Warm Up

0How did Hurricane Katrina affect Texas?

Hurricane Katrina relocation map.

Houston, TX

George W. Bush Continued2001-2009

(Republican)

0USA PATRIOT Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) – purpose of the Act is to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and other purposes. Some Americans feel that this Act is unconstitutional and gives the executive branch the right to spy on its citizens without a warrant which violates citizens’ constitutional rights.

Group Discussion Questions0Do you think we have to sacrifice our individual rights and civil

liberties in order to protect ourselves from terrorist attacks or other threats?

Group Discussion Questions0Can you think of other examples in U.S. History where the

government suspended civil liberties to protect the U.S. from a threat?

0 World War I0 World War II- Japanese Internment Camps0 Cold War-McCarthyism and HUAC

0Hurricane Katrina (2005) - It was the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. At least 1,833 people died in the hurricane and subsequent floods, making it the deadliest U.S. hurricane since the 1928; total property damage was estimated at $81 billion (2005 USD), nearly triple the damage brought by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The most devastating impact was on the city of New Orleans.

Physical and Human Geographic Factors of Hurricane Katrina 0Levee failure in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina0Human factors – engineering failure of the levees (levees

were build to hold back ocean water from the areas of the city that were below sea level.

0Physical factors – the wind and storm surge of the hurricane hit at high tide

Group Discussion Question

0What could have been done to prevent the massive destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina?

0No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) - is a United States Act of Congress that is a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which included Title I, the government's flagship aid program for disadvantaged students. NCLB supports standards-based education reform based on the premise that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals can improve individual outcomes in education. The Act requires states to develop assessments in basic skills. To receive federal school funding, States must give these assessments to all students at select grade levels. NCLB expanded the federal role in public education through annual testing, annual academic progress, report cards, teacher qualifications, and funding changes.

0The Great Recession - also referred to as the global recession of 2009, is an ongoing marked global economic decline that began in December 2007 and took a particularly sharp downward turn in September 2008.

0The bursting of the U.S. housing bubble, which peaked in 2006, caused the values of securities tied to U.S. real estate pricing to plummet, damaging financial institutions globally and creating an interbank credit crisis.

Basically, banks had been allowed to make fault loans to people buying houses. The values of the home loans were so high that the banks cut new homeowners a deal to get a house at low cost with the stipulation that after several years there would be a balloon in their payments. People could not make those high payments so many people foreclosed on their homes and the value of all homes in their neighborhood began to drop.

0Americans purchasing power lowered and unemployment became high. It began as a national recession in United States in December 2007 and then the recession took place at the global level. The exact start and end-point for the recession at the national level, however greatly varied from country to country, and some countries did not experience any recession at all.

The Decline: The Geography of a

Recessionhttp://

abcnews.go.com/Business/fullpage?id=9549471

0 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2008 (Economic Stimulus Package) - enacted February 13, 2008 was an Act of Congress providing for several kinds of economic stimuli intended to boost the United States economy in 2008 to help economic conditions. It was signed into law on February 13, 2008 by President Bush with the support of both Democratic and Republican lawmakers. The law provides for tax rebates to low- and middle-income U.S. taxpayers, tax incentives to stimulate business investment, and an increase in the limits imposed on mortgages eligible for purchase by government-sponsored enterprises (e.g., Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac). The total cost of this bill was projected at $152 billion for 2008.

Social Media Becomes Popular

0Web 2.0 describes web sites that use technology beyond the static pages of earlier web sites. A Web 2.0 site may allow users to interact and collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue as creators of user-generated content in a virtual community, in contrast to websites where people are limited to the passive viewing of content. Examples of Web 2.0 include social networking sites, blogs, wikis, video sharing sites, hosted services, and web applications

0Facebook is an online social networking service. Facebook was founded in February 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow Harvard University students Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. Facebook is the leading social networking site based on monthly unique visitors, having overtaken main competitor MySpace in April 2008.. It has become an interregnal part of relationships online.

0Twitter - was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass and by July 2006, the site was launched. The service rapidly gained worldwide popularity, with 500 million registered users in 2012, who posted 340 million tweets per day. The service also handled 1.6 billion search queries per day. Twitter is now one of the ten most visited websites, and has been described as "the SMS of the Internet."

Group Discussion Question

0Since Web 2.0 was introduced, do you think there is more or less reliable information that can be found on the internet? Explain.

Barack Obama2009-Present(Democrat)

0End of the War in Iraq (Now being called “Operation New Dawn”)- The U.S. completed its withdrawal of military personnel in December 2011. However, the Iraqi insurgency continues and caused thousands of fatalities in 2012.

