Current Events
Keeping Up on Current Events
Keeping Up on Current Events
As often as we can, we will try to spend time on current events, understanding that an educated populace is the key to a democracy.
As often as we can, we will try to spend time on current events, understanding that an educated populace is the key to a democracy.
Use AllSides to see a set of articles across the spectrum, or use one of these sources to find an article:
Use AllSides to see a set of articles across the spectrum, or use one of these sources to find an article:
- Conservative Media: The National Review, The Weekly Standard, Townhall, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, The Hill, FoxNews
- Liberal Media: The New York Times*, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Vox, Salon, MSNBC
- * please note that the New York Times is also considered the "paper of record"
- Public & Other Media which aim to not be biased - PBS Newshour, NPR, Associated Press, Reuters
Scroll all the way down to view some current events as they come up during the school year.
Fake News or Real News? Take this quiz from Factitious
Fake News or Real News? Take this quiz from Factitious
GOOD NEWS STORIES
GOOD NEWS STORIES
- 11 Yr Olds doing great things for Flint, Michigan & beyond: activist "Little Miss Flint" Mari Copeney (Amy Poehler's Smart Girls; also check her on Twitter), and scientist Gitanjali Rao invents a cheaper, quicker device to detect lead (ABCNews GMA)
- Muppets & the International Rescue Committee “create the largest early childhood intervention in the history of humanitarian response”
- see this 3 min explanation with Syrian voices https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy7z8PUxNDY
- see this 7 min overview of Sesame Street’s international work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybq9lDBnhT8
- Chicago home of Rohingya refugees https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSqhq7JAvG0
Impeachment Inquiry (begun Sept. 2019)
Impeachment Inquiry (begun Sept. 2019)
- Timeline of events as of 12 Oct 2019 from NPR
Some of Your Topics of Interest
Some of Your Topics of Interest
- Libyan slave trade (from Time magazine)
- Net Neutrality explained (from Business Insider)
- US recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital explained (from The New York Times)
- North Korea nuclear missile program & US ability to stop (from PBS)
- California fires (PBS), Puerto Rico update (NYTimes)
- Allegations Against President Trump (CNN) & President's Response to Calls for him to Resign
- Harassment In Congress: John Conyers (Wash Post), Al Franken & Trent Franks (Reuters)
- Dec. 2017 Attempted Terror Attack in NYC (New York Times)
- Dangerous Homophobia in Chechnya (Newsweek)
Sexual Harassment & Assault
Sexual Harassment & Assault
- be sure you students know what sexual assault and harassment are - basics facts https://nomore.org/learn/resources/
- note the definition of CONSENT - it must be a clear permission, a clear "yes" - not the absence of "no"
- link to current events -
- Time declared "the silencebreakers" their "people of the year" (includes video & story)
- listen to the Daily podcast from Nov. 17 - start at 1:20, goes about 3-4 mins explaining the link of allegations against Sen. Al Franken, Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore (& refers back to Hollywood's Harvey Weinstein and Presidents Trump and Clinton)
- male victim of sexual harassment Terry Crews (NPR story 10 Dec 2017)
- PSAs from the NFL
- No More https://nomore.org/campaigns/public-service-announcements/nflplayerspsa/
- get off the sidelines https://nomore.org/campaigns/public-service-announcements/get-off-the-sidelines/
- celebrity (2 - first is the excuses, second is the vehement “no more”) https://nomore.org/campaigns/public-service-announcements/no-more-excuses-celebrity-psa/
- YOU HAVE RIGHTS!
- film clip on Title IX https://www.safebae.org/ed-videos (3 mins)
- summarize the film with this PDF http://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/724c72_063303d786224094bb81c705a48cafd7.pdf
- do you know where to find information about the school/district policies and protections? - Under Deans on our website, click on Student Handbook & use CTRL+F to find “sexual harassment” in the text and you will come across definitions, the school's protection policy (including the rights of any students involved on any side of the complaint) AND the outline of how to file a complaint (including a link to the form, which will be corrected soon)
- IMPORTANT: You do not have to navigate this alone. The first thing to do is to tell a trusted adult, and we will help you.
