Thinking Spatially - AP Human Geography and Current Issues

 On September 11, 2001, Al-Queada extremists hijacked and rammed two passenger planes into the World Trade Center towers. Shortly afterward, another plane was hijacked and flown into the Pentagon. The Taliban then sheltered and protected those responsible. This attack on America lead to the war against terrorism. (“I. The Taliban’s War Against Women.”) On May 2, 2011, Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was killed by U.S forces, Bin Laden was the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks and his death meant a huge victory for the United States. The war raged on though, as many more terrorist groups would remain a threat to the security of the U.S. Troops were placed in middle-eastern countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran, with the war not seeming to slow down even with the aid of armed forces. The conflict caused a huge loss of life for both sides, with hundreds of Americans being killed in mine traps, ambush attacks, and suicide bombings.  (“I. The Taliban’s War Against Women.”) Rec...

This is a picture of Robert E. Lee statue in Virginia.   The Robert E. Lee statue was erected in 1890 as one of the first of six confederate statues. It was put up during a time in which southern states were forcing  white supremacists systems and structures. A lot of protests were centered around the statue to symbolize racial injustice. A lot of BLM protests have been centered around this statue. The statue was covered in graffiti with different messages regarding racism and denouncing the police.  The removal of the Robert E. Lee Statue relieved a lot of people. The statue represented white supremacy and that white people should be above everyone else. That’s what the South believed for a while, but after the racial conflicts that have been happening in the past couple of years they changed their minds. After the death of George Floyd and the protests on how black people should fight injustice they decided to take the monument down. After George Floyd’s death and even ...

 As of September 7th of 2021, The El Salvadoran Government has officially announced bitcoin as a legal tender. This makes it the very first country to do so. This is a big moment for not only bitcoin but cryptocurrency as a whole. It wasn’t too long ago that the idea of cryptocurrency was a joke but here we are now, as bitcoin has officially become a currency of a country. In 2008, a white paper, an informational document, was written and published by Satoshi Nakamoto, an anonymous individual/group. It outlined the idea of a peer-to-peer electronic cash system that could remove the need for banks to be a part of the transaction process. One year later, in 2009, Bitcoin was officially released, and thus began the rise of cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrencies are relatively new and there is a massive amount of distrust in the currency’s volatile nature. Cryptocurrencies grew in popularity in 2016 and 2017 but only really took off during 2020 due to the Coronavirus. The price of Bitcoin pe...

 As of September 1, 2021, the state of Texas officially enacted one of the country’s most strict abortion laws, despite dissent from four Supreme Court justices. This new law places a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, which is before most women even realize they are pregnant. Not only does this law prevent abortions as soon as “cardiac activity” is detectable; it prevents abortion even in cases of rape or incest. After much controversy over this law, the Justice Department has officially sued the state of Texas. This law being enacted brings into question; should the government be able to have control over women and their bodies? On September 9, 2021, the Justice Department announced that they will be taking action against the state of Texas in federal court. Attorney General Merrick Garland stated that, “The act is clearly unconstitutional under long-standing Supreme Court precedent.” However, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton  The Texas government has attempted ...

  The recent Taliban takeover of Afghanistan as US and UN forces withdrew has led to a refugee crisis as thousands of Afghan refugees desperately tried to flee the country to escape Taliban retribution for assisting UN forces during their stay in the country. According to CNN over 100,000 refugees have been airlifted out in a situation similar to Operation Frequent Wind or the evacuation of Saigon after the Vietnam war as people desperately mob evacuation sites and hang on to aircraft as they take off, this airlift to get Afghans out is the largest  non combatant airlift ever. 25,000 Afghans are waiting in Ramstein, Germany and many were interviewed about what had happened as they went to the flights and what they thought about going to the United States, among those is a woman named Jamila who said that as she was entering the airport the Taliban ripped up their documents and shot bullets over their heads, as well as arresting her husband and brother-in-law. Some are worried ...

 The war in Afghanistan has been going on since September 11, 2001, the day of the fateful attack on the world trade center carried out by the Taliban. Former US President Trump had struck an agreement with the Taliban to move US troops out by May. Biden decided to continue with this date and started a withdrawal that should end on September 11. The administration moved the deadline forward to August 31, although the withdrawal was messy and left many American and Afghan citizens stranded, President Biden considered the withdrawal a success. The C-17 pilots of the last flight to leave Afghanistan described it as being like a zombie apocalypse, there were destroyed and burn-out planes everywhere, and their planes were parked in an area of the airport that had previously been breached by Taliban forces. The soldiers that had been defending the airport were crowded onto the large carrier aircraft, many laid down and tried to get any sleep they could after several days of being on high...