpt=us_c2

               “Suddenly, the teens' parents were gone and the Soza children faced a frightening future with foster families and unfamiliar schools.” I can’t even begin to imagine having to go through what these kids have gone through with trying to find a family to live with now that their parents have been deported. I also don’t understand why the U.S. would allow families to have to separate like this and leave behind their kids with no kind of goodbye before being departed. They were still in school and came home to an empty house with no clue as to where they are but remember their mother being taken away so put two and two together. Now they are hit with that sort of idea that are stranded and stuck with foster parents and have to live a whole new life.

                “The siblings represent America's young legal residents who are at risk for long-term emotional trauma because of a system that doesn't deal with the situation. About 5,100 U.S. children in 22 states have lost parents to deportation, according to the Applied Research Center -- a 30-year-old racial justice think tank. Some 15,000 more face similar threat in the next five years.” This to me is so shocking but at the same time America doesn’t really consider the kind of hurt they are doing to these kids. I’m sure if they thought about their kids being stranded because of deportation and having to go off and live a whole new life without their parents and unable to see them, they would think differently about their decisions to deport these kids parents. They can only connect them over phone which is crazy to me. I couldn’t imagine not having my parents right now, because they are the only people in my life I can truly trust to have my back and be there for me. I would be even more depressed than I am now, along with most teenagers in high school going through drama at school. And now they have nobody to vent to about it and nobody to show them someone cares, this could even lead to a bigger problem already in the world, suicide. Sure they have their foster parents but that is not the same as your actually parents and family members.

                “Desperate to reunite with their parents, Cesia and Robert Jr. have considered moving to Nicaragua -- an idea opposed by their father, who believes there's no future for them there. The parents left Nicaragua in the 1980s because the government, they said, was putting too much emphasis on political indoctrination and social control.” It’s not like they can easily leave the U.S. if they wanted to. They would leave many opportunities behind if they left, like their father has said. They barely know anything about the culture and language in Nicaragua. It would be quite in adjustment but it’s hard to cope without a parent. I think that I would do anything to be with my parents but when it really came down to it you would want to be in a better place that would be more suitable for a good and promising future. Even if you are stuck with no sort of family, at least you have your sibling that is going through the same exact thing but it isn’t the same without your parents. 

Ride operator arrested after 5 hurt at North Carolina State Fair

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/26/us/north-carolina-state-fair-incident/index.html?hpt=us_c1

"After inspection of the ride, we determined that it had been tampered with and critical safety devices were compromised," Harrison said. I can’t believe that nobody knew about this. Nobody had any kind of clue that the ride’s safety wasn’t intact and that people’s lives were at danger. The point of inspections is to make sure everything is running smoothly and check everything out to make sure nothing bad could happen to anybody on the ride. Another thing is when you are in charge of the safety you need to be extra cautious because nobody else is responsible for it other than the operator. He should be at full blame even without evidence. It is nobody else’s job other than the operator and an inspector to make sure the ride is safe.

                “Witnesses said the ride had stopped Thursday night and people were getting off when it restarted, resulting in five injuries.”  They are very lucky that nobody else got hurt and died from this incident. Nobody that rides the ride expects things like this to happen at the fair. When you go to a fair, you don’t think oh what if I get injured or how safe is this I’m about to go on? You just think, wow this is going to be such a fun ride or to others who do think bad things you usually tell them everything will be alright and you won’t get hurt. Imagine if you were that person that thought you might get hurt and saw this or you were one of the victims. Could you imagine how that must of scarred that person for the rest of their life already? I know that before I even started riding rides and scary things that I was skeptical about, I would not do it even if you bet me money. So imagine what they will be like after seeing and experiencing this scene.

                “Harrison had said the ride operator was one of the people injured, though it wasn't clear whether he is among those still in the hospital this weekend. The victims included family members between the ages of 14 and 39.” I wouldn’t ever say it was anybody’s fault really but if you were in charge you need to take full responsibility. The best way to solve this problem is to charge the man and probably consider if the ride is safe enough to be at fairs because in the back of everybody’s minds now is going to be that fact that the Vortex was the ride that broke down and injured 5 people. Even on other rides they might think that. But hopefully the victims and bystanders will find the courage do go on another fair ride without being worried about it.

