5. Other Underreported Technological Tragedies
Although the airplane disaster listed above received the most news coverage from Korea to America, it was hardly the only engineering catastrophe of July. For example, firefighters in Philadelphia responded to a building collapse, the city’s fire department said. Aerial footage of the scene shows a large pile of rubble in what appears to be a residential area with multistory buildings. Moreover, two commuter trains collided head-on on 29 July 2013 in western Switzerland, Swiss Railways spokesman Reto Schaerli told CNN. Swiss media reported that at least 33 people were injured, a number of them seriously. The collision happened between the cities of Moudon and Payerne. Moreover, a series of major explosions at a central Florida gas plant reportedly injured several workers and left others missing. Finally, children were injured when at least one vehicle went into a day care center in Kansas City, Missouri, police said. The crash happened at the Christian Academy Child Care, Kansas City police Sgt. Marisa Barnes said. The number of the children injured and the severity of the injuries were npt immediately known, Barnes said. Police got the call about the crash at 12:56 p.m. (1:56 p.m. ET), she said. Other underreported July disasters resulted in multiple fatalities.
Although not as deadly as the airplane crash landing, the circumstances surrounding a doomed wedding resonate with many. The operator of a boat carrying members of a wedding party that struck a barge in the Hudson River — leaving the bride-to-be dead and the best man missing – was arrested, a Rockland County, New York, sheriff’s office official said.
The boat’s operator is being arraigned at an area hospital on one count of first-degree vehicular manslaughter and three counts of second-degree vehicular assault, the official said.
Deadlier than the above-listed airplane crash landing was an air taxi crash in which ten people were killed Sunday, 7 July 2013 in Alaska. Oddly enough, despite this disaster and the above train incident resulting in far more deaths than the shooting of Trayvon Martin, these technological tragedies received far less news coverage. Nevertheless, we consider high death tolls more significant when gauging something’s importance than amount of news coverage.
A still deadlier technological catastrophe of note occurred when a disaster concerning an exploding train happened later in the month. Five bodies were found and about forty people were missing after an exploding train leveled part of a Canadian town Saturday, Quebec police said Sunday, 7 July 2013. The number of people reported missing after the deadly train derailment in Lac-Megantic, Quebec rose to forty-five, Quebec provincial police Captain Michel Forget said on 10 July 2013. He cautioned that the number fluctuates often and he urged people who filed missing-person reports to update authorities if they find the person they reported. The runaway train plowed into the town over the weekend. Seventy-two tanker cars full of crude oil exploded, unleashing an inferno that killed at least 15 people. Some people likely were vaporized by the intense blaze, officials have said. The cause of the disaster is under investigation and the center of the town is now a crime scene. An engineer of the runaway train that devastated Quebec town apparently had not set enough handbrakes, CEO of railway said.
The deadliest technological disaster of the month occurred when a train crash in northwestern Spain killed at least 79 people and injured dozens more. Images of the scene showed at least one train car snapped in two and another one of the train’s cars on fire. The high-speed train had more than 200 passengers aboard and was traveling from Madrid to the town of Ferrol in northwest Spain, the spokesman said. The driver of a train that derailed in northwestern Spain last week was on a phone with railway staff when the train crashed, the superior tribunal of the Galicia region announced today, citing information from data recorders. The train was going 153 kilometers per hour (95 mph) when it derailed, the superior tribunal of the Galicia region announced today, citing information from data recorders.
Oddly enough, despite these disasters resulting in far more deaths than the shooting of Trayvon Martin or the San Francisco airplane crash landing, these technological tragedies received far less news coverage. Nevertheless, we consider high death tolls more significant when gauging something’s importance than amount of news coverage.
For more information, see http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/train-driver-received-3-signals-slow-spain-article-1.1415815
4. American Political Delays
While the above disasters collectively affected the lives of scores of people, issues concerning American health care and student loans affects the well-being (financially and physically) of literally millions of people!
