2. President Obama gets realected:Obama got what every president wants a second term. With his place in the history books secure and no concerns his initial win will be seen as fluke Obama who took 51 percent of the popular vote and won 332 electoral votes will begun his second term on Jan. 20. Democrats claim his victory is a mandate but Republicans argue thats not the case. Either way Obama will be a leading force for the next four years.
3. Fiscal Cliff: Plan B, sequester, tax rates the fiscal cliff is a variety of political and financial issues whose fallout will be felt far into 2013. In the beginning of the year about $500 billion in tax increases and $200 billion in spending cuts are scheduled to take effect. How to stop that and its effect on the struggling economy has been the subject of negotiations between both parties. The economic and political effects of whatever solution if there is any it will be long debated. Speaker John Boehner could end up taking the toughest beating. His counterproposal to Obama known as Plan B was pulled from the House floor because he couldnt get enough support for his own party. History will likely see it as the toughest moment of his Speakership and his leadership in 2013 will be closely watched.
4.Benghazi: The attack on the U.S Consulate in Benghazi Libya derailed the ambitions of one of Obamas closest advisers and could impact the 2016 presidential race if Secretary of State Hillary Clinton opts to run. The attack which resulted in the death of U.S Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others led to questions about what the administration knew about its origins became a key moment in the final presidential debate and saw U.N Ambassador Susan Rice withdraw from consideration for secretary of State after Republicans charged her with giving misleading information about the attack. Clinton was scheduled to testify before Congress in early December about the attacks but had to cancel because of illness. She is expected to appear in 2013.
5. Hurricane Sandy: Though no longer a hurricane post-tropical superstorm Sandy packed a hurricanesized punch as it slammed into the Jersey Shore on Monday, killing at least 11 people from West Virginia to North Carolina and Connecticut.
Sandy whipped torrents of water over the streets of Atlantic City stretching for blocks inland and ripping up part of the vacation spot's fabled boardwalk. The storm surge set records in Lower Manhattan where flooded substations caused a widespread power outage. It swamped beachfronts on both sides of Long Island Sound and delivered hurricaneforce winds from Virginia to Cape Cod as it came ashore.Sandys wrath also prompted the evacuation of about 200 patients at NYU Langone Medical Center. Hurricane sandy left many places without power for up to a couple a weeks and destroyed many businesses and homes.
6. General Petrauious scandal:Retired Army Gen. David Petraeus resigned from his CIA director post last week after an FBI investigation revealed he had an affair an investigation that also prompted questions about whether The scandal also has sparked an investigation into whether Marine Corps General John Allen the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan sent inappropriate messages to a different woman leading President Obama to put Allens nomination to become NATOs supreme allied chief on hold.The FBI uncovered the Petraeus affair while it investigated e mails that his biographer Paula Broadwell allegedly sent to a Patreus family friend who is Jill Kelly according to a U.S. official. Kelley meanwhile is the woman to whom Allen allegedly sent inappropriate e mails according to the Defense Department.
7. Concussions in the NFL:More than 2,000 former NFL players filed a lawsuit this morning in Philadelphia accusing the league of concealing information linking football related injuries to longterm brain damage.
In the biggest sports lawsuit ever the former players allege that the "NFL exacerbated the health risk by promoting the games violence" and "deliberately and fraudulently" misled players about the link between concussions and long-term brain injuries.The NFL denies the claims saying "Any allegation that the NFL intentionally sought to mislead players has no merit. It stands in contrast to the leagues many actions to better protect players and advance the science and medical understanding of the management and treatment of concussions."
But with some of the sports household names now revealing the human price paid for all those on field heroics this lawsuit could change football forever. Art Monk Jim McMahon and Mark Rypien are among the players suing not only the NFL but the entire professional football culture. Some players like Junior Seu have been diagnosed with diseases linked to these hits and some end up killing themselves.
8. Syrian Cival War:
The Syrian cival war is an ongoing armed conflict in Syria between forces loyal to the Syrian Baath Party government and those seeking to oust it. The conflict began on 15 March 2011 with nationwide demonstrations as part of the wider protest movement known as the Arab Spring. Protesters demanded the resignation of President Bashar Al Ashad the present personification of his family's decades long rule as well as the end to nearly five decades of Baath Party rule.
In April 2011, the Syrian Army was deployed to quell the uprising, and soldiers were ordered to open fire on demonstrators. After months of military sieges, the protests evolved into an armed rebellion. Opposition forces mainly composed of defected soldiers and civilian volunteers became increasingly armed and organized as they unified into larger groups, with some groups receiving military aid from several foreign countries. However the rebels remained fractured, without organized leadership. The Syrian government characterizes the insurgency as an uprising of "armed terrorist groups and foreign mercenaries". The conflict has no clear fronts with clashes taking place in many towns and cities across the country.
9. Miami Cannibal attack:
A series of bizarre killings led by the so called Miami cannibal attack on May 26 triggered an outbreak of searches such as zombie apocalypse. The story of Ronald Poppo a South Florida homeless man generated lurid attention for days because his attacker Rudy Eugene was nude when he attacked Poppo by chewing off much of his face. A police officer shot and killed Eugene, and no motive has surfaced.
Speculation ran high that inexpensive synthetic drugs or bath salts were involved, but an autopsy reaveled that wasnt tru. Poppo shockingly survived and has even given interviews about his attack telling a Miami TV station He just ripped me to ribbons.
10. Trayvon Martin:
A chance-encounter killing caught the countrys attention when George Zimmerman a neighborhood watch volunteer allegedly followed 17 year old Trayvon Martin a black teenager in a hooded sweatshirt walking in a gated community in Sanford Fla. After a call to a 911 operator who advised Zimmerman to wait for police he instead confronted the unarmed teen. Within minutes, Trayvon was dead
A charge might not have been filed but Trayvons parents made the case public by filing a petition through change.org asking that charges be brought.
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