Mom promises to fight bullying

         http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/20/justice/rebecca-sedwick-bullying-death/index.html

                 "I remember so clearly the moment you were born. I knew I was gifted with a precious life and every moment since, I did my very best to protect you and now I feel like I failed that very important job that God gave me because He took you from me way too soon," Norman wrote. I think it’s really sad that the mother blamed herself for the death of her own daughter, when really it was the terrible girls in her grade. Nothing seemed to be wrong at home, maybe she could’ve supported her daughter more but you can’t change the way people treat someone and the way that person reacts. I would blame the bullies parents if anything for raising their kids in such a bad way, maybe the kid turned the way all by herself but parents need to be aware of what their kids are like and how they are treating others.

                “Rebecca and one of her alleged bullies were once friends, but they both had feelings for the same boy, police said. It soured their relationship.” Just hearing this I can tell that these kids are very young and immature, I can believe the fact that these girls were fighting over boys and letting them break up their friendship but what I can’t understand is why would that affect her so bad. But as I know and remember little girls don’t know how to handle things when they are young. Those girls weren’t the only girls bullying her many other girls were bullying her and it seemed like it was for no reason at all. The teachers in the school were very aware so what I don’t understand is why they didn’t take a step up into finding these girls that were making her feel this way sooner and talk to her about it and give her some sort of support.

                "Yes IK I bullied REBECCA nd she killed her self but IDGAF," the message read. Judd said the online vernacular meant: "I don't give a (expletive)." Reading this makes me have no hope in this world at all. To see this little girl post something like that and be that cruel, makes me wonder what kind of parents she has and how she was raised and all those questions are answered clearly now. Her father told reporters that she must’ve been hacked because there was no way she could post this, which I can tell is a complete lie to save himself and his family. He claims she didn’t have anything to post this, kids are very sneaky so I highly doubt that is true and if it was like I said were sneaky, we will find a way to post things. Her mother shortly after was arrested for beating children, it had nothing to do with this case but seeing this shows why her daughter is so corrupted and doesn’t care. She probably doesn’t care because her mother beats her, which might have promoted her to want to bully other kids, to cope with her pain and suffering she goes through at home and to make others feel the things she has to feel. This is why most kids do bully others. 

A day after a class on bullying, a suicide

            http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/18/us/illinois-suicide-sophomore/index.html?hpt=us_c1

                Lewis said he learned Thursday that Carterville High School in Crainville, Illinois, had shown the sophomore class a video on Wednesday about bullying. "And, at the end of the video, that the kid that was being bullied went home and committed suicide," he said. The fact that Lewis did the same exact thing as the kid in the video shows that the video wasn’t good in showing the proper way to handle bullying. It should’ve shown the kid going to a counselor to get help or someone stepping up to help this kid get a hold of the situation. It showed have shown the kids suicide is not the answer, maybe they could of stressed this at the end of the video how what the kid did on the video is not the answer and there is better ways to cope with bullying and stand up to it the right way. I do remember seeing a video similar to this in middle school where the kid tried to commit suicide but somebody stopped him.

                "This bullying has to stop," the father said in his video. "People have to stop treating other people the way they do, because some people just don't have the strength to overcome the humiliation, the continuation of being picked on constantly, every day, to the point that they have no outs." This is very true, we need to stop being mean to others especially when you have no idea what that person goes through every day. Just because you go to school with someone doesn’t mean you know them enough to be rude to them and think they deserve it or that they can handle another person bringing them. Regardless if you know them or not you should never feel people deserve to be treated badly and told hurtful things about themselves. There are kids out there that get bullied at their own household, by their own siblings and maybe even parents. They may have a terrible home life or broken up family and by hurting them at school on top of the hurt they feel every day because their family life isn’t the best can only lead them more to the conclusion that the only solutions is to die, but it isn’t.

                But, she added, "We need to, as a society, not just the press, need to handle suicides in a way that's knowledgeable, that provides hope and real resources for people who are struggling, and not just a story that presents suicide as the one and only outcome." We need to come together in all aspects and defeat bullying for once and for all, if that is even possible. Until then we need to look out for people we think are going through a rough patch and make sure they know we are always there to talk to them and that suicide is never the answer. 

