What's Goin On?

I'd like to introduce a new class of post that I'll make from time to time. It's called "What's Goin On?" Basically, I'll look at events that are happening through out the world. May be I'll comment about them, may be I'll let them stand on their own. The key thing is to share them with the world. Here we go:

This is a story I've commented on this week, but it's turning out to be a bigger issue of security. This past week, on Christmas Day, a man was apprehended after trying to light a bomb on an airplane after it landed at Detroit Metro Airport. It appears that the man failed, but several facts have arisen after the incident. It has been reported that his father had reported him to the US Government. Here's some back ground on the suspect:

This New York Times Article reveals something else:

Instead, officials said Sunday, they marked the file of the son, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, for a full investigation should he ever reapply for a visa. And when they passed the information on to Washington, Mr. Abdulmutallab’s name was added to 550,000 others with some alleged terrorist connections — but not to the no-fly list. That meant no flags were raised when he used cash to buy a ticket to the United States and boarded a plane, checking no bags.

It will be interesting to see what develops as a result of this incident. We've already seen TSA have a security breach that revealed secrets including racial profiling when it comes to checking people. Will this go one step further? Some people say that security checks are doing their jobs. However, it is clear with incidents like this that they aren't. Not only are they checking people who are completely innocent (like myself), they are not checking people like Abdulmutallab, who have bad intentions. I think an easy solution would be to scan passports to make sure that people are not on any terrorist watch lists.

Things aren't any better in Iran where protests continue to sprout up since their election in June, 2009. The latest protests have turned violent, showing an increasingly dissident group of support against the government of Ahmadinejad. I'm a fan of seeing visually what is going on, so here's a video from Al Jazeera:


While we're in the Middle East, it's the one year of the bombings in Gaza. Here's a video of children recounting their stories. I couldn't imagine being in a situation like this. Imagine being that young and having that sort of chaos escalating around you, your home, your life. I remember watching a live feed of Gaza last year and it was a constant stream of bombs and machine gun fire.

Just chilling, haunting stuff.

Speaking of anniversaries, Monday is the two year anniversary of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. We still have no answers about her murder nor do we have stability in the Pakistani government. There is a lot of work to do.


If there's any question that China will take over the world, China has unveiled the fastest train in the world:


In science and technology, the focal point of news seems to be on Apple's new tablet. Apple is one of the most successful companies with their incredible computing machines, music devices, and of course, their phones. Now they are introducing a tablet and the industry is going rampant with curiosity. What impact will the introduction of the tablet have on the market? I look forward to seeing it because quite frankly I'm not sold on the Tablet idea. I need to learn more about its usefulness.

That's all for "What's Goin On?"