First, the Obama administration said it is delaying for a year a key provision in the Affordable Care Act that would require large companies with more than fifty employees to provide health insurance. The Treasury Department said it will now begin penalizing companies that do not provide insurance in 2015, instead of 1 January 2014. The House of Representatives voted to delay the start of ObamaCare’s employer and individual mandates, which respectively require businesses and individual Americans to purchase insurance next year or face penalties.
Second, the U.S. Senate voted on 10 July 2013 against taking up a Democratic measure to temporarily reverse the doubling of some student loan rates, falling short of the 60 votes needed. Negotiations continued on a compromise that would hold off on new loan rates for this year. A bipartisan group of senators later reached a tentative deal to help students facing a doubling of interest rates on government-backed student loans, according to aides close to the deal. Interest rates on subsidized loans doubled on 1 July 2013 because of congressional inaction (thanks Congress!). About seven million students were affected. This deal would change rates for all government-backed student loans. The group would still need the support of 60 senators for their proposal to clear the chamber. After that, it would have to clear the GOP-controlled House. The U.S. Senate approved a bipartisan deal that would ensure lower interest rates on loans for students heading to college this fall. The bill has provisions for rates to go higher in coming years. It is expected to become law, with support from the White House and the House of Representatives, which will likely take up the bill in coming days. The House gave final congressional approval to a bipartisan student loan bill that would roll back a 1 July 2013 rate hike on some loans and tie future rates to financial markets. The vote was 392 to 31. The measure now goes to President Obama for his signature, and the administration has said it supports the bill.
For more on these stories, see http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/07/02/administration-delays-key-obamacare-insurance-mandate/ and http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/07/17/house-votes-delay-obamacare-mandates/
3. Saint Pope John Paul II the Great
What trumps millions? How about over a billion Catholics worldwide, who have two new saints to pray to? The Catholic Church will declare Pope John Paul II a saint, the Vatican said on 5 July 2013. The Polish-born pope was fast-tracked to beatification when he died in 2005 and became “the blessed” six years later — the fastest beatification in centuries. Pope Francis cleared John Paul II for sainthood, approving a miracle attributed to his intercession. Pope John XXIII, who convened the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, also will be declared a saint.
For more information on this story, please see http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/07/05/pope-francis-clears-john-paul-ii-for-sainthood/
2. The Arab Spring
Yet, while the world’s Catholics may find solace in their admiration for their new saints, the Islamic world continues to undergo its regionally destabilizing Arab Spring that threatens what is probably the world’s most volatile region. Crises in the Middle East have a tendency to draw in the rest of the world in one way or another.
Egypt’s military leaders declared the army “will sacrifice our blood” to defend the country, hours after President Mohamed Morsy refused to bow to a military ultimatum. The statement was posted on the Facebook page of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. The military gave Morsy a Wednesday, 3 July 2013 deadline to find a solution to the unrest rocking the country. Sixteen people were killed and 200 injured in clashes at Cairo University, the official EgyNews agency reported early Wednesday, citing Egypt’s health ministry.
The army’s 48-hour deadline for Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy to end the nation’s political crisis passed. On 3 July 2013, Egypt’s military chief said President Morsi had been replaced by the chief justice and the constitution had been temporarily suspended. Egypt’s top military officer announced President Mohamed Morsy is no longer the leader of the country. General Abdel-Fatah El-Sisi said the head of the country’s constitutional court will serve as Egypt’s temporary president until a new constitution can be drawn up and new elections can be held. Fireworks exploded over Cairo’s Tahrir Square after the announcement.
Arrest warrants were issued for 300 members of the Muslim Brotherhood after Morsy’s ouster, according to the state-run Ahram newspaper website, which cited an unnamed security source. Egyptian security forces arrested the Muslim Brotherhood’s political party leader and a deputy, Egypt’s official MENA news agency reported, citing an unnamed military source. Security forces also raided the offices of Al Jazeera’s Egypt service during a live broadcast and arrested “the presenter, guests and producers,” the network said on its English-language website. By 3 July 2013, deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy was under house arrest, according to the media spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, Gehad El-Haddad. El-Haddad tweeted that most members of Morsy’s presidential team have also been put under house arrest.