'Unconcscious bias' led to police shooting

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/16/justice/north-carolina-police-shooting-ferrell-attorney/index.html?hpt=us_t5

          “Ferrell had wrecked his car down the street and had simply gone to the nearest home seeking help, family attorney Chris Chestnut said.” When he choose a random home to go to he made a mistake in choosing this one which he found out later that night. How was he supposed to know walking up to a random house would get 911 called on him for all the wrong reasons? To me this case seems a lot like he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don’t understand why somebody would call 911 and lie to them about such a huge situation that could get Ferrell, the man that “was beating on the door” in trouble. If you lie there is consequences this being one of them, falsely leading others into trouble. I feel as though she was part to blame but of course she didn’t know the cop would shoot him even when he was not threatening anybody when they got there.

            "The onus isn't on the homeowner. The onus really here is on the officer, because it's the officer's job. He's a trained professional. She's a citizen. She can panic. An officer cannot," Chestnut said. Of course the homeowner isn’t guilty, maybe she made a mistake in stretching the truth and blowing things out of proportion. But any defense less person would and we all make mistakes and freak out without thinking about what would be the appropriate thing to do. Now when your job involves staying calm and making smart decisions and knowing what to do with criminals, maybe you should better prepared and more careful about the life of others at risk. Instead Kerrick freaked out along with the woman even though Ferrell was not armed in any way, showing no threat. Not to mention he wasn’t running from the cop at first sight, because he wasn’t guilty of anything, that he knew of. The cop should use his knowledge of the fact that usually when somebody has committed a crime or attempted to, they would be running at the first sight of a cop. So clearly this was no sort of defense, no sort of shooting to get the burglar from escaping, it was him not thinking about the decision he was making before he did it which is something a cop should always do before shooting at someone.

             "The public should see the video ... because it tells the story better than anyone," he said.
The more evidence to the case, the better. Getting the public involved would also give another point of view. Of course none of the police and attorneys in support of Kerrick wanted anybody to see the video because they only cared about defending their fellow policeman. If that was what they were trying to do by not showing it, which it probably is, then they are very selfish for that which is definitely not a good look for someone who is supposed to “serve and protect this country.” I’ve heard many cases about the police abusing their power and shooting innocent people based on them thinking they were doing something bad but in reality were not. I’m not trying to say all policemen are bad, but ill equip ones are and they are the reasons situations like this are happening.

 I can’t imagine how Ferrell’s family must be doing but I hope they find justice in this all and we can stop things like this from going on.

Marathoner didn't breath for a month

      http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/11/health/miracle-marathoner-carlos/index.html?hpt=us_t2

The title of this article in itself is interesting. It drew me in because when you think about breathing you think of something you are doing no matter what and if you aren’t you aren’t living. So in all it had me attracted in the title come to find out, ARDS was slowly killing Carlos by attacking his lungs which was why he needed to get oxygen pumped into him.  "Not only that, but he had multiple organ failure related to the infection. So his kidneys were not working. His liver was not working. And his bone marrow was failing as well." It’s crazy that this man is still living.

                Now the first thing I thought to myself was how on Earth is it possible to not breathe for a month? CNN explains how here, “With this treatment, doctors turn down the patient's respirator, then insert a special tube through the heart. A pump draws blood from the body, flushes it through an oxygenation machine that removes the carbon dioxide and delivers oxygen back to the heart. It functions as an external lung, without the patient taking a single breath.” Carlos was said to have a 40%-50% chance of survival. Carlos ended up using the treatment for weeks longer than the doctor had expected. I’m sure the family at this point was pretty worried about his health and if he would get better eventually.

                Finally after the month, he was able to breathe on his own. "You can imagine, before going into the hospital you are this active person. Then you go in, they put you under, and when you wake ... you can't sit up, you can't move your arms up and you look at your legs, and they're just not there anymore," Carlos said. "Then you realize it's far worse than you ever expected it to be." Clearly what had happened was pretty bad.  When he finally went back to his old life you could imagine how refreshing that would be.   He talks about slowly working back into his old rituals. The fact that this event didn’t stop him from staying active and running in marathons and he was continuing to try and improve shows his strong will. His willingness to proceed and succeed and go back to running marathons shows dedication and he explains it isn’t something for time instead he does it because he can. It seems to me that he didn’t take anything for granted and stays living his life to the fullest. 

