The speech that I chose  was the opening scene of the Newsroom speech. I felt that the speaker was extremely articulate and incredibly passionate about the subject he was talking about. When Will, the speaker, is asked why he thinks America is the greatest country in the world, Will hesitates to answer at first but then eventually he declares that USA is not the greatest country in the world. His speech starts by listing relevant statistics that suggest that, in fact USA is not the greatest country in the world. This really resonated with me partially because I agreed with the speaker, but additionally the speaker was engaging with his well-educated arguments mixed with an immense amount of passion. 

The article I read was on the possible motives for Adam Lanza, the shooter who killed 26 people, with most of them being children. The main motive that has been discovered is that Adam Lanza's mother wanted to put him in a psychiatric facility. This angered Adam who then killed his mother before going to an elementary school and opening fire on the teachers and students. A trend in mass killings is they are committed by people who are described as crazy, but still are intelligent enough to plan and execute a mass killing. 

This was useful to me because it had expert insight on killers and what goes on in their minds. In this case it was a non student who displaced his rage upon the elementary school, not a student who attended the school. This made me think about whether I should focus on school shootings when the shooter is a student or when it is another person such as an adult. I am mostly interested in the mind of the shooters, why did they do this? What did they wish to accomplish by doing this? 

The argument that resonates the most with me is The War-Powers Argument. Divine Power was first limited in England by Magna Carta and rightfully so, I strongly believe that the government or monarch has no right to break laws that they passed in any circumstance. If the government can break their own laws that they passed then the president has unlimited power, something that even in 1215 people believed was wrong. Under this precedent, the government can break any law in a time of need for the sake of security regardless of the invasion of privacy. Basic rights should not be violated by anybody including the government. 

Sochi Olympics Debate Controversy has erupted all over the world following an anti-gay propaganda law that has been instated in Russia less than a year before the 2014 Olympic games in Sochi. This law has sparked debate throughout the world and has led to petitions to move the Sochi Olympics to another location. In an open letter, Stephen Fry pleads to the IOC to have the Olympics moved and even compares Putin and modern day Russia to Germany under Hitler’s reign in the 1930’s. 

Although comparing Vladamir Putin to Adolf Hitler seems a bit outlandish, the main issue of discrimination against gays is comparable to the discrimination against Jews in the 1936 Berlin Olympics.  The anti-gay law in Russia is a complete violation of basic human rights and the IOC should make a strong statement to Russia by boycotting or moving the Olympics if the law isn’t changed. This is about more than just the safety of gay athletes competing in the Olympics. It is embarrassing and disgraceful that nearly 70 years after the Berlin Olympics a similar issue has come up once again. The IOC must take a strong stance and show Russia that this is simply unacceptable.