Out of Control

"Even the children are dying on the frontline in the war against terror," said Khawaja Asif, the defense minister. "The smaller the coffin, the heavier it is to carry." 
This quote has so much meaning behind it. This is unlike any "war" we have seen. The Taliban targeted this school and children because they were children of army men and because they are who ran the school. They say they do not want these kids growing up to be like them. The Taliban went in with enough ammunition for days and knew they would not come out alive. It is so impossible for me to understand how twisted and brainwashed these people are. To kill for such horrible reasons the most innocent and know you will not live either just blows me away. 
Children were a main target but also an office assistant who was shot and burned alive. The Pakistan government has attempted to peacefully end this in the past by releasing Taliban noncombatants but ended when attacks kept occurring. A major problem is this group is going far beyond their "Conservative Islam Teachings" and seem to have no limits anymore except to kill whoever is not with them. Even Taliban In Afghanistan who are close with this group criticize the killing of women and children being against Islamic teachings. What is their goal anymore? They are far beyond their religions teachings and need to be completely stopped. The violence is out of hand and a disgrace to the world. In our time and generation, nothing like this should exist. They have no will to end this and will stop at nothing. They do not fear death so what is the government left to do?
 http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/17/world/asia/pakistan-peshawar-school-attack/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

Live

On a weekend trip to New York City to visit my brother, Anthony, Michael and I encountered a scene that we had been learning about. On Saturday night on December 13th, we were walking to a smoothie place when we noticed an unusual scene. A street not filled with cars but with people, thousands of people. Earlier that day we had noticed police on every street corner as if preparing for something bu thought nothing of it until then. As we got closer we began to realize this march was about the justice system and how unhappy they were with it. We saw people leading cheers such as "Whose streets? Our streets!" being yelled with the crowd and motions where one person would up their hands and everyone would follow in suit saying "I can't breathe." We were in East Village near Manhattan where we saw them at around 5 and later that night around 1 am we saw them in Times Square. That is an extremely long march and from what I experienced was very peaceful and appropriate. The only news I heard on it was that it caused major traffic problems.  We were amazed by how large this was and how many people participated. 1/10 people were holding signs and everyone was participating in chants. Many people, including Michael and I, stopped on the sidewalk to take videos and pictures of this. This was the first time we ever saw something like this and was just amazed as to how something we talked alot about in school was right infront of our eyes. I looked up news on the march and here is the link. From reading this I learned that there were MILLIONS there. Wow.
http://occupywallstreet.net/story/join-millions-march-new-york-city-saturday-december-13

Terror in Pakistan

The Pakistani Taliban attacked a school and killed 141 people, the deadliest ever by Taliban. 132 of the people killed were children. After the suicide bombs went off, shooters went to class rooms killing everyone in sight. All 7 attackers were killed. Apparently this school was a target because it was run by the army and operations. These attacks have quite a history in that area. I feel horrible for the citizens there with no control as to what is going on. For danger to be at a school, where we think of as a safe-ground is unbelievable. When going to school becomes a fear, something drastic must be done. But with these terrorist groups so large and powerful, countries like Pakistan do not even know where to start or how to until an attack comes. To hear such stories where children lay to appear dead since they have so much blood from the people around them to survive is heartbreaking. Children should never have to go through such horrid events as these. No one should.

2014 in Picture

I found this "article" and was immediately captured by the amazing, sad, and unbelievable shots taken this year. It was a nice, new way to summarize many events that occurred this year rather than a video or bullets. The pictures bring you to the time and place and and give a great representation of that event. I advise everyone to check out these pictures! These pictures are showing events all around the world, not just America.
Here is an example of one of my favorite and not at the same time. This elephant fell and was stuck after a ditch collapsed, but is unharmed.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/05/world/gallery/2014-year-in-pictures/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
Here is the link for the page!
http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/05/world/gallery/2014-year-in-pictures/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

Threat Close to Home

    Two men held a charter boat captain captive and illegally broke into the U.S. The men fled by foot as soon as they reached land and are as of now missing. They were last seen in Porter, NY which is only a couple minutes from Youngstown.
    A popular question being asked is Why? Why did they come and what do they want or pursue? They have possession of knifes and possibly other weapons. Anyone with information is being asked to contact the county and state police. Both men are said to be in there early 20s and have French accents.

Animal Cruelty in WNY

Over the past couple days I have heard a couple stories of local stories of animals being mistreated in homes. One story was a dog was found that had four pounds of hair matted all over it to the point that they thought the dog was dead because it could not move.SPCA officials were called to the house when police though they found a dead dog in the basement of a house. Robert and Shelly Brier have been charged with animal cruelty. It took around two and a half hours to remove all the hair from the little dog, Dori. How these people could let this happen to such an innocent animal is beyond words. I am happy that this dog was saved and now is on the long road to recovery that it needs. Thank you to SPCA for everything you do.