'Rapebait' e-mail reveals dark side of frat culture

      http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/09/opinion/foubert-fraternities-rape/index.html?hpt=us_mid

“You can expect well-meaning commentators and bloggers to wonder how such a horrible man could have done such a thing, much less have gotten into a good college.” After reading through this and even seeing the title I was way shocked about fraternity’s secrets. It’s shocking to me that after getting into a nice college those guys would be sending out emails on how to lure your rapebait. I would have no clue about this if I it weren’t for this article so clearly our public is a little uninformed about fraternity’s. Although when I am thinking about college big parties, drinking, and drugs comes to mind. Let’s not try to act dumb we all think that along with the education part, but my point is I can see where this could’ve turned into something so terrible.

“What was particularly remarkable about our study is that we found that it was the fraternity experience that led men to be more likely to rape.” I’m curious as to why this is happening, why does the fraternity experience led men to this? It makes you think if they are pushing them to think a certain way about women, like women deserve to be raped or that it isn’t a big deal. They could’ve taken a step to stop it because I’m sure the campus knew about these cases, how could you not? This is why I think that they may not think highly of women and men are superior. This definitely isn’t a good way to start off your life, leading them into this direction could cause them to continue with their habits and even abuse women even more.

“Rarely does a college discuss sexual assault with its students for more than 60 minutes in an entire college career, if they do at all.” This to me shows the lack of prevention for this situation. In every college, I feel they should bring it up and make sure every student is aware and even give support to women. Let them know they can come to anyone about the situation and to never feel like they deserved it so they shouldn’t tell anyone. I feel that they should also set up some discipline for the men that are raping females. The fact that they won’t take time  out of their day to make things get better, that have been shown in studies to help with the situation is crazy.  On the other hand women should be more aware of the possibility of being raped if she goes alone and has too much to drink and nobody is there to watch out for her. All in all everybody needs to just be smarter about things and take the actions needed to stop this.

                

Support NFL or not?

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1802904-can-we-really-support-a-league-which-has-caused-so-much-harm-to-its-players?hpt=hp_c3

            As Americans we can all genuinely say that we like to watch football or at least have gone to one game in their lifetime. If not that, everyone knows about it and may or may not have their favorite NFL team I for one don’t really watch football but when I’m bored and there happens to be a game on I will watch a little bit of it. I have gone to many college football games and of course all of my high school games. From watching it you don’t see all that happens behind that football stadium. Consider the amount of money is invested into the NFL and the owners, executives and staff behind the players. What kind of people are they? How are they treating all the players? The answer to all this wouldn’t exactly please anyone but instead making them unsure of their support of the NFL.

            “ESPN journalists Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada, working together with the Frontline folks and other journalists, told the story of an NFL that spent almost two decades stonewalling, blackballing and bullying everyone who looked into the connection between football and brain injuries.” I frankly do not find this very shocking, when bad things are happening in a big company that makes a lot of money, they will try to hide it from anyone they can. Of course the NFL is going to deny those widows and crying children and many doctors plus scientist that football doesn’t cause brain injury. Discrediting everybody’s work and covering up what information they have to share with the public and the many players of all ages. Because if we all boycotted the NFL and never watched another game and never spent another dollar supporting them, they would have nothing. Now, why would a big business want to voluntarily do research that could prove the sport is very dangerous and they didn’t properly tell their players about this?

            The NFL’s Mild Traumatic Brain Injury committee prevented many suffering former players from knowing the nature of their torment—and they let another generation of players come through the game without understanding its devastating risks. What is even worse than hearing this is seeing that we are funding this all, we are paying to watch them ruin many lives in the NFL. The players are not very informed as you would think, we still are doing research about the causes of the brain damage to these players and we can prevent it. At the same the NFL is promoting little kids to get involved without fully knowing the risk involved. They’ve even set up some regulations that would help determine how to tackle properly but not knowing the cause, how would we know if this is the proper prevention? I think us sending out younger generations to begin the game and start at younger ages then before is a bad idea but we can’t stop the NFL from promoting kids to like football and want to play it. The only way we could is to better inform everybody of ways to get in contact with the NFL and petition.

           

Alex Rodriguez sues Major League Baseball

             http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/04/us/alex-rodriguez-mlb-lawsuit/index.html?hpt=us_c2

 "He alleges that MLB and Selig "engaged in tortious and egregious conduct with one and only one goal ... to destroy the reputation and career of Alex Rodriguez." Rodriguez tries to justify his reasoning behind them trying to ruin his reputation by saying they were not being confidential about the case. It seems as though he was trying to distract from the fact that he was using drugs and team up against MLB. He was probably trying to make him have more time, to get justice and get out of what he did wrong, which is childish.  His actions are making him seem ridiculous and not making him look any better than MLB.  This case is being dragged out for no apparent reason in my mind.