One person was killed and seven others injured after a group of armed men attacked a police station in the Egyptian city of Giza, Health Ministry spokesman Ahmed Osman said on 5 July 2013. The violence came two days after the military overthrew Mohamed Morsy, the nation’s first democratically elected president, and on the same day that massive demonstrations — some in favor and others in opposition to the coup — were planned.
Egyptian protesters planned to meet in the streets again on 7 July 2013, where, for weeks, arguments have turned to clashes. Supporters of the deposed president, Mohamed Morsy, and the Muslim Brotherhood rallied to demand his reinstatement. Some of them took a vow Saturday before a cleric to die for their cause, if need be. Mohamed ElBaradei, the de facto head of the opposition movement in the days leading to Morsy’s ouster, is “the logical choice” to be Egypt’s interim prime minister, interim President Adly Mansour’s spokesman said Saturday. Earlier, ElBaradei’s backers had said he had been named to the post.
The death toll from clashes in Cairo between Egyptian security forces and supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsy and the Muslim Brotherhood has risen to 51, with 435 others injured, according to Health Ministry official Khaled al Khatib. It is unclear if this death toll includes two security personnel whose deaths were reported on state television. Witnesses said the military and police fired as protesters took a break from holding a vigil at the Republican Guard headquarters to say their dawn prayers. Morsy was reportedly detained in the building after his arrest Wednesday, but Interior Ministry spokesman Hani Abdel-Latif and army spokesman Col. Ahmed Mohammed Ali said security forces were under attack. Ali said “an armed group” used bombs, rocks and bullets to attack the area and the people safeguarding the headquarters building.
On a more encouraging note, an agreement was reached that “establishes a basis for resuming direct final status negotiations between” Palestinians and Israel, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in Amman, Jordan.
For more on this story, see http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/07/03/egypt-teeters-on-brink-overthrow-as-army-deadline-is-set-to-expire/ and http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/07/06/egypt-on-edge-after-deadly-clashes-and-islamist-pushback/?test=latestnews
1. The Leakers
While most of the above concerning Egypt has not yet resulted in a full on civil war or worse yet regional military confrontation and as such has thus far given it some more localized significance than our number one entry, another series of international stories have taken us once again back to where this list began and with something that truly affects the world: the internet. Intelligence leaks have tested international relations among superpowers and as such demonstrate the dangerous potential of the internet and the sometimes confusing diplomacy of our modern age. Who would think that one man’s odyssey of leaking intelligence could take him from Hong Kong to Russia while North American politicians called for his prosecution and South American politicians considered offering him asylum, something rejected by Europeans?! Yet, our first entry is a story involving just about every continent, aside as usual from Antarctica…
On 1 July 2013, the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks released a statement attributed to NSA leaker Edward Snowden, blasting the Obama administration for trying to block his efforts to seek asylum in another country. “Their purpose is to frighten, not me, but those who would come after me. I am unbowed in my convictions and impressed at the efforts taken by so many,” the statement said. Snowden flew to Moscow from Hong Kong on 23 June 2013 after the United States requested his extradition, and there were conflicting reports in Russia about whether he was seeking asylum there. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro offered asylum to Snowden, the state-run AVN news agency reported Friday, 5 July 2013 without offering details. The report came shortly after Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said he would grant Snowden asylum in his country “if the circumstances permit.” The United States has been pressing countries to refuse Snowden entry and hand him over to face espionage charges. His disclosures about widespread U.S. surveillance of telephones and Internet users in the United States and abroad — based largely on documents he has acknowledged taking while a National Security Agency contractor in Hawaii — have created a political storm at home and diplomatic headaches overseas for President Barack Obama. Bolivia was also “willing to give asylum” to U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, President Evo Morales said Saturday, 6 July 2013 according to a government statement. Morales earlier expressed anger at the United States over an incident involving the presidential plane and a rumor about Snowden. Several European countries refused to allow Morales’s plane through their airspace because of suspicions Snowden was aboard. With no clear path home available, the flight crew made an emergency landing in Vienna, where authorities confirmed Snowden was not a passenger. The Bolivians put the blame for the incident squarely on the United States. Snowden had been holed up at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport since 23 June 2013, when he arrived from Hong Kong. Snowden has not received documents allowing him to leave Moscow’s airport, his attorney says, contradicting earlier reports from Russian media. Lawyer Anatoly Kucherena told CNN on 24 July 2013 that Snowden’s paperwork could be delivered at “any time,” but he was not sure when.
