Scotland Says We Are A United Kingdom!

Scotland has voted to stay a part of the United Kingdom

In a vote to determine whether they want to be an independent nation, or continue to be the little brother to England in the United Kingdom, the Scots have made their decision- they will stay a part of the United Kingdom.

A total of 2,001,926 voters, or 55% of the total votes, said “NO” to wanting Scotland leaving the United Kingdom to become an independent nation. A total of 1,617,989 voters, or 45% of the vote, said “YES” to Scotland wanting independence.

In a perfect example of democracy, the citizens were asked to determine their own fate, and indeed, did just that.  A record amount of Scottish voters went to the polls. The vote was the project of Alex Salmond, a prominent politician who served as  the First Minister. He was the leader of the independence movement. He resigned very soon after the vote results were made public.

There were going to be many questions about Scotland should they have decided to declare independence through this referendum. Nation building is hard enough, but economically, Scotland would have just scraped by if they had voted for independence. Lloyd’s of London and other top financial services companies would have moved out of Scotland if they voted to become independent. This would cause a nightmare for Scotland since you can’t run a government with no central banking system. There would have been other questions but the economic issues would have been the biggest.

This quest for independence was very different than the usual way of doing it. In this scenario, Scotland did not invade  England, nor did England fight to keep Scotland. Since Scotland became a part of the United Kingdom in 1707, the two have been tied at the hip and most people don’t even know that the two have been married for so long. Even in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, most people will tell you they are Britons.

England sure was happy when the vote not to become independent was made official. English Prime Minister David Cameron said it best. “Like millions of other people, I am delighted,” he said when talking about the vote in a nationally televised address to the nation of England. “We hear you,” is what he said to Scotland, meaning he knows there are issues that the Scotts and English have to settle between them to keep Scotland happy, but he also mentioned Wales and Northern Ireland, two other parts of the United Kingdom.

Obama Ramps Up Fight Versus ISIS

 

Barack Obama addressing nation about ISIS. Photo courtesy of The Economist with educational purpose use.

President Barack Obama addressed the nation Wednesday night, September 10th.

In this national televised press conference, Obama admitted he was reversing course on Iraq and America’s role in it.

His original  pledge was to withdraw all fighting forces from Iraq. That pledge was upheld, but with the new threat from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) becoming more and more important to combat, he may have to put fighting troops back in Iraq.

As of now, Obama has kept his word and has not put any more troops on the ground in Iraq once they have all left the country. Of course there are advisors and special forces guys training the Iraqi police, military, and security forces. However, there are no ground forces directly fighting any enemy combatants in the country.

Let’s take a look at Obama’s plan:

AIR STRIKES AND WHERE

Obama authorized air strikes to help the Kurds, Shiite militiamen, and anyone else fighting either ISIS or Al-Assad’s government forces in Iraq.

The United States had a presence in Iraq, as it is rebuilding Iraq’s infrastructure as well as a democratically elected government, after years of war. It was able to get authorization for airstrikes since its presence in Iraq is so strong.

Now they want to hit ISIS targets inside Syria itself. Bashar Al-Assad, the Syrian President, is considered a terrorist in many developed nations. ISIS is a big part of a three-headed civil war now going on in Syria. The situation in Syria started when rebels saw successful uprisings in some other countries, so they tried to depose Al-Assad. The rebels were holding their own and there was reports that Al-Assad was using chemical gasses against his own people, or the rebels. Then ISIS saw its opportunity to step in and win some influence. So it joined the fight to try to overthrow Al-Assad’s government while winning the battles it was putting itself in. It was then considered a three-head civil war.

Obama didn’t want to get involved in Syria. Sure, he, just like other military and political leaders in the states, wanted Al-Assad gone from Syria. However, he never authorized airstrikes in Syria. At least now, they are considering it as an option.

Will airstrikes in Syria be easy? Definitely not. They will be very complex. In Iraq, ISIS targets were clear. They usually traveled in caravans using private vehicles, carried rocket propelled grenades (RPG’s) and other big weaponry, in the open.  The drone programmers and fighter pilots both know who was who. We also had plenty of intelligence coming from the ground.