“There are accusations that a representative of MLB purchased stolen documents for $150,000 in cash, documents presumably that would document Rodriguez's use of performance enhancing drugs. In addition, the document says the same MLB representative engaged in an inappropriate sexual relationship with a witness in the case against Rodriguez.” All this information has nothing to do with the actual case at hand, maybe the representative did purchase stolen documents but that was all to find out if Rodriguez was using drugs. It may be bad but if it helps the case, then why shouldn’t MLB use it against him. He clearly is bringing stuff like this up to get them in trouble and distract everyone from the bad he is doing. The MLB is just trying to figure out the facts about something a player is doing and the player is using anything he can to make MLB look bad.

"While we vehemently deny the allegations in the complaint, none of those allegations is relevant to the real issue: whether Mr. Rodriguez violated the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program by using and possessing numerous forms of prohibited performance-enhancing substances, including testosterone and human growth hormone, over the course of multiple years and whether he violated the Basic Agreement by attempting to cover up his violations of the program by engaging in a course of conduct intended to obstruct and frustrate the Office of the Commissioner's investigation." It seems as though they are admitting to trying to take down Mr. Rodriguez but even if so he still has done something wrong in his agreement with MLB. It says in the statement that he violated the basic agreement by trying to cover up what he’s guilty for but putting more stress on others to distract them from the issue at hand. Many other players that violated the rules and regulations that they agreed upon following didn’t drag it out like Rodriguez.  In return his suspension lasted a lot longer than the suspension of other players who just agreed with the suspension and didn’t argue and try to make the MLB look bad.  Hopefully he will learn not to fight the consequences of his actions.

                

Rebuilding disabled veterans lives

             http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/03/us/cnnheroes-conklin-veterans/index.html?hpt=us_t4

              "When these guys come back from war, they are broken," he said, reflecting on the missing limbs, traumatic brain injuries and other devastating wounds he observed.” I believe this to be very true because I’ve seen movies about men coming back from war very damaged. In the movie the lucky one, when he comes back he isn’t injured or anything but he goes through experiences most other don’t experience. He came back and got defensive when people would play fight and he remembered seeing his best friend die in war. Even if their bodies are in good condition, they are damaged in their mind. Having to see people get injured and even die in front of their eyes can change a person and make them more protective when they get back.

                "Every one of them is different," Conklin said. "Some will need service dogs, guide dogs, housing assistance, special equipment put through the house, drivers." Reading this you can’t imagine how hard it is to come back from that setting not only injured but having to get assistance you’ve never needed before. You would have to think about the kind of jobs out there that would want you working for them. In the article when it talks about finding jobs for these men and women. This is very important because them being injured it can be hard to find a job that will work with their disabilities.

                “The Sentinels of Freedom program rigorously screens each candidate, and scholarship recipients must continually provide status updates to keep getting assistance. But it's not just about the money, Conklin said. It's about building relationships and reintegrating people into society.” I think that after coming back from war they need all the support they can get. I’m glad to see that they have someone checking up on them and somebody to talk to about what is going on in their life. They definitely need some kind of moral support after going through war. Even those who aren’t damaged need to bring out their feelings and what is on their mind.

                I would imagine if these men and women didn’t have anyone to talk to about their experiences with the war that they would have a hard time adjusting to the real world. They could be a lot less relaxed and still have tension from the war bottled up inside them which could lead to a mental breakdown.  I’m very happy to see people talking to and helping out with veterans after the war. 

Legalization of drugs, causing addictions?

     http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/02/opinion/sabet-war-on-drugs/index.html?hpt=us_mid

“The implications for a policy change to legalization -- should give us pause if we care about the dire consequences drug addiction has on society.”  I can see where everyone is coming from when they say legalizing different drugs could lead to more addictions and be hard on society. But if we were to limit everything because of the possible side effects then we wouldn’t have any of these types of drugs. I think that the legalization of marijuana wouldn’t make as many people become as addicted compared to tobacco, I’ve heard that specifically tobacco has stuff that makes it addictive in it. Nobody is bound to get addicted to anything, if you are a strong person you can control how much you have of anything. “Addictions” to me are things you enjoy doing and would have a hard time giving up but if you really wanted to, you could. Nobody is going to quit anything if they don’t want to, simply put.