Meanwhile, after spending three years in custody, the man accused of the largest leak of classified information in U.S. history learned whether he has been found guilty of aiding the enemy. A verdict in the court-martial of Pfc. Bradley Manning was reached, according to a spokeswoman for the Military District of Washington. Manning, among other counts, was charged with aiding the enemy, which carries a potential life prison sentence. He has pleaded guilty to nearly a dozen lesser charges that carry a sentence of up to twenty years behind bars. A military court today found Pfc. Bradley Manning, accused of the largest leak of classified information in U.S. history, not guilty of aiding the enemy. The verdict from the judge overseeing Manning’s court-martial means he dodged a life sentence. Authorities accused Manning of delivering three-quarters of 1 million pages of classified documents and videos to the secret-sharing site WikiLeaks — which has never confirmed the soldier was the source of its information. The material covered aspects of U.S. military strategy in Iraq, gave what some called a ground view of events in the Afghanistan war and revealed the inner workings of U.S. State Department diplomacy in leaked cables. In a statement to the court this year, Manning said that the information he passed on “upset” or “disturbed” him but he did not think any of it would harm the United States if it became public. He said he thought the documents were old and the situations in them had changed or ended.
For more on this story, see http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/07/30/bradley-manning-not-guilty-aiding-enemy-in-wikileaks-case-convicted-lesser/
+ Bonus: The New Prince
Yes, as we reckon most of you know, Prince William’s wife Catherine gave birth to their first child. The baby is third in line to the British throne after Prince Charles and Prince William. He is the first grandchild of the late Princess Diana. Yes, the birth of the potential future king of Australia, Canada, and The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is noteworthy to all of those countries; however, it seemed insensitive to rank it ahead of disasters and revolutions that resulted in multiple fatalities. In any event, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge named their son George Alexander Louis. He will be known as His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge. We at TopTenz.net do, however, wish the royal family the best of health for their new addition and his future realms all the best happiness! 🙂
For more on this story, check out http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/07/24/world-still-guessing-over-royal-baby-name-after-first-photo-op/
By Dr. Matthew D. Zarzeczny, author of http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=%22Banned+from+the+Internet%22
22 Comments
1.) the leakers. personally I believe that what america was busted doing, was something everyone kind of assumed they were doing already. however, it is important that proof came out because as people who live in this country I believe we have a right to know. I dont believe they are criminals, if anything I believe they are patriots of a sort. they made a judgement call and stuck to their moral beliefs, It is just interesting to see news stations cling to a certain word with negative annotations such as “whistleblower”.
I believe that the most important story of the year was about the Boston Marathon because it affected and changed such a large group of people’s lives from being hurt to loosing their own life or a family member’s life. It was just a horrible, and unnecessary day that did not have to happen.
I believe the Zimmerman trial was most significant. While the argument can be made that the attention brought to it was just the result of sensationalist journalism, it brings necessary attention to the ever present, but hardly discussed, issues of racial inequalities and persistent racial discrimination in our society. Race relations are difficult and often uncomfortable to discuss, and as such, the topic is often pushed under the rug, or worse, ignored completely. It needs to be discussed, there is still much progress to be made. The Zimmerman case served, and will hopefully continue to serve, as a springboard for those conversations, and ideally, important and meaningful change will follow.
Back in November people voted for Obama Care, now they don’t want it. The delay of the Affordable Care Act is a good example of political deception the U.S. government has on the American people. Deceptions like this occur by manipulating people by giving them freebies (free cell phone) so people will over look what really matters. Obama Care is a failure to the United States of America!