Syria, however, will be a different demon. With a three-headed civil war going on there,  (Al-Assad’s government forces, Shiite military units and other rebel groups, and ISIS), it gets more complex. Plus, there is not as much U.S. intelligence on the ground in Syria, so they would be relying on less intelligence on the ground, who is who, what targets are of first priority while not hitting enemy combatants, and who is in charge of the sorties since there are a few countries involved with us. The US military has been planning for this scenario for some time, although it wouldn’t public admit this.

Oscar Pistorius Spared On Murder Charge, Gets Culpable Charge

Oscar Pistorius, the South-African double amputee who competed in both the Paralympic and regular Olympic games, has been charged with culpable murder in court Friday in Pretoria, South Africa. Culpable murder is the same charge as manslaughter in the United States.

Pistorius was facing murder charges in the killing of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine’s Day, January 14, 2013.

Pistorius claims he was shooting at an intruder in his house when Steenkamp returned from a trip and was killed by a few rounds of hollow-point bullets. After discovering it was indeed Steenkamp, Pistorius called police.

The judge who presided over the case, Thokozile Matilda Masipa, agreed to extend bail for Pistorius until his sentence hearing, which has been scheduled for October 13th. She does not believe Pistorius is a flight risk since he sold his house, real estate property and some personal property, to pay his attorney fees.

The amount of jail time Pistorius will face will be up to the judge, but most culpable murder cases carry sentences of 15 years.

 

Who Exactly Is ISIS?

ISIS terrorists in Syria. Getty Images authorizes photo for educational purposes.

Citizens opening their newspapers read about the beheading of two American journalists in the past two weeks. The beheadings haven’t been used in some time. “What is the deal”, one of my friends asked me yesterday.

The group that took responsibility for these recent beheadings is a group called ISIS. They didn’t just claim responsibility, but they bragged about it to everyone in the world who would listen.

Let me tell you about ISIS. Who are they and why they are doing this?

ISIS is the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, although the group usually just goes by IS, or Islamic State, in its own circles.

ISIS is a Sunni-Muslim organization trying to overthrow governments that do not abide by strict Koran/Muslim teachings. The Sunni’s want to gain total control and want the strictest forms of Islam to be implemented, and have shown they are not afraid to fight for it, and die for it. They have executed many non-military combatants that have not agreed to convert to their Sunni ideas. They have killed soldiers in battles, old men, young men, women, and children, to prove they are legitimate in their beliefs. Currently, they are trying to take over the governments of Iraq and Syria, which is in the middle of its own civil war between President al-Assad’s government forces and rebels just trying to depose him, and ISIS forces are making this a three-headed civil war.

Many media outlets have claimed that ISIS is actually Al Qaeda in Iraq, which is simply not the case. Al Qaeda in Iraq, or AQI, is still in existence with more than 100 members, but American Military Operations in Iraq have killed 12 of AQI’s top 14 figures in its operations, and with no leaders, has been deemed useless in its Jihadist fight against the West. They have had at least 5,800 foot soldiers killed by American foot soldiers, snipers, and drone planes. ISIS is a completely different operation, with different leaders, and a much different game plan.

ISIS will stop at nothing to get a strict Islamic state, country or region. Beheading Americans on video is a sign that they will kill anyone, or awaken any sleeping giant. However, once the American government and military realize they must be dealt with, and destroyed, with more than airstrikes, they will be become extinct,  just like the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, Al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Islamic Brotherhood.

It is time to deal with them now.

 

Hello, I am your blogger!

Me doing my sports talk radio show on Cruisin 92.1 FM

Hello to everyone reading my first post of my new blog called “Know Your News”. I am sorry for the tongue twister, but that is the way it came out.

This blog site is an assignment for a copy editing class at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey. To see all the great things Rowan University offers students, please don’t hesitate to check it out at www.rowan.edu.