“Legalization in the United States is likely to accompany a bombardment of promotion, similar to our other three classes of legal drugs.” I think that this is very true about companies promoting the use to get more addictive people to buy from them. However the people that become addicted don’t become addictive because of the tactics taken to advertise that. It could get them to get involved in the use of this newly legalized drug but everything is your own decision, it’s not like their shoving it down people’s throat. If prices are very high, it could potential reduce the sales to people who aren’t addicted and all that would be buying is addicted people which will show you that they want it so bad they are willing to pay it. But not everyone has that kind of mentality and you can’t change people that do have that mentality just like you can’t make a strong person become addicted because that isn’t their mind set.

“Interestingly, though, according to criminologist Mark Kleiman, if all drug prisoners were released tomorrow, we would still have four times the number of people in prison than our historical incarceration rate instead of five.” Even with all the problems with drug use, that isn’t the biggest problem in the world. Drug use doesn’t appear to cause other issues other than addiction and death if the users aren’t aware of the harm it can cause. We can blame that on them being not as informed as they should be when it comes to side effects. I think overall people will become addicted to things, legal or not. Not all addictions involve drugs either some can be worse than that. Any person will do whatever appeals to them regardless so the next step is questionable in any case.

Mother charged with death of her two kids

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/26/us/california-chidren-killed/index.html?hpt=us_c2

 “Earlier this month, a Georgia court ordered his ex-wife Marilyn Edge to hand them over to him. But it seems she wasn't going to let him have them.” I was really shocked by the fact that the mother would kill her own kids just because she couldn’t get custody over them. Clearly she was not in the right state of mind and didn’t deserve to have the kids because even if such things happen to a mother, why would you ever take away your own kids’ lives? I can understand how she could’ve been freaking out and wanting to keep her kids but taking away their lives because you can’t handle the situation isn’t far to the kids in any way. I can’t begin to imagine how the father must have felt when he heard the news. If he could’ve of just had the kids sooner maybe all this would’ve never happened.

“She had bolted with them before, Mark Edge said. After her children's father received visitation rights a year ago, Marilyn Edge ran away with them to her native Arizona.” They saw this coming because of the previous times when she bolted but I bet they didn’t expect her to kill the kids. They should have been expecting something drastic when she left with them because no matter how much she would flee from the situation they would always be able to find her. I think she came up with this plan out of anger of her kids being taken away. Not knowing how to cope with it she decided to just take their life which kind of reminds of suicides, how they think it will be a solution to a problem but really it isn’t and she should’ve just faced the world.

But finally they were going to live under his roof, and he was excited about that. "I started doing all the preparations that I needed for my kids as far as trying to get them in school," he said. "My mind was just on them." Reading this just makes me really sad and mad at the same time. I can’t believe how childish the mother is. Her taking them away from him just so he didn’t win the right to be with them and didn’t get the chance to be a parent to them was really petty. He described the pain as the total opposite feeling compared to when they were born.

"I don't see them as not being here with me right now. I see my children still here with me. When I sleep, I dream of my son, and I dream of my daughter." Just this quote melts my heart and makes me feel for him. 

'Sextortion' victim Miss Teen USA

             http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/27/us/miss-teen-usa-sextortion/index.html?hpt=us_t5

               When I saw this story, it looked interesting but at the same time I was wondering what sextortion is. Then I found out what exactly it meant and was very shocked and disgusted that somebody would do something like this.  "When I heard his name it didn't click right away what he looked like," she said. "His name is familiar. When I looked at his yearbook picture, I recalled moments when I saw him in the hallways." It’s shocking that he actually knew her from high school. It scares me even more that somebody from high school hacked her computer. It makes you think more about what you do when your laptop is open or you on a device with a camera. I have heard about stuff like that happening before but didn't know it was that big of a deal.

                "When I got the first e-mail, I read the first three lines and I quickly scrolled through it and saw it was a long e-mail," she said. "Two photos of me were attached. I literally threw my phone across the room and started screaming. It did not feel real, it was like a horror movie." I couldn't even imagine if I ever got an email like that. I would've probably responded in the same way as her. You can’t really do much about and you feel like you are stuck and have to listen otherwise your life will be ruined and everyone will see the real you.

