Caught Spying

             America and Germany are allies and therefor, America should have no need to spy and snoop into their business. If I had an Allie, I would expect trust, care, concern, and honesty to be present. It is not right to tap into ones communications, and I believe Angela Merkel handled and expressed herself in a very good way. She did not express anger but rather stated the necessities that must be present between allies. Angela Merkel seemed to remind America that trust must be present between them two and that they both need to focus on rebuilding it.
              Getting caught is an issue alone but then getting caught lying is a whole other issue at hand. America stated that they had not monitored and will not monitor Germany's communications in the future. This statement digs a hole for America because America has admitted to monitoring in the past. It is a very risky barrier to cross when weighing out the consequences of spying on Germany. The risk of finding something for intelligence benefits does not out weigh the diplomatic damage that will rise.
              Matthew Yglesias' five year plan seems promising but only in some parts. In his step one, of solving short term unemployment, I believe that suspending the printing of the federal reserve until nominal income catches up is a great idea and has a lot pushing for it to succeed. I do believe that his second step is interesting, but I do not know if it will be successful. It seems alittle radical to start taxing land value, because of all the aspects that land value includes. His step three, on raising all the different real wages seems to be promising also. I do not agree with his fourth step on how we could raise population threw immigration. I believe that he really jumped and aggressively pushed for ways in which we can allow immigrants into the United States, and I'm not too big of a fan. I believe  Mathew yglesias' fifth step is trying to change something that does not need to be changed. I believe copyright terms are fine at the level at which they are at, and do not need to be scaled back.

Chaos in Moscow

         Ethnic violence was the catalyst of a riot in Moscow which caused much trouble for the residents and police of Moscow. Migrants seem to be a huge problem in Moscow and I believe that much effort should be put into expelling them. To have a resident of Moscow say, "We are scared to walk the streets at night," is not alright nor healthy for the production and success of Moscow. These migrants are causing to much problems than the good that they bring to Moscow. Another resident also stated that these migrants take up low paying jobs, like construction that many residents would not do, but if that is all they are doing then much effort needs to be put into the act of expelling them. The great help by Moscow's police, detaining around 1600 migrants, a statistic stated in the article posted  by (Reuters.com) shows a great start. Ethnic violence can be started very easily in Moscow and I believe careful steps must also be taken to quell the violence that may erupt. Different ethnic holidays is one of the examples that may cause violence to erupt. Migrants are said to be targeted during these ethnic holidays and that they should take much caution in transporting from day to day activities. A lot of chaos is occurring in Moscow at the moment and can definitely be taken care of. Steps must be taken to quell the chaos and violence.

The 3rd Golden Age of Television

          The golden age of television was a time period where much criticism was focused on movies and television shows. Criticism was expressed through female and male critics, which supplied directors, writers, and producers many different angles to view, change, or not change the way they wrote and later produced a movie. Many different types of television go through criticism and through the boom of serial television, came the boom of criticism. Online criticism heavily increased in quantity, quality, and in its respectability. Martin and Sepinwall do not focus on how television could be different from what it is today because of criticism but rather what it is and how it came to be. It is amazing to step back and look at what had to happen and what created the shows and movies that we all watch today. I never really appreciated the steps that must have been taken to produce these great movies and shows that exist today. Criticism is a harsh step to have to deal with but a very helpful tool in creating great writing and shows. I believe that if one can really appreciate criticism and understand it along with the ability to use it for their own advantage, a writer can truly produce a great piece.

Government Shutdown

John McDaid

            The house and the senate couldn't agree on a bill to fund the government and because of it we have been put into a government shutdown that started on october 1. When I first heard of a government shutdown, I thought that it meant everyone that works for the federal government would be without their job completely and entirely and all parts of government would close. Some people in government stay and work during the shutdown and only parts of the government are shut down. This situation is horrible for our economy. Areas around Washington D.C. are said to lose $200 million each day in economic activity for each day that the government is shut down. 800,000 federal workers are estimated to be sent home. A prolonged and serious government shut down has only happened once before but smaller government shutdowns have happened seventeen times before. I wouldn't say that the government can ever really be prepared for a government shutdown but it is definitely something that should be further looked into because of how badly the economy can be affected by one. A government shutdown wouldn't happen if congress could just agree and follow through together. I wouldn't blame any particular party but congress definitely needs to pull together and seal the trench that is causing these problems.

Somalian shooters

John McDaid

        This is another horrible incident that has occurred and another that we have to read. I agree with all the survivors on how they explain the Somalian shooters. The Kenyan survivors explain how they are inhumane and had no feeling or emotion in there face. Again I want to express my feeling on how there are mentally unstable people in the world that we live in. To make a connection from the last reading, The Naval Yard Shooting, in both cases people act inhumanely and seem to be mentally unstable. I do believe there is a difference between The shooter in the Naval Yard and the Somalian shooters. The Somalian shooters seemed to commit this action more through anger and order. It is a horrible incident to have to deal with and go through and am very sorry for all those who were involved. I would categorize the article in the website, The Counter Punch as informal because it is not a refutable news source with a good editter, but more of a blog with an oppiniated author that does not cite good enough sources. I believe that is favored toward the perspective of someone who is against the form of policy of the United States.