0 In late February 2009, newly elected U.S. President Barack Obama announced an 18-month withdrawal window for combat forces, with approximately 50,000 troops remaining in the country "to advise and train Iraqi security forces and to provide intelligence and surveillance".  Beginning September 1, 2010, the American operational name for its involvement in Iraq changed from "Operation Iraqi Freedom" to "Operation New Dawn". 

0On October 21, 2011, President Obama announced that all U.S. troops and trainers would leave Iraq by the end of the year, bringing the U.S. mission in Iraq to an end.] On December 15, 2011, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta officially declared the Iraq War over, at a flag lowering ceremony in Baghdad. The last U.S. troops left Iraqi territory on December 18, 2011 at 4:27 UTC.

0Arab Spring - is a term for the revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests (both non-violent and violent), riots, and civil wars in the Arab world that began on 18 December 2010.

0Protests in many countries affected by the Arab Spring have attracted widespread support from the international community, while harsh government responses have generally met condemnation.

Arab Leaders who have been overthrown.

Some critics have accused Western governments and media, including those of France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, of hypocrisy in the way they have reacted to the Arab Spring. Noam Chomsky accused the Obama administration of endeavoring to muffle the revolutionary wave and stifle popular democratization efforts in the Middle East. Social Media has played a major role in the revolutions.

0War in Libya - In March 2011, Libyan rebel forces and forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi the government started fighting. NATO countries supported the rebels and assisted in using airstrikes against the forces loyal to Gaddafi. Eventually the rebel forces captured and killed Gaddafi and established a new government in Libya.

Benghazi Attack in Libya - US relations with the new Libyan government were thrust into the spotlight on September 11, 2012 when gunmen attacked and firebombed the US liaison office/mission in Benghazi, killing 4 Americans including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. Libya's interim leader Mohammed Magarief quickly condemned the attack and apologized to the US, describing it as "cowardly" and pledging to bring the killers to justice. 

Demonstrations denouncing the attack and supporting the United States were held in Benghazi the next day, with protesters mourning Stevens and signs declaring him 'a friend to all Libyans'. Libya cooperated with the US to investigate the attack, closing Benghazi's airspace for several hours to allow US drone patrols over the city on September 14. Controversy surrounded how much the White House administration knew about the social unrest in Libya that lead to American deaths. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton was questioned before committee regarding the situation.

0Osama bin Laden Death- Starting with information received in July 2010, intelligence developed by the CIA over the next several months determined what they believed to be the location of Osama bin Laden in a large compound in Pakistan. Meeting with his national security advisers over the course of the next six weeks, Obama rejected a plan to bomb the compound, and authorized a "surgical raid" to be conducted by United States Navy SEALs.

The operation took place on May 1, 2011, resulting in the death of bin Laden and the seizure of papers, computer drives and disks from the compound.  DNA testing identified bin Laden's body, which was buried at sea several hours later. Reaction to the announcement was positive across party lines, including from former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and from many countries around the world.

0Civil War in Syria – The Syrian Civil War began on March 15 2011, when Syrian protesters demanded the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad whose family has help the presidency since 1971. Rebel groups began to form as the Syrian Army was deployed to stop the uprising. Many protesters have been arrest and tortured. Since then the UN, including the U.S. as well as Amnesty International has been supplying humanitarian aid to the Syrian citizen. The U.S. has supplied defensive, non-combat assistance to the rebels: night vision goggles, bullet proof vests, etc.

0The uprising then turned into a Civil War between the rebels and the Assad government. There were accusations and proof that the Assad government used chemical weapons against the rebels. Obama threatened Syria of U.S. intervention because of the use of chemical weapons. Congress did not support an invasion of Syria but Russia and the United States came to an agreement with Syria over the stock piling and control of chemical weapons by an international organization.

Remember!The 1925 Geneva Protocol prohibits the use of chemical and biological weapons in warfare. The reason for restricting biological weapons is because of the unexpected outcome of their use.

0Emergence of ISIS- In 2013, an Islamist extremist group known as ISIL started to conquer and take control over large areas of land in Iraq and Syria. In June of 2014, ISIL self-proclaimed itself as an Islamic State and a Caliphate. Their fighters have been accused of genocide, executions, enslavement and rape in the regions they control. The U.S. and other countries have decided to help the fight against ISIS by airstrikes.

Group Discussion Question

0Since ISIS has emerged since the U.S. left Iraq, do you think it’s the responsibility of the U.S. to protect Iraq from a complete take over by ISIS?