I think the Zimmerman trial is the most important because it has created an even wider gap both politically and racially in this country. Republicans are trying to prove that Zimmerman was justified in having the gun and shooting Martin in self defense, while Democrats are saying he should never have had a gun in the first place, and that he simply murdered a harmless kid. Most white people (even though Zimmerman is hispanic, he is being labeled as white by the majority of this nation) are agreeing that Zimmerman should not be punished for defending himself, while a lot of black people are holding “Justice for Trayvon” rallies saying that Zimmerman should spend his life in jail. A lot of different issues have been brought up or blown up with this class ranging from gun laws to judicial racism, and I think there will be a great impact in this country socially and/or legally due to this case.
Leakers to me is the most important because in our day and age internet is used for everything. Our goverment for prime example, runs our society, governs our lives and serves to protect us yet their secrets for these things can be so easily accessible for someone to get to through the internet. Back in our governments earlier years one would have to sneak into our country and into the white house and make it out alive with paper documentation and even then they would only be able to take so much. Now in our time someone could steal tons of information with the click of a button.
I think the most significant is actually the bonus article, the new prince of Cambridge. There is a lot of history that this kid will have to live up to. Besides that, he will one day rule a country. Whether it is GB or another country. Here in the U.S we have no clue who our next president will be; but the british now have 3 candidates for at least the next decade. Yes, the other 10 articles share equally in importance maybe not so much sports but the other articles do. It seems we look at our world through narrow eyes anymore. We filter out the good news and out weigh it with bad because that’s what we really want to read about. What terrible things are happening. Things like saving those 100 children and prosecuting 150 rapists. That was never brought up in any conversation I had with people. Technology has integrated its way into our lives so much that we almost, dare I say, depend on it. We can’t go five minutes without using it for web searching, keeping in touch, or just writing something down. So when you see something like Google. on of the most highly used and highly recommended websites go down without a warning there is some shock to it. Or to know that agent who once worked for your government shared files willingly that could potentially be a threat to your own safety is really scary. If you think its nothing then you really have no idea of the world outside of the U.S.
We take so much for granted as Americans. Most of us will never leave these beautiful shores or even our birth state. So when someone threatens our security I believe the government should take as much force as possible to bring them down and try to fix what has been leaked. If the bonus article does not count as my number one important article then I would have to choose the leakers because its a very serious threat and I prefer other countries not knowing our security and protocol.
In the grand scheme of things, I don’t think many of these stories will have much long term significance. Don’t get me wrong, many people lost their lives and political inaction is a real problem, but I doubt that most of these will be mentioned in many history books. However, I do think that the Arab Spring and the leakers will have long term effects and will be remembered for a very long time to come. I’m just going to focus on the leaks though, for now.
A lot of the other commenters are talking about this one as well. The opinion of why it is so important seems to be split down the middle. One group thinks it’s important because it reveals corruption in the government. The other is concerned about that it shows that citizens can so easily harm their country by revealing it’s secrets.
It’s really interesting to me how people are divided this way. I’m personally more inclined to be worried about the government spying than the citizen reveals, so I’m a bit biased, but I can see why this is concerning either way. I think this is why this is so important. It’s setting a precedent for the future of privacy.
As technology is getting more and more advanced, privacy is slowly becoming harder and harder to maintain. It’s easy to think of the internet as being anonymous with sites like reddit, 4chan, and wikileaks out there, but in reality, spying has never been easier and than ever before. And it isn’t just average citizens who are suffering from this, the government is too, in a way. A single person with the right information can cause huge problems for the government just by posting it.
A lot of people like to compare the NSA and all this government spying to that novel 1984, but the way I look at it, it’s not even close to the same, because unlike in the book, where the government controls what the people know, today, a single person can easily let the world know something too. It’s a totally new power dynamic. Countries aren’t only vulnerable to other countries now, a single person can have a huge impact, and that’s something the world has never seen before. And I think that’s why it’s so important. In fifty years, no matter how it all turns out, people are going to look back at these events and see how they got where they are then.
