2. Midterm Elections: He wasn’t on any of the ballots, but the 2014 midterm elections turned into a referendum on President Barack Obama’s performance in office. Voters gave Republicans a decisive victory as they took control of the Senate and padded their lead in the House. Turns out, people aren't particularly fond of a President that spends more time on the golf course than governing, and who's idea of working with Congress is to block them at every turn and sign a record number of executive orders. It'll be interesting to see what happens over the next two years...
3. ISIS: The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. A militant Islamic group who wants to unite the Islamic world under a militant Caliph has gained a foothold in Iraq and Syria. ISIS has gained momentum and captured territory throughout the region, killing thousands along the way. The group has posted online barbaric videos of beheadings. Two American journalists were among those executed. The United States continues to fight back through airstrikes on the group in Iraq and Syria, although our reluctance to do anything of note to these terrorists have done nothing but embolden them to be more aggressive in their intentions.
4. Russia in the Ukraine: In March, Crimea was forcibly annexed by the Russian
Federation. The Crimean Peninsula,
internationally recognized as part of Ukraine,
was taken by the Russian Federation on March 21, 2014. Russia
now effectively administers Crimea as two federal
subjects—the Republic of Crimea
and the federal city of Sevastopol. This blatant attack on Ukraine was decried by the international community...The UN labeled it an annexation, and NATO kicked Russia out of the G8 and started economic sanctions against them. Of course, the one country that could actually get involved and help Ukraine (their ally) keep their territory was the US...and as well all know, our Commander in Chief would never lift a finger to help his allies. He's more concerned with placating our enemies. Anyways, this war continues to this day.
5. Ferguson: Racial tensions erupted this year in Ferguson, Mo., after Michael Brown, an unarmed, but violent black teenager who had just robbed a convenience store, was shot and killed by a white police officer, Darren Wilson, after resisting arrest and attacking Officer Wilson. Protesters clashed with police for weeks after the shooting. The violence escalated again after a grand jury voted not to indict Wilson, citing evidence that pointed to Wilson's story being correct...and the "eyewitnesses" on Brown's side not having congruent stories. Wilson has since resigned from the Ferguson Police Department, citing safety concerns for his family and fellow officers. Which is very very sad. A cop does his job, and he's threatened violence and death. And the one man who could actually have said something to quell this outrage, our Race Baiter in Chief, decided instead to escalate the situation and not help anything. Way to lead, Obama! The media, of course, has done a good job stoking this fire as well. Just a mess all around.
6. Death of Eric Garner: This one is much like the Ferguson incident, in that it's incited race riots and protests around the country. However, this one seems a little more like negligence by the cop than the Ferguson incident.
When officers moved to arrest Garner on suspicion of selling
"loosies," Garner pulled his arms away from officer Daniel Pantaleo. Pantaleo then put his arm around the much
taller Garner's neck and pulled him backwards and down onto the ground. After Pantaleo removed his arm from Garner's
neck, he pushed Garner's head into the ground while four officers moved to
restrain Garner, who repeated "I can't breathe" eleven times while
lying facedown on the sidewalk. Of
course, someone who can say "I can't breathe" 11 times clearly can
breathe (I'm sorry...but when I can't breathe, legitimately, I can't talk
either). However, Garner did lose
consciousness shortly thereafter. After
Garner lost consciousness, officers turned him onto his side to ease his
breathing. Garner remained lying on the sidewalk for seven minutes while the
officers waited for an ambulance to arrive. The officers and EMTs did not perform CPR on
Garner at the scene because they believed that Garner was breathing and that it
would be improper to perform CPR on someone who was still breathing. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the
hospital approximately one hour later.
Medical examiners concluded that Garner was killed by
"compression of neck (choke hold), compression of chest and prone
positioning during physical restraint by police", though no damage to his
windpipe or neck bones was found. On December 3, 2014, a grand jury
decided not to indict officer Pantaleo.
This sparked tons of protests, including many athletes wearing "I
Can't Breathe" shirts. LeBron
wearing one was officially praised by both Attorney General Eric Holder and
President Barack Obama (way to quell those racial tensions, Obama). Of course, there were no reports of any
racial epithets being used by the cops...who were just trying to subdue a
suspect who was much larger than they were (over 350 lbs). And they didn't damage his neck or
windpipe...it seems likely Garner died of an asthma attack. Which is sad...and maybe the cops could have
been gentler. But it seems like just an
unfortunate, isolated situation based on the medical issues of the man, not his
race.