Title IXprotects you.pdfGuns - Mass Shooting in Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs TX, Parkland FL
Guns - Mass Shooting in Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs TX, Parkland FL
- history of gun control - The Brady Bill, from Reagan to Clinton, and why the Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that background checks were unconstitutional: 1) OYEZ explainer of Printz v. United States, 2) Libertarian Ron Paul's explanation, and 3) Gun Owners of America explanations
- ... and "Why Mass Shootings Boost Support for More Relaxed Gun Control Laws" (NPR)
- Current debate on Gun Silencers (PBS report on pending legislation in Congress)
- Current debate on how many guns a person should be allowed to buy (see also Gun Owners of America above)
- Spoken Word Rhetoric in Response to Las Vegas
- Sutherland Springs, TX: "Everything we know" so far (PBS Newshour), story about a man who exchanged fire with shooter (NPR), and NPR's Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman's key reporting that the Air Force did not let the FBI know of the shooter's conviction in a military court for domestic violence
- and linked in the bar on the right: video of families remembering victims to the right (FoxNews), analysis of gun laws and gun violence "How to Reduce Shootings" (NYTimes)
- Nov. 21 - Senators introduce bipartisan Fix-NICS legislation on background checks
- two articles from NYTimes- "What Explains US Mass Shootings?" (International Data Comparison) and "How to Reduce Mass Shooting Deaths? Experts Say These Gun Laws Could Help"
- Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida (Feb. 14, 2018): "What We Know About the Florida School Shooting" (PBS Newshour) and Op-Ed by a freshman student Christine Yared "Don't Let My Classmates' Deaths Be In Vain" (NYTimes)
- A graphic study of the growing numbers in mass shootings (Washington Post, Feb. 2016)
- Parkland Upstanders
- Differing Reactions to Youth Activism
- Black Teens Have Been Calling For Gun Control for Years (Teen Vogue)
- BLM Youth Feel Ignored (Chicago Tribune)
- Conversation About Race, Trauma, and Public Support (Vox)
- Students in Urban Schools (Washington Post)
- Other School Protests
- Baltimore
- Chicago March for Our Lives (March 24, 2018): Chicago Tribune articles on how teens planned the event while balancing school, speakers at the March for Our Lives Chicago who were at Louder Than a Bomb
- “The Zoo” by Jalen Kobayashi - at MFOL Chicago
- “Trigger Warning” - dedicated to Parkland students (MFOL version, or LTAB)
- DC March for Our Lives
- Naomi Wadler (11 year old)
- Extraordinary Inclusivity of the March for Our Lives
2017 Hurricanes
2017 Hurricanes
- Maria & Puerto Rico:
- updated Timeline of relief efforts (The Atlantic) & PBS on How you can help with links to Puerto Rico government
- very interesting report from USA Today on "Why Puerto Rico donations lag behind for Harvey, Irma victims"
- "Puerto Rico's tragedy was years in the making" (Politico)
- "Stranded By Maria, Puerto Ricans Get Creative to Survive" (NY Times 17 Oct 2017)
- Paul Ryan visit to Puerto Rico & volunteer pilots evacuate the sick (NBC News 15 Oct 2017)
- Tech companies working to help: NPR overview story (16 Oct 2017), Tesla Powerpacks have started shipping to Puerto Rico (Futurism 16 Oct 2017), Google/Alphabet's Project Loon explained (NBC)
- Harvey & Irma: Red Cross update on recovery efforts one month after Harvey, Forbes Magazine on how to help/donate
Charlottesville & Aftermath
Charlottesville & Aftermath
- Look at Southern Poverty Law Center article on Heritage (and another version of the report as a PDF)
- See our Class Notes folder on the homepage for the details of all the sources we are using
Standing Rock & the Dakota Access Pipeline
Standing Rock & the Dakota Access Pipeline
- Veterans ask for forgiveness of Sioux elders (video & story) & a story on why veterans went to Standing Rock to help
Ferguson, Baltimore, Chicago, Trayvon, and Black Lives Matter
"We call B. S. !" Student from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School leads chant on lawmakers' responses to gun violence after school shooting. (NBC News)