                The fact that if you have a webcam on your TV, you are at risk of being hacked and someone taking pictures of you.  This article kind of makes you think twice about your technology. I think a lot of people have no clue about the risk of technology and in a world of technology, it’s important to know about the risk. “Security cameras, lights, heating control systems and even door locks and windows are now increasingly coming with features that allow users to control them remotely. Without proper security controls, there's little to stop hackers from invading users' privacy, stealing personal information or spying on people.”

            He admitted to having hacked multiple people from all over. Just one hacker can affect so many different people, which is why we need to be careful. The fact that she is spreading news around to others about how to be careful and not get hacked is very good. She explains to CNN that you should cover your camera after you get done chatting with people, be careful what you do in front of the camera and change your passwords every once in a while. The good thing out of all this is we are all learning from others experiences. 

Paul Oliver: Latest in a string of NFL suicides

           http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/25/us/former-nfl-player-suicide/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

“His death marks the latest in a string of suicides among former professional football players.” In the report it talks about how much pain most of these NFL players were in. Most players that commit suicide because of injuries they have that were very bad. It seems to me their health needs to be taken care of better, since all these football players are taking their lives because of bad injuries. I never would imagine someone committing suicide because of the pain, but clearly football has been pretty painful. “A study published in December in the journal Brain looked at brain tissue of 34 professional football players after they died. All but one showed evidence of disease.”

            The San Diego chargers were saying how it has been a very sad day and that he was like family to them. Mark Richt, the coach of the University of Georgia Bulldogs told reporters, that it has been rough and that he is there for the family and will do anything he needs to make it better. He left behind a wife and two children, he was only 29 years old and had a great life time to look forward to. His wife told reporters that they needed some time and space to wake in this tragic loss. “A former teammate, Eric Weddle, described Oliver as "charismatic, funny but also quiet and reserved," The Union-Tribune reported "He never said a bad word about anyone. Just a good, genuine guy." They lost someone that was so young and much loved by all his teammates.

            I can’t imagine how his teammates feel about this tragedy and all the tragedies before this. They must think what if I get severely injured and I start having suicidal thoughts when I’m pain. I’m sure in every football player you can find a little bit of doubt in whether or not they will make it through every game without a deadly injury or join the string of players committing suicide. Along with that I can’t imagine how their mothers must feel about all that’s going on in the NFL. I’m sure that right at the beginning of their career in football, as a little kid just playing for fun and not worried about injuries, their mothers would stand back with worry all over their face. Their mothers would hope and pray that this is just a stage and they will not like it or quit after getting a little bruised up, but I’m sure some of those mothers to this day are still watching and supporting their son every day, scared as always. I can’t imagine how much this impacts mothers, not only did their son get injured but he also took his life because of the injuries all due to football.

            I have experience with mothers worrying because I happen to have a little brother and older brother, my older brother not in football anymore and my little brother just starting out. All I can say is my mom hates it because of how tough football coaches are on the football players, and didn’t like it when my brother played and now her little baby is crazy about football and loves to play. I have a feeling too that my brother will never give up till he gets to the big league. I wonder if someday my mom will be just like those NFL moms, worried about their kid even after all this time. All I know is I hope something like this never has to happen to anyone else and especially not my family!

International Adoption

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/16/world/international-adoption-saving-orphans-child-trafficking/index.html?hpt=wo_mid

"The de facto result (of in-country preference) is they would prefer to have the children in institutional life rather than intercountry adoption," Bartholet said. "The results are more developmental problems, more kids on the street and more cost to the government to institutionalize these kids." I agree with that statement, shutting down international adoption could be bad and good. The bad side of it is that more kids would be on the street and live in bad home situations but the good side of it is that nobody would be taken away from their parents when they don’t need to be. But to tell you the truth reading about Srey Powers and how once she got to America, she bonded with her adoptive mother about soccer, makes me think different about it being bad. 

"In every human endeavor, there is a chance for abuse," said Elizabeth Bartholet, director of the Child Advocacy Program at Harvard Law School, who adopted two children from Peru in the 1980s. Something to remember is that, there is good and bad in everything and you can’t expect everything to go smoothly. Of course we want to limit adoption when bad things happen but we could just accept it and change to make it harder for the kids that have parents to be taken. Do background checks and monitor things to make sure the adoption doesn’t become human trafficking. Eliminating it entirely could in the end cause more problems than it did when things went wrong.