However, due to this becoming a racial issue (due in no
small part to our President praising those who protested it as a race issue), a
man decided to go kill two NYPD police officers on December 20 while they were
sitting in their patrol car. Once again,
a failure to lead by our President led to further deaths and a more racially
divided country. What simply should have
been a tragic event and looked at as possibly a cop going a little overboard on
his job was blown way out of proportion due to the climate created by our
President and his friends. This is not a
healthy environment for any of us to be living in.
7. Malaysia Airlines Flight 17: On July 17th, Malaysia Airlines flight 17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down over the Ukraine by pro-Russian separatists. Immediately after the crash, a post appeared on the
VKontakte social media website attributed to Igor Girkin, leader of the Donbass
separatists, claiming responsibility for shooting down an AN-26, but after it
became clear that a civilian aircraft had been shot down, the separatists
denied any involvement, and the post was taken down. This is the deadliest airliner shootdown in history, with 298 people losing their lives.
8. Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: Malaysia Airlines' rough year began on March 8, when a scheduled international passenger flight, from Kuala
Lumpur to Beijing,
disappeared. Flight 370 last made voice
contact with air traffic control at 01:19 MYT when it was over the South China
Sea, less than an hour after takeoff, and the aircraft disappeared from air
traffic controllers' radar screens at 01:21 MYT. Malaysian military radar continued to track
Flight 370 as it deviated from its planned flight path and crossed the Malay
Peninsula; Flight 370 left the range of Malaysian military radar at 02:15 MYT
while over the Andaman Sea, 200 nautical miles northwest of Penang in
northwestern Malaysia. It was never
heard from again. It was carrying 12
Malaysian crew members and 227 passengers when it disappeared. Nothing has ever been found from this
plane...a true international mystery.
9. The Death of Robin Williams: This one was a sad one. Robin Williams shockingly took his own life this year, Williams, 63, had battled depression and substance abuse throughout his life. It was revealed after his death that he was also in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease. His death hit close to home for many people who had loved the comedian and loved his work throughout his career. I know I went on a good Robin Williams movie binge after his death. Sad that such a treasure was taken from us far too soon. Hopefully he found the peace he sought.
10. A Movie Shows Us How Weak We Believe the US to be: Yes, I'm talking about the movie The Interview. The Interview is a political comedy film that stars Rogen
and James Franco as journalists instructed to assassinate North Korean leader
Kim Jong-un (played by Randall Park) after booking an interview with him. This silly movie caused the North Korean government to threaten "merciless"
action against the United States
if the film's distributor, Columbia Pictures, went ahead with the release. Columbia
delayed the release from October 10 to December 25, and reportedly edited the
film to make it more acceptable to North Korea.
In November, the computer systems of
parent company Sony Pictures Entertainment were hacked by the "Guardians
of Peace", a group the FBI believes has ties to North
Korea. After leaking several other
then-upcoming Sony films and other sensitive internal information, the group
demanded that Sony pull The Interview, which it referred to as "the movie
of terrorism". On December 16, 2014, the Guardians of
Peace threatened terrorist attacks against cinemas that played The Interview. On December 17, after a number of major North
American cinema chains canceled screenings in the interest of safety, Sony
canceled the theatrical release of The Interview.
Yes, American movie chains thought so little of the Obama America's ability to stop potential terrorist attacks from North Korea (a country that couldn't even send a missile to Japan if they wanted to), that they cancelled the movie out of fear. Then Sony followed suit. Then backtracked when we all called them pussies...but the movie chains still won't show it. I remember back after 9/11, the people of this country were EMBOLDENED by the terrorist acts...vowing to never give in and let the terrorists win. We gathered at sporting events and chanted U-S-A!!! My, how things have fallen...when threats from a hacker group that may or may not have ties to a country so backwards and technologically challenged that they pose no real threat causes us to cower in fear. This is the America Obama has created for us. One where our allies cannot count on our assistance, and our own citizens cower in fear before every minor threat of violence.
2014 was a depressing year in the world. We need better leadership and calmer heads to prevail. Let's hope things get better next year.
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