Pakistan School Attack

http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/16/world/asia/pakistan-peshawar-school-attack/

On Tuesday this week, the Taliban attacked the Army Public School and Degree College. They left 145 dead, all expect 10 of these people were students. There were also more than 100 injured, most of them with gunshot wounds. These terrorists got into the school at around 10 in the morning by scaling the walls. They were set on killing the older students, though many of the children were between the ages of 12 and 16. When the Pakistani troops arrived at the scene of the crime, they imprisoned the seven terrorists in four different buildings. They were dead by the end of the day. 

I think the acts of the Taliban are unforgivable. They have done rotten things in the past, but when they brought children into this, they became despicable. Knowing our U.S. government, they will try to get involved with this whole situation. Though I think it is a good thing that we are acknowledging this crisis and will probably try to help with it, we would probably only make things worse. The last thing we need is to get involved with any mid-Eastern incidents.

Veterans

http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21635478-nearly-half-new-federal-employees-are-military-veterans-what-next

 Out of all the new federal employees, about half are military veterans. Each year, almost 200,000 people leave the military. Most of these people go through a Pentagon program which is supposed to make the transition into civilian life easier. This program usually leads to a government jobs. When Obama ordered the government to hire even more veterans in 2009, the amount of of these people increased by a lot. Veterans usually have a really good chance of getting a job when being considered over others. Sometimes civil servants even go looking for veterans to hire if there are capable ones available. Sadly, this theory has now changed. It is now more likely for young veterans to be unemployed. The reason for this is now that medicine and body armor have improved, people have survived blows that were once fatal. Many of these survivors return home with severe brain damage. However, there is a group for disabled veterans that will give you an "unemployability" payment if you have a spouse and a child.

This article is related to our class for a couple reasons. First, it talks about both employment and unemployment rates. It also discusses the percentage of veterans that work for the federal government. I think it is great that the world is trying to help out the people who risked there lives for our country. Setting up programs to help with the disability rates, for example, is a good way to support these veterans.

Immigration

http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21635006-illegal-immigrants-are-confused-presidents-order-republicans-are-incensed-both

There are about 11 million illegal-immigrants in America right now. On November 20th, Obama made a decision that could benefit about 40% of these people. It was announced that, if eligible, they will now be able to start paying taxes, get temporary work permits, and leave the country with being denied re-entry. However, the immigrants still won't have any formal status in the U.S. The Republicans are very angry with this choice. The trouble for them is incentives for the presidential elections. They need the support from Hispanic voters, especially in swing states, to win. Even the immigrants who would benefit are not 100% pleased. Of the 40% of illegal-immigrants in America, almost 3.5 million immigrants are the parents of children who were born in America. Nearly all the rest arrived in the U.S. when they were children. They are worried about having a brush with the law. Also, some can't find the documents needed for their children or they just can't afford to apply for a work permit.

There are a couple of things related to our AP Gov class in this article. First, it talks about the issue of immigration and how Obama's plan will effect the rest of the country. There was also discussion about the presidential elections and how the Republicans are reacting to this whole thing.