9. Crucial Criminal Proceedings
I believe the George Zimmerman – Trayvon Martin trial, and the Boston Marathon bombings are the most significant news stories of the summer because they happened right here on American soil. One, a terrorist attack, and the other a murder of a teenager. Both resulted in lives lost. One bringing the country together, and the other separating it. In the case of the Zimmerman trial, many believe racial profiling to be the issue. Even if Zimmerman acted in pure self-defense, people involving race proves that to this day, race is an issue in this country. The Boston Marathon bombings also show that terrorism is still a possible threat at all times. You never know where it could be coming from next. Unlike Zimmerman trial, people were united by this terrible incident. I feel these are the most important events because of how they bring people together, and how they separate people. Anything that can move the American people as whole and make them feel so strongly about one topic is, in my opinion, a very important issue.
1. The Leakers
Personally, I feel like this story is the most important. Depending on whose side you are on, the leaker is either the hero or the villain. The first problem that we have here is that there is a website called “WikiLeaks”. If America’s classified information is supposed to remain classified, why is it so easy for people to put out information like this? Technology is a huge part of our lives in this day and age, and for everyone to have access to resources that leak out classified government information may just change the amount of information we can access.
1.) The leakers in my opinion are to be the most notable news within the past year. People such as these can be seen as a hero to some and a traitor to others. It depends on your perspective, but either way they will be remembered. I believe this type of open embarrassment on the government will change the way they reveal information and lead to a possible revolution of public knowledge of governmental information. With websites such as wikileaks it makes this information surface much easier and harder to cover up once it is out there. That being said others who in the government can and will start to spring forward information that they believe is vital knowledge to the citizens of the United States will do so. Depending on the governments reaction to such actions upon those who do share the information can change the tide on how citizens view their country and can possibly set a new tone for the government and a possible revolution.
9. Crucial Criminal Proceedings.
I feel the issues of the Zimmerman case and the Boston Marathon bombing are the most important thing to happen in recent news. The Zimmerman case shows America that no matter how diverse and unified we think we are as soon as race got involved everyone picked a side. George Zimmerman who is actually hispanic was referred to by many as white, thus it was a racial issue of a white man killing an African American. This case shows that many people jump to conclusions before they are educated. Although America has came a long way with lowering racial tensions and preventing racism this shows that racism still exist in America.
The Boston Marathon bombing could be the biggest thing to happen in 2013. Since September 9th 2001 terrorism in America had kind of died out. No major attacks had happened within our country since the twin towers. The bombing showed Americans that we are not completely safe. It shows that we need the strict security in places of high population and in airports. Finally it shows that not all attacks are going to come from a foreign person. The bomber was an American and was a college student just like all of us in this class.
Both of these events make the Crucial Criminal Proceedings the most important that has happened in 2013. It shows that American’s are desperate, crime rates are high, and we are not invincible. It also shows that although we are not perfect citizens unified in Boston in the morning of the victims and the rest of America supported the city and raised money to help with relief efforts.
I feel that I am stuck between issue number 10, dealing with Google, and the issue following the George Zimmerman’s trial for murder to be the most important horrible incidents to occur over the past couple of months. Every single person on the face of this earth pretty much involves themselves with technology. It is amazing to me how far technology has come. From the cars that have doors that swing open by a button to every nine year old having Iphones and Ipads. With Google shutting down for even an hour, people think it is literally the end of the world because their phones wont work or their sites aren’t working. People honestly spend way to much time with technology. Technology will do nothing but increase its value and increase risks for the future. Pretty soon this entire earth will be ran by technology. It would not surprise me if robots became teachers. Honestly, technology is a big issue as too some a great advantage. The George Zimmerman’s trial for murder will absolutely be talked about for a long time because of the actions that were made. I don’t agree with Zimmerman not being accounted for this murder. Even though he says it was “self-defense”. Just because a kid looks doped up on drugs does not mean he is about to break into a house. I just don’t agree with the actions that had taken place and I feel that a lot of other people feel the same way that I do and this trial needs to be re-considered and re-examined for the fact that he shouldn’t of pulled a gun out and killed Trayvon Martin for an action that may of not taken place.
7. Five Top American Politicians Make Bold Career Choice
I feel that number 7 and also number 1, is an example of Americans values, morale’s and character that have gone down the drain and is the decline of American politics. I am a older student and amazed that people would still stand behind and continue to support someone like Weiner. By continuing to stand behind someone like this that obviously lacks values, morale’s and character, what does that say about us, as Americans?