The assignment is to think of, create, and maintain, a blog site that will allow us to learn the complexities of copy editing in the Journalism world. To be honest, I thought there were some challenges in copy editing, but never knew how many. This is coming from a guy who has written for four newspapers over 28 years. I would write an article, send it to my department editor, and that was the last I saw of the article until it appeared in the paper with my very own by line. Whether it was me being young and dumb. or just not wanting to know, I didn’t know all that went into copy editing. If you are reading this Professor Woodell, you know I deserve extra credit for the schmoozing! Come on, you know you wanna!

Our fearless leader, Professor Woodell is the Philadelphia Daily News’ finest copy editor. She wanted our first post to be an introduction. Who are you, what is your major, what got you interested in Journalism, what I have done in the field and what my career goals are. Well, like the Black Eye Peas songs says, let’s get it started.

My name is Shawn Stiles and I am 45 years old. I look in the newspaper each and every day to see if I am still alive, so when I open up one of those rare, white, square things that are on the Journalistic endangered list, it is right to the obituaries for me. I am good for today. One day I was sick and a bit concerned about being in that section, but my doctor told me “Mr. Stiles, you are good for now. Mr. Riley needs to go first, anyway”. How comforting. He is also the same doctor who scheduled some blood tests for me and as I was leaving his office to get the blood work done, said “think positive”. HUH?

I am from Bridgeton, New Jersey. If you do not know where Bridgeton is, and that talking lady on your GPS is still drunk from the night before, Bridgeton is in Western Cumberland County, sandwiched between Vineland, New Jersey’s largest city, and Salem, its oldest. I have two sons who are 21 and 19. They are good kids. I am trying to sell them.

I have always wanted to be in Journalism in one form or another. I started doing play-by-play for hockey in my house for as long as I can remember. Then I wanted to do hockey play-by-play, soccer play-by-play, then football play-by-play. I played every one of these sports, which just fueled my fire to be as big a part of those sports as I could be. I would play these sports all day and my brother would have to go out and find me to get me to come in at night. I started hiding from him. Once I started getting bigger, going from string bean to jolly red giant, I needed to eat, so hiding was no longer an option for me. Those trees got small!

After collecting and writing every sports statistic possible growing up, I got my first job with the Bridgeton Evening News in 1986. Yes- evening news. You would get your paper at 5 p.m. every day. I had to cover Schalick High School football for that first season. At that time, Schalick was a new school and they were horrible, losing every week by touchdowns. I guess they didn’t care who covered them, thinking the football stunk, so the writing might as well, also. However, I was pretty damned good at writing. This was the beginning of a good career in Journalism.

After high school, I went to Minnesota for college and got hurt playing hockey, so both my hockey and baseball careers ended. That is when I started doing play-by-play there and I continued writing. I did not finish school there. That is why I am at Rowan University now.

So to summarize, I have written for four newspapers. I have done sports talk radio on two stations. I have done sports talk on television. I did general radio shows for five years. I also do blogging- one a sports blog (www.shawnstiles051969.wordpress.com) and one a history blog site (www.SouthJerseyHistory.wordpress.com). Now I am doing news blogging. Everyone who knows me knows how much I love the news and politics and know that I definitely know what is going on around me as friends and family often ask me, “Shawn, what is going on in the world today”?

At Rowan, I have two semesters left. Well, one semester after this one. I started a Journalism Club on campus and I am its President. I like all of my Professors I have at Rowan. I am just old and have many responsibilities away from school that the typical student does not have. I have kids, two businesses, real estate, taking care of my sisters Great Dane, and more. I make it work, but I am glad there is just two semesters left. I am dual majoring in Journalism and History.

Career goals? I am doing what I love, owning a sports marketing company and just starting a non-profit history company. I am also soon to publish a sports magazine and will run a Professional Women’s Baseball League next year. If I could do something away from my businesses? I guess I would want to work for Comcast Sports Net, doing the Flyers pre-game and/or its post-game show. I would do it for the Phillies also. The only other thing I would want to do is be a war correspondent- those reporters who get embedded with our troops overseas, or just someone who covers the wars.

I want to thank you in advance for reading my blog posts. You could be doing anything else right now, but you choose to be reading my blog. Thank you for that. I hope I do not disappoint you. If there is something you would like to see news-wise on this site, please leave me a comment here or email me at stiles19@students.rowan.edu.

Have a great night everyone.