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nbcnews.comBill Cosby found guilty of sexual assault in retrial
While previously known for being America's "Role-model father", Bill Cosby, age 80, is now notorious for being found guilty of sexual harassment against Andrea Constand. After many years of being accused of sexual harassment towards many women, Cosby has finally been placed under house-arrest until an official sentence will be placed. While this is pretty much the whole story provided by NBC, I find that their article is very "fair and balanced" when pertaining to the different angles the story can be seen from. For example, in the beginning the talk about how the Cosby victims react to the sentence and how they feel about it, however after the midpoint of the article, it switches to show that some of the accusers have also claimed to have sexual relations with other Hollywood Stars such as when, "Mesereau asked Dickinson whether she had spread false rumors about being pregnant with Sylvester Stallone's child. She said the remark was an honest mistake." No matter who was truly in the right in this case, the sentence has been delivered and we have to accept it.
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ghdi.ghi-dc.orgDie Wacht am Rhein
While the German legacy is often viewed as failure and evil, Die Wacht am Rhein proves that they are just another nation who’s ever people are willing to die for their country who protects them in turn. In 1840, the Frenc claimed the Rhine river to be their natural border between themselves and Prussia. This triggered he Rhine Crisis, leading to many Prussians becoming fearful that an invasion from France would occur to settle their claim. This lead to the many German nation’s citizens wanting to set aside their differences and unite as a singular European superpower. After the French invasion began in 1870, Prussians began to chant the phrase “The Rhine, the Rhine, go to our Rhine, who’ll guard our river, hold the line?”, inspiring the soldiers and pushing the French back behind Alsace-Lorraine. After this province was taken from the French as a war trophy, the German nations all declared Wilhelm to be the German Emperor and leader of the First Reich. To this day, Germany’s still use the phrase of “Die Wacht am Rhein” as a patriotic song and a proud symbol of their nation's early history.
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mobile.nytimes.comNorth and South Korea Set Bold Goals: A Final Peace and No Nuclear Arms
In 1950, a communist uprising occurred in the Korean Peninsula, lead by Kim Il-Sung. Immediately, the United Nations intervened and sent a 400K strong military detachment to assist the democratic south. As the war seemed to come to a close for the communist north, the People's Republic of China intervened in the war and sent more than a million men across the border to save the Kim Dynasty. Before the United States and China would fully declare war with each other over this conflict, an uneasy stalemate was put in place with North Korea and South Korea both being independent nations. While the stalemate did end killing, the war continued to rage on until April 27, 2018, when Korean leaders Kim Jong-Un and President Moon would begin the formalization of an official peace treaty between the two nations. The two were seen together having lunch, crossing the border into each other's country, and planting a peace tree to symbolize their newly found friendship. As the Korean War comes to a final close, we are left to wonder why Kim Jong-Un pressed for such an event in such a short period of time.
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maxim.comThe University of Utah Installed a ‘Cry Closet’ for Stressed-Out Students During Finals We
While college is often perceived as a very difficult task to accomplish, the University of Utah has proven it to be true. Due to the fact that their students were having a hard time handling themselves, the University had decided that it was time to install a “crying closet” to help their students go through exams. What got my attention was not the terrible quality of the website but rather the story of the next generation. We are treating these people not as adults but rather as children who need a timeout to contain themselves. Even I understand the need to just take a minute to get your head on straight, but to dedicate a public space to do this is absolutely rediculous.
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blogs.bu.eduThe Great Purge of Stalinist Russia | Guided History (Introduction Only)
Although most people will view the Holocaust as one of the most horrific events in human history, I believe that murder is still murder (although burning people and suffocating them to death is much worse than a bullet). During Stalin's reign as General Secretary of the Soviet Union, a massive strain of paranoia would lead him on a very gruesome quest to secure his position, known as the Great Purge. Thousands of members of the CPSU (Communist Party of the Soviet Union) were executed due to suspicions of plotting to overthrow the Stalinist regime or being a part of the potential Trotskyite Coup. After the internal members were taken care of, Stalin ordered for anyone speaking out against himself or communism to be executed on the spot. This lead to hundreds of thousands more corpses to be buried as the rest of the population would be left in a state of fear and servitude. After the Purge had come to a close, the Soviet leadership would be hollowed out, yet there was no sign of defiance or political disaster to be sighted throughout the mass of Russia.