6.) Asiana Airlines Flight 214 Disaster
An airplane crash will always be news that becomes historic because of the people who were either on the plane or had loved ones on it. Due to this accident there are people with injuries they have to live with their whole lives. There were reports of passengers being thrown from the aircraft, spinal injuries as well as road rash meaning that they had been dragged. This is a tragic incident that also ended with at least two people dying from the crash. This type of an accident is why so many people refuse to fly on airplanes and people claim how unsafe they are. The more aircraft accidents there are, more and more people will complain. It creates a bad look for airlines as well as many lawsuits.
I find that the most important event is number 1. To find that our country is not nearly as secure with it’s secrets as one may have thought before such a thing happened is a little unsettling. The lack of security in that regard makes me wounder where else something like this could happen. As much attention as this has received i think it will be remembered and looked upon in the future as a small reminder that it could happen again.
1.
In this day in age technology is everywhere. Life has changed just because of technology. For these reasons is why I believe that number one is most important. It is crazy to think how life was just a few years ago when the Internet was not at the tips of your fingers and 7 year olds didn’t have iPhones. Life has drastically changed because technology has evolved. Just take this assignment for example, ten years ago you would not have seen an online assignment like this. So it is no wonder how much of a shock it must have been when common Internet sites, like google, were not working. Google is such a popular search engine, that it is even a term now. Instead of saying, “Oh let me search that” we say, “Oh let me google it”. People probably felt lost with out this common site and many others. Although I did not personally experience any problems, imagine all the people’s worry and frustration when they couldn’t get into their gmail accounts. People rely on their email accounts for important documents or even their jobs.
With glitches like these it really makes you stop and wonder what would happen if it went down more perminately, or if the Internet went down as a whole. People rely heavily on google and other major internet sites. So the real question to leave you with is what would you do without the Internet?
1. and 10.
The world has shrunk with the rise of technology, but the espionage acts that our American citizens engage in, puts the future of this country at risk. The ease and access to the privacy of citizens has been easily given away and the dependence on technology to run this country is entangled with the increase of the internet, and technology. This country as an independent free nation depends upon its individuals.
While I feel that the issues in the Middle East are terrifying and worth all the studying and reporting, I would have to list it at number two. This is because it has, and will be, an issue until the end of the world. That being said, I believe our ancestors would be more interested in stories related to American Political Delays (#4). It is a scary outlook on what the United States is becoming and how it will affect the world.
It is in instances such as The Affordable Care Act that scare me the most, and not because of the policies, but because of how it is being delayed and partially enacted. This shows weakness in our system and sooner or later the decline of America. It is getting to the point that congress is unable to unite to make the crucial decisions because they are not willing to make the difficult and possibly damaging decisions. Politicians that worry about their political image choose the easy way out, not whats best for everyday Americans. The greed and displaced trust among party affiliates taints each and every bill that makes it to the floor (even in deciding what makes it to the floor). For example, The Affordable Care Act, politicians vote it in because their political pals did, most had not read the bill because it was too long. And now the citizens of the most free country in the world are stuck with fees, penalties, and laws; but the Senate and Representatives who voted for it are not affected.
The world is used to either looking up to us as an example, or hating us. No matter how you look at it, these political delays are bad for the world. The countries that see us as a model country are being led astray by our system because of all the hippo critic moves we make. The countries that hate us use the weakness to plot an attack to take us over. If that happens, we will have no influence in the world. The political delays that may seem minuscule now, are likely the beginning to a grim future for everyone if something is not changed to fix the issue.
1. The Leakers
Personally, I think that article number one is the most significant because of how many people’s attention the story caught. We all live with uncertainty as to whether or not to trust the government, because of so many reasons, but here is a guy that basically got away with aiding the enemy. How do we know that there aren’t more people like him in our country? We could have so many more people giving away our information and ‘leaking’ information that should stay within our grounds. I don’t think anyone is going to be able to forget this story; or be able to act as if we’re 100% safe all the time. At any moment, there could be a single person that could have our country/safety destroyed, leaving all of us with more uncertainty then before we saw/read this story.
