TOW #3

http://news.yahoo.com/dodger-fan-stabbing-suspect-released-sf-jail-071711963--spt.html

This article, released by the Associated Press and featured on Yahoo news, was about the suspect in a baseball-fueled stabbing being released from custody this weekend. According to reporters, a man named Jonathan Denver, the victim, found himself in a heated argument with Michael Montgomery, the man who ended up stabbing Denver to death. Denver was with a few family members including his father and older brother, and two friends that had come with them to the game. They were a few blocks from the Giants' stadium when they met with some Giants fans (Montgomery and his friends) and they started to go back and forth with "Go Giants! Go Dodgers!" Afterwards, the banter turned from a loyal-sports-fan-like argument to a brawl between the two men, and eventually between all of the people involved. The suspect was brought in for questioning after saying "incriminating things" about the victim while being questioned on the scene by the police. They were probably comments about the sports game, about the fight, or he may have appeared to be injured when questioned.

TOW #2

http://gma.yahoo.com/woman-arrested-missouri-allegedly-kidnapping-infant-nearly-13-164508975--abc-news-topstories.html

This article was about a 60 year old woman named Sandy Hatte, who was arrested in Missouri this weekend. She was arrested under suspicion of kidnapping the child and the child was returned to his or her father. Hatte had tried to enroll the child in a high school in Livingston when people became suspicious because they wondered whether or not Hatte was the actual parent/guardian of the child. Investigators then discovered that this was a child who had been missing for over a decade, and who was abducted when he or she was only an infant. The child's father had returned home from work one day, and the child had disappeared as well as Sandy Hatte. Hatte had been elusive for the past decade, and couldn't be found by authorities until now. Authorities haven't released any personal information about the child, and Hatte is currently awaiting trial on a $25,000 bail at the Davvies-Dekalb Regional Jail in Pattonsburg,  MO. They have, however, said that Hatte is not the child's mother, although she is related to the child and his or her family. 

IRB Intro

The book that I chose for the first marking period is from the list of the 100 greatest non fiction books, called I Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. I chose the book because I've read some of his essays before and I think that he's a very funny person, especially in his writing. This book will probably be enjoyable to me, and although I don't actually have a copy yet, I'm looking forward to getting started with it.

TOW #1

Recently, in Syria, people have been rebelling against president Bashar al-Assad, trying to get him to step down from the presidency in order to gain more freedom and end the violence in the country. This rebellion started during 2011, when student protesters were held captive and even tortured for drawing anti-government graffiti. Peaceful protesters gathered to argue for the students' release, and the government responded with violence, shooting and the protesters and killing four. Now, there are two sides: that of the rebels, and that of the current government. In August of 2013, Assad was suspected to have used chemical weapons on his own people, which caused a strong response from the United States. Obama held a speech, demanding that Syria stop the use of these chemical weapons, and that if they continue, it will cross a "red line." I found this cartoon on the internet that describes this red line, and how he seems unsure about it. Recently, because Russia is allied with Syria, delegations have been going on between the two countries that include stopping Syria from using chemical weapons. Because of this, Obama might not need to take any military action regarding Syria, and the red line is starting to fade. Also, because the red line wasn't very clearly defined, this cartoon makes fun of other undefined lines that the red line may or may not be close to touching. I believe that the cartoonist, David Horsey, Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist, did achieve his purpose in the cartoon, which was to make a joke of Obama's unclearly defined "red line" regarding Syria. I also believe that he is a credible cartoonist.