Monday, Monday, Monday! Let’s see what’s going on in the news, shall we?
Jeeeeeeeeebus. Shooting on the Auburn campus in Alabama, leaving three dead and three wounded. It was at a party, apparently, and as I write this, they still haven’t gotten the suspect. (CNN)

Abdul Baset Sieda has been named as the head of (part of) the opposition bloc in Syria, where there continue to be massacres and “unrest.” (CNN)
Oh hey! Mexican drug cartels are moving into small town America! (CNN)
Colorado fires have grown to 8,000 acres. (CNN)

Creflo Dollar, a megachurch pastor in Atlanta, was arrested for domestic violence. His daughter wanted to go to a party, and things got physical. It sounds like they got pretty bad, with him allegedly trying to choke her. Ugh. Come on, Christians. Be more Christian. (CNN)
Oh. This article says that the megachurch preaches that God rewards faithful people with tons of money, which makes me think that it’s not a very good representation of Christianity. Do you think his last name is really Dollar? (CNN)
Spain is getting $125 billion in loans to help it from falling apart. I’m worried about Europe. (BBC)
Technology is making cleaner water possible in Africa, which is super cool. (BBC)

At least five people were killed in a church blast in Nigeria, and there appear to be many other casualties. Ugh. (CNN)
I’m going to come out and say it: I think tightrope walking over Niagara Falls is a stupid thing to do. (NPR)
That’s it for now, chickadees. Be a force for good in the world.
7 replies on “News Appetizers: Shooting in Alabama, Bomb in Nigeria, Megachurch pastor arrested”
Tightrope walking = Darwin Award in the making.
Why do people even come up with the idea of walking a tightrope over deep spots? Surely you can leave your name in history in a way that is erm ..more useful? More inspiring?
I went to Niagara Falls. Â It was terrifying, and that was standing at a safe distance away from it, and with my feet on the ground and a fence between me and it.
Agreed on tightrope walking being a rather stupid idea. I don’t buy into encouraging and rewarding such stunts for pushing the boundaries of human achievement at all. There’s harrowing footage, from maybe the 70s, of one of the greats of this field – by then a middle-aged man whose name I don’t recall – faltering, then desperately trying to hang on to the rope, and then falling to his death over some gorge. I guess acting out on a death wish is anyone’s own business, but I refuse to reward them with attention for it.
I’m worried about Europe too. Once my tiny country has to start coughing up our share of those bailout billions, I might well lose my job! It does make me bitter when people in Greece, in trouble largely because of wide-spread, casual tax evasion and abuse of state benefits, complain over austerity measures. Even after all the cuts, they get paid more than people in many poorer EU member states (as in, teachers in Greece earn 4-5 times more than teachers in the Baltic states do). And we’re still supposed to help bail that lot out?
I am about to get all creepy stalkery on you but I am leaving for the airport to Ukraine in half an hour and that is verrrry close to the Baltics and we should TOTALLY HANG OUT.
You know, I might take you up on that offer, if Kiev didn’t look about 1500 km away on the map, and the fact that I’ve got under 1 € on my bank accounts as of today… *pouts*
Have you brushed up on your football? I hear there’s something vaguely football-related going on in Ukraine at the moment…:)