6.Asiana Airlines Flight 214 Disaster
out of all the articals the incident with flight 214 was the mmost significant and memrobel. when looking back in history this plane crash will be remembered for the lives that were saved instead of the lives that were lost. history is all about politics and war, therefore the other afticals mentioned will be a small bloop in the time continum.
First!
Dead tie between Leakers and Political Delays/Holding Actions.
While localized events such as the Zimmerman Trial and the Arab Spring may have short term effects that ripple through both their regions and the news, I feel they will ultimately amount to little more than a footnote; the Zimmerman trial will find its niche in precedence, and the Arab Spring will whither into an Arab Fall (Not to discount that region entirely, but real, lasting changes seem to be in short supply there unless it’s coupled with a new power grab).
The Leakers and the Political delays go, I believe, hand in hand as maneuvers in an effort to write-in or otherwise impose a redirection of national priorities and interests. While I wish to be careful in my word choice so as to avoid any hat-tip towards unjustified American exceptionalism, I do think it is undeniable that the American economic, political, and military juggernaut has quite a pronounced effect on the world, and changes to any of those three pillars will necessarily ripple into the interests of other nations with which we are intricately and delicately intertwined.
The Affordable Care Act, touted as a solution to the perceived issue that some 42-48 million Americans live without health insurance (though some, such as Prof. Antony Davies, believe the number is as low as 6 million), has seen delays, postponements, an alleged re-write of a provision relating to state exchanges, among other maladies. The merits of the ACA, and the stated goal of the legislation, have been a major point of political contention across the two main parties. This conflict, coupled with a sort of ‘regime uncertainty,’ and the initial delay from passing of the PPACA to the original implementation date, has caused a measurable degree of economic uncertainty (with the metric being the increase of premium rates nationwide, a happening that, interestingly enough, the American People were assured would not happen). It might be argued that the delay of implementation could be a political holding action designed to scale back some of the short-term (and potentially long-term) negative effects of the legislation in order to:
1) hold these effects long enough to achieve either mid-term election success (to avoid repeal) or perhaps even success with the next presidential election
or
2) ensure that the ACA does indeed fail, introducing perhaps a political vacuum with enough potential to introduce a different system (such as perhaps a single-payer system)
or
3) Both.
The Leakers become important in that they have introduced evidence that the American government is quite capable of fulfilling the dreams of conspiracy theorists the country over, especially through the unwarranted and unjustified collection of data relating to email. internet usage, and telephony. With the primary document governing the actions of the Federal level of US government specifically outlawing (“The right of the people to be secure in their . . . effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated” [4th amendment to the US constitution]) the exact actions which they are currently performing, one might reasonably conclude that, given it took a national security leak to expose such activity, there are perhaps other back-room activities that might be taking place that fly in the face of the Constitution.
Both the leakers and the political delays/holding actions tie together in that, as pillars of influence (political, economic, and military), the results of these events can play either for or against us on the global stage. US spying on British citizens (and attempting to seize british secrets), added to a series of almost comical presidential slights (ipod gift, Winston Churchill bust renege, etc), could leave the UK sour towards the US and less willing to commit or aid US forces abroad in the event of another Afghanistan. Poor economic growth in the States leading to an outcry (and later, outrage) among workers might result in punitive, anti-business legislation that pushes producers overseas to ‘greener pastures,’ furthering the perceived plight of the US worker in an evermore aggressive circle.
The end tie-in, though, is that the backlash from American citizens in general has been short, swift, and ultimately ineffective. The Snowden case remains news, but is no longer shocking, and middle-ground america continues on with a collective “oh, well that sucks.” The ACA is delayed, political fallout relating to numerous scandals is manifold, and the outrage is, aside from the extreme edges of the single plane political spectrum, mild.
These two tie in importance in that their ultimate effects show a government willing to disobey law in order to achieve short-term goals, and at the expense of constituents. While a government disobeying law is a laughably (and regrettably) common occurrence, the several instances of such at such a grand level may be indicative of a forced national redirection, which, as the juggernaut described before, might bring a huge chunk of the world down with it if it comes to pass.