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britannica.comJoseph Stalin | premier of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
While many know the legacy of Joseph Stalin, Britannica details the full details of his life and legacy as leader of the Soviet Union. While no noticeable writing style was presented to me, I enjoyed the format of the page where if you want a brief description of the page, it’s right at the top for your convenience. If you’re looking for a more detailed description of a dishonest dictator, his entire life is described in different sections, respective to the order in which they occurred. While I would usually talk about the life of Joseph Stalin instead of the page it’s written on, this page is very elegant and truly makes the reader feel at home.
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ushmm.org"Final Solution": Overview
While many people believe Hitler to be the reason behind the extermination of millions of Jews, the mastermind may age actually been Heinrich Himmler. During his rule, Hitler did authorize the boycott of all Jewish products and shops, however it was Himmler who created and authorized the “Final Solution” as presented by the quote: “Hitler gave Himmler broad authority to physically eliminate any perceived threats to permanent German rule. Two weeks later, on July 31, 1941, Nazi leader Hermann Goering authorized SS General Reinhard Heydrich to make preparations for the implementation of a ‘complete solution of the Jewish question.’” This also makes me wonder whether or not Hitler actually killed himself due to cowardice of facing his crimes or for letting his people down. Whatever the truth may be, it seems that Himmler was the true villain of a Nazi Germany.
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alphahistory.comHitler and Stalin
When I was younger, I had always been told that Hitler was the worst person to have existed in history, however this article actually details many ways in which the devil of the 20th century was quite similar to the grand dictator of the Soviet Union. While they both despised each-other's ideas of either communism or fascism, they both shared a great killing bone when it came to unwanted peoples. Obviously, Hitler was notorious for the death of millions of Jews, however Stalin was responsible for the death or displacement of tens of millions during the great industrial reform known as the "five-year plans". At the same time, Stalin was very paranoid that his power would be taken away from him by the other members of the CPSU (Communist Party of the Soviet Union), leading to the Great Purge. This event killed hundreds of thousands of great leaders, including military leaders and revolutionaries. He also began to change the history textbooks to make him primarily responsible for the great events of Soviet history, and he constantly launched propaganda portraying himself as the savior of Communism.
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nbcnews.comSilicon-based life may be more than just science fiction
Due to humanity's natural curiosity about life and how it originates, we now know that it occurred with a chain of complex carbon bonding. Now that we also have the periodic table of the elements, scientists now began to speculate whether or not a similar element like Silicon can also form life. While many say that it cannot be done, scientists actually have forced a carbon-silicon bond to make life. As stated by chief scientist Frances Arnold, "my feeling is that if a human being can coax life to build bonds between silicon and carbon, nature can do it too", a very similar opinion of mine. Unfortunately, due to the inability of silicon to form as many compounds as carbon, it is quite unlikely for it to naturally occur, though nothing is impossible, only improbable.
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history.comThe Mysterious Origins of the American Flag
Since the American Revolution began in 1775, nations all over the world had been inspired to rise above their oppressors and fight for what they believe in. The symbol behind all of this is the American flag. As explained by Jesse Greenspan, the original confederacy of American states were not fighting as a nation but as a group of individual nations who sought to either be free of British tyranny by demanding better treatment or full independence. The further along the war went, the more the Continental Congress realized that only by working as a whole nation instead of individuals would we succeed. A new flag to commemorate this unity was created in 1777 by the Congress, which would include 13 stars in a blue field, followed by a pattern of 13 stripes in a respective red and white pattern. After the revolution had officially succeeded with the Treaty of Paris in 1783, the Constitution would be created 6 years later to declare the United States as an official union of states instead of a confederacy of nations. For over 70 years, it was very rare for anyone to fly an American flag due to the lack of patriotic support of the symbol, however once the Civil War began in 1861, the Northern Union of States flew the flag as a symbol of hope and victory for the divided nation to be reunited. After the war had ended, Americans took great pride in their flags, though most all of the flags did not share the same design. In 1912, President Taft drafted a bill to declare what each American flag should look like so that it would be official that the people would share the same hope for liberty and justice for all. Soon after, President Wilson declared that Flag Day be a nationally recognized holiday every June 14 on the anniversary that the "Betsy Ross" design was created. Finally, in 1949, President Truman passed a congressional bill which declared every June 14 as a national holiday. To say that the American flag is not the most recognized symbol of freedom and victory would be a foolish remark seeing as how millions of people are willing to die for it every year.
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