“Smolin, along with many other experts and organizations -- including UNICEF and the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption -- believe that orphans being adopted from abroad should be a last-case scenario, with more emphasis placed on helping keep children in their home country, such as providing day care, foster care, better orphanages and more domestic adoption.” This could be true also but the people that have adopted from other countries have been fairly excite d to give them a better life and even when trying to do that without actually taking them away from their families could still not solve problems. The kids when put in the right home, will all in all be better off and respect the family that they have and be glad that they were taken away to have a better life. I wouldn’t be too pleased myself but given the situation, I would be happy in the end for the better life. I’m sure after that adjusting stage and growing up; adopted kids soon realize that this is for the better. Even Powers in the end visits with her grandma and her adoptive mother and watches her mother put her grandmother at ease makes her respect the life she has and the people in it.

Kenya mall attack

               http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/22/world/africa/kenya-mall-attack/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

"No one should lose their life so needlessly, so senselessly and no family should have to receive news that their loved ones have been killed by a criminal bunch of cowards," the president said. When I went to CNN to look for an article to write about this had thrown me off. I was shocked when reading through this very long and sad article, shocked to see so many dead and very badly injured. It reminded me of the attacks in the U.S. in many different places. Of course none of them were to this extent. “The mall siege was the deadliest terror attack in Kenya since al Qaeda blew up the U.S. Embassy there in 1998, killing 213 people.”

Reading the stories from the witnesses of this gave me the shivers. The whole mall had blood and dead bodies alongside the hallways. Gun shots and bombs were going on all over. A few Americans were injured in this event too. It’s still a mystery on why this happened. The President said the tragedy was personal because his own family members were killed also. I feel that no matter if I had family that was killed in the attack, it still would touch my heart and I’d still be concerned for the families of the victims. I couldn’t image just going to the mall one day and being held hostage along with 1,000 others and the possibility of being killed or injured very badly.

I wonder if this world will ever be civil, it’s like all we know is fighting. Every day you don’t know what to expect and whether or not you will be attacked or someone else will be attacked that you know and love. It makes me think of how valuable life is and how you shouldn’t take it for granted. It’s a blessing if you have all your family members still alive and well. All these current events will help you realize to love what you have while it’s still here because just one day could change that. The worst part is you could be completely innocent and it could still happen. None of the people that died deserved it or should have been expecting it.

"They shall not get away with their despicable, beastly acts. Like the cowardly perpetrators now cornered in the building, we will punish the masterminds swiftly and indeed very painfully," Kenyatta said. I hope they do find whoever did this and give them what they deserve, for this horrid thing. 

Huge chain-reaction crash in UK involves at least 100 vehicles.

        http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/05/world/europe/uk-huge-chain-reaction-crash/index.html?hpt=wo_mid

         “Video from the scene showed scores of abandoned cars and trucks, many crumpled from impacts with other vehicles. Motorists, some injured, sat on the roadside as they awaited help.” The fact that there was a pile-up in London involving at least one hundred vehicles is shocking. Makes me wonder how on Earth that could have happened. The bridge it happened was not accessible at all so many of the injured people were stuck in the heat waiting for help. I think this problem could have been solved possibly if everybody was paying more attention to the traffic. "All you could hear was cars crashing. We got out of our car and it was eerily quiet with visibility down to just 20 yards. Then you would hear the screeching of brakes and then a thud. It was all you could hear for about 10 minutes -- crash after crash after crash."

          I’m sure everyone who lived around the area was shocked by what was going on and what they were hearing. The crash sounds pretty severe but not a lot of the people involved in the pile up were severely injured as you would suspect.  At least the pile up didn't cause a lot of people to die or leave people severely injured. This article drew me in from the title and I’m glad I read it. Some of the comments on the post said that in the UK, they drive pretty badly and it doesn't surprise them. It doesn't surprise me either! That is so crazy to me that something like that would happen, or could happen. Hopefully this will teach drivers in London to be more cautious.

I’ll be overwhelmed if I find another article about a crash this big. This would be quite the sight to see, maybe it has happened around the U.S. too because too many times I've been on the interstate and the traffic would slow down to a stop for a long amount of time. I’m sure you know how I feel? I wonder if this is what big cities are like, maybe since I live in Iowa and it is pretty small that’s why I’m so shocked by this.  I feel like I’m rambling on and on about this whole event, but it’s quite an interesting thing to know. If I did my research I could find accidents this big in the U.S. maybe even bigger, who knows.